Levi
“Whatiswithyou?”Romeo demands. “Your head’s in the clouds—and not the one we happen to be flying through.”
“Nothing,” I say defensively, pulling the controls to bank the helicopter over the cloud. “I’m just not in the mood to talk right now.”
The truth is my headisin the clouds. I could fly the chopper in my sleep, so my distracted thoughts aren’t putting Romeo or me in harm’s way, but all day, I’ve thought of nothing but Baby Jones and that fucking kiss.
Those lips. That tongue. Her magnificently curvaceous body.
I keep waiting for one of the Jones brothers to punch me in the face for making out with their sister in front of a crowded restaurant, but none of them have even brought it up.
They had to have heard, though. Mercury Ridge is a small town and lots of people witnessed it.
I clear my throat. “So, you probably heard about the mistletoe at Mercury Slice…and Macbeth and me?”
Romeo laughs. “You sound so serious. Don’t worry about it, man.”
My heart hammers in my chest.Don’t worry about it, man?Does that mean he’d be okay with me dating his sister? He and his brothers have always seemed to refuse to accept that Macbeth is all grown up. Anyone who’s ever so much as looked at their sister in the past has been threatened within an inch of his life.
I tap on the steering column. “You don’t care?”
Romeo frowns. “Care about what?”
About what?!“I kissed your sister under the mistletoe. That’s okay with you?”
“It’s kind of a tradition, right? A peck on the lips is hardly something to get upset about.” He chuckles. “One of the guys at the fire station tried to convince Will and me that you and Beth went at it like horny teenagers. Can you believe that nonsense? Not only is Beth a kid, but you’re practically a sibling. What universe would the two of you ever make out, let alone in public?”
They heard the truth and dismissed it asimpossiblenonsense.
A flash of fury rips through my body, and my blood suddenly feels too hot in my veins.
Macbeth isnota kid. Yes, she’s nearly ten years younger than me, but she’s in her late twenties. That’s not a child by any stretch of the imagination. And we are in no way, shape, or formlike siblings.Not in my mind.
And based on the way she explored every inch of my mouth with her tongue, not inhermind either.
My thoughts drift to the moment I recognized that Macbeth Jones was all grown up. I’d gone into the military at eighteen and was an Army pilot. When I got out of the Army, I moved back to Mercury Ridge, joining the Search and Rescue Team as a helicopter pilot. And in that time, Baby Jones transformed into a knockout.
I noticed. What red-blooded man wouldn’t? I even flirt from time to time. And I’ve thought about her luscious curves more than once when I’m jerking off in the shower.
But I’ve always known that she’s off limits. I can’t jeopardize my relationship with her brothers. Not only are they my best friends in the world, but I also work with them every day in life-and-death situations.
I can’t betray their trust. I won’t.
But ever since that kiss in the pizza parlor, I’ve been consumed by an overwhelming desire to make Baby Jonesmine.Forever.
And if her brothers knew the dirty things I want to do to her, they’d hurl me off the mountain. No ifs, ands, or buts.
But by God, if I ever got the chance to do those things to her, I’d die a happy man.
I lick my lips, remembering the taste of her on my tongue. I want to taste every inch of her body, especially that sweet, wet spot between her—
“What time are we meeting at the old cabin again?” Romeo asks, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Three o’clock,” I say automatically. “Same as every year.”
“Not every year,” Romeo argues.
I laugh, nodding my head once. “Every year, man.”
