by Lori Foster
It was her turn to shush him, and she used her entire hand. Their audience chuckled. No one could hear what was being said, but Sophie’s actions were plain enough. Cole grinned behind her palm.
“I felt stupid for pretending to be someone else instead of just being brave enough to tell you how I feel. So I decided to stop being a coward. Aunt Maude always told me adults should own up to what they do, to be responsible for their actions and accept the results. She also told me I should never be afraid to go after what I want.”
Through her muffling fingers, he asked, “You want me?”
She nodded, tears once again in her eyes. “I love you.”
His long fingers circled her wrist and he pulled her hand down. “I wish I could have met Aunt Maude. I have a feeling we’d have been good friends. Will you tell me all about her?”
She nodded, then forged onward. “I realized you must care about me, too, because you kept hinting about wanting a relationship. At first I thought you wanted Shelly. I was jealous.”
His look was affectionate, full of love. “Goose.”
“But then I finally remembered that you knew Shelly and I were the same.”
“Not at first, and it almost made me demented. I wanted Shelly because she looked like you, made me feel like you do. I couldn’t understand it because you’re the only woman who makes me insane with lust and sick with tenderness.” Then he growled, “Not to mention what you do to a mug of hot chocolate.” He pulled her from her chair and swung her in a wide circle to the sounds of raucous cheers. “Will you marry me, Sophie?”
Very primly, she replied, “I was hoping you’d ask.”
At that moment, Chase set two hot chocolates on the table. He winked at his brother. “Hey, might as well go for broke.”
The Valentine contest went off without a hitch. Sophie was chosen unanimously by Cole’s three desperate brothers, who wanted nothing to do with an arranged date for themselves. The local newspaper explained it away by saying Sophie and Cole had fallen in love during the contest, which put the perfect slant on the whole Valentine ambiance and gained them an enormous amount of publicity, some of it even covered by a local news station. Sophie, as the lucky winner, got incredible publicity for her boutique as well. Allison had her hands full fending off reporters who blocked the growing influx of new customers. She complained heartily, but Cole figured she was well up to the task.
Cole announced to the reporters that since he was soon to be a married man, next year one of his brothers would serve as escort for the winner. That brought about some bawdy comments from the women customers and some hearty groans from his brothers, who pretended to be terrified by the prospect but who nonetheless preened under the weight of feminine attention.
Sophie stood by Cole’s side, elegant and serene and beautiful. He felt like the luckiest man alive. The contest really had been the perfect idea for both of them, even if they’d each indulged in ulterior motives.
He glanced up and saw the contest photo on the wall. As per the contest stipulations, Sophie had posed with all the Winston men. Their much bigger bodies crowded around hers, dwarfing her petite frame. She was laughing, and all the men looked smug.
In his nightstand drawer at home was a different photo, the one he’d taken of Sophie while her hair was still tousled and her cheeks flushed from his loving. But that one was private, for his eyes only. Forever.
Next year, he thought, grinning as he watched his brothers give one interview after another, the contest might work out as the perfect idea for another Winston man. He wondered which of them would be the lucky one. Then Sophie nudged his side and he forgot about everything but her. He led her to his office where solitude awaited—along with a carafe of hot chocolate and a can of whipped cream.
Tangled Dreams
Chapter One
Even though it was an incredibly busy night at the bar, even though he could barely hear the newest order over the din of loud conversation, music, and laughter, he heard her. Her every thought. Chase watched her, saw that her mouth wasn’t moving, that she wasn’t actually talking, but he could still listen to her.
She was on the other side of the bar, standing by a group of Halloween decorations that his sister-in-law had designed out of a bunch of pumpkins he and his brothers had carved. The haystack and jack-o’-lanterns were festive and provided an amusing backdrop to the serious expression on Allison Barrow’s face. He’d known her several months now, ever since his brother had married her best friend and boss, but he’d never before noticed how cute her round, wire-framed glasses looked on her small nose or the fact that she had a tendency to straighten them needlessly.
