Long Time Gone - Lorelei James Page 0,1
muttered something about Cal losing his teeth as he led the way into the Ice Cream Palace.
The first person Cal saw was her.
One look at the tiny blonde standing in the middle of the room and he knew he was in trouble.
Big trouble.
Life-altering trouble.
He’d never thought that bolt of lightning shit would ever happen to him, but it had. He wondered if anyone else smelled ozone.
“Sweet mother of god, I think I’m in love.”
“Oh, for Christsake,” Carson muttered beside him.
“Please tell me that’s your sister,” Cal said to Carolyn.
Cal’s focus remained so intently on the hot little number not-so-innocently licking an ice cream cone that Carolyn had to snap her fingers in front of his eyes to get his attention. “Hey, McKay, focus.”
“What?”
“Yes, that’s my younger sister. She’s sixteen. Do you hear me? Six. Teen.”
Cal managed to tear his gaze away from the curvaceous blonde, giving Carolyn an ornery grin. “Well, darlin’, she ain’t always gonna be sixteen.”
The blonde sauntered over, those big blue eyes focused entirely on him.
Sweet heaven, she packed a powerful punch.
She said, “Please tell me you’re not my future brother-in-law?”
“I’m not. But darlin’ girl, I’m damn near certain I’m your future husband.”
She peered at him from beneath lowered lashes. “Then maybe you and me better get acquainted…?”
“Calvin McKay. You can call me Cal. Better yet, call me anytime you want.”
“Jesus, Cal,” Carson complained. “Give it a rest.”
After Carolyn elbowed Carson in the ribs, he offered the woman his hand. “Kimi? Glad to meet you. Caro has told me a lot about you.”
Kimi. The name suited her. Short and cute.
“Likewise.” Kimi’s gaze left Cal’s and her eyes narrowed on Carson. “Make my sister happy or I’ll gut you like a trout.”
“Kimi!” Carolyn exclaimed.
But Kimi ignored her sister, and focused on Cal again with such intensity his dick got hard. “Let’s leave the lovebirds alone and you can tell me why such a handsome man as yourself is still single.”
“Because I was waitin’ for you.” Cal slipped his arm around Kimi’s shoulder. As he steered her toward the back booth, he said, “Your ice cream is melting, sweetheart. You’d better eat up.”
“Would you like a taste?” she said.
“Of you? Absolutely. I don’t give a damn about the ice cream.”
Kimi laughed. “You are bad.”
“Nope. I’m just testing the waters to see if you are.”
When Cal tried to scoot next to her in the booth, she shoved him back out. “Not so fast, partner. Sit on your own side.” She raised an eyebrow. “And put your hands on the table where I can see them.”
Cal grinned. So the little flirt wasn’t a pushover. “So let’s start with the basics.”
“Okay. Like what?”
Like I want you to tell me everything about you.
Maybe he’d better take a broader approach. “I don’t know much about your family. I sure had no idea that Carolyn had such a luscious—I mean lovely—little sister.”
She rolled her eyes and kept nibbling on her cone.
“I do know there’s some long-standing feud between the Wests and the McKays. When your brother Harland found out about Carolyn datin’ Carson, he beat the shit out of him.”
“Classy of him, doncha think? Who else gets a welcome to the family like that?” she said with complete sarcasm. “Carolyn said my other brothers were just as bad with threats and crap.”
“All of them were except for Thomas. He was decent.”
Kimi looked over her shoulder and then back at him. “Between us? I think Thomas will end up giving Carolyn away since my dad ain’t gonna show for the wedding.”
“You think your sister knows that?”
“Yeah. I just don’t know why it matters to her if he does or doesn’t show. It’s not like they’ve ever been close.”
“Why not?”
“Because our mom sent Carolyn away to Catholic school when she was still a girl. Then I pitched such a fit about missing my sister that I got sent away a year later. We only come home for the holidays and half the summer.” She frowned. “Except this year, after Carolyn graduated, my dad said there was no need for me to come home at all. This was after my parents couldn’t be bothered to come up to Billings for Carolyn’s high school graduation. I hated how disappointed Carolyn was. I know she’ll be facing that disappointment on Sunday and once again there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.”
Cal didn’t know what to say to that. Carson had given him the bare bones story about the West girls being sent off to school, but he’d