by Roni Loren
Jace snorted. “Back off, Romeo. Evan’s an old friend of mine and is only here because she has a wicked jellyfish sting. So you can dial down the flirt.”
“Wait a second.” Andre scrubbed a hand over his face and stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as if evaluating her closer. “Evan? As in Evan Kennedy?”
“No, Evan Litch—” Jace began, but she interrupted.
“Yes, Evan Kennedy.” She stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Andre sauntered forward and took her hand, bringing it to his mouth and planting a kiss on top of it instead of shaking it. “Pleasure.”
Jace walked up behind him, his brows knitted together. “You changed your name? Why does your new one sound so familiar?”
Andre laughed and sank into the armchair next to her. She would’ve answered Jace, but she had a hard time drawing her attention away from Andre’s lean, tan chest and the silver nipple rings glinting in the lamp light. Oh, my. Not to mention Jace’s well-built form in her peripheral vision. Man, she was like a starved woman at a buffet. Beyond getting away from her past with Jace, she needed to get away from all this testosterone.
Andre answered for her. “Because this lovely lady is engaged to the guy who’s running the whole couples shindig this weekend. She’ll be Mrs. Doctor Dan in a few months.”
She nodded. “Yes, November.”
“Hold up,” Jace said, drawing her attention back to him as he crossed in front of her and sat on the couch opposite her. “You’re engaged?”
She cringed inwardly. Why had she let herself flirt on the beach? She knew better than that. Now she looked trampy on top of flighty. Fabulous. “Yes.”
“To the Dr. Dan?” Jace eyed her in a way that made her want to shift her gaze to the floor. Like if she met his stare, he’d see every bit of the truth written on her face.
“Yes, the very one.” She stood and forced a brief smile. “And I doubt he’d be happy knowing I was half-dressed in someone else’s hotel room in the middle of the night. So I’d better head back.”
“You didn’t tell him you were going to the beach?” Jace asked, the frown lines around his mouth deepening. “That’s dangerous, Ev. You should’ve told someone you were going out there. What if that undertow would’ve kept you under and I hadn’t been there?”
Her jaw flexed. “I would’ve been fine. The jellyfish sting distracted me, but I would’ve been able to swim to shore. And I don’t need to report where I’m going every second of the day to anyone.”
“You do if your plan is to go skinny-dipping drunk in the middle of the night,” he said, his voice rising.
Andre looked back and forth between the two of them, but was obviously smart enough not to jump in the conversation.
Her cheeks heated with a combination of shame and anger. “I don’t need a keeper, Jace. I didn’t need one when you knew me before, and I don’t need one now.”
Jace looked ready to argue the point, but then his shoulders sagged and he released a breath. “You’re right. It’s none of my business. I’m sorry.”
Her fists, which had clenched during the exchange, loosened. This was ridiculous. Why was she arguing with someone she had no intention of laying eyes on ever again? Jace was her past. She’d spent a decade burying her old life and that version of herself. No good could come of dredging up any of those memories. She needed to keep Jace locked away in that “mistakes” box and get out of here.
“Look, I appreciate your help tonight. Really.” She turned to Andre. “And thanks so much for the vinegar. It really helped.”
“No problem, sometimes my Boy Scout–like preparedness comes in handy.” Andre gave her a little mock salute, but she had a hard time believing the wholesome routine when he was so busy looking like Latin-flavored sin.
Her gaze strayed to the door. “Um, well, I’d better get going.”
Jace ran his fingers through his still-damp blond hair and sighed. “When are you leaving the resort?”
“Today. We have workshops until five and then we’re headed back to Dallas.”
“Let me buy you lunch,” he said, standing in her path when she took a few steps toward the door. “We can catch up.”
She didn’t stop walking. “Jace, I don’t think so. I’ve got a lot going on and am so busy with all this—”
“Hey.” He laid a hand on her forearm when she tried to move around him, halting her. “I want to hear how you’re doing. How your life has been. What happened after you left.”
He meant after she’d run away. And what had happened was that her life had fallen completely the fuck apart. Not exactly fun conversation to share over burgers. And not a story she could ever tell him. She shook her head. “I just can’t, Jace. I’m sorry. Thanks again for your help tonight. It was good to see you.”
Without warning, he tugged her against him and enveloped her in a bear hug. Her cheek pressed against his solid chest, and the intoxicating scent of male wrapped around her. No, not just male scent, Jace’s scent. A warm, familiar smell that yanked her back through time, back to the last moment she could remember feeling truly content.
He kissed the crown of her head. “Take care of yourself, Ev. I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
She pulled out of the embrace, swallowing past the tightness in her throat, and gave him what she hoped was a convincing smile. “I’m doing great, Jace. Just terrific.” Fan-fucking-tastic.
There was a storm behind his green eyes as he stared back at her, but after a moment, he returned her smile and stepped past her to open the door. “Glad to hear it. Now get back to your room before your fiancé comes hunting us down in a jealous rage.”
