Granting Wishes by Deanna Felthauser

in his eyes right now gave her a little thrill that she would never admit to out loud.
    “These are for you, Lilah,” Jake said in a low, rough voice. Only problem was, he was talking to her chest.
    Lilah snapped her fingers and pointed to her face, “Eyes up here, cowboy. Talk to my face, not my boobs.” She heard Chelsea snort with laughter in the background.
    At least he had the courtesy to blush as he attempted to hand her the beautiful bouquet of white daisies, yellow carnations and lavender lilies. Instead of taking it from him she held the dry shirt to her chest and walked away from him, heading to the bathroom to change. She was fighting her emotions when she shut the door behind her, trying to compose herself. Lilah didn’t know whether to be happy to see him, mad, or indifferent. Inner turmoil had wreaked havoc on her this past week that she hadn’t heard from him. She didn’t waste any more time dwelling on it. It only took a moment to change her shirt, but when she saw her hair in the mirror she cringed. What a fright! Lilah tried to tame her wild curls but the weather had already done too much damage. Giving up, she decided to stop stalling. When she entered the office, Jake was leaning against her desk next to the flower arrangement. He was as soaked as she was, but somehow it made him look even sexier. His Wrangler jeans were even tighter and his red t-shirt clung to his muscled chest like a second skin and it made her mouth water. It was hard for her to not lick her lips and whimper.
    Whatever he was saying was making Chelsea laugh like a school girl. Traitor! Five minutes alone and her best friend was under his spell and looking as if she might swoon. She’d already forgotten how badly Lilah had been hurting all week. Just as she was about to say something about that, her twin walked in carrying Chinese takeout and a single red rose. He gave it to Chelsea and Lilah was sure they were both blushing like they’d just been caught doing something wrong. Lilah was still standing there dumbfounded when Dom leaned over and gave Chelsea a tender kiss. On the mouth. What the hell? He gave her the rose and then came to Lilah and hugged her. Finally, she found her voice again.
    “Twinnie, what’s going on?”
    “I have a half day today so I brought my favorite girls some lunch.” He looked over at Jake and crossed his arms over his chest. “What I want to know, is what in the hell is he doing here?”
    Jake tensed up and glared at Dom. “I’m here to talk to your sister. You got a problem with that?”
    Dom stalked towards him, his fists now clenched at his sides. “Yeah, as a matter of fact I do have a problem with that. I have a real big problem with you, bruh.”
    Lilah was so shocked it was as if her feet were glued to the floor and it appeared Chelsea was in the same state with her mouth hanging open.
    “That’s too damn bad. Lilah’s a grown woman and doesn’t need your permission to talk to me.”
    “Oh she’s grown alright, but when she comes home a wreck and I can tell she’s been crying after you’re the last person I saw her with, I got a say-so on you being around. I’d advise you to get yourself the hell up outta here before I…”
    “Dom, no! Stop it you two.” Lilah got her feet to cooperate and she put herself between them, pushing at her brother’s chest, not that it did any good. He was in full on protection mode and his eyes were dead set on Jake’s face like he was ready to mash it like a banana.
    “Twinnie, please, go eat lunch with Chels. I got this. Please don’t make things worse and fight over me.”
    Chelsea found her voice finally and she hopped up and came to Dom, taking him by the hand. “Come on, Dom. Let’s go to the conference room to eat. It’s quiet in there. Leave them alone to work things out.”

Chapter 13
    The conference room was cool and quiet like Chelsea said, it would be. They were completely alone for the first time since Dom had spent the