Racing Heart (The Billionaire Brothers 1) Read Free

drink beers and throw the cans in the trashcan from across the room.”
    “Yeah,” Megan said, “that sounds like boys.”
    Then, out of nowhere, “Uncle Jake brought me a panda.”
    Megan stared at her. It was these cryptic, inexplicable utterances which added such spice to the life of anyone who spent time with The Great Andrea McMahon. “Really.” It wasn’t a question. “A panda.”
    “Oh, Megan are you getting so old you’re losing your memory? Can’t remember what a panda is?”
    Megan slid the plate of apple slices in front of Andrea and flicked her ear. “I’m younger than your Dad, by the way. And I know what a panda is, Missy. This was a cuddly toy, right?”
    “ Not a toy!” Andrea insisted. “A panda!”
    “A real one?” Megan asked, hands on hips.
    “Yeah!”
    “No way.”
    “Way!” Andrea exclaimed.
    “Not true.”
    “Is so!”
    “I call shenanigans,” Megan announced, resolutely.
    Andrea cocked her head. “What’s a shenniguns? ”
    Megan’s bout of giggling was interrupted only by the front door bell. “Better late than never,” she commented to Andrea. “You ready to go?” Andrea stuffed music books into her bag as Megan answered the door.
    She was not – even in the slightest – prepared for what she saw.
    ***
    “Megan Petersen,” Jake remarked with a broad smile. “How long has it been?”
    Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the Saints. Where along the way did Jake McMahon get gorgeous?
    Megan froze in her doorway for an embarrassingly long second before erasing the stunned look from her face and giving her visitor a warm smile. “Jake, it’s so good to see you. You’re looking...” Chiseled and mouth-watering? Immaculate and neatly groomed? “Looking well,” Megan managed lamely. “And to answer your question,” she said, beckoning him inside, “it’s been seven years.”
    “You’re kidding ,” Jake marveled, regarding Megan closely. “It can’t be. You don’t look a day older than when we graduated high school.”
    “Get outta here,” Megan countered. “If a coupla nursing degrees haven’t put years on me, I don’t know what would.” They arrived together in the kitchen. “Andrea? You ready to go?”
    Jake brought a gentle hand to her shoulder. “Actually, I was kinda hoping we might catch up for a few minutes. Unless,” he added, “you have things to do?”
    Megan quickly took in the sight of him, and found it extremely pleasing. He had kept his wavy, blonde hairstyle but it was neater and much better kept. A nice, white, button-down shirt covered what were very obviously fabulous pectorals, as though he’d deliberately pursued anatomical perfection. Dark blue jeans and apparently brand-new Doc Martens completed the outfit. Mostly, though, she noticed the fresh, spicily masculine scent of him.
    “No, I’m all yours,” Megan replied without thinking. Jake arched an eyebrow. “I mean,” she said, suddenly flustered, “I don’t have much going on this afternoon.” She turned to call into the small TV room just off the kitchen. “Andrea, do you mind hanging out there for a few more minutes while I catch up with your Uncle Jake?”
    “Cool!” Andrea replied.
    “Isn’t she something?” Jake asked, rhetorically. “I’d call her the apple of Tom’s eye, but that wouldn’t begin to describe it. Especially since Mary... Well, they’ve been so strong for each other.”
    “There’s not a day goes by without I think of her,” Megan said sadly. She had given generously and often to cancer charities over the last three years, taking part in fundraising walks and volunteering occasionally at a phone bank to drum up donations. The swiftness of Mary’s illness had been just heartbreaking but, perhaps, a blessing; those who loved Mary, which seemed to be everyone she had ever met, were spared the painful indignity of watching her waste away. Megan recalled it as having been a matter of only days, though in truth it was ten quick weeks; hardly