Read Bringing Delaney Home (Cates Brothers #1) for Free Online Page B

her mouth. She checked the corners of her lips with her tongue in case she had leftover icing. “It didn’t ring . I didn’t hear it ring.”
    “Huh.” Quinn got up to check the phone. “No dial tone. Did Greer forget to pay the phone bill?”
    “Don’t know, but while you’re up, will you get me a glass of milk?” she asked around another bite of cake.
    “Sure, if I can have a piece of cake too.” Quinn glanced at her lips again, and then abruptly moved to the cupboard, pulling out two glasses. He opened the refrigerator and leaned in. “Looks like there’s skim or chocolate soy.”
    Delaney watched the muscles under his T-shirt ripple as he moved items around in the fridge. Her gaze travelled from his wide shoulders, down his flexing biceps to the firm lines in his muscular forearms and hands. The muscles in his forearms contracted, and she felt something flutter low in her abdomen. What the heck?
    She’d known Quinn since he was in kindergarten. He was her little sister’s friend and he needed to stay safely in that box. Except for that one week. He wasn’t safely in a box then either. His strong hands flexed on the glasses, and the warmth curled in her stomach again. Nope. Not happening . Burying emotions had been her survival method for the last nine months. No sense switching that up now.
    “What do you want, Delaney?”
    “What do I want?” Nothing she could afford. Life had taught her long ago she couldn’t always have what she wanted.
    “Your glass of milk?”
    “Oh, milk. Right. Um, skim, please.”
    Quinn swung abruptly back to the open refrigerator and her gaze latched on to his back like a super magnet on forged steel. She slammed her eyelids shut and talked herself back from the edge. It’s just physical attraction. Easily ignored. Especially considering her own shortcomings now. Ignore his darn sex appeal and focus on what you need. She needed to ease Greer’s worries so she could get back to D.C. She lowered her head and dug back into her mug of cake.

Chapter Five
    W hat the hell was he doing here? He’d asked himself the same thing on the drive over, but his brain had argued that a Southern gentleman could manage thirty minutes of friendly conversation. Stupid brain. He should have known his “other” brain had probably tied up his Southern gentleman and taken him hostage. That was the only explanation, because after this morning in the gym, he should have known being alone with Delaney was like playing with matches near a gas leak.
    Quinn turned back to Delaney with a glass of milk in each hand only to freeze at the sight of her licking the last bit of icing from the back of the spoon, unable to take his eyes off the spoon or her pink tongue. She had a smear of icing on the bottom of her lower lip. Her soft, plump, delicious-looking lower lip. Damn. Embers he was sure he’d stomped out years ago began to burn in his gut. He spun around, dumping the contents of both glasses of milk in the sink. “That milk smells off.”
    He opened the refrigerator and managed to practically stick his whole head in it for ten seconds. He poured two glasses of chocolate soy milk, then took a deep, controlling breath before turning back to place the glasses on the table.
    “Don’t forget a plate and a fork.” Delaney started whacking at the cake with the spoon. “You want flowers or letters?”
    “Whatever.” Quinn grabbed a plate out of the cupboard and a fork from the drying rack next to the sink. Moving back to the table, he looked down at the cake. “Who’s Awa? And why are you rooting for them?”
    “What are you talking about?” Delaney scooped a yellow icing flower off the cake with her finger. One lick and the flower was gone from her finger and the embers in Quinn’s gut were heading into four-alarm territory.
    He quickly spun the chair around to straddle it while he held his plate out for cake. “Hit me.”
    “Trust me, I almost did at the gym today.” She slapped a big