by Sabrina York
“What’cha doing?” The newcomer, a Ranger, tall and muscled like all the rest of them, grinned down at her. “And who is this lovely lady?”
She shot him a grin and thrust out her hand, just because she suspected it would annoy Dane. “I’m Tina.”
“Well, hello there, Tina.” Billy took her hand in both of his and made a great show of kissing it. Profusely.
Dane glared. And then he snatched Tina’s hand away. “She’s Cody’s sister,” he growled, warningly.
Billy’s gaze flicked from one to the other. “Cody’s…sister?” His eyes widened.
Dane tipped his head in a curt nod. “Cody’s baby sister.”
“But…” Billy wagged his finger between them. “Weren’t you just, ah, kissing her?”
“Yes,” Tina chirped.
“No!” Dane snapped at the same time. He glared at her.
Billy whistled. “Oh, brother, Cody’s gonna flay you alive.”
Dane bristled, puffing out his chest and leaning in to hiss in Billy’s face, “You can’t say a word. Not a fucking word.”
Tina blew out a sigh. “Why is this such a big deal?”
In tandem they turned to stare at her.
“Seriously?” Billy asked.
Dane scrubbed his face again. It looked like he wanted to scrub it off. “Tina, honey, there’s—”
Another beefy hunk muscled into their little enclave. “Hey you guys. What’s going on? And why are we skulking behind a plant?” His eyes lit on Tina and raked her up and down. He put his lips together and blew a whistle, but no sound came out. He pushed past the other two—no small feat. “Well, hello there, honey.”
“Don’t, Ennis.” Billy said. “Cody’s sister.”
Ennis lurched back as though Billy had just told him she had the clap. “Oh fuck. I mean, hello.” He thrust out a big hand. “Nice to meet you ma’am.”
Tina ignored it. He eventually let it drop. She crossed her arms. “Oh, I get it. This is some kind of guy thing.”
“Guy thing?” Dane looked befuddled.
“Some stupid guy thing. Because Cody’s my brother, all of a sudden I’m off limits?”
“It’s not stupid,” Billy insisted.
“It’s a code.” Ennis thumped his chest with a fist. Tina was surprised he didn’t grunt like a baboon as well.
She angled at glance at Dane, took in his tight features, the white around his lips, the determination in his eyes.
Determination.
To avoid her.
Fuck.
All the thoughts and dreams and fantasies she’d had of having him again evaporated. They were replaced by a scorching anger. And, if she was being honest, pain.
Oh, he’d wanted her last night. And he wanted her still. But he didn’t want her enough. He didn’t want her enough to sweep all reservations—and stupid codes—aside and yank her into his arms and kiss the shit out of her.
She gored him with a glare. “Well,” she said frostily. “I’d better be getting back…to my brother.” She nodded to his two Neanderthal friends, garbling something like, “Nice meeting you,” and then she whirled on her heel and left, pawing her way through the fronds, blinded by the sudden tears in her eyes.
She didn’t know why she was crying.
Certainly not because he didn’t follow her as she fumbled her way through the casino to the bathroom, which for some reason was far away from the restaurant. Too far away. By the time she stumbled in, tears were streaming down her cheeks and her breath came in sobs.
It wasn’t as though a dream had died just then—she wasn’t as melodramatic as all that. But damn it, she’d loved being in his arms last night. Loved being with him. She’d thought the interaction had sealed something between them. She’d thought it had meant something.
Apparently it had not. At least, not for him.
He didn’t share this amazing sense of discovery. He didn’t feel complete with her, the way she did with him.
It was devastating.
Because she felt all those things…and more.
But apparently, while for her last night had been the culmination of every romantic dream she’d held since high school, for him it had been a hot fuck. With a hooker. Who happened to be related to his best friend.
A hooker he would never hire again. Because she was related to his best friend.
Goddamn him and his stupid, idiotic, Neanderthal code.
Her devastation turned to anger, which, frankly, had never been far away.
So he didn’t want her.
