by Jennifer Ann
“Maybe you should take a note from Grandma Leona’s childhood and let loose. I know it’s hard to see her in such a way, but you need to visit her while she’s still around. You’ll hate yourself one day for it if you continue to simply communicate with her through the nurse you hired. I’ll come along, if you’d like.”
When he doesn’t answer and the pain in his expression doesn’t lessen, I collect him in my arms and squeeze tight, wishing I could carry some of his troubles. I know too well how it feels to have an absent family and be abandoned by those you love. Perhaps it’s the reason why I was eager to latch on to Nolan as a family member when we first met.
“Eventually it’ll be okay,” I say to him. “You’re strong…you’ll get through this just like you survived those dreadful haircuts in the service.”
“Dammit, Shar. Why can’t all women be like you?” he asks, finally giving in to wrap his arms around me. His cut muscles become lax beneath my hold. “Things would be so much easier if we would’ve acted on the chemistry we felt the night we met.”
“Perhaps, but I value your friendship more than you’ll ever know. You helped me realize Richard wasn’t the right one. And you were there for me long before Evelyn came along. Now that she’s off touring the countryside with her fit husband, I need someone to call me out when I’m having foolish thoughts.”
He draws back, brows pulled downward. “What’s going on? You alright?”
“Nothing copious amounts of alcohol won’t cure,” I answer with a tittering laugh. Not that I can actually consume any, but I can at least pretend by sipping soda with a straw. “How about you pull your fabulous ass away from this place so we can hit the clubs in Manhattan? Maybe you’ll find my doppelgänger after polishing off a bottle or two of your favorite bourbon.”
“I can’t leave. Hope has the night off.”
The mere mention of her name has my stomach sloshing about even if it’s foolishness on my part for believing the thing with James actually meant something.
Hooking my arm through his, I give him a bright smile while playing with the elastic band on his thousand dollar watch. Once again I mourn the fact that we’re missing a physical attraction as we’re so well-suited for each other’s lifestyles. “Right, then. Guess drinks here will have to do for tonight.”
Nolan shakes his head, unwilling to let it go. “What aren’t you telling me, Shar?”
My eyes catch on a tall, dark-haired figure working its way through the crowd. I suck in my breath until the familiar brown gaze lands on me, warming every inch of my body. Looking fit as ever in a pair of khaki shorts and a white, short-sleeved dress shirt, James makes his way toward where I stand clutching Nolan’s arm. He’s a sight to behold, all muscle and brawn, towering over the crowd in a commanding way and soliciting longing glances from random women.
I’m so caught up in the delectable sight of him that I nearly miss how Hope hurries along at his side like a puppy dog, her bright green eyes sparkling with excitement. Before now I’d welcome her with open arms, but the sight of her with my James has me ready to use my claws.
“Bloody hell,” I mutter. What are the chances? Pretty high, I suppose, all things considered. Coming to Hope’s place of work was a shit idea.
“Who’s that with Hope?” Nolan asks.
“Evelyn’s brother, James,” I answer under my breath.
Nolan releases a deep chuckle. “They grow them big on the farm.”
They’re soon at our side, James’s dark gaze flickering between me and Nolan. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was jealous that I was with someone else. Nails now digging into Nolan’s skin, I straighten my back and pat the back of my head to ensure I at least appear to be holding my shit together.
James says my name in a sultry way that drenches my knickers. He seems to be fighting against a scowl when adding, “It’s good to see you again.”
“James!” I reply brightly, hoping no one else is able to hear the hitch in my tone. “How lovely to see you!”
His dark gaze burns into my skin as he glances down to my stilettos before meeting my gaze once again. There’s desire in those beautiful eyes that he’s unable to hide and it makes my heart flutter. An awkward moment passes before I step forward to give him a half-hearted hug. His bear-sized arms coil around me, holding on like I’m his prized possession. Caught up in his musky scent and memories of him buried deep inside of me, I’m rendered useless in his massive arms, relying on them to hold me upright. Every part of me wants to drag his beautiful ass back to my flat for another go.
