Read Love Under Two Kendalls Online

Authors: Cara Covington

Tags: #General Fiction

Love Under Two Kendalls (9 page)

BOOK: Love Under Two Kendalls
4.8Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Ginny’s heart thudded in her chest when she realized that she really did consider Adam and Jake Kendall to be
her
men.

“Texans don’t think there’s any such thing as too much steak,” Jake said. “Although I will allow that we do tend to think that ours is the best.”

Maggie tilted her head to the side. “Well, it did seem to me that you just said the word ‘Texans’ as if it was written in all uppercase letters.”

Ginny laughed. “Our men do tend to have more than their share of pride.” She looked from one Kendall to the other. “In the case of present company, it’s pride that’s well justified.”

“Texas is the best state,” Benny said. Then he looked at Maggie. “But I like New Jersey, too. Mom and me had fun on the beach today.”

“I looked out now and again, and I could see you were having a lot of fun.”

A server came by and poured water into everyone’s glasses. Ginny looked back down at the menu. “They seem to have a lot of other selections here, too, including seafood.” Which Ginny would expect every restaurant in this seaside town to offer. She’d rarely had the opportunity to try any. Kelsey had told her that she’d tried to serve seafood chowder on Friday nights when she first opened
Lusty Appetites
, but the dish hadn’t fared very well.

The good people of Lusty didn’t mind a bit of freshwater fish caught in the local streams, lakes, and rivers now and again. Many of the denizens liked to fish themselves, especially on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and most ate what they caught—ate it or released it. But in general, they hadn’t yet cottoned to ocean fish overmuch.

“It may come as a surprise to you, Miss Ginny, that Jake and I both, on occasion, eat seafood.”

Ginny felt one eyebrow go up, a reaction she couldn’t easily prevent. She
was
surprised to learn that.

“Mama says it’s good to try new things. Maybe it sounds funny when you hear what it’s called. But you can’t judge a thing by its name. You have to give it a fair try.”

“Is that right?” Jake’s voice, filled with amusement, matched his devilish grin. Oh, the light in his green eyes—eyes that were so much like his mother’s—let her know what thoughts were on his mind, and they sure weren’t about food.

“I’d say that was an exceptionally good, forward-thinking tenet.” Adam’s grin, similar to Jake’s, stirred her, arousing her when all her life she’d been convinced that sexual arousal was just something she’d never be able to enjoy.

Benny’s father had called her frigid, and so had Deke. She’d long accepted the truth of the matter.

Benny’s voice pulled her back to the present. “What’s a tenant?”

“A tenant is a person who rents their apartment from someone who owns it.”

Ginny chuckled at the confused look on Benny’s face. Maggie had answered his question in earnest, despite the fact that she looked about ready to explode with laughter. The men looked suitably chagrinned. Then Adam put his arm along the back of her son’s chair so that he could bend down closer to the boy.

“The word I used was ‘tenet.’ It means theory, or belief, or rule.”

At that last word the confusion left Benny’s face. “Oh, I get it now. You were talking about Mom’s rules.” He lowered his voice as if confiding a great secret. “She has a lot of them.”

“Yes,” Adam said, “moms usually do.”

“Well boy howdy, listen to the two of you. Someone has to make rules, or else you’d just run amok, all over the place, doing whatever you please, whenever you please!”

Benny looked from Adam to Jake. Adam raised one eyebrow, and Jake shrugged and then turned to her and said, “I’ve never understood what the problem with that could possibly be.”

Clearly the men believed themselves good at keeping the dialogue suitably double-edged. Benny didn’t know anything about double entendres, but he proved in the next moment he understood the most important things in life.

“When you follow Mom’s rules, it makes her happy,” he said. “I like making my mom happy.”

“You know what, Benny Rose?” Adam ruffled his hair. “You’re a very wise man.”

“He is at that,” Jake said.

Obviously being called a man pleased her son, if the way he sat straighter in his chair was any indication.

The waiter came over and took drink orders, and Ginny decided to relax into the evening. Usually, whenever she went out anywhere with Benny, even though he was usually well behaved, she still felt the responsibility of parenthood, of watching over him, helping him select his dinner, of keeping him engaged.

Tonight she let that go. Both Adam and Jake seemed eager to take care of Benny, and she could see no reason not to let them.

One of the things she’d always craved for her son was a decent male role model. She could have none better than Adam and Jake Kendall.

So she turned her attention back to the menu. “I’ve heard of flounder. Is it any good?” She looked over at Maggie.

“I like it,” the other woman said. “But then, I really like fish.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny caught the way Benny scrunched his face when Maggie said the word “fish.” She also caught the way both Jake and Adam gave him a bit of a nudge, as if to warn him against appearing to be averse to “trying new things,” probably in light of the recent discussion.

Because she felt like laughing, she hid her face behind her menu. “It’s stuffed with something called ‘crab imperial.’ Do you know, that sounds special?” Confident she had her urge to giggle under control, she closed her menu. “I’ll have that.”

She looked up to discover the three males huddled behind menus. She couldn’t tell what they were saying, but then, she didn’t try very hard.

There were times when a mom just had to let go.

Finally it seemed they’d come to an agreement. As much as she wanted to, she didn’t ask her son what he’d chosen to eat. Instead, she contented herself to wait until the waiter returned.

Soon their server brought over the drinks everyone had ordered.

“Gosh, I hope no one’s offended I wanted alcohol.” Maggie drew her drink, a screwdriver, closer and used the straw to stir the beverage. “Since I seem to be the only one imbibing.”

