Harlequin Blaze June 2015 Box Set: Midnight ThunderFevered NightsCome On OverTriple Time

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “Hang on,” she called. “I’ll be right there.”

  She threw on a tank top and shorts, not bothering with anything underneath, and answered the door.

  “Surprise!”

  Holly wrapped Devin in a bear hug, her just-showing baby bump grazing Devin’s stomach.

  “You’re home.” Devin cast a panicked glance around the apartment, her eyes falling on Gabe’s khakis in a heap by the television, his shirt hanging over the bookshelf, one of his shoes peeking out from under the bed. “Early.”

  Holly released her and brushed past through the door. “Nick finished filming ahead of schedule.”

  “Where is your handsome husband?” Devin followed, kicking the offending khakis behind the TV and stuffing the shirt between two books. “You’re usually inseparable. Nauseatingly so.”

  “His agent’s in town. They’re meeting at Pastis for a business breakfast, and I’ve been meaning to return my spare key to the super.” Holly sank into the armchair in the corner. “Man, I’m beat. I don’t even want to think about what this little bugger’s going to do to me in the third trimester.”

  Holly toed off her espadrilles and lifted one foot to massage the arch, and Devin groaned inwardly. She’d never get her friend out now. And it was only a matter of time before Holly noticed the water running in the bathroom. Or Gabe’s loafer, which Devin couldn’t shove under the bed now without rousing suspicion.

  Her only option was to come clean, admit she had a guy stashed in the can and get Holly out the door before she figured out it was Gabe. Not that she was embarrassed, but this was so not how she wanted Holly to find out she was boffing her brother.

  “Listen, Holls, I’m dying to catch up with you, but I’m kind of in the middle of something right now.” She eyed the bathroom door. As if on cue, the water stopped.

  “Ohmigod, you’ve got a man in there.” Holly squealed. “I can’t believe it. The love-’em-and-kick-’em-to-the-curb queen actually let a guy spend the night. Who is it?”

  “Just...a guy. We’re keeping it on the down-low.”

  “Oh, please,” Holly huffed. “As I recall you practically shouted to an entire coffee shop that I was doing Nick.”

  “I promise I’ll tell you. Let me deal with him and I’ll meet you at the deli up the block in ten.” Maybe she could intercept Mateo on the way over and grab her sandwich and coffee.

  “Fine, be that way.” Holly slipped on her espadrilles and stood, rubbing her belly. “For now. But I’m warning you, I want to meet this paragon who got you to break your no-sleepovers rule. Soon.”

  As though they were living in a bad sitcom, the bathroom door creaked open and Gabe stepped out, his hair still wet from the shower and a towel fastened around his waist.

  “I heard voices. Is breakfast here?”

  “Gabe?” Holly’s mouth fell open and she pressed a hand to her chest.

  “Holly.” He hiked up the towel, which had slipped to his hips. “You’re supposed to be in Istanbul.”

  Devin shrugged a shoulder and gave her friend a wry smile.

  “Surprise.”

  12

  “SORRY I’M LATE.” Devin slid into the seat across from Holly at the café table, plunking down her French roast and unwrapping her sandwich. She’d showered and changed in record time, but as hungry as she was, she wasn’t about to miss out on breakfast. Plus, she didn’t want to stick Gabe with the tab. Her place. Her treat. “I couldn’t leave without...”

  “Please.” Holly held up a hand, palm out. “Spare me the intimate details of your sex life with my brother.”

  “As if I’d share that.” Devin crossed one leg over the other and adjusted the hem of her shorts. “I was going to say I had to intercept the delivery guy with my croissant, but whatever.”

  “Don’t ‘whatever’ me.” Holly sipped her iced chai latte—decaf, Devin was sure, given Holly’s current state. “You know what they say about payback. Remember when you made Gabe drive all the way to Connecticut so you could interrogate me about Nick? It’s my turn to give you the third degree.”

