you imagined, Rach.”
“In what realm of reality?”
He shrugged. “If it wasn’t so completely inaccessible, it’d be worth something pretty decent on the real estate market. Might still be worth something.”
Yeah. I was thinking the same thing.
Chapter 3
As Kel and I stood there in the kitchen looking at each other, still a bit shell-shocked, the back door opened, and in walked a woman.
She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, like me, and she was of average height and weight, but that was where her averageness ended.
She looked Native Alaskan and gorgeous; shiny black hair to the middle of her back, matching eyes and flawless, exotic features combined to leave
I took a quick look at Kellan.
Yep, his mouth was agape, as if maybe he was planning on catching some flies. Any second he was going to start drooling.
Men. Poor, stupid, helpless creatures, completely led around by their penises.
“Um…hi,” the woman said, clearly surprised at the sight of us, but holding it together with a grace and elegance I could only admire, because I hadn’t been given either grace or elegance at birth.
She held a small flowerpot in her hands, and she set it in the sink. “Who are you?”
“Rachel Wood,” I said. “I-”
“Inherited. I heard.” She dismissed me fairly quickly, then eyeballed Kellan with those midnight-black eyes.
Kellan stood up a little straighter, while I rolled my eyes, because I figured his chances of scoring with this woman lay somewhere between zero and fat chance.
Marilee moved with that beautiful ease of someone who had no doubt about how good she looked at all times, grabbing a glass and heading to the refrigerator. Meanwhile, I tried to see Kel as she did. He still had that perpetually messed-up caramel hair, a good part of it stabbing into his eyes, hiding their gorgeous color from the general public. Not “artfully” mussed, but neglectfully mussed. Tall and gangly, he carried himself with no grace or ease.
Right now, for example, his shirt was wrinkled from traveling, and also a little on the shabby side, as if maybe he’d had it since the nineties. Knowing Kellan, he had. Not that he was frugal. He was the opposite, actually. He happened to be one of the most generous people I knew, giving time and money he didn’t always have to his causes, but fashion was not one of them.
Which meant he didn’t always put his best foot forward when it came to first impressions.
Still, in the manner of clueless men everywhere, he smiled at the woman, one of those inherently goofy smiles men got when they were pathetically hopeful about getting sex in the current millennium, but of course didn’t really have a chance in hell of actually getting it.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t a catch. Truthfully, I’d secretly always thought he’d make a hell of a boyfriend because he’d been raised by women and knew them inside and out in a way most guys did not. Kel would never, for instance, send a mother screaming into the night, fearful for her daughter.
The thought of Kellan being an asshole in any way made me want to smile. Nope, he didn’t have a bad bone in his mellow, easygoing body. Not a single one.
A damn shame, let me tell you.
Apparently the stunning woman in front of us didn’t go for the absentminded-professor thing any more than I ever had, because she dismissed Kel as fast as she had me, filling her glass with ice cubes, while my gaze locked on something in the still-open freezer.
Two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Specifically, Thin Mints.
Oh. My. God.
My absolute favorite thing on the entire planet. I’d run over my own mother for a box. Hell, I’d do unspeakable things for two boxes, and just looking at them, my mouth began to water.
Oblivious as usual, Kellan held out his hand to the woman, who shut the freezer, damn it. “Kellan McInty,” he said, adding his most charming smile.
Nada. No return smile, no sexual energy aimed at him, nothing. She did thrust her hand out, though. “Marilee. Cook and housekeeper.”
“Both? That’s a tough job,” Kellan said in sympathy, still hopeful, because he was a man, and hope sprang eternal for men.
At least, between their legs.
Poor guy. He was heading directly toward Shot Down Alley, and we all knew it. At least, the two females in the room did.
A part of me knew that I should be wishing for him to get lucky. He was currently in the middle of a long dry spell sex-wise, which had left him feeling a little down and a lot restless.
Yep, the friend in me should want him to get laid.
But oddly enough, my belly twitched at the thought. I had no idea what that meant, because I
They’d look good, this exotic woman and the man who would be a most amazing lover because he was passionate, tender and eager to please-
Something in my stomach pinched now. Odd, but the thought of Kellan having wild, up-against-the-wall animal sex physically hurt.
What the hell was that about?
But I couldn’t dispel the picture of him having gotta-have-you-or-die sex, don’t-hold-back-until-you-scream sex. Only suddenly, the woman I was picturing with her head back, mouth open, panting Kel’s name was…
My face heated. Other parts of me did as well, and I had to let out a low, careful breath and remind myself that traveling made me light-headed. I really should eat something.
Like cookies.
Marilee moved to the stove, giving Kellan a quick second look-see, and I had to fight the ridiculous urge to step between the two of them to block her view.
Kellan smiled at Marilee, and I knew that smile. It held a unique combination of careful caution and checked desire, giving out the message that he’d expect little because it would be a fantasy come true if anyone actually wanted to sleep with him.
“My new creation,” Marilee said, lifting the lid off a simmering pot on the stove. With a smile that seemed to dazzle and daze Kel, she offered him a taste from a wooden spoon.
Of course he leaned in, tongue practically wagging.
“It’s sauce for tonight,” Marilee murmured in a musical voice. “Assuming you brought the pasta I need from Jack.”
“That we most definitely did.” Kellan opened his mouth for Marilee to slip the spoon between his lips. Her own lips were curved in a confident little smile that said,
Kel’s eyes roamed over her gorgeous features, practically soaking her up, and I shook my head. Note to self: Men are easy.
