DELPHI BURROWED CLOSER to the warmth. She felt him, smelled him, and memory and a measure of confusion crowded in on her. She blinked her eyes open. Lars was snoozing, his head on the pillow next to her.
She was missing something. The last thing she remembered, she was waiting on the shower. She looked down at herself. She was in her nightgown. Either she’d done a grand job of sleepwalking or he’d undressed her and slipped on her nightclothes. Since she’d never sleepwalked in her life, it was unlikely she’d started now.
She didn’t know why the notion of him undressing her was so disconcerting, but it was. They’d had a sexual encounter. In her job, she routinely undressed patients and thought nothing of it. However, there was an intimacy to being undressed by a man you’d had sex with and then sharing a bed when it wasn’t necessary. Perhaps that was what had her so off-center—finding him in her bed. He had a perfectly good room next door. There hadn’t been any “action” going on, so it had been fairly pointless for him to climb into bed with her.
She reminded herself that intimacy didn’t matter. He was still leaving at the end of the week, so there was nothing at stake. It gave her a sense of freedom. There was no power struggle, no opportunity for him to misconstrue anything she said or did. And if he did, well, his mistake wouldn’t get her fired and blackballed.
He was an interesting man, she’d give him that. A man who set off bombs and could dance like nobody’s business. A man who put his life on the line in his job, but was also vulnerable to his mother’s antics. And she’d watched and paid attention yesterday.
If you took impressions at face value, Liam came across as the serious twin. Even at the reception, there had been a solemnity to him. Therefore, in contrast, Lars, with his ready smile, twinkling eyes and teasing manner, came across as if he was a bit of a lightweight and not to be taken seriously. However, there was depth to Lars that wasn’t apparent at first glance. And it wasn’t as if he was putting on an act. Those qualities seemed to be genuine facets of Lars. His devilishness was as much a part of him as his intensity about his mom.
He slept on his side, his back to her, one arm flung above his head. The back of his neck was brown above the ribbing of his T-shirt. Spooned behind him, Delphi felt the weight of his bare legs against her thighs.
She lay there, content to feel the rhythm of his breathing against her chest and belly, to languish in his warmth and his masculine scent and feel.
His resting heart rate was probably fifty or a little lower and she was certain he had a BMI of around twenty-four. The man was fit. When she’d first seen him on the plane, she’d thought he was attractive but tiresome. However, he had actually been fun and thoughtful yesterday and last night. And the sex in the lake had been earth-shattering.
Desire, like the hot spring that fed the lake, infused her with warmth. Sharing the bed with him, curled up next to him, she experienced her own seismic activity. Now seemed as good a time as any to find out whether he was a morning person or not.
She slid her hand beneath the edge of his T-shirt. He woke up instantly. He didn’t move, but she felt it in his body tension.
They both remained silent as Delphi continued her exploration. Trailing her fingers over his taut belly, she followed the fine trail of hair to the edge of his briefs.
His swift intake of breath was audible in the room’s silence. She delved beneath the elastic and encountered the velvet hardness of his erection.
She made an approving noise and wrapped her hand around his penis. “This is your wake-up call, soldier.”
He arched against her hand and chuckled low in his throat. “Is this reveille?”
She fingered the smooth head, catching a pearl of moisture on her fingertip. “Aren’t you supposed to blow reveille?”
“That’s generally how it goes.” He rolled onto his back, a rakish smile tugging at his sensuous lips.
With a low laugh, she ducked beneath the covers. The scent of arousal, both hers and his, surrounded her. Wriggling farther down the bed, she tugged his briefs down his hips, freeing his penis. She licked up the length of his velvety shaft and he sighed. He put his left hand beneath the covers and stroked her hair.
Delphi took him in her mouth and “rode” him with her mouth and hand. Her arousal intensified with each slip and slide of his penis.
Releasing him, she pressed kisses along his thighs and his lower belly. Lars grasped her arms and pulled her out from beneath the covers and onto her side.
“Now, that was a wake-up call,” he said. Lars pressed kisses along her shoulder and neck, his unshaven jaw prickling against her skin. He leaned slightly back and away. “I don’t want to kiss you any closer because I haven’t brushed my teeth.”
“I’m in the same boat.” She didn’t want to get in his face with her morning breath either. Nothing like a little early a.m. halitosis to kill a mood.
“I’m not inclined to step out into the hall this way.” He indicated his erection.
Delphi giggled, imagining him running into one of the other guests with his “flagpole” tenting his clothes. “That’s probably best.”
He growled. “You think that’s funny, do you? You’ll pay for that....”
He kissed along her collarbone and then down the front of her gown. Her breath caught in her throat; her heart rate accelerated. Then he lowered his head even farther and mouthed her nipple. She bit back a cry as she heard someone walking down the hall outside the door. Instead she dug her fingertips into his scalp. Closing his mouth around her breast, he sucked harder. She pulled him closer, pressing herself up and into him. His warm mouth against her with the wet material... She bit her lip to keep quiet. Knowing others were awake and moving around right outside the door brought another level of excitement to their sexual play.