  Oh, yeah, Devin remembered, all right. Two and a half hours in a car with Gabe. She’d always found him attractive, but that trip was when she’d really become aware of him as a man. His thigh had been inches from hers for the duration, his scent surrounding her.

  Christ, it had been fun needling him. And man, oh, man, was he hot when he was bothered.

  Not that she was confessing any of that to his sister.

  “I’m an open book,” Devin bluffed, taking a hit of strong coffee. “What do you want to know?”

  “You can start with how you and Gabe went from loathing to lovey-dovey in the little time I’ve been gone.”

  Devin averted her eyes, staring at a cheap framed poster on the opposite wall with the slogan Coffee Solves Everything in bold red letters. If only it did. “I wouldn’t exactly call us lovey-dovey.”

  “Then what would you call it?”

  “We’re—” Devin paused, not exactly sure what they were. More than fuck buddies, but not quite lovers “—getting to know each other.”

  “Looked like you knew each other pretty well to me.”

  Devin’s attention snapped back to her friend. “I didn’t mean physically. Obviously, we’ve crossed that bridge.”

  “TMI.” Holly blushed and shook her head, sending her brown bob flying. “I’m sorry. That was snarky. It’s just...he’s my baby brother. And he’s coming off a bad breakup. I don’t want to see him get hurt again.”

  “You mean Kara?” Devin took a bite of her sandwich, savoring the buttery, cheesy goodness.

  Holly nodded. “I helped him pick out the ring, thanks to email and Skype.”

  Devin coughed, almost spewing croissant across the table. “Ring?”

  Holly went on like she didn’t notice Devin was three seconds from needing the Heimlich maneuver.

  “Two carats, emerald cut. Not my style.” She waved her hand, flashing a simple white-gold band with a small, bezel-set diamond. “But from what Gabe told me, definitely Kara’s speed.”

  “I didn’t realize they were that serious.” Devin gulped her coffee. It scalded her throat but even that didn’t dull the shock of Holly’s news.

  “Oh, crap.” Holly buried her face in her hands. “Me and my big mouth. I should have figured my tight-lipped brother wouldn’t say anything.”

  “Don’t stop now.” Devin leaned back and crossed her arms. “She turned him down?”

  Holly’s words were muffled through her fingers. “I don’t know what happened. He just told me it didn’t work out.”

  “When?”

  “When what?”

  “When did he tell you?”

  “A couple of weeks ago, I guess.” Holly lifted her head. “About a month after Nick and I arrived in Istanbul.”

  Shit. A couple of weeks. Right around the time he’d found her in the park with Fast Fingers Freddie.

  “He didn’t say why they broke up?” Devin cringed. She sounded like a fucking teenage girl.

  “Only that the relationship had run its course.” Holly added another creamer to her latte and stirred. “Something about Kara being bored with him.”

  Gabe’s words on the cab ride home and on Devin’s doorstep that night came rushing back at her.

  Do you think I’m boring? How’s this for boring?

  “She didn’t deserve him,” Devin snapped with more intensity than she intended.

  “I know. Gabe brought her to see The Lesser Vessel and Nick and I met them afterward for drinks. She told me my nails were a mess, my skin was ashy and my hair was ‘holding me back.’” Holly put air quotes around the last three words. “From what I don’t know. But Gabe loved her. Or at least he thought he did. It couldn’t have
been easy for him having his proposal thrown back in his face.”

  Do you think I’m boring? How’s this for boring?

  “No. It wasn’t.”

  “So you can see why I’m worried about him jumping into another relationship.”

  Was that what they had? A relationship? Not much of one if Gabe wasn’t willing to be up front with her, especially after he’d pushed her to reveal her demons.

  “Look, your brother and I are hanging out. Having fun. Neither one of us wants anything complicated.”

  Devin’s heart cracked a little more with each word. Damn, she’d really been starting to fall for the guy. Served her right for trusting someone. Even someone as basically decent as Gabe. Because in the end, everyone left.

