by Lauren Smith
“Ah well, that’s good too.” Angelo smirked knowingly and pointed to a bench in the corner. “Wait there and I’ll get you what you need and a little extra.” Then he bent and captured Felicity’s hand to press a kiss to the backs of her knuckles.
“Thanks, man.” Jared shook Angelo’s hand, and then he led Felicity over to the bench Angelo had indicated.
She glanced about, taking in the restaurant and marveling at the interior design. Every wall was painted with evening scenes of distant villas. The dim lighting made her feel as though she stood on a hill in Tuscany and could spin in a circle, viewing rolling hills. Tall trees pointed like green needles toward the full moon. Small pinpricks of electric lights winked in the cobalt-blue painted sky like stars. She was moved by the beauty of it, a simple artistic creation that had the effect of sending her across the ocean to a place she’d never been, a place she’d likely never go, no matter how she might wish to.
“What are you thinking about?” Jared’s lips brushed her right ear as he whispered to her.
She could hear him, despite the low rumble of the crowd of waiting guests. A little tingle, like the touch of butterfly wings on her skin, shot down her spine, and she turned to see his face. Their noses touched, but she didn’t move back.
“I was thinking how much this place feels like Italy. I’ve never been, but I know this is how it feels.” She would have felt foolish confessing something like that to anyone else, but not with Jared.
“I’ve been, and it is just like this. Maybe someday I could take you there.”
Italy. With Jared. Why did everything he said have to be so wonderful? So irresistible? He had to be a dream. No man like this was real.
“Don’t,” she begged, blinking away the burn of tears.
“Don’t what?” he asked, still smiling.
“You’re too nice. Stop being perfect.” He could never know what she really was thinking. That he was temptation enough to make her want to consider leaving her dreams of working at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art behind to stay here with him.
His lips kicked up in a crooked grin. “Too bad.” His gaze dropped to her lips, and her heart skittered to a stop.
He’s going to kiss me. He’s going to…kiss me. Her lashes fluttered shut, but he didn’t kiss her, not on the lips. She nearly moaned in frustration but stopped herself. The soft pressure of his mouth settled on her cheek. A brief kiss. Her eyes opened and she stared up at him, a little sigh of disappointment escaping her.
“Your food is ready.” Maria carried over a large bag and then handed it to Jared.
“Thanks.” He started to reach for his wallet, but she shook her head and held up a hand to stop him.
“Angelo said it’s on the house.” She shooed them toward the stairs, giggling.
Felicity didn’t resist the bubble of laughter that came out as she turned to Jared. “Your friends are awesome.”
Jared curled an arm around her waist. “I agree.”
The cab ride back to Jared’s apartment was quick. He talked about Angelo and how they used to get in trouble on campus. Neither of them had rushed in a fraternity and had instead formed their own fraternity of sorts.
“Besides me and Angelo, there’s Thad. He’s here in Chicago too, works as a partner in his dad’s real estate company. They buy and sell lots of property all the time.”
“Thad?” she queried, wondering what this other friend was like and if he was just as different from Jared as Angelo was, and yet somehow alike.
“Thad Worthington. Rich-as-hell real estate tycoon along with his father. Smart, too.”
The respect Jared had for this mysterious Thad was obvious.
“So you, Angelo, and Thad?” She smiled, thinking of Layla, hoping that she would be close to Layla in the coming years after they’d graduated.
“Yeah. I’m lucky. Good guys, both of them.” He ducked his head, looking slightly away from her as though the admission was something to be ashamed of. But this was one of the many things she was learning about him that made her adore him all the more. His loyalty, his friendship, his respect for his relationships on all levels.
Curling her fingers around his arm, she leaned into him a little. “I think it’s wonderful that you’re still so close to them.” She hoped he would understand the tone underlying her words. Don’t be ashamed of friendship.
