by Lori Foster
“I don’t.”
“You don’t?”
Dean shook his head. Hell, he’d spent most of his life moving, so he’d never really known anyone long enough to be concerned with what they thought. Spoiled, that’s what Jacki was. “She’s falling apart because she has to move?” He grunted. “That’s it?”
“She’s not falling apart,” Eve corrected. “She’s just unhappy about leaving behind…” She hesitated, probably remembering Dean’s circumstances.
“The familiar?” he finished for her.
She nodded, and slipped her hand into his. Trying to comfort him? Dean stiffened. He wanted several things from Eve, but sympathy wasn’t one of them.
“If you ask me—” Crystal said.
“He didn’t ask you,” Eve quickly pointed out, but it left her mother undaunted.
“Lorna squandered a lot of the money left to those girls.”
Dean figured as much. It was the only thing to make sense. But then, Grover had always assumed that would be the case.
She nodded to punctuate her statement. “Don’t get me wrong. Lorna is a nice enough person. But Lord above, the woman doesn’t have an ounce of sense when it comes to finances. And with that one, what she wanted or needed always came first.”
Eve groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “I don’t believe this.”
Dean rubbed Eve’s back, letting her know that Crystal’s enlightening account of details didn’t bother him.
“I still remember when Cam needed tap shoes for the sixth-grade school recital. The way Lorna carried on, you’d have thought they cost the moon. But did she stop getting her nails done? Did she skip a new spring wardrobe? No, she did not. Cam sure stopped participating in school events, though. I don’t think she went to another party or dance until she got old enough to get a job and pay for things herself.”
Dean didn’t like the sound of that. From what Grover had told him, there should have been plenty of money for what Cam and Jacki needed, including new dresses and shoes for parties. His parents hadn’t been without resources, and not only did an insurance policy pay off the house after their death, it also provided a nice chunk of change. Add that to the assets and bank accounts they already had, and they should have been set financially.
“I’m sorry.” Eve peeked at Dean. “My mother is a world-class gossip. It’s what she lives for.”
Crystal swatted at her daughter. “He’s their brother, so he has a right to know all about them. How else can he help?”
Dean locked his teeth. “I’m not here to help.”
Crystal waved away his protests. “It’s all right. Eve explained to me why we hadn’t met you before now.”
“Is that right?” So that’s why the women were so long in the kitchen. And Eve called her mother a gossip?
“She asked,” Eve said, in her own defense.
Not in the least self-conscious about snooping, Crystal shrugged. “Naturally I was curious about you. Both Cam and Jacki spent plenty of time with us while growing up. Our house was a second home to them. It seemed odd that they’d have a brother I’d never heard of.”
“During the summer,” Mark said, “it was like having three sisters. They outnumbered me in a big way. They were here more than they were at their own home.”
“Not that we minded.” Crystal smiled in fond memory. “Both Cam and Jacki were just precious, and it broke my heart to think of them growing up without a mother.”
Hadn’t that been Lorna’s role to fill? From what Crystal said, Lorna had been well compensated to do just that. “How old were they when you met them?”
“We moved here when Eve was eight. She’s a year and a half older than Cam.”
Which meant Cam would have been around six, already under Lorna’s care for four years—more time than she’d spent with their birth mother.
Cam hadn’t remembered him, so maybe she didn’t remember their parents, either. What had Lorna told her about them, about their lives, and about their deaths?
Probably not the truth.
Dean thought about it, and realized both girls called her Aunt Lorna. Nothing more affectionate. Nothing more personal. Had Lorna insisted on the distinction?
For Dean, Grover had been his father, his uncle, his…entire family, all rolled into one. Grover was a gruff old bird, but never had Dean felt like an inconvenience. Never had he felt like an intruder in Grover’s life.
Moving to stand by his wife, Ted put a hand on her shoulder. Though he hadn’t witnessed it before, Dean automatically recognized the show of support. Grover had never settled with a single woman. He hadn’t even dated, not in the conventional sense. Plain and simple, his uncle had brought women around for sexual purposes only. He hadn’t been blatant about it, but he wasn’t ashamed about it, either. It hadn’t taken Dean long to catch on.
Grover liked the ladies, but he’d never shown an emotional intimacy or domestic companionship with any particular woman. The silent connection between Ted and Crystal had been missing in Grover’s relationships.
“We’re real fond of your sisters.” Ted smiled at Crystal. “Both of them, but especially Cam because of the closeness she and Eve shared.”
“Cam confided in me,” Crystal said. “She came to me when she needed someone to talk to, someone she could trust. She asked me all those things a young girl usually asks her mother.”
Dean wondered what those things might entail. Whatever they were, it bothered him that Cam had to go to a friend’s mother. Lorna should have been there for her, in all things.
“You see, Lorna wasn’t that approachable. She didn’t understand your sisters. She expected them to be perfect at all times, to cause her the least amount of trouble. She didn’t give them much room or opportunity to learn things on their own. And that made it tough for them, but especially for Cam.”
As much to himself as to Crystal, Dean said, “Because Cam felt responsible for Jacki.”
Crystal nodded. “She wasn’t much more than a child herself when she started mothering Jacki, stepping up for her, protecting her and guiding her.”
