"Would you seriously charge me?" Lu poked him in the ribs.
"Absolutely. Home-cooked meals and one of your chocolate cakes."
"Done. But I was kidding about the cabin." Her hand stroked along his biceps and up his shoulder. "You can have it, although why you"d want this one is a mystery."
"I want to start a summer camp for kids with ADHD. You know, give them one week when they aren"t getting in trouble. A week when they don"t have to sit still or stay quiet."
"Uh, oh. Did you hear that?"
"No, what?"
"You remember that L word we were talking about? Pretty sure I just fell in it, head first."
d.a.m.n, he liked the sound of that. He had to reel his body in quick because his heart was falling just as fast, but he was set on romancing her. Taking it slow and savoring each step.
Lu lifted her head again to look into his eyes. "Guess what? Dave is going to let me experiment with the diner menu. He"s all in on the farm-to-table idea, so I won"t need to come work for you again."
"That"s a relief."
"Excuse me?"
"Don"t get me wrong, you"re a fast learner and pretty good with a hammer now." Tynan brushed a long curl off her face, running his hand down to the end of it and wrapping it around his finger. "But d.a.m.n, Lu, you were a painful distraction on the job site. Between your sweet a.s.s and the way you had every man on the crew smiling-plus you always smelled so d.a.m.n good, like something I wanted to eat for dessert-I came awfully close to shooting myself with the nail gun a couple of dozen times."
"You and me both." She laughed. "I still feel bad about hurting all the guys."
"They"d line up and do it all over again." He leaned up and kissed her. "Are you going to want to find a more permanent place to live?"
"You know . . ." Lu"s eyes glimmered at him in the firelight. "I think I"ll stay at Agatha and Beatrice"s for now."
"That"s only two doors from my place."
Her lips slid into a soft smile. "I know."
Every cell in his body went on high alert. "You are not going to make this slow courtship very easy, are you?"
"No." She stroked her hands over his chest, down his ribs and lower. "No I"m not."
Three weeks later . . .
Tynan"s phone rang at midnight. Just as it had every night for the last few weeks. Lulubelle Swan had been teasing and tempting him for three long, glorious weeks. He started out trying to go through every step like he"d planned: a first date, a first dinner, a first dance and more. But Lu was making things hard. Very hard.
So he"d had to speed things up. The week before they"d formally met each other"s families. Of course his family loved her. And he thought the meeting with Lu"s parents had gone well even though Lu"s father had begun the evening inviting him to chat while he cleaned his gun. Once Tynan explained he didn"t plan to ever let Lu go, whether her father accepted that or not, her father had nodded and said, "Just what I wanted to hear. Lu deserves to be happy."
She sure did.
His phone rang again, and he grinned as he answered it.
"Come get your dog."
He turned his head to check because with Lu, he just never knew. Houdini was snoring away belly up in his corner bed. "Lu, I absolutely love you, but stop trying to tempt me. We"ve got a few more firsts to get to before we-"
"Tynan, I"m stretched out on my bed. Naked. And lonely."
d.a.m.n, his body reacted to the visual in an instant. "Lu, you"re killing me. You know I"m trying to hold out at least another week. We"re about to have our first month anniversary. And then we"ll have our first-"
"I have cake."
Lu was two doors down, stretched out naked. And she had cake. Well, d.a.m.n.
"Chocolate cake," she purred into the phone.
"Open the window."
That night was the first time Tynan Cates made love to Lulubelle Swan while licking chocolate cake off her delectable body. It certainly was not the last . . .
Love the Cates Brothers?.
Be sure to pick up the first two books in the series.
BRINGING DELANEY HOME.
and
COULD THIS BE LOVE?.
Available now from.
Lyrical Shine.
BRINGING DELANEY HOME.
In the sleepy town of Climax, North Carolina, all five Cates brothers are known for being tall, dark, and delicious. But each has his own incomparable love story . . .
Quinn Cates has known Delaney Lyons forever. But after years away from home, Delaney"s a changed woman. A mysterious accident she refuses to talk about has left her hurting-in body and soul-and acting out in dangerous, and occasionally entertaining, ways.
Quinn"s on the local police force, so he"s used to dealing with troublemakers. This one"s pretty incorrigible-but he suspects her flippant exterior is hiding something softer and deeper inside. Every time he has to rescue Delaney from herself, his heart and his hormones both go into overdrive. But he owes it to Delaney"s sister to keep an eye on her. He"s got some experience with that after spending so much time at it back in high school . . .
Delaney just wants to fend off the gossips, fight off the pain of her past, and make her escape once again. But Officer Cates is ordering her not to leave town, and his interrogation techniques can be very persuasive . . .
Click here to get your copy.
COULD THIS BE LOVE?.
Everyone in Climax, North Carolina, knows the Cates brothers. But Sijan Cates is famous far beyond his quaint hometown-and when he comes back, he brings trouble with him . . .
Avery Danford urgently needs to get back in touch with her estranged family. If only she could get her picture in the papers, maybe they"d track her down . . . and what better way to accomplish that than to squeeze into the world"s tightest dress and cozy up to the world"s hottest actor, Sijan Cates? It"s a crazy idea, but it just might work. And though the former actress has sworn off Hollywood hunks, she"s got to admit this desperate measure might be a pleasure . . .
Scandal-plagued Sijan has come home for some peace and quiet-and to stay out of the tabloids. Then a woman claiming to be his number-one fan plants a hot kiss on him-in front of a pack of paparazzi. There"s only one way to protect his reputation: tell the world they"re engaged. It"s all just a show, as they use each other to get what they need. But in this sleepy Southern town, love stories have a way of coming true . . .
Click here to get your copy.
photo credit: Season Moore.
A former Air Force spouse, Lee Kilraine moved seven times over eighteen years before finally settling with her husband in the pine woods of North Carolina. She has worked as a physical therapy aide, a cashier, a waitress, an English tutor, a ballet teacher and a stay-at-home mom. Holding tight to her mother"s motto, "There"s nothing you can"t do if you try hard enough," Lee returned to college as an adult and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Writing thirty-one papers in two years (she counted) rekindled her love of writing, and she set her sights on her other dream-writing romance. When she isn"t swinging on her front porch swing or watching another of their four young adult children leave the nest (she swears she isn"t pushing them out!) you can find her typing away on her computer with her golden retriever, Harley, destroying something at her feet. Lee is a 2014 Golden Heart Finalist.
end.