  Everyone.

  She fought the urge to lash out, not at him but at her own stupidity. For one brief, insane moment she’d forgotten the lyrics inscribed on her wrist. She looked down at them, the script blurring.

  Not afraid to walk this world alone.

  “Are you sure?” Holly’s voice, tinged with worry, broke through the haze.

  “Is a whiskey sour sour?” Devin unfolded her arms and rested them on the table. “You okay with this?”

  “Do I have a choice?” Holly shrugged. “Seriously, the last time I checked you’re both over eighteen. Free to do what you want. I admit I’m surprised, but I can’t say I’m opposed.”

  “Thanks, I guess.”

  Holly reached across the table and covered Devin’s hand with her own. “I love you both. You know that. I just don’t want either one of you to get your heart broken.”

  Too late for that.

  Devin’s cell chimed and she grabbed it from her purse. She swiped the screen and saw a text had come through.

  “Gabe?” Holly arched a brow over the rim of her cup.

  “Mmm-hmm.” Devin tapped the screen and the message flashed across.

  “He’s interrupting our girl talk.” A frown creased Holly’s forehead. “What does he want?”

  Devin started to read, her lips moving silently.

  Sorry our plans for today got scratched. Make it up to you? Dinner. My place. 8:00. Wear those tall, black boots. I’m dying to—

  “Hey!” Devin glared at Holly, who was clutching the stolen phone in one traitorous hand.

  “Nothing complicated, huh?” Holly looked down at the screen and read aloud. “Dying to fuck you in them? Sounds pretty complicated to me.”

  “Give it back.” Devin flexed her fingers, ready to snatch the damned thing out of her friend’s grasp.

  “My brother’s a regular Lord Byron.” Holly shuddered and handed the phone over.

  Devin tossed it into her purse. “That’s what you get for reading a private text.”

  “Point taken.” Holly raised her arms in surrender. “Are you working tonight?”

  “No.” Devin drained her coffee. “But I’m not having dinner with Gabe.”

  “Why not?”

  “You don’t want your brother in pieces, do you?” Devin set her empty cup down on the table with a hollow thunk. “Because if I see him tonight, I’m going to rip him a new one.”

  “One thing marriage to Nick has taught me is that communication is key.” Holly took Devin’s hand in hers again and squeezed. “Go. Talk to him.”

  “I’m more of a doer than a talker.”

  “If my brother wasn’t totally honest with you about Kara—”

  “He wasn’t.” Devin wrapped up what was left of her sandwich and chucked it into the garbage can behind her, her appetite suddenly nonexistent.

  “—then he must have had a good reason.”

  “I can’t imagine what.”

  “There’s only one way to find out.”

  Devin groaned, knowing what was coming next.

  “Ask him.”

  * * *

  THE DOORBELL RANG just as Gabe was about to start making the béchamel sauce for his mother’s famous chicken fettuccini Alfredo. He checked the clock above the professional-grade stove.

  Seven thirty. Devin was early. Hopefully that meant she was as eager to see him as he was to see her.

  “Be right there.”

  He put the heavy cream, butter and parmesan cheese back in the side-by-side stainless steel fridge, gave the counter a quick wipe down and headed for the door.

  “You’re early,” he said as he flung it open to find her standing there in typical Devin attire—a purple crop top, black leather miniskirt and hot pink combat boots that had him straining against his zipper in seconds. “Not that I’m complaining.”

  “You might be when you hear what I’ve got to say.” She flounced past him, her purse swinging from one shoulder and almost hitting him in the ass.

  So much for being happy to see him.

  “Okay.” He followed her into the living room. “Let’s talk.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you proposed to Kara?”

  His stomach plummeted. She sure as hell didn’t waste any time getting to the point.

  “Let me guess. Holly let it slip?”

  “That doesn’t answer my question.” She planted herself in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips.

  Gabe rubbed a hand over his chin. “I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t important.”

