by Kira Archer
“Are you in imminent danger of giving birth right here on the dance floor?”
“Of course not.”
He pulled her closer. “Then I see no reason why we can’t have a little fun.”
The shy but happy smile she gave him nearly stopped him in his tracks. That smile was like a firefly blinking in a pitch-dark room. Quiet, subtle, and breathtakingly beautiful. The lone spot of light in his world. There was little he wouldn’t do to keep that smile on her face.
“Tell me something you want,” he said, leaning down to whisper in her ear.
She pulled back enough to meet his gaze. “What?”
“Anything. You name it. The night is ours.”
She shrugged, that small smile still in place. “What more could I want? I’m surrounded by friends, on a gorgeous island in the middle of the Mediterranean, in a tent stuffed with the best food I’ve ever tasted in my life. Seriously, Kiersten needs to give that caterer a massive tip.”
She stopped dancing and met his gaze. “And the most handsome man in the room has been trying to make me smile all night. There are worse ways to spend the evening.”
He drew a finger along her cheek until he cupped her jaw and drew her forward slowly enough that she could pull away if she wanted to. His heart did a serious fist bump when she leaned into him instead.
“Let’s see if we can make the evening even better.” Before he could taste the sweet lips that were mere inches from his own, someone clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, mate,” a slightly slurred British voice said.
Brooks closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Harrison, what can I do for you?”
Harrison Troy had been a good friend and member of his poker club for years now. Aside from Cole, Harrison was probably his best friend. But, hey, everyone had to die sometime. They’d had a good run. If he didn’t walk away right that instant so Brooks could get back to what he’d been about to do, things were going to get ugly.
“Who is this lovely young lady?” Harrison asked, looking Leah up and down.
“This is Leah,” Brooks said, keeping her in his arms, but putting her slightly behind him. Not that she needed protection from Harrison; he was true-born British gentry. Unless she had an urgent need to duel to the death with a fencing saber, she was probably safe from old Harry. Harrison, however, was not going to be safe from Brooks if he didn’t make himself scarce.
“Leah.” Harrison took her hand and kissed it. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s all mine,” she said.
“It was about to be,” Brooks muttered.
Leah’s jaw dropped and Brooks winked at her. Then he went back to glaring at Harrison.
“Kiersten was looking for you,” Harrison said to Leah. “I believe she needs help with the guest of honor.”
“Of course,” Leah said, pulling away from Brooks. Only he wasn’t ready to let her go yet. He kept a grip on her hand.
“Excuse us,” he said to Harrison. He pulled Leah out of the tent, ignoring her little squeak of surprise. He led her far enough away that they were out of the circle of light, down near the shoreline where the waves lapped gently at the beach.
“Brooks, what—”
He cut off her words with his lips and thank Dionysus or Pan or whatever drunk, frolicking god the ancient Greeks had worshipped, she kissed him back. Good God, did she kiss him back. That delectable little mouth of hers opened beneath his and ravished him, inside and out. He couldn’t suck enough air into his lungs, but there was no way in hell he was pulling away from her to breathe. Keeping his lips fused to hers was far more important than some measly need for oxygen.
She broke away first, her chest heaving, eyes wide. Before he could say a word, she wrapped her hands in his lapels and hauled him back to her, kissing him hard and fast. Then she gave him a playful push, grinned like a mischievous child, and ran back into the tent.
Brooks stood staring after her for so long he lost track of time, though it probably wasn’t more than a few moments. The tent beckoned, warm light, good food, and the laughter of his friends spilling out into the night. He needed to get his head on straight, though, before he went near the public.
Before he managed to do that, Cole came and found him, staring at him with a furrowed forehead for a minute before finally asking, “What’s up?”
Brooks still hadn’t taken his eyes off the spot where Leah had disappeared. “Shhh,” he said. “I’m having a Disney princess moment.”
Cole’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “Do I want to know what that means?”
“Probably not.”
“You going to tell me anyway?”
Brooks opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, searching for the words to describe what had just happened. And failing. He sighed. “No one has ever kissed me like that before. No one. Ever.”
Cole nodded his head, not speaking for a minute. For a brief, glorious moment, Brooks thought he might not get any shit from his friend. As usual, he was wrong.
“So, you talking the whole floating hearts and fireworks going off over your head or the leg-pop thing?” Cole turned sideways and lifted his leg in the perfect imitation of a thoroughly kissed damsel.
“Fuck off,” Brooks said with a laugh.
Cole chuckled. “You started it with that Disney princess bullshit.”
Brooks sighed. “Yeah. There might have been fireworks, though, but don’t tell anyone. My rep would be totally ruined.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
Cole watched him a minute longer, then asked, “Fireworks, huh?”
“Yup.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
Brooks sighed. “Get blind fucking drunk until the urge to run after her and beg her to spend the rest of her life kissing me has passed.”
Cole shrugged. “It might not be all that bad, you know.”
For the first time in his life, Brooks agreed. And that thought sent a bolt of terror through him so strong it was all he could do not to jump in the water, swim back to his yacht, and head for the nearest uninhabited island. Brooks wasn’t relationship material and he damn well knew it. Hell, he prided himself on it. Leah wasn’t just regular relationship material either; she was going to be a mom. Even if he could change enough to be a decent boyfriend, no kid deserved to have him hanging around messing things up.
“She’s better off without me,” Brooks said, shoving the disappointed twinge those words caused back into the deep, dark box where it belonged.
Cole handed him the champagne flute in his hand. “Then I suppose we should go get you drunk.”
Brooks downed the champagne in one gulp and followed Cole back into the tent. Although it was totally useless. There wasn’t enough booze in the world to make him forget that kiss. Or the woman who’d given it to him.
Chapter Four
Leah pulled up to the curb in front of the school where she would be teaching. If you could call it a school. The place looked more like a castle someone had dropped on the outskirts of the city, complete with a ten-foot stone wall enclosing the campus.
It had always been her dream to teach at a school like this. All she could do was hope the consequences of the one night she’d decided to be totally crazy wouldn’t derail all her plans. She needed the job now more than ever.
“No worries, little peanut,” she muttered in the vague direction of her belly. “I’ll take care of everything. Everything’s going to work out fine.”
She would make sure of it.
She sighed and shut off her car, taking a minute to check her phone to see if any messages had come through yet. Nothing from Marcus Cassidy, the man who still didn’t know he was going to be a father. She didn’t know what else to try. The only reason she knew his full name was because she’d seen his driver’s license the night she’d been with him. They hadn’t exchanged any info. That had been part of the whole tantalizing night, not knowing each other, keeping it a mystery. At the time, it had
been exciting. Now…yeah, not so much.
Finding him on Facebook had been a miracle, but he had everything on his profile set to private. She couldn’t see his friends list, any of his posts, nothing. All she could do was keep sending message requests and hope he answered one.
There were no messages from the other man either. Brooks. The goofball prince with more money than God, and more charm than anyone had the right to have, who had kissed her senseless and then disappeared from her life, which was for the best, she knew. The last thing she needed was another complication—and Brooks had complication written all over him.
Still, it was an ego blow to have him pursue her all over the Mediterranean only to drop her like a toad that had peed on his hand the second she gave in. She’d known kissing him was a mistake; she hadn’t been able to help herself. And for her, it had been amazing. Beyond amazing. It had been weeks and she still thought about it every damn day and dreamed about it most nights, too. Apparently, he hadn’t felt the same way. Maybe she’d had bad breath. Or that last kiss before she’d run off had been too forward. Or running off had given him the wrong impression, even though he’d known she had to go.
“Or maybe I’m way overthinking something that doesn’t matter,” she said, climbing out of the car before she could get derailed on any more trains of thought.
The campus was quiet this time of day, especially since school hadn’t yet begun for the year. She wasn’t too concerned about parking against the curb. It wouldn’t take her too long to unload and there weren’t many people around anyway. A parking lot sat a few feet away, but she had some boxes to haul and every foot closer she could get to her quarters, the better.
Three trips later and she wished she’d driven her damn car right up to her door. She dropped the boxes in her arms onto the counter of her small kitchen and took a second to breathe. Just a few more left. Though, unfortunately, they were the heavy ones. Mostly books, far too many books. She was cheerfully addicted to reading, but even she had to admit it made moving difficult, at least without a few strong men to haul the boxes around.
She took a deep breath and headed back out. The sooner she finished, the sooner she could plop down on the couch with a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream and veg out to a chick flick or two.
Leah went back through the old corridor that led to the parking lot. She loved the architecture of this place. It made her feel like she lived in an old monastery or something. Though the building was nowhere near as old as those in Europe, the stone walls and landscaped courtyards still embodied the atmosphere of ancient beauty. What an incredible place to raise her baby.
If they let her keep her job.
The familiar thrum of panic rolled through her system. She couldn’t lose this job. She had nowhere to go, no money saved up aside from what Kiersten had insisted on paying her for her help that weekend. Which had been unnecessary and far too generous, but she had to admit, it eased a little of her stress to have something in the bank. She’d have to hope that the headmistress took pity on her. She was a good teacher. Maybe she could make herself so indispensable, her pregnancy wouldn’t matter.
She walked through the arched gate in the wall and stopped short. Brooks had pulled up behind her car and stood leaning against it, waiting for her.
“Hey!” he called, one of those heart-tripping smiles he excelled at spreading across his lips.
What the hell was he doing there? He’d kissed her silly and then totally disappeared from her life, and now he’d decided to show up, at her home and place of business, and she was supposed to what, swoon? Throw herself in his arms? Giggle and faint because he decided she was worthy of his attention after all?
Apparently, she’d been a little angrier over his silence than she’d realized, which made the whole thing a really bad idea. Scratch that. Having him there was like a bad idea on steroids. Her hands practically itched to trace the hard planes of his body. It had been weeks and she still couldn’t resist his pull. The man was like smooth whiskey, dipped in chocolate, sprinkled with coffee, and rolled in a fountain of sugar. All the unbelievably delicious things she craved and couldn’t have.
She ignored him and opened the rear door to gather the bags on the backseat. Maybe if she didn’t acknowledge his presence, he’d go away. She didn’t have time for the emotional and physical rodeo she’d been going through since the christening trip, not to mention the bucking bronco in her gut every time she was within fifty feet of the man.
She should have known ignoring him wouldn’t work. Brooks didn’t seem the type to take rejection. He was far too aware of his appeal for his own good.
Leah slung her garment bag over one shoulder, then grabbed the nearest box from the trunk and hefted it up.
“Let me carry that,” Brooks said, hot on her heels.
She glanced down at his empty arms. “This would go a lot faster if you’d carry the other boxes instead of worrying about me carrying this one. I’m fine.”
“It’s heavy. You should let me carry it for you. In fact, you should have just hired someone to move all this stuff for you.”
Leah snorted. “Right. I’m going to spend a few hundred dollars I don’t have for a few boxes? It’s not that far. I’m fine.”
He made a swipe for the box and she yanked it away. Before he could try again, she turned left through the arched entryway to the corridor that contained her quarters and came to a stop in front of the first door.
“See. We’re already there. Open the door, will you?”
He frowned, but opened the door, pushing it wide so she could go in. She marched the box straight to the coffee table in her small living room and dropped it. She didn’t want Brooks to see, but carrying that box had winded her a little. Or maybe it had been their game of keep away. No matter. She was perfectly capable of carrying the rest. She wasn’t stupid enough to risk injuring herself or the baby to prove a point, but the boxes really weren’t that heavy.
“You’re stubborn, you know that?”
“And you’re a borderline stalker,” she said.
“Am not.”
She bit her lip, resisting the urge to join in with the “Am not, am too” game.
“What are you doing here, Brooks?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“Why now? I haven’t heard from you since the trip, and now you want to talk to me so badly you show up here instead of calling?”
“I would have, but I wasn’t all that sure you’d answer.”
“I wouldn’t have.”
She so would have, but he sure as hell didn’t need to know that. The amused grin he aimed at her made it clear he already knew it.
She glared at him and spun on her heel back out the door.
“I’ll get the rest,” Brooks said, heading her off.
She stopped and planted her hands on her hips. “I can get them myself. Seriously, why are you here? You didn’t come to say hi or carry my boxes for me. How did you know I’d be here today anyway?”
“Kiersten told Cole. Cole told me.”
Leah frowned. “Traitors.”
Brooks stepped closer and she stood her ground, though the effort it took sent a fine tremor through her legs.
“Are you really so pissed that I’m here?”
“Yes,” she said, though the word barely made it out of her throat.
Brooks gave her that slow, sexy grin that made her knees melt into a pile of goo.
“I don’t believe you.” He leaned down and brushed his lips just at the corner of her lips.
Her mouth dropped open in a little sigh and he cupped her face in his hands, going in for something deeper.
“No.” She pushed him away and held up a hand to keep him back. If he kissed her, she was a goner. She was trying to keep her job at the school, not get kicked out for making out in the corridors.
He held his hands up in surrender though his gaze burned into hers. He knew exactly the effect he had on her.
�
�I have to get the rest of the things.”
“I told you, I’ll get them,” he said, easily overtaking her.
She followed him, jogging a little to keep up with his long stride. She made it to the car half a second behind him.
He gave her an exasperated grimace.
“Oh, relax,” she said, reaching into the car for another box. “There’s only two left and this way we’ll be done in one trip.”
“I could carry them both and we’d still be done in one trip.”
She hefted it to her hip and took off. “Too late,” she called over her shoulder.
She laughed at his muffled curse and sped up.
“Leah,” he said, catching up with almost no effort at all. Maybe she was a little more winded than she realized. “This is ridiculous.”
“Yes, it is.” She turned into her corridor. “We are already at the apartment so there’s no point in you harping on this. What is the big deal with me carrying a couple boxes? I’m not dying I’m just preg…”
She turned into her apartment and froze at the sight of the headmistress, Mother Genevieve, standing there. “…nant,” she finished, the rest of the word nearly choking her.
“Right, and pregnant women shouldn’t be—” Brooks entered the room and stopped short at the woman standing there. “Carrying boxes.”
He put down his box and then took Leah’s from her. She didn’t take her eyes from the nun in front of her. Well…she’d needed to tell her eventually. Sooner was probably better than later.
“Mother Genevieve…” Leah started.
“Is this true?” the headmistress asked. “Are you pregnant?”
Leah took a deep breath, trying to calm the roiling of her stomach. “Yes, but…”
“You’ve broken the moral code of your contract before it’s even begun? That is a record, I must say.”
“No, I didn’t. Really.”
“Then you lied in your interview when you assured us there were no impediments to your being hired.”
“No. I never lied.”
Mother Genevieve frowned. “I don’t see how you can possibly have it both ways. Which is it?”