Four months later, he’d been redeployed, and when he came back he was a totally different guy. Don’t get me wrong, he was still the best person to have in your life and the most loyal man I knew, but the happy-go-lucky guy that I’d grown up with was no more. I didn’t know what had happened to him or what he’d gone through, but whatever it was, it had taken the real Mace away. He and his sister had spent a majority of their time at our home, and my mom had babied both of them and treated them like her own, and I knew my mom worried about him too.
“He’s fucking touching her,” Mace hissed, and I turned to see what he was talking about. The guy had Ava’s hand and was writing something on it with a Sharpie. Where the hell did he get that from? Who carries a goddamn Sharpie on them at a lake? Ava didn’t look as if she was comfortable with the guy, to be fair, but I had a feeling that Mace was only seeing what his jealousy would allow him. “Fuck this,” he growled, and started stomping towards Ava and the jock.
“What did I miss?” I heard Maya ask behind me, and I turned to face her. Pulling her close to me so that I could feel her body against mine, I wrapped her in my arms and tried to explain what was going on.
“Oh, he’s jealous. Are they together?” I felt like the shittiest friend in the world because even with all of this is going on, my attention was on her bikini-clad body against mine and how much I wanted to kiss her. So I did. As our tongues brushed against each other, I pulled her even closer to me. Taking the opportunity, I slowly moved my hands over her, skimming the tips of my fingers up her spine before sinking my hand into her thick hair and grabbing a handful at the base of her skull so that I could gently pull her head back to deepen the kiss even more. Capturing her responding moan in my mouth, I swept my other hand down her body to her thigh, making sure not to go so quickly that I scared her off. Thankfully, she seemed to be at the same place that I was, and her arms wound around my neck, bringing her harder against the worst and most painful erection I’d ever had my life. Blue definitely wasn’t my color. How the fuck do Smurfs survive with this shit?
I almost lost my mind and dropped to the floor when she started to rub against my hard-on, but instead I grabbed a handful of her perfect ass and rubbed my torso gently against her. Just as my hand started to move around to cup her, the biggest pain in the ass in the world claimed his title, yelling, “Yo, Ren, Maya—you staying for the campfire BBQ?”
Anyone else would have thought that it was an innocent and genuine question until you saw the shit-eating grin desperate to break free on his face.
As always, he couldn’t keep up the pretense long. “Or are you just roasting Ren’s weiner tonight?” Feeling Maya shaking against me, I swore right then and there that I was gonna kill the little shit, but instead of tears, she was laughing and biting her lip.
“You find that funny, do ya, baby?” I growled, staring at the lip that she was biting and thinking back thirty seconds to when I’d been sucking on it.
“A bit,” she whispered back, staring at my mouth and making me groan. Her eyes flashed up to mine, and I saw the cheekiest look on her face. “And I’m thinking that revenge on that ass is gonna be sweet,” she added, making me roar out a laugh. As we both turned around to look at Cole, his grin slowly fell from his face as he looked between us, gulped, and then walked quickly back into the lake, giving Dash a wide berth.
Chapter Eleven
Maya
A fter a fantastic day at the lake yesterday, we’d had a ‘campfire BBQ,’ as Cole had called it, sitting around the fire talking and laughing. Mace was gorgeous, but he was a bit scary; he had this darkness in his eyes, and such a serious face that when all of it was directed at you, I was sure it would make grown men confess to every sin. When he allowed himself to smile or laugh, though, it took your breath away. He was also clearly in love with Ava, and her with him, so why they weren’t together, I didn’t know.
Ava was gorgeous and best friends with Mace’s little sister, Gia, who worked just over three hours away from Piersville. Gia sounded like a hoot, from the stories they’d all told me. It was great to finally have a female friend who lived close by now, and we’d arranged to meet for lunch through the week to discuss our night out on Friday. I don’t think Ren and Mace were happy about our plans, but girl night sounded like heaven to me.
Cole had been hysterical, as always, but he’d been expecting me to get my revenge immediately for what he’d done when Ren and I were kissing, so he’d been wary all evening. Little did he know that the success in retaliation came from doing it when the person least expected it, and now that I knew more about his phobias, my revenge would be sweet.
