by J. H. Croix
Gemma’s cheeks went pink. “She wants to marry you off?”
I shrugged. “Yes.”
“Is your family kind of old-fashioned?” she asked in between bites.
Tucker appeared at that moment, hearing the tail end of Gemma’s question. “If by old-fashioned, you mean they expect everyone to settle down and be madly in love forever, yes, that would be Diego’s family.” He clapped me on the shoulder as he snagged one of my rolls and passed by with a wink.
I rolled my eyes as he retreated. “You owe me one,” I called.
Tucker turned back, resting his elbow on the back of one of the barstools by the counter. “What do I owe you?”
“A roll. They’re amazing.”
Just then, Daphne bustled by, immediately hurrying over to the stove and pulling out another tray of the very rolls under discussion. Without a word, she stopped beside me and added two to my plate, casting a sly smile in Tucker’s direction.
“Thank you, Daphne,” I called. Daphne was always on the move and was hurrying off already.
“Seems like she does a great job of managing the kitchen and all of you along with it,” Gemma commented.
“She runs a tight ship. She takes care of three meals a day. She seriously loves to cook. Cat helps out a lot, and I do when I have time.”
“You do?” Gemma’s eyes widened as she looked back at me.
“Of course, he does.” My sister’s voice came from behind my shoulder. She stopped beside us. “Diego is a really good cook,” Harley said with a lift of her chin, as if somehow Gemma was doubtful of my cooking abilities.
“This is my sister, Harley,” I said, gesturing to her. “Harley, this is Gemma. She’s going to be teaching a yoga class here every week. Or, so I hear, right?” I looked back at Gemma.
Gemma set her now empty plate down on the counter and nodded. “For starters, it’s nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Harley replied, although her smile wasn’t the warmest. My freaking sister. On the one hand, she wanted to marry me off. On the other, she wanted to be in charge of whoever I dated. I couldn’t win, so I mostly ignored her.
“As to classes, I’ll start this coming week here. Just one evening. We’ll see how it goes. Daphne wants me to host two. One for staff and one for guests. We’ll have to see if enough guests sign up to make it worthwhile.”
Harley’s green eyes narrowed as she assessed Gemma. “If the classes are good, I would think so.”
Gemma regarded her quietly. “I like to think my classes are good. I wasn’t sure if that many guests would be interested. I suppose it depends on why they’re here on vacation.”
Harley nodded. “I suppose so.”
“How long are you visiting?” Gemma asked politely.
“I’ll be here for at least three weeks. Then, I’ll have to figure out what my next plan is. I dumped my boyfriend, and I need to regroup.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Gemma replied, her brow creasing with concern.
“No need to be sorry. I walked in on him screwing my roommate,” Harley said dryly. “But that created two problems. I had to dump him and ditch my apartment. Fortunately, Diego offered the spare bedroom in the staff house here, so I have a place to stay while I figure out what I want to do next.”
“What do you do for work?”
“I do transcription and translation for medical companies. Sounds kind of dry, but it’s actually fun. I have a lot of flexibility and can make it work for my schedule.”
“That’s great,” Gemma replied. “So, you’ll be able to work while you’re here?”
Harley nodded firmly. “Absolutely. I have two deadlines to meet.”
Nora meandered over, stopping beside us. “Did Daphne give you the tour and discuss the schedule?” she asked Gemma.
“She did. We’ll plan on one evening a week and see how it goes. I like the idea of offering two classes at the same time. That makes it more worthwhile for me to come out here.”
Nora smiled. “It will work out. I just know it. I already checked with some of the guests here. They all said when they weren’t scheduled for something else, they would definitely come to the class before dinner.”
Gemma was drawn into conversation with Nora and some of the others, giving Harley the opportunity to offer her observations. Because my sister never missed an opportunity to share her opinion with me. “Gemma seems nice.” I supposed I should be grateful she kept her voice low.
