The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,63

hadn't, that would have been another reason not to become involved with them.

"Honey, are you here?" they heard someone calling from the kitchen.

"On the patio, Ryan." She had to stop herself from calling him "Sir.” Lita's eyebrows would have ended up at the nape of her neck if she had done that.

Come to think of it, that would be a sight to see.

Ryan practically jogged up to her, almost landing in her lap before he curled his hand beneath the hair at the back of her neck and tilted her face up to his. "Since you're busy tonight, I said I'd cover for someone who needs emergency time off, but I'll miss you terribly."

His kiss was just as passionate but a bit sweeter than Adam's had been.

When he rose, he took possession of Laurie's hand while flashing a blinding smile at her friend. "Hi, Lita! It's good to see you!"

"It's good to see you, too, Ryan," she returned.

"Is there anything I can get the two of you?" he asked solicitously.

"No, thanks. We have what we need, for the moment, anyway, and Lita brought Chinese food and Napoleons from that little bakery downtown for later, plus I have candy and more chips, just in case we start to starve. We're gonna watch season three of Victoria, Mary, Queen of Scots, and The Favourite."

Ryan smiled. "Sounds like a wonderful time!"

"Liar," Laurie accused with no rancor at all. "You're allergic to costume dramas! They bore you to tears!"

"Well, it's a good thing that I'm leaving then, isn't it? You two enjoy yourselves!"

He bent to kiss her again, more quickly this time. "Promise me you'll be very careful," Laurie looked up into his eyes.

"Of course. With you waiting for me at home, how could I not be?" He kissed her hand, winked at Lita, and was on his way, saying, "I love you!"

"I love you, too!"

Lita just sat there, staring at her.

"I know. You hate me," her friend supplied, trying some of her own dip.

"I hated you long before all of this." Melita waved her hand around in the air in the general direction of the ranch house. "I don't think there's even a word for how I feel right now."

Laurie heard the kitchen door close and was thinking that her poor friend had yet another round of gorgeous masculinity to suffer through before they were done.

When Jace came onto the deck, he was shirtless. He smelled a lot like leather and a little bit like horse, but that only added to his appeal, at least as far as Laurie was concerned. And judging from the look on her friend's face, she wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Lita's mouth was literally hanging open.

And he entered with an apology as he used his t-shirt to wipe his head. "I'm all sweaty. I should have showered before I came out here, but I was missing you too much all day."

He bent to give her a loud smooch, then rose.

"Lita, this is Jace."

Lita offered her hand, but Jace politely declined, "You don't really want to shake my hand, believe me. I'll go shower and come back and repeat this, if you two wouldn't mind."

Lita said it long before Laurie got to it but probably just about as breathlessly, "Oh no, we wouldn't mind at all."

"Good." He bent down and kissed the top of her head while scrupulously not touching her with his dirty hands. "Be right back, love."

Lita's dirty mind was filled with thoughts of that large, muscular man showering not far from where they were sitting. So much so that she was strangely quiet.

"Cat got your tongue?"

Her friend's eyes met hers, and she looked somewhat dazed as she spouted a mouthful of gibberish.

Laurie took pity on her and handed her another shot. "This'll help you deal with them. It always helps me."

Lita didn't usually like tequila, but Laurie didn't think that she even noticed what she had been given—she just bolted it down.

"Have some more snacks, or you'll be snockered much too early."

Lita was doing exactly as she was told, which was as unusual as Laurie doing the same!

She'd recovered a bit by the time Jace reappeared, wearing a pair of faded jeans that clung to him as lovingly as she did when she came, and a white golf shirt that showed off his tan and well-muscled—veiny—forearms.

Laurie had stood to bring the dip pan into the kitchen to soak and get something else to snack on when he took her into his arms and