"And while you"re in there, how about grabbing me that hush puppy batter I have in the fridge."
"Okay."
The moment Ellie opened the back door and went inside Uriel"s home, memories a.s.sailed her and she glanced around the kitchen. Everything basically looked the same, and she was surprised he hadn"t made any changes. Maybe that had been deliberate, and he wanted to remember earlier times when his parents had been happy together, or so he"d a.s.sumed. She wondered if he knew the reason behind his parents" failed marriage of thirty-plus years, and if it had a bearing on how he viewed relationships. She hoped not. But then, she would be the first to admit that she believed in a strong marriage for herself, because her parents had one. If she found out different, would she think otherwise? She didn"t think so, but one could never be absolutely sure how they would react in certain situations.
After placing the slaw in his refrigerator she remembered he had asked her to bring back the hush puppy batter, so she grabbed the foil-wrapped container. Moments later she was headed back outdoors, but stopped when she got to the screen door, and glanced out. She couldn"t stop the grin that touched her lips. Standing in front of the fryer with tongs in his hand, Uriel looked relaxed, as if he was actually enjoying what he was doing.
Just as he"d enjoyed what he"d been doing last night as well. At least he had given her the impression that he had enjoyed himself. She knew that she had. He was an experienced man in the bedroom, and there was so much he could teach her, so many ways to inspire her. But a part of her knew finishing the ma.n.u.script was only a small part of her wanting to be with Uriel. She would be fooling herself if she convinced herself otherwise. She truly wanted to be with him-to spend whatever time she could with him was a dream come true for her, and she intended to be satisfied with that.
He must have felt her gaze on him, because at that moment he looked over her way and smiled. "Are you standing there drooling over me or the fish?" he asked, taking a few pieces out of the fryer. She all but licked her lips when she saw they were a golden brown.
"The fish," she said smiling, as she opened the screen door and walked out on the porch. "Why on earth would I be drooling over you? And here"s the hush puppy batter."
"Thanks, just set it on that table. The first batch is out, hot and ready to eat, just as soon as I get a few hush puppies going. I hope you"re hungry."
"Starving. I"m going to get the lemonade. Is there something I can do or get for you before I leave?"
"Yes, there is something. Come here for a second."
She actually thought he was going to ask her to watch the fish while he took a bathroom break, and when she reached out for the frying tongs, he reached out for her. Before she had a chance to react, he bent his head and took her mouth.
Desire as hot as the fryer oil raced through her body with his kiss. When he pulled back, her senses felt totally wrecked. She could only stand there in a daze and look at him.
He smiled. "You can go get the lemonade now."
His words made her blink, and she felt a little embarra.s.sed that she"d been standing there, starting at him like a ninny. "Yes, of course."
As she made her way along the path toward her house, she could only fight the fires that were beginning to rage out of control inside her.
And she knew at that moment that a summer fling with Uriel might be more than she could handle, if day one was anything to go by.
Chapter 13.
Uriel kept his gaze glued to Ellie until she was no longer in sight. He actually felt the area behind his zipper throb. Okay, so maybe he should have a little more control; but seeing a small waist, flat tummy, curvy hips and a nice tight backside in a pair of denim shorts could do it to him. Nothing could ignite a man"s testosterone quicker than a s.e.xy female body, and memories of how it felt being inside that particular body was enough to raise anything. Especially an erection.
He had gotten the last of the fish out of the fryer and had tossed in the hush puppies when his cell phone went off. After wiping his hand on a paper towel, he pulled the phone from his back pocket. "Yes?"
"Start the fish frying, we"re on our way."
Uriel frowned upon recognizing Xavier"s voice. "I thought you had other plans, X, and who are we?" Now that he and Ellie had decided on a summer fling, the last thing he wanted was company. He had a specific agenda already laid out in his head, and from the look and feel of things last night, they were off to a very good start. He"d known his G.o.dbrothers would visit him sooner or later, but a part of him wished it was later.
"My plans for the weekend got canceled, and we are me, Virgil, Winston, and York. They showed up this morning to visit your Dad, only to discover he"s out of the country."
