Back in the front bedroom, where Eli wouldn’t see her, Kylie picked up the curtains she’d made and began inserting the rod through the rings. Holly came in when she heard the rustling.
“Kylie? Everything okay?”
“Yes, of course.”
“You said before that you insulted Eli, but from what I saw he’s definitely interested in you. He looks at you the way Deke looks at me. There’s something primal about these O’Banions, don’t you think?”
Primal. “That’s it, yes.” She slid the last of the rings onto the rod and lifted it to the brackets over the window. “I apologized for something I said and he accepted. End of story.”
Until and unless Kylie learned her cousins could be trusted, she’d be safer saying, and giving, nothing of herself. Much as she wanted to talk easily about her feelings and her life, she had to tread carefully. Trusting too much too soon could be painful.
“Okay. Well, if you ever want to talk about Eli and you, I’m here.” Holly’s breezy acceptance that there was something to talk about regarding Eli made Kylie grin.
“Thanks. If I need advice, you’ll be the first one I ask.” She placed the end of the rod in the bracket and stretched to fit the other side. “I doubt there will ever be anything between us. I want roots and he moves around too much. I did that all my life with my mother. Time for that to stop.”
Holly nodded. “Must be nice to be so tall. I’d need a step-ladder for this.”
“We never needed a kitchen stool after I turned twelve,” she quipped, relieved her cousin had changed topics. Kylie would prefer to mull over her attraction to Eli. She was rarely impulsive when it came to men, which was why it had been out of character for her to insult him at first sight.
“Speaking of advice, I’d like to get your take on something,” Holly said. Her cousin’s usually sunny expression dimmed.
“Sure, what’s up?” As long as this wasn’t about sex, she’d be fine. Her expertise would fit on the head of a pin.
“My ex is stalking me.”
“How? I mean is he here? On the Peninsula? Or is this more like cyber-stalking?”
“He’s been belligerent on the phone, leaving me nasty messages and being an ass when I call back. But I saw his car. And he may have seen Deke and me together.”
“Oh, that’s not good. My mom had a weird ex-boyfriend once. We moved out in the middle of the night and left the state.”
“You’re suggesting I run away?”
“No. Not in this case. If he’s seen you with Deke, it’s probably too late to avoid a confrontation. I’d call the police and ask advice.”
Holly agreed. “But I won’t tell Deke I’ve spoken to the police. This is my problem, not his.”
“But—”
“No. He got involved with a woman in the middle of a nasty divorce and custody battle. It nearly broke him. I’m the first woman he’s been with since then. I feel terrible that Jack’s pulling this shit. But more for Deke’s sake than mine. Jack’s harmless, really.”
“More hot air than action?”
Holly nodded and a spring of tension inside Kylie eased. “Well, that’s different. Deke will come to terms with this in his own time. In the meantime it can’t hurt to have a private talk with the local police and ask about the process for getting a restraining order.”
“Jack’s not a man who responds to intimidation well. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t tell my family about the divorce until I’d already made my decision and moved out. If my father and brothers had seen me unraveling and fighting with Jack, they may have stood up for me. Believe me, that would have been worse for me. As long as it was kept private, Jack didn’t feel as humiliated by the divorce. It was easier all around.”
Kylie nodded. “I can see that. Sometimes family drama feeds off itself and can get ugly.” Maybe that was part of her mother’s reason for cutting herself out of her family.
Holly suddenly drooped around the eyes and her shoulders sagged. “You’re tired of this,” Kylie guessed.
Holly nodded. “I am. I want Deke, Kylie. I do. More than I ever thought possible, but if Jack doesn’t go away soon I don’t know that he’ll stick with me.”
The afternoon after he chased Marnie to Seattle, TJ slipped his hands to Marnie’s wrists and held them over her head. She grabbed the headboard and held on. “I like you this way,” he said, drinking in the sight and scent of her. “Ready and wet and open.”
“I like you hard,” she responded. “And big. And oh—yes! Just like that.” Her belly and cradle softened against his hips as he slid into her. She had the most intriguing habit of widening her eyes in that first thrust, as if she were surprised to find him inside.
Wet heat enveloped him, body and soul as he pressed and retreated. Her slick inner walls gave with every push and clasped with every pull.
