Threads Of Desire (Creative Hearts Book 3)

by K. M. Jackson

  Nick put the bottle down. “Fine. Let’s see what you got.”

  Gabby tried to appear nonchalant as she shrugged, taking on his challenge. She cocked her head. “No, let’s see what you got.” She heard Samara laugh and whipped her head around. “Don’t start.”

  Sam held up a hand, her eyes shining with mirth. “I wouldn’t dare. I’m just going to jot down the time for future reference and enjoy the show.”

  Gabby felt her face heat even more and fought mouthing a well-deserved expletive, and possibly adding a hand gesture, to her all-seeing friend as she stomped off toward the dance floor. At this point, she didn’t care if Nick was following or not. She was dancing and getting rid of some of this pent-up frustration.

  But he did follow and Gabby had to wonder what her bravado and big mouth had gotten her into this time. This morning he’d seen her naked, and now it was midnight and he was getting her on the dance floor. Where was this heading and why was she leading it there?

  She swallowed. The music was too loud, and the bass was too low. The DJ had taken the vibe somewhere deeper than the uptempo stuff that had been playing a few minutes before. Now the music was all sexy, low bass—too dark and edgy for her to be comfortable.

  She looked at Nick. His eyes were too deep, too dark, and matching too well with the sensual tone of the music. Gabby flicked her glance down to the floor, then instantly hated herself for that, so she turned around swaying her hips and closing her eyes. He didn’t matter. This was her time and her dance. She wanted to feel rather than think so much. Let go and listen to the beat of the drums over the sounds of the horns. She let her hips sway and invited the bass into her system, imagining the thrumming of fingers on guitar strings. She raised her arms, as finally it started to feel good, forgetting about Nick, Donovan, Tall and Dark, all of it. Gabby did a shimmy and when she opened her eyes, there he was—head bobbing, feet keeping time, hips not doing a bad job at all. She couldn’t help but smile and give Nick a nod.

  Oh hell, what did it matter? It was just a dance, and they weren’t kids anymore. She leaned into him, moving close to his broad chest, taking in his masculine heat, when suddenly the world seemed to stop, shift, and start spinning again in the opposite direction. She pressed her hand to his hard pecs as she tried to right herself against the sudden shift, and Nick’s arm snaked around her waist, sending a dangerous zing of pleasure throughout her body. Damn. Just how not top shelf was that champagne?

  He looked down at her just as she looked up into his eyes. For a moment, it was as if their breaths and their heartbeats were one. The bass dropped lower, and their hips dipped along with it. The music changed and he took her hands, lifting them above her head and leading her back and into a wave toward his body, connecting with him again. Nick twisted her arms up once more to turn her back to front, bringing her backside in contact with his evident hardness. His arms came around hers and she closed her eyes again, and it was as if the rest of the club melted away to nothingness, leaving only the two of them. Bodies, heartbeats, and movement.

  Then the music changed, and Gabby’s eyes popped open. Reality set in. The music was too loud, the dance floor was too crowded, and Nick was too close. What the hell was she doing? This was Nick she was pushing up on. And why in the world was he pushing back? She moved out of his embrace. Even though he was just inches away, she was instantly cold. She turned back toward him, her armor back in place.

  “It’s just a dance. Nothing more,” she said low but knew her voice carried over the music.

  “I know,” he replied. “Nothing more.”

  His voice was dark and raspy, and it held a hint of something that had her eyes popping up meeting his. Suddenly Gabby felt for him. She’d been so far stuck in the past that she hadn’t really thought of how he was feeling. Despite their history it had to be tough to find your girl curled up with someone else, someone you couldn’t compete with if you tried. She knew the feeling. These past twenty-four hours had to have been tough on him. It wasn’t like Nick was used to disappointment.

  “Hey, loosen up,” she yelled over the music, trying to bring lightness to her voice. “I’m sorry I was being such a hard ass. I’m glad you came out tonight—I know it’s making your brother happy having you here.”

