by Jess Dee
She snapped her jaw shut, which would have been fine if she hadn’t then dropped her gaze first to his mouth and then to his dick two of the places he’d imagined and nervously licked her lips in the process.
Tyler groaned. “Damn it, woman.” He shook his head to clear it. “I let you go last night. Do that again, and I swear you won’t get off so easy.”
See, it’s comments like that, that convince me I’ right. Her temper flared. “Your life has turned into a series of dicey events. What about me, Tyler? Am I just another risk to you? A means of revving up your oh-so boring life?”
Shit, he never thought she’d go there, never thought she’d mention the fact he was risking everything for her. He was, but not because she was just another kick out of life. He was willing to chance everything for her because he did not want to live another day without her.
“Easy, Katie. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh I don’t?” Her eyes flashed. “You don’t see a pattern emerging?
A pattern that might send your life straight to hell? If you don’t get yourself killed on your bike, or break your neck jumping out of planes, you can fuck up your friendship with Steve. How do you think he’ll respond when he finds out you almost had sex with his fiancé?”
“That’s a good question.” He turned the tables straight back on her.
“How do you think he’ll respond?” Fuck. He shouldn’t have said that. He should have shut the fuck up. Too much for one day, Bonnard!
She slumped back in her seat. The anger drained from her shoulders, but a million other emotions played across her face. She didn’t touch on any of them. In the end she ignored the question altogether, and he didn’t bring it up again.
“Tell me, Ty, what made you jump out of an airplane the first time?
Why’d you choose to endanger your life for a little joyride? And don’t feed me that crap about it not being so risky.”
He studied her for a long while without answering. They needed to talk, and she’d given him the perfect opening. Maybe he should just come out with it.
What was he waiting for? Would there ever be a time Katie would be more ready to hear what he had to say? Christ, where would he start? At the beginning?
At the end? With an apology? With his first jump?
He just sighed heavily. Steve would be back soon. This conversation would have to wait.
Her gaze searched his face, softened. “Ty?” she prompted, her voice gentle.
“What made you do it?”
He shook his head.
Her eyes were alert, compassionate. “You’re hiding something from me, Tyler. What is it?”
“It’s a long story, Katie.” He drummed his fingers on the table.
“I have time. For you, I always have time. As much as you need.”
She covered his hand with hers, stilling his restless fingers. “Whatever else may have happened between us, you are still my best friend. Talk to me, please. Tell me what you’re hiding.”
He shifted his gaze to stare at their hands. She turned his until their palms touched. The innocent action was unexpectedly intimate, and Tyler couldn’t stop the warmth that flooded through his arm and into his chest. Yes, whatever else had transpired between them, she was still his best friend.
He shook his head again. “It’s not only about time. It’s about Steve too.”
“So what is it about? Did something happen to you in London?”
He smiled wryly. “Remember what I said to you this morning? Right here in your kitchen?”
Color heightened her cheeks. “How could I forget?” she whispered and knit her brows. “You, uh, told me you were half mad with wanting me.”
Her voice was sweet, like warm honey. Lust, hot and potent, crept into his limbs, making them heavy. The air between them seemed to shimmer. He closed his eyes and fought down his hunger.
When he was sure he’d reined in his self-control, he opened them again. He squeezed her fingers and let go of her hand. “I meant the part about you asking too many questions for your own good,” he corrected gently.
He leaned over, put a finger under her chin and lifted her face to his. Her eyes were enormous pools of repressed desire. “If you’re not ready to hear my answers, sweet Katie, I suggest you stop asking questions.”
And once again, he kissed her. His lips touched hers, just long enough to remind her that the fierce fire they’d lit last night had not been doused, and just short enough to leave the flames roaring furiously in his body.
“Sweet dreams, my love,” he whispered, and walked out of the kitchen.
Five minutes after Katie closed herself in her room, the phone rang. Tyler answered it. By the time he hung up a good twenty minutes later, Steve was back. Tyler found him in the kitchen, making coffee.