“Right.” She glanced at Andre, who was watching her and Jace’s exchange intently. “Nice to meet you, Andre. Y’all have fun on the rest of your vacation.”
He lifted a hand in good-bye, and after one last look at Jace, she walked out of the room, holding her breath until she heard the door click shut behind her.
* * *
Jace let the door close and then dropped back onto the couch with a groan.
“Whoa, what was that all about?” Andre asked.
Jace pressed the heels of his hands to his brow bone to stave off the fierce pounding that had started there. “Which part?”
“Um, not sure what to start with—Dr. Dan’s woman being here at all or the fact that you totally jumped her shit like you had some right to her.”
Jace shook his head. “We have history. It’s been twelve years, but I know her well enough to see that she’s feeding me a platter of bullshit about being great.”
Andre stretched his legs out and propped them on the coffee table as if ready to settle in for a good story.
Too bad this story sucked.
“She seemed fine to me. You sure you’re not reading too much into it?”
“No, I watched Evan on that beach. She was sad—and drunk. I didn’t know who she was at that point, but I almost got up to talk to her to make sure she was all right. But then she started taking off her clothes, and well, I got a little distracted.”
Andre sniffed. “Can’t blame you there. The girl’s smoking. I saw her in the lobby yesterday and definitely conjured up some mental pictures her fiancé wouldn’t have appreciated.”
Jace tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. “Believe me, I had the same thoughts down on the beach. I flirted with her and, up until she realized who I was, she was giving me all the positive signs—like she was interested.”
“Huh. That’s surprising. She and the doctor are supposed to be some power couple. She stays behind the scenes but he talks about her all the time on his radio show. Their whole image is based on that ‘we’re the super happy all-American couple, so let us help you be that way, too.’” Andre’s snide tone made it clear how he felt about that sentiment.
Jace released a frustrated breath and lifted his head. “See, that’s what I don’t get. If things are going that awesome for her, why was she out there alone at
three in the morning looking so lost? And where the hell was her fiancé? He should be looking out for her. She could’ve drowned.”
“She seems pretty tough to me. I doubt she needs anyone watching out for her.”
“Trust me. Evan always needed someone to do that even if she thinks she doesn’t.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Twelve years is a long time. People change.”
He grunted. “No one changes that much.”
“You should let it lie, man. She obviously doesn’t want to reminisce with you, and if you push it, you’re going to piss her off and risk her saying something to the doctor. Stay focused on why you’re here.”
Jace stood and stalked over to the mini-fridge to grab a beer. Yes, why he was here. That’s what he needed to concentrate on. Dr. Dan Witter could be the key to dragging Jace’s sales numbers out of the drastic decline they’d been in over the last year. Between the struggling economy and the financial hit he took from his divorce, Jace’s once-thriving business was on shaky ground.
If the good doctor agreed to feature Wicked as the best adult store and website for couples on his sure-to-be-a-hit new TV show, Reignite the Flame, Jace could almost guarantee that he’d get enough of a bump in business to stabilize his current location and expand the chain.
It was make-it-or-break-it time, and make-it was the only option he’d consider. He would rather die than admit to his parents that he’d fucked up yet again, that he’d made the wrong decision walking away from his lucrative financial planning job to pursue his passion.
He tipped back the beer and took a long swallow. He just needed to steer clear of Evan. That’s what he should’ve done when he was nineteen and that’s what he needed to do now. He wasn’t the guy looking out for her anymore. If there were things amiss in her life, it was none of his business. And even if he had wanted to make it his business, she’d certainly made it clear she had no intention of talking to him about it.
He turned back to Andre. “You’re right. No use dredging up the past with her anyway. I just wanted to make sure she was doing okay, and I guess she is.”
Andre sat forward, setting his feet back on the floor. “So what’s the deal with you two anyway? How do you know her? Old flame?”
Jace leaned against the wall, feeling his lack of sleep. He didn’t want to talk about this right now—or ever, really—but he knew Andre would put on his police interrogator hat if he tried to brush him off. Jace drained the last of his beer. “She lived with my family for a little over a year when I was in college. She was sixteen the last time I saw her. My parents fostered her.”
“What happened at sixteen?”
“She ran away. Without a goddamned trace.” He tossed his bottle in the trash can. “Seeing her again is like seeing a ghost.”
Andre’s forehead wrinkled. “So you were her foster brother? Man, the way she was looking at you, I would’ve bet money that you two had something more than that between you.”
Jace’s stomach knotted—the word brother stirring the old guilt into a maelstrom. His gaze shifted to the sliding glass doors and the darkened beach beyond. “Yeah, well, I’m not done with the story yet.”
Roni Loren wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills haven’t improved, but she likes to think her storytelling ability has. Though she’ll forever be a New Orleans girl at heart, she now lives in Dallas with her husband and son. If she’s not working on her latest sexy story, you can find her reading, watching reality television, or indulging in her unhealthy addiction to rock stars—er, rock concerts. Yeah, that’s it. Visit her website at www.roniloren.com.
Titles by Roni Loren
Crash Into You
eSpecials
Still Into You