Then my noggin clears and I remember my replacement stands mere feet away. Straightening my shoulders, I step back and nearly burst out in tears when his warm embrace disappears. “I do hope Brooklyn has been treating you well.”
“Ev asked Hope to check in on me.” The words come out brash and rushed, as if he’s eager to explain. Shoving his hands in his pockets, his eyes are reluctant when they scan the crowd. “Not exactly sure how she convinced me to come here.”
“You couldn’t stay locked up in their brownstone the entire time you’re in the city,” Hope tells him, slugging him in the arm like they’re sharing an inside secret. “You’re here now. May as well enjoy it.”
The intimate interaction sets me on edge, so I once again loop my arm through Nolan’s. “Luv, this is Evelyn’s brother, James,” I say, unable to miss how James’s nostrils flare slightly. “He’s staying at her place while he trains with Manny Gibbs.”
Hand held out, Nolan nods. “Nolan Zimmerman. I’ve heard about you—one of the twins, right? Evelyn was one of my waitresses for a short time before Charlie swooped in and dragged her outta here.” Poor bloke still can’t hide the resentment in his tone. There was a time he fancied a go with Evelyn. “She never mentioned one of her brothers was a fighter. I did some boxing back when I was in the Corps, before my sergeant turned me on to jiu-jitsu.”
Apparently in one of his sullen moods, James simply shakes Nolan’s hand for a brief moment before his hand retreats to his pocket and his expression hardens. It feels like a blatant disapproval, making my chest impossibly tight. Whether it’s because I want to bust out in tears of joy or tell him to sod off has yet to be determined.
Studying James carefully, Nolan crosses his arms over his large chest. Tension hangs thick in the air as the two men seem eager to size each other up. “Sorry to hear about your dad. I imagine it’s been a nightmare for your family.”
The darkness in James’s eyes stirs as I can sense the beast coming to the surface. Poor bloke traveled all this way to forget about his dad and here he’s having it thrown back in his face. Determined to keep things between them as calm as possible, I slip my arm behind Nolan’s waist and smile.
“Nolan’s the one who sent the weeping willow trees to the farm before the funeral,” I tell James. “This one has a big heart.”
“My grandma planted one in her backyard after my grandpa died,” Nolan tells him. “Thought maybe your family would like to plant them on the farm in his memory.”
I’m not sure James has heard a single word he said as he’s too busy fuming over the way I hold onto Nolan. His wide chest rises and falls with uneven breaths while angry eyes lock onto where my body is pressed to my mate’s. While a part of me wants to set him straight, another part is determined to make him as jealous as I was after discovering he’d moved on.
“So anyway, welcome to my bar,” Nolan tells James, subtly moving farther away from me. Bless him, he still smiles brightly at James even though it would appear the boxing giant is ready to start a row. “Can I get you a drink?”
With one last sweeping gaze of my body that’s already achy and wanton with a desire for him to touch me, James squares his shoulders and shakes his head. “This isn’t my scene.” He gives Hope a little pat on the back like she’s some kind of teammate gearing up for a game. I’m nearly embarrassed on her behalf. “Thanks for the invite, but I’m going to head back,” he tells her.
“You could simply ask me to leave if I’m making you that uncomfortable, James,” I sneer as he’s turning his back. “No need to stomp away like a sixteen-year-old girl who spotted her rival wearing the same dress to the prom.”
Spinning around, he reaches out for my arm, clutching it hard. When I wince, however, it’s not because his grip hurts, but because I see the pain encapsulated inside his lovely brown eyes. Ragged beats of my heart shake my entire body and a warm tremor buzzes between my legs as he continues to stare down on me. Intoxicated by his presence, the feel of his hard body pressed against mine, and his masculine smell, I become dizzy.
Then he leans down close enough to brush his lips against my ear, and says, “I thought…” he inhales my scent before finishing with, “…you know what? Forget it. Goodbye, little butterfly.”