Ginny hadn’t paid attention when they ordered, so she hadn’t realized that neither of the Kendalls had gotten anything potent, either. She decided to file that fact away for thinking about later. For the moment, she wanted to put Maggie at ease. “Of course not.” Ginny waved her hand. “There’s nothing wrong with adults wanting a drink with dinner. I’ve just never cared for the taste of alcohol, overmuch.”

She caught a look the brothers Kendall exchanged just then. Sometimes she could read them as if she’d known them all her life. Other times, like now, she didn’t mind admitting she wasn’t quite so sure. She had no doubt that they communicated with each other using just a look. She’d heard the closest siblings could do that.

Ginny turned her attention back to her menu, because the waiter was ready to take her order. But as she turned her glance away from them, she wondered if maybe they knew there was more to her aversion to alcohol than she’d let on.

Chapter 7

Jake carried his precious armful easily, confident he wouldn’t drop the boy, but mindful that Benny had fallen into the kind of deep sleep that only puppies and small children could achieve.

He kept his movements smooth so the little guy wouldn’t awaken.

Adam and Ginny, hand in hand, walked ahead of him up the stairs. This wasn’t the first time that either he or Adam had carried a sleeping Benny Rose to bed.

It was, however, the first time that Ginny didn’t flutter over them as they did so.

Adam held out his hand, and Ginny gave him her key. None of them spoke as the door swung open. Adam flipped the light switch that illuminated the table lamp in the far corner of the sitting room, giving off only a soft glow. Ginny had left the bathroom light on, and together that was enough light for him to see his way into the bedroom.

“His bed is the one on the left,” she said softly.

“We’ll take care of him,” Adam said. “Why don’t you make us some coffee, sweetheart? We can enjoy it out on the deck.”

Ginny reached over and ran her hand gently over her son’s small head. Jake loved that look on her face, the one she got whenever she was gazing at her son.

Was there anything more moving for a man to see than a woman’s maternal side? A year ago, Jake wouldn’t have considered that expression, or that trait, to be sexy.

He did now, and he figured the change in his own attitude was a sign of how far in love he’d fallen—with the mother, and the son.

Ginny looked up and met his gaze. “I think the sea air has taken a toll on him. It’s not even his weekend bedtime yet.”

“The sea air will do that,” Jake said. “How’re you feeling? Are you tired? Is the sea air getting to you, too?”

Ginny shook her head. “No, it’s not the sea air that’s been getting to me.” The heat in her gaze seared him, and he felt his cock begin to stir. Though that didn’t surprise him—he tended to be in an almost perpetual state of arousal when Ginny was around—it sure as hell pleased him. She switched her gaze to Adam, and Jake knew she had an identical effect on his brother.

“I’ll put the coffee on, then. The two of you can tuck him in.”

Adam walked ahead of him into the bedroom. Together they undressed Benny, then got him into his pajamas. While Jake lifted him off the coverlet and pulled back the blankets to settle him between the sheets, Adam went into the bathroom and came out with a washcloth and towel.

By the time they pulled the blankets over the sleeping boy, he had a relatively clean face and hands—and was still sound asleep.

Jake left the bedroom door partially open. The scent of fresh coffee brewing in the small kitchenette teased his nostrils. Ginny wasn’t inside, waiting for them, or hovering close by the bedroom door to check on Benny. Looking up, he could see her silhouetted on the deck. She’d closed the screen door, but left the inside one wide open. From the way she was standing, he figured that the same full moon that allowed them to see her, let her see the ocean. The rhythmic sound of waves washing ashore pulsed on the air. He paused for a moment and met Adam’s gaze.

“I’m glad we’re here.” Inevitably, his gaze was drawn back to their woman. “I never would have wished that bastard, Walters, free. But I wonder if these circumstances aren’t just exactly the right circumstances that will bring us that next step closer to her.”

Adam’s hand came down on his shoulder. The firm gesture reminded him that they were in this quest for Ginny’s heart, together. “She needs us,” Adam said. “And I think you’re right. I think she’s ready for that next step. So let’s go and take care of our woman.”

Jake grinned. “That’s the best idea you’ve had in a long,
long
time.”

* * * *

Arms slid around her from behind, bringing heat and security and the scent of man. Ginny inhaled deeply even as she relaxed into the embrace.

“Adam.”

“We like knowing that you can tell us apart.” Adam’s voice, sounding husky and so close to her ear, sent fine trembles through her.

“I only just realized that I could. You’re both very observant, aren’t you?”

Jake leaned against the deck railing, facing her with his back to the ocean, and sent her one of those looks that made her excited and nervous at the same time.

She imagined herself as a sort of prey to his predator, but not in a bad way. He possessed a hint of the feral, no doubt about it, yet she knew he would never hurt her. She tingled as the thought occurred to her that he’d likely be a different kind of lover than Adam.

Daring to think of them as lovers definitely made her feel naughty. Yet deep inside, she knew that except for the physical, they were both, in many ways, her lovers already.

Adam’s tenderness and caring had helped her heal, even now soothing her and grounding her and giving her a sense of security and safety. Jake challenged her, daring her to step out onto the thinnest of branches, to defy the fates and take a chance.

The look Jake sent her now, while she stood within the arms of his brother, made her heart race and her blood heat. “Where you’re concerned, honey, we
are
observant. That’s because you’re the most important person in our world.”

Ginny shivered. “I think I’m beginning to realize that. Except for—” She had to pause to try and swallow around the lump in her throat that his words had created. She didn’t want to cry. She knew if she did, it would rattle them.

BOOK: Love Under Two Kendalls
4.8Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Brook Street: Thief by Ava March
Lunacy by R.A. Sears
Lurker by Stefan Petrucha
Pumpkin Pie by Jean Ure
Beyond the Cliffs of Kerry by Hughes, Amanda
The Guest by Kelsie Belle
League of Denial by Mark Fainaru-Wada
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters