The One You Want by Gena Showalter Read Free Book Online

dangerous. The ice could crack.
    It won’t. Please!
    With that heartfelt plea, Dane had caved.
    Now he rubbed his cheek; he would have sworn he felt the jagged edge of ice digging in, digging deep, as he’d tried to pull his brother from the frigid water after the ice had, in fact, cracked. Would have sworn that, despite multiple surgeries to smooth the skin, it was still raised.
    “Dane?” Kenna’s voice drew him out of his head, and the dark mire of his thoughts. “Deciding whether or not to make a run for the door?” She stopped a few feet away from him and smiled, her real smile, and his breath snagged in his throat.
So damn beautiful.
“Gotta say, you look like you’d rather lob an H-bomb into the dining room than enter it.”
    “For once, looks are not deceiving. But I wonder why
you
don’t you look that way. The way your mother speaks to you...” He didn’t like it.
    She shrugged. “She’s the only parent I have left.”
    “You forgive her?”
    “Every day, in every way.”
    “You forgive too easily, honey.”
    “You told me that already. But honestly, it’s not easy. It’s just something I have to do. For me. I don’t want to spend my days mad or bitter, and I refuse to let her opinion color mine. Besides, you should be grateful. You’ve had to apologize to me twice, practically
begging
for that easy forgiveness.”
    “Brat,” he muttered.
    Grinning, she said, “I was headed to the bathroom to wash my hands. At the risk of everyone assuming I lied and that I’m actually suffering from terrible digestive problems, would you like to walk through the gardens?”
    Time alone with her? “I’d like that very much,” he said, and offered his hand.
    She hesitated only a moment before wrapping her fingers around his. Suddenly they were skin to skin. The heat of her thrilled him. The softness of her teased him. He wanted...
    More.
    Cursing himself, he led her through the house, avoiding the dining room. Once they were outside in the coolness of the evening and under the stars, she released him. But the memory of her touch continued to haunt him. He craved her softness and heat, fought the urge to grab her hand and hold on for dear life.
    Came here with Courtney. Kenna came with West. She did the right thing.
    But even still, the desire for contact never lessened.
    They slowly moved through the maze of roses, gardenias and clinging vines, the moon high and golden. A lover’s moon. Just bright enough to light the way, and just dark enough to hide his yearning to steal a kiss.
    The tension in him intensified—and pooled in one place.
    “Courtney seems nice,” she said.
    “I don’t want to talk about her.”
    “The other girl—”
    “Her either.”
    “How many girlfriends do you have?” she asked.
    “None.”
    “None? Wow,” she said.
    “Wow?”
    She laughed, the sound of it as magical as her smile, enchanting him. “Are you my official echo? Yes, wow. You seem to have an unending supply of nondates. But how about I do you a solid and focus on something besides your revolving bedroom door? Like West. He is—”
    A flash of jealousy caused him to speak over her. “I don’t want to discuss him either.”
    “O-kay. You are severely limiting my options for conversation topics,” she said.
    “I’ll give it a try, then. How’d you spend your day?”
Thinking about me? The way I thought about you?
    “I don’t want to say,” she hedged.
    Curiosity crashed through him like a lightning bolt. “Now you
have
to tell me.”
    “Or?”
    “Oh, honey. I’m a man without mercy. I’m willing to tickle you until you pee your pants, letting everyone think it isn’t just your digestive system acting up.”
    She snorted, and even that was charming. “Good luck with that. I’m not ticklish.”
    “Sure you are.”
    “I’m not. Really.”
    “You are, you just don’t know it. Trust me. No one has found the right spot on your body, that’s all. But I could. It’s a gift.”
    Silence.
    Such