Places In My Heart. Sheryl Lister

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СКАЧАТЬ discount the whole psychic twin thing, her brother always knew when she was upset or bothered.

      He caught her arm. “You know better than that.”

      “There’s nothing wrong. I came up to shower and recover from my awesome game.”

      Malcolm scrutinized her a long moment, then nodded. “If you say so.”

      “I say so.” Morgan preceded him out of the room and back downstairs, where everyone still sat relaxing and chatting. She walked over to a small group engaged in a domino game and asked to play.

      Several times during the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening, she caught Omar staring her way and did her best to ignore him. He’d said he wanted to talk to her, and for a split second Morgan contemplated going over to ask about it. However, memories of that kiss kept her away. She’d have to be dead not to be attracted to him, but she wasn’t in the market for a relationship. Especially with another athlete.

      Finally the guests trickled out one by one, and she busied herself with retrieving purses and bags, hoping that Omar would be among the first to leave. But he stayed around until only he and one other teammate remained. She went to the kitchen to put away the food and begin the long cleanup process that always followed these gatherings. Not hearing any noise coming from the family room, she ventured out, thinking everyone had gone.

      “Oh, I thought everybody was gone,” she said upon seeing Omar and Malcolm engaged in a seemingly serious discussion. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

      Omar stood. “You aren’t. You’re more than welcome to join us.”

      “Um...that’s okay. I’m going upstairs.” Their eyes met, silently communicating that they had unfinished business, but she’d had enough for one evening. Morgan turned toward her brother, who slowly came to his feet and divided a speculative glance between her and Omar. “Malcolm, I put away most of the food, but you’ll have to tell me where you want the rest when you two are done. Come get me when you’re ready.”

      Malcolm nodded. “We shouldn’t be too long.”

      She tried to keep her eyes focused solely on Malcolm but failed.

      Omar smiled. “It was good to see you again, Morgan.”

      “Same here,” she mumbled and fled. She didn’t stop until she reached the safety of her bedroom. Once there, Morgan flopped down on the bed and blew out a long breath. Though she shouldn’t even have let her mind go there, the only thing she could think about was kissing him again. The demanding way his mouth moved over hers came back with vivid clarity—pillow-soft lips, scorching hot tongue—and every inch of his lean, muscular body had been pressed against hers while his strong hands caressed her back. She wanted to wrap her hands around his sexy locs and keep right on kissing him.

      She sat up abruptly at the sound of knocking on the door. Malcolm poked his head inside. “Did I wake you?”

      She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. “No. Drummond gone?”

      “Yeah. It’s getting kind of late, so you should stay the night. We can go riding tomorrow.”

      “Okay.” She hadn’t planned to spend the night, but Malcolm knew the offer of going for a ride on his motorcycle would definitely make her stay. And clothes weren’t a problem since all five siblings kept a stash at each other’s houses. All three of her brothers were protective of Morgan and her sister, Siobhan, and didn’t like them to be out at night alone. But since Siobhan had gotten married last weekend, responsibility for her safety now fell to her new husband.

      She followed her brother back down to the kitchen. “I took care of the side dishes, but wasn’t sure what you wanted to do with all this meat.” There were trays of ribs, chicken, hot links and salmon.

      “I’ll freeze some of it for sure, but Brandon and Khalil are coming over tomorrow, so it won’t go to waste.”

      Morgan laughed. “You know Brandon’s going to be happy, especially since we aren’t having a family dinner tomorrow.” Brandon was the second oldest, after Siobhan. Morgan and Malcolm were the youngest. Their tight-knit family still got together at their parents’ house for dinner at least one Sunday out of the month.

      “Yep. He’ll probably take home leftovers. Khalil, on the other hand, will just eat the salmon and vegetables.” They both laughed. Khalil was third in line, and the model turned fitness buff ate healthy at least 95 percent of the time. “A couple of guys from the team said they might stop by, too, so I’ll send some stuff home with them. Grab some Ziploc bags and let’s finish.”

      She wanted to ask if Omar was one of the guys, but refrained. She was not supposed to be thinking about him. Reaching into the drawer, she got the bags and began filling them.

      They worked in silence for a few minutes and then Malcolm asked, “What’s up with you and Drummond?” He came around the island to where she stood adding hot links to one of the bags.

      “Nothing.”

      “So, all that heat the two of you were generating in my family room was nothing. I’m not blind, Morgan. He’s usually one of the first to leave, and I couldn’t figure out why he stayed longer than usual. Until you came into the room.” He angled his head. “Did something happen between you earlier? Like when I found you upstairs?”

      Malcolm didn’t miss anything when it came to her. “We spoke briefly when I came in for a glass of tea. If this is the part where you tell me he’s got lots of women and I should stay away from him, you can save your breath. I know what kind of man he is and I’ve read the headlines.”

      He folded his arms and continued to study her. “Actually, I wasn’t. But seeing as how you’re all on the defensive, maybe I should be concerned.”

      Morgan zipped the bag and pushed it over with the others. “Please. Now, I’ll admit the man is fine and has a body that’s out of this world, but I have no interest in seeing my face added to his long list of groupies. Been there, done that. And I have enough problems as it is dealing with this lawsuit.” She worked as an attorney in her family’s home-safety company and had just been appointed the lead on the suit that alleged one of their bathtub safety rails broke and resulted in someone being injured.

      “How’s that going?”

      “I’m not sure yet. We’re still waiting on a couple of reports, but it doesn’t look good. We could use a miracle right about now. I’m only two years out of law school, and this is my first big case. I don’t want to let Daddy down.”

      He slung an arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple. “Just do your best. That’s all you can do.”

      She leaned into his embrace. “I know. Thanks.” Morgan glanced around the kitchen. “Do you need me to do something else?”

      “Nah, I’ll take care of it.”

      “You could hire someone to do this kind of thing.”

      Malcolm shook his head. “You know I don’t like a lot of strangers in my house. Having the housekeeper here twice a month is enough.”

      She smiled. “What time are we riding?”

      “I’m sleeping in, so СКАЧАТЬ