Blake nodded slowly. “I told Leo I’d partner with him playing pool for the night. No use letting you boys retain the title any longer than we have to.”

“You think your game is on enough to beat us?”

“Damn right it is.”

Jesse swept the remainder of the sunflower shells into the dustbin as he gave Blake a cocky grin. “Hope you sleep well tonight. Get enough rest. You know, being you’re so old and all…”

He danced out of Blake’s reach. Joel snickered and hit his brother on the arm. “Lay off him. Night, Blake. Jaxi said breakfast at seven.”

The twins slipped into the darkness toward the main floor room they still shared. Blake watched them go, caught by how much it was like hitting a time warp, seeing the house filled at every corner. Those two had been a handful as kids, but they’d turned into fine young adults.

If they didn’t want Jaxi, he would have thought even better of them.

Blah. That was sour grapes on his part. If he couldn’t have her—and he couldn’t—maybe the twins were the best thing for her. One of them. Maybe.

Blake rose and made his way downstairs. His feet seemed to stop of their own accord five paces too soon. He stared at the door of the den, closed tight. Behind those doors Jaxi would be curled up, her blonde hair draped over the pillow, body nestled in the thick comforter covering the sofa bed. She probably wore one of those baby-doll nighties, her long legs exposed, her smooth shoulders bare under thin straps of some kind of soft, shiny material. Sleeping in the room next to her the first night had been difficult, and after only a week, his desire for her had grown even stronger.

Blake bit back a growl and headed to his room. His ma needed the help but this week had been sheer hell on his body. Even now he was harder than a railway spike, the thought of Jaxi close by teasing his senses. He swore the scent of her filtered through the walls.

He stripped off his jeans and shirt, then padded toward the bathroom door. Fingers on the latch, he stilled. Oh hell, he’d nearly forgotten he couldn’t go in. As the oldest son he’d taken advantage of picking the only downstairs bedroom with an attached bathroom. But it had a connecting door to the den as well, and Jaxi had all her things in there. He stood, his hand glued to the doorknob. He wanted to enter, even hoped by some chance she’d have left the other door open, and he could torment himself with a glimpse of paradise.

Blake dragged a breath of air into his lungs in an attempt to cool his burning body. This wasn’t right. She was a guest in their home, and yet here he was, acting like a hound dog. He should be ashamed of himself.

He grabbed his travel kit from under the bed and marched down the hall toward the large shower room in the annex. He, Matt and Daniel had promised to use the larger bathroom and let Jaxi have the privacy of the other for herself.

The sound of running water met his ears and Blake stepped into the dimly lit room, wondering why his brothers had turned on only half the lights. Splashing noises echoed. Leaving his kit on the sink counter, he rounded the corner to the showers.

And froze.

The three showerheads in the open room were separated by nothing but space. Steam filtered the dim lighting into a moonshine glow.

All he saw was wet, naked skin. Jaxi’s skin. Every inch of her bare to his gaze as water poured from the middle shower, streaming in waves over her body. She faced away from him, head thrown back as she shifted to allow the water to slip over her face and down her chest. Blake, his body hot and needy, watched in a daze as the shampoo rinsed from her hair and undulated down her back, tiny bubbles racing over the curve of her waist. His gaze followed the bubbles along the gentle swell of her hips and the full curves of her ass. Her skin was pale pink from the heat of the water, faint tan lines showing on her thighs and arms.

His mouth went completely dry. Retreat. It had to happen—he had to turn and leave before she spotted him. Yet, no matter how loud his brain screamed at him, his feet remained glued in place as she slid the soap over her body. As she lifted her hands to brush her hair back from where it clung to her shoulders in white ribbons.

Blake’s cock tented his boxers as Jaxi rotated under the showerhead, turning the front of her body to his sight. Her nipples were soft. Tender, juicy pink berries crowning full, taut curves. The perfect size to fill his hands and still allow him to take her into his mouth. Water slid in rivulets over her belly and through the pale blonde curls visible at the junction of the long legs he’d fantasized about so many times. Jaxi’s eyes were closed, and she swayed as she washed, her hands slipping over her body in a way that made Blake heat to near boiling just from watching her. She hummed, quiet and low, her hips moving to the faint tune.

Guilt shot through him. He had no right to watch her, no right to invade her privacy and treat her like anything but the beautiful, caring person he knew her to be. She wasn’t his to admire.

God help him, he wanted her to be.

He swallowed hard and tried to peel his gaze away. Tried to not watch as her hands covered her breasts, then slicked over her belly in slow circles. Tried to glance away as she slipped her fingers gently through the curls covering her pussy, over her ass, washing every inch of her luscious body clean.

Blake watched, motionless and noiseless for so long he felt like a statue, every bit of his body gone as hard and rigid as his aching shaft. Indecision held him, immobilized him. The rush of blood through his veins drowned out the part of his common sense saying he needed to leave. The pounding faded everything logical and rational away in him and stripped him bare to need and desire.

His eyes needed him to stay here, to fill his brain with the vision of her glowing skin, her seductive movements. His hands needed to touch her, run over her curves in imitation of the water caressing in endless sweeps. His mouth needed to taste—not only her lips, but her breasts and the spot on her back where the skin dimpled above her ass.

He desired her. Every fiber of his being wanted to show her how much, but his conscience kept kicking his feet from under him before he could cross the room.