“Lorna suffocated them with rules and more rules,” Eve said with feeling. “So when Cam got into trouble or got curious about guys or just plain needed to vent, she came home with me, and Mom would advise her.”
“And in turn,” Crystal said with pride, “Cam learned to be there for Jacki.”
Dean brooded. He’d spent many years in foreign countries, on uncomfortable beds, without friends, dragging through one day after another. At night, he’d thought of his sisters, and he always assumed they lived the cushy life. After all, they’d kept everything—the house, the toys, the pool, the friends…everything a nine-year-old boy enjoyed.
He was the one booted out with only a few changes of clothes.
Did he really have it all wrong?
“Crystal is privy to information about the sale of the house because she’s the Realtor who’ll be listing it,” Ted explained. “Free of commission, of course, since there’s no money to be made. She’s trying to help out where she can, to keep Cam from making any hasty mistakes.”
Dean tightened his jaw, refusing to ask the question aloud. But in his head, where no one could hear, it echoed again and again: What hasty mistakes?
Why did his sister write to him now, and what did she want from him? What did she need so badly that she’d contact a long-forgotten brother?
It occurred to him suddenly that he had Eve’s undivided attention as she waited for his reaction. He tried to smooth out his frown, but already Eve popped off the seat in a rush.
“That’s enough from all of you. You’ve thoroughly embarrassed me. I’ll be red faced for a year at least.” Against her family’s protests, she began herding them all toward the door. “If Dean doesn’t make a run for it now, I’ll be amazed.”
Without haste, Dean pushed to his feet. “I’m not going anywhere.” He and Eve had unfinished business, and he wouldn’t leave until he got what
he came for. Besides, he had a few more questions for Eve once her family got out of the way.
“Good,” Crystal said. “Then you can join us for dinner tomorrow night.”
Eve winced and immediately complained, “Mom.”
It was a novel thing for Dean, dealing with pushy parents, but he found it interesting, too. Eve wore one persona when with him alone, another in front of his sisters, and yet one more with her parents.
No matter how she reacted, he found her appealing. “Sorry, Crystal. I appreciate the invitation, but I’m going to be busy.”
Undaunted, Crystal asked, “Doing what?”
Before Eve could start groaning again, Dean explained, “Checking out property. I was hoping you could give me some leads.”
Crystal perked right up at that. “Leads for what?”
“Anything that’s in need of cosmetic repair. I want something that I can fix up and sell for a profit.”
That deflated her. “You’re not moving here?”
“No.” He could feel Eve’s tension as she shifted restlessly beside him. “I move around a lot, so I don’t really settle in any one place.”
Accepting that, Crystal asked, “You’re experienced in flipping houses?”
“It’s what I do when I’m not training for a fight.”
After digging into her purse, Crystal handed him a business card. “Come by the office tomorrow, say around noon? I’ll have some spec sheets ready for you to look over, maybe see if anything appeals to you.”
Sliding the card into his back pocket, Dean nodded. “Thanks. I’ll be there.”
“Where are you staying in the meantime?” Ted asked.
“The Cross Streets Motel.”
Mark made a face. “That’s another of Roger’s properties. He’s involved with Cam.”
“We’ve met.” But Dean hadn’t realized that Roger owned the motel. He wasn’t sure if it mattered to him or not. He’d have to think about it more when he wasn’t edgy with lust.
Both Crystal and Ted looked ready to launch into more discussions, but Eve loudly announced, “Time to go,” and began shooing her family to the door and out into the storm.
They left with some good-natured ribbing, more invitations, and a few laughs. All in all, Dean found them to be friendly and familiar, as if the love they shared gave way to certain liberties.
Eve turned on a porch light, then waited at the door as her family raced through the rain to the car. After they all settled inside the vehicle, she waved one last time, closed the door, and locked it.
“Sorry about that.” She rested back against the door. “My family isn’t usually so intrusive.”
Dean felt new tension in the air, and this time it was sexual. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”
She laughed. “No.” Avoiding his gaze, she pushed away from the door and headed toward the kitchen. “They can be a real pain, but they mean well. I hope they didn’t put you off.”
“Not a chance.” He watched her pick up two empty beer bottles on the way out of the room.
Over her shoulder, she asked, “So if you’re buying property, you can’t be planning to rush off anytime too soon, right?”
Dean refused to paint himself into a corner with statements that he might regret later. He didn’t yet know enough about his sisters, about what problems Cam might have or why Jacki rebelled, to make any final decisions. Until he figured things out, he didn’t know what he wanted to do. Buying a house to flip seemed a good delaying tactic until then. “Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.”
“I hope you do stick around for awhile.” She went to the sink and rinsed a dish.
“Yeah?”
“Cam and Jacki could really use your help.”
Dean came up behind her. With his hands at her waist, he leaned down and nuzzled behind her ear. “For the last time,” he murmured, “I’m not that kind of brother.”
Going stiff, Eve glared over her shoulder at him. “Then what kind of brother are you?”
“Right now, being a brother is the furthest thing from my mind.” He enjoyed the feel of her through the soft cotton of her sundress, the way her breath caught, how she trembled the tiniest bit.
