if they do not?” He knew the answer to that. Hades’s postmistress was well-known for arranging people’s lives when things were moving too slowly for her liking. It only proved she cared.
One shoulder lifted in a half shrug. She knew what he was thinking.
“Nothing wrong in prodding a slow couple on their way.” She thought of her best triumph. “Like I did for April with my heart trouble.”
Yuri gave the love of his life a knowing look and chucked her under the chin fondly. “There are some things, Ninotchka, that even you cannot control. Although, those things are not many, I must agree.”
The indignation that might have been generated never materialized. Instead, her eyes crinkled into a pleased smile. “You do know how to turn a lady’s head.”
He laughed at the thought. “I do not want to turn your head. I want it just where it is.” He ran his forefinger over the outline of her mouth. “Within range of my lips. Home?”
“Home.” And then she looked out the window. “But let’s give them a couple of minutes.”
As always, he agreed. Yuri knew when he had a good thing going.
He had to come up for air.
The thought beat against Kevin’s brain even as reluctance to part from her flooded his veins. Air was not nearly as sweet, as heady, as kissing June’s lips.
But if he didn’t get some soon, he was in danger of having his knees buckle out from under him, and that would be an embarrassment he wasn’t sure he could live down. He had a feeling Hades wasn’t a place that let things die quietly. Movie theater or not, entertainment was in scarce supply here.
Steady, June, steady. She drew her head back as she felt him do the same. If she didn’t know better, she would have said they were having another earthquake. The ground felt as if it was shimmying beneath her feet.
But he wasn’t moving, so the earthquake had to be an internal one.
Hers.
She was careful to draw air back into her lungs slowly. “So, that’s what you think of me,” she murmured. Desperate not to look like some thunderstruck teenager, she’d leaped on the last thing he’d said to her before the flares had gone off in her head.
Before he’d kissed her and redefined the boundaries of the known universe.
June knew that she was young and not all that experienced, but she didn’t need to have led her grandmother’s flamboyant life to know that what had just happened here was something special. If there’d been snow on the ground, she had a feeling it would have melted in a circle around her feet.
Still feeling wobbly, she reached for the car door and held on to it, hoping she wasn’t being obvious. Forcing a smile to her lips, she cleared her throat.
“I’d better be getting back to my place. Jimmy’ll take you home.”
Was she making any sense? she wondered. Her thoughts were assaulting her like pillaging Vikings, coming in from all sides without any uniformity at all.
Why did she feel so wonderful and sad at the same time? Why did she feel like laughing and crying, and staying and fleeing?
What the hell was that?
Kevin took a step back away from her, wanting only to step forward.
Wanting to kiss her again. And again.
He was just lonely, he insisted silently. And she was a beautiful woman, even if she did nothing to bring that out.
He realized that he was supposed to say something here. His mind scrambled for words.
“Right.” He pointed behind him needlessly. “I’ll just go back inside and find him.” Provided I can still walk.
June nodded, then got into her Jeep, suddenly collapsing in her seat as if all the air had just been let out of her. She took a deep breath before starting the vehicle, hoping he wasn’t watching. Hoping no one had been watching. If they had, this was going to wreak havoc with her image. Hard to pretend that she could care less about men and romance when she’d just been hermetically sealed to one.
And wishing she still was.
As if to deny the existence of the thought, June stomped down on the accelerator and roared off into the night.
Kevin sat at the sturdy wooden table, nursing a mug of coffee.
Suddenly, his brother Jimmy stumbled into the kitchen. “What are you doing up?”
“Can’t sleep,” Kevin muttered, and glanced in his direction.
Which was true. He couldn’t. He’d tried to tell himself that it was jet lag, but travel time from Seattle to Anchorage hadn’t been that long and besides, he’d remained in the same time zone, so that wasn’t the culprit for his inability to fall asleep. And neither was the strange habits of the sun, which seemed to barely disappear in the sky before it put in another appearance.
He knew why he couldn’t sleep, but he wasn’t about to put it into words. Formless and unidentified, it might stand a chance of going away.
Kevin nodded toward the coffeemaker sitting on the granite counter. “I made some coffee. Hope you don’t mind.”
Already at the counter, Jimmy laughed as he poured himself a cup. He brought himself over to the table and sank down on the chair opposite his brother. Felt like old times, he thought, taking a long sip of the thick, black liquid. A distant smile curved his mouth. “I remember your coffee. Thick enough to grease the axles of that first taxi you had.”
Kevin thought of the old car. Squat, wide and yellow, there’d been almost a hundred thousand miles on it when he’d inherited it after buying the business from his old boss.
“Damn thing kept breaking down. Almost spent more time trying to fix it than driving it.” He laughed fondly. His feelings hadn’t been quite so fond at the time. Kevin shook his head as he took another sip. “Seems like a million years ago.”
Jimmy wrapped his hands around his mug. He looked up at his brother, studying Kevin’s face. “Why did you sell the business?”
Kevin frowned, shrugging as he looked away. “Seemed like—”
“Don’t give me the same garbage you gave Lily.” Jimmy wanted to know the real reason, not the one his brother was handing out. “You loved that business.”
“No,” Kevin corrected adamantly. “I loved all of you. The taxi service just helped me keep us together, that’s all. Now that we’re all apart…” His voice drifted off. There didn’t seem to be anything to say as he shrugged his shoulders.
Jimmy didn’t have to fill in the blanks. He knew how Kevin felt about them. His older brother had sacrificed having a life of his own so that all of them could pursue their dreams. He’d always felt guilty about that.
Impulse had him leaning in to his brother. “Then move up here,” Jimmy urged.
