The Lemon Sisters Read online

  “Your manly prowess is intact,” she assured him. “But the railings and trim look amazing.”

  He took it in. “Son of a bitch. The guy can’t mind his own damn business.”

  “I think you are his business,” she said. “Are you telling me he stayed up all night doing this for you before he took off?”

  His gaze slid to hers, and she bit her lower lip to keep a smile in. “You’re wearing the same expression your cats are wearing,” she said.

  “Not my cats. Ann’s cats.”

  “Uh-oh. Are you no longer in the mood?”

  He shouldered opened his bedroom door and set her on his bed. Actually, it was more like tossed her on the bed. She bounced once and then he was on her, pinning her down to the mattress, letting her feel exactly what she did to him. “Okay,” she practically purred, running her hands up his sleek, still damp back. His muscles bunched enticingly. “So you’re still in the mood.”

  “With you, always,” he said, rubbing his jaw to hers like a big cat. A big, feral cat. He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to the scar low on her belly, and her heart rolled over for him. Then he rose up and kissed her mouth.

  It was a delicious, sensuous, erotic kiss with a lot of tongue, and heat exploded inside her, simultaneously rushing north to make her nipples happy and south to make the rest of her happy. When his mouth trailed along her throat, she just about lost consciousness. “Kiss me again,” she demanded.

  “Because you need it in twos?”

  “Because I’m going to die if you don’t kiss me again.”

  He flashed a grin, but before he could, there was a thump on his bedroom door.

  “Ignore them,” Garrett said.

  “Them?” she squeaked, trying to sit up.

  Garrett slid his hands around the backs of her thighs and tugged so that she fell flat on her back again. “The cats. They’re jealous of you. I’m their man.”

  She laughed, but it backed up in her throat as his hands began performing his special brand of fire and magic, and then his mouth followed. He liked to kiss, a lot, and he especially liked to take his time about it, which always left her a panting, anticipatory, needy hot mess. “Garrett.”

  Sliding off the bed, he dropped to his knees between her legs. Eyes dark and heated and locked on hers, his hands skimmed the backs of her thighs, his gaze slowly traveled over the length of her body. “Pretty,” he said roughly, and she felt a rush that was nearly an orgasm.

  Then he put his mouth on her, and she was very glad there were only cats in the house, because she couldn’t have kept quiet to save her own life.

  By the time he was finished with her, she was a floppy rag doll, making contented purring noises. “I owe the cats for letting me share you,” she said with a wide yawn, unable to keep her eyes open.

  “Take as much of me as you want,” he murmured. “I’m all yours.”

  She smiled as she drifted off, hoping against hope it might actually be true.

  Chapter 20

  “Skinny-dipping is off the table.”

  By the time Mindy and Linc left the hospital, picked up the kids, and got them fed, bathed, and into bed, Mindy was stick-a-fork-in-her done. She staggered into her bedroom and collapsed on the bed. Her hair flopped in her face. She was hot and sweaty and wearing her PMS shorts—which were really maternity shorts, but she’d die before admitting that.

  She could hear Linc in the shower. She rolled across their big bed and caught sight of something on his nightstand. The Hawaii tickets, dated for next week. She’d actually completely forgotten about the trip he’d promised her, but the thought of having Linc to herself for days on end made her hope against hope that they really could get away, just the two of them. In one hotel room, with one bed and hopefully no couch . . .

  When he came out of the bathroom wearing only a towel low on his hips, his hair still damp, her mouth watered.

  He smiled at her sprawled on the bed. “Is that an invitation?”

  She snorted and closed her eyes against the ache that the sight of him caused deep inside her. She’d tried seducing him with her favorite lingerie, but once again life had distracted him. Now here she was at her absolute worst, and he was being playful and sexy. “If it was an invite, would you notice?” she asked.

  He set a knee on the bed, eyes dark and heated. “Oh yeah.”

  “You didn’t notice the other night.”

  He crawled up the bed. “Babe, I always notice you.”

  She put a foot to his chest to halt his progress. “What was I wearing?”

  “A hot-as-shit pale peach silky nightie that I wanted to take off with my teeth.”

  A happy shiver bolted through her, and she dropped her foot and closed her eyes. “So why didn’t you?”

  “Because I was busy traumatizing our daughter and stealing her childhood by letting her know that the tooth fairy and Santa Claus weren’t real. Mindy . . .”

  Something in his voice had her eyes flying open. He was giving her an odd look, like he was seeing something for the first time. “You really think I don’t want you anymore?”

  She shrugged. “I mean, I get it.”

  “Do you?” he murmured.

  “Yes, of course!” She tossed up her hands. “I’ve had a bazillion babies. I’m not the young hot chick anymore. I’ve got stretch marks, and I’m cranky because I’m always on a stupid diet because stupid food goes right to my stupid ass now. And, um—” She broke off because he had slowly loosened his towel and tossed it on the floor. “Um . . .” She blinked. “I can’t remember what I was saying.”

  Pulling her beneath him, he shot her a knowing grin. “You’re right, you were the young hot chick. But you’re even hotter now, with a real woman’s body. I love it. I even love your crankiness. And I love you, Mindy.”

  He said it in the same unhesitating tone he reserved for all truths: The night is dark, rain is wet, and Linc loves Mindy.

  “And when I told you I was going to fight for this, for us, I meant it.” He ran his mouth along her jaw to her ear and gave it a light nip with his teeth. “Do you remember our first time?” he asked, voice husky, ignoring her attitude, clearly understanding that she wanted to be seduced, understanding that even that had become her responsibility in the marriage. He let his lips brush just behind her earlobe. It was her favorite spot to be teased, which he knew damn well. “Because I remember it. Kiss me, Min.”

  “I haven’t brushed my teeth.”

  “I don’t care.”

  She knew it was true because he was looking at her like she’d just hung the moon and the stars. For a whole lot of years, she’d felt that at any moment he might realize where he was, and with who, and leave her. But he never had. For whatever reason, Linc wanted her, and she decided she wasn’t about to try to change his mind. But she did want to be clear about one thing. “Perfect Mindy is long gone,” she said. “You know that, right?”

  “I don’t want Perfect Mindy,” he said. “I want Trash Can Mindy.”

  She frowned. “Excuse me?”

  “Do you remember our first kiss?”

  “Yes,” she said. “It was in fourth grade. You kissed me on the playground because Kenny Reddick dared you to. He’d been daring you since second grade, but it took you two years to get serious. I slugged you in the eye and got in trouble.”

  He grinned. “That wasn’t a real kiss. I’m talking about our first real kiss.”

  She remembered that, too. They’d been in ninth grade, and by that point had been in a love-hate relationship for years: She could beat his ass in any track-and-field event, and he could explain biology and chemistry to her in a way she could understand. But nothing had ever happened between them.

  He’d had a growth spurt that year, and suddenly their friendship had taken a turn, at least on her part. She’d started noticing things, like how he laughed, the way he looked at her, the fact that he smelled so good when all the other guys his age did not. And then there’d been his mouth. He