“Yeah. I suppose it is.” He raked a hand through his dark hair, and it fell into his eyes almost immediately. When he looked her way, his eyes were lit with a fire and life, his cool lawyer exterior melting away. Everything around her seemed to shrink into that one moment, with just the two of them. Something had changed between them yet again, like two stars in the same galaxy spinning closer and closer together.
“Today was nice,” he said.
“It was.” She had to agree. How long had it been since she’d allowed herself to enjoy something? She couldn’t remember. And she didn’t want it to end. She could see by the way he shifted that he didn’t want it to end after dinner, either.
“I can’t believe I didn’t worry about work once today. You don’t know how rare that is.”
His words filled her with a fuzzy warmth. He’d been able to relax and escape his worries because he’d spent a day with her. A little bit of her puffed up with pride at the thought. She didn’t dare let herself think about the other women who might help him forget his worries. She had this moment, right now. It was all she could afford.
6
As they reached Jared’s luxurious apartment building, he took the bag of food from her and they headed inside. It never failed to amaze her how beautiful the building was. It was one of those old hotels whose exterior was art deco, but inside everything was sleek and modern with leather couches, subtle décor, and glittering chandeliers.
“Do you suppose Layla and your brother are still…” She didn’t finish.
“Probably. If he’s anything like me, he can go for hours.”
She sucked in a breath and stumbled. With a low laugh, he wrapped an arm around her, catching her before she face-planted on the nice marble floor of the lobby. What was it about this man that made her lose all control of her body? She was not a klutz. Luckily it was dark enough outside that he wouldn’t see the blush burning a path across her face.
Can go for hours. Her mouth dried up, and her tongue scraped like sandpaper as she licked her lips. As a virgin, she should have been terrified at the idea of hours in bed with a virile man like Jared, but…she wasn’t. It had the opposite effect. Her legs turned to jelly, and a strange quiver started up in her abdomen. Desire. Jared. That word and his name seemed forever linked.
“I should stop teasing you.” He laughed softly, the rich sound warming her from her head to her toes. “But it’s just too much fun.”
She didn’t dare reply to that. Her mind was still caught on the idea of being in his bed again and seeing just how long he could go. She hadn’t let herself think about the sort of man she’d lose her virginity with. But now she couldn’t stop thinking about it…or Jared.
When they opened the apartment door, she glimpsed Layla and Tanner, fully clothed and squabbling like children in the kitchen. What a relief! She’d been a little afraid that she and Jared would stumble upon the two lovebirds in a less-than-flattering situation.
“We had pizza last night.” Layla stood arms akimbo, attempting to corner Tanner against the wall by the pantry. “We’re not eating it again tonight.”
Tanner was a foot taller than Layla, and his lean muscled body towered over hers, a resolute expression on his features as he stood his ground.
“I’m not cooking tonight, babe. You wore me out. Whatever we eat is gonna be takeout or something.”
“I wore you out?” Layla’s voice was a little shrill, but Felicity swore she detected a barely restrained giggle hidden beneath the tension.
Tanner wrapped his arms around his girlfriend’s body and pulled her to him. “Babe, you sure did, and I meant
that as a compliment.” Tanner smiled, a smile that was an echo of Jared’s. Her heart tightened like invisible strings were lightly squeezing it.
“I smell food…” Her back to Felicity and Jared, Layla sniffed the air.
Over the top of her head, Tanner looked at them, noticing their arrival and the bag of food from the Italian Village.
“I don’t smell anything,” he lied and then kissed the tip of her nose and grinned in a comically evil fashion.
“Yes, you do, you liar. Smells like—” Layla spun around and gasped. “Felicity!” Squealing like she hadn’t seen Felicity in years, she ran over to her, hugging her.
Braced for the contact, Felicity accepted the hug and returned it. Jared dodged around them, food in his arms as he headed for the kitchen.
“So…” Layla bit her lip for a second. “I know you want to kill me right now. But I bet you had fun today, didn’t you?” She pulled back from the hug but left her hands on Felicity’s shoulders as she studied her.
