Page 39 of Honor ’N’ Duty

“Yeah. Later.” Jamie glanced down at his duffle, then addressed Laia. “Is Rosa here, too?”

Laia was impressed and shocked that he seemed to know a lot about her family.

She nodded. “She’s upstairs.”

“Well, then.” Jamie unzipped the duffle, then pulled out two handguns and a curved, sheathed knife, the blade of which had to be close to ten inches long. He went into the living room and secured the weapons on the same shelf where Kade had hidden his gun. Must be the go-to spot for deadly weapons.

“Thank you.” It was impossible not to appreciate the men’s thoughtfulness.

“No problem,” Jamie said. “I’ve got ten nieces and nephews, and they all like to play cops and robbers. Anyone else want a beer while you fill me in?” Without waiting for an answer, he went into the kitchen, leaving her alone with Kade and Smoke.

Lingering heat from their near-sexual encounter shot across the five feet separating them. His touch, the feel of his hands on her bare skin was so memorable, she might as well have been standing too close to a barbeque grill or a campfire. Even now, the sizzling look from those hazel eyes singed her skin.

Jamie popped the tops off three beer bottles sitting on the kitchen island. Anyone else would surely have tried watching and listening in, but he didn’t. Jamie actually seemed to be going out of his way not to.

Smoke sat on the floor in between them, swinging his head back and forth as if sensing the invisible heat wave rolling through the room.

What would have happened if Jamie hadn’t interrupted them?

We would have made love on the sofa. Hot, crazy, no-holds-barred love until they both screamed.

Well, maybe not screamed. Not with a five-year-old upstairs.

They wanted each other, and there was no stopping what was to come. For her it was a foregone conclusion. No other man had ever touched that part of her, made her want to crawl under their skin and breathe the same air molecules he breathed.

Kade stepped closer, then reached out, but instead of kissing her as she’d expected—as she’d wanted him to—he hooked his pinkie around the spaghetti strap of her dress. In all the excitement, the darned thing had slipped down her arm.

For a long moment, he stood there, staring at her bare shoulder. Then he slowly, tantalizingly, began dragging the strap up her arm, caressing her skin with his knuckles. He licked his lips, swallowing again, and holy moly. She was fully clothed yet this was, quite possibly, the hottest, most sensual foreplay she’d ever experienced.

His eyes tracked the strap’s journey up her arm. The pulse in his neck ticked faster, mimicking her own racing heartbeat. If Jamie weren’t in the kitchen not ten feet away, she would have yanked the dress off and thrown herself into Kade’s arms.

By the time he had the strap over her shoulder, her entire body was shaking. If this was what the barest touch of his knuckles did to her, she could only imagine what would happen if—no, when, what with the foregone conclusion and all—they made love.

Smoke whined then, as if someone had flipped a switch, Kade stepped away and cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice was gravelly, sexy. “I have to take Smoke out. Back in a few.”

Only when he and Smoke had disappeared out a door from the living room that led to the beach did she take a breath.

“Beer?”

“Huh?” Laia had no idea how long she’d been staring at the door.

A corner of Jamie’s mouth lifted, and he really did look like the devil. A very handsome devil. In fact, all Kade’s friends—Deck, Brett, Evan—were hot by any woman’s standards. He held up a bottle. “Come on in and have a beer.”

An ice-cold beer might be just the right antidote to cool her absurdly hot libido.

Laia went into the kitchen and accepted the bottle Jamie offered, then sat on one of the counter stools. She tipped the beer and took a long sip, allowing the tasty ale to trickle down her throat. When she set the bottle down, Jamie’s dark eyes bored into hers. Behind the beard and mustache, the man was frowning.

The tender skin around her mouth and along the parts of her neck where Kade’s stubbly five o’clock shadow had left their mark, naturally, took that moment to tingle. Her lips had to be swollen and her skin red from their frenzied kissing.

“Kade’s a good friend.” Jamie began peeling the label from the bottle. “He’s family to me. It’s none of my business but…”

“But what?” she asked.

Dark eyes grew darker, staring at her with an intensity that was unnerving and made her heart beat faster. “Whatever’s going on between you two, don’t hurt him.”

The exact same words Kade had said to her on her wedding day. She parked the beer bottle on the counter harder than intended and a resounding crack rent the air. “Why does everyone think I’m going to hurt the Sampson brothers?”

Jamie’s eyes flashed. “Because you already did.”