I Crave You - C.C. Wood Page 0,37

of my friend, Brody?"

I inhaled sharply...and promptly choked on my tea. My eyes watered as I coughed. And coughed. And coughed.

Finally, J.J. came over to me and pounded his hand between my shoulder blades. "You okay, Cam? Jesus, what happened?"

I was still too busy trying to exhale sweet tea to answer, so Sierra stepped up. "Thanks so much for the offer to fix me up, J.J., but I'm pretty sure Brody isn't interested in me. And I'm not really interested in him."

J.J. opened his mouth as though he wanted to argue, but Sierra shook her head at him and disappeared into the kitchen. He looked at me. "Did I just stick my foot in my mouth?"

I took my first decent breath since I choked on my drink and patted him on the arm. "Only every time you speak, darlin'."

He scowled at me and followed Sierra into the kitchen. I laughed to myself and took a cautious sip of my tea. It wasn't often my brother left himself wide open for a verbal jab like that. I wanted to savor it.

The doorbell rang and I was grateful I'd already swallowed the liquid in my mouth because I definitely would have choked again. Without looking out the window, I knew it was Brody. Well, it had to be because no one else was supposed to come to lunch today.

I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. Calm. Cool. Collected. No embarrassing myself.

When I opened the front door, Brody stood with his hands tucked in the pockets of his shorts and grinned at me.

"Hey, there."

Must be strong. No drooling. No fawning. And absolutely, positively no swooning. I was a McClane. I was made of sterner stuff than that.

I answered as I stepped back to let him in. "Hey. No Jacks today?"

"Her mom called this morning and asked to keep her one more night since it's summer. Jacks said she wanted to stay, so I agreed," he answered with a shake of his head.

"Well, tell her we missed her," I replied. "And that I still expect her to come help me next week."

Brody's grin widened. "She'll love that."

Then he did something he hadn't done since I was a kid. He stepped into the house and gave me a tight hug. My arms lifted and wrapped around him of their own volition. Muscle memory took over and I pressed in closer the way I had when I was eight and he was eleven. Back then Brody Murphy always had a hug for me.

The hug lasted for a long while, too long because my body seemed to realize that not only was I hugging a nice, warm male body, it was firm in all the right places and he smelled good.

Crap. Abort. Abort.

Before I could drop my arms and step away, there was a clatter of footsteps behind us and I heard Sierra's choked laugh. I also heard another laugh and looked behind Brody to see Ben standing on the porch. Dear God, I'd been so consumed with ogling his brother that I hadn't noticed he was there. He was also staring at the two of us with narrowed eyes, as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Unhand my sister, you scoundrel!"

Brody released me with a laugh and turned to J.J. "What is this, the nineteenth century?"

My mother seemed oblivious as she came forward and enveloped Brody in a hug.

"And my mother too?" J.J. asked in mock outrage. "Pistols at dawn it is!"

I shook my head. "Have you been watching historical romances again?"

My brother sputtered. "I would never."

Sierra and I shared a look and laughed. Brody and Ben laughed as well as my mom released Brody and hugged his brother. "PBS or BBC?"

"Shut up," he grumbled as he grabbed a carrot stick off the tray in the center of the table and crunched on it.

Unfortunately, my mother wasn't as easily distracted.

"So when did this happen?" she asked, her eyes bright and happy.

Brody's mouth opened but I answered before he could. "Nothing happened, Mom."

Her brows lifted but instead of arguing with me she asked Brody, "Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure, Mrs. McClane."

Her eyes narrowed. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Colette?"

"One more," he teased her.

She huffed out a sigh and shook her head at his antics. She'd been asking him to call her by her first name since he turned eighteen, but he never did. "Well, come on then. Let's get you some sweet tea."

Brody and Ben followed