One Unforgettable Kiss

Chapter 2

He was undressing in front of her. Slowly unbuttoning the three buttons at the top of his shirt before pulling it up and over his head. His body was magnificent—bulging muscles, ripped abs, narrow waist. It was like a Playgirl centerfold.

When his strong fingers touched the button of his pants, Harper sucked in a breath. He was actually getting naked. The tightening of her nipples at that thought drew her gaze down her own body. She was already naked. Lying on her bed, legs spread wide in open invitation.

Had she invited him to her place? Her room? Her...

He stepped closer to the bed now, his pants unbuttoned, his chest bare. His gaze was hot, sending heated glares down her body until every inch of her exposed skin felt as if it were on fire.

“Show me what you want,” he said, his voice thick with desire. “Show me how to please you, Harper.”

What?

No, she couldn’t.

It was wrong. Wasn’t it?

She lay back against the pillows then, heart beating wildly as her throat tightened and the heavy fog of anxiety began to settle in. She was a healthy twenty-nine-year-old woman who had a right to know what she wanted and to ask for it. No, to demand it. She deserved that, didn’t she?

Especially after all that Harper had been through, all the humiliation and embarrassment she’d endured over the years. And not just in Temptation, but even during the four years she’d spent in Virginia. She’d been a trouper, as her father would have said. She’d stood strong in the face of adversity each and every time.

So, yes, dammit, she deserved something for herself. For once in her life, she deserved pleasure that she so often dreamed of. And tonight, she was going to take it.

With that resolution in mind, Harper opened her mouth to speak. She let one hand fall down to cup her breast while the other moved farther down to rest on her cleanly shaved mound. She was going to show and tell him what she wanted. He’d bid and donated a good chunk of money on her behalf tonight, and he wanted her. She wanted him, too, so much that she was ready to take the biggest risk of her life. She was about to invite him to make her...

Harper’s eyes popped open at that moment. She sat straight up in her bed. Her bedroom was empty, but her heart was still beating fast, and between her legs moisture still pooled as a reminder of her arousal. But he wasn’t there. She’d been dreaming about a man she didn’t even know. Fantasizing about someone she would never have.

Some things never changed.

* * *

“I told Mama it wasn’t going to work. You’re just not interested in men. Don’t know why you’re still trying to keep that a secret.”

Harper picked up the to-go cup of coffee and considered tossing the hot liquid into Leah Gensen’s perfectly pretty face. Then Harper thought better of that act, knowing it would draw too much attention to them. Ignoring Leah’s snide comment was the next option. Harper had made a habit of doing just that since she and Leah were in second grade. But Harper wasn’t seven years old anymore, and she couldn’t help it if Leah hadn’t figured that out yet.

“No secrets to be kept,” Harper said as she used her free hand to retrieve three dollars from the back pocket of her jeans. “But the next time your mother wants to play matchmaker, she should take note of the fact that you’re available. Especially since your third divorce was finalized last month.”

Leah’s pert, glossy, red-painted lips turned upward into a smirk as she narrowed her gaze at Harper.

“At least I’ve had a man,” Leah snapped.

“And I’ve got a college degree and own a business, while you’re serving coffee at your aunt’s coffee shop. You want to continue keeping score of who’s doing what, go right ahead, but I’ve got work to do.”

Harper dropped the money for her daily large coffee and plain bagel on the counter and turned to leave.

“That’s my girl,” Smitty Hallern said as Harper passed the table near the front window where he always sat.

“Hi, Mr. Hallern,” Harper said after mustering a smile.

Smitty played poker with Harper’s grandfather on Saturday nights. He had enlisted in the army the same time as her grandfather but had received a medical discharge when he’d suffered a severe asthma attack.

“Don’t let ’em get to you today,” Smitty said with a nod toward the front counter, where Leah and the other customers stood. “They always need something or somebody to talk about. Tomorrow they’ll be on to a different story.”

Harper shrugged. “It’s their life. They can live it how they please.”

It was an awful life, Harper thought—sitting around a café all day talking about people and what they did or didn’t like about them. Pitiful, really.

“That’s true,” Smitty continued. “But it ain’t good for you or people like you to hear all that negative talk. That’s what happened to Teddy and Olivia’s marriage. People kept talking about them and what they were doing with those TV folks. It got right messy around here with the rumors flying around. People got hurt, and then Olivia packed her kids up and left.”

Smitty went off on tangents often. Normally, it was something about the “good ol’ days,” as he and her grandfather called them. To which Harper would simply listen and smile. It was nice to hear their memories, and sometimes she even managed to learn a little about how the world was sixty years ago.

This morning, however, she had a headache. She’d been up for hours already, after waking from the disturbing dream. She was tired and cranky, and Leah hadn’t helped the situation at all.

“Right, I’ll keep that in mind, Mr. Hallern,” she said and pressed her back to the front door of the shop.

“Yeah, gossip can cause lots of pain,” he continued with a nod. There was a newspaper spread out on the table in front of him, a half-full cup of coffee and crumbs from what looked like a muffin he’d already eaten on the small plate to his left. “But it looks like the kids are coming around,” he said, rubbing a hand over the tight black-and-gray curls at his chin. “First the oldest boy came on home, and now I hear you ran into one of the other sons last night.”

That caught Harper’s full attention.

“Last night?” she asked. “Who did I run into last night?”

“Garrek Taylor. He’s the one who placed the winning bid on you. At least that’s the news going around this morning. Connie was in here about an hour ago whining about the check he wrote to the Veterans Fund instead of to her group of cackling hens.”

He shook his head then, and Harper swallowed. Her throat was suddenly dry.

“That was Garrek Taylor?”

“Yep,” Smitty said. “The navy pilot. Millie came in right behind Connie, and those two got to talking. Millie thinks she knows all there is to know about the Taylors. Probably ’cause she used to be spitting jealous of Olivia for marrying Teddy. Crazy, that’s what womenfolk can be sometimes.”

Harper was still trying to wrap her mind around what he’d just told her. Garrek Taylor, one of the infamous Taylor sextuplets, was back in Temptation. The story was that his mother had packed up her six children who were seven years old at the time, and moved to Florida. She’d left behind their family reality show and her cheating husband. Now, not only was Garrek the second of the Taylor sextuplets to return to town, but he’d bid on a date with her. He’d also invaded her dreams, bringing her to a fevered point she’d never been to before—in real life or a fantasy.

Could this week possibly get any worse?

* * *

“Welcome home!” Gray said the minute Garrek opened the door.

His older brother didn’t wait for a return greeting or an invitation to come in, but instead pushed past Garrek until he was completely inside the little room Garrek had rented at the Sunnydale Bed-and-Breakfast.

It had been eight years since Garrek had seen Gray in person. The last time he’d actually laid eyes on his brother was via a Skype call, at the reading of their father’s will, nine months ago.

“Hello, Gray,” Garrek said as he closed the door and walked to where his brother stood next to a dark green sofa that faced the oak television stand.

He’d been up for the last hour reading and hadn’t yet decided when he was going to pay his brother and his new family a visit. It seemed he no longer needed to contemplate that act.

“It’s good to see you, man,” Gray said and then stepped closer to pull Garrek into a hug.

Garrek and Gray were the same height, six feet even, but Gray had a broader frame and a penchant for expensive clothes, while Garrek was much more understated in his dark blue Levi’s and black Maryland Terps T-shirt.

“It’s good seeing you,” Garrek admitted as they pulled apart. “Congratulations are in order.”

Gray took a seat on the couch, and Garrek noted his brother wasn’t wearing the tailored suits an international businessman, like him, would. Today he wore khaki pants, a white button-down Polo shirt and brown leather shoes that Garrek was certain had cost a small fortune. As the CEO of his own electronics company, Gray was a wealthy man. In fact, all of the Taylor sextuplets were wealthy, after Gray discovered the money their father had left them a few months ago.

“Marriage, new house and a baby on the way,” Garrek continued. “Just like old times—Grayson Taylor does it big or he doesn’t do it at all.”

Gray smiled and Garrek chuckled as he sat on the other end of the couch. That was one of the things he admired most about his brother—his ability to get whatever it was he wanted done, and in grand fashion. Garrek was much too introverted to be the type of go-getter Gray was.

“Two babies on the way,” Gray added. “You didn’t get my last letter that said Morgan is carrying twins?”

Garrek shook his head. The letter was probably in the huge stack of mail he’d dumped into the bottom of his suitcase when he began packing for this trip. He’d taken some things out to read this morning, but it was information that Gray had sent him a while ago.

“Wow, twins!” Garrek stated and extended a hand to Gray. “Like I said, you always go big.”

Gray accepted his brother’s handshake and shrugged. “But I don’t know that this was all on me. You know she already has a set of six-year-old twins.”

“Right, Gemma told me about them. Jack and Lily, right?”

Gray nodded. “Yeah, they’re the best things that have ever happened to me. All of them, and coming back here. I can’t imagine my life without them now.”

Garrek didn’t know how those words made him feel. Gray had always been about his business and traveling the country. He’d never planned to settle down beyond his penthouse in Miami and his always-fueled personal jet. Hearing him talk about this woman and these children who had somehow changed him amazed Garrek.

“So tell me what brings you here. And why didn’t you call me to let me know you were coming? Morgan and I would have gotten a room ready for you at the house.”

“Nah,” Garrek told him with a shake of his head. “This was a last-minute decision, and I don’t want to put you out in any way.”

