As much as Sylvie cherished this glorious day with Luc, she was frightened, knowing it would soon come to an end. The love potion would wear off, and Luc would no doubt ride off into the sunset, chalking it all up to a pleasant interlude.
But Sylvie wouldn’t be able to forget so easily.
“Hey, babe, daydreaming about me again?” Luc dropped down to the ground beside her where she was resting on her elbows, legs outstretched, waiting for their trip to resume. He and Tee-John had just finished repacking the boat.
“I was not dreaming about you,” she reiterated once again.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Leaning on one elbow, he grinned down at her.
“Where’s Tee-John?”
“Went downstream a piece to fill the empty soda bottles with fresh springwater.”
“He’s a good kid, Luc.”
“Yeah, he is, despite his smart mouth.”
“Like someone else I know.”
Luc poked her playfully in the ribs.
“He looks just like you, too.”
Luc stiffened oddly at that, then relaxed. “Well, we are brothers.” He said that as if trying to convince her. How strange!
“Wanna make out?” he asked.
“Wh-what?” she choked out. “Is the love potion acting up again? Well, forget it. Your brother will be back any minute.”
“Plenty of time,” he said, and lowered his head till his lips were a hairsbreadth from hers. “I’ve missed you, chère,” he whispered against her mouth.
“How could you miss me when we’ve been together all day?” she murmured, arching her neck for the little nibbling kisses he was placing in perfect alignment along her jaw. Then, she added, “I’ve missed you, too.”
That was all the encouragement Luc needed. He slanted his lips over hers and moved from side to side, making rough growls of appreciation deep in his throat at each movement. When he had their lips aligned to his satisfaction, he kissed her hungrily.
“Do you know how much I enjoy kissing you?” he asked one time when he came up for air.
She knew, because he was showing her with every tender/tough move of his lips and tongue and teeth.
“If that don’t beat all,” a young voice said above them. “Sucking tonsils first chance you get. I hope I never grow up if I’m gonna act so dumb-ass stupid around girls.”
“Go away,” Luc said, even as his lips were still pressed lightly to hers.
“Where?”
“Anywhere!”
“How am I s’posed to learn anything if I don’t watch?”
“Watch?” she squeaked out.
“Watch?” Luc bellowed.
There was the sound of shuffling feet. Finally, Luc gave up, giving her a quick, final kiss before coming to a sitting position. He glared at his brother, who continued to stand next to them, shuffling his feet.
“Watch?” Luc repeated.
“Yeah, I was hopin’ you would get to the oral sex part so I’d finally see what got the Prez in all that hot water.”
“You’re the one who’s gonna be in hot water if you keep talking like that,” Luc warned, getting to his feet.
Tee-John smirked at his brother, proving that he’d been deliberately provoking him. And he added one last salvo. “One of my football buddies, Jake Fortier, says if you hum when you do it, it’s even better. In fact, Jake says—”
Tee-John never got to finish because Luc picked him up by the seat of his jeans and tossed him in the bayou, head first. When the kid came gushing up out of the water, tossing his hair back in a wet swath, he grinned at Luc. And Luc grinned at him, shaking his head from side to side.
Sylvie almost said, “Like father, like son,” but what she meant was, “Like brother, like brother.” Finally, she settled on, “Two peas from the same pod.”
They both stood staring at her, hands on hips.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Luc asked, moving away from his brother, who was shaking wet drops of water on him like a waterlogged dog.
“Yeah, are you insultin’ us?” Tee-John, who came only chest high to Luc, looked up at his brother for confirmation that it was them against her if insults were going to be thrown.
The two half brothers were adorable, mischief-loving mirror images of each other. “Yep, the Mutt and Jeff of rascals,” she decided.