He noticed now. But why?
His youngest brother, Mack, bumped into him. “Hey, Chase, orders are piling up here. You want to stop daydreaming and help me out?”
Chase gave Mack a distracted glance. “Come here a minute, will you?”
Mack paused. “What?”
“Over here. Come on. Now stop right there.” Chase positioned him exactly where he’d been standing. Mack was in his last year of college, still studious and alert. Surely he’d pick up on something. “Now, look over there at Allison. See her, right past the redhead with the skinny guy in a suit? By that Halloween display?”
“Yeah, so?”
“What’s she saying?”
Mack turned to stare at Chase in disbelief. “What’s she saying? How the hell should I know? I can barely hear you, and you’re only two inches away from me.”
Frustrated, unable to really explain, Chase said, “Well, look at her, dammit, and try.”
With a sound of disgust, Mack again stared toward Allison. Chase saw his gaze warm a little, then go over her from head to toe, and for some reason, that annoyed him. Now that he’d really noticed Allison, he didn’t particularly want Mack doing the same. He’d always thought Allison was cute, in an understated, sort of just-there way, but suddenly she looked very sexy to him. She was twenty-five, on the short side, dark blue eyes, medium blonde hair. Nothing special. Certainly not the type of woman to appeal to his baser side. But tonight he couldn’t pull his attention away from her. He suddenly heard her every thought when he’d sure as hell never been a mind reader before. And he only heard Allison, no one else. There was something going on between them, and it didn’t make any sense.
“Well?” Chase prompted.
“She looks different, doesn’t she?”
“It’s the clothes,” Chase explained, having noted the difference himself. It had taken him several minutes to finally pinpoint what made her look so unusual tonight, so…sensual. “She’s wearing some sort of old-fashioned, vintage dress.”
In truth, she looked like a woman straight out of film noir. The dress was a deep purple gray, and even from a distance, Chase could see that the color did things for her eyes. Or were her eyes just brighter tonight, more alert?
There was subtle black beading on the top of the dress that caught the bar lights and drew his attention repeatedly to her less-than-outstanding bustline. At least, he’d never thought it outstanding before. But now…Now he was imagining her naked and almost going crazy because of it.
The waistline was tight, showing off her trim build, and when she turned, Chase not only saw that she had on seamed stockings but also that the damn dress had a flat bustle of sorts, a little layering of soft material that draped real nice over her pert behind, a behind that would feel just right against his pelvis if he took her from the back…
“It looks…I dunno, kind of sexy on her, doesn’t it?”
“Mack.” Pulled from his erotic thoughts, Chase said it as a warning, surprising himself and his brother. His tone had smacked of possessiveness, and he didn’t like it, but he also didn’t like another man, not even his brother, thinking Allison was sexy. He wasn’t quite used to himself thinking it yet. “Pay attention.”
“To what? From what I can tell, she’s not saying anything. She’s just standing there all by herself, looking sweet.
In fact, she looks a little lost.”
Chase rubbed his face. “So you don’t hear anything?”
With a strange look, Mack asked, “What exactly am I supposed to be hearing?”
Damn. There was no way Chase could repeat the thoughts he’d picked up on so clearly. They were fairly…intimate. Explicit thoughts. Sexual thoughts. About him. He almost groaned. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
Mack frowned at him. “Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah, fine. Go on before we get mobbed by disgruntled customers. You take that end of the bar, and I’ll handle this end.”
With one last curious look at his brother, Mack sauntered off. The bar, owned by the brothers, was especially packed tonight. It had gone from being a popular watering hole to a regular hangout. People not only drank there, they danced and played billiards and pinball. Cole, the oldest brother and recently married, was thinking of expanding into the empty building next door. He’d discussed his plans with Chase just the other day, and Chase was all for it, especially if it meant they’d hire in some help. The bar was plenty prosperous enough now to support several additional employees, and with Zane, the third brother, getting his own computer business off the ground, and Mack finishing up college, it was certain the two younger brothers would likely work less and less at the bar.