He moved to the other breast, leaving the cooler air to “kiss” the side that was now wet. He reached between them and pushed aside the crotch of her panties. While he taunted her nipple with his tongue, teeth and mouth, he teased his finger through her pubic hair and dipped into her oh-so-wet-and-eager channel. She gasped. The combination was like a charge of electricity through her.
Oh. Yes. She fisted her hand into the sheet, holding on. Again and again he fingered her while he moved from one breast to the other until she thought she couldn’t possibly stand it another second longer.
As if he knew what she needed and how she needed it, he pulled her to him so that her mouth was against his shoulder, muffling her cry as she came.
* * *
LARS SMILED TO himself. That was one hell of a wake-up call...and they weren’t done yet. Delphi was about to find out what detonation was all about. He was aching for release, as well.
She kissed his shoulder and sagged limply against him. He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Catch your breath, Blondie.”
Her eyes widened and then glimmered with interest and excitement. “Caught.”
He got up and stood by the bed. Outside the bedroom the bathroom door opened and the measured tread of another guest echoed against the hall’s wood floor.
The footsteps stopped one door over. “Myrtle, you’re going to have to get a move on, woman. We’re due to go fishing in half an hour.”
“I told you it was a mistake to go our first day here. My body’s still on Pennsylvania time. Don’t rush me, Lamar.”
Lars and Delphi exchanged a look. She put her index finger over her lips in a “quiet” sign. He winked at her and twirled his finger and hand in a turn-over-and-around gesture. She rolled over onto her belly and looked over her shoulder at him.
Outside, the couple went back and forth.
Lars crooked his finger, beckoning her. She moved an almost-indecipherable amount. He grinned, liking her game. He grabbed both of her ankles and dragged her across the mattress, almost to the edge of the bed. She opened her mouth in mock surprise. He silently laughed, tapped her lightly on the ass and pointed his thumb up.
Delphi got on her knees and all the joking was over because there wasn’t a damn thing funny about her rounded rump thrust in the air and the sweet pink of her glistening sex tempting him.
He gently pushed down on her shoulders until her cheek rested again the sheet. Oh, yeah. He stepped up behind her and wrapped his hands around her hips, holding her in place. He slid the head of his cock against her slick opening. She made a low mewling noise in the back of her throat and his cock quivered.
He entered her slowly and she snatched a pillow and buried her face in it. They set up a rhythm. He pushed into her and she thrust back on him. It was hot, hot, hot to watch his cock slide in and out of her, to feel her warm, wet sex wrap around him.
He could feel her climax coming. Lars gave in to his orgasm, coming right along with her. He lay back down on the bed with her, and she simply lay there as if she were boneless.
He still wore his T-shirt. She still had on her nightgown. She was facing the opposite direction and he pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck.
“Feel free to wake me up that way any day, anytime,” he said.
She made a murmur of amusement.
It was a good thing his day had started on such a good note. He braced himself for what was to come and rolled away from her, sitting up. “I’m afraid I have to run. My mom is leaving this morning and I need to show up. Try not to miss me.”
She made a sound.
“That sounded suspiciously like a snort.”
“Mmm.”
She was cracking him up. It was a bit of an ego booster that he’d sexed her into such a relaxed state.
“Begging me not to leave won’t do any good. I’ve got to go, Blondie.”
She looked at him, heavy-lidded, obviously sated. “You’re an idiot, Reinhardt.”
“Oh, yeah? Would you let an idiot do this?” He raised the hem of her gown and kissed her plump butt cheek as he got out of bed.
She laughed in surprise and rolled over on her back. “Thanks.”
“For?” Was she thanking him for sex? For leaving? For literally kissing her ass?
“For, well, everything. Yesterday was fun. And thanks for putting me to bed last night. And this morning...well, that was good.”
“I’m just going to see my mother off,” he said. If she was trying to give him a kiss-off, she’d have to be more direct than that. “I’ll be back.”
She offered a teasing smile. “I was counting on it.”
He loved her smiles. They weren’t all the same. There was her smart-ass smile, her haughty smile and her I-just-got-sexed-into-bliss smile.
“Okay,” he said, oddly reluctant to leave her.
“Go. Before I drag you back to bed.”
He stood, pulling on his pants before he blew his mother off.
He stopped at the door and looked back at her. She was all tousled and inviting stretched out on the white sheets. She wore an I-want-more-of-you smile—definitely his favorite so far.
* * *
MERRILEE HESITATED, which was something she very seldom did with her husband. Bull had been not only her lover but her best friend for twenty-five years now, but when it came to blood relations, folks could be peculiar. Her husband was no exception. But she needed to talk to someone and he was the one. She would choose her words carefully.
He worked at the chunk of wood with his whittling knife and beat her to the conversational punch.
“What’s on your mind? You’ve been looking like you were ready to bust all morning. What gives?”