Feeling a bit impish, Felicity cocked one brow. “I am going to kill you. He showed up on my doorstep, Layla. On. My. Doorstep. Like a lost puppy.”
Her friend scoffed. “I doubt that. No guy that hot has to play the lost puppy card. So tell me everything that happened, and I mean everything.” Layla tugged Felicity over to the huge L-shaped couch facing the sixty-five-inch flat-screen.
Jared and Tanner were in the kitchen, talking softly as they set out plates and food.
“Well…he brought me pizza.”
With a low groan, Layla rolled her eyes. “Those Redmond boys have an obsession with pizza. Seriously, you have no idea how long we argued today over not having pizza for dinner.”
“I believe it.”
Felicity shot a glance at Tanner. He mouthed, “Hey, Felicity,” and winked at her.
God, he was such a nice guy. Really. Never in the three months that she’d known him and Layla had he ever made her feel like the odd one out whenever she hung around them.
“Okay, so pizza, then what? Hot sex? I know there was hot sex.”
“What? No!” Felicity hissed.
Layla bit her lip for a moment, looking pensive. “No hot sex?” She huffed out a breath. “Huh…when he left today, he had that look Tanner gets when he’s going to take me to bed and bang me hard enough to see stars.”
A flash of heat exploded through Felicity at the thought of Jared on top of her, his hands gripping the headboard as he…
Whoa…for a second she couldn’t breathe. “No. Definitely nothing like that. We went to see the Sargent exhibit at the Art Institute.”
Layla sighed heavily as though the weight of an entire world had settled on her shoulders. “I would have sworn he was into you. Still…” Her eyes flicked to Jared and Tanner. “Maybe he’s playing it slow.”
“He’s just being nice.” Felicity tucked her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees and sighed.
“Dinner’s ready, princess,” Jared called out.
Layla’s face lit up like it was Christmas. “Princess?” She whispered the word at Felicity and looked like she was about three seconds away from squealing.
“Don’t even go there,” Felicity warned.
“Layla, get over here and eat.” Tanner sniggered. “Quit making trouble.”
Felicity mouthed back “Thank you!” to him, and he merely nodded as if he’d only done his duty.
The four of them dug into the rich Italian food.
“So, Felicity,” Tanner said and reached for his wine, “Jared said you went to the Art Institute. I can’t believe you got my brother into an art museum.” He elbowed Jared and shot a wicked grin his way.
“I enjoy the finer things, like art.” Jared glowered at his younger brother, completely unamused at Tanner’s teasing.
“It was a great exhibit. A lot of pieces were on loan from other museums and private collections.” She knew that this didn’t mean anything to the others, but it meant a lot to her. Museums held paintings and other forms of art and artifacts as assets. Private collectors hoarded their own pieces like dragons their gold, and rightly so. If high-end thieves ever got wind of their locations, they’d steal them. For the institute to have so many Sargent works together in one place was the equivalent of finding the Holy Grail for an art student.
Layla sipped her wine, and then with a smile at Felicity, she focused on Jared. “Did you know that Felicity wants to be a curator of a museum someday?”
Felicity aimed a kick at Layla from under the table, but Layla was prepared. After years of living with siblings, she’d learned the art of dodging under-the-table kick moves.
Jared leaned back in his chair, hands resting on his thighs. “I didn’t know that.” He paused, then spoke more softly, as though she and Jared were the only ones in the room. “I think you would make a great curator. You have the passion and the knowledge required.” His eyes were almost a honey brown, warm and melting.
God, she loved it when he looked at her like that, as though she could do anything, be anything, all because he believed in her. She’d only known him a day, but he’d glanced at her so often that she felt like he’d been looking at her like that forever.
“Thank you.” Her reply came out a little husky, and she drank a few gulps of wine to moisten her dry throat.
“So, Layla, what did you and Tanner do all day?”
Bold, brash Layla only showed her teeth liked a cornered fox. “What didn’t we do might be the better question.”
At her reply, Tanner choked, dropping his pasta with a splat as he desperately chugged wine like it was water. As he continued to cough, Layla whacked him on the back.
