by Alison Kent
“Yeah. I gave her a nice swift kick beneath the table.” He said it without apology or the slightest hint that he was pulling Renata’s leg.
She didn’t know what to think other than admitting a burning curiosity to know if she’d truly captured Aiden’s interest or was only witnessing Chloe’s brother on the make. “Hmm. I don’t seem to remember her coming to school with bruised shins. This must be a communication method you’ve worked on over the years.”
He pressed his lips together in a wry smile. “That was pretty lame, wasn’t it?” he admitted.
She nodded. “It’s nice to see a man willing to own up to a failed attempt to impress.”
“Damn. And here I was hoping I’d succeeded.”
She wasn’t about to tell him exactly how well he had. She quite liked the idea of a man being smitten to the point of playing the fool. “I’m game if you want to give it another try.”
Aiden sat forward in his chair and leaned toward her. He studied her face for a minute and then boldly took hold of her fingers where her hand rested on the tabletop. He rubbed his thumb from her knuckles to her nails. “Why don’t I get us a drink while we wait for Eric to figure out what he’s doing with that grill?”
Renata smiled, curling her hand into a fist in her lap when he released her. “Thanks. A beer would be great.”
“A beer I can handle. Not exactly impressive, but doable.”
The sight of him walking away was worth having had to let go of his hand. She’d never understood the appeal of a cowboy the way she did now. What was it about the fit of denim over lean hips and long legs, the strength in that long, rangy stride? Not to mention the perfect taper to his waist from his broad, muscled back.
From out of nowhere came the urge to skate her palms from his shoulders all the way to the tops of his thighs, where she’d linger. And play. And explore…taking pleasure in the secrets behind the copper buttons of his fly.
He was back in seconds with two ice-cold bottles. She sipped, enjoying the earthy chill, but not anywhere close to the way she’d enjoyed the movement of his body or her rather prurient fantasy. Or even the way she now enjoyed Aiden watching her tongue flick at the moisture on her lips.
Finally, he drank, his throat working hard as he swallowed. Her heartbeat thudded and awareness shimmered in the heavy afternoon heat.
“Tell me what I’ve forgotten about you,” he said, and she couldn’t help but grin.
“Tell me what you remember, since I have absolutely no idea what you know.”
He laughed. “I do know the boys said Chloe actually studied when you were around.”
“I guess that’s a good thing, though it makes me sound like I had nothing but school on my mind.” Renata tilted her head, tilted the longneck, thought back to the past. “I wasn’t any more of a bookworm than Chloe, to be honest. It was just a case of convincing her that without the grades, neither one of us would be going anywhere.”
He drank again, his eyes focused intently on hers as he raised, then slowly lowered his bottle. “Chloe told me you’re a school psychologist now. On the west side?” When she nodded, he went on. “Why a school district instead of private practice?”
“I like the kids. I like being there where they can find me, where they need me. When they need me.” She ran her fingertip around the beer bottle’s mouth. “It’s hard to believe it’s been less than a dozen years since I was there myself.”
Aiden was quiet for a minute, his thoughts hidden even while his eyes showed his mind hard at work. Renata didn’t try to hazard a guess as to what he was thinking. For a reason that had no basis but the churning of nerves in her stomach, she didn’t want to know.
But none of that mattered when she sensed he was looking into her past, seeing all the times she’d wished for someone to talk to. The times when she and Jacob had been left at home, had tried to be all the family the other needed but, more often than not, had failed.
A carefree grin lifted both corners of Aiden’s oh-so-yummy mouth. “Your kids must be glad to have you on their side.”
Renata laughed. “I’m not always on their side. Trust me. The choices some of them make?” She shook her head. “I’m amazed they manage to get to campus, period, much less on time. And forget having finished their homework.”
Aiden laughed. “Sounds like you were looking over my shoulder while I dragged myself through high school.”
She gave a wry smile. “Actually, I was thinking about Jacob.”
“Jacob?”
“My brother. He’s the reason I hooked up with Chloe again. He’s a videographer, working on the gIRL-gEAR documentary. They ran into one another at the office.” She glanced around the large backyard, searching the noisy and milling crowd. “He’s supposed to be here, but I can’t say I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t show.”
Aiden leaned back in his chair, squaring an ankle over the opposite knee. He continued his concentrated study of her face. “You know your brother’s habits well, do you?”
“I should, considering all the years I spent exploiting his weaknesses so I could get my way.” Renata offered a hint of a grin in response to the intensity of his stare. The silence between them thickened as she waited for him to respond to her admission.
Finally, he did, wiping condensation from his bottle with his thumb before his gaze snagged hers and held. “Is this where I say I like a woman who goes after what she wants?” he asked.
She touched her tongue to the bow of her upper lip, wondering if he’d just invited her to act on her recent fantasies. Wondering, too, if her eyes had given her away. “Jacob will be the first to tell you that I don’t always get it.”
“You two sound pretty close,” Aiden said with a curious interest.
She gave a slight shrug while rotating her bottle on the table. “We fought like crazy, but, yeah, we’re close. Growing up, we were all the other had a lot of the time.”
Aiden frowned. “Where were your parents?”
“Working. Traveling. In their case, one and the same.” Funny how he had her admitting things she’d worked half her life to put out of her mind. “It got old, trying to be a kid at the same time I was having to be an adult.”
“And now you help other kids deal with the same pressures.”
“Except that the kids I work with are a hell of a lot more grown-up than either Jacob or I had to be at that age.”
“You’re lucky to have him.”
“Yeah,” she admitted. “I am.”
“Listen, Renata.” Aiden leaned forward, his elbows braced on his knees. He gestured with one hand while his longneck dangled between his legs from the fingers of the other. “I don’t want to break up Chloe’s party, but I want to see you. Away from here. Where we can talk without sweating our asses off. Let me take you to dinner.”
“Tonight?” Her voice didn’t even squeak. Amazing. “Have you seen the amount of food we’re expected to eat this afternoon?”
“Coffee, then.” He smiled that full-dimple, seductively unnerving smile. “I’ve yet to meet a woman able to turn down Starbucks.”
She laughed without spilling but a drop or two of giddiness. “We can do that. Or we can wait until tomorrow. I might actually have room for coffee by then.”
This time he grimaced. “I won’t be here tomorrow. I have a buyer coming to look at a quarter horse at noon. I’m heading home first thing.”
Heading home. Heading home. Renata wondered if the color she felt draining from her face was visible. “You don’t live in town?”
He shook his head. “I’m between San Antonio and Austin. Not a lot of room in Houston to raise horses.”
So the cowboy look wasn’t affected. No wonder he pulled it off so well. “I had no idea.”
“Good. That means my sister hasn’t given away all of my secrets.”
“No. She hasn’t.” But it sure would’ve been nice if Chloe had at least pointed out how far away Aiden lived. “Actually, she didn’t even mention that you�
��d be here today.”
“I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get away.” He reached again for Renata’s hand, cupping her fingers into his palm and stroking their length with his thumb. “But I’m damn glad I made the effort.”
“So am I.” And she was, even if his revelation had shifted the dynamics of where they’d been headed. Moments ago she’d been intrigued by the possibilities. Now she knew they’d never share more than this physical attraction.
And that was fine. Better to know where she stood than to fall head over heels for a man who wouldn’t be lying next to her in bed at the end of a long hard day. After so many years alone with only Jacob on her side, she’d vowed never to suffer a long-distance relationship.
But she wouldn’t say no to having a little cowboy fun from time to time. “And, yes. Thank you. Coffee tonight would be perfect.”
“LISTEN, MEL,” Chloe began, dragging Melanie away from the table of food to the far side of the backyard and shoving a beer bottle into her hand. “You and Jess are nothing but friends, right? So lose the long face already. He had to work. It can’t be helped.”
