Kanes' Kisses: A Three Book Collection

by Loni Ree

  Chapter 12

  Jason

  The week drags by slowly without any leads on my girl’s identity. It takes groveling and promises, but Candace finally forgives me for ignoring her calls last weekend. I dread the coming weekend and the firm’s annual Christmas party. This year will be especially difficult, knowing Jordan is going to bring his new love and I lost mine.

  On Friday night, Candace is waiting for me in the hotel lobby. “I’m happy you showed up tonight.” I roll my eyes at her dig. Maybe she hasn’t completely forgiven me. We’re standing with Uncle Harris when Jordan and Holly arrive. My brother and the gorgeous blonde make a striking couple.

  It’s not a Kane & Associates Christmas without a little drama, and after dinner, one of the bitchy secretaries causes a scene when she accuses Jordan of using Holly. Luckily, Holly doesn’t believe the troublemaker, and Uncle Harris and Jordan have her escorted from the dinner. I look at Candace and shake my head; this has been a trying night. As I turn away, a woman walking by the entrance catches my eye. She strongly resembles my girl.

  Without thinking, I head to the door and follow her down the hall. When I reach the corner, she turns to the side and I get a good view of her face. My mystery girl is walking down the hallway, and my memory didn’t do her justice.

  Before I can rush after her, my head slams into the wall as the kitchen door flies open, sending me reeling backward. Then, a tiny blonde comes rushing through. When she sees me staggering and holding the back of my head, she cries out, “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”

  Blinking several times to clear the lights flashing behind my eyelids, I swallow down the nausea before I try to respond. “No problem. I was in the way.” As I pull my hand away, the blood covering my fingers causes the dizziness to return, and my assailant grabs my hand and leads me to an empty room to sit down.

  “Meghan is going to kill me. Let me look at your head, then I’ll get ice for it.” Her screeches cause the nausea to intensify, and I groan. I lay my head on the table and pray for the room to quit spinning. The blonde returns with another woman and places an icepack on my head while explaining to a redhead, “There’s never anyone walking down the back hall. I just threw the door open and bam. He went down.”

  “Holy shit,” the redhead shrieks, and my eyes slam shut in pain. “Don’t you recognize him? He’s Louboutin man.” My ears perk up. I’ve never heard myself compared to expensive shoes before tonight.

  “No freaking way. Sophie is going to have a heart attack.” As the conversation is flowing around me, I close my eyes and pray the hammer banging through my skull kills me soon. In the back of my mind, I remember that I’m losing my chance with my dream girl, but right now, I’m too sick and dizzy to do anything about it. After the two chirping birds finally agree that I need medical assistance, one grabs some poor server to help drag my nearly deadweight ass out the back door. Evidently, they figure it’ll look bad for their bakery if anyone finds out they’ve damaged a guest. Hello, it’ll look worse when the guest dies. I need help.

  Hanging on to the seat and praying, I decide I probably would have been safer driving myself, concussion and all, since the blonde’s driving skills are non-existent. “Please don’t get us killed before we get to the hospital,” I moan, and the crazy woman looks at me and glares. Figuring her driving has to be better when she’s looking at the road, I decide to stay quiet the rest of the ride.

  By some miracle, we manage to arrive alive, and I somehow keep my dinner inside my body. I almost kiss the doctor when he tells my assailant-slash-rescuer that he’ll take over my care. As my luck would have it, she refuses to leave my side, and I’m in no condition to argue. It’s a typical Friday night in the emergency room, and we end up waiting for hours.

  “Is he okay?” It’s the redhead from the party standing outside the emergency room cubicle. “Yes, they said he’ll need a couple of staples and a ride home. Nothing major, just a good knock to the head,” her accomplice whispers.

  “Thank God. I’d hate to explain to Sophie that you permanently damaged the guy she’s been mooning over.” My ears perk up. This conversation is starting to interest me.

  “Ladies, who’s Sophie?” They both turn shocked eyes toward me as I ask, and I realize they totally forgot I was lying right behind them.