“Don’t forget to chew, big boy.” She snickered.
“Christ, Layla.” Tanner laughed. “Give me some warning before you go announcing our private business.”
She rounded on him. “If you think this is business, honey, we must not be doing it right.”
Jared shoved back from the table as he burst out laughing. “Okay, you two, enough. Go back to your bedroom before you drive me crazy.”
His brother, grinning like a jackal, scooped Layla up out of her chair and into his arms. “Hope you ate enough, babe, because I’m ready for another round.”
And with that, Layla and Tanner were once more closeted away in their room.
“Guess this is what I miss when I work on the weekends.” Jared shook his head, lips curved in a sexy smile.
“No wonder you work a lot. It’s tough to be around them when they get into bunny mode,” Felicity said with a giggle.
“Bunny mode?” His lips quirked. “Do I even want to know what that is?” Jared stood and collected his dishes and hers before heading over to the sink.
“You know…busy as bunnies,” she added. For some reason she couldn’t say “humping” to Jared. Talking about sex around him made her body heat up like a firecracker.
Busy scrubbing the plates, he only froze after a second, as though her words sank in. “You mean…humping like bunnies, don’t you, princess?” His jaw clenched slightly, not from anger but from his attempt to hold in a laugh.
“Yeah, that.” She bit her lip and looked away, her face hot.
“Well, I vote that you stay a little longer, help me ignore what sounds might come from their room.”
Stay? Could she? She wanted to, but staying later meant leaving for her apartment in the dark, something she wanted to avoid.
“I…uh…I really need to get back to my place before it gets too dark.”
Jared wiped his wet hands on a dish towel and then curled a finger under her chin, angling her face in his direction.
“Sounds dangerous. I don’t want you to do anything risky. Stay the night then. Please. We can watch a movie, I’ll crash on the couch, and you can take the bed. Sound fair?”
With him touching her, anything sounded fair. A girl couldn’t think when he was offering such an opportunity.
“But I don’t have any clothes or even a tooth
brush.”
His hands slid down from her chin to wrap his fingers around her throat, the hold possessive but not threatening.
“You looked good in my clothes. I wouldn’t mind loaning them out again. And with all the hotels I visit, I always leave my brushes behind, so I keep a bunch of new unopened packages of them in the drawer to the left of the sink. You are welcome to one.”
He effectively destroyed any argument she would have had, and finally she had to concede with a nod.
“Okay, I’ll stay.”
He took a step closer, their bodies almost touching, and his head dipped a few inches as though he was going to kiss her.
Please, please kiss me. Her silent prayer went unanswered. Instead, he swept the pad of his thumb over her lips, as though trying to memorize their shape and feel.
The man was going to kill her. All these near-kisses and no…kisses. If she didn’t get control of herself, she was going to grab him and kiss him herself.
“Good. Let’s change, and then we’ll get a movie going.”
Ten minutes later, Felicity was sitting on one end of the couch in the center of the L-shape, wearing Jared’s black boxers and a large red T-shirt. Jared wore pajama bottoms, blue-and-black plaid with a blue sweatshirt that said “Creighton Law” across the chest.
“Creighton?” She pointed at his faded sweatshirt as he collected several thick blankets and pushed the large leather ottoman toward her so she could prop her feet up.
“Yeah. Been out six years, but I love this sweatshirt too much to give it away.” He tossed her a fleece blanket, and she settled into it, relishing the way the soft fabric soothed and warmed her.
“You like old movies?” Jared held up two DVD cases. Suspicion and Notorious.
“Tough choice…um…Suspicion.” She nodded at the Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine flick.
He popped the movie into the player and turned the TV on. Once the huge flat-screen was filled with the credits, he joined her on the couch. Rather than sit a few feet away, he lifted up her blanket, eased in beside her, and curled an arm around her waist, tucking her firmly against his side. The sudden intimacy had her entire body tensing, both with apprehension and excitement.
