Read Online More Than Cookies (The Maple Leaf Series) by Christine DePetrillo - Free Book Online Page B

her nerve endings stimulated at once.
    Holy shit, Orion can kiss.
    Sage had been kissed many times. Kissing was often her favorite part of a relationship. And she was a tough judge when it came to this particular skill. A man could get disqualified in several ways based solely on his kissing. Too soft. Too hard. Too wet. Too dry. Too short. Too long. Too smoky. Too minty. Too I-ate-tuna-for-lunch.
    Orion’s kiss, however, had been… heavenly. Just the right amount of pressure, moisture, duration, and taste. And his hands—even that imperfect pinkie finger. The way he’d grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in close. God, she’d wanted to climb inside him. Better yet, she’d wanted to peel his clothes off right there in the workshop, throw him down on the sawdust—which smelled amazing—and feast on him until she was full.
    She had a feeling she’d never be full.
    If Ian hadn’t come back to introduce his nurse friend, Wendie, Sage had no idea how far she and Orion would have gone. It was a little scary. It was also a lot exciting.
    Even now, as she walked beside Orion and behind Ian and Wendie up to the rustic farmhouse across from the workshop, her heart hammered in her chest.
    Get it together.
     She was Sage Stannard, Master Flirt and Man Charmer. Her nerves didn’t get rattled. She didn’t get thrown off balance by a silly kiss.
    Oh, but that kiss was far from silly.
    She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from sighing aloud thinking about that kiss.
    “We’re having barbecued chicken, Sage. Do you like barbecued chicken?” Ian asked as he opened the back porch door and held it open for Wendie and Sage. He let it go for Orion, but then turned around abruptly and stepped back outside to hold it again. “Sorry, Orion.”
    “That’s okay, Dad.” Orion put an arm around his father’s shoulders, and Sage instantly felt all the love he had for the old man.
    Good kisser and good guy. When would she find something wrong with Orion Finley? Because there had to be something wrong with him, didn’t there? She was always attracted to men who seemed nice then acted like a jerks at about date three or four. There was no denying she was attracted to Orion either. The spark was there. He’d lit it in the workshop with that firecracker of a kiss.
    “So you’re Adam’s sister?” Sage asked Wendie, who was a pretty woman maybe in her early forties with short, curly brown hair and compassionate green eyes.
    “If I must admit relation to him, then yes, Adam is my little brother. Pain in my ass most of the time.” She said this with a smile in her eyes.
    “He’s a pain in my ass most of the time too,” Orion said, “but this time he really came through for me.”
    “ He came through for you?” Wendie put her hands on her hips then shot a glance around the kitchen. “Is he here right now, cooking your dinner, cleaning your house, caring for your father?”
    Orion stepped behind Sage. “My mistake. I meant to say you have come through for us, Wendie. You’re amazing and awesome and… please, don’t hurt me.”
    Sage looked at him over her shoulder. “You’re afraid of Wendie?”
    “Hey, I’ve known her since I was ten years old and yes, she’s hit me before.”
    “Damn straight. I’d hit you again too.” She pointed a finger at him, but the left side of her mouth was turned up in a smile. She looked at Sage and said, “Sometimes men need to be smacked around, you know?”
    “I’ll have to remember that.”
    “Don’t hit my son.” Ian came to stand directly in front of Sage. He was her height, but outweighed her by at least fifty pounds.
    Sage backed up a few steps while Orion said, “Sage isn’t going to hit me, Dad. We’re joking around.”
    Ian narrowed a blue eye at her. “Not funny, Sage. No jokes.”
    “Don’t worry about him,” Orion said guiding Ian to the dining room next to the kitchen. “But just to be on the safe side, don’t hit me.”
    “I promise not to… while