“She is nice, Harley. Don’t grill her. We had dinner. Once.” It wasn’t as if my sister didn’t know that detail already, but I saw fit to remind her.
Harley let out an aggrieved sigh. “I’m not going to grill her. I admit to being curious that you actually went on a date, but I’ll leave it at that. Although, I think you should ask yourself why you might finally be interested enough in someone to break your stupid rules.”
Gabriel entered the conversation when he spun on his stool where he was sitting nearby. “Rules?”
At that highly inconvenient moment, Gemma made her way back to us.
“Yeah,” Harley said.
“I didn’t know Diego had rules. I’m dying to know what they are,” Gabriel teased, a wicked glint in his eyes.
“I don’t know what rules you’re talking about,” I replied, keeping my tone casual.
Harley, because she never hesitated to provide her feedback on any situation related to me, offered, “Ever since Diego broke up with his ex-fiancée, he has a rule that he doesn’t date. That’s it. It’s been that way for years now.” Harley lifted her hands in a so-what motion.
“You have an actual rule?” Gabriel pressed.
I shook my head and popped another roll in my mouth. I could use the flavor distraction with the side benefit that I didn’t have to talk.
Harley twisted her lips. “It might as well be official.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, y’all. I don’t have any rules,” I finally interjected after I finished chewing.
“It is true that you generally don’t date,” Tucker chimed in as he appeared on the opposite side of the counter, swiping the last roll on the tray Daphne had left on top of the stove and tossing it in his mouth with a grin.
I looked amongst my friends, casting a quick glance at Gemma. Her eyes twinkled, and a smile teased at the corners of her mouth. I relaxed inside. Good, at least she could tell my friends and my sister were just giving me a little hell. Well, maybe not my sister. She had an agenda, always. “I don’t have a rule, and enough with the group discussion,” I said firmly.
Conveniently, time was on my side, and Cat called that dinner was ready. We moved as a group, all of us heading to the long table by the windows. I was pretty sure my sister made it happen, but Gemma ended up seated beside me. She smelled like strawberries, and I wondered why, but mostly I was simply glad she sat beside me.
Dinner was a relaxed and somewhat noisy affair. I loved it here. While we might be a hodgepodge group, we were a chosen family.
Later that evening, part of the group decided to go into town to see a band at Sally’s, one of the favorite local bars. I didn’t want to go to Sally’s, but I did want to steal some more time with Gemma.
Chapter Seventeen
Gemma
“Your friends are great,” I commented, my voice quiet amidst the hum of conversation surrounding us.
Sally’s was busy tonight, as it was every night. The local bar was in a renovated barn. One side of it housed a restaurant with the kitchen in the center of the structure and serving as a divider between the two main areas. The other side had a small stage for live music and round tables scattered throughout the space. The old hayloft above had more tables. The atmosphere was pared-down country.
I hadn’t particularly wanted to come to Sally’s, but Diego had invited me along with Nora and some others from the resort. Diego cast me a quick grin. “They are. They can be a bit much with their opinions sometimes.”
“I imagine when you’re th
at close, everyone butts in.”
Diego lifted a shoulder in an easy shrug. “So true. I’m the first to stick my nose in when I’ve got an opinion.”
“So, tell me, what was Harley talking about?” I asked, unable to resist the question.
“You mean how she thinks I have a rule?”
I nodded. I was curious, more curious than I wanted to be. I liked to think of myself as a sensible girl, and Diego had me thinking far too many not-so-sensible thoughts.
Diego rolled his eyes. “To make a long story short, when I was too young to know better, I got engaged. Deana was one of my younger sister’s friends. Not Harley’s, but my sister Laura’s friend. After college, she worked for my parents doing bookkeeping. She embezzled a bunch of their money, and I broke up with her. That’s pretty much the whole story. In all honesty, I don’t think we would’ve lasted anyway because we were too young.”
“It’s awful that she embezzled from them,” I commented.
