Willows, Jennifer - Lust for Life [The Moreland Brothers 2] (Siren Publishing Allure) by Jennifer Willows Page A

nervousness with sleek caresses over her skin. Charli had no idea what hit her and within moments was fast asleep. Her rest was dreamless and uninterrupted by nightmare or nocturnal longings for the first time in years.
    Charli woke first and the bedside clock told her it was just after three a.m. She disengaged herself from the sleeping blond next to her, one limb at a time, taking the white tee discarded in the floor. She pulled the shirt over her torso and picked up a small patchwork quilt. Padding through the house, she grabbed her small purse and walked outside to the front porch. She lit a cigarette, taking deep inhalations, exhaling slowly. When the smoke was finished, she lit a half-smoked blunt she secreted in the cigarette pack. She took a few puffs, thinking on what she wanted to do. She didn’t know how to deal with the man she fucked tonight, how to distance herself from him. She didn’t know if she wanted to. Confused about her own desires, she looked at the sky, watching the stars twinkle above her.

    * * * *

    Deven woke a few moments after Charli left the room. He felt her slight weight leave the bed. He knew she wasn’t leaving, since she didn’t take her clothing and she didn’t call a cab. He knew he wanted her next to him, she was the reason he slept so well. All his adrenaline-filled activities were solely to make him crash and sleep. But lately he found even the most treacherous sports were not enough, and even after the burn of epinephrine left him, he was still awake, still wanting.
    Before he met Charli last year, he’d even upped the game, and incorporated sex in his favorite extreme sports. There were days spent ascending mountains and nights spent fucking on the peaks. He went rock climbing, and screwed a woman before reaching their chosen plateau. That was one of his most fun escapades, being reliant on a rope and carabineers to hold him and another aloft. He even fucked while diving, which wasn’t as much fun as it sounded. The water was nice, but the options were limited, due to the masks and gear they each wore. Not to mention the water made the sex dry, washing away all the naturally occurring sex juices, and required too much lube.
    Deven shrugged on a robe and walked the length of the house. He saw the door had been opened and looked out. Charli was seated on the rocking bench, smoking from what he could see of it. He opened the door, the smell telling him what she was indulging. He went to her seated on the rocking bench, looking in her eyes for regret or anger. He found neither, but the brown-eyed beauty looked confused.
    “Good morning, pixie.”
    “I told you I’m not a pixie, surfer boy.”
    “That’s ‘surfer man’ to you, pixie.”
    Charli swatted at him, treating him like a pesky fly. He took the blunt, puffing twice, and handed it back. She looked at him mouth gaped open.
    “You think you’re the only person on earth that smokes?” Deven asked rhetorically.
    “No, I made good money on folks that like to. Just didn’t expect you’d be one of them.”
    “I like it all right sometimes. It’s something I normally do when I go home and visit Mom. But not daily, I just don’t love it that much.”
    Charli had a dumbfounded look on her face as if she never imagined him as a smoker, and would have never guessed. Deven smiled at the thought of surprising her before picking her up, carrying her inside.
    “But I’m still smoking Dev,” Charli complained, as they walked through the house.
    “It’s too cool out tonight for you to be outside. There is a room you can use whenever you are here.” He took her to the left side of the house, opening the room designated as a study. He pulled out an ashtray and Zippo-type lighter. He opened a humidor and brought out two cigars. He offered her one and sat it to the side when she shook her head.
    “Lemme finish this first.” Charli’s face said she would love to try the cigar.
    She toked the smoke in her hand, and Deven