Free KissedByASEAL by Cat Johnson Page B

She spun to leave.
    Rick glanced up from his bacon as Darci headed for the back door. “Where are you going? Lunch is almost ready.”
    Hand on the doorknob, she paused. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to find your bag and make sure it doesn’t smell or anything.”
    Scowling, Rick called after her, “How do you even know where it is?”  
    “The same way I know where everything always is.” The door to the garage slammed behind her, cutting off further discussion.
    Chris chewed on his lip to avoid laughing at Rick’s unhappy expression. Something fell with a loud crash out in the garage. He glanced at Rick. “Should I go help her?”
    “Nope. Let Miss Smarty Pants ask for help if she needs it.”
    Against his better judgment, Chris nodded. “A’ight.”
    Rick tore off some paper towels and put them on a plate. He began transferring the cooked strips of bacon onto the plate while shaking his head. “I’m telling you, Chris. God help you this weekend. I don’t know how you’re gonna handle being stuck with Darci for four days straight.”
    “I think I’ll be fine.”
    He heard a loud, unladylike cuss from the garage, followed by another crash. “I’m going to go check on what’s going on out there.”
    Rick cocked a brow. “Sure. Go ahead, you wuss.”
    “No, I’m a gentleman. And it won’t hurt to keep your sister in a good mood since I do have to spend four days with her.” Grinning, Chris was just about to head for the garage when the door whipped open and Darci barreled in, looking flustered and absolutely adorable as she continued to cuss beneath her breath.
    Since Rick seemed intent on ignoring her completely as he focused overly hard on putting the frying pan in the sink, Chris decided he needed to say something. “Everything okay?”
    “Fine, except that only an idiot would store tennis rackets and golf shoes on top of his pack all the way up on the top shelf where I can’t see them.” Darci shot Rick a look before taking the big canvas bag to her room.
    Shaking his head, Rick glanced at Chris, obviously looking for commiseration, when all Chris could do was try and control his smile at how cute she looked when she was mad.
    “I’m telling you, dude. You don’t know how lucky you are to have a brother. You should thank God every day of your life that she isn’t your sister.” Rick hooked a thumb in the direction Darci had gone.
    Given his feelings for Darci, Chris had to agree.
    She appeared again, pink cheeked and still full of piss and vinegar as she shot her brother a look. All it did was make Chris want to kiss her more than usual.
    Damn. He needed to get his head on straight before Thursday morning. He was going to eat this burger, go home and not see her again until they were ready to board that plane. Maybe by then he’d kick this thing.
    She slid her cute ass onto the stool and he’d be damned if he didn’t watch.
    Then again, maybe not. Chris yanked his gaze away. Crap .

CHAPTER 9
    They were nearly to the airport Thursday morning when Chris could no longer ignore the steady drumming coming from his passenger seat.
    “Darci, it’s gonna be fine.”
    “I know.” Her quick, high-pitched answer didn’t instill confidence in Chris.
    “Do you?” He glanced down at her foot, which had been tapping fast against the floorboards for the past half an hour.
    She stopped the nervous motion immediately. “Sorry.”
    “Not a problem. It’s gonna be so simple and quick, next thing you know we’ll be in the plane on the way home and you’ll be wishing we were back in sunny Florida.”
    The burst of air that had her lips flapping didn’t sound like agreement to him.
    He reached out and put a hand on the back of her neck, squeezing gently. “But, seriously. We fly in. We drink some champagne. Throw some rice. Throw some bullshit. Fly out. Done.”
    “Okay.” Touching her wasn’t helping him any, but it seemed to relax her. Or at least gave her something else to