Love Hard

by Nalini Singh

  The tennis player’s answer to that latest volley?

  Jacob Esera is a hottie. So serious and focused. I mean, imagine all that intensity in bed!

  At the time, Juliet had been driving to a work meeting and had burst out laughing at the idea of anyone finding her old nemesis hot. Probably why fate had decided to slap her with the tingles that would not stop.

  “If I wanted the world to know my business, I’d have a TV show,” said nemesis muttered tersely. “I mean, who goes out and says that kind of stuff about someone they don’t know?”

  Lots of people, all the time. But not Jake. She’d never once caught even a snippet of his private life on TV or in the magazines—not that she’d been looking, but beloved as they were by the media, it was hard to avoid catching glimpses of the Bishop-Esera family in print and online.

  “Don’t die of shock, but I agree with you.” She waited for Jake to laugh at her—after all, she’d done a ton of media with and for Reid. Her ex had told her it’d be good for his future career in television; he’d had plans to end up with his own late-night sports show or as an anchor on a long-running commentary show.

  Young and in awe of Reid’s career as a top professional athlete, Juliet had tried to be a supportive wife despite her discomfort at the intrusions into their private life. He’d even talked her into allowing reporters to follow them around to do a “day in the life of” piece. It had made her skin crawl to know people were watching her every move, and she’d nixed any further such stalking.

  It had been the first time she’d defied Reid in their short marriage, and it had signaled the beginning of the end. The pinhead had wanted a brainless talking doll, not a living, breathing woman with her own thoughts and opinions.

  “I figured Reid was behind the publicity you got,” Jake said as the MC—one of Jake’s uncles—called everyone to order. “You never were big on public stuff. Must’ve made you nuts to have it all out there.”

  Startled at the unexpected understanding, she was glad of the MC’s announcement that the formal part of the reception had begun. First came the cake cutting, interspersed with joyful laughter, then a toast made by Sailor on behalf of the entire Bishop-Esera clan and responded to by Molly on behalf of Charlotte.

  Charlotte’s parents might’ve passed away, Juliet thought with an ache in her already overworked heart, but she very definitely had a family.

  Joseph then got up to welcome Charlotte into the family, his speech so full of warmth and love for this “new daughter” that tears ran down Charlotte’s face. Gabriel kissed them away before rising to his feet with a murmur to his bride. Meanwhile, a couple of cute little second cousins dressed in lavalavas printed with hibiscus flowers, their feet and upper bodies bare and their round faces awash in grins, began to do a dance that was more enthusiasm than skill.

  The two couldn’t have been more than five or six years of age.

  The adorable factor was off the charts.

  Juliet didn’t think anything of Gabriel’s departure from the wedding party table… until she felt Jake’s warmth leave her side a minute later, followed by Fox on the other. Sailor and Danny had already disappeared.

  No freakin’ way…

  But then the music altered into a fast dance rhythm, and the cute second cousins scarpered off with giggles—or as if they’d been coached. And onto the dance floor stepped Gabriel Bishop… with five gorgeous groomsmen. No ties or leis now, but they’d kept on everything else.

  Blowing Charlotte a kiss—a Charlotte who had her hands clasped over her mouth—Gabriel took a step to the right… and the entire group of six stepped into a routine that was a gift from a groom to his bride.

  It was also a testament to the athletic skill of the men involved. Because they could move. Gabriel and Harry might both be heavily built, but right now they were pure masculine grace. As for Jake… Juliet had caught the odd news replay of him on the rugby field, but those glimpses had done zero justice to the beauty of the man in motion. Add in the heartbreaker smile he’d brought out as well as the grins he shared with the others, and she was in danger of a fatal heart event.

  The tennis player was more right than she knew: Jake was a serious hottie.

  Glad she’d thought to get her phone from Alison, who’d been babysitting all their phones in her handbag, she hit Record, then propped the phone up against a water glass so she was free to just watch. The choreography was amazing, all the men perfectly in sync—and all so obviously having a good time that their joy was infectious. Grinning, Juliet glanced at Charlotte to see that her friend had all but melted, her delight effervescent.

