by Nikky Kaye
She’d also told me that she’d hooked up with Jake, and had a wicked threesome with him and Dominic. At the time, I’d hooted and egged her on. I mean, they were both super hot and super available—why the hell not?
Now, however, I felt uncomfortable allowing myself the fantasy of Jake’s big, hard body sheltering mine. His strong arms could shield me from harm—or they could lift me up while he fucked me against the thin wall of my apartment. I could lean on his ridiculously broad shoulders, or I could feel them under my thighs as he tasted me. I suppressed a small shiver at the mental image.
Was it even appropriate for me to wonder about him, when he’d seen my best friend naked?
Then again, I’d seen Evie naked before, too. And I’d loaned her my underwear. Nothing says BFF like sharing ass floss—which she could borrow forever, as far as I was concerned.
She’d assured me, through blushes and stammers, that it was a one-time thing only. It had been a wild, hedonistic moment that had never repeated itself—nor did she really want it to. She was committed to Dominic Stone, and soon she’d be tied to him for better or for worse.
The sidewalks were filling up with people heading home after work. Was I safer in a crowd, or was my stalker just more easily camouflaged?
I didn’t want to go home. He could be waiting for me there. Or at my favorite coffee shop. Or at the gym. Okay, probably not the gym—since I hadn’t been there in months.
There was only one place I could think of where I would be safe.
I hopped in a cab to Evie and Dom’s castle in the sky. The penthouse downtown was where they spent most of their time, and I hoped Evie’s standing invitation still stood. The welcoming delight in her voice when I called up from the security desk was an arrow of guilt in my chest.
“You’ve been avoiding me!” was the first thing she said when I exited the elevator directly into the apartment.
I tilted my head just in time to avoid a nasty collision as she yanked me into her arms.
“Oof!”
Evie’s warmth and softness made my throat hurt. Had it been that long since I actually hugged somebody?
My friend stepped back, wrinkling her nose. “You’ve been drinking.”
Holding up my thumb and forefinger, I indicated, “Just a little. Stress management.”
“I do yoga for that, now.”
“Good for you.”
“And have lots of sex.” She stuck her tongue out at me.
“Great for you.” I wasn’t jealous, I wasn’t jealous, I wasn’t jealous.
Evie’s sunny mood lightened mine by sheer proximity. The wine hadn’t made me giggle, but now I felt the urge. It was just so damn good to see Evie happy. A miscarriage the previous fall had dimmed her spirits, but Dom really came through for her with every kind of support he could provide. Now it was spring, and Evie had… sprung back.
Like I said, I wasn’t jealous.
She led me into the kitchen, where I hopped onto a stool at the granite-topped island the size of a lifeboat.
“Grilled cheese?”
I pressed my fist to my heart. “Does this mean you forgive me for not being a great friend lately?”
“Not totally,” she said as she dug out a pan. “I’m giving you only one kind of cheese.”
I wasn’t about to complain. Experience reminded me that she made them the right way, with buttered bread and sharp cheddar sliced off the block.
By the time we ate our sandwiches—one of which she delivered to Dom where he was hunkered down in his home office—I’d finished telling her about my secret admirer and my ninja attack on Jake.
“You’re staying here tonight.”
I nodded. It was a statement, not a question. Evie’s assertiveness had definitely grown in the last year. You might even say she’d become a bit bossy, but I felt relief at having someone else take care of me—even if just for a few nights.
The bedroom she put me in was cozy, the pajamas roomy and, much to my surprise, I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. If they had kids already, I’d suspect that she sprayed the pillowcase with Monster Be Gone.
I hadn’t realized how badly I needed a solid night’s sleep, but I was still groggy when I headed to the kitchen in search of coffee. The long hem of the borrowed pants nearly tripped me as I rounded the corner and found Evie completely without her pajamas. On the kitchen island.
“Fuck me harder!” she cried out.
She wasn’t talking to me.