“Right. You aren’t the only one here without a date.” Melanie felt like a fifth or sixth or even seventeenth wheel, standing here, whining about Jess—who was only a friend—leaving her in the lurch. Puhleez! So far, today’s only bright spot was that she hadn’t paid an ungodly sum of money to a therapist to point out the obvious.
Knowing Chloe had invited him to the cookout, Melanie had retreated to the safety of Jess, who she’d known for ages, at the first sign of danger from Jacob.
That damn tape had seemed like such a good idea at the time. But now? All she wanted to know was what in the hell she’d been thinking. And why she hadn’t yet thought of a plausible story explaining the loss of her mind.
“Don’t give me that without-a-date crap.” Chloe waved away a fly buzzing over her bowl of potato salad. “You’ve never hated being alone. Besides, Aiden’s here alone. Kinsey’s here alone.”
“Kinsey’s with Doug,” Melanie countered, watching the couple dunk one another in the pool, splashing anyone who hadn’t left the deck earlier when they’d dived in.
Chloe shrugged. “Now, maybe. But they didn’t arrive together. Patrick’s here alone.”
“Patrick’s always alone.”
“His choice. I know about fifty women ready, willing but doubtfully able to soothe his weary soul.” Chloe glanced this way and that, canvassing the crowded backyard. “Poe’s alone. Renata’s alone. Well, sort of alone. Aiden’s sticking pretty close. Anyway, just quit your bitching.”
“I’m not bitching. I’m just…bitchy.” A mood unlikely to dissipate until she’d settled on an action plan. One thing was certain. She’d have to play it cool.
Giving Jacob a hint, an inkling even, of her second thoughts regarding the tape would not bode well for their professional future. She had to make as though she’d been in total control. The decision totally disciplined.
Right. Like she’d been able to convince him of that so far.
“Hmm.”
Melanie grimaced at Chloe’s suspicious-sounding tone. “Hmm what?”
Her pointed gaze shifted suddenly back to Melanie. “This isn’t about Jess at all, is it? You’re nervous. Something’s happened.”
“Nothing’s happened,” Melanie answered, yet again being probed and in not a good way.
“You can’t even look me straight in the eye. And you keep watching the gate like you’re waiting for someone.”
Uh-oh.
“Hmm. There’s only one no-show unaccounted for…” Chloe mused.
Melanie took a studiously casual sip of beer.
“Are you waiting for Jacob?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Her friend sucked in a delighted breath. “You’re blushing.”
“It’s the heat.”
“Didn’t I tell you the man was hot? What happened between you two? Tell me everything!” Chloe licked a chunk of potato from the back of her clear plastic spoon and leaned forward avidly.
Melanie winced. “There’s nothing to tell.”
“Don’t give me that,” Chloe began, wagging her spoon, obviously on a roll. “I’m not buying it. When I walked into your office the other day, I had to wave my hand to clear the steam. Good thing I wear contacts.”
Melanie felt her shields go up. “Don’t tell me you’re matchmaking here.”
“Me? Match-make? Not a chance.” The other woman shook her head vehemently. Almost too vehemently. “I’ve learned way too much about chemistry, friends and lovers from Eric to think my opinion on how you should run your love life amounts to anything.”
Love life, ha! “I have no love life.”
“Exactly. Or at least, you didn’t used to.” Chloe scooped out one last bite of salad from her bowl and waited hopefully.
“And I still don’t.” Unless having sex with a pole counted.
“You’re blushing again, sugar. Don’t be embarrassed. I can see why you’d want to jump Jacob’s bones. There’s something about him that you’re not going to get with Jess. Could be just his obvious fling potential and nothing you can work with long term, but a fling might just do you good.”
“You think I need a fling. With a man I don’t even know.”
“Stop being a prude and listen already. I know you, Mel.”
Yeah, I’m a real prude, all right.
“You’ve been way too uptight lately. I don’t know what about, though I’m guessing it’s somehow related to the wedding. And,” Chloe continued when Melanie opened her mouth to interrupt, “Macy hooking up with Leo, Sydney finding Ray and this thing with me and Eric.”