  “Wasn’t important?” Devin held her arms stiffly at her sides, clenching her hands into tight little balls. “You asked her to spend the rest of her life with you, for Christ’s sake.”

  “That was a mistake.”

  “Don’t you mean kissing me was the mistake?”

  “No.” He crossed to her and put his hands on her shoulders, grateful she didn’t shrink away from him. “Kissing you was the best damn decision I ever made.”

  “Just answer one question.”

  “Anything.”

  “When?” She stared at him, her mouth set, her gaze unwavering.

  “When what?” he asked uncertainly.

  “When did you propose to her?” She tilted her chin defiantly. “Was it the night you found me and Freddie in the park?”

  Shit. She wasn’t going to like his answer. But he wasn’t going to lie to her. Not after he’d all but forced her to open up to him. “Yes.”

  “I knew it.” She shook his hands off and stepped back, crossing her arms. “I’m your fucking rebound girl. Sloppy seconds.”

  “That’s not true.” He moved toward her but she held him off with an outstretched palm.

  “What else do you call the girl you hooked up with mere hours after your would-be fiancée dumped your sorry ass?”

  “Look, I admit that first kiss was...” A shudder ran through him at the memory of how she’d felt in his arms that night, her tongue dueling with his, the delicious friction of her thigh moving against his hard-on. “Impulsive. I was trying to prove something, mostly to myself. But only at the start.”

  “Wait, don’t tell me.” Sarcasm hung from her words like icicles. “The minute your lips met mine birds sang, the earth moved and the angels wept.”

  “That’s not the half of it.” He took another step toward her and was relieved when this time she didn’t fend him off. “That kiss was the beginning of my end. You destroyed me, sweetheart. I couldn’t get you out of my head. If you hadn’t walked into my office that day, it was only a matter of time before I came looking for you.”

  “How am I supposed to believe you?”

  “It’s called trust. Remember how I said I’d never try to hurt you? And that if I did, I’d do everything in my power to make it right?” One more step and he was able to reach out and take her small, soft hands in his larger ones. Her fingers were surprisingly cold, and he pressed them together and rubbed them for warmth. “This is me. Doin
g everything in my power to make it right.”

  He inclined his head toward the mahogany leather sectional against the wall. “Please. Sit down. Let me explain.”

  Her eyes narrowed and she pulled her hands away.

  “Okay.” She stalked over to the sofa and sat, crossing her long, bare legs in a slow, sultry way that made his cock twitch. “Explain.”

  He took a deep breath, willing his uncooperative dick to behave, and sat next to her. Close enough for him to smell her almond shampoo, but not so close that they were touching. That would be like pouring gasoline on a forest fire, and he needed to be operating on all cylinders if he was going to get through this in one piece—with Devin still speaking to him when he was done. “I should have told you about Kara. But I knew the minute—the second—I kissed you that she was all wrong for me.”

  “You needed a kiss to figure that out?” Devin rolled her eyes. “I could tell just from watching her work the room at the pub crawl.”

  “What can I say?” In a move he’d been practicing since high school, he eased an arm over the back of the couch. “I’m not as people-savvy as you. But I’m smart enough to realize there was no way I could be right about her and kiss you like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like this.”

  The hand on the back of the sofa dropped down to the nape of her neck, his fingers working through her thick dark hair to caress the skin underneath. He dipped his head, inching toward her.

  Her cornflower eyes darkened to a midnight blue as his lips crushed hers. After a brief hesitation, she opened her mouth in welcome and he breathed her in, wanting to inhale her essence, taste every soft, sweet inch of her, indulge in the feel of her lush curves molded to his body.

  His tongue circled hers greedily while his free hand snaked around her waist, drawing her closer. A moan erupted from deep in her throat and she collapsed against his chest, surrendering. Desire coursed through his veins and he wanted to pound his chest and roar like some caveman laying claim to his woman.

  His woman.

  As a warm tingle spread through his body, his head recognized what his heart had known since their first night together.