A Tempting Friendship (Clover Park #10)

by Kylie Gilmore

  “Don’t,” she whispered. His grip on her hair tightened and an electric jolt of undeniable lust shot through her.

  “Don’t doesn’t stop Damon. Remember taradiddle? That’s what stops Damon.”

  She’d looked it up. Taradiddle meant fib. He was calling her a liar, and she was, her body traitorous as always to her mind, denying the truth of what she craved.

  His eyes were hot on hers. “Say it,” he demanded.

  She kept her mouth shut, her body aching for his touch.

  His mouth met hers in a rough kiss, his grip tight on her wrists. She couldn’t fight this fire that raged between them, only surrender. Sweet, sweet surrender. He pressed closer, his hard planes fitting perfectly against everywhere she ached. With her eyes closed, she could forget everything—the basement and her memories, her best friend. This was just two bodies hungry for each other like Damon and Mia. He became more aggressive, his tongue delving, his hand leaving her head only to lift her leg, pressing them closer together, pelvis to pelvis. She mewled with need, desperate for more, rocking her hips mindlessly against his hardness, his heat. He lifted his head, his hand still restraining her wrists behind her back.

  “Say you want me, Julia. Me, Angel.”

  She opened her eyes, and reality came back in a rush—the boxes of her and Brad’s life surrounding them. The importance of never losing her best friend. Her dirty little secret.

  She swallowed over the lump in her throat. She couldn’t say the words he wanted.

  He released her leg and her wrists, bringing a cool rush of space between their overheated bodies.

  “Say it,” he demanded, the tone just as angry as he’d been that day when he’d told her to grow up. She could count on one hand the number of times Angel had been angry with her. It cut deep, making her eyes hot and her gut churn. No one meant more to her than him, but she couldn’t give him what he wanted either.

  She closed her stinging eyes. “Taradiddle.”

  He let out a stream of curses, turned, and stormed out.

  “Wait! Angel!” She rushed up the stairs and caught him by the sleeve as he was reaching for his jacket in the living room. “Don’t be angry with me. Please. We should talk.”

  He turned, his jaw tight, the anguished look in his eyes reflecting the pain she felt every time she tried to move forward with him. “Why, Julia? Why can’t I have you as myself?”

  The weight of the past made her shoulders droop. “We have too much history.”

  “Bullshit.”

  The word hit her like a slap. She rocked back on her heels, needing distance yet needing to be close at the same time. That was always the push and pull she had with Angel. “We got together for all the wrong reasons.” The guilt over that still stopped her in her tracks. The aftermath nearly destroyed her.

  He stared at her for a long tension-filled moment before finally saying in a carefully controlled voice, “And what would be the right reasons?”

  “I don’t know!” she cried.

  “Turn around,” he said, his voice calm and sure and not nearly as furious as it had been a moment ago. Her mind was having trouble deciphering the change in tone.

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  She turned. A moment later she felt him close, his heat at her back, and then he swept her hair to the side and his lips met the side of her neck in a hot, open-mouthed kiss. She stiffened, and he wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides as his mouth became rougher on her neck, biting and sucking and soothing with his tongue. She moaned, she couldn’t help it. He kissed up the column of her throat to her ear and onto the sensitive underside of her jaw, his grip on her loosening enough to enfold her in his arms.

  His voice was husky in her ear. “If this is what it takes, then this is how we’ll be.”

  “I-I don’t know what you mean.”

  He lifted her hair and kissed the back of her neck, bringing hot shivers before shifting to the side of her neck. She closed her eyes and tilted her head, giving him open access. His mouth moved to her ear, tugging her earlobe between his teeth. “You need to be like Mia, only taking her lover from behind because she can’t accept who she’s with. Not with her secrets, not with the betrayal that would turn him against her forever.”

  The words hit too close, too sharply, twisting in her gut. “I don’t want to play this game,” she whispered.

  He turned her head just enough to claim her mouth in an overwhelming, drugging kiss. “This isn’t a game. Not anymore.”

