by Debbie Mason
She moved her hand from his thigh to his shoulder, her fingers curling in his crisp white shirt as the tips of their tongues touched and lingered. Was he trying to tell her that he wanted more from her than just sex? His words as much as his kiss seemed to imply that he did. A flutter of hope came to life inside her at the possibility. At the thought that, after finally having to face head-on the loss of his wife and baby, he could now move on with his life—with her.
* * *
Chance pulled back. It wasn’t soon enough. One look into Vivi’s beautiful violet eyes told him all he needed to know. He was an idiot. He shouldn’t have kissed her. But she’d given him the soft and the sweet—her raspy voice heavy with sympathy. He couldn’t take her pity. Not now.
He wanted his hard-ass Vivi back. The one with the biting, sarcastic sense of humor. The one who’d stood before him with all that smooth, olive skin on display, the skimpy towel wrapped around her incredible toned body. A body he’d buried himself in. A body that made him forget when he wanted to and when he didn’t. He couldn’t resist her siren call, even though he knew he should. If she hadn’t pushed him away in his bedroom, reminded him about tonight, he wouldn’t have stopped.
A mistake, just like the one he’d just made. He’d made too many with her today. Like telling her she was his perfect match. He’d been as surprised as she’d appeared to be when the words came out of his mouth.
Kate with her easy smile and easy laugh had been his perfect match. God, she’d been sweet. His beautiful, delicate wife who didn’t have an aggressive bone in her body. She didn’t care what was going on half a world away. All she cared about was creating a life and a family with him. She was happiest puttering around in her garden and making their house a home.
As the silence lengthened in the truck, a slow look of understanding came into Vivi’s eyes. Her lips flattened. Good. And to ensure that pissed-off look remained, he shoved his fingers into her long, thick hair and messed it up.
Raising her hand to her head, she stared at him. “What the hell did you do that for?”
“We’re dating, remember? They’ll expect you to have bed head. And I guarantee that as soon as we pulled up, they all had their faces pressed against the window.” With his desire for her not completely abated, he was pretty proud of himself for coming up with an excuse for that kiss. “Gotta put on a show.”
She muttered something that sounded like “I’m such an idiot” before reaching in the backseat to grab the gift bags she’d brought with her.
“Don’t tell me you’ve had a change of heart, Slick.” If he screwed this up because he kissed her… “You offered to do anything to make this week easier, and this is it.” He wasn’t lying. He didn’t want his family hovering over him, worrying about him. They wouldn’t if they thought he and Vivi were together.
“Fine.” She clutched the gift bags to her chest and opened the door. “But don’t get handsy in there. My nieces are at impressionable ages.”
“Handsy?” he said, fighting a grin.
“Yeah, no touching, kissing, or groping allowed.”
“Come on. If I’m not groping you a little, they’re going to think we’re faking it.” He patted her ass as they started up the driveway.
She nudged him with her elbow. “We are faking it.”
“Keep your voice down. And remember what we talked about. We ran into each other when I was on a job in New York six months ago, and we’ve been seeing each other ever since.”
She snorted as they reached the front steps. “Like Maddie and Skye are going to buy that. They know—”
As the door started to open, Chance hauled Vivi into his arms, shutting her up with a kiss. Madison and Skye stared at them with their jaws slack.
“Don’t knee me,” he whispered as he took his mouth from Vivi’s. “We have an audience.”
“Hey,” she said to Madison and Skye, then shoved him. “McBride, I told you my nieces were at impressionable ages, so no more sticking your tongue down my throat.”
“They’re not even here. And they’re my nieces, too.” As she stalked into the house, he gave Madison and Skye a sheepish shrug. “She’s not an easy woman.”
“We know she isn’t, but she’s worth the effort. And you better be willing to put in the effort this time around or you’ll answer to us,” his sister-in-law informed him.
Jesus. Despite Vivi’s decidedly unloving display, they actually believed they were together. And to prove it, Skye said, “I knew it was just a matter of time before you two got back together.”
