Somebody's Lover: The Jackson Brothers, Book 1

had them on Saturday. Jamey said he beat his grandpa at checkers twelve times.”
    Don’t wear any panties. The husky whisper tingled along her spine. Her cheeks heated, her body warmed, and her breath quickened.
    Good Lord. She was talking to her mother-in-law about her kids and checkers and their grandpa.
    But the taste of Jace was on her mind and on her tongue. Not even hot coffee nor the trace of guilt could wash it away.
    She started to babble, and when Evelyn left, she couldn’t remember a thing they’d talked about.
    Except the lie and Friday night.
    And Don’t wear any panties .

    * * * * *

    The girl was giddy. Now, Connie was giddy, and Rina was equally as bad as her mother. But Taylor always had her feet on the ground. Good heavens, Connie, the little matchmaker, was right. Something was going on between Taylor and Jace.
    Not to mention that story about Friday night. Meeting Brian’s teacher? School was almost out for the year. Why would a teacher ask for a meeting at this late date? And at night?
    No, it was Jace who asked for the meeting. Or a date. Or an assignation. Evelyn had been watching out the window. Taylor had stayed on the front path as he drove away. Watching.
    Heavens above.
    Arthur would have a heart attack. To him, Taylor was the epitome of a mother. The mother of his eldest son’s children. In Arthur’s mind, she would always be Lou’s wife. He wouldn’t understand if Taylor turned to another man. To Arthur, no one could replace Lou. No one. Not even Jace. Especially not Jace.
    She didn’t want to believe that Arthur blamed Jace for Lou’s death. He’d never said it, not once. Except one small hint the day they put their boy in the ground. The worst day of her life. Burying Lou made it all real. Arthur had held her hand and whispered, almost to himself, “If only Jace had done what he said he was going to do.”
    The words themselves were blame enough.
    Taylor and Jace together?
    Evelyn prayed the family didn’t come apart at the seams.

    * * * * *

    “It’s me.”
    Taylor didn’t have to ask who “me” was.
    The TV was blaring, Brian and Jamey were yelling about something Spiderman had just done. Her house was a mess, popcorn all over the coffee table, and her sons were out of control.
    All Taylor cared about was the way the deep timbre of Jace’s voice over the phone melted her from the inside out. The thing she’d done to him yesterday morning in her kitchen kept popping into her mind at the oddest moments. Like today, when she’d made a pot of coffee while the boys were getting ready for school.
    But what did you say to a man you’d taken in your mouth just yesterday? Her son saved her from thinking about it. “Jamey, do not spill that soda on the carpet.”
    “Is that Spiderman 2 I hear in the background?”
    “That and those dastardly children of mine destroying the house. And how do you know we’re watching Spiderman 2 ? You’re not a closet Spidey watcher, are you?”
    “They made me watch it three times the other weekend. And they got every line right just before Spiderman said it.”
    “Them’s m’boys. A movie hasn’t been watched enough if they haven’t memorized the lines.” It felt so easy to talk to him, like it had been before Saturday night. Except for that lazy heat running through his low voice and elevating her body temperature. She snuggled into the couch, pressing the phone intimately to her ear.
    “Will my mom take the kids on Friday?”
    She didn’t want this conversation, not now. “She’ll do it,” she said, soft and low so the boys wouldn’t hear. Somehow it came out sounding sexy, matching Jace’s tone. “I told her I’d be back by ten.” She modified her conversation for the boys. Little children had big ears when you least expected it.
    “You’ll only be on your tenth orgasm by ten o’clock, just getting warmed up.”
    Her body started to buzz in reaction. The boys had quieted down, the Coke didn’t get knocked over, and Jace was turning her into a puddle of mush. But she wouldn’t reply in kind.
    “You’re driving me nuts,” he whispered.
    He was doing exactly the same to her. Jace made it so hard to be strong.
    “Who ya talking to, Mom?”
    “Nobody. Watch the movie.” She rose and carried the portable phone into the kitchen.
    “Nobody? Did it feel like nobody when I came in your mouth?”
    “No.” It felt like heaven.
    “You liked what you did to me, didn’t you?”
    “You know I did.” She’d