“Oh my god!” I spun around and clapped my hands over my eyes. Then my ears. Shit, why didn’t I have four hands? “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t—agh!”
Evie’s muffled, breathy voice came through my hands. “Did you need something?”
“Coffee.” And maybe brain bleach. Or a vibrator.
Even more embarrassing than interrupting such an intimate, carnal scene was the way my own body had immediately begun to react. My skin tingled, and heat stabbed through my middle.
“Do you still want coffee?” Dom sounded more amused than angry.
I took my hands off my ears and put them over my eyes again as I instinctively turned back toward the kitchen. “Yes. No! Fuck, no!”
“Yeah… that’s not something I hear often.” He snickered.
“Apparently.” Go. I needed to… go. “I’ll just go out or something.”
“Is that safe, Annie?” Evie asked.
“Is what safe?”
I never understood the saying “she jumped out of her skin” until Jake’s voice echoed in my ear.
“Agh!” He stood so close behind me that I nearly head-butted him in the chest when I spun around in shock. “What the—?”
“Morning, Annie.” He grinned down at me, then nodded casually over my head at his brother and his… what? Ex? Soon-to-be sister-in-law? “Hey, guys.”
There was no embarrassment in his discovery of the couple’s intimacy, no hesitation in his acceptance of it. The jealousy burning in my chest irritated me, as did his sneaking up on me.
I crossed my arms over my chest, forgetting that my hands were needed for eye and ear protection. “Where did you come from?”
Jake shrugged. “I know the elevator code. And I went to a good ninja school.”
My face grew hot at the memory of jumping on his back. It grew hotter as I imagined jumping on his front. “Uh…”
“Wow,” he murmured, “that’s quite a blush.” I froze in shock as his palm cupped my cheek. His gaze swept over my face and down my neck and chest. “What are you thinking about?”
It was a good thing that my hands were still tucked under my armpits, because they probably would have been shaking.
Every time I saw Jake, my composure was exponentially disturbed. The first time, I ogled him. The second time, I attacked him. The third time, I went up in flames as he simply touched my face. What would happen at our next encounter? Would I survive it?
Did I want to?
“I’ll make you some coffee,” Evie announced, interrupting my quickly derailing train of thought.
“Baby, noooo,” Dom whined.
I heard a quiet grunt and the noise of bare skin skidding across polished stone—probably Evie’s backside as she tried to get off the island.
“No!” I began to turn back to the kitchen, but Jake’s hands went out to my shoulders to still me.
“I don’t think you really want to do that,” he murmured. His palms smoothed up and down my upper arms in a soothing motion. I bristled a little at being treated like an agitated animal, but remained still and facing him.
“I mean—it’s okay. I’ll go down the street or something.” It was a big city. There had to be a Starbucks on every other corner. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, Evie.”
Jake’s caresses stopped, his grip tightening just above my elbows. “What will be fine?”
“Annie has a stalker.”
“Evie!” I closed my eyes, embarrassed. I’d been taking care of myself for a long time. Certainly
I could deal with a garden-variety creeper, right?
“What do you mean, a stalker?” Jake’s voice lowered and roughened with each word, until he was practically growling.
“You know—notes, gifts, showing up at her apartment,” my friend explained helpfully.
One of Jake’s hands went to my chin, tilting it up. My eyes flew open; his searching gaze pinned me to the spot. “Is that why you flipped out on me last week? You thought I was…”
“Maybe. Kind of. Could be.” I tried to look down, but his hand held my face up. The best I could do to escape was close my eyes again.
It seemed unlikely that I would ever mistake Jake for a stranger again. His body—hell, his mere presence was imprinting itself on me with every meeting. I’d never had this kind of reaction to a man before. It was like my frayed nerves were reaching out to him, twining and fusing together.
I hated feeling vulnerable like this. It reminded me of the times I’d longed to be comforted as a child. Now Jacob Stone was evoking all these feelings in me again—feelings that I’d spent a long time trampling down underneath me.
