He stared down at her mouth. Just stared at it. Without saying a word.

“But it’s not like Siberia is going anywhere.” Still feeling guilty about not taking full advantage of a rare opportunity, Toni briefly chewed her lip and Ricky growled in response. “Lake Baikal has been here for, like, a bazillion years or something. I’m sure it’ll be here next year . . . or the year after that.”

The hand holding her around the waist slipped lower, his fingers gripping her ass and pushing her pelvis closer to him until she felt nothing but his amazing erection pressing against her.

Toni let out a shaky breath, her eyes briefly closing. “Oh-kay, yeah. This lake is giant. It’ll be here forever. And don’t forget jet lag. I’m sure we’re still having jet lag. And that can only be dealt with in a . . . a bed.”

Grinning, Ricky Lee stepped back, took hold of her hand again, and began to walk back to the car.

Blayne sat at the kitchen table in the Jackal House—as she liked to call it—and watched as one of the Horde of Offspring—as Bo liked to call them—carefully cut an apple into equally sized slices.

Because he was making sure that all the sizes were exactly the same size, he was taking a rather long time.

“Would you like me to make you something to eat, Troy?”

“No.” He blew out a breath and sat back in his chair, shook his head, and offered, “Do you want these?”

“Your apple slices?”

“Yes.” He handed the paper plate to her, took another paper plate from the pile in the middle of the table and another apple from the bowl beside it. Then he began again.

Honestly, when Bo Novikov says, “That kid is seriously obsessive,” you really have a problem.

Concerned, Blayne leaned in and began, “Honey—”

“I’m already in therapy for this sort of thing, so just let it go.”

“All right then.”

Blayne ate the apple slices and watched the kid go through two more apples before he was happy with what he did. That was around the time when Oriana came into the room, sweating and smiling in a black leotard and pink stockings, her toe shoes still on her feet, white leg warmers on her legs, and a towel around her neck. She grabbed a glass from the cabinet and went into the refrigerator. When the girl pulled out the bottle of pulp-free juice, Blayne squealed and jumped up.

“Not that one!” she yelped, leaping across the room to pull the offending bottle out of Oriana’s hand.

“Is there something wrong, Blayne?”

Blayne’s eyes narrowed when she saw the girl smirk. “Have you been talking to Livy?”

“Don’t know what you mean.”

Blayne put the bottle back in the refrigerator and took out an unopened one. It had pulp but Oriana would just have to dealwith that. Once she handed it off, she turned in time to see one of the older siblings walking past her.

“Hi, Cherise!”

Cherise froze. It was like she thought she could blend into the backsplash behind the sink.

Not looking at her, Cherise nodded. “Hi, uh, Blayne.”

“Are you ever leaving?” Oriana asked Blayne. “Or are you and the Incredible Hulk moving in for the summer?”

“Stop calling him that, and we’re just here until Bo is convinced this whole schedule thing is running perfectly. He doesn’t want to disappoint your sister.”

“Why not? We disappoint her all the time.”

“That’s . . . adorable.” She turned back to Cherise but she’d almost sneaked out the back kitchen door. Blayne rushed up to her. “Hey, Cherise?”

Cherise jumped and spun around. “Yes?”

“I was wondering if you’d like to come out with me tonight.”

“Why?”

“It’ll be fun!”

“You don’t know me.”

“No. But that’s how one learns about someone, by hanging out with them. You’ll get to meet my best friend, Gwen. You’ll like her. Maybe. She is feline and you’re canine. But I’m canine and she’s still feline and we get along great.”

Oriana put her arm around Blayne’s shoulders and looked at her sister. “Oh, Cherise, you have to go. Because that sounds like so much fun for you.”

Blayne nodded. She couldn’t agree with Oriana more! And how nice of her to say it!

“Come on! It’ll be a blast!”

Cherise shrugged and finally admitted, “I don’t really like to go outside.”

“Then you have to go outside! And you’ll start liking it.”

“It’s that easy!” Oriana cheered. “You just have to go!”

Cherise smiled—although it looked a little pained—and nodded. “Okay then.”

“Great!”

And, excited for her sister, Oriana lifted her arms in the air and cheered, “Great!”

Blayne started back to her apple slices when she heard Oriana yelp, “Ow!”

Blayne turned and found the girl holding her foot and hopping up and down.

“Are you okay?”

“It’s my fault,” Cherise confessed. “I stumbled and stepped right on her instep. Too bad I didn’t hit the tip of her shoes instead. That wouldn’t have hurt at all, huh, Oriana?” She kissed her sister’s cheek and again headed toward the back door. “So sorry, sweetie.”

Shrugging, Blayne picked up an apple slice and popped it into her mouth. Such a lovely family! she happily thought to herself.