“I said the same thing to Gage. He didn’t believe me until I explained about you being Super—”
Chance covered his sister-in-law’s mouth with his hand. “Quiet. Vivi doesn’t know, and she’s not going to know, right?” She’d never go along with his plan if she found out he was indirectly responsible for her demotion at the Spectator.
His brother arrived at the door, his gaze moving from Chance to Madison. “Wanna tell me why you’ve got your hand over my wife’s mouth?”
“She’s a pain in the ass?”
Madison rolled her eyes and removed his hand. “He doesn’t want Vivi to know he’s her comic book hero,” she informed her husband, thankfully in a quiet tone of voice.
“I don’t know, Chance. Seems to me keeping a secret like that could ruin your relationship before it got started.”
Madison patted Gage’s arm. “While you try and talk some sense into your brother, we’re going to get all the juicy details about their romance from Vivi, aren’t we, Skye?”
“Oh, yes, we are. We want to hear how you won her over. Because knowing our best friend, you must have done some serious groveling.” Skye pushed her long, curly, butterscotch-blonde hair from her face and grinned, giving him a hug. “I’m happy for you both. I knew you loved her.”
“Thanks, sweet cheeks,” he said, instead of denying his love for Vivi. It wasn’t like he could argue the point when he was trying to convince them they were in a relationship. Sensing his brother wanted to have a word with him, Chance said, “Probably should get in there.” He didn’t feel up to a heart-to-heart with Gage, and he was nervous how Vivi would handle her best friend’s questions. She wasn’t exactly a woman who concealed her feelings.
He expelled a heavy sigh when Gage gave him an all-too-familiar look and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. “How are you doing? Dad told me he brought Natalee and Princess to the airport with him. If I had known, I would have given you a heads-up.”
“Thanks, but I’m good. It was time anyway. Come on, we should get in there.” He put his hand on the doorknob, anxious to end the conversation with his brother. Gage’s sense of deduction was too finely honed.
“You okay staying at the cabin? You and Vivi are welcome here, you know.”
“It’s all good, Gage. Don’t worry about me, okay?”
His brother looked out over the front yard. “Can’t help worrying about you. You and Kate…” He shook his head and turned his sympathetic gaze on Chance. “I don’t know how you do it. If anything happened to Madison…” He shoved his fingers through his dark hair, blowing out a breath. “Sorry, it’s just that, until Madison came into my life, I don’t think I truly understood the nightmare you’ve been living the last five years.”
“Good thing you’re not going to have to worry about that, then, isn’t it?” Chance said tightly, looking up at the lavender-tinged Colorado sky.
His brother glanced at him, seemed to get that it was time to change the subject. “So, Dad’s over the moon about you and Vivi. And Aunt Nell’s grinning from ear to ear. I think she has you two in mind for her next book.”
“Jesus. We’re dating, that’s all. No need to make a big deal out of it.”
“But it is a big deal. You haven’t…”
“Don’t, okay? I’m hanging by a thread here, man. I can’t keep…” It was the first time he’d been truly honest with his brother. He loved his family, but he’d shut them
out and kept his distance for this very reason.
Gage slung an arm around his shoulders. “I’ve got your back, buddy. Come on, let’s grab a beer. Tease Dad about the upcoming nuptials.”
“You happy about the wedding?”
Gage frowned as he opened the front door. “Yeah, why, aren’t you?”
He shrugged. “Not sure how I feel about it.” The last Chance had heard, his dad had been dating Karen, a thirtysomething nurse, and Liz had been dating her son Ethan’s campaign manager’s father, Richard Stevens.
Annie and Lily, Gage’s daughters, came running down the hall. “Hi, Uncle Chance,” Lily said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Thanks for our presents.”
“Hey, Uncle Chance.” Annie gave him a chin lift. “Thanks.”
Vivi must have told the girls the presents were from him, too. He probably should have picked them up something. But he didn’t really know the kids. He wasn’t as close to them as Vivi was. “No problem. Good to see…” He broke off at the sound of raised feminine voices.
“You better get in there, Dad. Aunt Vivi said she’s going to throw Aunt Nell off the deck.”
“I’m sure she was joking,” Gage said to Annie as he headed down the hall.
