Wrapped In Pleasure - Brenda Jackson [57]
A crooked smiled tipped up the side of one of their mouths. He seemed to be a little older than the rest. “Yes, I’m Dare. And who are you?” he prompted curiously, not taking his eyes off her.
“I’m Tara Matthews, Delaney’s friend, neighbor and fellow physician,” she said, reaching her hand out to him. He took it and held it, a bit longer than she thought necessary, before shaking it. The others did the same when Dare introduced them. She took a step back. “Please come in. Delaney is in the bathroom.”
Tara closed the door behind them thinking they appeared bigger than life. All of them were well over six feet tall. “I thought there were five of you,” she said when they still gazed at her curiously.
The one whose name was Stone and whose smile was just as sexy as the one called Dare spoke up. “Our brother Thorn had a last-minute appointment and is flying in. He’ll get here in the morning.”
Tara nodded as she leaned back against the door while the four men continued to look at her. She started to ask them if anyone had ever told them it wasn’t polite to stare when Delaney entered the room.
“I see you guys made it okay.” Delaney shook her head when they didn’t take their eyes off Tara to acknowledge her entrance into the room. They were behaving like any typical male animals that had an irresistible female within their scope.
“Yeah, we made it,” Chase said smiling, but not at her, since his gaze was still on Tara.
Delaney bit her lip to keep from laughing. Most women fawned over Chase’s killer smile, but Tara didn’t appear the least flattered. In fact, it appeared she was beginning to get annoyed at her brothers’ attention, if her frown was any indication. “Hey you guys, let up and give Tara a break. She’s my friend.”
Storm finally released his gaze from Tara and met Delaney’s glare. “What are we doing?” he asked innocently.
“The four of you are checking her out like she’s a piece of fried chicken just waiting to be eaten.” She then glanced around the room. “Where’s Thorn?”
“Not in our side,” Chase said, finally breaking eye contact with Tara and turning to Delaney and smiling. His response was the usual one the brothers had given over the years whenever someone asked them about Thorn.
“So where is he?” Delaney asked again, hating it when they gave her their smart responses.
“He had a last-minute appointment, some very important customer he had to take care of, so he’ll be flying in tomorrow morning,” Dare said, finally turning to look at her and leaving his brothers to finish their appraisal of Tara.
“And how long are you guys staying?” Delaney asked. She didn’t want to run the risk of being sick around them.
Dare smiled. “Trying to get rid of us already, Laney?”
Delaney frowned. If she’d had her choice they would never have come. She loved her brothers to death but they could get on her last nerve at times. She didn’t want to think about how they were going to handle the news of her pregnancy. “No, I’m not trying to get rid of you, as if it would do me any good even if I were. I just wanted to know for sleeping-arrangement purposes. As you can see this place is rather small, and Tara has graciously offered to put two of you up at her place during your visit.”
As she had known it would, that statement got her brothers’ attention. All eyes returned to Tara, who merely shrugged and said, “It’s the least I can do for a friend, but it seems that I need to put some ground rules in place.”
Dare gave her a sexy smile. “Such as?”
“I expect you to be good.”
Storm smiled and Tara and Delaney didn’t miss the byplay gaze that passed between the brothers. “We’re always good,” he said slowly.
Tara lifted a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. “What I mean is good as in good behavior. You’re to behave like gentlemen and treat me just like a member of the family.”
Chase chuckled. “That’s going to be a real challenge since you aren’t a member of the