“Want a cup?” he asked, when he saw Tyler.
“Not for me. Thanks.”
“Kate gone to bed?”
“Yes. She looked knackered.”
“I don’t blame her. I’m pretty beat myself.”
“Happy you jumped?”
Steve thought about it. “Uh-huh. I won’t ever do it again, mind you, but I loved it.”
Tyler grinned at him. “Like I said, you’re a wuss.”
“Maybe so,” Steve agreed happily. “At least I’ll be a living wuss, unlike you, mate.”
Tyler’s mind was half on his phone conversation, half on Steve. If anyone was a wuss, it was Tyler. It had been over a week and still he hadn’t told Katie or Steve why he was back. Sure, he’d wanted to ascertain Steve’s feelings for Pen, but he hadn’t done a damn thing about it yet. He hadn’t had a chance.
Until now.
He pursed his lips. “Steve?”
His friend stirred sugar into his drink. “Hmm?”
He took out his little seed again. “That was Penelope on the phone.”
Steve’s movements faltered. “Oh.” He resumed stirring. “How is she?”
Tyler studied his back, noticing the muscles cord in his shoulders.
“Okay, I guess.” That wasn’t exactly the full truth, but it wasn’t his place to share all the facts.
Steve picked up his mug, blew on the coffee and hesitated before taking a sip.
Tyler took the bottle of milk from the counter and put it back in the fridge.
“She says hi.” He needed to play this one cool. Demanding Steve expose his deepest feelings for Pen would not get him any answers.
Steve nodded, blew and took another sip. “She still teaching?” He trained his eyes on the window, staring into the darkness outside.
“Yes.” Was it a good sign that Steve couldn’t talk about Pen and face him at the same time?
“She still love it so much?”
“It’s the kids she loves more than the work. They make her happy.”
He didn’t move a muscle. “Does she know I’m getting married?”
“We discussed it.” At length.
Steve’s face was void of expression or emotion. “I suppose that saves me a phone call I’d have had to make sooner or later.”
“You were going to contact her?” Tyler asked, caught by surprise.
Steve hadn’t spoken to Penelope in a very long time.
Steve frowned. “I owe her that much.”
Technically, he didn’t owe Pen a damn thing. “Decent of you.”
Finally Steve smiled and made a halfhearted attempt at a joke.
“Hey, you know me. I’m a decent guy.”
Tyler didn’t laugh. “She still gets to you, doesn’t she?” he asked quietly.
Their futures Steve’s, Katie’s, his own, and even Pen’s, all hinged on his answer.
Steve shook his head, stared into the darkness. “It’s immaterial.
I’ve moved on. I’m getting married.” He took a gulp of coffee, then swore and touched his tongue. “Ouch.”
“Burnt?” Tyler asked.
He nodded and put the cup down. “Too damn
hot.”
Tyler gave him a sympathetic smile. It wasn’t the coffee that bothered his friend. It was his question.
After a couple of tense minutes, Steve spoke. “Is she seeing anyone?”
Tyler thought twice before answering. “You sure you want to know?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure at all, but tell me anyway.”
“There’s someone. I don’t know how serious it is. He seems more interested than she does.”
“Story of her life, isn’t it?” Steve muttered.
“Mate-”
Steve cut him off. “No, don’t say it. Our relationship was what it was. I knew that all along. I was under no false illusions that she wanted the happy ever after.”
Tyler swore to himself. Talk about false illusions. “Still think about her so much?”
Steve’s lips were tight. “I try not to.”
“Must be damn near impossible. She was the only woman you thought about for a long time.” Tyler had tried not to think about Katie. he’d tried every day for two years, but he hadn’t managed to delete her from his mind. Not once in all that time. Had it been the same for Steve with Pen? In a fucked-up kind of a way he hoped it had.