  The men brought down the house.

  And Gabriel got a passionate kiss from his delighted bride while the others laughed and grabbed glasses of cold drinks to cool down from the dance.

  She glanced at Jake as he slipped into his seat beside her. “Jacob Esera, I didn’t know you had that in you.”

  A fading hint of the grin he’d sported on the dance floor. “It’s my big bro’s wedding, Jules. We did it at Sailor’s reception too, you know—different routine though.” He shoved a hand through his hair, then took a long drink from his glass.

  Juliet found herself hypnotized by the movement of his throat, the tendons strong and defined. A hint of perspiration dotted his skin. She wanted to lean in and lick it up, her thighs clenching under the table.

  Cheeks hot and a shocking slickness between her legs, she forced herself to look away and saw that the criminally cute cousins had returned to finish their number. Or to act as decoys to distract from another planned surprise. Because it took her a few minutes to realize that Fox hadn’t returned to the table.

  Her eyes narrowed just as the music altered and the impish kids ran off a second time.

  The now jacketless rock star, the sleeves of his shirt folded up to reveal a stunning dragon tattoo that twined around his left arm, was at the microphone in front of the live four-piece band. His lip ring caught the light as he turned to grin at the quartet.

  Gabriel, love brilliant in his eyes, rose from his seat beside Charlotte at the same moment and held out his hand to his bride. She slid her hand into his without hesitation, and the two of them walked out onto the dance floor.

  Charlotte’s reception dress was sleeveless, ankle-length, and hugged her body with delicate elegance. Made up of cream-colored fabric with a high neck, and a lower—but not scandalously low—back with a soft cowl design, it was graceful and sexy without being too much. It perfectly suited Charlotte’s personality and comfort zone.

  Fox’s gritty voice flowed into a smoky ballad that made Juliet shiver, the words were so beautiful. The chorus was formed around the words: Be mine. I’m yours.

  Sometimes the simplest things hit the hardest.

  She also appreciated that the lead singer of one of the world’s most successful bands was careful to keep his voice in the background so that the spotlight stayed on Gabriel and Charlotte. Though Gabriel was much taller than Charlie, they didn’t look mismatched on the floor—their bodies were too naturally in sync for that, with Gabriel’s tenderness and devotion for Charlotte as evident as her love and adoration of him.

  When Gabriel spun Charlotte out in a swirl, Juliet’s friend’s laughter filled the old theater.

  “It’s time for the wedding party to join the bride and groom,” the MC said as Fox ended the song to hand things back to the band, and dear God, she wasn’t ready for this.

  Because her assigned partner for this dance was Jake.

  “Try not to stab me with those heels.” Jake held out his hand.

  “Sorry, I make no promises.” Heart thudding at the idea of being pressed up against him, she almost told him to partner Aroha, except that Juliet Nelisi was no damn chicken. Also, Harry had already stepped up to Aroha—with a quiet determination on his face that had been legendary during his time on the field.

  Today it said he wasn’t open to trading partners.

  Wrapping a wide-eyed A
roha in his thickly muscled arms, the former rugby loosehead prop swept her away.

  Internally gritting her teeth, Juliet gave in to the inevitable and let Jake lead her to the dance floor. The feel of his arm sliding around her waist, all hard muscle and heat, threatened to steal her breath. Unlike Harry, he wasn’t overtly big, but he was so tautly muscled, with such wide shoulders that she felt intensely feminine and small in a way that was a shock to her system.

  Juliet was used to being tall and shapely and owning it.

  Maybe she needed to relax her friends-only rule. Because if this lunacy was what resulted from celibacy, she wasn’t impressed. Meanwhile, her nipples tightened to nubby points that made her grateful she was wearing a padded bra. The last thing she needed was for Jake to feel rigid boob-buttons poking his impressive chest.

  As it was, despite the way he held her—with absolute respect—her breasts continuously brushed his chest. She’d never been exactly small up top, and he was built. Some friction was unavoidable.

