Free Lingerie Wars (The Invertary books) by janet elizabeth henderson Page B

these moves properly."
    Her green eyes darkened as she studied him.
    "Why?" she asked again.
    Lake ran a hand over his hair.
    "Because I want you to fight back," Lake told her. "A war is no fun if you don't fight back."
    She stared at him for a while, obviously thinking things through. Lake held his breath while he waited.
    "Fine," she said at last.
    To Lake's surprise, he felt relief that she'd agreed. He took her by the hand to a space large enough to practice in. As he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, he inhaled her scent. Delicious.
    "Seriously, Lake," Kirsty said. "Why are you doing this?"
    "I told you," he said. "I want you to fight."
    There was a pause.
    "I don't know how," she said softly.
    Lake hated the way she sounded—defeated even before they started. It was a far cry from the hellion in the newspaper photo.
    "That's why I'm showing you," he told her. "Trust me, Kirsty, this is going to be a blast."
    "You keep telling me that," she said with resignation. "I'm getting a little worried that you might mean it literally."
    With a grin, Lake wound his arm around her waist. He felt her relax this time, rather than stiffen against him. He smiled into her hair. Perfect. She was perfect.
    With a sigh of long suffering, Kirsty half-heartedly elbowed him in the side. Lake grinned widely.
    "That's pathetic," he told her. "Come on, make it a good one. You can't hurt me."
    Kirsty elbowed him again. Hard. Well, hard for her.
    "That's an improvement, but I'm pretty sure Jean can do better and she's half your size."
    She frowned at him and elbowed him even harder.
    "You're cheesing me off now," she told him.
    "That's just the way I want it," he said, and she groaned.
    As he dodged her other blows, he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye.
    By the door to the shop stood a fuming tartan Hobbit.

CHAPTER FIVE

    Lake was having a shower after his morning run when Rainne pounded on the door.
    "What have you done?" she yelled.
    Lake wrapped a towel around himself and threw open the door.
    "It's terrible," Rainne wailed at him. "How could you?"
    She stomped into the living room, making Lake follow. It was more like dealing with a teenager rather than his twenty-six-year-old sister.
    "Want to give me a little more information, sis? What exactly did I do this time that's so terrible?"
    He wasn't surprised to see Betty in her usual chair, scoffing her usual pie and making no effort to hide the fact she was ogling him.
    "Cut it out," he told her.
    "I'm a woman." She shrugged.
    He wasn't sure about that. Half the time he wasn't even sure she was human.
    "Well?" he demanded of his sister, who was currently pouting on the couch. "Spit it out."
    "Kirsty's shop." She pointed to the window. "What have you done?"
    Now he was really confused. He strode across the living room carpet, in five long steps, to pull back the curtain. Outside Eye Candy there was a group of people with placards. A woman wearing an A-line polyester coat and a headscarf was carrying a megaphone.
    "I didn't do this," he told Rainne.
    "Yeah, right. You always did fight dirty as a kid, but this isn't fair." Rainne came to stand beside him.
    "You're too young to remember how I fought. And I didn't do this."
    "So, who did?"
    Slowly, they turned to Betty, who was doing a poor impersonation of an innocent person.
    "Okay, old woman, what did you do?" Lake said, his stomach sinking with the words.
    She stuck her nose in the air and made a humphing noise.
    "I declared war," she said primly.
    Lake let the curtain fall.
    "No. I declared war."
    "That you did, and it was such a piss-poor job I had to do it again. You don't want a war. All you want is to make googly eyes at the enemy. I saw you last night. Your mind wasn't on attack. It was on getting your hands on Kirsty. You were teaching her to fight. What the heck is that about? You clearly have no idea what a real war is. So I started one. If you want something done right, get a woman."
    Lake ran a hand over his