LITMIR.BIZ

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But each time it was even longer.

      The first time they’d met, back when he and Wes were training to become SEALs, he’d had a crew cut.

      Colleen gestured to the kids, aware they were all still watching. “Come on, gang, let’s keep going here.”

      “Are you all right?” Bobby stepped closer to her, to avoid the spray from the hose. “What’s the deal with those guys?”

      “You’re why they left,” she realized suddenly. And even though mere minutes ago she’d wished desperately for Bobby’s and her brother’s presence, she felt a flare of anger and frustration. Darn it! She’d wanted Morrison’s retreat to be because of her. As nice as it would be, she couldn’t walk around with a Navy SEAL by her side every minute of every day.

      “What was that about, Colleen?” Bobby pressed.

      “Nothing,” she said tersely.

      He nodded, regarding her steadily. “It didn’t feel like ‘nothing.”’

      “Nothing you have to worry about,” she countered. “I’m doing some pro bono legal work for the AIDS Education Center, and not everyone is happy about it. That’s what litigation’s all about. Where’s Wes? Parking the car?”

      “Actually, he’s—”

      “I know why you’re here. You came to try to talk me out of going to Tulgeria. Wes probably came to forbid me from going. Hah. As if he could.” She picked up her sponge and rinsed it in a bucket. “I’m not going to listen to either of you, so you might as well just save your breath, turn around and go back to California. I’m not fifteen anymore, in case you haven’t noticed.”

      “Hey, I’ve noticed,” Bobby said. He smiled. “But Wes needs a little work in that area.”

      “You know, my living room is completely filled with boxes,” Colleen told him. “Donations of supplies and clothing. I don’t have any room for you guys. I mean, I guess you can throw sleeping bags on the floor of my bedroom, but I swear to God, if Wes snores, I’m kicking him out into the street.”

      “No,” Bobby said. “That’s okay. I made hotel reservations. This week is kind of my vacation, and—”

      “Where is Wes?” Colleen asked, shading her eyes and looking down the busy city street. “Parking the car in Kuwait?”

      “Actually.” Bobby cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

      She looked at him.

      “Wes is out on an op,” he told her. “It’s not quite Kuwait, but…”

      “He asked you to come to Boston,” Colleen realized. “For him. He asked you to play big brother and talk me out of going to Tulgeria, didn’t he? I don’t believe it. And you agreed? You jerk!”

      “Colleen, come on. He’s my best friend. He’s worried about you.”

      “And you don’t think I worry about him? Or you?” she countered hotly. “Do I come out to California to try to talk you out of risking your lives? Do I ever say, don’t be a SEAL? No! Because I respect you. I respect the choices and decisions you make.”

      Father Timothy and Shantel emerged from the church kitchen with a huge thermos of lemonade and a stack of cups.

      “Everything all right?” Father T. asked, eyeing Bobby apprehensively.

      Bobby held out his hand. “I’m Bobby Taylor, a friend of Colleen’s,” he introduced himself.

      “A friend of my brother, Wes’s,” she corrected him as the two men shook hands. “He’s here as a surrogate brother. Father, plug your ears. I’m about to be extremely rude to him.”

      Timothy laughed. “I’ll see if the other children want lemonade.”

      “Go away,” Colleen told Bobby. “Go home. I don’t want another big brother. I don’t need one. I’ve got plenty already.”

      Bobby shook his head. “Wes asked me to—”

      Damn Wes. “He probably also asked you to sift through my dresser drawers, too,” she countered, lowering her voice. “Although I’m not sure what you’re going to tell him when you find my collection of whips and chains, my black leather bustier and matching crotchless panties.”

      Bobby looked at her, something unrecognizable on his face.

      And as Colleen looked back at him, for a moment she spun out, losing herself in the outer-space darkness of his eyes. She’d never imagined outer space could be so very warm.

      He looked away, clearly embarrassed, and she realized suddenly that her brother wasn’t here.

      Wes wasn’t here.

      Bobby was in town without Wes. And without Wes, if she played it right, the rules of this game they’d been playing for the past decade could change.

      Radically.

      Oh, my goodness.

      “Look.” She cleared her throat. “You’re here, so…let’s make the best of this. When’s your return flight?”

      He smiled ruefully. “I figured I’d need the full week to talk you out of going.”

      He was here for a whole week. Thank you, Lord. “You’re not going to talk me out of anything, but you cling to that thought if it helps you,” she told him.

      “I will.” He laughed. “It’s good to see you, Colleen.”

      “It’s good to see you, too. Look, as long as there’s only one of you, I can probably make room in my apartment—”

      He laughed again. “Thanks, but I don’t think that would be a very good idea.”

      “Why waste good money on a hotel room?” she asked. “After all, you’re practically my brother.”

      “No,” Bobby said emphatically. “I’m not.”

      There was something in his tone that made her bold. Colleen looked at him then in a way she’d never dared let herself look at him before. She let her gaze move down his broad chest, taking in the outline of his muscles, admiring the trim line of his waist and hips. She looked all the way down his long legs and then all the way back up again. She lingered a moment on his beautiful mouth, on his full, gracefully shaped lips, before gazing back into his eyes.

      She’d shocked him with that obvious once-over. Well, good. It was the Skelly family motto: everyone needs a good shocking every now and then.

      She gave him a decidedly nonsisterly smile. “Glad we got that established. About time, huh?”

      He laughed, clearly nervous. “Um…”

      “Grab a sponge,” she told him. “We’ve got some cars to wash.”

      Chapter 2

      Wes would kill him if he found out.

      No doubt about it.

      If Wes knew even half the thoughts that were steamrolling through Bobby’s head about his sister, Colleen, Bobby would be a dead man.

      Lord have mercy on his soul, the woman was hot. She was also funny and smart. Smart enough to have figured out the ultimate way to get back at him for showing up here as her brother’s mouthpiece.

      If she were planning to go anywhere besides Tulgeria, Bobby would have turned around. He would have headed for the airport and caught the next flight out of Boston.

      Because Colleen was right. He and Wes had absolutely no business telling her what she should and shouldn’t do. She was twenty-three years old—old enough to make her own decisions.

      Except both Bobby and Wes had been to Tulgeria, and Colleen hadn’t. No doubt she’d heard stories about the warring factions of terrorists that

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