This was Jaxi.

He wished he had never walked down the hallway.

Jaxi opened her eyes, her gaze unfocused for a second before she noticed him standing in the steamy room like some ghostly Peeping Tom. Her quick intake of breath showed clearly enough she didn’t expect anyone, hadn’t realized she’d been putting on a show.

Now was a perfect time for him to drop his head and slip away. He couldn’t do it. She stared back at him through the mist hanging in the air, her eyes as big as silver dollars. She bit her bottom lip, and he fought a mental battle to leave, fought to stay quiet.

Then he noticed her nipples change. Tightening even as he looked at her. Electric pulses shot through him, and his hands itched to touch her, to lift the weight of her breasts and lap at those gems that had grown erect beneath his gaze.

Jaxi turned off the water and stepped slowly toward him, head held high. She sauntered up, slippery and wet, naked as a jaybird. Her skin glowed with heat as she stopped inches away, staring unendingly with those mesmerizing grey eyes. She reached out, her naked skin brushing his shoulder. She drew back, her arm clasping a towel she’d grasped from the hook beside his head.

He thought she’d wrap herself up quick. Instead she rotated her fingers and let the towel hang as she held the fluffy fabric to him. He glanced down, saw the way her hand trembled even as she put on a bold face and kept her body motionless under his heated gaze. He reached for her, his hand moving of its own accord before his brain fully engaged.

What brain? All the blood he needed for thinking had pooled in his groin.

This was the second time she’d taken him by surprise, and he couldn’t make the same mistake. He’d been haunted since the first incident.

He couldn’t let anything happen. It wasn’t right for them to be together.

Blake withdrew his hand.

And fled.

Chapter Seven

The morning passed in a blur of activity. Jaxi cooked and cleaned with a vengeance, but deep inside a huge lump sat and burned at her innards. Blake hadn’t said good morning to her. He’d avoided her gaze at breakfast and hightailed it from the house as quick as a jackrabbit. She wasn’t sure what to do next because after she’d crawled into her bed last night she realized she’d been way out of line.

Apologize? That would be smooth. She could hear herself now. “Sorry for getting naked and hoping you’d ravish me in your parents’ house with your brothers just down the hall.”

Damn. How was she supposed to get him to make a move when they lived in the same house? With the whole family always around or popping up unexpectedly? As much as she loved his family, it was Blake she wanted.

This wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d first imagined.

After dinner Matt tugged her aside. “You want to go to the children’s summer theater performance at the community hall this Wednesday?”

She hesitated, panic flooding her. Not Matt too. Sweet, considerate, usually insightful Matt. He excited her about as much as a bouquet of dandelions. The expression on her face must have shown her fear because he chuckled and quickly reassured her. “I don’t mean with me, Jaxi. Hell if you need that kind of complication in your life right now. Not to mention you know Helen would have my balls if I stepped out on her.”

Her muscles unclenched slowly as he patted her shoulder. A pat from him felt proper, caring and supportive. It wasn’t a cop-out like the treatment from Blake the other day. If any of the Colemans was a big-brother figure to her, it would be Matt.

“I’m already going to the hall on Wednesday,” Jaxi said. “I promised to seat people and sell tickets for the raffle. Plus do cleanup after.”

“Maybe you should have someone help you. I hear Blake is free on Wednesday, and I bet he would give you a hand if you asked.”

Jaxi snorted. “You here on his behalf? I don’t think your brothers are too shy to ask me if they want to do something with me, Matt. They’re grown men, they’ve got tongues in their heads.”

He stopped and stared out the window for a minute before he answered. “Well…yeah, we might be all grown, but that doesn’t mean we can all see what’s right in front of our noses. Some of us don’t make the best decisions for ourselves because we try too hard to do what we think is proper for everyone else.”

Cryptic, even for Matt. Jaxi leaned a hip on the counter. “Okay…”

He smiled before reaching to tweak her nose. “As for not being shy, you never know. Sometimes it’s the biggest and seemingly boldest animals you’ve got to gentle along real slow and easy to get the right results. Too fast and they spook.”

Her face flushed with heat, and she busied herself wiping the sink to avoid looking him in the eye. Oh lordy, did Matt know what had happened last night? How shockingly she’d behaved?

“If you have a little extra time this afternoon, you can switch your stuff into the far basement bedroom. Blake told me this morning he’s taking the guest cabin so you can have a real bed, and we’ll be able to use the office again.”

Jaxi’s heart choked off her throat. What had she done?


Matt watched her walk away, her expression of dismay showing all too clearly something had gone down sideways.

He stepped outside and sucked in a deep breath of the late August air. He didn’t know if he should be happy that he wasn’t the only one who had a setback last night or not. He didn’t wish Jaxi and Blake anything but the best, even if it pissed him off royally that Blake had someone willing to show at every turn how much she admired him and the bastard kept pushing her away. Whereas he had someone he loved who simply wouldn’t admit it back.

And then last night…

Fuck.

He drove to the north field to fix a pump that was acting up. Diving into a frustrated tussle with rusted pipes and broken water lines was preferable to the mental wrestling he’d been doing for the past twelve-plus hours.

A line of dust headed his direction, his cousin’s shiny new Toyota drawing closer. Matt wiped the sweat from his brow with his shirtsleeve and waited for Gabe to park on the far side of the gate.