  Great. Now she was thinking about friction. About skin sliding against skin.

  Taking a deep breath, she tried to do the yoga breathing she’d learned in a class her boss had organized for the entire E. E. Designs team. Except her inhale brought with it the scent of Jacob Esera. The same scent that made her want to snuggle her nose into the strong column of his neck and breathe deep.

  Her hand clenched on his shoulder.

  He glanced down, his jaw tight and no hint on his face of the devastating grin he’d sported during the dance. “What?” It came out kind of a terse growl. “You trying to dig your talons in and draw blood?”

  Juliet smiled, oh so sweetly. “Oh, looks like you decided to return that stick to a certain part of your anatomy,” she said before she could stop herself. Seriously, it was supremely irritating that while she was all stupid tingles for him, he obviously couldn’t wait to get rid of her. If fate was going to laugh at her, couldn’t it laugh at him too?

  A flush kissed his cheekbones. “Mature, Jules. Real mature.”

  Even as her breath caught at the sign of human emotion, Juliet smiled with the poise of a nineteenth-century debutante. “If maturity means acting like an eighty-year-old geriatric with permanent grump syndrome, I’ll pass.” Actually, he hadn’t been too bad today—but he was a whole lot more… solemn and old than he’d been back in school.

  Not the kind of age that showed in the face, but something deeper, more profound. Some of that could be explained by life and loss. He was a dad now—a good one—and he was a professional athlete at the top of his game. Yet those things didn’t explain the deep sense of “tightness” she felt in him, as if he was containing himself until his real self could only find freedom in tiny bursts.

  In contrast, while his teenaged preoccupation with mag wheels and shiny rims had made her roll her eyes, it had been very human. “You still do the car thing?” she asked when he took the higher road and didn’t respond to her provocation. “That old junker you were obsessed with fixing has to be as good as new by now.” She’d gone for more than one ride in that car, sharing the back seat with another friend while Calypso and Jake sat up front.

  “Some of us have responsibilities.” A pointed look at the hand she had on his shoulder.

  A hand bedazzled with nails boasting diamantes and sparkles. She’d made plans to get the fun but deliberately over-the-top nails removed for the wedding in favor of a simple nude, but Charlotte had caught on and would have none of it.

  “I want you to be you, Jules.” Fierce voice, hazel eyes intent. “Complete with dramatic nails and skyscraper heels. Just like I want Mei to look like she can kick everyone’s ass without breaking a sweat and Aroha to be all big hair and big heart.”

  All Charlie had asked was that her bridesmaids and matron of honor wear midnight blue. It was the five of them who’d coordinated the dresses so that the styles meshed when they were together. Each suited the woman who wore it, and Juliet knew all of them were planning to wear the dresses again.

  As for the nails… “Oh, these?” She gave Jake another dagger-sweet smile and deliberately dug them in. “They make great stealth weapons against disapproving old men.”

  Thank heavens the song came to an end at that moment. Even her wall of snark and sarcasm was beginning to crumble under the weight of her battle against this aggravating one-sided sexual tug. While Charlotte and Gabriel and the others—Aroha and her hulking partner included—continued to dance on, she and Jake separated with alacrity.

  The MC muted the lights at the same time until the dance floor held the spotlight.

  Others from the crowd began to meander onto it, including a stunning blonde who made a beeline for Jake. Juliet couldn’t help glancing back to see his response. Smiling with every appearance of relieved happiness, he held out his hand.

  Gee, she thought bad-temperedly, as if I needed any more evidence that the tingles are an unrequited joke at my expense.

  Jake clearly had a type. Calypso might’ve been sweetly plump, but she’d been as blond as Jake’s current partner, with the same serene grace—a grace that Juliet would never possess. It was something you were born with; Juliet had always been too loud, too dramatic, too much the street fighter used to grappling for survival.

  “Dance?”

  She looked up to find herself facing another big man—this wedding was bursting at the seams with rugby players, current and former. “Sure,” she said and walked into his arms with the fervent hope that her hormones would fixate on someone—anyone—other than Jacob Esera.

