He didn’t throw the ball at Everett. He hurled it. Everett caught the missile, even though he wore a stunned look on his face. Rill lunged, racing toward Everett. Jagged, surprised bursts of laughter popped out of Everett’s mouth as he started to run. He tossed the ball to Katie as Rill closed in on him.
“Rill, don’t—” Katie yelled.
But it was too late. Rill grabbed Everett’s waist and brought him down in a potentially bone-crunching tackle.
“Are you okay, Everett? What the hell did you do that for, Rill?” Katie demanded breathlessly as she ran up on a pile of close to four hundred pounds of male brawn. Rill’s swift, furious glance silenced her. Nobody said anything as Rill rolled off Everett, stood and stalked through the yard, disappearing around the side of the house. Katie looked down at Everett, her mouth gaping open in shock. Everett just gave her an “I told you so” look.
“Why’s he so pissed at you?” Katie blurted out.
“I told you. I have no fucking idea,” Everett replied, grimacing.
Everett had been right. Rill may act irritated and exasperated with her presence there, but that was nothing compared to the explosion of pure fury he’d just shown toward Everett.
“You’ve got to find out, Everett.”
“Mind telling me how? The man’s a black box, and I ain’t got the key,” Everett said darkly as he stood and flipped a layer of grass and dirt off his hip. He winced as he twisted his torso.
“Everett, are you all right?” Katie asked worriedly.
“I’m fine.”
“Do you want me to ask him what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong is that Rill is a fucking pain in the ass.” He noticed Katie’s expression. He exhaled and rolled his eyes. “No, you don’t need to ask him. I will.”
Something caught Katie’s attention from the corner of her vision—the sight of Rill’s white T-shirt through a slight clearing in the trees. “Why don’t you go and ask him now,” she told her brother, nodding toward the woods. “He’s right there, on that trail. He hasn’t gone too far for you to catch up.”
Everett put a hand on his ass and grimaced. “You go follow him. I’m too pissed to talk to him right now. I’m going to take a hot shower.”
By the time Katie glimpsed Rill’s T-shirt in the distance, she was badly winded. She worked out regularly—she took an aerobics class three times a week and a belly-dancing class every Saturday to keep things interesting—but the trail Rill had chosen went at a fairly steep incline.
“Rill! Rill, hold up,” she gasped. He heard her the second time and paused on the path. As she approached him, she realized he wasn’t even breathing heavily.
He also didn’t exactly seem thrilled to see her. She glanced at his stony expression and blazing eyes. Was he still as angry as he had been down there in the yard?
“You walk so fast, I had to run to catch up,” she said lamely as she approached. She stopped a few feet away from him and struggled to take a deep draw of cool, clear air. “What . . . was all that . . . about?” she asked between huffs and puffs, waving downhill in the direction of the house. He didn’t immediately respond. Katie noticed how tense he seemed, like a coiled spring. “Are you mad at me, as well as Everett?”
“I’m not mad at you.”
“Well, what are you, then? I can’t figure you out, Rill,” she panted.
“Come here.” He took her hand and led her over to a large rock. He nodded pointedly and she sat. She placed her hands on her thighs and lowered her head, trying to catch her breath.
She went still when Rill reached out and touched the back of her neck. She’d put her hair in a ponytail before she went out into the yard with Everett, but the band had slipped. The weight of it pressed against her nape. He lifted the bunch of hair and Katie felt the delicious cool air tickle her neck. She shivered, her body going on instant high alert, when Rill’s forefinger glided over the sweatdampened skin of her neck.
She looked up slowly.
He stood closer than she’d realized, looking down while she tried to catch her breath. Her head was level with the zipper of his jeans. If she lifted her hands a mere few inches, she’d be touching his thighs. Her mouth fell open when she realized that the fire in his eyes wasn’t from anger.
All thoughts of trying to figure out why he was pissed off at Everett melted from her mind when his fingertip trailed deliberately from her neck, brushed her earlobe, traced her jaw and then her mouth. He pushed it slowly between her lips and she closed around him. Their gazes locked. She searched his skin with her tongue and tasted salt.
“Maybe I’m mad at Everett for interrupting this,” he said gruffly.
Katie blinked. She hadn’t expected him to say that. Maybe he guessed her thought, because he smiled. “I told you now that it’s done, I’m not going to be able to stop until this fever does. Did you think I was joking?”
She pulled her head back, dragging her teeth gently against the pad of his finger as he slid out of her mouth. His smile faded and his nostrils flared.
“I thought maybe you’d changed your mind . . . after what I said in the shower,” she said.