Love Simmers by Jules Deplume Read Free Book Online

breath as he lathered more soap on his hands and
knelt down to wash my feet. I stared down at him with anticipation.
My legs trembling with need once there was only one place he had
yet to touch. This felt better than the painkillers.
    He put the soap bar down and
stepped out of the shower.
    “ What?” I
cried, staring at him in shock. “Why?” I practically sobbed in
frustration.
    “ Your doctor
said not to exert yourself for a few days,” he smirked boyishly as
I chucked the soap bar at his head. “That was just a taste of
what’s to come.”
    “ You’re a
tease,” I stepped out of the shower, standing before him proud and
naked. His eyes couldn't help but skim over my wet body. I smiled
as his body began to react to the sight of me naked.
    “ I promise I’ll
put out next time.” He left the room quickly.
    “ There won’t be
a next time!” I shouted after him playfully.
    I cursed his name as I finished
my shower with cold water.
    I walked down the steps with
what I imagined to be a pretty frustrated look on my face.
    “ Trouble
brewing in your pointless relationship?”
    You’d think my brother would
know better than to poke the bear but obviously not. I was widely
considered to be the intelligent twin. In moments like this I
understood how I got the title. The bar wasn’t set high.
    “ Don’t start,”
I snapped as we headed to the car.
    “ Nate left
laughing a couple of minutes ago.”
    Ollie opened the car door for
me, enjoying my meltdown. I hated baby brothers. They were a plague
on the earth.
    I put on my darkest sunglasses,
the bright light killing my head. It was a reminder of last night’s
narrow escape.
    “ You know
you’re about to leave, why are you starting something you can’t
finish?” I fought the urge not to smack his arm with my good
hand.
    “ Do you have to
delay the opening?” My tone becoming serious as my focus shifted to
the problem at hand.
    “ Hopefully not.
We’re on our way there now to meet the contractor,” Ollie told me
as we pulled into the parking lot. Nate was standing beside an
older man when we walked into the dining room, his expression
brightened when I walked in. No doubt he was deeply amused by his
earlier antics.
    “ I’m Oliver
Blake. This is my sister, Logan. Thanks for meeting us on such
short notice.” My brother shook hands with the
contractor.
    “ Liam Turner.”
The man greeted us both.
    I took his hand with my left
awkwardly.
    The men surveyed the damage,
discussing options and costs while I hung back and stared at the
writing on the wall. Idiots with a cause did a lot of damage to
people’s lives. When I had filmed the segment where I’d cooked an
animal that I’d seen alive it had changed my perspective on eating
meat quite a bit. I mean, it never bothered me eating steak but
when I’d see a cute rabbit bouncing with life one moment and dead
the next in order for me to eat, I’d felt bad. Was it enough to
turn me vegetarian? Probably not, but it was enough to make me want
to contribute to animal welfare charities and campaigns. I guess
the more extremist animal activists remained unimpressed. Aside
from going full vegan, animal products were a part of most people’s
daily lives. I wasn’t sure what else I could do.
    “ To get the
place done in three days you’re looking at around $6000.” Liam
gestured at the state of the walls, shelves and broken windows. I
heard Ollie sigh softly. We hadn’t even figured out the cost of
replacing the furniture and liquor that had been broken
yet.
    “ That’s fine.
Start work.” I walked over to the group, thanking Liam before he
left to call in his workers.
    “ It’ll take a
few weeks for insurance to process the claim,” Nate said, “They
need the police report.”
    “ I’ll pay all
the bills needed for the place to open on Saturday, no problem.” I
eased their worries, glad that I could help. Even if it hadn’t been
essentially my fault their place had been trashed, I would