  He nodded and they both looked at Steve who was paying them no mind, at the moment engaged in taking a shot from a short blond in a shorter skirt. Nick leaned in close to her ear and she fought not to pull back from the fizzle that came from his breath against her skin. “I doubt that within a half hour he’ll even know I’m here.”

  She nodded. “Well, I’m sure he knows you showed.”

  The music turned to an uptempo song once more, and Gabby was shocked to see Nick quickly change rhythm with the music. “Hey, you’re good.”

  “You’re surprised?”

  “And what if I am?”

  With that he leaned in close again, but this time did a silly, old school shake around her body a la Saturday Night Fever. “Is this more of how you saw me?”

  “Now, I wouldn’t go that far,” she said, picking up the beat again and shaking her hips, spinning around, surprised at how much she was enjoying this moment with Nick. She laughed and let go once again. But it was in a back dip and twirl that she saw them. Gabby paused for just a moment, then put her focus back on the music and the beat, but it was too late, she was already out of step. The women at the bar were both tall, model-esque gorgeous, and eying Nick like he was Christmas dinner. She also caught the way they looked her way and how their eyes did the dismissive glaze over, as if they could not believe for a second that he could possibly be there with her. Oh well, it wasn’t like they were far off. She turned back to him, telling herself it didn’t matter. They were just friends.

  And she needed to start acting like it. “I’m also sorry about Claire. You’re welcome to stay at the apartment as long as you need.”

  Nick stilled, going off beat himself, obviously surprised at her momentary kindness. His eyes were questioning at first then briefly went hard before, quick as a flash, he was back, smiling at her. All cool and reserved. “Thanks so much. That means a lot to me coming from you.”

  But he wasn’t looking her in the eye. He was looking past her—over her shoulder, toward the bar. She spun. The fairest of the two chicks from before was giving Nick face and body for all she was worth. Gabby turned back and looked at Nick who was looking at the woman. “Yeah, I can see that.”

  He seemed startled by her tone and snapped back to her. “What are you talking about?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. You know, my feet are getting kind of tired.” She started back toward the banquette, but was stilled by a hand on her arm.

  “May I have this dance?” said a voice she didn’t recognize.

  She looked up, brows drawn together, then she smiled wide. It was the tall and dark guy from earlier. “Sure,” she breathed out.

  “I thought you were tired,” Nick said against her ear.

  She looked from Nick to Tall and Dark then over to the girls by the bar. “I think I just got my second wind.”

  Chapter 4

  Nick sat up on the couch, picked up his vibrating cell and grimaced. Six missed calls from Claire. Well, he had to face her sometime and he guessed now was as good as any. Besides he didn’t want this hanging over his head come Monday morning. Just thinking of heading into the office tomorrow and facing her father filled him with dread. He needed a game plan. It wasn’t like he could come right out and tell a head partner that his little princess was a hot yoga, cheating, threesome-proposing witch. It would be the simplest way, but the most direct to the end of his career.

  Claire’s father, Bill Elliot, thought of himself as quite the progressive at the staid financial firm where he worked and was proud of the feather in his cap at having brought in the young, brown-skinned wonder kid who raked in good new money for the firm. Still, it was surprising to Nick that when he’d started dating Claire that Bill hardly
even batted an eye. Well, not much of one at least. Bill hadn’t let Nick forget that Claire was his little princess, and that the Elliots were a solid New York family with a long history in finance and estate planning.

  Though dating Claire kept him on edge since the stakes were so high, Nick had to admit it did have him puffing his chest a bit. Claire was just the type of woman who, for most of his life, his father told him he couldn’t have. The kind who would always be unobtainable to a low-rent wannabe like him, hovering just out of his reach. The ultimate brass ring on his climb up the corporate ladder.

