Drake Sisters 05 - Safe Harbor

lingered a little too long, shaping her butt, massaging when he could have just smacked the sand off. Just when she thought she'd have to object, when her body was reacting with a little too much heat, his hands slid away and he tucked her hair behind her ear, looking innocent.
    She shook her head. "I hope you enjoyed yourself."
    "Very much, thank you. Need any help with the front?" He'd been careful to keep the sand away from her wounds. "Maybe I should do an inspection."
    "Maybe you should start considering how we're going to get up the stairs to the house without a hundred zoom lenses taking shots of us." She pulled his jacket closer around her for protection.
    "That's your department, Hannah." He slid his arm around her shoulders and drew her to him as they began to walk back toward the house. "I could throw you over my shoulder in a fireman's carry and make a run for it, but they'd take pictures of your cute butt and plaster it from here to hell and back. That would make me angry and then I'd go punch one of them and lose my job, so I'm guessing you'll just have to do your thing, woman, and get us out of it."
    "Lose your job?" She grinned at him. "I wouldn't have to worry about you getting shot at ever again."
    "But then we'd starve."
    "Jonas, I made a pretty good living and most of it is in the bank or invested in very safe stocks. We aren't going to starve."
    "You're giving me a stomachache. I don't want to know that you have more money than me."
    She slapped his ribs hard. "You're such a chauvinist."

    "Absolutely. I'm supporting you while you stay home and raise our children. I don't want some stranger raising them. And I don't want them going to school at some obnoxious age just because they're smart. We're keeping them home and looking after them ourselves."
    "Is that what we're doing?"
    He glanced down at her. "Yes. Unless you have a better idea?"
    "That was my idea. I told you so when I was eight. You ignored me for that awful little Sherrie Rider. Thank God she moved away when she was ten. And she burped all the time. I have no idea why you found her interesting."
    "She played sports, Hannah. And you wanted to play dolls or something. Geez.
    Basketball or Barbies, come on."
    Her laughter flowed over him again, making him want to smile. "We're in the danger zone and your sisters are waiting for us. Are you ready, baby? Because I will carry you even if it means I have to share your butt with the photographers."
    "My hero. It won't be necessary, though." She lifted her arms toward the sky and began to move her hands in flowing patterns.
    He heard feminine voices in the wind as it rushed in off the ocean, driving the thick band of fog before it toward the surrounding bluffs. Birds took to the air, flying inland, swarming toward the cliffs and trees as Hannah and Jonas, hand in hand, sprinted up the stairs leading to the Drake home.

Chapter Fifteen
    "HANNAH, would you mind coming downstairs," Sarah called. "We'd like to do another healing session on you. Libby's feeling great. Jonas isn't here and the house is in protection mode, so we should have a few hours with no interruptions."
    Hannah closed her eyes briefly and tugged the blanket closer around her. Jonas had been gone all day, and why that depressed her, she didn't know. She'd detested being cooped up in her room, but where else could she go? If she went downstairs, everyone spoke in the hushed tones she'd come to despise. She couldn't say anything because she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. So she was holding a first-class pity party in her room and waiting for Jonas to come back and treat her normally again.
    "Hannah!" This time Sarah's voice was sharp and imperious, as only an eldest sister could manage. "Come down here."

    Hannah made a face at the door, feeling childish. Sarah could reduce them all to children when she was on a roll. It was easier just to go along with what she wanted than to try to argue. Hannah tossed her blanket on the bed and reluctantly opened the door of her bedroom. At once, familiar scents filled the air. The tea kettle whistled merrily and Joley's contagious laughter mingled with Libby's. Hannah stood in the hall for a long moment, breathing it all in. She loved them all so much—her sisters—
    even when they were killing her with kindness. And no one laughed like Joley. She could light up an entire city, let alone a room.
    Hannah descended the spiral stairs and discovered the lower story was lit only with