Page 2 of Sweet Temptation (Love & Legacy #1)

LEXIE

The right time doesn’t exist.

Bend time to your will. Make it your bitch.

And make it the right time, right now.

— Lexie’s Secret Thoughts

Lexie

Hey. Landed. Grabbed my luggage and heading out of baggage claim now. Are you outside?

Linc

Look at the bottom of the escalator, Lexicon.

S tupid nickname ... I look up, and my smile nearly splits my face in two as I step off the escalator and throw my arms around my brother.

“Missed you” is all I manage before he wraps one big arm around me and lifts me from my feet.

“Missed you too, sis.” Gently, I’m set back on the dirty airport carpet, and Linc takes my suitcases and carry-on.

Gotta love overprotective big brothers.

.. No seriously, you’ve got to love them.

My brothers learned from the best. Dad has never let Mom or me carry a thing.

He’s barely let either of us lift anything heavier than a bowling ball, and Lincoln and Lochlan paid attention and followed suit. “Let’s get you home.”

A moment later, he tosses my pink suitcases in the back of the Jeep like they’re not so heavy they cost me extra on my flight, pulling the bungee across them both and locking them in place, then opens the door for me. “You ready to see Mom and Dad?”

I climb into his big-ass Jeep with its ridiculous monster tires and tie my hair back with the elastic tie that’s always around my wrist. I might make fun of Linc’s vehicle, but I love the feel of the wind in my hair when he’s got the top off this sucker. “I am if it’s just Mom and Dad.”

He has the decency to shrug and look away rather than lie to my face. “It’ll be fun.”

“I’ve been on a plane for hours. I’m not in the mood for the whole family.

” Okay... maybe that’s a little selfish, but the last twelve months have been exhausting.

Physically, mentally, and emotionally. Not to mention the toll it’s taken on my health.

Not that I can say that to Mom or Dad without them having a fit.

Convincing them to let me go to Paris was a fight nearly two years in the making.

Admitting they had a right to be concerned would mean they’d never let me out of their sight again.

I need to get home. Take my meds. Do a breathing treatment and unpack my compression vest before I do anything else.

I love our family, but there’s a ton of them.

Literally.

If you put the whole lot of them on a scale, they’d weigh more than a ton.

Aunts, uncles, cousins, spouses, babies.

So many babies... But damn, they’re the cutest babies you’ve ever seen.

I lean back against the headrest and close my eyes, soaking in the warmth of the late afternoon sun on my face and taking in the quiet before the impending chaos I know is coming, and breathe a deep breath. One that thankfully doesn’t result in a rattling cough. Something I never take for granted.

Time to go home.

The speeding cars and messy noise of the city eventually give way to the perfectly manicured lush lawns and slower pace of Main Street on a late summer Friday afternoon in Kroydon Hills.

In just a few short weeks, school will be back in session, and Kroydon Prep kids and Kroydon University students will turn this street into a bustling little town center.

But for now... for now, it’s calm, quiet, and perfect.

It’s hard to believe how desperate you can be to get away from a place one minute and how incredibly relieved to be back home you can be just a few months later.

Lincoln follows Main Street through the center of town until he turns into the lakefront community we grew up in, not far from my best friends. “You okay, Lexicon?”

“Still hate that nickname, big brother.”

He chances a glance my way, his big grin plastered across his face, the small scar in his right eyebrow glinting white in the sun.

It’s the only way most people outside our family and close friends can tell Lochlan and him apart.

And ... maybe it’s my fault he even has it.

We used to throw golf balls in the bottom of my parents’ pool to see who could dive down the nine feet and hold their breath the longest to grab the most balls before resurfacing.

I always lost because holding my breath has never been an easy thing for me, and that day, I may have accidentally hit Linc in the face with a bright blue ball once he was on the bottom of the pool and split his eyebrow wide open.

The water looked like we were chumming for sharks by the time he came up.

Of course, he refused to surface until he got every single golf ball.

Which he did before Mom rushed him to the hospital for stitches, then grounded all three of us because no one would tell her what happened.

“Not my fault you’re a certified genius, Lex.

If you used your powers for evil instead of good, we’d call you Lex Luthor. ”

“So original . . .”