How sweet of Chloe to point out that Melanie was one of only two of the original gIRL-gEAR partners unattached. And more than likely the last one, what with Kinsey mooning over Doug all the time.
Melanie glared at Chloe. “Your point?”
“My point is that you work ungodly hours and make no attempt to meet men outside the office, and suddenly this sexy man literally walks into your professional life. It doesn’t make sense to blow off the guy without knowing him better. Now, blowing him is another matter entirely.”
Grinning at Melanie’s dropped jaw, Chloe acknowledged Eric’s beckoning wave with one raised hand. “Give it some thought, Mel. What’s the worst that could happen?”
I’m going to have to face him and pretend like I haven’t done a thing. Like he hasn’t seen a thing. Or at least have a viable lie ready to tell about why I made that damn tape. Melanie relaxed her white-knuckled grip on the bottle. “He’s a business associate, Chloe. That’s all.”
Chloe’s exasperated gaze gradually softened. “Okay, sugar. If that’s your story, I’ll stick to it if anyone asks. But when you’re ready to talk, I hope you know I’m a discreet listener.”
“Patient confidentiality?”
Chloe shook her head. “Girlfriend trust. It’s more sacred.”
They shared a warm smile and Melanie forced a swallow of beer past the lump in her throat.
“Um, speaking of business associates…” Chloe let the sentence trail off and nodded toward the backyard gate—
—through which Jacob Faulkner had just walked. Melanie felt heat flush from her collarbone to her hairline. Running her cold longneck over her forehead, she ignored her girlfriend’s chuckle and sympathetic pat.
“Steam,” Chloe said, before going to join Eric at the grill. Melanie tried to look away from Jacob. Tried and failed.
The man needed to be shot on general principle. And because he’d come out of nowhere to complicate her well-ordered life by refusing to fit any of her preconceived notions of how she was supposed to respond to a man. She was supposed to be attracted to his work ethic, his intelligence, not want to drag him to bed.
Melanie upended and emptied her bottle of beer onto the grass, then turned her focus toward Jacob. He’d moved toward the back patio and stood talking to Sydney and Poe. Both wom
en laughed, watching whatever it was he was showing them on a portable DVD player. Probably the group interview he’d filmed in the conference room on Wednesday.
The same day Melanie had taken his tape home and performed her infamous striptease.
The thought sent her stomach rolling.
The two women stood on either side of him and Jacob towered over them, not just in height but in the totally masculine scope of his body. She tried to study him with a sense of detachment, but all she could think about was the way she’d imagined his hands on her body when she’d brought herself off.
Her knees trembled. Her temperature soared. The sun beat down on her head and she blamed the heat for the dizzying buzz along the surface of her skin. Had he watched the tape? Had he shared it with his buddies and had a good laugh? Had he tossed it into the trash unopened?
No, that couldn’t be the case. That couldn’t be the case at all.
Not with the way he was suddenly watching her, his gaze having come up to meet hers.
With Sydney and Poe staring at the DVD player’s screen, Jacob turned his full attention Melanie’s way. She stood there, alone, feeling strangely more naked than she’d actually been when she’d stripped. And it was all about the way he was looking at her.
Gone was the lazy lounging lizard appearance of not giving a damn. His eyes were bright, his expression determined and intense, as if he had something he needed to say. Something he needed to tell her. A challenge to issue. A dare.
That look answered her question. He’d watched the tape.
And her payback was nothing compared to the one she’d be receiving from him.
5
“YOU WANT COMPANY? Or is this seat saved?”
Da-da-dum went Melanie’s heart into the base of her throat. Ten minutes ago, after being melted by Jacob’s gaze, she’d moved out of the backyard sun and into the patio’s shade. Now, taking one quick breath, she looked up over the frames of her glasses, better prepared for what she would see.
Only it wasn’t what she’d expected. This time his look was totally laid-back, totally tame, nothing at all like his earlier sizzling expression.
