Native Born by Jenna Kernan

me.”
    â€œNo. I did not.”
    â€œWhy, then?” But she was certain she already knew.
    â€œMy brothers and I have dreamed of dancing at our sister’s Sunrise Ceremony. My grandmother has made her dress and moccasins.”
    â€œWhen does a girl become a woman?”
    â€œIn the summer she turns thirteen.”
    â€œAmanda is only twelve and a half.”
    Clyne shook his head. “She will be thirteen this summer. The ceremony takes place on July 4 each year. It will be good for this to be a day of celebration.”
    And they would still have her then. She could become Changing Woman and afterward she would be an Apache woman. And then, she would have to choose between the family of her birth and the one she had made that day when she took Gerard’s hand.
    Cassidy stood and excused herself to wash her face and repair her hair. She gave up on her hair and left it down. Another month’s growth and she could resume her low ponytail.
    She found Clyne standing by the window. She slowed, hesitated and considered retreat. He turned to her and smiled. The upturning of his mouth transformed his face from statuesque beauty to a man with more sex appeal than any one person should possess.
    â€œThere is so much I need to tell you about her.” She came to stand beside him. “She is allergic to kiwis and she hates spiders. She loves animals. Always wanted a dog. She loves sports and she is a really good skier. Surfer, too, but I can’t see...”
    He pressed a finger to her lips. She was babbling.
    â€œShe’s our sister. We will take care of her.” His finger slipped over her bottom lip and away, leaving a soft sexual tingle in its wake.
    She looked up at him. He nodded.
    â€œWe will.”
    She let her shoulders sag and accepted what she could not change.
    â€œAll right, then.”
    They stared for a moment and her skin began that tingling itch, an awareness that did not need touch to come alive. Just to be near him made her entire body quicken.
    â€œI really wanted to hate you,” she whispered.
    â€œDon’t you?”
    She shook her head. “I think your family is wonderful and that Amanda will be very lucky to have you all as brothers.”
    She didn’t say the rest aloud. Amanda would have the big family she had always wanted, the kind of family Cassidy had once fantasized of having when she was a lonely little girl moving with her parents from base to base.
    â€œI’m not giving up. I still want her to pick me.”
    His mouth quirked. “Of course.”
    He stepped closer, lifting his hands and gently held her at the shoulders. He pressed his lips together as if trying to keep himself from speaking. Bit by bit his mouth relaxed into the full sensual wonder it was.
    â€œI think she is very lucky to have a mother like you. Strong, capable and it’s clear you love your daughter.”
    She lifted her brows, half expecting him to qualify his words. He didn’t. Instead he used a crooked index finger to lift her chin. His gaze dipped to her mouth and she knew he was going to kiss her.
    Oh, no, no, no , cried her mind. Yes , whispered her heart.
    Cassidy rocked forward, moving to meet the soft brushing of lips. It was just a whisper of a kiss yet it dropped inside her like the first domino to fall, sending the rest toppling in turn. Her arms went about his neck, keeping him from escape as she lifted to her toes and rocked closer, taking his mouth against hers.
    It had been so long. So damned long and she never ever thought to find this kind of electricity, had never expected it to strike twice.
    His hands splayed across her back. One high and one low at that place where her back became her backside. He pressed and she yielded, letting her hips drop against his and finding what she had expected, hard male flesh. She wanted this, wanted him. And there was no doubt that he wanted her.

Chapter Ten
    Clyne had only meant to comfort her. But