So he didn’t feel it the way she did.
She’d show him. She’d show him good.
By the time she was finished with him, Dane Coulter would be the one weeping in the ladies’ room.
Or the men’s room.
Whatever.
She’d show him.
She’d make him pay.
With this vow, she swiped away her tears and tipped up her chin. And then, with a deep breath, she threw back her shoulders and marched into battle.
Chapter Six
It was hard as hell avoiding Tina because she was everywhere—she was as involved with the wedding party and the planning and the preparations as he was. Whenever he saw her, or smelled her, or heard her voice, he’d ache.
Which was awkward, because in addition to Angie’s family and Cody’s teeming clan, Dane’s family had descended on Vegas for the wedding as well. He was surrounded by siblings and buddies and parents. There were hugs and kisses and casual conversations. There were gatherings, and meetings and fittings. And through it all, he was hard.
He knew he needed to thrust Tina from his mind. Forget they’d ever tangled. Forget how she tasted, how she felt, forget the sweet, slick slide of her body on his. But he couldn’t.
It nearly killed him that she flirted with everyone at lunch. Everyone. Smiles and fluttered lashes for all the Rangers on Cody’s team, who seemed besotted with her—although they respectfully kept their distance. But there were other men there too, including Adam, Dane’s older brother, and Ransom, who was younger by three years. Ransom was clearly infatuated with Tina, though far too shy to respond to her lures.
But Adam? Adam didn’t seem to have any compunction about flirting with Cody’s sister. None at all. It made Dane want to puke.
To make things worse, Angie’s sister, Holli had taken a liking to Dane and shadowed him everywhere, popping up at his side incessantly and ogling him and touching him. All this while he stared at Tina, across the room, smiling at Adam. Or Ransom. Or Ennis, or Kaye, or Taylor, or his dad. In the end, he had to escape to his room, where he could mope in peace. He didn’t come out until his father sent him a text asking where he’d gone off to, and inviting him for an afternoon coffee.
And when Colonel Coulter invited you for coffee, you had coffee.
It was then that Dane realized how stupid he was being. He didn’t get to see his family, his parents, near often enough. He’d be damned if he’d let her steal this opportunity to spend time with them.
So he made his way down the coffee shop tucked behind the escalators. He saw his parents immediately, sitting at a table in the back, holding hands, and something lifted in his soul. He headed their way. His dad rose to meet him with a hug. He bent to kiss his mother’s cheek.
Damn. It was good to see them.
It would be nice to sit. Talk. Catch up. With no pressure.
“How’ve you been son?” Dad asked, scanning him with a watchful eye as Dane took his seat. Mom slid a white cardboard cup across the table with a smile.
“Great.” Dane sat back in his chair and sipped his coffee. Yeah. Just the way he liked it.
“We heard you were hurt.” Mom leaned forward, a martial light in her eye. Okay. Probably a little pressure. “Why did Cody have to tell us?”
“It wasn’t anything Mom—”
“A concussion is nothing? You were in the hospital.”
Dane covered her hand with his. “I didn’t want t
o worry you.”
She snorted. Very unladylike, but there you have it. When she was younger, she’d been the perfect military wife. Perfect hair. Perfect makeup. Perfect manners. Raising four boys and a hellion of a daughter had cured her of all that. “If you didn’t want to worry us you would have become a grocer. Or a dentist. Or a doctor like I wanted…”
“Mom.” He chuckled. “I faint at the sight of needles. Some doctor I would have made. Besides. I love my work. It’s…exciting.” He locked gazes with his dad, challenging him to leap into the fray. Dad had been career military. He knew.
But Dad was no help at all. He sighed and scratched his neck. “Doesn’t last forever, son.”
“What?”
“The adventure.” He waved Dane up and down. “The body. God knows, by your age my knees were shot.”
“You shouldn’t have jumped out of so many airplanes,” Mom said, sotto voce.
“It was my job.”
“Still…”
They lapsed into silence. Everyone sipped their coffees.
