“Hey sweetheart,” his calm, soft voice instantly relaxed her. “What’s bothering you?”
“Ah, my boss is putting the brakes on a great story.” She sighed. “You got time for lunch? I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Actually, I was going to ask you if you wanted to come by the house for lunch.” He chuckled. “You read my mind. I have a favor to ask. How about I make us a couple tofu salads and you meet me here in half an hour?”
She would’ve preferred potato salad loaded with mayo, but Dad was a health food nut and she knew he’d disapprove if she suggested her alternative. He worried about what he called her ‘bachelor eating habits,’ so she cheerily agreed to his offer.
She gave her makeup a last minute fix via the mirror in her powder / foundation case. She frowned at her too big nose and applied a pale pink gloss to her pouty lips. There was no fixing her round face and naturally too bright cheeks, she decided. At least her dimples and big doe eyes made her cute, and why was she worrying about this exactly? It was just lunch with dad at his place. But that did mean the prospect of seeing her step brothers, which usually made her feel like the awkward, bookish girl she’d been in high school.
***
The tofu looked more appetizing than Mickie expected. At least it wasn’t white and jiggly, like the dish one old boyfriend had tried to convince her to eat. Warm golden brown slices sat atop a bed of crisp lettuce, juicy red tomatoes, and cucumbers. When she bit into it, she found it tasted like a cross between chicken and fish.
“This is really good, Dad, ” she said, waving her fork appreciatively over the dish. “So what did you need to ask me?”
“I was wondering if you’d house sit for me this summer?” He crossed his arms in front of him, gave her somewhat of a pleading look with his crystal blue eyes. “Rift and I are going out on our farewell tour, and the boys will be home while I’m away.” He ran a hand through his curly, silvering hair and sighed. “You know your step brothers.”
She giggled and brushed a strand of mahogany hair from her brown eyes. “Say no more. You want someone responsible around to make sure they don’t destroy the place.”
Dad’s face broke into a wide grin that made him look like the kid next door. “Exactly.”
***
It wasn’t that her twin step brothers, Shane and Hunter, were irresponsible. It was just that when they got together, trouble usually followed close behind.
Shane, the up and coming rock star, a drummer who’d followed in his dad’s footsteps, was often the instigator. Although her quieter step brother, a cop with Saint John RCMP, could be just as mischievous too. He just knew how to hide that side of himself better than his rebellious sibling.
They were two years younger than Mickie and drove her crazy when she’d lived with the pair as a teenager. Now she’d have to spend two months making sure they didn’t throw any wild house parties and destroy her step dad’s place. Perhaps now that Hunter was a cop he’d be less quick to cause trouble. She could hope for small favors at least.
They’d also drove her nuts sexually. Constantly flirting and frustrating her, teasing and tempting. But as a young girl she’d been intent on school. Getting good grades and getting into college immediately after graduation had been her only focus. She hadn’t had sex until she’d been close to finishing her journalism degree. And then it had been two failed attempts at best. Both with fumbling frat boys who were too drunk to find her nipples, let alone anything else.
She was in the kitchen rummaging through the fridge for sandwich fixings when Shane came home. The door slammed. Bags dropped to the foyer floor with a heavy thump and the jingle of buckles and zippers.
Mickie turned and almost dropped the mayo.
“My big sister is here!” Shane held his arms wide and gave her a dazzling smile.
***
Read an excerpt from a sizzling new Wild & Lawless release Surrender To His Proposal Surrender Series Volume 2, Part 1 by Anita Lawless & Roxxy Meyer
Surrender To His Proposal
By Anita Lawless & Roxxy Meyer
The roof is beyond leaking. If I don’t get someone in soon, the entire attic might become a swimming pool.
“I can fix it for you,” Jake says, and he notices my discomfort at his words, because he quickly adds, “Or I know someone who can do it cheap.”
Pride. I shake my head at myself, knowing pride is going to kill me one day. And a woman can’t be full of pride when she has two boys to raise and bills she can’t pay piling up.
“Carrie.” Jake leans across the arborite table I picked up at a flea market and squeezes my hand. “Let me help you.”