  “Ang—”

  His mouth covered hers again, silencing her. Then he was back to kissing her neck, the rush of rough possession allowing her needy body to silence her brain’s protests. He tugged her hips back against him as he bent her over, pressing her palms against the wall in front of her. She was suddenly light-headed, dizzy with lust, and desperate for what he could give her. He nudged her legs apart with his leg, spreading her open to him, and then pressed his hardness against her through the thin fabric of her leggings, drawing a soft moan from her. Her body craved him, and she wouldn’t stop him again. She waited in breathless anticipation for him to rip her clothes off.

  He pulled away. “That’s all you get for today.”

  And then he left her aching and wondering which outcome would’ve been worse—if he followed through or if he didn’t.

  Because she wasn’t so sure anymore.

  Chapter Ten

  Angel didn’t return to Julia’s house that weekend. He’d pushed things as far as he could without crossing the line that always made Julia push him away. Like they were sinners. Maybe they were once, but not anymore. In any case, he couldn’t spend another minute with her and not have her naked. He wanted her too damn much. So he had to keep his distance. For now.

  His family was strangely quiet about Julia during Sunday family dinner. He’d thought for sure there’d be follow-up questions after his dad’s advice to step up or step off. It was so unlike his brothers not to tease and harass, he suspected someone, probably his dad, had told everyone to shut their trap where Julia was concerned. He appreciated it, whoever was behind it. The situation was precarious and not open for public discussion. By Monday, he couldn’t wait to see her again. That was how it always was with Julia. He could never stay away long. Luckily, they worked at the same school, Eastman Elementary, so he caught up to her in the hallway on the way to lunch in the teachers’ lounge.

  She walked head down, like she had a lot on her mind, and he remembered belatedly that she was supposed to visit Brad’s parents yesterday.

  “Julia, how’re you doing? How’d it go at Brad’s parents’ house?”

  She raised her head, and he read pain in those dark blue eyes. “I didn’t go.”

  “Why not?”

  “There were still more boxes of his in the basement, and I couldn’t get the van until this weekend.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling guilty for bailing on her because of his uncontrollable lust. “I should’ve stayed and helped you finish up the boxes.”

  She shook her head. “I think you left at the right time.”

  “I—”

  “Not here,” she said and pulled open the door to the teachers’ lounge. She was right. This wasn’t the place for a conversation that could get heated.

  He joined her at their usual table with Ally, Dana, Emma, and Suzanne. The women were all abuzz about Ally’s wedding.

  “Can you two make it to rehearsal the Friday before?” Ally asked, looking at him and Julia. The wedding was two weeks away on Valentine’s Day.

  “Of course,” Julia said.

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” Angel said. He wondered if he’d be paired with Julia. If he’d get to walk down the aisle with her like it was their wedding. He tuned out as the women discussed bridesmaid dresses and corsages, until Principal Johnston stopped by, and they all quieted.

  “How is everyone today?” Principal Johnston asked, standing next to their table in her
usual gray business suit. The principal, Carol, was stern and rigid, and typically didn’t bother with being friendly in the teachers’ lounge. But Angel saw a different side of her in their mutual dealings with families in crisis. Her compassion and devotion to the children’s well-being first and foremost made him happy to work here. He’d previously worked for the county in some deeply troubling situations with very little support from above.

  “Good,” Angel responded to Carol with a smile. The rest of the women’s responses were lukewarm at best. Except Ally, whose enthusiasm for all things wedding could not be dimmed.

  Ally beamed. “We were just discussing my upcoming wedding.”

  “Oh, I see. And you’re all invited?” Carol straightened her already rigid spine.

  “You’re welcome to come too,” Ally quickly said.

  “Thank you. I will have to check my calendar.” Carol abruptly took a seat and whispered, “Has anyone read the third book of the Fierce trilogy yet?”

  The other women denied it, perhaps the truth, perhaps not wanting to discuss it with their boss.

  “I did,” Angel said.

  Julia twirled a lock of her hair and looked everywhere but at him.

