The Lemon Sisters Read online

  His dark gaze met hers and memories crashed around in her head: him pressing her into the mattress, his hands fisted in her hair, his talented mouth on hers, their bodies moving fluidly, in sync . . .

  Damn.

  If any such memories from last night hounded him, he didn’t give a single hint of it. He hadn’t shaved, and there was a tension in his sexy, scruffy jaw belying the multiple orgasms they’d shared in the night.

  “Hey,” Mindy said, clueless to all of it. “Morning.”

  Garrett headed for the fridge.

  “I keep meaning to ask you,” Mindy said, apparently unbothered by his lack of verbiage. It wasn’t like he was Chatty Cathy on the best of days. “How’s Callie?”

  At this, Garrett broke eye contact with Brooke to look at her sister. “What?”

  “Remember I set you up on a date with Callie, my friend from the DMV in Paso Robles? You took her to coffee a few days ago after one of her shifts . . .” She trailed off at the look on Garrett’s face. “Oh shit. Tell me you didn’t forget to go.”

  Brooke had gone to school with Callie. She was a pretty, petite blond surfer who, at least in high school, couldn’t have been sweeter or kinder.

  Brooke decided she hated her.

  Garrett grimaced.

  “Are you kidding me,” Mindy said, whipping out her phone. “You are such an asshole.”

  Whether he’d forgotten about the date or just hadn’t wanted to go, Brooke no longer hated Callie. She hated herself for falling for a man she’d told herself she no longer felt anything for. A man who’d just told her she was a mistake.

  Maddox came barreling into the room, naked, holding a lightsaber and yelling “Arrrrrgggggg!” He took a flying leap at Garrett, who easily snatched him in midair.

  “Look what I caught,” Garrett said. “A naked fish.”

  Maddox grinned and set his head on Garrett’s shoulder.

  Brooke’s ovaries squeezed.

  “Missed you, too, little man,” Garrett said, and pressed his jaw to Maddox’s. After a cuddle, he set the heathen down. “Go find some clothes and you can be my assistant today. Shoes would be good, too.”

  Maddox went racing out of the room, barking in excitement.

  Garrett, with a long, steady look at Brooke that quite clearly conveyed what he thought of her, left as well.

  Brooke let out a shuddery breath.

  “What was that about?” Mindy asked.

  “No idea.” She set her cup in the sink. “Gotta go.”

  “Hey. The dish fairy’s dead.”

  Brooke took her cup out of the sink and put it into the dishwasher.

  “Where are you going?” Mindy asked.

  “There’s something I’ve got to do.”

  “Go sit at the top of the bluffs and take pictures?”

  When Brooke gave her a look, Mindy shrugged. “Xena’s sister’s daughter’s boyfriend saw you up there looking a little shaky. I worry.”

  Brooke ran the pads of her thumbs over her fingertips back and forth. “You know I haven’t been out in the wild on the job.”

  “Because of the helicopter crash.”

  Brooke nodded. “It changed me. I couldn’t . . .” She shook her head. “I couldn’t perform like I used to. And now adrenaline rushes give me panic attacks. I’m working on it, though.”

  Mindy’s expression went earnest. “But don’t you get it? That’s why this photo job is perfect for you. It could be a step toward finding your old self again, right? Getting back into the action?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Then tell me,” Mindy dared her.

  Brooke couldn’t find her words, because suddenly she wasn’t so sure of what she wanted, or what might make her happy.

  Mindy, looking like she was following along, reading between the lines, went from earnest to worry. “Brooke—”

  “No, it’s fine. I’m fine,” she said, because why get into it all now? She was leaving, and she intended to go back better off than she’d been when she left LA. Today she’d conquer the bluffs once and for all. Maybe tomorrow, she’d hit up the Playground, which was the locals’ nickname for the rocky stretch of cliffs about ten miles north of Wildstone. Only the talented climbers ever dared go there. She’d taught herself to climb there as a kid, and had climbed it too many times to count. The very thought of going there now made her stomach hurt.

  But she was tired of being afraid. If she climbed the Playground, she’d know she’d conquered that demon, at least.

  All her other demons would just have to get in line.

  Chapter 13

  “Did you know there’s fifty-five different kinds of tampons? Regular, super, scented, unscented, with applicator, without applicator . . . I mean, what the hell do you do without an applicator?”

  The next morning, Garrett went for a long run, hoping to clear his head. It didn’t happen. He’d just made his way back to his driveway when Brooke stepped outside of Mindy’s house.

  From across the two driveways they stared at each other.

  He was all sweaty, but she looked fresh from a shower, damp hair pulled into some complicated braid, wearing a tee with a plaid flannel tied around her waist and little denim shorts—emphasis on little.

  He moved toward her, helplessly drawn. And maybe she felt the same, as she met him halfway. They hadn’t talked about what had happened, and it was clear she didn’t want to, because she put out a preemptive strike.

  “I’m off to take a little time for myself before making Mindy happy and going to work on the county job,” she said, gesturing to the camera hanging off her shoulder.

  She was trying to make light of what was actually a big deal—her working outdoors again—and he nodded. “You okay?”

  At the question, her polite smile vanished, replaced by a small but real one. “Yesterday, I shot Highway 1 and the coastline for this gig. Caught it at sunset with some fog hugging the water at the exact point where it was burning off. It wasn’t exactly a hardship for the paycheck.”

  She wasn’t motivated by money, never had been, and seeing that once constant spark for life in her eyes got to him, whether he liked it or not.

  And for the record, he didn’t like it.

  “Today I’m working my way south,” she said. “Plan to hit Morro Bay.”

  “The whole county could take you months.”

  She looked away at that. “I made it clear that I’ll get the project outlined and started, but I can’t be the one to finish it.”

  “You’re leaving.”

  “Have to go by this weekend.”

  His chest had tightened, even as he knew her leaving sooner than later was the best thing for the both of them. “Have to, or want to?”

  She shook her head and turned to go, but he caught her hand. Slowly he reeled her in, and then, because he’d clearly lost his mind, he covered her mouth with his. He had no idea what he thought he was doing other than riling them both up, which, mission accomplished . . .

  At the touch of their mouths, desire and hunger had ignited, and it was a very long moment before they broke free and stared at each other.

  She pointed at him. “What is that?”

  “Insanity, clearly.”

  She snorted at the both of them and left.

  Garrett thought about little else for the rest of the day, until now, as he washed off his tiling equipment outside one last time, since he’d just finished up Mindy and Linc’s master bath. He was being watched by his three old biddies, who sat on the porch, tails swishing, eyes narrowing in disapproval every time a stray mist from the hose came within ten feet of them.

  On the other side of the fence, his neighbor’s horse kept snorting at him. She wanted attention. He looked up when he heard what sounded like an old, clunky truck pull up. In his gut he knew what he’d find when he turned to look, and yep, sure enough, it was his dad.

  Terrific.

  “Mew,” said Chairwoman Miao, his watch cat