He shrugged, his lips twisting to the side. “It was, but they were okay. You have to understand my family. Growing up with them made me think I should settle down right away. We were tight. My parents got married straight out of high school. They were one of those lucky couples. They stayed in love forever.”
“That’s so sweet,” I interjected.
“It is.” Diego shifted his shoulders. “That’s probably why I asked Deana to marry me. But I don’t think everybody lucks out like that when they’re that young. I was off in the military when I found out about the embezzlement. Harley’s got it in her head that I refuse to give anybody a chance after that. I don’t look at it that way.”
I mulled that over and took a sip of my water. “When we had dinner, was that a date?”
I hadn’t meant to address my curiosity so directly, but now the question was out there.
Diego’s intense gaze swept over my face. “Yes, Gemma. That was a date. What did you think it was?”
We were in a crowded bar with music playing in the background and people all around. And yet, it suddenly felt as if we were all alone. Sparks shimmered in the air around us, and my breath became short.
I swallowed. “I think I thought it was a date.”
He leaned his elbows on the table, shifting closer to me. I could feel the potency of his presence, all raw masculine man. Gah! I wanted to climb on his lap and kiss him. I wanted his strong, sure hands all over me.
“Good. Because it was,” he returned in his gravelly voice.
The sound of his voice slid over my senses, and my belly shimmied. He regarded me quietly for a moment before adding, “I didn’t really want to come to this bar.”
Disappointment stung me swiftly, a lancing heat followed by cold. “Oh,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “You certainly didn’t have to come on my account.”
His hand curled over mine where it rested on the table, his touch warm and reassuring. “I came entirely on your account. I was looking for another excuse to spend more time with you.”
A fizzy sense of joy rose inside and my belly spun in flips. I definitely couldn’t catch a deep breath even though I could’ve used the oxygen. “Oh.”
“Now, unless you want to stay here, why don’t you let me make sure you get home okay?”
I was pretty sure Diego didn’t mean he was going to follow me home and wave from the driveway. Need galloped through me, my heartbeat echoing like hoofbeats pounding on the ground. I swallowed. “Now?”
“Whenever you’re ready.”
Chapter Eighteen
Gemma
My hands were practically shaking, not from nervousness, but rather from the vibration of anticipation spinning through my veins. Diego’s comment, whenever you’re ready, echoed in my thoughts. I hadn’t been attuned to how intensely ready I was before this evening.
For the first time, ever, my mind wasn’t getting in the way. When it came to dating and men and anything touchy, my mind was an absolute master at throwing up roadblocks, anything for me to trip and stumble. Nothing disastrous. And yet, always enough to take me away from sensation and to keep me thinking about out of place matters that had nothing to do with the moment.
Dwelling in the moment, particularly when the moment involved intimacy, had started to feel like something I would never experience. Aside from the obvious benefits to my body after my injury, yoga had offered me a space to learn to sink into physical sensation. That was a gift. Yet, I’d all but given up the idea that I could lose myself in sensation when desire was part of that equation.
Desire was an unfamiliar experience for me. I’d dated here and there in college, and I was no prude. Yet, it was a crushing letdown whenever I followed things through to the conclusion.
Now, with my piercingly clear recollection of my encounter with Diego on the kitchen counter, I thought perhaps I might finally see through to the other side of all of those letdowns.
Learning Diego had his own cynicism about relationships was actually a blessing for me. Because I wasn’t ready to try to deal with tangled emotions. If this could just be pleasure and nothing more, without worrying about all the rest, that might be a heaven I hadn’t imagined before.
The door clicked shut behind Diego at my house, and he stood there with one hand hooked in his pocket and the other pressed flat against the door behind him. He’d followed me home in his truck. He wore the same black leather jacket he’d worn when I saw him on his motorcycle. Apparently, I had a thing for leather jackets.
All I was doing was standing there, and I could feel a prickle chasing over my skin, the sensation of individual goosebumps ticklish all over. The air felt heavy, laden with an electric charge. We stared at each other, and it almost felt as if we were connected by an invisible wire, one that vibrated to the frequency of the heartbeat of desire between us.
