Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

dug up, and Laurel talked recipes with Mrs. Grady.
    “I’ve got to take off.Thanks, Mrs. Grady.”
    “Poker night,” Del said, glancing up. “Bring cash.”
    “Sure, since I’ll be leaving with yours.”
    “You give my best to your mother. Parker.” Mrs. Grady tapped a finger on the table. “Get Malcolm the leftovers I put aside for him.”
    Even better, Malcolm thought, and flashed Mrs. Grady a grin when she winked at him. He trailed Parker into the kitchen.
    “Looks like I’ll be eating like a king tomorrow, too.” He tucked the container under his arm.
    “Mrs. G has a weakness for strays. I didn’t mean it like that,” she said quickly.
    “I didn’t take it like that.”
    “I’m really grateful for your help tonight.You saved me a lot of time and aggravation. I’ll walk you out.”
    She’d pulled out that formal tone, he noted. The one that clearly ordered a man to take a step back. He moved deliberately closer as they walked through the house.
    “Can you give me an estimate on when I can pick up my car?”
    All business now, Malcolm mused. “Ma’ll call you about the tires in the morning, and work that out with you. Since I’ve got it in, I can give it a once-over.”
    “I was going to schedule a general maintenance next month, but yes, since it’s already there.”
    “You been having any problems with it?”
    “No. None.”
    “That should make it easy.”
    She reached for the door. He beat her to it.
    “Thanks again. I’ll expect your mother’s call tomorrow.”
    Brisk and dry as a handshake, he thought. He set the container down on a table holding a vase of fat orange roses. Sometimes, he thought, you moved fast; sometimes you moved slow.
    He moved fast, giving her a quick yank that had her body colliding with his.The way she said excuse me , like a veteran school-teacher to an unruly student made him grin before he took her mouth with his.
    It was even better than the pie.
    Soft, tasty, ripe, with just a hint of shock to cut the sweet. He felt her fingers dig into his shoulders, and the light tremble might have been outrage, might have been pleasure.
    He’d tasted her before. Once when she’d grabbed him and planted one on him to take a slap at Del, and again when he’d followed his own instincts on a visit to their place in the Hamptons.
    And every taste made him want more.
    A lot more.
    He didn’t bother to be gentle. He imagined she’d had plenty of the smooth type, the polite type, and he wasn’t inclined to be either. So he pleased himself, letting his hands run up that truly exceptional body of hers, then down again, enjoying her slow melt against him.
    When he heard the low purr in her throat, when he tasted it on his tongue, he let her go. He stepped back, picked up the container of leftovers.
    He smiled at her. It was the first time he’d seen her stunned and speechless.
    “See you later, Legs.”
    He strolled out, strapped the container onto his bike.When he swung on, revved the engine, he glanced back to see her standing in the open doorway.
    She made a hell of a picture, he thought, framed there in her power suit, just a little bit mussed, with the big, gorgeous house around her.
    He tapped his helmet in salute, then roared away with that picture as clear in his head as the taste of her on his tongue.
    Parker stepped back, shut the door, then turned and jumped when she saw Laurel in the hallway.
    “Can I just say wow ?”
    Parker shook her head, wished she had something to do with her hands. “He just . . . grabbed me.”
    “I’ll say. And let’s have one more wow .”
    “He’s grabby and pushy and—”
    “Really, really hot. And I say that as a woman madly in love with your brother. I might also add,” she continued as she walked to Parker, “that as I didn’t politely avert my eyes and go away, I happened to observe you weren’t exactly fighting him off.”
    “He caught me by surprise. Besides, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.”
    “Sorry, but