Page 67 of Karma

“And I bet you’ve thought about her every hour, minute, and second of that time.”

Dare jumped to his feet. “Fuck you.”

“If you’d gotten any in the last four days, you might not be in this sucky mood,” Ethan said, joining them.

A glance over his shoulder told Dare he’d brought out a big pitcher of iced tea with three large acrylic cups and ice for the women. Dare shook his head, about to storm out and get some air that didn’t include his brothers, when the door to the house opened, and Liza stepped outside.

Suddenly, the stifling air around him eased, and Dare began to breathe easier.

He glanced at Nash. His brother grinned. Dare flipped him off and turned to Liza, pretending the wordlovewasn’t floating around his brain, put there by his good-for-nothing sibling.

Ignoring his brothers’ stares, he headed to greet Liza.

Liza wore a white sheer cover-up beneath which he caught sight of a hot pink bikini and lots and lots of bare skin. It didn’t matter that he’d seen and touched every inch. His entire body tightened with need, not to mention the relief he felt at knowing she was here, with his family, and safe from the threat she didn’t believe existed.

“Hi,” he said, coming up beside her.

She glanced at him, confusion in her gaze. “What are you doing here? I thought this was a fundraiser meeting.”

Could she at least appear happy to see him? “My brother lives here too, remember?”

“I didn’t mean…Never mind. I just didn’t expect you to be here.”

“Ethan and Nash said they’d be hanging by the pool, and I’m off, so here I am.”

Her gaze traveled from his face down his bare chest, over his swim trunks, which now sported a definite bulge, to his bare feet, and back again. “I see that.” She grinned. “Actually, I see a lot.” Her strained expression relaxed, easing into a smile.

“Funny,” he muttered.

“Liza, grab a glass of iced tea and join us in the pool!” Faith called. “We’re working here.”

“Working hard,” Kelly said, laughing. It sounded more like a giggle, and Dare wondered what Ethan had added to their iced tea.

“You heard them. Work calls.” With a shrug, Liza strode around him.

He watched as she headed to the pool, paused by a chair, and proceeded to strip off her top, revealing a barely-there two-piece bathing suit. His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

“Easy there.” Nash patted him on the back hard enough to cause Dare to choke.

“Would you lay off,” he muttered.

“When you admit you’re so gone over her.” Nash burst out laughing.

Dare gave him the finger. Again. By now, the gesture had lost any import whatsoever. And Dare couldn’t say his brother was all wrong.

Chapter Twelve

Liza hadn’t expectedDare to be here, though if she really thought about the kind of morning she’d had, she should have anticipated him. She’d spent the last couple of days trying to come to terms with what he’d told her about her brother having killed Stuart Rossman. And the obvious conclusion her parents, among other adults in the community and people in positions of importance, must have covered up the crime.

Liza had lived her life under a delusion they’d created, and as a result, she’d done nothing to help Brian deal with what he’d done. The truth must have eaten away at him every waking moment. His escape into alcohol made so much more sense to her now. Though Dare saw Brian as entitled—and he was—Liza knew the boy he’d been, and she’d been trying to save him as best she could for as long as she could remember. It wasn’t enough. Had never been enough.

Shaking those thoughts off, she arranged her bag, top, and towel on a spare lounge chair. In her bag were the copies of the two checks to Annabelle’s Antiques. Nothing about her trip to see Annabelle had gone as planned. Or should she say, nothing had gone as she’d hoped. Everything about the dual checks and her brother’s possible involvement was still a puzzle. To make matters worse, Liza had inadvertently upset a very important vendor.

Eager to put the incident and the problems with her brother behind her for now, Liza accepted Faith’s wave to come into the pool. Once there, she took a chair float, complete with a cup holder on the side. She settled into the water and leaned back, feeling the hot sun on her skin and the delicious water lapping over her as she relaxed.Heaven,she thought.

Her house didn’t have a pool like her parents’ did, and she rarely had the opportunity to lounge and just be.

“This is amazing,” she said to Faith.