Steve took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “Yeah, Ty. I still think about her.” He dropped his gaze. Stared at his drink.
“Doesn’t make a difference though. I’m getting married, and Pen is not the lucky woman. He threw the rest of his coffee in the sink and rinsed the cup. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to join the lucky woman who will be my bride.” He pointed at Tyler. “See you in the morning.”
Just like that, the conversation was over.
Tyler looked at his seed. It had sprouted a tiny leaf. Which meant the time had definitely come to tell Katie the full story. He could procrastinate no more.
NINE
Katie yawned and stretched as she opened her eyes to the weak light of early morning. A loving caress had woken her.
“Good morning,” a voice murmured in her ear.
She nuzzled her back into the warm strength of his chest, and pressed her thighs against his. “Morning,” she answered, not quite conscious. Reality and dreams blurred together.
“Sleep well?” he asked.
“Mmm. Like a log.”
He caressed her breast, flicked her nipple. “Me too. It’s easer to sleep when your bed mate’s not tossing and turning the whole night.”
“Steve!”
She pressed her palm over his hand to still his movement, and was at once fully conscious.
“Come down from yesterday’s adrenaline rush yet?” he asked.
There’d been no time to talk last night. By the time he’d joined her in bed, she’d been dead to the world. Utterly shattered from the day’s jump, she hadn’t needed to feign sleep.
“Yes. I think so.” Oh jeez. His hand was on her breast.
“Good.” He chuckled quietly behind her. “Ready for another one?”
“Skydive?” Katie asked stupidly. Did she want his hand there?
“Nope, babe.” She heard the smile in his voice. “Adrenaline rush.”
He pulled her closer, pushed his erection against her ass, and her heart lurched in her chest.
Her already-frustrated body reacted instinctively to his advances.
Her panties grew damp. Yes, she was turned on, but it wasn’t Steve who’d made her horny. It was Tyler.
Her nipple tightened against his Steve’s hot skin. His palm felt good there, sensual. She wanted it there.
No, she didn’t.
Yes, she did.
Christ, she didn’t know what she wanted. She wanted sex, that much was for sure. Tyler’s teasing and tormenting had left her in a permanent state of arousal. One touch of her breast was all it took to ignite the fire that had lain temporarily dormant in her belly. Her fiancé and lover lay behind her an instant fix to a pressing problem.
How could she resist?
She relaxed back against him.
He moved his arm lower, freeing himself from her grip, and touched her belly.
Fuck, who was she kidding? She couldn’t make love to Steve. Not like this not without him knowing the truth.
“Stop!” The word was torn from her throat.
He wrenched his hand away. “Jesus, Kate. What is it?”
She sat up, quickly. So did he. “I can’t do this.”
“You can’t do what?”
“I can’t you know” She waved a finger between them, back and forth. “You and me. This. I can’t do it. Not until I tell you the truth.”
He eyed her warily. “What truth?”
Katie dropped her head in her hands. The time had come to stop hiding behind her cowardice. To stop hiding behind her promise to Tyler. So what if Tyler had sworn her to secrecy? Steve deserved more than lies and half-truths. He deserved to know everything. “The truth about me and Tyler.”
The bed shifted as Steve collapsed on his back. He drew in a deep breath but didn’t speak.
She peeped at him through her fingers. “You were right about us,”
she whispered. Yes, she’d promised Tyler, but she wasn’t marrying him.
“Right about what?” He might have asked the question, but he knew the answer.
She lifted her head so she could face him when she spilled the facts. “I… We… um. He and I, there was something between us.”
Steve stared at her.
“We were lovers.” Lord, it was just as difficult to tell him as she’d always feared.
“You were lovers?” he repeated.
“Briefly. Just before he left.” Please, don’t let him be upset. Please.
“When, exactly?” His voice was chillier than she’d ever heard it.
Details? He wanted details? “Uh the night of your tennis match in Noosa.”
“That’s it? Just one night?” Steve’s eyes narrowed.