Chance doubted it and followed after him.
“No, she wasn’t,” Annie confirmed from behind him. “Aunt Nell told Aunt Vivi she has to marry Uncle Chance because they’re doing the nasty and living in sin. She wants them to have a double wedding with Grandpa and Grandma Liz.”
Chapter Six
Sitting at the end of the dining room table, Maddie narrowed her blue eyes at Vivi. “Tell me again what he said when he saw you.”
Vivi stifled a groan by popping one of the white chocolate hearts imprinted with Paul’s and Liz’s faces into her mouth. Honestly, between Maddie, Skye, and Nell wanting to know every last detail about Vivi’s imaginary romance, she’d need copious amounts of chocolate to get through the next couple of hours. At least she got rid of Nell by threatening to throw her off the deck. Paul and Liz were out there with her now, laying down the law. Vivi snorted, as if that would work.
Maddie raised a brow, waiting for her response.
So she gave her one, just not the one she wanted. She held up a purple chocolate flower. “These things are orgasmic. Who needs a man when you have chocolate this good?”
Large hands settled on Vivi’s shoulders, Chance’s thumbs smoothing over the tense muscles along the sides of her neck. “Whoa, direct hit to the ego, Slick. I’m wounded.”
Good, so was she. Her heart had taken a direct hit in the truck. She’d let her imagination run wild. Again. Which might have been the reason Nell’s comment got to her. For a few fantasy-filled moments, Vivi had seen a future with Chance. She inwardly rolled her eyes. She had to stop letting him kiss her. It messed with her head. And she had to get him to stop touching her because right now his obvious attempt at relaxing her wasn’t having the desired effect. She tipped her head back to look into his smiling face. “Your oversized ego can handle it, McBride.”
Maddie laughed. “Don’t worry, Chance, I said the same thing the first time I sampled one of Autumn’s chocolates.” Autumn Dane owned Christmas’s candy shop, Sugar and Spice.
“Yeah, but that was before you were with me.” Gage tugged on Maddie’s shoulder-length blonde hair, then looked around the room. “Where’s Nell?”
“On the deck with your dad and Liz. She…” Maddie trailed off when the French doors opened and the three of them came back inside.
Chance gave Vivi’s shoulders a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle her.”
“Good luck with that,” she said, catching his great-aunt’s gaze moving from her to Chance. Vivi popped another chocolate flower in her mouth and made a mental note to visit Sugar and Spice first thing tomorrow morning. She’d probably gain ten pounds before the week was out.
“Maddie ate sweets like you when she was pregnant with Connor. Anything you want to share with us, girlie?” Nell asked, waggling her eyebrows.
Vivi choked on the chocolate.
“Aunt Nell,” Chance gritted out at the same time as he patted Vivi’s back.
“Nell, what did we just talk about?” Paul said.
“I’m just askin’. I don’t understand what the…” she began, then looked at Chance and winced.
“I’m good,” Vivi told Chance, whose patting was a little more forceful than necessary. She imagined Nell’s comment was just one more reminder of what he’d lost. Looking repentant, Nell had obviously realized the same thing and took the seat across from Vivi.
Liz, with a smile on her pretty, tanned face, broke the strained silence. “Chance, it’s so good to see you.” She rounded the table to give him a hug. “Your father and I are so happy you could come home for the wedding. It wouldn’t have been the same without you.”
“Yeah, thanks. Good to see you, too.”
Vivi shot him a surprised glance. She’d assumed he’d be as happy as Gage and Maddie were about the wedding, but from his less-than-enthusiastic response, he wasn’t. Vivi shared a what’s-going-on look with Maddie. Her best friend gave an almost imperceptible shrug.
Nell, who’d been watching Liz and Chance with a furrowed brow, turned to Vivi. “So, what the Sam Hill were you thinking picking up a skunk? Paul, you should probably start a round of those antirabies shots.” She reached across the table and patted Vivi’s hand. “Don’t worry, I hear they don’t hurt much.”