He knew her well, sometimes too well. It made getting away with anything darn near impossible. She’d left the airstrip to come over and talk to him.
“Well, yesterday—”
“I know. I’ve been waiting for you to bring up the business with Janie.” They hadn’t talked about it last night. She’d seen Bull’s mind going over it when she’d gotten back from walking Janie to Alyce’s bed-and-breakfast yesterday. But instead, they’d talked about the wedding and how much fun everyone had at the reception afterward. Light and easy conversation. The one thing she’d learned was it didn’t matter if you were lovers or husband and wife or best friends or a combination thereof, things needed to be discussed in the right time and space. Sometimes banal conversation cleared the air and paved the way for weightier issues later. And, while it wasn’t what she’d wanted to discuss with him, he obviously wanted to talk about his crazy sister now. Merrilee tried to keep a compassionate mind and heart open to Janie, but Janie made it difficult.
“Okay,” she said, opening the door for him to say what was obviously on his mind.
He shook his head, a frown planting grooves across his forehead. “I didn’t realize until last night just how Janie’s peculiarities...have affected her boys. I did a lot of thinking last night. I’ve been busy with my own life and haven’t really spent any time around the boys since they were teenagers. But I think her behavior has had a negative impact on Lars. I think her madness is the reason he went into bomb disposal—and the reason he won’t get serious with a woman.”
She’d been so focused on Dirk’s problems, she hadn’t thought about Lars.
“How’s that?”
“I have a theory that Lars likes to detonate bombs because then he’s the one who controls the explosions going on around him.”
“You’re probably right.” Bull was right about most things, although she hated to admit it sometimes.
He nodded. “I remember what it was like growing up with her. And I was her brother, not her kid. The least little thing could set Janie off and when she exploded...well, it wasn’t pretty.” He sighed. “I bet you got an earful tonight walking her back.”
“I did. I just listened and my only comment was about how weddings could be fun but they could also be very tense. Really, anything I said wasn’t going to make a difference.”
“That’s for damn sure. I told Lars the same thing tonight. He can say what he needs to say to make himself feel better but it won’t change Janie. What do you make of him and Delphi?”
Merrilee knew Bull well enough to know he wasn’t so much switching topics as focusing on something that was unfolding. Janie was who and what she was. “There’s chemistry for sure, and I’d say some pretty high walls, as well.”
“You know we Swenson men like a challenge. Their last name might be Reinhardt, but by blood, they’re Swensons.”
“Well, there is that.” Merrilee was impatient to get this off of her chest. “Speaking of challenges, I wanted to talk to you about Dirk.”
Her husband looked momentarily taken aback, which was most unlike Bull. “Damn, here I was thinking it was Janie and Lars on your mind and I’ve been rattling on about them. What’s up with Dirk?”
“I’m pretty sure he can barely read and write.”
Very little shocked Bull, but this definitely took him by surprise. “You mean he’s illiterate?”
“I think he’s semiliterate, maybe at a second- or third-grade level. At least, what would’ve been third-grade level when you and I were in school.”
“How’d this come up?” Bull suddenly looked old and rather weary and Merrilee realized they weren’t spring chickens anymore. “He say something to you?”
“No. He wouldn’t. And I think he’s done a great job of compensating and hiding it over the years. But I was helping him write an email, which is another story, and it was pretty apparent.”
“Hmm.”
“I know you tell me to mind my own business most of the time.”
“Which you ignore most of the time. But this is one time you shouldn’t.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. I’m just not sure how to approach it because there are self-esteem issues involved. I think it needs to come from you.”
“I’m thinking we should both sit down with him. But we need to have a game plan in place to present to him as an option.”
“Okay.” Merrilee could pull together a plan. She was good at that.
“Do you think Liam or Tansy know?” Bull continued. “They both work with him.”
“I don’t think they have a clue. It’s not anything either of them would ignore.” Merrilee gave way to the component that had made her angry ever since she’d recognized Dirk’s handicap last night. “Damn, his mom was a teacher, for crying out loud. How did Laurie not notice?”
How did a mother who taught English for a living not realize her son was practically illiterate?
“Probably because Dirk was always more interested in outdoor stuff—hunting or riding a four-wheeler and skipping school. I think she finally threw her hands up and let him do what he wanted to do.”
Merrilee wanted to cry for Dirk. “Yeah, you’d skip school, too, if you couldn’t read at the same level everyone else in your class could.”
“On top of it all, he’s always been awkwardly bigger than everyone else,” Bull said. And yeah, that would just make not reading all the worse. “Maybe it’d be best coming from Lars. They’ve always been close.”
“I don’t know. He’s going to know it came from me. That’s at least three of us who will know his secret.”
“Things become overwhelming when you keep a secret bottled up. Not that he needs to take an ad out in the paper, but I think it might actually be a relief to him if he’s aware that the three of us know.”
“You’re a good man, Bull Swenson.”
“I know.” She swatted playfully at him. “I’m one lucky son of a bitch.”