Anthony La.s.siter and his friends had forged a tight bond in college and had pa.s.sed that bond onto their first sons. The elder men had made themselves a part of their G.o.dsons" lives. They were men who had set good examples and were deeply admired and respected. Men who in some way, some form or fashion, had always been there for their G.o.dsons. Therefore, it wasn"t unusual for the younger men to show up, individually or collectively, to check on one of their G.o.dfathers. Especially if their health and well-being was an issue. And although Uriel could thankfully say his father"s state of mind had improved a lot, his well-being continued to be a concern. A broken heart was worse than a hard kick in the a.s.s. It was a torment that didn"t seem to go away. It was the kind of misery that loved company, and it was something Uriel definitely didn"t want for himself.
"Dad flew to Rome on business, and he plans to check on Zion while he"s there," Uriel said, wondering how long his G.o.dbrothers would be staying, once they got to the lake. Uriel had all intentions of sharing Ellie"s bed again tonight, and their arrival would throw a monkey wrench into his plans.
"Where are you guys now?" he decided to ask.
"Less than thirty minutes away. We"ll be there before you know it. Do you need us to stop and get anything? Need more beer?" Xavier was asking.
"No, I got plenty," Uriel responded. "You might want to pick up some wine coolers, though. You know how much Winston likes them."
"Okay, we can do that. We"ll see you soon."
He heard the sound of Ellie returning when he placed his cell phone back in his pocket. He turned toward her when she stepped into the clearing from among the trees, carrying a pitcher of ice-cold lemonade. He thought it would be best to let her know his G.o.dbrothers were coming.
"We"re going to need additional food, so I"m going to cook more fish," he said, taking the hush puppies out of the fryer.
"Why?" she asked, with a bemused expression on her face.
"Xavier just called. He, Winston, York and Virgil are headed this way. They"ll be here in a half hour or so."
He watched as a smile touched Ellie"s face. "It will be nice to see them again." Without hesitating, she added, "I"ll put this pitcher of lemonade in your refrigerator, and then I"ll go back home to make some more slaw. I baked enough cookies the first time around," she said.
"Okay."
He watched as she walked up the steps to his porch and then went inside, thinking how good she looked in those cutoff shorts that showed a lot of shapely thigh, and he knew, if he noticed it, his G.o.dbrothers would notice as well. They were all hot-blooded bachelors.
When Ellie came out of the house, he said, "I prefer being the only man to see you in those s.e.xy-looking shorts while we"re involved, Ellie."
He could tell from her expression that his statement surprised her, had caught her off guard. She lifted her chin, probably to put him in his place about thinking he could dictate what she wore, but after their gazes held for a while, she lowered it. He could actually feel heat, desire and longing stroke across his skin, and after their gazes locked for several moments, he could tell that her entire body began to relax. They were in an intimate relationship, and he felt territorial. He could tell that at some point during the last few moments she had decided that she would accept what he"d said as his due for now. "That"s fine," she finally said in a yielding tone, before turning to head back over to her place.
No, it wasn"t fine, he thought, placing more fish into the batter. He"d never been concerned with the outfit worn by any woman he was involved with, or who might be seeing her in it, no matter how s.e.xy the outfit might have looked. He"d never had a jealous bone in his body. So why was he growing one now?
Uriel turned and looked out at the lake. He needed to think over a few things. Namely, why, for the first time in his life, he was acting like a jealous man.
Ellie looked at her outfit in the mirror. She had changed out of her shorts and top set, and was wearing a pale-yellow, crinkled chiffon blouse and a printed flowing skirt with bright yellow daisies. This was another new outfit she had purchased.
She thought about Uriel"s request that she change outfits. She would have done so anyway, just because she"d known her shorts would be considered a little too much...or in this case, a little too little, to go parading around wearing, especially among a group of men. To hear Uriel make the suggestion, though, like she hadn"t had the sense to know that, at first had gotten her ire up. But, when she had met his gaze, she had seen the possessiveness in the dark depths of his eyes. They had made love. Twice. Had spent the night in each other"s arms. Uriel was a man, and once in awhile they got foolish thoughts about certain things. As far as she was concerned, this was one of those times. She figured sooner or later he would figure that out on his own, without any prodding from her. But for now, although what they were sharing was nothing more than a summer fling, if he wanted to be territorial and protective, she"d let him have his way.