The silence was broken by the distant sound of a horse neighing. Diego’s brows hitched up. “Do they always greet you?”
I smiled. “Usually. I need to give them their evening hay.”
“I’ll help,” he replied, pushing away from the door and opening it again.
I dropped my purse on the table in the entryway and walked past him as he held the door open for me. I felt his presence beside me every step of the way. Our footsteps crunched in the gravel. I was wearing a skirt with a blouse and cowboy boots. Normally, I would change before dealing with the horses, but it was late.
We stepped through the barn entrance, and all four horses poked their heads over the stall doors, looking in our direction. Charlie nickered softly as we passed him by. Diego greeted each of the horses with a murmured hello and a quick stroke, which only served to deepen my desire with the tiny wrinkle that my heart flipped over at his easy kindness to the horses.
He helped me toss the hay in their stalls. Afterward, I returned to the storage room to make sure the grain bins were completely closed. One morning recently, I came in to a mess left behind by a pair of squirrels. After a quick check, I discovered I’d left the lid on one of the grain bins loose.
Turning back, I looked over to Diego where he waited by the door. He had one arm above his head, his hand curled in a relaxed grip on the door frame. The position lifted his T-shirt slightly, and my eyes snagged on the strip of bronze skin between his shirt hem and his jeans. My mouth actually watered. Because I wanted to drag my tongue over that skin and taste him.
Although it was early summer, it was evening, and the nights were cool here in Alaska. The air felt suddenly warm as heat chased over my skin.
Speaking of air, I couldn’t get much in my lungs when I tried to take a breath. So much for all those yoga classes. Maybe two feet separated us, and I didn’t know how to close the distance even though I desperately wanted to be closer to him.
Because Diego seemed particularly suited to knowing exactly what I needed and when I needed it, his hand dropped from the door frame and tagged mine. He reeled me close in a smooth motion. In a blinding fast second, he spun us around. My shoulder bl
ades bumped against the wall, and his mouth was inches from mine.
I could feel every thundering beat of my heart. As every cell in my body vibrated with the frequency of my need and the molten hot look in his eyes. I gulped in air with a rapid, shallow breath.
“Tell me, sugar, should I wait to kiss you?”
I shook my head immediately. Because I could not wait another second.
Diego made a low sound in his throat right before his lips dusted across mine. It was a glancing touch, a tease, and maybe a test. A little whimper escaped. His lips brushed across mine again, and electricity sizzled like fiery filaments through my body. Impatient, I arched into him, sliding a hand around to curl at the back of his neck. He took our kiss from a brush of contact into a full-blown plundering of my mouth.
Diego kissed commandingly, one palm coming up to cup my cheek as his thumb traced along the edge of my jaw. He angled my head to the side and deepened our kiss. His tongue swept in deep strokes, and I couldn’t get enough of the taste and feel of him.
By the time we broke free to gulp in much needed air, my body was on fire. My nerves were alight, and my mind was hazy with a near frantic need. Need for more—more of Diego, more of the riot of sensation only he seemed able to set loose inside of me.
We stared at each other in the shadowy room with nothing but the soft glow of a shaft of light falling through the open doorway. His face was in the shadow, illuminating its strong lines.
I was impatient, my hips rocking restlessly into him. We fit together so well, his arousal was nestled just above the apex of my thighs. I could feel it like a hot brand. I could also feel the slick moisture of my own arousal, and hear my blood rushing through my ears with every beat of my heart.
Diego’s eyes searched mine. “Gemma, I’m about to fuck you against the wall. I was thinking maybe the first time should be a little more comfortable.”
I shook my head. Because the truth was, the prospect of being so overcome with lust that someone would want to fuck me against the wall was an insanely hot idea. Plus, I didn’t want my usual anxiety to take over. I might get bored and start mentally reviewing my to-do list, feeling impatient and wishing it was over.
