Julian pushed his empty plate away and polished off his milk. “Just a hunch. I’ll find out if I’m right eventually.”
Kristin glared at him. “So you’re not sharing?”
“Red, if I’d known you wanted to share, I’d have saved you some of that pie.”
He was deliberately misunderstanding her, goading her now. He obviously wasn’t going to spill any information. “If you think he’s out at Randi’s old place, why did you stop here?”
Julian stood up and pulled out a wad of money from the pocket of his jeans and dropped it beside his empty pie plate. “I thought I wanted a beer,” he said vaguely.
“Do you still want it?” Kristin tried to ask politely. After all, he was a paying customer.
“Nope.” He moved lightning fast and grasped her braid before she could back away from the bar. “I think you gave me what I really needed, Red.” He’d moved in quickly, his warm breath tickling her ear. “I only want one more thing.”
Kristin felt her body react to his nearness, and it made her almost speechless. “What?” She hated herself because the word came out sounding breathless.
“More dessert,” he whispered huskily, tilting her head with her braid as his lips covered hers.
Kristin was startled for a fraction of a second before her entire body began to ignite. She wrapped her arms around Julian’s muscular shoulders, trying to tug him closer, desperate for body contact.
The embrace only lasted for a short time, but it was enough to shake Kristin to her core. Julian wasn’t shy, and he openly devoured her as the couple in the corner watched curiously.
As he raised his mouth, Kristin opened her eyes, not sure when she’d closed them to savor the moment.
He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, then ran the back of his hand down her cheek. “I won’t say I’m satisfied,” he rasped. “But I got what I came for.”
She came out of her daze as he released her.
What? What had he come for? For a beer? To kiss me senseless? To fill his empty stomach? What?
Kristin never got to ask. Julian departed as quickly as he’d entered, leaving her with only a glimpse of his completely edible body as he walked out the door.
Julian finally got his beer as he sat in the living room of Dante’s house, shooting the breeze with his male cousins and his oldest brother, Micah. Evan was the only one missing, still off on his delayed honeymoon with Randi.
“You look like hell,” Micah mentioned casually from his seat in the chair next to him.
“Thanks, bro. Nice to see you, too.” It wasn’t like Julian didn’t know he’d lost some weight while he was in the Australian outback filming, but he was sick as hell of being reminded he had a few bruises and scrapes. They’d heal, and he wasn’t as worried as his agent that his perfect face would have a scar. Jesus! He was tired of everybody worrying about how he looked.
“I’m glad to see you, but it looks like it was a rough job,” Micah answered frankly.
“It was.” He didn’t want to dwell on his latest project. It was a high-profile movie, hyped and anticipated, but for Julian, it hadn’t been that much of a challenge other than performing some of the stunts. Honestly, he missed the much rawer film that had won him the Oscar. The current movie he’d just wrapped would be a blockbuster because of the special effects, but it didn’t have a whole lot of substance.
“What made you stop here before heading back to California?” Micah asked curiously.
“I’m not sure. I guess I wanted to see what you were up to. When I found out you were here, I thought I’d take a break. It’s peaceful.” He was bullshitting himself and Micah. Amesport was fairly quiet once the tourists were gone, but it was far from relaxing with Red living here.
“I thought maybe you wanted a ride,” Micah said wryly.
“Got my own jet now,” Julian shot back at his older brother with humor in his voice after a few chugs from his beer.
“About time,” Micah grumbled, taking a pull from his own bottle.
“So what are you doing with the property you bought, Micah?” Grady asked from his seat on the couch. “Hopefully not a subdivision.”
Julian looked at Grady’s unhappy face, knowing he was possessive about two things: his wife, Emily, and the town of Amesport. Grady had been living here much longer than his brothers, and he liked the seclusion of the Peninsula and the town of Amesport in general.
Micah held up a hand defensively. “I’m not building it up. I’m building a house for myself on the coast, and vacation homes for Julian and Xander. I want to open the old skating rink, too, since I have the property.”
“What for?” Dante asked curiously. “It didn’t do much when it was open, from what I understand.”
Julian looked at his brother and smirked. It was kind of fun to watch Micah squirm.
Micah shrugged. “It’s still viable, and it gives the locals something else to do.”
Julian wanted to call bullshit on his brother, but he didn’t.
“You’re building for yourself?” Jared asked, sounding astonished. “Damn. It would be great to see you guys around, even if it was only for a vacation.”
Jared had always been the fixer among the Sinclairs, the one who valued family. He’d done much the same thing as Micah was doing now in order to get him and his family all together again.
And he’d finally succeeded. Jared and all his siblings now resided full-time on the Amesport Peninsula.