Page 18 of Edge of Desire

Giving my head a shake, I said, “Sorry,” I choked out. I wasn’t really. I wanted to stare at her for the rest of my life.

“I’m going to call for a bellman.”

“Good idea.” Suddenly, I was tongue-tied. I watched her pink mouth as she spoke on the phone. I wanted those lips on my body. Anywhere would be fine. My hand would do, or my arm. Even my pinkie finger. I would die a happy man for one touch from her plump lips.

She cleared her throat. “Ahem.” I looked at her eyes. They were large, almond shaped and I wanted to fall right into them. They reminded me of the Caribbean Sea. They couldn’t decide if they wanted to be blue or green. I imagined, depending on her mood or the time of day, they could be either or both. That was okay with me because I loved both colors equally.

“Are you even listening to me?” she wanted to know.

“Pardon me?” Her voice sounded like silk as it swished. I was drowning in the sound of it. I didn’t ever want her to stop speaking.

“I asked if you were ready.”

“Whenever you are.”

“Let’s go.”

We headed down to the lobby so she could check out and wait for her luggage. Soon we were in the Range Rover, driving back to Caroline’s.

“Miles, can you take her luggage upstairs and show her to her room? She’ll be in the one across from yours.” Caroline was busy preparing dinner, so I got all of Avery’s things up to her room and showed her where everything was.

“I’m sorry you had to go to all this trouble today. You didn’t know you were going to be a pack mule, did you?”

I laughed. “No worries, Avery. It was my pleasure.” That wasn’t the whole truth. What really would be my pleasure would be to see her naked and writhing on the bed. Or to have my mouth on her lush breasts. I could only imagine what they looked like. Plump, with large nipples and begging for my mouth to suck on them. I jerked in my pants again and knew I needed to get out of her room.

“I think I’ll change before dinner,” she said quietly before closing her door. I stared directly into her eyes until the door cut me off.

That was my cue to get the hell out of her face. Giving myself a quick adjustment, I went back to the kitchen to see if my sis needed a hand with dinner. She was making one of my favorite things ever, her homemade lasagna.

We chatted as I prepared the salad. She was layering everything in the pan and getting ready to put it in the oven. I had opened a couple bottles of wine and I whispered to her, “Remember your mannerisms. Don’t do anything the old girl would’ve done. Tone, action, gestures.”

She was nervous. I could tell by the way she fidgeted and the erratic movements of her eyes. “Stay calm and you’ll be fine.”

I poured her a glass of wine and soon we heard the clicking of Avery’s heels as she approached. God, she looked amazing and damned fuckable. She had changed into a pair of white jeans and a white sleeveless sweater. The jeans clung to her ass and thighs, and it should have been me that was wrapped around her like that. I had to walk away for a second to make another slight adjustment to my junk. Things had heated up down below.

“Mmm. This smells yummy. Can I do anything to help?”

“Yeah, there’s an antipasto tray in the fridge. Can you pull it out so we can snack on it?”

Avery put the tray on the counter, and I asked her, “White or red?”

“White, please.”

I poured her a glass of pinot grigio and we both sat at the island while Caroline stood on the other side as we chatted.

“Did you get settled?” she asked Avery.

“I did and thanks again for having me. Y’all are so kind to do this.”

While Avery and Caroline talked, I pretended to listen, but I was really stealing glances at her mouth as she spoke. She had this little habit of tugging the corner of her perfect upper lip into her mouth. I wish it was mine she was pulling in there. She’d caught me a couple of times checking her out, giving me a questioning glance, but I was able to divert her attention back to Caroline. This was going to be a long night.

As the night moved on, Caroline glanced at me every now and again, I think because she needed a bit of reassurance. She was doing great. Avery didn’t suspect a thing. Caroline had lived this role now, had become this new person, and had put Terri to rest so even she believed in herself. That’s what made it work so well.

The lasagna was ready, and Caroline was allowing it to rest the required fifteen minutes before serving it. She heated up the bread and I distributed the salads.

“We’ll eat at the table in here instead of the dining room. We don’t generally eat in there unless we have a large crowd,” Caroline explained.

“Sounds great,” I answered.

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