an average family, maybe not always easy, but family just the same. They stood at the stove, cooking, talking, trying to include Jane, but she still felt a little left out. Marie in the too-tight jeans she’d worn when Jane had picked her up that morning, and Luc in his pants that were just right.
Luc flipped chicken and Marie filled him in on the different designers Caroline had told her about. “I hope you finally bought some jeans that aren’t too tight,” he said as he checked on the steaming vegetables.
Marie looked across her shoulder at her brother and her blue eyes got a bit squinty.
Perhaps if Luc had glanced his sister’s way he would have noticed she’d just taken serious issue with him and he wouldn’t have added, “Your pants are so tight it’s a wonder you don’t blow out the seams.”
Uh-oh.
“That’s soooo mean! I don’t tell you your jeans are too tight.”
“That’s because they’re not. I don’t like anything up my butt.” Finally, he glanced at Marie. “What are you so mad about?”
Marie opened her mouth, but Jane headed her off. “Marie picked out some nice things and she looks really cute in them.” Well, except that studded belt. “Caroline helped her out. I’m not any good at fashion stuff or that whole color chart thing. That’s why I wear a lot of black.”
Luc moved to lean his behind into the counter. “I thought it was because you were the Queen of the Damned.”
She glanced into his smiling eyes and frowned. “No, rude guy,” she said and turned her attention back to Marie. “The next time I go get waxed, you should come along. I used to shave, but I’m a wax job convert now. It hurts like hell… ah, I mean the dickens… but it’s worth it.”
“Okay.” Marie smiled at her brother. “Can I keep one of your Visas, Luc?”
“Hell, no.” He crossed his bare feet and folded his arms over his wide chest. “You’ll buy twenty pounds of candy and bad Britney Spears CDs.”
Marie was back to glaring. “That only happened once, and it wasn’t twenty pounds. And I don’t buy bad CDs.”
“Twice. All that sugar is bad for you and Britney Spears is a mind-suck.” Tension strained the air, yet Luc didn’t seem to notice. Either that or he was just good at ignoring it. He straightened and checked on their meal. “Someday, when you still have all your teeth and your brain hasn’t turned to Jell-O because of Britney, you’re going to thank me.”
By the look on Marie’s face, that someday was a looooong way off.
By the time they all sat down at the dinning room table, Marie had pretty much gone mute. Even though Jane had been a teenage girl once, she didn’t recall ever being so moody. Then again, she didn’t have a brother who told her her pants were too tight and her music sucked. Just a father who used to aggravate and creep her out by blaming everything on her “woman’s time.”
Luc sat at the head of the table with Jane and Marie on opposite sides. Three glasses of milk sat beside their plates, even though Jane recalled telling him she didn’t drink milk when he’d asked. No one had served her milk since grade school, she thought as she placed her napkin on her lap and dug into her meal. She’d had men try to force alcohol on her before, but never milk.
Not only had Luc managed to make cooking look good, he made it taste good also. A guy who looked good enough to eat
“The chicken is wonderful,” Jane complimented him.
“Thanks. The secret is in the orange juice.”
“You make the marinade yourself?”
“Sure, the stuff-”
“Did you know,” Marie interrupted, “that dolphins are the only mammals other than man that have sex for pleasure?”
Luc’s fork stopped in midair and he looked at his sister. Marie was purposely baiting him and Jane was interested to hear his response, to see if he’d freak out and give her the reaction she wanted.
“Where did you hear that?” he asked.
“My biology teacher told me. And a kid in the class went to Disney World and swam with the dolphins, and he says they’re really horny.”
The fork continued to his mouth and he chewed thoughtfully. “I don’t remember learning about horny dolphins in school. We just dissected frogs.” He turned his attention to Jane. “I feel cheated.” Then he took all the wind out of Marie’s sails. “What about you, Jane? Did you get to learn about horny dolphins?”
She shook her head and tried not to smile. “No, but I saw on the Discovery Channel that they found some homosexual monkeys in Africa. So they’re fairly sure some species of monkeys also mate for pleasure.”
Luc’s brows rose up his forehead. “Homosexual monkeys? How did they determine that?”
She laughed and shook her head.
A smile pushed up the corners of his mouth and little lines appeared at the corners of his blue eyes. “Black- rimmed glasses and cow pajamas?”
“Don’t start that again.”
“What?” Marie wanted to know.
Jane returned his smile as she dug into her pasta. “He thinks I have ugly glasses.”
“And pajamas.”
“How do you know what Jane’s pajamas are like?”
Luc looked at his sister. “I caught her at the candy machine at the hotel in Phoenix wearing the ugliest cow pajamas you can imagine.”
“I was on a chocolate run,” Jane explained. “I thought the players were all in their rooms.”
“Luc doesn’t understand chocolate runs.” Marie rolled her eyes. “He only eats
“My body is a temple,” he said around a big bite of cauliflower.
“And anyone with long legs and big boobs is welcome to worship,” Jane added and immediately wished she could take that one back.
Marie laughed.
Luc smiled like a sinner.
Jane changed the subject before he could comment. “Who’s Mrs. Jackson?”
“The old lady who stays with me when Luc is gone,” Marie answered.
“Gloria Jackson is a retired schoolteacher and a very nice woman.”
“She’s old.” Marie took a bite of pasta. “She eats slow too.”
“Now, there’s a reason to hate her.”
“I don’t hate Gloria. I just don’t think I need a babysitter.”
Luc let out an exasperated breath as if they’d had this conversation before. A lot. He reached for his glass of milk and took a long drink. When he lowered it again, a slim white mustache rested on his top lip and he sucked it off. “Why aren’t you drinking your milk?” he asked Jane.
“I told you I don’t like milk.”
“I know, but you need the calcium. It’s good for your bones.”
“Don’t tell me you’re worried about my bones.”
“Not worried.” A sexy grin curved his mouth. “Curious, though.”
His words and the look in his eyes slipped inside and warmed her up in places that were better left cooled.
“Better just drink it, Jane,” Marie warned, missing the sexual innuendo between the two adults. “Luc always gets what he wants.”
“Always?” Jane asked.
“No.” He shook his head. “Not always.”
“Most of the time,” Marie insisted.
“I hate to lose.” His gaze drifted to Jane’s mouth. “I’m a do-or-die-trying kind of guy.”
Jane glanced at Marie, who was busy pushing her broccoli to the edge of her plate. “Whatever it takes?” she asked and returned her attention to Luc.
