Read Calling It for Free Online Page B

as perfect and beautiful as she remembered. She’d been hoping that had only been a figment of imagination from her fantasies last night. That she still wanted to lick him irritated her to no end. “What makes you think it wasn’t my boyfriend?”
    His head jerked up and the smile disappeared. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
    “Um... No.” Okay. So she wasn’t that good of a liar and all of her energies were directed toward not becoming a babbling idiot in his presence. And walking over to the kitchen counter. “But I totally could .”
    The grin came back and her knees actually went weak. She sank down onto the stool.
    “It’s the brothers,” he said, going back to the bags. “Six, right?”
    She’d told him that last night? She honestly had no clue.
    He took the last few items out and folded up the paper bags, then stowed them with the others in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. He reached down for a cutting board and then took one of the chef’s knives out of the block on the counter. Completely unaware of the fact that she was barely able to breathe as she watched him begin haphazardly chopping an onion, he just kept talking.
    “Any guy that even looks at one of my sisters has to pass through me first.” The knife paused as he frowned. “Well, I mean they used to.” He shrugged. “Take that times six... I’m guessing it can be a little intimidating.”
    Intimidating? That was intimidating?
    He looked up at her. “Right?”
    “Uh...”
    She had to get ahold of herself. He was obviously planning on sticking around for a little while, crazy as that seemed. If she wanted to make it through the evening, coherent communication was a requirement.
    Forcing herself to pretend he was someone other than Nate Hawkins, she shook her head and stood up. “That’s not how you cut an onion.” She went around the counter to join him. If there was one thing she knew how to do, it was cook. “Let me.”
    Not even the slightest bit defensive, he handed the knife over, then reached into the fridge and took out two beers. He waited for her to finish with the onion and rinse off her hands before he handed over a bottle.
    The problem was, take away the Nate Hawkins part and he was still the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. He made her throat go dry; made her burn from the inside out.
    He’d clearly made a mistake. There was probably some gorgeous, leggy blonde in the next apartment over and he’d just somehow ended up here instead. Except she lived over a storefront and the next apartment over was in another building.
    And he was looking at her. Smiling at her. If he’d made a mistake, it was sure taking him a long time to figure it out.
    “To big brothers,” she said, managing to find her voice.
    “And the sisters worth fighting for,” he answered gruffly.
    His fingers brushed hers as their bottles touched. It took everything she had to keep herself from jumping back as a frisson of heat darted through her.
    Um... Why wasn’t she considering the one-night stand thing again?
    Oh, right. Because she was lying to him. And whether he had a good reason or not, he was lying right back.
    He stared at her for a second and then took a step back. She had no idea if there had been an actual moment between them or if she’d just imagined it. “What else can I do?” she asked.
    “Nothing.” He opened the package of ground beef. “I’m making you dinner, remember?” He got out a frying pan and started browning the meat. “It’s only fair I make you another one of Aunt Laura’s casseroles.”
    So caught up in the surrealness of it all, it took Dorie a few seconds to realize what that meant. When she did, she almost spit out her beer. “Mrs. Grimes is your Aunt Laura?” As in Mrs. Grimes, one of the two staff members she’d inherited when she took over the library, Mr. Grimes being staffer number two. “Oh, my God. Could they be any cuter?” She loved them. They’d been so welcoming and warm that she almost