Free Always by Lauren Dane Page B

blush when I’m offered mindblowing sex and food. You’ve offered me one, how about the other?”
    He laughed. “Come on through to the kitchen.”
    “This is a great place. I’m very impressed. It’s pretty big and you have great light.” She continued to look around, seeing evidence of a feminine hand but it didn’t seem possessive or romantic. Perhaps the sister-in-law.
    “It’s easy enough to walk around. Not a lot of walking neighborhoods left these days. Some really good places to eat within a few blocks, a park, the water isn’t too far, you can see it if you peek between those two buildings and squint your eyes.”
    She stood near his patio doors and the light behind her highlighted her body, naked beneath the wispy dress she wore. He hardened at the sight. She tiptoed up, the muscles in her pale, bare calves firm as she did.
    “There it is.” She grinned at him over her shoulder.
    “What? My God, your legs are sexy.”
    She laughed. “The ocean. I squinted and I saw the blue of it.”
    “Ah. Sorry, I lost my train of thought there for a moment. You’re much nicer to look at than the ocean. Come sit here.” He placed a glass of sparkling water with ice on the counter. “I have some shrimp and steaks marinating. Would you like me to fire up the grill?”
    Her face lit and he was instantly glad he’d suggested it to get such a response.
    “Yes! I’d love that. I don’t have the space to barbecue on my own although there’s a place on the roof of my building. Anh and Vittorio are big on grilling, or rather, he is and we just eat what he makes.”
    “I’m going to have to meet the infamous Anh and her man when I get back up your way. You talk about her so often I feel like I know her.” He pulled the meat out and stepped out onto his deck to ready the grill. He liked the propane grill he’d picked up on a whim the month before while at the hardware store. It was easy to use, quick to heat up and if it made her smile like that, he’d use it every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
    When he stepped back inside it was to find his brother and sister-in-law standing in his living room, sizing Cat up.
    “Hello. Funny, I didn’t hear the phone ring so you could ask if I wanted visitors. Or even the doorbell.” He raised an eyebrow at his brother who just shrugged and looked to Laura.
    “That’s because none of those things happened, as you well know. Now, Caitlin was just telling us about her studies and you were going to make up a batch of margaritas, Michael. I’ve already put the macaroni salad in the fridge and I’m having a brownie right now.” Laura simply plopped her ass down on one of the barstools and dug into the pan, handing Cat one and taking one for herself.
    He sighed.
    “Don’t think you can avoid it. I managed to hold her off this long but you know how she is,” Michael said in an undertone as he got the blender out to make the ordered margaritas.
    “If you two scare her or make her uncomfortable I will toss you off the deck to the street below. Christamighty, she’d better not bring up moving anywhere.”
    Michael just laughed. “Oh fer fuck’s sake, Eamon, you know Laura wants to know this girl because you talk about her all the time. We like the difference in you. And between you and me, if that girl asks you to move to be with her, you’d be an edjit to say no. Anyway, we’ll not harm her but Laura will be unconscionably nosy because that’s my wife.”
    He harrumphed but when he turned around to check on Cat, she was animatedly discussing something with Laura, a big smile on her face, her eyes lit with amusement behind those sexy librarian glasses.
    She turned and saw him looking and grinned, easing his discomfort a bit.
    “I’ll be right back, I’m just going to get the steak on. Don’t eat all those brownies, I want one.”

    Aside from some minor embarrassment that it was totally obvious they’d come in the door, dropped her bags and rushed in to have