When she made it back down to the kitchen, she heard the sound of several car doors slamming. She glanced out the living-room window in time to see four men walking up the steps to Uriel"s front door.
She studied the men"s faces, and although she hadn"t seen them since the summer of their last year of high school, she still recognized them. Like Uriel, they were in their early thirties. All were very good-looking-handsome would be an even better word to describe them-and, according to Uriel, like him, they were still single. would be an even better word to describe them-and, according to Uriel, like him, they were still single.
Going into the kitchen and grabbing the cole slaw out of the refrigerator, she headed out the door.
Uriel couldn"t help but smile as he gazed at the four men. Although they might be s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his plans with Ellie, he was still glad to see them. They were close-always had been and always would be. Of the six of them, he and Xavier were the only two who didn"t have other siblings. But the one thing they all had in common was that they were the first-born sons of their fathers.
"Okay, U, where"s the food?" Winston Coltrane asked, looking around and sniffing the air. Everyone knew how much Winston loved to eat, especially when it came to fried fish from Cavanaugh Lake.
"In the kitchen. And there"s plenty, W, so don"t plan on eating any off Y"s plate," Uriel said laughing. Since being kids, they"d shorten each other"s names with just the first letter.
At that moment there was a knock at the door. York, a former officer for the NYPD, who now owned his own security firm, glanced over to Uriel. "You"re expecting someone, U?"
Uriel nodded. York was always on the alert for any type of action. "Yes, I"m expecting someone," he said, crossing the room to the front door. He understood why Ellie would come to the front door instead of the back door. She wasn"t sure how he wanted to define their relationship to his G.o.dbrothers, and would follow his lead. He appreciated that, because he wasn"t sure how he intended to define it-which was odd, because he"d never had this problem before with other women.
He opened the door and his mouth nearly fell open. She had changed clothes, but if she thought what she was wearing would garner less attention, she was sadly mistaken. This was the first time he recalled ever seeing her in anything other than shorts, and the transformation was astounding. The color yellow made her glow in a sensuous sort of way. And the smile she wore jolted his insides.
"I"m back with the cole slaw," she said in a quiet tone, and the texture of her words seemed to flow over his skin. Instead of answering or taking the huge bowl out of her hands, he just stood there staring at her. She"d done something different to her hair. It was all fluffed up around her face, as though she"d put a curling iron to it. And he could also tell she"d put on some makeup. Not a whole lot, but just enough to enhance her full cheeks and eyes. Then there was the lip gloss she"d smoothed on her lips, which made them even more sultry-looking. He felt tempted to lean closer and taste them.
"Hey, who"s at the door, U?"
Uriel rolled his eyes. It was Y asking again. Instead of answering, he took the bowl out of Ellie"s hands and whispered for her ears only, "Yellow is my favorite color on you."
When her smile brightened even more, he said, "Come on in." He took a step back and hoped he would be able to deal with his G.o.dbrothers when they saw her again.
When Uriel stepped out of the way, Ellie walked over the threshold and four pair of eyes stared straight at her. From the curious expressions on their faces, she knew immediately they didn"t remember her, which was understandable, since she"d only been twelve years old when she"d last seen them.
Smiling, she said, "Hi guys. It"s good seeing you again."
Their gazes sharpened, it seemed all at the same time. One man"s eyes narrowed more than the others, and she recalled who he was: York Ellis. And he was the one who finally lifted a brow of disbelief when he said, "L?"
The others followed with that same astonished disbelief in their voices. She could only chuckle, and said, "Yes, it"s me."
"d.a.m.n."
That had come from Virgil Bougard, and it made her laugh. He still could curse.
Over the summers, when they had visited with Uriel at the lake, they had called each other by the first letter of their names, and had told her if she wanted to hang around them and fish-which she did-she had to do likewise. However, they"d said the name "E" didn"t do her justice, so she became "L".
"It"s been a while," Xavier Kane said, smiling. "The last time we saw you, you were only a kid. How old are you now?"