  “My sister. She cleaned your tonsils off in Old Timer’s Tavern last Friday night.” Both women giggle and groan. Even through the pain, I relax for the first time in a week. I’ve finally got a lead on my girl.

  I’m about to question them about my girl when the doctor breezes in and kicks the ditzy duo out to fix up my head. They promise to stay and take me home, so I lie on my stomach and try to relax through the pain. After the torture, the doctor gives my two friends instructions then discharges me. Before I know it, the redhead has taken charge and is leading me out of the hospital.

  “Just drop me off at the hotel. My car’s there,” I mumble as I fall into the death trap again. This time, I’m sprawled across the backseat, hoping to be further from the possible impact. Relief flows through me as the car pulls to a stop, and I drag myself into a seated position. Looking out the window, I see the front of a cute two-story home with a wrap-around porch covered in Christmas lights. It hits me then; the ditzy duo have kidnapped me.

  “What the…” I groan as loudly as the pounding in my head will allow.

  “We wanted to talk to you about my sister. Don’t get your panties in a twist. You’re safe.” As the redhead rolls her eyes, the other conspirator snorts. This may be my chance to find out about my mystery girl, so I fight back the pain and allow the two women to help me into the house.

  It takes a while. These two take more tangents than a geometry test, but I finally get the entire story of last Friday night. I’m not too pleased that it started out as a bet over shoes, but I’ll get over it. Megan, the sister, assures me that Sophie has regretted running out on me since that night, which soothes my ruffled feathers a little. I still plan to make my little shoe-loving angel pay for my suffering.

  The ditzy duo gives me the perfect opportunity to get my girl. I can’t believe I’m taking advice from these two, but they swear Sophie will love my gesture. As Tricia drives me home, I shake my head and laugh to myself. My family would have a field day if they could see me now. I’m usually the level-headed triplet, and I’m about to adopt a dog to get the girl.

  Chapter 13

  Jason

  Leaving the party without explanation wasn’t the brightest idea. My sister left me several angry voicemails that got more threatening as she got more inebriated. Looks like one of us had fun after the Christmas party. I try to visit her once my head stops spinning, and to my surprise, she has a visitor. Wow. I missed all the excitement when I left the party early. I’ll just have to explain everything to her on Monday. Now that she knows I’m alive, it appears she has other things to worry about.

  I fall in love for the second time in two weeks when the little pink tongue sneaks out and licks my cheek. Snowball’s foster parents are heartbroken to hand him over but weren’t able to offer him a permanent home, lucky for me. No wonder Sophie was heartbroken to give this little guy up. He’s so freaking cute, with his black and tan fur and deep brown eyes. Damn, what is this girl doing to me? I’m turning into a marshmallow. After getting everything arranged for the little guy, I take my new friend home and get him settled.

  Sometime around two in the morning, I cave and allow Snowball to sleep with me. The constant crying is too much to bear. After placing the unhappy puppy back in the kennel so I can shower, I listen to another thirty minutes of soulful crying. Hopefully, Sophie will have suggestions for my unhappy new pet.

  Luckily, Snowball loves car rides and sleeps the entire way to the vet. After checking in, I’m sitting in the waiting room with my little guy when I hear my name called, “Mr. Kane, my name is Karen. I’ll take you back now.”

  I follow the middle-aged woman down the hall, and she points into a small, ch
eerful room. Before we get to the room, she reaches for Snowball and says, “I just need to weigh Snowball. We have his weight from a week ago, but we’ll need a follow-up weight.”

  Karen takes Snowball down the hall for a minute, then returns and hands him over to me. “He’s gained a few ounces. Perfect.” She smiles then closes the door after walking out. While cuddling the sleeping puppy, I drop onto the chair and wait.

  When the assistant pushes the door open, two things hit me at once as my mystery girl is walking into the examination room. She’s even more spectacular than I remembered, and my dick might have permanent damage from pushing against the inside of my pants. Her heart-shaped face is surrounded by straight, silky, caramel colored hair that hangs down to her waist. The smattering of freckles across her upturned nose and cheeks give her the girl-next-door look. Shocked green eyes stare at me.