“Don’t be silly, man. You’re my brother—you couldn’t put me out. Especially not in that big house. I know you remember there are five bedrooms in that place.”

Garrek did remember. Gray was living in their childhood home on Peach Tree Lane.

“Yeah, I remember. But you’ve got your family there now. It’s your house.” Garrek leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and shook his head, because he was still trying to grasp all the changes that had happened in the past few months. The ones with Gray and the other Taylor sextuplets, and the ones with him personally.

“You’re welcome to stay there, but I’m not gonna push. Morgan will do enough of that when she sees you today. So come on—she was about to start cooking breakfast when I left the house. Her exact words were ‘bring him home to eat with us.’”

“Ah, no. I’m just going to hang out here for a while and catch up on some reading. I’ll try to stop by later or maybe tomorrow.”

Gray shook his head. “Look, Garrek, I know how you like to stay to yourself. I remember we used to give you hell about that growing up. But I get it, you want your space. Joining the navy and flying planes gave you lots of distance from our family and all that came with it. Unfortunately, you’re back in Temptation now. The place where there are no secrets, no privacy, and people who act like you’re related even though there’s no blood connection.”

Garrek had known that when he came here. He’d known, and yet he hadn’t thought to go anyplace else.

“I hadn’t planned to stay long enough for anyone to even know I was here. I mean, I was gonna call you, of course. But I don’t know anyone in this town, and they definitely don’t know me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Gray said as he stood. “It’s almost ten a.m. By this time everybody in Temptation knows that Garrek Taylor is back in town.”

Garrek stood, too, staring at Gray with confusion. “How would they know that? I just got here last night.”

“And you paid twenty-five hundred dollars to take the town tomboy on a date. Bright and early this morning, that check you wrote landed on the desk of Shirley Hampstead, town comptroller, who plays bingo with Joya Martina, Georgia Sanford and Millie Randall. Millie’s the director of Temptation’s Chamber of Commerce, and her office is right down the hall from Shirley’s. Joya volunteers at the hospital on Monday mornings, and after Shirley told Millie, Millie called Joya, who saw Wendy, Morgan’s sister, in the hallway on her way to work and told her. Wendy called Morgan and now,” he finished with a shrug and a smile, “I’m here to bring you back to the house for breakfast.”

“Wow” was all Garrek could offer in response.

“Yep,” Gray replied with a chuckle. “Welcome to Temptation!”

* * *

Welcome to Temptation was exactly what Garrek was thinking fifteen minutes later when he stepped onto the wraparound porch of the house on Peach Tree Lane.

He’d been looking around at the place that was obviously undergoing renovations when something to the right caught and held his attention. That something was perfectly shaped and tempting. His mouth had immediately watered at the sight, his body tensing. Of course, it wasn’t the first time he’d glimpsed a female behind, and at thirty years old he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last. But there was something about the way the worn denim outlined these particular curves.

She was bending over, counting slats of wood that had been piled toward the far end of the porch. And he was drawn to her. That’s about all he could say to describe why he let Gray go on into the house while he walked closer to where she stood. There was a familiarity that Garrek attributed to the jolts of lust spearing quickly throughout his body. He hadn’t come to this town to meet or sleep with another woman—in fact, that was the last thing he should be thinking of—yet he continued to walk until she stood up straight.

The long swaying end of sandy-brown hair pulled into a ponytail swished over the back of a light blue T-shirt that was tucked snugly into the waist of those enticing jeans. Garrek’s breath caught seconds before she turned to face him because he knew...he didn’t know how, but he did, and when her shocked expression met his and held, he acknowledged that he was in trouble.

Big, delectable trouble.

Chapter 3

“Oh!”

Her lips formed a perfect O shape as she released the one syllable, her eyes growing wider.

Cute. That’s the first word that came to Garrek’s mind as he looked at her. She was cute. And cute normally wasn’t his thing. Except when the sprinkle of brown freckles that marched boldly from one cheek across the bridge of her nose to the other cheek held his gaze. There were gold studs in her ears, and her eyes were a dark brown, which made an instant contrast to her cappuccino complexion.

“Good morning,” he said when it seemed the silence between them was going to stretch too long.

“Mornin’,” she replied and then tried to walk around him.

Their arms touched, skin to skin, and they both looked down at the contact. She yanked her arm away first, rubbing her hand up and down the spot where they’d just touched.

“Well, I see you two have met. Again,” a very cheerful voice said.

Garrek looked up to see a short and very pregnant woman making her way toward them. This had to be his sister-in-law. He smiled and extended his hand to her.

“You must be Morgan. I’m Garrek. It’s really nice to meet you.”

Once she was close enough, Morgan pushed Garrek’s extended arm out of the way and stepped in, her arms going immediately around his waist. Garrek joined in the hug, which was tight on her part and cordial on his.

