Page 51 of A Little Harmless Pleasure

“Mainly because your public personality reminds me too much of my brother.”

Oh, that wasn’t good. Sisterly feelings might put a crimp into Chris’ plans. “And that’s bad because…”

She bit into her sandwich and hummed her pleasure. Lust coiled in his belly. Images of having her mouth on his dick, the vibrations of that action skimming across his flesh, his balls drawing up tight…

Shifting in his seat to ease the ache, he waited as she daintily wiped some sauce from her mouth.

“My brother is a bastard.” Blunt and to the point. The blush stealing up her neck ruined the boldness of her words.

“I take it you two aren’t close.”

She shook her head. “I could say that it’s because we’re several years apart in age. But it’s more that he’s just a bastard. He was raised to be one.”

He nodded. “So, you think I’m really a good guy underneath the bastard personality.”

She choked on a sip of water. “I didn’t say you had a bastard personality. I said that’s the way you act.” Cynthia set her glass down. “My brother’s personality is just that. Self-serving. You’re not like that.”

“So, you think that everything I do is for a higher purpose?”

“No. I would never say that. But I do think you use it to keep people at a distance. I also have a feeling that you don’t do that with Chris, or he wouldn’t be your friend.”

The woman was too perceptive for her own good, but he had to concede she was right, especially about his best friend. Still, he didn’t like her getting too close and he definitely resented her assumptions. “And you want to get to know the real me?”

“I’m not sure if I want to get to know you at all. But the truth is, Chris wants it, or needs it for some reason, and he never asks anything of me. I want to do this for him if it will ease whatever worry he has.”

The truth and sincerity in her voice touched something in him. Cynthia recognized a need in Chris that had taken Evan years to realize. Chris worked overtime for sick employees, arranged work around people’s school schedules, and handled his family’s squabbles. Whatever you needed, he strove to offer it to you. He never questioned your reasons, your lifestyle…he just accepted.

In return, Chris asked for nothing. He’d saved Evan, literally picked him up out of the gutter more than once, and in return, Chris wanted nothing but his friendship. A nurturer at heart, Chris had been searching high and low for someone to shower with that love and attention. Evan had worried that Chris would get tangled up with a woman who’d bleed him dry and leave him. For the first time in weeks, Evan was getting the feeling that Chris had chosen wisely.

He smiled, this time with genuine happiness. Cynthia blinked, then returned the gesture, although her smile was a bit wary.

“You’re right. About me, about Chris.” He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed it, never taking his gaze from hers. “But there are reasons.”

“I understand. Take it from someone who was a world champion in pretending to be someone you’re not, one of these days, it will bite you in the butt.”

He chuckled. “That isn’t always a bad thing, Ms. Cynthia.”

She snorted. “You would know.”

Easy with her now, he relaxed against the back of his chair and stretched his legs out. “So, I hear you went to that sucky school in Athens,” he said, referring to the University of Georgia.

She wrinkled her nose. “Better than being a loser from USC.”

Every true Southerner understood college rivalry. “We had a saying in Columbia about Georgia. Something about how they picked the mascot because it reminded them of their girlfriends.”

She shrugged off the insult of being compared to a bulldog. “Yeah, well I still say it’s better than a school with a penis for a mascot.”

His laughter turned the heads of several patrons, but he didn’t care. It had been a long time since he’d traded insults with another Southerner. Enjoying himself, he dug into his coleslaw and launched into reasons why South Carolina was superior to Georgia.

The front door toDupree’sopened, and Cynthia’s laughter drifted over the music. Chris turned toward the sound, releasing a sigh of relief. Evan’s arm was draped over her shoulders as she giggled at something he said.

“I’m telling you. Georgia just got lucky that year. They should’ve never made it into the playoffs.”

She rolled her eyes. “Give it up. USC couldn’t beat their way out of a paper bag.”

Evan threw back his head and laughed, more relaxed than Chris had seen him in months. The tension that had been niggling the back of his mind since Cynthia had left eased.

“Looks like you two had a good time.”

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