Cole had originally bought it to support the family after their parents had died. He’d worked damned hard, making ends meet and taking care of three much younger brothers. Chase, as the second oldest at twenty-seven, was still nine years younger than Cole, with Zane twenty-four and Mack just turned twenty-two. Chase had always tried to help out as much as possible, and he and Cole were friends, as well as being as close as brothers could be, but none of them had expected the bar to eventually be so popular. It had given them a great start in life and had guaranteed employment for the younger brothers, but it had served its purpose and it was time to think of the future.
Their clientele was as much female as otherwise, being that until Cole’s recent marriage, they’d all been bachelors—according to the local papers, the most popular bachelors Thomasville, Kentucky, had to offer. A lot of women lamented Cole’s altered state, which sent an overflow of attention to the remaining brothers. Chase smiled. He wasn’t all that interested, being something of a recluse and extremely particular in his sexual appetites, but Zane and Mack sure appreciated all the female adoration.
The six to eight o’clock rush was finally starting to wind down when Chase was hit with another of Allison’s vivid internal dialogues. He’d been fending off the stray thoughts, doing his best to ignore them, but there was no way to keep this one out. A tray in his hands, a dishrag over his shoulder, he paused on his way to the sink, like someone had frozen him in mid-step.
Such nice shoulders. So sexy. Probably hard and smooth to the touch. And hot. They’d move when he thrust, the muscles shifting…
And then a visual image joined the words, an erotic picture of him making love to Allison. It was carnal, sensual, and showed him exactly what she’d look like naked, laid out beneath him, straining against him while he drove into her. Her small breasts were flushed, her pale pink nipples were puckered tight. Her eyes were closed, her blonde hair fanned out on a pillow, her hands desperately clutching his shoulders…
The tray almost slipped out of his hands, and he barely managed to catch it. He shook his head, trying to clear it, totally overwhelmed by a wave of raging lust and heated need. He turned to stare at her.
She was looking at him, and as he stared, gaze intent, her face turned pink and she ducked her head. Like a sleepwalker, Chase plunked the tray on the bar, threw the dishrag to the side, and started toward her.
She looked up at him, her eyes now rounding with alarm, and she took a hasty step back, but the haystack and pumpkins were there, crowded into the corner, making it impossible for her to flee. Which was just as well, because if she’d run, he’d have simply chased her down. All he could think of was getting his hands on her.
Chase stalked her, keeping her in sight, stepping around those people loitering or dancing in the middle of the floor, dodging tables and ignoring greetings. He didn’t like being played with, and while he didn’t know how she did it, he knew Allison was in some way responsible.
He stopped right in front of her and she looked up at him, one hand pressed wide over her heart as if to keep it contained in her chest. He started to question her, but then he noticed her lips, soft, pink, parted slightly, and he wanted so badly to kiss her he couldn’t think straight. He could almost taste her on his tongue, hot and wet and woman sweet. His hands shook—hell, his whole body shook.
Like a wild animal scenting a female in heat, it took all his concentration to control his basic urges. He’d never felt this way before, not even with the most accommodating women, and they were rare indeed. His desires were usually specific, a little risqué to the average woman, something that needed to be catered to in order to achieve mind-blowing pleasure. He simply didn’t get overwhelmed with lust at the mere sight of a woman.
Anger washed over him, making him tremble. He didn’t want to notice her, dammit. She’d never affected him this way before, so why now? How did she do it? He stared down at her, at that tempting mouth, and every muscle in his body tensed. He cursed softly.
Oh God. Maybe I should have chosen Zane. He’d have been willing at least, and so much easier. He wouldn’t question what was happening…
“Like hell!” Chase took her shoulders and shook her slightly. Through clenched teeth, he growled, “You’re right, Zane wouldn’t hesitate; he’d probably already have you in the back room with your little bustle in the air. But I’m not Zane, and I didn’t start this, you did.”