  Fate, however, wasn’t yet done cackling at Juliet.

  8

  Jake Starts a Fight (and Texts a Cat)

  Even though he held an accomplished and beautiful woman in his arms, Jake was very aware of Juliet disappearing into the crowd of people milling around the dance floor. Her height made her easy to spot until she became lost in the shadows created by the muted lighting outside the dance area.

  “I’m going to get a complex if you keep scoping out that seriously foxy bridesmaid.”

  Jerking his attention back to Rachel, Jake flushed. He’d invited his former girlfriend as his wedding date because his parents liked her, and he knew her presence would make them happy and hopeful for him. They deserved that on this day. Rachel held no torch whatsoever for Jake and was well aware of his motives.

  The two of them had broken up when they realized their relationship was just endless trying on both their parts; there was no passionate joy, no desire to simply hang out with the other person, nothing but two people who liked each other and didn’t want to cause hurt. It had been a relief to both of them when Jake turned to her and said, “Rach, you gonna be heartbroken if we break up?”

  “Thank God you said it,” she’d replied and gone to grab a bottle of champagne from her fridge. “Let’s drink to a long and happy friendship.”

  Attending the wedding as his date was a kindness on her part, and here he was, ignoring her in favor of a woman who’d sashayed away without a backward look.

  “Sorry. Juliet’s always been able to get under my skin.” How many times had she made a dig at him that caused him to retaliate in just as juvenile a manner? Anytime the two of them got within five feet of each other, the missiles began to fly.

  Rachel cocked an eyebrow. “Is that right? Funny, when one of the problems with us was that I couldn’t rile you up. Ever.”

  “That’s because you’re a sane, sensible woman who doesn’t try to pick fights.” Though their harmony didn’t extend to dancing—moving with her around the dance floor took a little work because she was shorter by half a foot. And seriously, that was no excuse when Gabe and Charlotte were pulling off pure grace despite their height difference.

  Juliet had probably hexed him into being a klutz. Because irritatingly, it had been effortless to dance with her—she fit his body perfectly. He’d been viscerally aware of the plump fullness of her breasts pushing against his chest, the generous swell of h
er hip just inches away from his palm, the way her back dipped so beautifully.

  It made a man think about kissing the curve of her spine.

  As for her cleavage... Jesus! Lord save him. He’d had to keep his eyes rigidly over her head or he’d have been staring at her breasts like a lech. Maybe his brothers were right. He needed to get laid.

  Except his body only wanted one woman.

  The one who was a burr under his skin, an aggravation that wouldn’t stop.

  Rachel laughed again, all sweetness and no sarcasm. It was nice. He should react to nice. Instead, he reacted to dagger words and patently insincere smiles designed to provoke.

  “I dunno, Jake.” Rachel’s gaze was acute, that of an investigative reporter at the top of her game. “Maybe you need a woman who unsettles you. Life would never be boring.”

  He shook his head. Firmly. Very. “Trust me, Juliet doesn’t ‘unsettle.’ She overturns, disrupts, capsizes.” A tornado had nothing on Juliet. “The only time Calypso got into trouble at school, it was because she was smoking in the bathroom with Juliet.”

  Scowling, he tried to locate the object of his thoughts in the crowd, finally spotted her dancing with one of Gabe’s single rugby friends. “She should come with a Bad Influence warning above her head. In red neon.” And why was she smiling at that hatchet-faced bruiser with genuine sweetness when all Jake got was snark and fury?

  Rachel chuckled. “Oh my God, you sound so shocked and staid. I’m going to start calling you Grandpa Jake if you keep that up.”

  Great, now Rachel was comparing him to an octogenarian too. Clearly Juliet’s influence was catching, even from a distance.

  “Funny thing is,” Rachel said with a small frown, “the face of your sexy nemesis is so familiar. I could swear I’ve seen her before.”

  Jake didn’t jog Rachel’s memory. Some things were off-limits even when he and Juliet were annoying each other. But he should’ve known that Rachel’s brain was too much of a steel trap for the information to elude her for long.