He tightened his hold on her wrists and tugged so she arched her breasts. He took one and sucked her nipple deep, then scraped it with the back of his teeth as he released slowly. She gasped at the friction and bucked her hips up to meet his thrust. He felt her ankles high on his waist. “Higher, take me deeper.”
“Greedy bastard.” Marnie bucked, then did as she was told. He slid deeper and she swore but never released the headboard. She liked the powerful strokes, the deep thrusts as he reared back, grabbed her ankles and set them on his shoulders.
The slide in was sin itself. Every millimeter pulled back on his sensitive skin, each pull made him groan.
“Fuck me,” she screamed. “Hard.”
But slow was so damn good.
When she screamed it again, he chuckled and held himself still. He felt the throb of his cock, the wetness of her channel as she pulsed lightly around him. “Orders? You think I’ll take orders?” But he gave her what she wanted and bucked harder. Sweat pooled between his shoulder blades as she flew apart in his arms. Her orgasm rumbled through her shuddering body and into his chest. He thumbed her clit to keep the pressure on as she strained against him.
He pulled out quickly while she spasmed and put his mouth to her, lapping fresh cream as she came. He tore off the condom and turned head to tail so she could finish him with her mouth. She took his cock deep in her throat while he buried his tongue in her fresh wet pussy. “Delicious.”
Her tongue caressed him lightly until his balls contracted with the first spurt. He filled her throat in a powerful rush. Heart pounding, he slid his hands to her ass cheeks and squeezed the soft flesh with a gentle shake. She took all he had and reached to press his sac for more.
Moisture seeped at her slit as he lapped at her. Her clit engorged as he worked her toward another orgasm. “You’re one juicy woman.” He rubbed his face across her thighs and reveled in the softness.
She finger-combed her curls and gave her labia a shimmy. “Mm, yes.”
“Do that again. I want to see you come that way.”
She obliged as he darted his tongue between the apex of her fingers to her clit. She moaned and arched as he encouraged her into one last shivering cataclysm.
He slid to her side and gathered her close.
“You taste good,” she said as she licked her lips with a mysterious smile.
“You put honey to shame.”
“Flatterer.”
“Are you sore?”
“No, are you?”
“I think my tongue’s blistered,” he said, sticking it out.
“Well, I’ll be. A callus,” she teased. “As good as you taste, I think I need a shower and food.” She rolled off the bed and headed to her bathroom.
He followed. “We’ll do both together.” His stomach growled. “I need food.”
“We should go out to eat or we’ll end up back in bed with empty stomachs. I pretty much cleaned out my fridge before I left for the inn.”
“Know a good steakhouse?”
“Several.”
“My kind of woman,” he said. “Even if you do love the city.”
She frowned. “At this point, with Dennis being such an ass and a lawsuit brewing, I’m not so in love as I once was.”
He let the comment pass. No sense pushing her; she’d buck. Between coming to some consensus with her cousins about the inn, and now Dennis pushing her stress buttons, he decided to let her come to her own conclusions. It was safer that way.
Thirty minutes later, clean and shiny, they headed to the door, intent on food. Marnie’s phone rang.
She pulled a disappointed face but answered without looking at her screen. “This better be important, Dennis.” She frowned. “Oh, sorry, Holly, what’s up?”
He hoped it wasn’t a problem with the site, but Deke would’ve called. He pressed the call button for the elevator while she talked.
“He is? I’ll tell him. Yes, he’s here with me.” She rolled her eyes. “Shut up.” She put her hand over the receiver. “You’d think I’d never had sex before. But she’s calling to say your youngest brother arrived today.”
“Good. I’ll call him.” He stepped a few feet away and dialed Eli’s cell. “Yo, the prodigal son and all that,” he said when Eli answered.
“Yeah, yeah. Good to be home, Teeje. I like what you’ve done to the inn.” He laughed. “What was that the women were saying? Oh, yeah, it’s decluttered out back.”
He snorted. “You’ve met Holly and Kylie?”
“If I’d known there was a babe fest going on, I’d’ve been back sooner. But it seems all the friendly ones are taken.”
He laughed. “Kylie’s seen through you that fast, huh?” He hooted. “She’s a smart one.”
“Marnie must be desperate to take up with an old guy when she could have waited for me.”
He accepted the dig about his age. “But she likes her men fully grown, not runty.”
“Jeez. Missed you, Teeje.”
“Missed you, too, boy. Now get to work. I’ll be on site first thing Monday morning.” He was smiling as he disconnected. Eli was home, Deke was happy and off the booze and Marnie was giving it up big time. Life couldn’t be any better.
He turned as he heard Marnie locking her apartment door. Life might be fine with him, but she looked worried. “What’s up?”
“Holly’s naive sometimes.”
“How?” He kept his voice soft. If this was about his brother, he wanted to hear it, but he’d have to tread carefully.
“Her ex, Jack, is on the Peninsula. He didn’t tell her he was coming, but a woman in the hardware store said a man fitting his description was looking for Holly.” Her eyes went wide as she looked up at him. “Jack’s got a couple screws loose, in my opinion. The family was relieved when she left him.”
“She divorced the guy. She must’ve had a good reason. How long has it been?” Relieved Holly hadn’t complained about Deke, he slung his arm across Marnie’s shoulder and pulled her into his side.
“The divorce is final, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“So he let all that happen without freaking out, why assume he’s out to do her harm now?”
Her face fell and she chewed her lip. “She felt sorry for him, I guess. And…” she trailed away, looking guilty. “I shouldn’t betray a confidence.”
His belly sank. “She kept sleeping with him,” he guessed. A couple he knew kept that up until they got back together. “She gave him hope that she’d let him back into her life.” Now she was sleeping with his brother. And he was hip deep into someone else’s divorce.
Again.
“I’ve got to call Deke.”
“He was with her in the hardware store, so he knows. And I would prefer that you leave it to Holly to explain about the rest of it. She’s independent to a fault when it comes to her private life. In fact, I’m surprised she told me this much.”
“She didn’t have a choice if Deke was with her at the hardware store. Once Alice gets her gums flapping on a juicy bit of gossip, the whole Peninsula will know there’s another man looking for Deke’s new woman.” Although he admired Holly for trying to keep a lid on Deke’s involvement.
The elevator doors opened, revealing a mother and two young children, putting an end to their personal conversation.
At the lobby, he held the doors open while the mother held her youngest on her hip and the toddler managed on unsteady legs to exit. He refused to hold his mother’s hand, insisting he could walk alone. The kids were sandy-haired mop tops and the little girl’s smile brought one to Marnie’s lips. She waggled her fingers and the girl giggled.
With the doors closing, TJ called his brother. “Deke, were you with Holly in the hardware store?”
“This about the guy looking for her?”
“Marnie says he’s got a screw loose. Keep a sharp eye out for him.”
“Holly told me she can handle this guy herself.”
“Maybe, but Marnie says he’s a lit fuse. Everyone in the family saw it except Holly.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s already seen us together.”
“Then be careful.”
“I will.”
“Good. Do you want me there?”
“No. Eli’s here if I need help. Holly’s prickly about this and I don’t want her thinking I’m sticking my nose in when I said I wouldn’t.”
“You told her about Misty?”
“Yes.”
“And about how you don’t get involved with divorced women?”
“Too late for that now.”
“I figured.”
“Speaking of involved, how are things on your end?”
“Great. We’re heading out for a steak.”
Deke laughed. “Don’t let her finish her meal. Women get sleepy on a full stomach.”
TJ disconnected as they walked to her car. “You know this guy, Jack; do you think he’s dangerous?”
“I’m not sure, but how many times are neighbors surprised when some guy goes wacko? If you’re friendly with the police up there…”
“You’re right, I’ll call Chuck. It couldn’t hurt to ask him to swing by the inn on patrol.” The call was short and succinct and made TJ feel that he’d done what he could without interfering too much. He stopped beside her car. “There’s no way I’m going to fit in there.”
She looked at his shoulders, then let her gaze slide south. “You’re right. We’ll use your truck. After dinner would you mind dropping me at the club?”
“As long as I can park myself at the end of the bar and watch you work.”
She slid her hand into his. “I’d like that. There’s nothing like a mountain man in a plaid shirt, blue jeans and work boots to bring in the pretty young women.”
“I kind of liked that blonde last night. The one with the boobs down to her lap.”
She pinched his ass so hard he jumped out of reach. “Hey, that hurt.”
“Did it?” She said, all wide-eyed innocence.