LITMIR.BIZ

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once in his life.

      One shot. That was usually all a man ever got at something like this. Navarro was not known for wasting time or energy. Pulling Nina into his lap, he kissed her deeply, enjoying her passion and her surrender. Maybe all the more sweet because it was wrong, Navarro kissed her hard, fast, wanting as much of her as he could get.

      “Ahem!”

      Nina jumped out of his lap like a timed-release spring, fleeing a good yard away from him. “Damn it, Crockett!” Navarro said. “What the hell?”

      “I might say the same. You were supposed to be carrying some lumber up here, bro. I thought maybe Marvella had you in her clutches.”

      “Not quite.” Navarro cursed his empty lap, wanting Nina back immediately. He turned to look at Nina—who was staring at Crockett.

      “Twins?” she said. “Twins?”

      Crockett grinned. “Two for the price of one.”

      Navarro winced. “Not smooth, bro.”

      Crockett glanced at him. “Maybe I should start marking off some wood and keep my mouth shut.”

      “Excellent idea.” Navarro looked at Nina, realizing unhappiness was her key emotion. “Hey,” he said softly.

      “No,” she said automatically. She shook her head. “No.”

      Regret filled Navarro that the moment was lost. But it had been sweet while it lasted—and if he ever got a chance to recapture it, he was going to go for it.

      Consequences be damned.

      NINA COULDN’T BELIEVE her eyes. There were two versions of the man she’d just kissed putting her charmed bed back together! The only way she could tell them apart right now was by shirt color. And personality. Crockett was the brash, outspoken one. Navarro was a methodical thinker. Which should make him boring—but he wasn’t. Her lips were still on fire from his kiss!

      How embarrassing to plant herself in his lap—despite all her good intentions to the contrary! Maybe that was part of his plan, to show that neither of the Cakes sisters could be counted on not to fall under a man’s spell of temptation.

      She stared at the brothers’ industriously bent heads and decided that probably wasn’t the case. They seemed more hot-blooded than deceptive. Although I wouldn’t count out the deceptive part, either.

      Okay, she just had to never lose her mind around Navarro again. And then everything would be fine.

      “Friends?” he asked her.

      “I’m not sure,” she replied.

      “I’m voting for kissing cousins,” Crockett said with a grin. “Now that we’re all related, anyway.”

      Navarro slapped him upside the head. Nina smiled. “We’re not related yet,” she told him.

      “We’re related to Valentine’s baby,” Crockett replied. “And anyway, once you’ve kissed a Jefferson, you’ll never be able to—ow!” He pulled back from his brother’s slap. “It’s true, all the women say it!”

      “Say what?” Nina asked.

      “Nothing,” Navarro said.

      “No, tell me. I want to know.”

      Navarro sighed. “The saying goes that ‘Once you’ve kissed a Jefferson man, you’ll kiss anything he wants you to.”’

      Nina laughed out loud. “Is that a saying you brothers made up? To create your own mystique?”

      Navarro shrugged.

      Crockett shook his head solemnly. “We’ve never had to toot our own horns.”

      “Oh, brother.” Nina stared out the window. “Hey, look!”

      The brothers came to stand beside her to stare down into the courtyard. Marvella was talking to Valentine, who appeared to be upset.

      “I’m going down there,” Nina said, but Navarro held her back.

      “Hold on,” he said. “Let’s be good spies.”

      “My sister needs me!”

      “No. She needs something, but not necessarily you butting into her business.”

      She pulled herself out of his hands. “Since when did you become my guardian?” she demanded, keeping a watch on Valentine who was now wiping at her eyes.

      “Tried to tell you,” Crockett said. “Once you’ve kissed one of us, you’ll never want to let go of him.”

      “That’s not what you said,” Nina said, outraged.

      “I’m paraphrasing.” Crockett shrugged. “Most women in your position would be happy right now.”

      “My position? What position is that?”

      Crockett never took his eyes off Valentine. Nina had a feeling he was talking by rote, ladling the same ol’ bunch of nonsense the brothers probably gave every woman.

      “Me and Navarro and a pretty bed all in a room with you. Most women would be happy. They might even try to fulfill some kind of twin fantasy.”

      Nina gasped, and Navarro put his hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened at the feel of his arm around her shoulders, his hard length lined up against her back.

      “Shh,” he told her. “Let Crockett think.”

      “Let him think!” she said, pulling free. “All he does is…is talk about sex.”

      Navarro nodded. “That’s what a man does when he’s thinking. But trust me, there’s some serious busywork going on under that hat.”

      “I need to be with my sister,” Nina said.

      “No,” Crockett said, waving her back.

      “You don’t care what happens to her! You don’t care that she’s upset!”

      “Sure we do,” Navarro said. “She might be carrying Jefferson goods.”

      Nina whipped around to stare into Navarro’s eyes. “Goods?”

      “Okay,” Crockett said. “Here’s the deal. Marvella wants Valentine to do something she doesn’t want to. Valentine is upset. I’m going to nonchalantly stroll outside for a smoke.”

      “You don’t smoke,” Navarro said.

      “Sure I do, for this charade. And Marvella’s going to think I’m you,” he told Navarro. “So don’t blow my cover by letting her know there’s two of us in the house.”

      “What do you want me to do?”

      “Keep your eye on the peach. But don’t do anything else, because I might need a rescue. Listen in case I shout.”

      “What’s the point to this?” Nina asked.

      “Nemo salis satis sapit,” Crockett said, heading out the door.

      “What?” Nina said. “What did he just mumble?”

      “Two heads are better than one, loosely translated,” Navarro said, leaning so he could spy from behind the curtain more easily. “Sometimes Crockett likes Latin. As do I.”

      “You guys are really weird,” Nina said. “I don’t know if having two heads is a plus for you.”

      “But you liked kissing me. Admit it,” he said, staring down as his brother entered the courtyard, whistling innocently.

      “Would you stop?” Nina demanded. “That’s exactly what your brother did. Talk about meaningful things while your mind is on something else.”

      “We have excellent focus,” Navarro said. “And we’ve been good way too long.”

      “Whatever.”

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