He rubbed my chin with his thumb. “And that’s why you’re wearing Evie’s pajamas? You stayed here last night?”
“It’s not a big deal.” I shrugged, looking at the floor. Not wanting to know how he knew they were Evie’s PJs.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded.
Was I supposed to? “It didn’t concern you.”
And it really didn’t. I’d been taking care of myself for a long time. It never occurred to me to tell him about my secret admirer. It was embarrassing enough to have one.
His hands dropped, making me suck in a quiet breath.
I felt the absence of his touch more keenly than when he first he laid his hands on me. My skin felt exposed, like I’d been too long on the beach without sunscreen.
“Didn’t. Concern me,” he echoed. His voice was as flat, dry and hard as the Arizona desert—without the heat.
“As fascinating as this all is,” Dominic said, “I’d like to get back to fucking my fiancée. You stay, you play.”
My eyes widened as Jake’s lips curved up. Oh god.
“No, I’m taking Annie for coffee.”
And he grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the elevator.
CHAPTER FOUR
JAKE
My fingers completely circled her wrist. How easy would it be for a psycho stalker to grab her? I wondered.
“Jake!”
I ignored her protests, until I heard her bare feet slap on the tile floor in the foyer. “Put your shoes on.”
Her voice echoed behind me. “Um, what about—”
“Shoes, Annie. Put. Them. On.”
I slapped the button to call the elevator harder than necessary then scrubbed my hand over my face. Like I didn’t have enough on my mind? Now I was imagining some asshole sniffing Annie’s hair while she slept.
Motherfucker.
“But—”
I sighed. “No buts. Unless you want to take your clothes off and join those two in the kitchen, we are leaving. I’ll get you your fucking coffee, and you can explain why having a stalker doesn’t concern me.”
It wasn’t until we were in the elevator and almost to the lobby when I really looked at her. Her expression was a mixture of irritation and anxiety, and her pajamas made her look like she was twelve.
Pajamas. Shit.
Well, I didn’t really care, to be totally honest. But I steered her to the closest coffee shop I knew of, which was just at the end of the block, so her walk of shame would be shorter.
“This is so embarrassing,” she muttered as I shoved her down onto a chair.
“Sit.”
She popped back up like a spring, glaring at me. “I’m not a dog, Jake.”
I shook my head as I went to the counter, knowing that saying one word—one syllable—about women being bitches would be a bad idea. Damn contrary woman.
“You didn’t even ask me what I like,” Annie grumbled when I got back to the table with drinks and a couple of muffins. At least she was sitting down now, and she hadn’t left. She turned the side of the cup to peer at the shorthand order written on it.
“I got you a mocha with an extra shot of espresso.”
She pouted. “What if I didn’t like chocolate?”
I blinked at her, speechless. Didn’t all girls like chocolate? Shit, even Stella loved hot cocoa when it was cold outside.
Annie said nothing more as she delicately sipped the drink. Satisfied that she seemed to be able to choke it down, I tore off a piece of muffin and shoved it in my mouth. She was playing me. Again.
Her slim fingers wrapped around the paper cup as she took bigger and longer sips. With each passing moment, she seemed more energized, yet calmer at the same time.
She was so intent on her coffee that she didn’t even notice a couple of women staring at her, probably wondering why she was wearing pajamas. I stared them down until they lowered their gazes and moved on to a table on the other side.
We sat in silence until we were half done our coffees, and the frown lines on her forehead had vanished.
I sat back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. “Okay, tell me everything I don’t know.”
Her eyebrow lifted. So did the corners of her mouth. “We could be here a while.”
What? Oh. “Smartass.”
The grin she flashed at me was completely disarming. I suspected that Annie Asato had a wicked sense of humor when not being targeted by some lovesick psycho. That information just made me feel… wicked.