“We don’t welcome family with a handshake around here,” Morgan was saying as she pulled away.

Garrek smiled down at her. She had a friendly face and quick, assessing eyes. Without missing a beat, Morgan reached out and grabbed Harper’s arm just as she was trying to slip away.

“Harper, I hear you and Garrek met last night at the dance. Have you decided where you’re going on your date?” Morgan asked.

Garrek hadn’t thought about the date he’d paid for, even though Harper’s leery gaze had stuck with him throughout the night.

“I apologized for that already,” Harper said. “I didn’t know they were going to do it.”

“Nonsense,” Morgan said and let her hand slide down Harper’s arm until she was lacing their fingers together. “I think you going out with Garrek is a great idea. You can show him around Temptation, since he’s been away from town for a while.”

“I didn’t know he was your in-law, either.” Harper shook her head. “I would never want things to be awkward. You know I’m serious about my business and trying to be professional, Morgan.”

She continued to speak only to Morgan, not so much as glancing in Garrek’s direction. He thought about that even as his fingers itched to move the strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail away from her face. It was a picture-perfect summer day in this quaint little town. He’d noted the colorful storefronts on Main Street leading the way to tree-lined streets, perfectly manicured sprawling lawns and large family homes on the ride over with Gray. It was exactly as he remembered from all those years ago. And Garrek had felt the same way he had back then—like he didn’t belong.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a social life,” Morgan was saying when Garrek stopped his momentary trek down memory lane and gave his attention to their conversation once more.

The smile Harper offered Morgan was conciliatory and didn’t touch her eyes.

“Let’s start with breakfast,” Morgan continued. “Coffee’s hot, French toast is sweet and Gray’s probably in there burning the eggs.”

Garrek chuckled at that. “He never could cook eggs. That was always Gemma’s specialty.”

“That’s exactly what he said,” Morgan added. “Harper, won’t you join us?”

She was already shaking her head. Garrek hadn’t expected anything less.

“No, thanks,” Harper said. “I have a lot to do this morning. Want to get the shiplap up in the den. Craig has Roy and Pete upstairs working double time on the nursery, per Gray’s request. And Marlon’s working on the playroom and the extra bathroom that was added to the plans last week. So I’ll have to stick around to make sure the rest of the staff stays on schedule down here.”

Morgan stared at Harper for a moment before giving a little nod. “Okay, I understand. Maybe Sunday dinner next week?”

“Maybe,” Harper said, and then turned to walk away.

She’d taken a couple of steps before she turned back and added, “It was nice meeting you, Garrek. Welcome home.”

Home.

Garrek was still thinking about that word as he sat in the dining room of Gray and Morgan’s house. He could refer to this place as just that because as he’d walked through, he’d noted how much the interior of the house had changed from when he lived there as a child. The living room, which was still under construction, now had larger front windows, and the floor was a darker wood than Garrek had remembered. He’d spotted a sitting room on the opposite side of the foyer, but Morgan had continued straight to the back of the house, so he’d followed her there.

They’d made a stop in the kitchen, which had a very homely feel, with the same almond-toned wood floors as the living room and sage-green cabinets. Morgan had instructed him to pick up the trays that were on the island. Garrek had been so busy looking around he’d bumped his head on one of the copper pots hanging from the large rack above the island. The sound of snickering pulled his gaze to the other side of the room, where a little boy stood with a smudge of what looked like grape jelly on his cheek.

The boy made Garrek smile, and he winked at him as he picked up the tray of bacon and the other one of sausage patties and links. He walked them into the dining room and set them on the long oak table.

Things were different in here as well. The bottom half of the walls were covered in wood that appeared to have been painted and then scraped. It was an odd look, but taking it in with the upper half of the walls, painted the color of churned butter, and the rest of the wood furniture that boasted the same distressed look, it all kind of made sense.

When he’d lived here, this room had been painted a very light brown. The table was large enough to accommodate twelve, just like this one, and heavy mustard-yellow drapes had hung from the windows. There was a large bay window where sunlight was allowed to pour into the uncovered windows, giving this space a much more cheerful look.

“Do you like biscuits and jelly?”

Garrek turned away from the window to see that the little boy had followed him.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Garrek replied and then went to grab a napkin from the table that had been neatly set for six. “But when I used to sneak some from the kitchen, I remembered to wipe the evidence from my face.”

The little boy’s eyes grew bigger, and he hurriedly grabbed the napkin from Garrek to wipe both of his cheeks.

Garrek smiled once more. “Good job.”

“Speaking of jobs,” Morgan said as she came into the dining room carrying a pitcher of orange juice in one hand and a plate stacked with French toast in the other, “why are you messing with Harper’s schedule? She knows what she’s doing and so far has remained on schedule.” She nodded at Garrek, who had moved closer to take both the orange juice and French toast from her and set them on the table.