“It’s gonna be good to have you home, Lex.”

I shift in my seat, angling myself toward him. “Are you sure you’re okay with me moving in?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” Linc’s answer is unbothered, like always.

He’s the more easygoing of the three of us.

Always was. You want to bury a body, call Lochlan.

You want to drown your emotions with food, I’m your girl.

You want someone to calm you down, Linc is definitely your best bet.

“Just keep your commentary on my love life to yourself, ’kay? ”

“Your love life?” I stifle a laugh. “Umm... I think you need to take the same girl out on at least three dates for it to qualify as more than a fuck buddy, Lincoln.” My brothers are gorgeous.

Sandy-brown hair, baby-blue eyes, and built to bench-press bulldozers.

Although Lincoln’s muscles are bigger, Lochlan tends to be leaner but just as strong, if not stronger.

In high school, all my girl friends had crushes on one of them.

Some even both of them. Ick . I shiver at the thought.

But neither of them ever really gave anyone the time of day.

Another thing I blame on Dad. Well, more like Mom and Dad.

You don’t grow up in the shadow of our parents’ epic love story and settle for less than what they have.

“Listen, I’ll know when it’s right, and that person will get all my attention. In the meantime, I’m having fun. You should try it sometime.” His brow shoots up. “Until then, don’t judge.”

Linc passes the half dozen cars lining the street in front of Mom and Dad’s lakefront house and swings the hunter-green Jeep into the driveway. “Now—question...”

“Shoot.” I unbuckle and open the door, ready to stretch my legs.

“Are we bringing your suitcases inside? Are you sleeping here or at our place tonight?”

Our place... I’m twenty-two and just spent twelve months on a whole other continent, and yet I’m still nervous my parents aren’t going to let me move in with my brother.

I hop out, grab my carry-on because my meds can’t wait, and look at the front door, where one of my youngest cousins is standing, twin golden-blonde pigtails curling over her shoulders and a perfect button nose pressed against the glass.

“Oh, I am so going home with you. And if you even think about leaving without me, I will gut you like that fish we caught last summer.”

“The big one?” He laughs. “The one you nearly sliced your finger off trying to get off the damn hook the day we took the boat out in the bay?”

I fight back the silent laughter working its way up my throat. “I never said it’d be pretty.”

Linc slams the car door closed and moves next to me, eyeing the carry-on hanging off my shoulder. “You sure you’re ready for this?”

“Not even a little bit,” I admit, my fingers wrapped around the strap of my bag.

I barely make it to the top step before Dad throws the door open and hugs me like he and Mom hadn’t just visited two months ago.

He holds me so tightly against him, the tips of my toes barely touch the ground.

So tight, I wonder if my compression vest will even be needed tonight.

Who am I kidding? I always need that thing.

Ignoring the tickle that’s destined to turn into a cough forming in my chest, I bury my face in his shirt and squeeze him back. “I missed you too, Daddy.”

“Put her down, Cooper. She just got off a plane. She has things to take care of before we pass her around like a rag doll,” Mom warns softly as I smile over Dad’s shoulder, thanking her.

“Here, sweetie. Give me your bag. I’ll take it upstairs for you.” Dad reaches for my bag, but I grip it tighter. It isn’t heavy, and I need a minute before I’m ready for the inquisition that’ll follow.

“I’ve got it. I’ll be back down as soon as I can.” I kiss his cheek, walk over and hug Mom, and dart upstairs for a quick shower, a mouth full of pills, and an inhaler treatment.

My family is used to this.

This is life with cystic fibrosis.

W hen I was little, I had a nebulizer that looked like a dragon.

As I sat with it strapped to my face, plumes of fine medicated mist dispersed into the air in front of me, the boys used to act like I was the dragon they needed to slay, their hands full of swords made from empty paper towel rolls as they jumped around the living room, keeping me company.

Me... I just wanted to be able to breathe.

I wanted to run around like they could without being stuck on the couch multiple times a day with the damn dragon strapped to me.

My nebulizer no longer looks like a green dragon, but it still has me stuck in place as I sit on the floor of my childhood bedroom, my back against my bed, and my eyes closed, focusing on my breathing.

The hum of the machine and pretty impressive meditation skills drown out the family gathered a floor below.