After a while Mom piped in with, “I can’t believe little Cody Thompson is getting married.” The way she sighed made a sizzle of warning prickle at Dane’s nape. “I remember when he was in diapers.”
“He’s not so little anymore,” Dad said, running a finger around the lip of his cup.
Dane grunted in response. Cody was not little anymore. He was huge. And he had big fists. Fists that could smash a guy’s face flat if he caught some guy kissing his sister. Or something.
“They grow up so fast.” Mom reached out and clasped Dane’s hand. Gave it a squeeze. The ripple of unease grew. “I suppose he and Angie will be starting a family soon. What do you think, Dane?”
“Hmm? Yeah. Probably.” He took another sip of his coffee.
It came up through his nose in a burning rush when his mother said, apropos of nothing, “I’ve always wanted grandchildren.”
He scrambled for a napkin and mopped his face. “What? Mom!”
She shrugged. “It’s time Dane.”
Dad nodded. “You aren’t getting any younger, son.”
Seriously? Was this what this heart-to-heart was all about? “I’m hardly a geezer.”
Mom tipped her head to the side and studied him, as though she wasn’t quite sure. Dad tapped the lid of his coffee cup. They both stared at him in silence.
“What? I’m not!” he was compelled to insist.
Mom sniffed. “You’re not getting any younger. That’s all I’m saying. And you’re not going to meet nice girls haring around the world rescuing political prisoners and bombing bridges.”
“Mom!” Where did she get these ideas? His gaze shot to Dad. Who shrugged.
“It’s true son. Do you know where I met your mother?”
Dane sighed. Not this story again. “At the kissing booth of the county fair.”
“At the kissing booth of the county fair. She was the prettiest girl in the state.”
“Yeah. I know. I know. One kiss and that was it.”
“One kiss and I knew.”
Right. “It doesn’t happen that way anymore, Dad.”
“Oh. Did they change the laws of nature when I wasn’t looking? I must have missed that memo.” His father lanced him with a glare through a squinted eye. That thing colonels did to make recruits crap their pants. But Dane was used to it. He stiffened his spine.
“You don’t just…see someone and fall in love,” he said. Just then, his gaze snagged on a silky fall of dark hair, an annoyingly adorable dress spattered with cherries and filled with maddening curves.
She was sitting with Ennis. Ennis. Smiling at him. He said something, touched her cheek, and she laughed. Dane’s vision blurred.
“Not if you’re haring around the world, rescuing political prisoners and bombing bridges.”
“Mom, I’m not—”
“I just don’t want you to marry one of them.”
He ripped his glower from the table on the other side of the coffee shop and settled it on his mother. “What? One of them…who?”
She leaned in and hissed, as though they might hear, “You know. Terrorists.”
Just then, Tina whipped her ponytail in a saucy flick. He longed to grab it and give it a yank, as he had when he was a boy. But this yank would lead elsewhere.
Dane forced a laugh, though it caught in his throat. “Mom. I’m not going to marry a terrorist.” He might spank one, though. Might tie her to the bed and—
Oh. Holy. Fuck. What was Ennis doing? Scooting closer and draping his arm around her shoulders and whispering in her ear? Whispering for fuck’s sake? That growl rose again in his throat.
His mother’s flinch stole his attention. She put her palm on his forehead. “Honey, are you feeling all right? You seem a little hot.”
Hot? Oh, he was. Hot and bothered. And pissed.
“Can we talk later?” he asked, not waiting for an answer. “There’s someone I need to talk to.” He leapt to his feet.
“Why, sure…” His father trailed off, or maybe not. Dane hardly noticed. All of his attention was riveted on the bacchanal at the table across the room, where Tina and Ennis were talking and laughing. He stormed over, in a mood to rip them apart. In a mood to knock his buddy flat.
“I want to talk to you,” he snarled with no preface. He grabbed Tina’s arm and yanked her behind him.
“Hey!” Ennis protested, but Dane ignored him. Let Ennis find his own terrorist. This one was taken.