“No.” She rubbed her arms, feeling suddenly very cold. “Not just one night. We were lovers until he left for London.”
He shook his head. “Tyler was the bastard who broke your heart.”
Her chest tightened. “Please don’t call him that. He’s your best friend.”
“He broke your heart,” he repeated again.
“Don’t blame him. I gave it to him to break. Wrapped it up in a red ribbon and handed it to him.”
Steve squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again. “You have to give me a minute with this one, Kate. It’s not every day a man hears that his fiancé was once his best friend’s lover.” He closed his eyes. Opened them. Stared at the ceiling.
Katie touched his arm, but he shrugged her off. A minute later he threw off the covers and launched himself out of bed. The bathroom door closed with a soft bang behind him.
Katie sat, unmoving, her heart pounding in her chest.
Water ran, the toilet flushed. More water. Then silence. Her heart beat harder. Had she done the right thing?
The door swung open.
“You loved him, didn’t you?” He stood in his boxers in the doorway.
“He couldn’t have done such a number on you if you didn’t.”
She nodded silently. Steve had been there. he’d helped put the pieces of her broken life back together. She didn’t need to tell him how much Tyler had meant to her.
“He loved you too?”
“Yeah, Steve. He did. Not that it mattered he’d left anyway.”
“For a month you two were lovers, and neither of you thought to mention it to me?”
Katie blushed with shame. “I wanted to tell you. I honestly did. But at the same time I didn’t want you to find out. I didn’t want to exclude you from our circle, didn’t want to isolate you. You were still upset about Penelope. Throwing my new relationship with Tyler in your face would only have made it worse. So I pretended everything was still the same, even though it wasn’t.”
His face darkened. “What about when he left, Kate? The dynamics changed ag
ain. It was just the two of us. Telling me about you and Tyler wouldn’t have made a difference then.”
Of course she should have told him then. She hadn’t. “Yes, it would have. You were like my big brother, ready to kill anyone who hurt me.
Jeez, Steve, how many times did you threaten to beat the shit out of the bastard who broke my heart? If you’d known it was Tyler, you would have been furious with him. I… I never wanted to come between the two of you.”
“Big of you,” he said cynically, and curled his fingers into a fist. His thunderous expression told her he was mad enough to hit someone.
Her? Or Tyler? “Thanks for saving me from myself.” He walked across the room and put on his jeans. “Ever think that marrying your ex-lover’s best friend might get in the way of their friendship?” he asked with studied casualness. “You know, the friendship you strove so hard to protect?”
His barb struck home and stung deeply. “Tyler was gone,” she said hoarsely.
“I didn’t think he would come home. Ever.”
“Ah. So you settled for second best. You accepted my proposal.” He pulled on his T-shirt.
Her jaw dropped. That one she could argue without the slightest hint of shame. “Dear God, Steven Sommers. You are not second best.
You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Without you I would never have survived the last two years.”
He shrugged. “I’m not Tyler.”
“I’m not Pen,” she rebutted. “That doesn’t make me second best, does it?”
He didn’t answer, just sat on the floor and put on his shoes.
She jumped out of bed and plopped down next to him. “Shit, Steve, we discussed this when you proposed. You’re not Tyler. I know that.
Marrying him was never an option, just like marrying Penelope wasn’t an option for you.”
“This isn’t a question of second best. This is a question of what, or should I say who, is right for us now.”
Steve tied his laces.
Her temper frayed. “Damn it, Sommers, you can’t blame me now for loving Tyler in the past. That is not fair.”
“It’s hard to remain neutral, Kate. Your ex-lover is sleeping next door.”
She bit back her anger. She had no right to lose it with Steve. He had done nothing wrong. Unlike her. “That’s right. My ex-lover!” She tried to say it emphatically but nearly choked over the truth. Not two nights before he’d almost become her current lover. “Ex, Steve. I’m marrying you.”