  “Jason Kane? That’s your name? And you adopted Snowball?” My gorgeous girl croaks as she stumbles into the room behind Karen.

  “It’s a long story,” I begin, and Sophie turns to Karen and signals to the door with her head.

  Karen looks between the two of us questionably, then walks to the door. “Dr. Lennox, do you need me for anything?” After Sophie smiles and shakes her head, Karen walks out and quietly shuts the door.

  “Looks like I have time to hear it.”

  Her eyes twinkle as she tries not to laugh while I share my story, her teeth biting her bottom lip to help contain it, and all I can think about is kissing that very spot to soothe the injury. My cock that had started to soften a tiny bit turns hard as a rock again. This girl tests my control.

  After my tale of woe and torture, she finally admits, “I regretted running out on you. I had a little too much to drink. I mean, I don’t usually attack strangers in bars. My, uh, sister, well, you see, she dared me to kiss someone under the mistletoe.” As she’s stumbling through her explanation, a blush covers her face and neck. The urge to run my tongue over the soft skin runs through me, and I barely control the groan that rises in my throat as my shaft jumps in my pants.

  “Yeah, I heard about the bet. The ditzy duo gave me a nickname because of the bet.” Her head turns to the side, and she looks confused, so I explain, “Louboutin man.”

  Sophie can’t contain her laugh. “That reminds me; my sister hasn’t coughed up the shoes. How’s the head doing, by the way? You look pretty good for someone who was just assaulted with a door a few days ago.”

  “Luckily, no major damage. I got a couple staples under my hair and took some aspirin, and I was good to go,” I assure her, and she smiles.

  “Hard heads are good for something.” She shrugs. At my outraged look, she winks. “Just a guess.” Then she looks at Snowball. “How’s he doing so far?”

  Fighting the impulse to drag her onto my lap, I hold the puppy up and she takes him from me. “It was a rough first night. Hopefully, you can give me some pointers on making the little guy happy.” I somehow manage to push the words past the constriction in my throat. The slight brush of our hands caused my breath to catch and the pain in my hardened cock to intensify. Not wanting to scare her off again, I drop Snowball’s blanket over my lap to hide the obvious bulge.

  Snowball lifts his head and licks her hand as she slowly rubs his head. “I still can’t believe you ended up with Snowball. It makes me so happy.” Jealousy courses through me as she pets the animal. My body still tingles from the slight feeling of her skin against mine. I can’t wait to have her in my arms again.

  When I raise my eyes, Sophie is watching me intently, waiting for me to respond to her, and I realize I’ve been staring at her. Shaking my head to clear the lust, I let her know, “Finding you again was worth the torture I endured from the ditzy duo.” She’s absolutely adorable with her bright blue eyes laughing up at me.

  Sophie bites her lip then whispers, “You were a bet until our eyes met. Then, you became so much more.” When an adorable blush covers her face and neck after her admission, my heart melts and I forgive her for the pain I’ve suffered.

  Chapter 14

  Sophie

  Holy Steaming Fudge Muffin. My mystery guy adopted Snowball. Walking in and seeing him cuddling the tiny puppy in his strong arms causes my ovaries to explode and juices to run into my panties. I’m in love. As he’s telling his story, I want to beg him to take me home and finish what we started with our kiss from the other night. These feelings are completely out of character for an inexperienced virgin like me, and a full-body blush covers me as a result of my thoughts. Megan and Tricia really know how to cause Lennox situations.

  On a whim, I stop by Sweet Treats to see Megan and Tricia on my way home. Time to torture my sister and her sidekick a little.

  The smell of sugary treats hits me as I walk through the door, and I hear my sister yelling in the back room. After a few minutes, she walks out, and I act like nothing out of the ordinary happened today. “Hey, can I get a couple of cinnamon donuts and a pecan pie?”