  He frowned over his cell, clutching it tight. Maybe this time he had reached too far, and maybe his dad had been right. With this stunt, Claire had proven that she only wanted him for what he had between his legs and how he looked on her arm and it didn’t hurt that he gave her just a bit of an edge. Shit, she’d hardly batted an eye when he’d caught her with Yasmin. She knew she’d held all the cards. There was no real love lost. At least not with him. Sure, she smiled when they were in public and hell, he could admit it, he was pulled in because he even believed some of her murmured words of endearment in private. But this. This proved that she was using him. He gritted his teeth and swiped at his phone. He’d been played, and now it was time to do damage control and regroup.

  It’s me, he texted. Are you going to be in this afternoon? He only had to wait a beat for her reply.

  I have yoga.

  Nick felt his lips tighten. Leave it to Claire to double down on her bullshit. He fought to get control of his emotions. He let out a breath through his nose and tapped the keys. Yoga, huh? Fine. What time?

  12:30. At the studio.

  He thought for a moment, deciding to keep his words short.

  I’ll have my things out by the time you return.

  Nick put his phone away and didn’t look back for her reply. It didn’t make a difference anyway. No matter what she said, he was out. There was no way he was being a cuckold to any woman—especially a woman like Claire. A woman like her, he’d give an inch and she’d have him licking her boots in no time. Sure, fun for her but definitely not his shade of kink.

  He got up to head toward the kitchen, suddenly ravenous, but for some reason he couldn’t help looking toward Gabby’s closed bedroom door. He ran his hand along his chin and shook his head. Their dance last night sent him back in the best and the worst way imaginable. He looked toward Steve’s closed door. What would things be like once his brother was gone? The past nagged at him as the problem of Claire and the present pulled him another way.

  He’d never quite gotten Steve and Gabby’s relationship. Or it could be he’d never gotten past his jealousy of it. How a man and a woman—though when they’d first met she was hardly a woman—could stay in the same proximity so long and remain nothing more than friends? It always made him a little crazy. She was always so easy and trusting with Steve. So unguarded in a way she could never be with him. And Nick had realized he wanted that so much. More than anything. None of that smartass sass she gave to the rest of the world. None of the fake smiles. Just Gabby, the girl from next door.

  But no, he’d had his chance. His one chance to prove himself, but he’d fucked it up and lived up to his legacy and broken her heart. It was a memory that, try as he might, he couldn’t shake. He knew he’d done her wrong. Sure, he’d been young, but still old enough to know better, and worse yet, she’d been young too and she’d trusted him. Steve had trusted him too—and what did he do that weekend when she’d come to his college for a tour, all prepared to start in the fall, looking for his guidance, his advice? He sent her back home with a broken heart and an even lower expectation of him than she already had. He’d let her down.

  Nick shook his head. Time to shake off the past and get his head back in the game. He looked back at Gabby’s door, no longer hungry, but knowing he should have something to eat anyway if he was going to go and face clearing out his place. It would be great if Steve could go with him to help move him in and bring some stuff to the storage place. But Steve would be busy with his own packing today and then he’d be off. Nick let out a sigh. And then it would be just them. Nick and Gabby. On their own.

  • • •

  Gabby fought her body’s natural urges to get up and lay in bed, staring at the door. She could hear him out there scuffling around. Moving and folding and then doing more scuffling. What the hell was he doing up so early on a freaking Sunday morning? Didn’t he get what Sunday mornings were for? She gave the door a glare and turned to her side, but that only made things worse. The shift had her bladder going to full alert and now she really had to get up. Which meant she had to see him.

  Gabby hated feeling this out of sorts in her own home. Hell, in her own skin. It went against all she told herself she stood for. Women’s empowerment, loving herself just as she was in that moment, yada, yada, yada. And now Nicholas Ross was in her living room and he had her crossing her legs and risking a UTI instead of facing him while she looked less than her best. She let out a low hiss and flipped back her covers.