"She"s twenty-six," Uriel said, coming to stand beside her.
"Twenty-six...." Winston Coltrane said, as if rolling the age around on his tongue, while his gaze moved all over her from head to toe.
"Yes, she"s twenty-six, but don"t even think it," Uriel said in a steely voice.
Winston met his gaze and Ellie glanced over at Uriel as well, thinking he was sounding territorial again. She quickly decided to downplay his actions by diverting Winston, "And how have you been doing, Winston? Do you still have problems with allergies?"
Winston returned his gaze to her and smiled. "No. I must have outgrown them, since I don"t have those problems anymore."
But he did have a problem with being a womanizer, Ellie thought, although she doubted he saw it as a problem. It was something she had picked up on from the way he"d been looking at her, which had all but caused Uriel to growl.
"Well, I brought over some cole slaw and also baked some cookies. I"ll help Uriel get things set up in the kitchen. It"s good seeing all of you again."
"Same here," they said, almost simultaneously.
She was halfway out of the living room when she overheard Winston whisper to Uriel, "Is that the way it is, U?"
And Uriel"s response was firm. "Yes, that is the way it is."
Uriel glanced around at his G.o.dbrothers, satisfied they had a clear understanding that Ellie was off-limits, which was a good thing. Now he could relax, since it seemed they were all treating her like the kid sister, as they always had. Everyone was enjoying her company, and she was enjoying theirs, as well.
And although he and Ellie had only hours ago agreed to engage in a summer fling-it was easy to see they were a couple. When she found a place to sit at the table to eat, it seemed natural for him to sit down beside her. And, more than once, he had found himself just staring at her, listening to her and his G.o.dbrothers converse. That was good because he liked looking at her.
There was something about her blouse, how soft it looked next to her skin, that made him want to reach out and touch it, touch her, rub his hand across her flesh, caress it, taste it. He remembered the taste of her and longed to have her again.
"What"s Donovan up to these days?" York asked, pulling Uriel"s attention momentarily from Ellie.
"Donovan is doing fine. He"s at the races this weekend," Uriel responded. "He called a few days ago to let me know he"s engaged."
Shock, total and complete, covered the faces of all the men at the table. "Are you saying that Donovan Steele met some woman who he wants to marry?" York asked, as if he refused to believe such a thing was possible.
"Yes, and it shocked the h.e.l.l out of me, too. But I met her. She"s nice, and a looker," Uriel said. He then glanced over at Xavier. "You"ve met her, too, right, X?"
Xavier stopped eating long enough to nod. A smile touched his face. "Yes, I met her. She is nice. But I have to admit, the night I met her I was more interested in getting to know her friend."
"Who"s Donovan?" Ellie interrupted the conversation to ask.
Uriel glanced over at her and said, "Donovan Steele is a good friend of mine from college, and he and I are in several business ventures together. His company, the Steele Corporation, sponsors a car racing team at NASCAR."
She nodded. "Oh. And why is it so strange for him to become engaged?"
Uriel smiled. "Because he was a devout bachelor. The last person anyone would have thought to consider marrying."
Uriel decided not to add that there was no reason for Donovan to ever consider marrying, because he"d had his pick of affairs. In fact, he had lived for them. Why would a sane man give that up? And Donovan was a sane man. The thought of any woman messing with a man"s mind to the point where he"d give up his bachelorhood was simply not good.
He glanced over and saw that Ellie had resumed eating her food. Uriel was about to go back to eating his as well, when he happened to glance across the table and saw his G.o.dbrothers all staring at him.
He stared back and read the message in their eyes. Like him, they were all bachelors on demand, which meant that they knew whatever was going on between him and Ellie was short-term. He could tell they weren"t particularly overjoyed at the thought of that. Although they understood and supported his desire to remain single, and that it meant he would sow wild oats from time to time, he knew they weren"t crazy that the recipient of those oats was Ellie.
h.e.l.l, he refused to let them try to make him feel guilty about anything. As he"d told them, Ellie was no longer the twelve-year-old they remembered. She was twenty-six, and old enough to make her own decisions about what she wanted to do.
"How long do you all plan to stay?" he decided to ask them.