by Niles, Abby
Julie blinked. Had she imagined all that sizzle?
God, she didn’t know. She wasn’t one to read into anything with Tommy because he was usually pretty straightforward and easy to read. Especially for her. But this was the first time she had ever felt what could possibly have been a mutual moment of attraction. Had it really been attraction, though? Definitely on her part. She wasn’t so sure on Tommy’s…
It easily could have been an emotional moment for him. She had given him two presents he had been very upset about losing yesterday. That had to have brought on some overwhelming feelings. Which definitely made more sense than the attraction thing.
She studied him now. Shoulders relaxed, face the same. He looked back at her with his usual casual smile. He shook an Airheads packet and tossed it to her. “Here. I know how much you loved these.”
Yeah, she’d definitely imagined it.
…
Tommy rolled over and cracked his eyelids open to check the alarm clock to see how much longer before he had to get up.
Six forty-five.
He shot straight up in bed. That couldn’t be right. He snatched the clock off the nightstand and groaned. He’d set the alarm for the correct time; he just hadn’t set it to go off. Damn it. He was supposed to have been up thirty minutes ago, and out of the house by now.
He blamed Julie. She’d fucked up his head after she’d given him her present, and continued doing so long after they’d parted for the night and gone to bed. Shoving the covers aside, he stalked across his room to the door.
There had been a freaky weird moment last night. Jesus. He’d almost kissed her. And not the way he usually kissed her—a peck on the cheek. He’d wanted to really kiss her. How nuts was that?
After tossing and turning most of the night, he’d finally found peace by connecting the ridiculous impulse to the emotions he’d been feeling at the moment—the overwhelming awe and affection he’d felt for her when he’d opened that gift had left him stunned. When he’d looked at Julie, the feelings had only quadrupled as he’d realized how much she listened to him, understood him, and was always there for him, no matter what.
Because she was his best friend.
He strode down the hall. When he reached the bathroom, he grasped the knob, pushed inside, and instantly felt like he’d been hit with the stupid stick.
With her back to him, fresh from her shower, Julie was completely nude as she ran a comb through her hair. The wet brunette strands reached right below her shoulder blades, gently caressing her skin and introducing him to an hourglass figure and a flawless, apple-shaped bottom.
His gaze locked there. The rounded cheeks were cock-hardening perfect. A woman’s ass had always been his weakness, but Julie’s? Fucking hell. He’d never wanted to get his hands on a butt more.
“Tommy!” She twisted toward him, covering herself with her arms, but not before he saw the enticing swell of her breast. As she squatted to snatch a towel off the floor, he still hadn’t moved. “Get. Out!”
What the hell was he doing? He shook his head, backed out, and slammed the door. “Sorry!”
Taking deep inhales, he collapsed back against the wall. Out of everything he could have seen on Julie’s body, why did it have to be her ass?
He shook his head sharply, trying to dislodge the image. The tempting perfection of it refused to vanish. Even worse, his dick was raring and ready to go from the replay.
No. Oh, God. No. This was so wrong on so many levels. Julie was his best friend. He’d never once thought of her in a sexual way. But he’d had no clue she looked like that under her clothes.
The bathroom door slammed against the wall and a furious Julie emerged, wrapped in a robe. She shoved him and he lifted his arms to ward her off. “What the hell, Tommy! Knock before entering.”
Angry that she’d made him see something he could never unsee, and finding that he liked it, he yelled back, “It’s called a lock! You don’t live alone anymore, Julie. Lock the goddamn door.” Just to get it out there and remind himself more than anything, he added, “I do not need to see someone I consider my sister naked.” He pointed at her. “Don’t do that to me!”
He stalked back to his room and slammed the door. Shoving both hands in his hair, he fisted his fingers and tugged, letting out a long, frustrated yell as he paced the room.
Last night he’d wanted to kiss her, and now she had a perfect ass. Fabulous.
God, he wanted to throttle her.
Hell, she’d probably throttle him if she knew what he was thinking about her.
Thankfully, there was a way to fix this. He’d been out of the game too long, that was all. His body was wacked out. Not used to going this long without a woman. There was an eager and willing woman at work who was more than ready to help get him back in the game. He just had to convince her it would be much more fun if he tied her up.
…
Unfortunately, nothing had gone the way it was supposed to for the rest of the day.
It was all Julie’s fault.
And Tommy was seriously pissed.
As soon as he walked into the photo shoot that morning, he’d started putting the moves on Bonnie. She very easily allowed him the lead, which was the way he liked it. But there hadn’t been even one little shimmy of anticipation in his pants. Why? Because Julie’s ass kept teasing him. Thinking of that, his pants had felt a whole lot of action.
The pending “date” had sat like a rock in his stomach all damn day. He never dreaded spending time with a woman. He fed them and then they had an excellent time between the sheets. At the end of the night, they parted ways with full bellies and sated bodies. Perfect for everyone.
But that’s not what had happened tonight with Bonnie.
The truth was, he’d had no urge to take the woman to dinner, much less take her to bed, because that beautiful ass was tormenting the ever-loving hell out of him. The more it kept popping into his mind, the more he wanted to direct his attention toward that source of lust. A very dangerous thought.
