Read Playing with Dynamite for Free Online Page B

The twins, Ethan and Nathan, live out of state, so you’ll be spared remembering their names this time.”
    â€œYou own the riverboat, don’t you?”
    Carly nodded. “My husband, Russ, and I do.”
    â€œOh, I didn’t realize you were married.”
    Carly hesitated and lowered her voice. “Brick hasn’t told you very much about us, has he?”
    Lisa felt another twinge of pain, despite a hundred silent reminders that she shouldn’t because her romantic relationship with Brick was over. “He, uh, mentioned you a month or so ago and…”
    â€œYeah, well, he mentioned you to us the last several times he visited.”
    That stopped Lisa in her tracks. She glanced at Brick and found him gazing at her while his brother Troy was talking. For an instant, his eyes seemed to meld with hers. She felt a shudder inside her, like the first rumblings of an earthquake. His gaze was so determined. She shuddered again.
    The corners of his mouth lifted in a slow, knowing smile that made her heart pound against her rib cage. Lisa absently pressed her hand against her chest to make her heart behave.
    â€œIf you decide to stay overnight, you’re welcome at my house,” Carly offered.
    Lisa ripped her gaze from Brick’s. “Oh no. That won’t be necessary. I’m not—”
    â€œAnd if you have any questions about Brick,” Carly said with a mischievous grin, “I’ve known him for twenty-plus years.”
    Lisa was severely tempted. A dozen unanswered questions came to mind. She told herself it was normal. After all, she’d been involved with Brick for months, and there was so much she had wanted to know about him.
    Before. Not now.
    She stifled the urge to ask, and instead mustered a smile. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass this time.”
    Brick overheard Lisa’s response and didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved. He fought the overwhelming instinct to stuff Lisa in his car and drive back to Chattanooga. It was tough to explain why, even to himself, but he thought it had something to do with wanting to keep her to himself.
    Selfish as hell, he acknowledged, but it didn’t change the way he felt. He didn’t want anyone messing with his relationship with her. He snorted. Why should he worry about them making matters worse when he’d already made a mess of it himself?
    Brick dismissed the disturbing thoughts and snagged Lisa’s wrist. “C’mon. Let’s go throw a pie for charity. My old junior high school principal is the target, and I owe him.”
    Lisa stumbled after him. “Owe him for what?”
    â€œHe stuck me in detention for my whole seventh grade year.”
    â€œAnd you didn’t deserve it at all?”
    Brick stopped and grinned sheepishly. “Maybe a little.”
    â€œHow little?”
    â€œIt was just a few harmless pranks…involving a frog and the English teacher, a food fight in the cafeteria and…” He hesitated and his smile faded slightly. “And the homework I didn’t do.”
    â€œI can imagine the frog and the food fight, but my father would have killed me if I hadn’t done my homework.”
    Brick looked away, squinting his eyes under the glare of the sun. “Yeah, well, my dad wasn’t paying much attention, my mother had died and my stepmother was a witch.”
    The breeze picked up a strand of his sun-lightened hair, and Lisa felt a clutch in her chest. “Sounds rough,” she murmured.
    He shrugged his wide shoulders. “You don’t want to hear about that, so—”
    â€œBut I do,” she said impulsively, then bit her tongue. “I mean, I enjoy hearing about your childhood. You haven’t really talked about it much before.”
    He rubbed his thumb back and forth over her knuckles in a mesmerizing motion. “It wasn’t all happy, Lisa, and the time you and I had together was