Her cheeks turned red as she haltingly told me about the notes—which she brushed off—and the gifts. When she admitted that he’d left sexy lingerie right outside her front door, I sat up straight with two competing thoughts: How the hell did he get into the building? And how hot would she look like in the lingerie?
“Jake?”
I shook my head. “What color was it?”
Frown. “The box?”
“The panties.”
She reached for her coffee. “Seriously?”
Now it was my turn for a disarming grin. “Just kidding!” Sort of.
“Sure, and I’m the smartass.” She snorted and rolled her eyes as she tilted her head back to finish her drink.
Annie had a very long neck, I noticed. Other than a faint crease, probably from looking down at her phone, it was unblemished and very, very…biteable. Her shoulders probably were, too. It wouldn’t take much work to undo a few buttons of the oversized pajamas and slip the shirt off to expose. As my gaze wandered over her, I realized that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
I was attracted to her, sure. But the way this woman turned me around was beginning to irritate me. It wasn’t that I disrespected women—it was just that they were either goodhearted but naïve—like Evie—or a bunch of lying whores. Maybe that was harsh, but Stella’s mom sure hadn’t endeared me to the gender as a whole.
Annie didn’t seem to fit either of those descriptions. She was tiny but tough, wary but reckless. It was pretty dumb of her to jump me when she thought I was her stalker—even dumber and more dangerous if I actually had been the dude.
“I can put you up.” The words came out of my mouth before I registered what I was saying.
“Uh, escoof me?” There was still muffin in her mouth when her lips parted.
“Let’s face it. You can’t take care of yourself.”
Her face turned a kind of purple color, and her eyes were bugging out. “Can’t…”
Shit. “Are you choking?” I asked her, enunciating carefully and mentally reminding myself how to do the Heimlich. “Put your hands to your throat if you’re choking.”
“Can’t take care of myself?” she spluttered.
Oh. “No offense, honey. But we already know how shitty your ninja moves are. I’d feel better if you stayed at my place—which I know is safe—while we figure out who this asshole is and how to get rid of him.”
/> She blinked. “There are so many things wrong with that statement, that I don’t even know where to start.”
“Can you fight off a man who’s got a hundred pounds on you?”
Silence.
“Can this guy get into your building?”
More silence. There was a mulish set to Annie’s chin, reminding me of Stella when she didn’t want to get out of the bathtub.
I sat back, sighing. “Are you looking for trouble?” My muscles tensed as she kicked the leg of my chair.
“Mumble mumble coffee with you mumble mumble.”
“What’s it gonna be, Annie?” I waited.
The woman could do silence better than anyone I’d ever met, even guys in Special Forces. Maybe it was just her silence that rubbed me the wrong way. Most women I’d known only stopped yammering if my cock was in their mouths.
She stood up, pushing her chair back. “I’ll take my chances with Evie.”
I had to practically chase her back to Dom’s. For a slight woman, she had a powerful motor. She didn’t even hold the elevator for me, after charming the doorman. My frustration was rising as quickly as I did, all the way up to the penthouse.
When the doors opened, she was standing right there—easy to catch up to. Easy to catch. I opened my mouth to ask her why she wasn’t going in, until the sound effects echoed down the travertine hallway.
“You want me to lick that sweet pussy, don’t you?”
I heard Evie moan in response.
“Beg me, baby. Beg for my cock. If you’re a good girl I’ll let you have it—any way you want.”
“Jesus, Dom. Have some dignity,” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck. There was pussy-whipped, and then there was pussy-flayed. Thank god I had more self-control than that. Well, mostly.
Annie let out a shaky breath beside me. Her pink lips were parted, her eyes closed. And her warm body was frozen to the spot.
When I inched closer, she didn’t move—but she bit her lower lip. Hmmm.
“You still want to stay here?” I asked in a low voice. “Are you a voyeur, Annie? Tell me, does it turn you on to listen to them?”
She gasped so quietly I almost didn’t hear her. Almost.