Touching another damp kiss to the side of her neck, Dean whispered, “Tonight, I’m more interested in you.”
CHAPTER 7
THE time of reckoning, Eve thought. She’d teased Dean, led him on—and now she’d get the payoff. Oh boy. She just hoped she could handle him.
Pasting on a smile, she said, “Dean,” and started to turn. She didn’t get very far.
One big warm hand settled on her belly and his hips moved in closer to her behind, pinning her in place against the counter.
“Yeah?” The whisper of his breath in her ear sent shivers down her spine. “Do you know I’ve been thinking about this, about you, all day? I’ve been damn near obsessed. I’ve been half-hard. I’ve had a hell of a time concentrating on anything or anyone else.” His fingers contracted, sort of stroking her stomach, kneading her.
Eve stared out the kitchen window over her sink, not really seeing the storm or the bending trees or even the violent flashes of lightning.
On every level, in every nerve of her body, she sizzled with awareness of him. “Me, too.”
“Good to know.” He skimmed his lips along the nape of her neck to her ear, caught the lobe between his teeth and teased with his tongue. Her eyes felt heavy before she closed them completely.
But shutting out her sight only heightened her other senses to his nearness and to his obvious intent to devastate her.
By aligning his long legs outside hers and crowding closer, he surrounded her with his strength and size, his indescribable scent. Masculine heat touched all along her back, making her muscles weak. He kept his hands busy with casual but enticing strokes.
Eve felt enclosed by him, wary of his potent effect on her. At the same time, she wanted more, of his touch, of his kiss, of him.
Resting her head back on his chest, her heart thumping madly, Eve admitted, “This is very odd, Dean.”
“How’s that?” His fingers on her belly continued to cuddle her, teasing, threatening to move lower without actually doing so.
It was diabolical on his part, because now she could only think of how to get him to touch her when moments before she’d been pondering ways to hold him off.
Using his free hand, Dean lifted her hair away, baring more of her throat before cupping his hand over her shoulder in a very gentle bond.
He opened his mouth over the delicate skin where her neck and shoulder met—and sucked on her.
“Oh God.”
“Do you taste this good all over?”
The way he asked that, his voice rich and deep with insinuation, had Eve groaning. He was good. Too good. She couldn’t understand him or her reaction. “How are you doing this?”
“This?” Trailing his tongue along her neck, he left a damp, sizzling path to her ear, where he dipped inside, then breathed softly, “Or this?” He pressed his fingers lower—so close—but stopped short of actual satisfaction.
Damn it, she wasn’t a timid woman. She wasn’t a woman afraid to address her own needs. In past relationships, she’d been plenty vocal—without near the results.
Right now, with very little effort on Dean’s part, he had her primed, as if they’d been indulging in the most intimate foreplay for an hour. “This is insane.”
“Because you enjoy me touching you?” He slipped his other hand over her shoulder, down her upper arm, and onto her breast.
She sucked in a startled breath. “Yes.”
“Just relax, Eve.”
“I’m relaxed.”
His husky laugh teased along her nerve endings. “No, you’re not. You’re fighting me.”
How the hell could he tell?
Dean held her breast, but he wasn’t actively involved in exciting her. That is, he wasn’t groping, prodding, exploring. Her nipple puckered tightly against the soft mat
erial of her dress, but he didn’t rub her, didn’t even seem to notice or care. He just left his hand there while he continued to kiss her shoulder and neck and throat.
He showed such a complete and utter lack of haste that she began to have a few doubts.
Until he pressed a solid erection against her derrière. “You are so petite.”
He somehow made that sound like a smooth compliment.
“Dean, wait.”
Rather than argue or press her, he said, “Okay,” and propped his chin on the top of her head. “Do you want to talk?”
Damn him. Eve could barely breathe and it wasn’t fair. He sounded totally unaffected. But she knew he couldn’t be. Maybe it was time for her to regain some control. “Yes, talking would be good.”
“I’m okay with that. What do you want to talk about?”
She needed something to throw him off stride, something that he wasn’t expecting. She went with an honest concern. “Where’s this headed?”
For only a brief instant, his arms hugged her in a way that seemed wholly affectionate. “With any luck and a little cooperation on your part, I’d say a screaming orgasm.”
Oh God. Eve had the feeling he needed neither luck, nor her cooperation, to make it happen. Not with the way she felt right now.
Needing to regain herself after his bold statement, she closed her eyes. When she thought she could speak with a modicum of strength, she replied. “I meant…all of this. Not just the sex.”
Becoming thoughtful, Dean tilted his head down to see her profile. “It’s probably too soon to say. Where did you want it to go?”
She swallowed. He’d just put it all back on her. “I don’t know, either. But I’m not in the habit of jumping into bed with men.”
“Then I count myself lucky.”
She ignored that. “It’s just that you’ve taken me by surprise and I’m not really being myself. That is, I usually don’t let things move so quickly.”
“Hmmm.” He propped his chin back atop her head. “So what habits do you have with men?”
She couldn’t quite bring herself to turn and face him. He had to be annoyed with her about-face. Never mind that he sounded merely curious. He had to be irate.