  Tricia and Megan look at each other for a second before Tricia grabs a box for my goodies. While Tricia is busy with my order, Megan leans against the counter and tries to look normal, but I can see she’s dying. “How was work today?” she finally asks.

  I just shrug my shoulder and look in the case before answering, “Dogs that needed shots and a cat that tried to eat a kitchen rag. The typical day. Hey, what are those cookies with the green sprinkles?”

  Tricia hip-checks Megan as a silent conversation takes place between the two of them. Finally, Tricia grabs a cookie out of the case and hands it to me before answering, “We tried a new recipe. Let me know what you think.”

  The sugary goodness hits my taste buds then flows through my system, and I watch out of the corner of my eye as the two women signal and gesture frantically. After swallowing the rest of my heavenly treat, I roll my eyes and put them out of their misery. “I had a very interesting patient today. His new owner was even more surprising.”

  “Ah-ha! He did come in. You little sneak. I can’t believe you stayed quiet until freaking five-thirty, then have the nerve to come in here acting like nothing happened,” my sister screeches across the bakery while both women stand with their hands on their hips, glaring at me.

  “Wait a minute. You guys have no room to talk,” I remind them, and they both look sheepishly at me.

  Tricia shakes her head and sighs. “Come on, guys. Snowball has a good home, and Ms. Virgin here has a reason to see her man and her dog.” As she points at me, my sister snorts, and I glare at both women before Tricia continues. “So, when’s the big cherry poppin’?”

  My mouth drops open in shock for a minute before I manage to find my ability to speak. “Holy Steaming Fudge Muffin, you didn’t ask that in your bakery?” I yell.

  “Oh, come on, the workers in the back can’t hear what we’re saying, and besides, you won’t have that problem for long.” As my sister tries to console me, the need for revenge flows through me.

  I can’t help but throw her under the bus with me. “You really don’t have room to talk, Ms. Virgin Part Two.”

  When Tricia starts snickering, Megan’s face turns as red as her cherry. I hear masculine chuckling behind me and spin around. My face turns as red as Megan's, and I swear I'm about to pass out from embarrassment. In all the arguing, we somehow missed the sound of the bells over the door. Standing five feet from me is Jason and an older, very handsome man. This bakery has never had so much gorgeousness in it at one time. Each man is at least six and a half feet tall. Jason’s dark brown hair is cut more conservatively than the other man’s tousled cut, and they both have a small amount of stubble on their chiseled faces. The men have matching looks of shock. Fuck my life.

  Before any of us girls can gather our wits, Jason winks at me and turns to the other man, shrugging. “How did we get this lucky to show up at the perfect time? I think I’m feeling like cherry pie.” I pray for the floor to open up and swallow me as his companion just shakes his head an
d laughs.

  “Jason, you are so lucky my man.” At his response, my sister groans loudly behind me.

  Tricia finally manages to get herself together and bustles around the counter. “What can I get you gentlemen to try?” The matching smirks on their faces guarantee our embarrassment isn’t over.

  “I agree with my nephew. Anything cherry-flavored is a winner with me,” the older bastard replies, and I let a growl slip out before I can control myself. Jason turns to me and takes mercy on me.

  “Hey, Sophie. I’m so happy to see you again. This is my uncle, Harris Kane.” He points at his uncle, who holds out his hand to shake. I glare for a second before I shake his hand, then I proceed to introduce everyone.

  “You could have let us know you were here. That was a private conversation,” I grumble once all the introductions are made.

  “We walked in the door of a public business with ringing bells. How much more announcement do you need?” Harris raises his eyebrows, and even though he has a point, I find myself tucking my hands into my pants pockets so I can resist the urge to smack his smug face. A blush moves up my body, and I hear Jason groan.

  He walks over and whispers in my ear, “I’d rather you not share what’s our business in public from now on.” At my outraged gasp, he winks and looks up at the other girls. “I wanted to come by and say thanks again for taking care of me the other night.”

  Megan and Tricia are leaning on the counter watching the show, and Megan laughs. “Well, we were to blame, but you’re welcome. I’m glad you survived Tricia and the door.”