  Carol spoke in a stage whisper. “Can you believe what—”

  “No spoilers!” Ally said, covering her ears. “La-la-la! I was too busy planning the wedding to read it, but I have it and I’ll finish before our next book club meeting.”

  “Oh, I see,” Carol said, pursing her lips and taking them all in. “You have a book club. How nice.”

  “You’re welcome to join us,” Angel said.

  The women leveled him with lethal looks. They, apparently, didn’t want to discuss sexy books in front of their boss, but, come on, it was obvious Carol enjoyed the books and wanted to join them.

  “If you don’t mind me joining you,” Carol said with an unusual softness to her voice.

  An awkward silence fell.

  “We’d love to have you,” Angel said.

  The other women continued shooting him death-ray looks until Carol looked around the table for confirmation. The women slapped smiles on their faces with a chorus of agreement.

  Ally’s smile was just as pasted on when she said in a forced cheerful voice, “This’ll be fun.”

  Carol nodded once. “See you then.” She left, and there was a collective sigh of relief when the door of the teachers’ lounge shut behind her.

  “Nice going,” the normally mild-mannered Dana spat at him.

  Angel held up a hand. “It’s not easy to be the boss. No one ever wants to pal around with you.”

  “For a reason,” Emma snapped. “You think I want her knowing how much these books have spiced up my marriage?”

  “Or led to my marriage?” Ally asked.

  “Maybe she needs to spice up her marriage too,” Angel declared. Then he looked right at Julia, in a look meant to eat her up, as he asked, “Who knows what Damon will do next?”

  Julia’s bright pink blush was all the encouragement he needed.

  ~ ~ ~

  Hailey called for an early meeting of the book club (instead of their usual every two weeks meeting) both because she was frantic planning Ally’s Valentine’s Day wedding and because she’d received numerous calls from members who’d read the last in the trilogy, Fierce Loving, and were dying to talk about it. Julia found herself in an internal battle over whether or not to go. On one side, her brain screamed do not go! Listening to a discussion of Fierce Loving that included Angel and her boss would be excruciating (for two very different reasons). On the other side, she was really curious to hear what people thought of it.

  Okay, she wanted to hear Angel’s take on it. No matter how difficult that was to hear.

  When Julia arrived, everyone was already there, the usual members, Angel, her teacher friends and her boss. Why Angel had to invite Principal Johnston was beyond her. The woman looked every bit as intimidating as she did at work, still wearing her uniform of a gray blazer and skirt. The only one missing was Ally. Everyone held a bright red paperback.

  Julia took a seat next to the nice nurse Carrie. Unfortunately she was forced to sit once again across from Angel, who was seated between Charlotte, the personal trainer with the perfect body, and Principal Johnston. Charlotte had passed on buying Julia’s house because she’d found a place she liked closer to work. Julia stifled a sigh. She really didn’t like sitting across from Angel because it gave him way too many opportunities to pin her with his dark bedroom eyes as he made his erotic observations. She couldn’t help the pink that inevitably flooded her cheeks, giving away the power of those words. It was extremely embarrassing in front of the other women.

  She didn’t miss that Angel had dressed to impress. Instead of his usual button-down shirt and khakis for work, he’d changed into a snug white long-sleeve shirt with jeans and a black leather belt, looking like a model for all-American sexy male. Clearly he was enjoying all the female attention, as he was all smiles for Charlotte and hadn’t bothered to say hi to his best friend.

  “What book is that?” Julia asked Mad, who was scowling as she stared at it.

  Mad harrumphed. “Hailey’s making us read this crap.” She held up the book with gold lettering on the title, Getting from Meh to Yeah: Your Guide to Dating in the Modern World. Julia got a sinking feeling. This was going to be even worse than the Fierce trilogy. Hailey would probably want to talk about all their meh experiences and how to improve them. Julia didn’t have any meh experiences. She’d only been with two men, both of whom treated her like a jewel. Maybe that was all she would ever get because if most people had meh, enough to write a book about it, she’d already had more than her fair share of yeah experiences.