  “Screw this.” But when her feet hit the old rug covering the worn wooden floor, Gabby paused at the enormity of the day coming over her. Steve was leaving. What if he decided to stay out there? Who knew what this job would lead to, how it would change their lives. She suddenly wanted to tuck herself back under the covers. This little home she’d made with Steve felt more like home than any she’d ever had, even with her own mother.

  She shook her head. This was ridiculous. It was finally happening for her friend and she was glad. But his leaving was a huge reminder that she was no longer the young design hopeful who had moved in with him those years ago, the two of them ready to take on the world. Somehow she’d gotten stuck. Stuck in her career, stuck in her love life. And now Steve was moving on to a new life and she was standing still. A placeholder. The caretaker. Perfect to water the plants and make sure the pipes didn’t burst while he left for la la land.

  Gabby got up, stretching. Enough. If Steve could move forward, then so could she. By the time he came back, who knew where she’d be? Maybe she’d have made a stride or two on the career front. But then she remembered her dinner disaster with Dono. So much for him supporting her ideas to update Zenia to his dad. If she could just get Mr. Cabberera to inch forward a bit into the twenty-first century, she knew she could turn the dated fashion house around. She’d been lobbying since she was hired for trading the polyester and the sequins for more eco-friendly fibers and to expand past the skinnies to include the fuller-figured women. She knew she had it in her to design for all women. She’d been making clothes for herself since she was a kid and was given a second-hand machine and her first sewing lessons from Steve and Nick’s mom.

  The thought made her stop and smile and sadly brought a lump to her throat. She loved her own mother dearly and always would, but theirs was a difficult relationship at best. Her mother, young, beautiful, and single, had always felt she was saddled with a kid way too young. There wasn’t any time for the PTA, when it was ladies’ night somewhere. At times she missed Mrs. Ross almost as much as she knew Steve and Nick did.

  She pushed her hair back and reached for a pair of Lycra shorts. Steve leaving was obviously getting to her. But losing herself to morose feelings about the past would get her nowhere. She headed toward the door. Might as well send her friend off in style with a nice breakfast—besides, after last night, she was sure a little grease would do his body good.

  But first she made a beeline for the bathroom. Necessities were necessities. Glancing quickly toward the couch, she noticed it was done up—the pillows perfect, the sheets folded neatly and set to the side. And no sign of Nick. She did a quick peek in the bathroom, checking behind the curtain before she closed and locked the door behind herself. No need to tempt fate.

  But when she came out, she was hit by the smell of freshly brewed coffee and the sight of Nick in basketball shorts and a tank top at the kitchen counter. Not a bad morning view. He was
a looker from any angle; she’d give him that. Long legged and broad shouldered, firm backside and trim waist. She let out a sigh and shook her head at the déjà vu feeling of it all just as he turned around.

  “So, once again, you’re looking at my ass.”

  Gabby twisted her lips. “Very funny. How about you just work on not being an ass and we’ll get along fine.”

  He looked at her long and hard for a moment and then gave a nod. “You’re right. I have been an ass. And I’m sorry for it. You deserve better—you always did.”

  Nick was staring at her, his dark eyes sheepish and apologetic. There was none of his usual sultry, self-assured cockiness. This openness, this softness, had a vulnerability that had Gabby frowning and taking a small step back.

  She waved a hand and looked down. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  But his voice pulled her back up to his gaze. “Come on, Gab. I know you do.”

  She let out a short breath. There he was, challenging her again. “Nick, don’t start. There’s really no need, besides I don’t think you want to go there.”

  He stared at her a moment, as if considering carefully what to say next.

  “Go where?”

  They both turned to the pull of Steve’s sleepy voice and the sight of him coming out of his bedroom.

  Gabby looked from Steve to Nick, once again between the two men who had so much influence over her life. She wondered how long they would dance to this tune. It was getting damned tiring being friends with one brother while hiding her true feelings for the other. She gave Nick a raised brow then turned back to Steve. “I was telling your brother that he doesn’t want to go messing with my coffee creamer. It’s my morning vice, and I won’t have him bugging me about it with his health kick ways.”