Page 56 of Act of Brotherhood
Nicolette had lost track of the number of women whose heads Garth had turned without seeming to notice. Before he’d walked into her on the sidewalk, he’d more than noticed other women watching him. Not now. Now he seemed to only notice her.
She really wanted to talk to Clara about it all, but Clara had been tied up in meetings since Nicolette got off work. Plus, there hadn’t been a time she’d been without Garth since then.
He came to a stop in front of her on the bench and bent, going to one knee on the inlaid brick. He swiped his thumb over her lower lip and came away with a touch of ice cream. He then licked it from his thumb, his green gaze never leaving her.
In a flash, her nipples were hardening, and her body began to burn for him. He took a deep breath and grinned before taking hold of the back of her head and drawing her face closer. He kissed her lips tenderly and in a chaste manner that still managed to turn her on more.
She kept her head close to his. “Are you sure your friend is okay?”
“He is. Though his doctor is an asshole. Okay,oneof his doctors is an asshole. The other is fine,” said Garth.
“Let me guess, the asshole one is French.”
He nodded. “Good guess.”
“Not really. I caught part of your phone conversation. You really do not like that doctor,” she offered.
“I can’t stand him. He hates me too, so it’s all good.” Garth kissed her quickly and then stood, drawing her up and off the bench as well. “You don’t have to work again until Monday, correct?”
She nodded.
“Come away with me. We can take off together for the weekend. I can rent a beach house or a cabin. Whatever you want. Just the two of us. No interruptions.”
She held her cup of ice cream in one hand and touched his chest with the other. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes. It’s perfect…and that has me worried. Never has everything in my life lined up this well at the same time. I’m scared it will all come crashing down. Gram is apparently doing so well that he was shouting at me from his bed, loud enough for me to hear over his dick of a doctor on the phone. He says I’m not allowed near him while he recovers. He claims I hover and I’m a shit bedside nurse.”
She laughed softly. “I can see that.”
“Hey. I’m caring and nurturing and…never mind. Even I can’t get all that out with a straight face, beauty.”
She nudged him gently. “You were great with the kids today.”
“It was a fluke. Trust me. Normally, I’m total shit with little ones. Once, a kid bit me.”
Unable to help herself, she laughed. “Sorry. That isn’t funny.”
He gave a sheepish grin. “It’s a little funny looking back at it now. Two decades adds a great deal of perspective to things.”
“What you’re saying is whenyouwere just a kid, another kid bit you?”
Garth looked pained. “I’m a bit older than I look.”
“How much older are we talking here, buddy?” Nicolette took another bite of her ice cream as they stood face-to-face. “I’m thinking you’re around twenty-eight.”
Garth swallowed hard enough for her to hear. “No. I’m older than that.”
“Early thirties?” She offered him a spoonful of her ice cream and he took it, shaking his head as he did. She pursed her lips. “I’m out of guesses, because you don’t look any older than that.”
He waggled his brows and kissed her, tasting of the ice cream.
She laughed against his lips. “I should refuse to kiss you until you tell me the truth.”
“I’m just over twelve hundred years old,” he blurted before kissing her again. His tongue explored the recesses of her mouth, making her body ignite with desire—not that it needed far to go in the combustion department.
Nicolette slid a hand up his chest to his collarbone. “Twelve hundred, huh? You’re like as old as a mummy.”
He chuckled. “No, but Iamgood friends with an ancient Egyptian. Does that win me points? We call him Tut. Pisses him off.”
