One of the Guys by Shiloh Walker Page A

opened his mouth to say it.
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    Shiloh Walker
    But instead of no , he heard himself saying, “Fine. Whatever, Katie.” She beamed at him and then glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, and what do you know? The chef is here.”
    The door opened and Brian’s stomach seemed to sink. Shit. Slowly, he turned and saw Jaynie come through, juggling two bags. She gave him a casual smile and then she looked at Katie. “I said I’d do lasagna but you promised me a pitcher of margaritas while I cooked.”
    She dropped the bags down on the counter and Brian started to retreat, hoping he could get to his room and get the door locked. But he had to pass the kitchen island to do it and the second he did, Jaynie turned and dropped a mesh bag into his hands. It was full of fat, red tomatoes. “Can you cut these?” Jaynie turned away and continued unpacking the bags and that was when he noticed what she was wearing. The short skirt wasn’t exactly indecent but it left entirely too much leg bare for his peace of mind. Long, golden, tanned legs. Her hair was floating around her shoulders, inches shorter than he’d ever seen it. “You cut your hair,” he said, his voice rusty.
    She glanced over her shoulder at him, a smile flirting with the corners of her lips.
    “Yeah. I…uh…well, I tried to trim it a little myself and did a crappy job of it.” The skirt and the shorter hair weren’t the only difference. She had on a pair of strappy sandals, a dusky blue tank top and something white and lacy underneath that played peekaboo at the neckline. The top closely hugged the full curves of her breasts.
    He edged around the counter under the pretense of washing the tomatoes and, as he did, he stole a look at her face.
    She was wearing makeup. Some shimmery stuff on her eyes. Something along her cheekbones that added to the warm, sun-kissed glow of her skin. And her mouth was strawberry pink. He wanted to grab her and lift her up onto the island and kiss that lipstick away. Then strip away her clothes, hold her down, fuck her hard—fuck her until she screamed out his name. Until she stopped treating him so indifferently.
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    One of the Guys
    Instead, he focused on the tomatoes, washing each one carefully before he unearthed the rarely used chopping board and a serrated knife. Both he and Katie could cook. It had been something his mother had seen to, but neither of them cared to mess with it much.
    He diced the tomatoes, trying to keep his focus on that task, but it was damn hard.
    He kept smelling the soft, summery scent of her skin. She brushed against him when she got out a pan for the sauce. She leaned over the island to drop some onions by the chopping block and he found himself staring at the full, ripe swells of her breasts framed by white lace.
    “Right, Brian?”
    He jerked his eyes away from her breasts and found his sister standing next to him, chattering on obliviously. “Huh?”
    She poked him in the ribs on her way to the sink. “You need a date for Dean’s wedding, right? I mean, we all want to go and pay our respects to the happy couple.” Her voice took on a hard edge with that last part and Brian had to smother a grin.
    He forced himself to give Jaynie a nonchalant smile. “Wouldn’t miss it.” Jaynie flicked him a glance and then focused her attention on Kate. Kate was busy washing a head of lettuce and paying a lot more attention to the task than it really needed. She gave Jaynie a bright, sunny smile. “You know what would be funny? If he got drunk at the wedding and puked all over Kit.” But Jaynie didn’t take the bait. “I don’t need a date for the wedding, Kate. We already talked about that.”
    Katie shrugged. It was a habitual gesture for her, one that said, yeah , we talked but I decided this would be better . She’d been doing it since childhood and Brian knew she’d be doing it until the day she died. Knowing that Jaynie would likely butt heads with Kate over it, Brian interrupted. He didn’t