  “Just the single ladies,” Hailey caroled. “And you, Angelo, since you’re single.”

  Angel inclined his head and started thumbing through his copy.

  Hailey handed Julia her copy. Principal Johnston laughed, a rusty sound like she didn’t do it often as she peered over Angel’s shoulder, reading along with him. Julia shot Angel a dark look for inviting their boss. He met her eyes and one corner of his mouth lifted. He thought it was super funny that their boss was reading erotic romance right along with them. Wrong on so many levels.

  Principal Johnston waved a hand toward the dating book. “Ed and I used to be romantic like this when we first dated. He always brought me a flower. Turned out he picked it from his mother’s flower bed, and she’d given him hell for destroying her prize roses.”

  “Aww,” the women chorused.

  “That’s really nice, Carol,” Angel said. He was comfortable talking to anyone, even a boss, on a personal level.

  Carol let out a wistful sigh. “I haven’t gotten a flower from him in twenty years.”

  “Maybe you could ask him for one,” Angel suggested.

  The women all rushed to disagree. Even Julia, with her limited experience, knew that was wrong.

  “If you have to ask, it doesn’t count,” Julia said.

  “Really?” he asked, seeming surprised to hear this.

  “Really,” everyone chorused back.

  Angel leaned back in his seat, crossing his legs at the ankle. “You know what? I can’t wait to dig into this dating book. I need to hear the women’s point of view on what they really want.” He pinned Julia with another scorching hot look. She lifted her hair off the back of her neck to cool off. They really needed to have that talk about boundaries. He’d made himself scarce this past weekend, and she hadn’t pushed the issue because she thought maybe they needed some space. Then she’d been too busy after work. Tonight, after book club, they’d talk. But what if she was revved up thinking of Damon?

  Tomorrow night. Yes, Friday would be good. Saturday she had to go to Brad’s parents’ house and knew she’d be too emotional to deal with both a heated talk with Angel and the inevitable aftermath from her visit.

  “Ooh, a guy who actually cares enough to ask what women want!” Charlotte
exclaimed to Angel. And then right in front of everyone, she squeezed his bicep and muttered, “Nice.” Figured a personal trainer would be concerned about muscle definition.

  Angel smiled at Charlotte, and Julia turned away. Maybe they wouldn’t need to have that damn talk. Maybe Angel would just hook up with Miss Perfect Body. Which was fine. Just perfect. Nice and…no! Angel had kissed her and pinned her, and they would have that talk whether or not he wanted to follow up with his own personal trainer. Because they were best friends, and best friends talked about important issues like boundaries and not crossing them no matter how tempted they were.

  Ally arrived, sailing in on her happy cloud, and announced, “I loved it! This last part of the trilogy was perfect. And, omigod, that dresser scene!”

  Julia squirmed, unable to help herself, and felt her cheeks burning again. Leave it to Ally to jump right in with the erotic book. The women all began speaking at once.

  “One at a time,” Hailey barked. “Me first.” She looked around the room, taking them all in with a small smile. “What a nice crowd. Please bring your single male friends, brothers, cousins, whoever next time. Okay, back to Fierce Loving, do you all remember what Angelo pointed out, about the light and shadow, about how Damon always takes Mia from behind?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Angel said in a suggestive voice, making the other women laugh. Julia’s pulse raced.

  Hailey went on. “And then, after she confides her secrets, how she’d once spied on Damon’s company and told her brother insider information, how Mia turned to face him when they made love?”

  Mad piped up enthusiastically. “And you realize that it wasn’t Damon who made her always give him her back. It was Mia who demanded it from the very first time he tried to kiss her, years before the story began, while she was spying on his company as an intern.”

  Angel raised a hand, and the women turned to him as one. “When Mia finally faced Damon, opening herself fully to being with the man she’d always wanted, what happened?” His gaze locked on Julia’s, and her mouth went dry. She licked her lips, watched Angel’s eyes darken in response, and shivered.