Page 66 of Dark ’N’ Deadly

“Eric, aren’t you going to offer your sister some coffee?” Without waiting for a response, she extended her hand across the table. “I’m Tess, a friend of Eric’s.”

He nearly choked on her choice of word, although he appreciated her attempt at discretion. Too bad his sister wasn’t buying any of it from Tess, either.

“I’m Maggie.” His sister smiled broadly as she shook Tess’s hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you as well.” Tess smiled back.

Eric stroked his jaw. Some kind of mystical female protocol was at work here, one that he was totally ignorant of and didn’t stand a chance in hell of understanding. Or surviving.

When Tess walked behind him, Maggie arched a blond brow. As Tess headed for the coffeepot, he smelled soap and shampoo, and her hair was slightly wet, dampening the back of her pink tank top. She opened the overhead cabinet door where he stored the mugs, then stood on her tiptoes, still unable to reach them.

He rose and placed his hand at the small of her back. “I’ve got this.” When he set the mugs on the counter and turned, his sister was grinning like she’d just found a million-dollar lottery ticket.

Ah, shit.

He’d been so flabbergasted by his sister’s news about her engagement and his parents’ divorce that he hadn’t given it a thought.

The simple, yet intimate, way he’d touched Tess… He might as well have taken out a front-page ad in the local paper that they were more than just friends. Far more.

Fuck. Me.

…

“It really was a pleasure to meet you,” Tess said to Maggie as Eric opened the front door. She’d thoroughly enjoyed meeting his sister. Her only regret was that they didn’t have more time to chat.

Tiger pranced into the vestibule, standing in the middle of them, wagging his tail. Eric’s dog might be a cop, but off duty, he was a social glutton.

Maggie grinned, reminding her so much of Eric. But where his rich blond hair was usually sticking up in spikes from continually raking his fingers through it, Maggie’s was long and shiny and pulled back in a snug ponytail.

“Same goes. Really.” She clasped Tess’s hand, shaking it more vigorously than she’d done the first time. “Let’s do lunch soon. There’s a great little pastry shop in town that has chocolate croissants stuffed with so much dark chocolate, it’ll make you cry.”

“I’d like that.” She returned Maggie’s smile with as much genuineness as she could muster.

Given that it was obvious she was sleeping with the woman’s brother, Maggie had gone out of her way not to state the obvious and to make her feel at home. She clearly adored her brother, and Tess would have liked nothing more than to have her as a friend.

If only she weren’t leaving Flemington.

“Okay, you two. I have to get to work.” Eric leaned in to brush a quick kiss on his sister’s cheek, then gently ushered her to the door.

Maggie frowned. “Party pooper.” In a childlike gesture that Tess found adorable, Eric rolled his eyes. “Bye, Tess.” Maggie waved one last time as she went down the front steps to her car.

No sooner had Eric closed the door than Tiger headed into the living room and lay down in his dog bed.

“Your sister is very sweet,” she said, about to go into the kitchen to clean up their mugs when Eric clasped her around the waist, spinning her and tugging her against him.

“She’s meddling.” He nuzzled her ear, sending riotous chills down her neck.

“She loves you.” The chills multiplied, morphing into delicious tingles. “I didn’t realize you had a family.”

He pulled back. “I wasn’t hatched from an egg. I told you I had a sister.” She giggled. “I love it when you laugh.” He resumed his nuzzling, pressing his lips to the side of her neck, dropping hot, seductive kisses on her skin as he nibbled his way to her collarbone.

I could get used to this.

Beneath the hem of his T-shirt, her hands encountered warm skin and flexing muscle. She dragged her nails across the broad expanse of his back, loving how he trembled beneath her touch.

With his face pressed against the soft upper mound of her breast, he inhaled deeply. “You showered.”

The low rumbling of his voice against her sensitive skin made her gasp. “You noticed.”