Free A Date on Cloud Nine by Jenna McKnight Page B

up thegently curving staircase. In this weather, sleeping alone, he would’ve pegged her for flannel pajamas sprinkled with delicate little violets. Certainly not that silky, redhot set that skimmed over her skin as she topped the stairs and turned the corner. Damn, Brady had been a lucky man.
    Well, maybe not. Brady was dead.
    And I’m here.
    He felt just the tiniest bit of elation over that.
    He could be here all right, as in with Lilly . He got hard just thinking about the possibilities, distracting him from what his conscience was telling him. If he didn’t mind being a gigolo, the whole money issue would be moot. But no damn way he was going there. He owed Brady life and loyalty, and guilt edged its way in and settled in his gut.
    He wouldn’t have been surprised if Lilly’d reneged on the job and refused to open the front door this morning, but she hadn’t. So it looked as though they were poised for a day playing give away—with his money. Remembering that ought to keep his head clear and in control, as if he were on a tightrope that required constant balance and careful steps.
    Strolling through the house, which he’d been in plenty before he’d moved away, he noted the changes since Brady’d gotten married. It was still a gorgeous, three-story, stone-and-glass affair, but now that he’d glimpsed Lilly running through it in red silk, it seemed warmer, more intimate, as if she brought pure sexual energy to everything. Marble foyer and stairs, two-story entrance, soaring glass windows, arched doorways—in the space of seconds, it had all been transformed. Yes, softer now. More inviting.
    Unsettled with that introspection, he retreated to Brady’s office, where he could count on the familiar, lingering aroma of cigars past.
    Only he couldn’t, because the smell was gone, and it nagged at him because it was part of their history—his and Brady’s—and he’d counted on that being there forever. It was like losing him all over again.
    No problem, Jake knew where the good ones were stored. He’d right this soon enough. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it.
    “What the heck are you doing?” Lilly demanded, before he was halfway through a truly fine cigar.
    Sprawled in Brady’s leather recliner, totally vegged out and at peace with the world, he turned his head toward the door. There stood Lilly, feet planted, arms akimbo, fire in her eyes, one button too few buttoned on her red blouse, and the whole thing pulled taut across her breasts. Instantly hard again, he couldn’t help but imagine—
    Shit! Remembering Brady’s hot recounting of this very chair, a bottle of wine, and Lilly in a sheer black teddy, Jake vaulted out of the recliner, damned near damaging himself as he tripped and scrambled to his feet.
    “Sorry, didn’t think you’d mind.”
    She yanked the cigar out of his teeth.
    “I, uh, missed the smell in here.”
    “And you obviously have no idea how tough it was to get it out.”
    He dogged her heels to the kitchen sink and watched helplessly as she drowned the poor thing. He must have looked heartbroken, because she said, “Aw, poor baby,”and offered the rest of them to him, as long as he promised to smoke them far, far away.
    “You need to update your alarm system,” he said as they left.
    “My father-in-law sent a company out to look into that after Brady died. They said they’d never seen anything this high-tech.”
    Jake didn’t mind taking a little pride in that, since he’d designed it. “Well sure, but that’s them .”
    “Ah.”
    He also didn’t mind the way Lilly glanced up at him, her single word laced with acknowledgment of his superiority.
    “I could upgrade it in an afternoon.”
    “Thanks, but I’m selling, so there’s really no need. Oh, here, I don’t want to forget.” She handed him his first week’s check with a cheeky grin. “Wouldn’t want you telling people I’m not good for it.”
    She got into the front seat instead of the rear, just