Free Sweet in Love by Nadia Lee

manage.”
    “Don’t feel like you have to. It’s your weekend.”
    “And I’d love to spend part of it with your folks. Your father was more of a dad to me than mine ever was.”
    “You really didn’t like him, did you?”
    “Norman?” Pete barked a laugh. “He was irresponsible and a total failure.”
    “Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on him? He was just following his dreams.”
    “Geez, you sound like Amandine. But then you guys are tight. Listen, Dad’s only dream was to avoid having any responsibilities. He never wanted to do anything unpleasant or hard. His grand vision of life was to have lots of money—without having to work for it. He always used us—his family—to justify his ridiculous schemes. ‘I want to provide for my family.’ ‘I love my family.’ Yada yada. But whenever he had an opportunity for a job that would actually pay him enough to get us a place of our own or anything, there’d always be some reason for him to turn it down. Especially if there was some ‘get rich quick’ scheme presenting itself instead. Trust me. That’s not a dream. That’s being entitled and lazy.”
    Brooke processed it. Amandine always spoke of Norman like he had been the most loving and amazing father ever. It was interesting to get Pete’s perspective on it, and why he despised his father so much.
    “Anyway, forget about my dad,” he said. “I’d much rather get back to doing this.”
    He came forward and kissed her until she couldn’t remember what they’d been discussing. Then he carried her to bed, licking her earlobe along the way, making her shiver.
    She let him undress her, then undress himself. Maybe she should worry about how easy it was to have him in her life, like he was the most natural thing ever.
    He kissed her body all over, his warm hands wrapped greedily around her curves. It didn’t matter that they had slept together every night since their first time. Electric pleasure danced across her skin, and every breath she drew seemed to be filled with exquisite sweetness.
    She wrapped her hand around his thickness. He was hard and throbbing. A low groan lodged deep in his throat as he closed his eyes and savored what her fingers were doing to him. The tip of his cock was slick with need, and she parted her thighs, desperate to have him inside her.
    He surged into her, and as her inner muscles clenched around him, she couldn’t help but think that maybe this was how intimacy was meant to be, how her life
should
be, and the fact that Pete was her best friend’s younger brother was just an asterisk in their relationship, nothing more.
    * * *
     
    “You know you don’t have to come to the service,” Brooke said one more time as she ran between her bedroom, closet and bathroom like the proverbial headless yardbird. “You aren’t going to understand a word. It’s all in Korean.”
    “I don’t mind.” He’d just fantasize about her and wait for lightning to strike him down.
    “Hah. You say that now.” She eyed Pete as he put a mini-tablet into his jacket pocket. “And you can’t play with your gadget during the sermon. The Hags will complain.”
    “The Hags?”
    “Old ladies who have nothing to do except spy on everyone and gossip and complain. They’re awful. You can’t even sneeze in church without them talking about it.”
    He raised his right hand, palm forward. “I won’t embarrass you, I promise.”
    She looked skeptical. “I think it’s better if you stay here and chill, then meet me at Sandy’s later.”
    “And leave you for some enterprising single doctor or lawyer to steal away? Fat chance.”
    “I thought you didn’t care.”
    “Of course I care. I didn’t wait eight years just to lose you to some physician with a guilt complex. Just let me be the chest-pounding caveman who guards his woman, okay?”
    Her eyes widened a bit, then she turned to the mirror and busied herself with her hair. It was growing out some, but still fairly short.