With a squawked, “See you later,” to Ennis, Tina followed, but only because Dane gave her no choice. He needed to talk to her. Now. And he needed somewhere private. He scanned the lobby of the hotel, quickly dismissing the potted palm. That had not worked out so well earlier. His gaze lit on the escalator to the second floor, which held conference rooms. Excellent. There had to be some private space there where they would not be interrupted while he tore into her.
Gawd’s sake. Flirting with Ennis? What the hell had she been thinking?
And damn it all anyway. There were people. People crawling all over the conference space with blue folders and name badges. He towed her along as he headed for a less crowded spot and then, to his relief, found an empty cloak closet at the end of the long hallway.
He pushed her in before him and slammed the door, sealing them in. Then he crossed his arms and glared at her. “Well?”
She mimicked his stance. Fluttered her lashes. “Well?”
“What were you doing?” he hissed. “Were you flirting with Ennis?”
She grinned at him. Cracked her gum.
“Don’t flirt with him. You have no idea what kind of man he is.”
“Oooh. What kind of man is he?”
“Hard, cold. He eats little girls like you for breakfast.”
“Do tell.”
“He plays the field. Sleeps around. All kinds of women with no protection. Even hookers.”
“Does he?” Her eyes widened. She leaned in. “Because I know a hooker…”
“Damn it, Tina. He’s not a safe guy. You can’t flirt with him.” He ran his hand over his head. “You can’t flirt with anyone.”
“What? Am I supposed to be a nun?”
“Sounds great.”
“Fuck that. I’m a woman. A grown woman. If I want a man, I’ll have him.”
Something nasty snarled in his gut. His fingers opened and closed. His palm itched.
“Keep. Away. From. Ennis.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Goddamn it, Tina—”
She smirked. “You’re not the boss of me, Dane.”
His lips flapped. He wanted to say, “Yes I am,” but he couldn’t. Because it wasn’t true. He wasn’t.
“Just keep away from Ennis. Keep away from all of them.”
“All the men? On the planet?”
“Yes!”
“Why do you care who I fuck? You don’t want me.”
“I do goddamn too.”
With that, tho
se words, their fight imploded. Sank in on itself and was swallowed up in silence. Something grew in the gaping hole it left. Something that swelled and threatened to consume them both.
They came together in a hot, hard rush—not him grabbing her or her grabbing him, but both of them grabbing, clinging to the other. Their lips met in a scorching kiss, wild, overwhelming, feral.
It had been too long since he’d tasted her, too long since he’d touched her. Far too long since he’d—
He backed her against the wall and yanked up her thigh, holding it with one hand while he fumbled between her legs with the other.
His pulse nearly shot through the top of his head at what he found. Fuck.
“You’re not wearing panties.”
“You never told me to put them back on.”
Her voice, soft, submissive—her words—slayed him. His knees wobbled. His cock surged.
“Goddamn, it Tina,” he snarled, yanking at the snap to his jeans, yanking down the zipper, thrusting her legs farther apart with the press of his body. “I’m going to fuck you, and fuck you good.”
“Just try it,” she snarled back, resistant to the bitter end. She curled her fingers into his shoulders, scored him with her nails and lifted up to give him more room, to angle her opening to just the right—
Ah. God.
So hot. So slick and sweet. She engulfed him in a scorching slide. The ripples of her cunt massaged him. She drenched him with welcome.
“Yes.” She threw her head back and arched into him, pushing against him, goading him on. “Fuck me. Fuck me Dane.”
He growled. And did. Holding her steady, holding her up, he ravaged her, fucking her hard and hot, whipping in and out in a flurry of passion and need. Heat rose quickly, for both of them. She started to flutter and he knew she was close, so he increased his pace. Manic lunges became a tumult, a mad welter of sensation. Harder and higher and, fuck, tighter.
When she came, panting and groaning and biting his shoulder through his shirt, she squeezed him so hard, his vision went red.
The damn burst. He erupted, filled her. Glorious release flooded him as he flooded her.
