Temperature Rising.pdf

T EMPERATURE R ISING

Lena Matthews

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the

following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Lycra: E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

Temperature Rising

Chapter One

“The man’s out to get me.”

Danner Austin looked over his shoulder toward the fence separating his backyard

from the yard of his neighbor and best friend, Wayne Cole, and chuckled. The voice,

although familiar, wasn’t Wayne’s, but that of his younger sister Breanna, who had a

grip on the fence as fierce as the frown on her face.

“What’s up, Breanna?” Danner set the spatula down next to the steak browning on

the grill and walked over toward her with a smile. Breanna was just what he needed

right now. He’d had the day from hell and he could definitely use a dose from his own

ray of sunshine.

“I’m dying over here,” she grumbled before giving a quick shout and disappearing

from view. Startled, Danner hurried to the fence, wondering if she was all right, but

before he could hop on his table to peer into the yard, she popped back up.

Breanna swore, as her pretty brown faced bobbed up and down for a second, before

she was once again settled up high and looking over the fence with a rueful grin.

Small in structure and in height, she was no bigger than a minute, and from the

way her fingers gripped the fence like a lifeline, Danner knew she had to have been

standing on something highly unsteady. Just his luck, she’d fall and break her neck on

his watch. “What the hell are you standing on?”

“This stupid wobbly chair, but it’s the least of my concerns.”

“It is?”

“Yes, I just heard over the radio that there are going to be rolling blackouts starting

at six this evening. Guess which side of the city is going to be affected tonight?”

Wincing sympathetically, Danner didn’t need to ask. The pained expression on

Breanna’s face said it all. She had suffered from migraines for as long as he’d known the

Cole family. Too much sun and heat made her sick. Danner had seen the weather

literally take her to her knees, and it hadn’t been a pretty picture. It was a damn shame

she picked one of the hottest summers in California’s history to come home for a visit.

“Sorry, little bit. We’re experiencing a killer heat wave this summer.”

“Tell me something I didn’t know,” she grumbled, her sexy full lips poking out in a

pout.

There was a lot Danner could tell her that she didn’t know, starting with the erotic

dreams he kept having about her. Her almond-shaped hazel eyes haunted his thoughts,

and her smooth caramel brown skin filled his fantasies. But that had nothing to do with

anything, Danner hastily reminded himself. He needed to keep reminding himself she

Lena Matthews

was like a sister to him, front and center at all times. Or he’d likely do something he

could never take back.

“Anything I could do to help?”

“I don’t suppose you have a battery-operated air conditioner you can lend me?”

“I can’t say that I do.”

Breanna sighed, laying her chin flat on top of her hand. She looked so disgruntled,

it made him smile. The electricity shortage was hell on everyone, but Danner knew

Breanna was getting the brunt of it. Even now, though she had only been outside for a

few minutes, her forehead had begun to crease as if she were in pain.

“Bree, you need to get back inside before you get a headache.”

“It’s not much cooler in there.” Breanna frowned. “I made the stupid mistake of

leaving the AC off when I went to the mall this afternoon and now it’s hotter than the

sun in there.”

“You want to come over? I’ll throw another steak on the grill for you.”

“No. I think I’ll just take something and go to sleep. It’s hard to hurt when you’re

passed out.”

Damn it, he hated to see her in pain. He always had. Danner could remember many

summer days when he and Wayne had to stay in the house and play because Breanna

couldn’t go outside. Danner had never minded as much as Wayne did. Growing up an

only child had made it more appealing for him to have Breanna tag along. Besides,

there had been something so enchanting about the little hellion. “I bet you’re looking

forward to Wayne coming home, so you can go back to Colorado.”

“Not really. Weather aside, I’m going to miss a lot of things about being here.”

Breanna’s big hazel eyes twinkled at him, smiling at him like someone with a secret. A

secret Danner wanted to know.

“Like?” Danner couldn’t help but ask. She was doing it again, pulling him into her

smile.

“The backyard conversations for one.” With a wink, Breanna was gone, leaving

Danner staring after her.

It was something he’d caught himself doing a lot lately. He didn’t know when, but

somewhere along the line, little Breanna had turned into a real looker.

Not that she hadn’t been cute as a kid, because she had. But recently, Danner had

begun to look at her in an entirely new light. She was smart, sexy and his best friend’s

sister. The combination just didn’t work. No matter how much he might want it to.

Breanna was hands off, even if he couldn’t stop thinking of her.

Suddenly the smell of burning meat penetrated his lust-fogged brain. Cursing,

Danner rushed back to the grill, grimacing when he saw his steak shriveling on the

open fire.

That is what you get for thinking of Breanna that way, his conscience chided.

Temperature Rising

Fuck it , he thought, grabbing the water hose and soaking the coal and his newly

made jerky at the same time. Better he toss his dinner away than his twenty-year

friendship. His and Wayne’s relationship was more important than getting laid. Danner

just had to keep reminding himself of that.

Steak on prongs, Danner headed back into the house, pissed and hungry. As he

entered the patio door, he passed the thermometer on the wall and cursed. It was a little

after five and it was still in the high nineties. He’d adapted to the dry heat of the desert,

but today still seemed overly warm to him. Poor Breanna must be suffering.

That was it. Dropping the meat into the trash, Danner made up his mind. As a

friend, it was his duty to take care of Breanna for Wayne. Hell, Wayne had practically

ordered him to anyway, and Danner knew just what to do.

* * * * *

“Surf’s up, pretty mamma.”

Breanna held onto the doorframe, trying hard to hold back her laughter. Danner

was crazy. The proof was right in front of her, in living color. In one hand, he held a

blue turtle embossed kiddy pool and in the other, he held a bag of ice. Dressed up like a

lifeguard, he wore red swim trunks and a white blotch of sunscreen on his nose.

Definitely too cute for words.

If the heat didn’t give her a migraine, she was definitely going to get one from

laughing too hard.

“Baywatch recasting?” she teased, shaking her head.

“No, I’ve got the cure to your migraine blues.”

Hell, he had the cure to all that ailed her. He just didn’t know it.

Danner had always been attractive to her, even at the tender age of six. With his

bright blue eyes and dark brown wavy hair, Danner had epitomized the legacy of Sir

Lancelot to her. In her youth, Breanna had likened him to the medieval heroes from her

romance books, and there he’d stayed.

Either the heat was getting to her or he was, because Breanna couldn’t tear her eyes

away from his body. His bare chest and low-riding swim trunks were playing havoc on

her senses and forcing an entirely different heat to scorch her body. “Which would be?”

“Your own personal pool and lifeguard, of course.”

Of course. Breanna watched Danner, amused . He was just too much. Breanna

stepped back and allowed him to enter. She didn’t know what the heck he thought he

was doing, but as usual she was willing to follow his lead. “Where did you get the

pool?”

“Mrs. Charleston from three doors down let me borrow it. Now you can kick back

and relax while I keep the sharks at bay.”

It was a good idea, but it was never going to work. “It’s too hot to go outside,

Danner.”

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: