His Southern Temptation - By Robin Covington Page 0,13
his eyes widened and he maintained strict eye contact. God, she loved her brother, but damn he was seriously uptight about some things. His attitude was practically begging her to be the brat and tweak him a little more. That’s what little sisters were for, right? “They hurt more than the tattoos though.”
“Oh, hell.” He settled to sit on the edge of the desk, arms crossed and looking like a lawyer in full cross-examination mode. Well, give it your best shot. I’ve got nothing to hide. Except the fact that she’d slept with his best friend. Repeatedly. On different continents. She’d keep that to herself. “How many? Where? You know they’re going to slide dangerously south when you’re an old woman, right?”
“Whatever. I’m going to be hot when I’m old.” Taylor flashed him body parts as she rattled off the list. “One on my wrist, ankle, lower back—total tramp stamp—and one on my shoulder.” She turned back to face him, her hands open with a shrug. “That’s it.”
“I think that’s enough. I hope you don’t regret them someday.”
“There are many things I will regret, but a little body ink and piercings won’t be on the list.”
Teague stared at her. She wanted to tell him not to worry about it, she was a big girl and the country club path wasn’t the only one that led to that mystical world called happiness. She’d found it with a stolen car, a plane ticket to Hawaii, and the sand between her toes.
“Well, avoid shocking the Baptist ladies club when they come to help you with the house. They’ll see those tats and hold a prayer vigil over you.”
“Why would they be coming to help?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been gone so long you’ve forgotten southern hospitality?”
“Or they just want to get in the house for a look around?” That was the flip side of southern hospitality—if you’re the one delivering the help, you got a front-row seat for everything.
He put a finger against his lips, indicating she should keep her voice down. Teague gestured toward the front of the office. “Jerline arranged it, and I’ve learned not to tell her no. I’m man enough to admit that she scares me a little.”
“Chicken.” Laughing, she reached down to grab her purse, ready to head out and get started on the packing. Their father’s secretary had always been an unstoppable force, fueled by her no-nonsense approach to life and a towering hairstyle anchored in place with about three cans of Aqua Net hair spray. Taylor welcomed the help, because the sooner they got the house sold, the sooner her dream became a reality.
“You really okay with Lucky staying at the house?”
She turned to look at him. His tone was off, something strained underneath the casual surface. “Sure, why not?”
“I remember you two have a love-hate thing going on at times.” He gestured to the ceiling where the furnished apartment their father owned was located. “You can stay here.”
“Nope. We’re good. We’ll work it out like grown-ups.”
Teague was pretty clueless about the passion that was always running between them like an electric current. She grinned at how she planned to work it out with Lucky, and in how many places, and in how many different positions.
“I promise we’ll try not to shock the Baptist ladies too much.”
Chapter Five
“You can come out now. They’re gone.”
Taylor sat perched on the kitchen counter watching the opening to the back staircase, the one originally intended for the servants, for the appearance of the man she knew was lurking in the shadows. Lucky was off his game if she’d spotted him slinking back up the stairs during the chaos created when the Baptist ladies left for the day.
Over the past two days, she’d caught only a glimpse of his hot ass when he sneaked out of the house with the sunrise, and missed him completely when he came home way after dark.
“How’d you know I was here?” He descended the stairs, emerging into the light of the kitchen and blinking against the sudden change in his surroundings.
“I always know when you’re near me,” she said, her words emphasized by the slow crossing and uncrossing of her legs. The move was deliberately sexy on her part.
She watched him rake his eyes over her body, hoping he was enticed by what she was offering, from the tips of the lime-green polish on her toes to the soft curve of her breasts exposed by the neckline of her yellow sundress. When his gaze shifted to