deserve a second helping for conspiring against your future husband with my brother,” Rubin informed her.
Jonquille rolled her eyes. “I don’t have a future husband. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a human lightning rod. Kissing me might be a little dangerous.”
Diego groaned. “You just had to go and issue that particular challenge, didn’t you?”
Rubin immediately turned his dark eyes on her, looking at her mouth with intense scrutiny. She had a beautiful mouth. That lower lip was especially intriguing. Jonquille drew herself back into the rocking chair as if she could make herself smaller, and held up the spoon as if to ward him off.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“You were the one who didn’t think it was possible. I assure you, not only is it possible, it’s going to happen, and very soon. In fact, you have berries on your lower lip and I’m thinking I might have to lick them off in another minute.”
“You might end up lit up like the Fourth of July if you try it,” she pointed out, sounding a little faint.
Diego groaned again. “Haven’t you learned anything? He thrives on challenges. Don’t say that to him. Just wave him off or something. It’s bad enough that he figured out you were trying to protect him. Now he’s going to be watching you like a hawk. Since he lumped me into your conspiracy, he’ll be doing the same to me. I won’t get away with anything.”
“Do you ever make sense?” Jonquille asked. “Because I’m pretty sure nothing that just came out of your mouth made any sense at all.” She watched Rubin eating the cobbler. “Are you really going to eat all that by yourself?”
“Yes,” Rubin said.
“No,” Diego said.
“You both suck,” Jonquille complained. “There was a reason I never went around people. I thought it was because I was a human lightning bolt. Now I know it’s because people are annoying.”
“Face it, woman,” Diego said. “We make you laugh. You find us hilarious.”
“I did until Rubin decided to eat all the cobbler.”
“I’ll share it with you if you kiss me.”
“I have to kiss you in order to get more cobbler? I made it.”
“In the interest of science and to prove I’m right,” Rubin said. “This cobbler is extra delicious. You are my future wife as well, and wives need to kiss their husbands. Those are all good reasons to decide once and for all whether or not we can kiss.”
“If we try it and you burn up, is Diego going to shoot me?”
“Depends on whether or not you agree to share that cobbler with me,” Diego said. “Maybe I should hold it while you two try the kissing thing.”
Jonquille studied his innocent features. “Not a chance. You don’t touch that cobbler.”
“Last chance, honey. Make up your mind,” Rubin prompted.
“If I kiss you, I’m not agreeing in any way that you’re my future husband. That’s just going too far. It would be for science and the cobbler.”
“I’m your future husband,” Rubin said complacently. “I expect when I kiss you, we’ll light up the night. Come over here.” He put the cobbler on the small table beside his chair and beckoned with one finger.
Jonquille hesitated. Diego gave an exaggerated sigh and held out his hand for her empty dish. “Just go. You know you’re going to, and it would be a shame if he ate all the cobbler. He would too. He’s not nearly as nice as he pretends to be.”
Jonquille slid off the rocker and padded on bare feet across the short distance to Rubin. She looked startled when he stood up, towering over her. Very gently, he framed her face with both palms, looking down into her eyes. Rubin found her eyes sexy, ethereal, intriguing. She seemed mysterious, like the fairies who moved between worlds in the stories he told his sisters.
He leaned his head down slowly, giving her plenty of time to pull away from him. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten her. Jonquille didn’t seem to be the kind of woman who scared easily. She might not reduce him to ash with a lightning bolt, but she could stab him through the heart with any one of the weapons she had on her. Her eyes searched his, and then her lashes lowered as he continued to lower his head.
He brushed a kiss across along the corner of her mouth and licked off the berry on the sweet curve of her lower lip. He lingered there, rubbing gently, coaxing with his lips on