Vivi knew what Nell was up to. And while she appreciated her attempt to take the focus off Chance and Liz, Vivi wished she would have used something or someone else as a distraction. Which she conveyed to the older woman with a smackdown stare. Nell grinned.
Skye, who’d been walking back into the dining room, froze. Her caramel-colored eyes widened. “You have rabies?”
“No, I don’t have—” Vivi began, only to be cut off by Paul.
His concerned gaze shifted from Vivi to his son. “Are you sure you—”
“Dad, she’s fine. Not a scratch to be found. And I checked every inch of her very, very thoroughly, didn’t I, honey?” His voiced dripped with sexual innuendo.
Vivi shoved another chocolate in her mouth. “Um-hm.”
“Okay, ladies, let’s get these wedding favors made up before Vivi eats all the chocolates,” Maddie said.
Vivi swallowed and looked at the rows upon rows of white-lace-covered boxes they had to fill with the chocolates. “Wait a minute, how come they don’t have to help?” She patted the chair next to her. “Sit right here, honey. I’ll teach you how to tie the ribbons.”
Chance snorted and rubbed her head, messing up her hair. Again. “Wouldn’t want to show you up. Besides, it’s women’s work.” His comment earned groans from everyone in the room. “What?” He looked at his father and brother. “Back me up here.”
Eyebrows raised, Maddie and Liz waved boxes at Gage and Paul. His father and brother gave Chance way-to-go looks before sitting beside Liz and Maddie. Vivi fluttered her lashes and smiled at Chance as he pulled out the chair beside her. “You really are a pain in the ass,” he muttered, picking up a box.
She held back a smart-ass response when she saw the way he looked at the chocolate heart imprinted with Paul and Liz’s picture. She glanced down the table at Gage laughing with Maddie, Paul doing the same with Liz, and nudged Chance with her knee. He looked at her, his once clean-shaven jaw now beard-stubbled and tight. “What’s going on?”
“Kind of weird seeing them together like this,” he said in a voice that only she would hear.
She imagined it was. From what she’d heard, Chance’s mother, Anna, had been a wonderful woman, beloved by her husband and sons. She bumped his arm with her shoulder. “He’s happy.”
As he watched his father tuck Liz’s toffee-colored hair behind her ear, Chance lifted a shoulder. “You got me into this, so show me what I’m supposed to do.”
An hour later, he said, “Slick, we’re fa
lling behind. Lily and Annie have doubled our output, and they sat down fifteen minutes ago.”
Vivi looked across the table. He was right. “They’re crafty kids with nimble fingers. You’re not crafty and your fingers are too big.”
“Never had any complaints before,” he said, trailing his index finger down her arm with a suggestive grin.
She’d walked right into that one. The reason they were behind had nothing to do with his big fingers, which, as she well knew, were extremely agile and talented. No, the problem was that every time his father and Liz started talking about the wedding, Chance distracted himself by touching and flirting with Vivi. “Go have a beer. I’ll be faster without you. You keep interrupting me to attach your flowers. This is an individual sport, you know. Not a team one.”
“Okay, I want to hear you say it. Chance, you were right. Women”—he glanced at her boxes—“most women, are better at doing this shit than men.”
“Your dad and Gage don’t seem to have a problem. And just so you know, this bow is perfect.” She held up the box, feeling quite proud of herself.
With an amused glint in his eyes, he said, “I did that one,” and pointing to the box beside her elbow, “you did that one.”
He was right. “Go have a beer.” A sidelong glance revealed Skye and Maddie sharing an aw-they’re-so-cute look. Vivi sighed and reached for another chocolate. The platter was empty. She did an internal happy dance and said, “Looks like we’re done.”
Paul and Gage got up from the table as fast as Chance did. “You kids did a great job. Thanks for helping out.” Liz smiled at Paul. “You too, honey.” Chance’s dad leaned over and whispered in Liz’s ear. Her cheeks pinked. “Yes, you have very skilled hands.”
“Didn’t need to hear that,” Chance muttered, heading for the kitchen. His brother and father followed after him.
Liz bit her lip as she watched the three men walk away, then turned to Vivi and asked in a low voice, “Has Chance said anything about me and his dad getting married?”