As he storms out of Leona’s, my mind’s a mess and my legs threaten to buckle like a bendy straw. The nickname in itself throws me in a tailspin. I’m only vaguely aware of the fact that Hope has left me alone with Nolan when he slips an arm around my shoulders.
“Shar? What in the hell was that about? Why do you look like you’re about to pass out?”
Chapter 9
JAMES
It’s a fucking miracle I make it back to Evelyn’s place considering I hit the pavement running in no particular direction and my eyes couldn't focus on a single goddamned thing. When I stop outside my sister’s building to catch my breath, holding my head in my hands, bright light flashes behind my eyelids.
I haven’t been able to shake Sharlo from my mind since the night of the funeral. After talking to Hope the night before about relationships and shit, I was starting to think maybe I had a fighting chance with Sharlo. Then I saw her with that rich prick, and I wanted to throw my fist through a wall. Better yet, right through that Nolan dude’s skull. If the gym was open this late, I’d hit a bag until my knuckles bled.
Goddamn it! I never would’ve thought in a million years she’d be the type to cheat on a boyfriend, but it was so damn obvious she’s been with Nolan for a long time. Guess I don’t know her like I thought.
“James!”
My heart lurches clear into my throat with the sound of Sharlo's voice calling my name. I look up as a taxi pulls into the curb with a flurry of slender limbs spilling out from the back. Sharlo runs toward me, biting down on a smile. Even through my anger-induced haze, she's still so fucking gorgeous it physically hurts, sending shooting pains down my spine. The need to release her hair from behind her head so I can run my hands through it vibrates against my fingertips. I just want to fucking smell her…all over me.
But she’s with that Nolan guy.
My hands ball into tight fists at my sides. “Why are you here?” I ask, well aware my clipped words make me sound like an asshole.
She stops on the sidewalk a few feet away, giving me a timid smile that draws my balls tight. “Because I’ve missed your moody arse these past few days, and I’m a fool.” Taking another step closer, she ducks her head. It’s so fucking cute and innocent-like, seeming to have a direct line to my cock. “Nolan is one of my best mates. I love him dearly but not in the way you think, I swear. I was a wanker for attempting to make you jealous. It’s just after seeing Hope here this morning, discovering the two of you had been intimate—”
“Me and Hope?” I ask, cocking my head and pulling my eyebrows down.
Her thick lashes rapidly blink like she’s trying not to cry. My little butterfly. “What other plausible reason would she have to strut around wet, in a towel? The start of a poorly executed fashion trend?”
“I made her stay because she was drunk," I explain, shaking my head. “She took the bed, I took the couch. Nothing happened between us. She was flirting, but I didn’t act on it. I don’t want her that way.”
I make up the difference between us, needing to touch her. Wrapping an arm around her waist I clutch her tight, grunting when my lungs fill with her vanilla scent. We stare into each other's eyes, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.
“I only want…you,” I finally choke out.
A quiet whimper falls from her lips right before I stake my claim on her, sucking her soft lips between mine and burying her small, tight body in my arms. Standing on the balls of her feet, she locks her fingers inside my hair, pulling me closer while answering the kiss in a reckless way that sets my chest on fire. With the sweet smell of her that I’ve missed like crazy filling me to the core, I’m drawn into a haze of need to revisit every inch of her small body until she’s begging for more.
Wrapping my hands under her ass, I pull her up until she’s straddling my waist, and start for the steps leading up to the brownstone. She clings to me while I fish the keys out of my pocket and fumble with the deadbolt on the door, still ravaging her lips like a starved man.
Once inside, I don’t stop until we’re up in the guest room even though we run into a wall a few times, and I stumble while climbing the stairs. I fumble with the pins holding her hair back until she reaches behind her head to pull them out. The feeling of her soft hair falling down around our faces rips a moan from my throat. With my shins pressed to the bed, I gently set her feet down on the mattress, breaking the connection of our lips. She towers over me for a change as her fingers frantically work on the buttons of my shirt. She’s hot as shit—heart-shaped face flushed, hair wild from me yanking on it, lips red, eyes glossed over with want.
