Pleasure Prolonged Read Online Free PDF

teased, hugging her back. “Have you been working out?”
    Lisa chuckled. “Yeah, Nick works in the campus weight room. He got me hooked.”
    The wind picked up as Kale gripped her shoulders and inched back. Snow swirled around them and clung to their coats like dander. Kale blinked the heavy wet flakes from his eyelashes and dipped his head to meet his sister’s gaze.
    “Nick?” he asked, giving her a stern look. His protective instincts surged to the surface. He furrowed his brow and let out a sigh. “Why is this the first I’ve heard of Nick?”
    She whacked him with her gloved hand, sending snowflakes flying through the air in a mad flurry, and then rubbed her palms together to create heat as the temperature around them dropped a few more degrees.
    “Because I didn’t need a lecture over the phone and I don’t need it now.” She waved for Nick to come over.
    Kale glanced past his shoulders. As Nick moved toward him, he absorbed every detail of the plow truck who had caught his sister’s attention and had given her Schwarzenegger muscles.
    Even though he was twice Kale’s size, he looked afraid. Good, Kale mused. He should be.
    Kale widened his stance and put on his best scowl as the man drew near.
    Lisa squeezed his arm in warning. “Kale, stop it. You’ve scared enough of my boyfriends away over the years. And you can stop protecting me. I’m all grown up.”
    He cocked a skeptical brow. “All grown up? What are you, twelve now?”
    She swatted him. “Very funny. I’m twenty-two and you know it. And I only have one semester left of college.” She tilted her chin and flashed him a perfect smile. “Thanks to Jay’s connections, I’ve already got my foot in the door down at Iowa Research Center.” Her eyes lit up. “Maybe we’ll get to work together someday.”
    Kale returned her smile. It was nice that Jay had continued to watch over Kale’s family in his absence.
    Nick moved in beside Lisa and wrapped one arm around her in a protective manner, warming her shivering body, as he thrust his other in Kale’s direction. “Nice to meet you, Kale. Lisa has told me so much about you,” he said, his voice genuine and sincere as he gave a quick nod of greeting.
    Kale gripped the man’s thick hand and noted that he had a strong, firm handshake. Kale had always been a good judge of character, and Nick’s handshake and direct eye contact spoke volumes. He studied Nick for a moment longer, assessing him. The plow truck’s concern for his sister’s well-being was evident in the way he rubbed his beefy hand up and down her arm, offering his warmth. Kale noted with an equal measure of surprise and respect that the guy had enough balls to even touch his little sister in front of him. Maybe she’d found herself one of the good guys. Someone who was willing to go against his own best interests to put her needs and desires first.
    “And she’s told me nothing about you,” Kale countered, turning his scowl on his sister. Just then the front door of the bungalow swung open and his mother’s voice sounded over the wind.
    “Come in here you three, before you catch your death of cold,” Grace called out.
    Kale chuckled and threw his arm around his sister’s waist. “And you think I’m overprotective. Come on. Let’s go. I’m starving.”
    The aroma of freshly baked shortbread cookies reached his nostrils and brought back memories of his youth as he stepped inside. Life hadn’t always been easy after their father’s sudden heart attack fifteen years ago. Working part-time, maintaining his grades, and shouldering the responsibility of his two younger sisters over the years had been challenging to say the least.
    He shrugged his coat off, draped it over the wooden stair rail, and inhaled the delectable scents coming from the kitchen. Jenna, his youngest sister, met him at the door.
    As he studied his sister he realized things had changed drastically since his last visit. Dressed entirely in black, with