But a date was a date. So when they’d finally called a wrap on the shoot, he’d driven Bonnie over to a nice restaurant. Only, the more she’d talked, flirted, and made blatant comments about phallic-shaped objects, the more he’d wanted to get up and leave.
He wanted to be with Julie. Not her ass. But her.
Which was why he now found himself in his car, alone, driving home well before midnight. And hating life.
Since when did he ever want to sit around the house watching TV and eating popcorn instead of going out and having fun?
Never, that’s when. And yet, he’d begged off a night with a gorgeous, more-than-willing woman, using the lie that the food hadn’t agreed with him. A damn stomachache? Seriously?
It was Julie’s fault. All her damn fault.
And he intended to give her a piece of his damn mind.
…
After a solitary dinner, Julie leaned back on the couch with a glass of Merlot. Earlier this afternoon, Tommy had sent her a text saying he wouldn’t be home until late, so don’t wait up.
Code for he’d met a woman.
Considering he’d been pretty damn horrified at seeing his “sister” naked this morning, he was probably in someone else’s arms right now, trying to banish the image from his mind. The thought made Julie’s stomach twist. She took another long swallow of her wine. Not that she’d ever thought Tommy would see her naked, but having him blurt out the sibling comment verified everything she’d always known.
Tommy would never see her as anything more than a sister figure.
Somehow she had to start thinking of him as a brother and get rid of all that other stuff. She’d been truthful with him about dating. She did date. Just not as much as she’d like to. She’d also been truthful that her schedule kept her from meeting many eligible men, and the few she’d met online had ended in disaster.
Every once in a while she’d meet a guy, though, and they’d start dating. Sometimes it didn’t wor
k for her and she ended it, but more often than not, the guy ended it. Mostly after meeting Tommy. She used to always be upfront that her best friend was Tommy “Lightning” Sparks, and the guys always thought that was so awesome…until they met him. Then they seemed unable to handle the pressure of dating a woman whose best friend was an MMA super-fighter.
Some hung around for a few more dates, some called it off that same night, and others just never called again. The ones who gave her a reason said they weren’t looking for anything serious, and men didn’t fool around with girls who had a best friend who could put them in the hospital. Now she kept Tommy to herself, hoping some guy would fall for her and not be intimidated by the other important man in her life.
She was a good woman. She worked hard. She was attractive. Independent and loyal. Any man would be lucky as hell to have her, if she did say so herself. And if Tommy Sparks didn’t want her, somewhere out there was a man who would love to have her.
The front door opened and she was surprised to see Tommy storm in and slam it shut. What was he doing home so early? He stalked into the kitchen and started making a racket, slamming cabinets and the fridge. The lid of a beer bottle popped off.
She started to rise, to go and ask him what was wrong, but when he came to stand in the door of the living room, he glared furiously at her, as though she’d done something wrong.
Immediately, she was on the defensive. She sat down again. “What’s crawled up your ass?”
A snarl came from him as he stalked into the living room. He slumped on the other end of the couch and stretched one arm across the back, staring straight at the wall in front of him, jaw clenched. Then he guzzled the beer.
“I’ve had the mother of shit days. The worst ever,” he finally muttered.
Since his freaking house had burned down a couple of days ago, she’d disagree with that assessment, but Tommy tended to see things differently than she did.
“Want to talk?” she ventured.
“Nope.”
“Are you going to be a douche for the rest of the night?”
“Most likely.”
Okay then. She took a sip of her wine. She’d seen Tommy in many frames of mind, and after more than two decades with him, she’d believed she’d seen them all, but this was a new one. He had completely shut her out. He never shut her out. “Then how about going to your room to sulk?”
Slowly, very slowly, his head turned toward her. Anger had made his green eyes darken to a moss green. “I’m not sulking. I’m trying to wrap my mind around the fucking unimaginable.”
She couldn’t tell if he was angry at her or at whatever had happened. It was the first time in a very long time she couldn’t read Tommy at all. And it left her feeling very unbalanced.
“Is this what you do every night, Julie? Come home, sit on the couch, drink some wine. Watch TV? That’s it?”
Were they going to have this argument? Again?
“No. I do go out. Melody comes over. You come over all the time.”
He scowled at her. “I’m not some kind of stand-in boyfriend, am I?”
Her mouth dropped open. “Where the hell did that come from?”
The scowl deepened. “You don’t date. In fact, have you ever even been in a relationship? Any guy I’ve met, I haven’t seen him a second time.”
She ground her teeth. “That’s your fault, asshole. You try being a woman who is best friends with a professional fighter, and see how many men are willing to stick around. Besides, you’re one to talk. You jump from woman to woman like you’re terrified you’ll die if you stop.”
“Not terrified, Julie. I do it because I enjoy every fucking second of it.” There was a nasty edge to his voice she’d only heard when he was really furious. “You’re like a damn spinster. When’s the last time you were actually with a man? Maybe if you’d let a man at you, you’d relax some.”
Her jaw dropped nearly to the floor. Then she got mad. Really mad.
Shaking with fury, she shot to her feet. “I don’t know what your fucking problem is or why you’re being so goddamn mean, but screw you.”
Chapter 4
This house was not big enough for the both of them.
Julie shoved a spoonful of oatmeal in her mouth and tried to concentrate on the taste of cinnamon and apple, pissed that she was even aware of the sounds of the shower running in the background. A hot, steamy spray that would hit a naked masculine chest, plastering those fine blond chest hairs to Tommy’s skin as the water rolled down his body.
Especially after what he’d said to her last night.
Spinster.
What was this, the freaking 1800s?
“Good. I’m glad I caught you before you left.”
She jerked her head up.
Oh. For the love of God.
He stood in the doorway, a towel wrapped low around his waist, still damp from his shower. Her belly twisted painfully with the need to touch the man, and not in a best-friend way. Which pissed her off even more.
“What?” The bite in her tone came through loud and clear.
He grimaced. “Yeah, okay, I deserve the anger. I was an asshole last night. I’m sorry.”
Striving to be civil, she wrangled her fury with him. “Where’d that even come from? Do you have an issue with our relationship you’re not telling me? I’ve never made any demands on you other than as a friend.”
She’d made damn sure she’d only done that because she’d always known Tommy was incapable of giving her more.
He slid his hand through his wet locks, something she knew he did when frustration was getting to him. “Julie, I love you and I want to see you happy. It bothers me how alone you are.”
“Why? It doesn’t bother me.”
“I just want to be sure I’m not somehow filling the man role in your life and it’s making you complacent.”
Of course. Since every other woman he came across took any scrap of attention he flung her way, his best friend had to be completely satisfied with the excessive Tommy time she received, to the point that she didn’t need another man. Wouldn’t his ears burn if he knew how much she’d give to move past him? “You’re not,” she deadpanned.
He swallowed, then gave a jerky nod. “All right, then. I won’t say anything more about it.”
“Good. Because I’m getting really sick of hearing your opinion of my love life.” She shoved back her chair and picked up her plate. “I have to get to work. I’ll see you tonight.”
After cleaning up and grabbing her things, she hurried to her car.
Numb.
That was how she felt. That had to be progress. It showed that she’d made some kind of disconnection within herself that was rewiring to see Tommy in a different way. Thank God.
Twenty minutes later, she pulled into the vet clinic’s parking lot. As she walked in through the back entrance, her partner, Melody, frantically motioned to her from the front desk. “Come here. You’ve got to see this.”
The other vet was usually much more controlled with her emotions. The barely restrained eagerness rolling off her took Julie slightly aback. “What is it?”
“Come. Here.” Her waving increased. “Your nine o’clock is already here. You’re not going to believe what you’re about to see.”
Curiosity piqued, Julie cautiously stepped around the reception desk that was separated from the waiting area by a glass window. Her mouth dropped open.
“I know, right!” Melody said, awestruck.
There, stuffed in one of their tiny waiting room chairs, was the biggest, most ripped man she’d ever seen. Rippling muscles strained beneath a tight shirt, the sleeves of which had been cut to make room for his bulging biceps. But it wasn’t the man alone that made her hottie meter go off. It was the way he was cooing at the white Persian kitten he held in his huge arms.
“My word,” Julie breathed, thoroughly captivated by the sight.
“To say the least,” Melody said. “Have you ever seen anything so sexy?”<
br />
Unfortunately, she had—the man who’d stood in her kitchen this morning in only a towel, worried out of his mind that he was her stand-in boyfriend. She really needed to put his mind at rest. “Not lately,” she said thoughtfully.
“Do you know him?”
Julie knew why Melody was asking her the question. The man had the telltale signs of a cage fighter—the little injuries their bodies seemed to carry at all times. “No, he doesn’t look familiar, but I can’t see his face.” The man’s dark head was bent low over the kitten as he used one of his fingers to rub the fur between its pointy ears. “Besides, just because I’m friends with Tommy doesn’t mean I know all the guys on the circuit.”
“You know a lot of them, though.”
She couldn’t deny that. “What’s his name?”
“Brody Minton.”
Brody “The Iron” Minton. No, she didn’t personally know him, but she’d seen him fight. He was in the heavyweight division, which explained his build. Those fighters ranged anywhere from two twenty to two sixty-five. Some of them even had to cut weight before a weigh-in to make the weight limit. It also explained why she didn’t really know him. Tommy was middleweight and kept to a svelte one eighty-five.
“Yeah, he’s a fighter.”
“You think Tommy knows him?”
“Probably. If I’m not mistaken, Brody trains at Tommy’s old gym. What’s he here for?”
“The kitten won’t eat.”
Julie nodded, pushing aside her awe and donning her vet cap. “Can you go ahead and get him situated in a room?”
“Oh, it’d be my pleasure.”
Chuckling, Julie hurried to her locker and tugged on a white lab coat, then stepped into the examining room. “Good afternoon, Mr. Minton. And who do we have here?”
“Uh.” He shifted before red crept up his neck to his cheeks. “This is Princess.”
Normally she didn’t react when she heard a pet’s name, having heard some doozies over the years, but his deep voice saying such a feminine word had her stumbling to a stop. “What was that?”