When I slip my hands up underneath the back of her shorts and up her smooth panties to cup her tight little ass, she makes a pleasured noise and rips my shirt open the rest of the way, giggling a little when we hear a button ping against something metal. After pulling my shirt off my arms, she goes to work on her own top, pulling it over her head until her golden hair spills over her bare shoulders. Suddenly face-to-face with her full breasts, held in place by a leopard-print bra, I growl before reaching for the clasp that will set them free.
“Oh, James,” she whispers as I take one of her perky tits in my mouth. Arching her back, she laces her fingers in my hair while I explore the pebbled skin with my lips and teeth. “You have no idea how bloody much I missed you.”
Pulling back, I scoop her in my arms and lower her down to the bed, stopping to stare into her cool blue eyes. The first two times we were together, it was rushed and brutal. I fucked her to silence my anger. This time I plan to be gentle and make it last. The way she’s looking at me, it’s going to be a fucking miracle if I’m able to go more than ten seconds.
“I missed you,” I confess, surprised by the sudden pinch in my throat.
With a blindingly bright smile, she holds my jaw in her hands on either side. “Well, then. I’d say it’s a good thing you’re here and we’re past these rubbish misunderstandings because I’m ready to ravage this fit body once more.”
Hell, I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Lowering down to claim her mouth again, I sink into the mattress at her side and pull her up close until our bodies become one. Her legs wrap around mine and the kiss intensifies to blazing levels with her warm tits pressed to my chest. Jesus, I can’t get enough of this woman. Every stroke of her tongue against mine, every taste of her sweet lips, every caress of her little hands on my body has my cock straining inside my shorts. I want to consume every inch of her and never stop.
Though it’s still not enough time, it seems we’ve been wrapped together for hours before she draws away. There’s a crooked, sexy-as-hell smirk on her lips when she pushes me down to my back and hooks a leg over my waist to straddle me.
“My god, I’ve been dreaming of the chance to do this again with you for days. Every time you touch me, I lose my mind.”
Her words send a river of lust through me that leads straight to my balls. I
didn’t know being with a woman who was so sure of herself could be such a turn-on, but I’m blinded by a need to have her. I grip her hips, ready to flip her back down to the bed and sink my mouth between her legs.
“Oh no you don’t,” she taunts with a wag of her finger. “You’re a man in desperate need of being taken care of, and I intend to do just that.” She dips down for a quick taste of my lips and then draws back, grinning. “In every way possible.”
Her eyes don’t leave mine as she slowly dips down in to suck on one of my nipples before letting it slip back out between her teeth. Laying back with my fingers laced behind my head, I groan. Then she lowers and runs her tongue across my chest, leaving a sizzling hot trail of saliva on my skin. She works her way down to my shorts, unbuttoning them as she goes so she’s able to lick the skin just above my dick. The erotic sensation along with her golden hair spilling across my chest is enough to make me come in my shorts, though I’m able to ride it out between clenched teeth.
When she starts yanking on my shorts I adjust my hips to help her slide them down my legs. I swear to fuck just the anticipation of her soft lips on my cock has me so hard that I worry I’ll be jizzing patterns across the ceiling by the time she has my underwear off. But all at once she has me completely naked underneath her and all I can think about is how radiant she looks when she slides down between my legs.
Eyes closed, thick eyelashes resting on her cheek, she wraps her lips around my cock and lightly sucks at the tip before taking it all in. I groan loudly, closing my eyes and titling my head back. Shit, I can’t remember the last time a woman gave me head. I know for damn sure no one has done it as slow and tauntingly as Sharlo does, using a dizzying mix of tongue and gentle scrape of her teeth. Hell, I didn’t even ask for it and she’s acting like she’s enjoying herself. No woman has ever made me feel this way with a mere touch, and I don’t have a fucking clue what to do about it other than to get those little shorts off her body and seek her warmth.