She stared at him, her shock apparent, her face draining of color.
Jealously made him a little rougher, a little less discreet than he’d normally be. He took care to keep his private life private. Not that he was a monk, but he sure as hell wasn’t the outgoing, obvious ladies’ man that his younger brother Zane was. His hands tightened on her narrow shoulders and he leaned low to say, “You can just get thoughts of Zane right out of your head.”
She blinked up at him, the pulse in her throat going wild. “What…what are you talking about?”
They were so close, her glasses fogged just a little, then slipped down the bridge of her nose. Chase could see small flecks of gold in her deep blue eyes, like little explosions of heat. His jaw worked for a moment, then he said with just a touch more calm, “How dare you even consider my brother?”
She gasped, putting both her palms on his chest. The touch burned him, making the lust that much worse. He wanted to howl. He had never in his adult life had this happen, had lust rage over him so suddenly, so uncontrollably. Hell, of the four brothers, he was the quietest, the most discriminating in outward appearances. And control, especially with a woman, was something he insisted on.
She glanced around, her movements nervous, then whispered in a rush, “Chase, what in the world is wrong with you?” Her face was flushed, her eyes round, and she looked embarrassed and alarmed and very worried.
Chase, too, glanced around. Several people were looking at him, including his damned brothers. They must have radar, he thought, wondering how all three of them had known he was going to make a fool of himself. But the fact that he had, that it was over a woman, was rare enough that he knew they wouldn’t ignore it or let him forget it. He simply didn’t cause scenes, ever, but especially not over women.
Turning back to Allison, striving for a pleasant look rather than that of a crazy man, he said, “I’d like to talk to you. In private.” The words slipped out through his teeth and the parody of a smile he’d forced to his mouth.
She rolled her lips in and bit them, her gaze still wary, then nodded. But she looked far from willing. She looked nervous as hell. He could feel her nervousness, damn her, just like he’d felt everything else.
Holding her arm in case she changed her m
ind, Chase led her past the bar toward the back office. Mack stood behind the bar, shaking his head in wonder. Cole, standing in his path, frowned in concern, and Zane, surrounded by a group of women, grinned like the village idiot. Ignoring the two younger brothers, Chase stopped in front of Cole and said, “I need a few minutes of privacy.”
Looking between him and Allison, Cole narrowed his eyes.
There was no way Chase could explain, so he said simply and firmly, “I’ll be back out as soon as I can,” and his tone alone forestalled any arguments.
Cole looked hesitant, then finally he nodded. “Take your time. We can handle things now.”
“Thanks.” Chase turned away, and Allison stumbled along beside him. He realized it looked like he was dragging her along, but that was only because she was holding back a bit. Chase glanced down at her. “You’re causing a scene.”
“Me?” They were now out of sight of the main room of the bar, and she again held back as Chase opened the office door. “You’re the one doing the caveman routine. What in the world is the matter with you?”
He snorted. “Like you don’t know.” Hell, she’d been thinking about him all night, taunting him with those personal, private, sexual thoughts of hers. He didn’t know how he knew it, but he did, and his conviction was so strong he didn’t doubt it for a moment. He gently propelled her into the office and shut the door.
The lock turned with a quiet click.
Only one light was on, a small lamp sitting on the desk. Chase watched as Allison backed up a few steps, then stopped and braced herself. For what?
“Allison…”
You can do this, you can do this, you can…
“Do what?” Chase barked, advancing on her, again losing his temper. Startled, she jumped back and her knees hit the soft, slightly worn sofa that Cole had installed years ago when long nights sometimes made it necessary to nap at the bar. Allison lost her balance and she tumbled gracefully onto the sofa, the soft, flared skirt of that killer dress fanning around her. Her spine pressed hard to the back of the sofa in alarm. She started to jump up again, but Chase stepped so close she couldn’t, not without plastering herself against him.