Last night when Ren had dropped me home, we’d gone into my kitchen, and just as I’d turned to say something to him, he’d kissed me. I hadn’t been expecting it at all, and just as it had started to heat up, he’d pulled away, kissed me on the nose, and told me that we were going to take this slowly and that he would see me today. As much as he heated me up, I’d only ever slept with two guys—my high school boyfriend, and the boyfriend I’d had during my second year at college. I’d never slept with Andy, which, thinking back on it, was probably telling in itself because I’d never even felt like I wanted to, so Ren giving me that meant a lot to me.
Walking into my office, I remembered that we had a new girl starting today. George had told Luke and I last week about Isla, who had grown up in Piersville and was coming back to work as a lawyer for us. Luke’s reaction to this news had confused me, because he’d almost looked scared, angry, and excited at the same time, but I hadn’t had the chance to talk to him about it.
I loved my eldest cousin. Luke was about the same height as Ren, but had blond hair and dark green eyes. He was also very protective of my sister and me, and was the closest thing I had to a brother, as were my other cousins, and I loved them fiercely.
As I sat behind my desk and placed all of the research for Ren and Cole’s houses beside my computer, I saw a message from a company called Zingbrini and groaned. They wanted me to make an appointment to meet with their CEO to discuss the refurbishment of their building; it was going to be a busy day.
Luke
I sat at my desk waiting for Isla to walk through the door. I couldn’t believe she was back here. All weekend I’d been reliving what I’d done to her and wondering how to apologize all of these years later. There were other feelings involved that I didn’t want to go near just now; I wasn’t ready to face them, but I was sure I’d have to sometime soon.
I started up my computer to deal with all of the emails that would be waiting for me, and caught a flash of long, dark hair out of the corner of my eye. If I hadn’t seen it, I’d still have known that she was here by the way the hair on my arms stood up.
Getting up from my desk and walking toward the door, my jaw almost hit the ground when I got a good look at her. Standing talking to my dad was the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen in my life. She had perfect curves, gorgeous legs, and her hair fell to the middle of her back in beautiful dark waves. Isla had been stunning before, but that beauty had magnified over the years. Her hazel eyes were focused on Dad, and she was grinning at something that he’d said. I could feel the burn starting back up in my chest, the one that had been reduced to a small spark when she’d left town eight years ago after I’d—
I couldn’t go there just now, but what I did know was that I was certain that I was going to do whatever I could to finally make Isla mine.
Isla
Well, I was back. I swore I’d never come back to this place after what had happened, but when my Gran had told me she needed help, I’d dropped everything and moved back. She meant the world to me, and had been the only person ever truly to love and give a shit about me—well, aside from my three best friends—and I would do absolutely anything for her, even coming back here. When my father had remarried, it had been like I didn’t exist as he focused on his new wife and perfect stepdaughter, so I’d moved in with Gran when I was eleven. To this day, he
still only spoke to me when it suited him, and I was lucky if my birthday check arrived within five months of my actual birthday.
My graduation from school had been hell because he and Jodie had only turned up for Calista’s big moment and had been oblivious when I’d taken to the stage, and then they hadn’t even turned up to my college graduation. Instead, Gran and the Montgomerys had come—minus Luke, of course. Both of those had hurt, but I was pretty much used to it now and had accepted I meant nothing to Geoffrey Banks. My return to Piersville had been something that I’d sworn I’d never do, but Gran asking for help when she never asked anyone for anything had hit me hard. It hadn’t hurt that George Montgomery had called right after, offering me a job in his legal department, either, and crossing off one item from my list.
It had been strange packing up my life. It had been weird shipping it all to my father’s old house here. It had been hard walking into that house and being assaulted with all of the bad memories attached to it. It had been fun, though, walking around the house and planning all of the work that I was going to have done to it. But none of it had been as terrifying as walking through the doors of the Montgomerys’ building knowing that I was soon going to be seeing Luke again. The Luke, who had held my hand when I’d needed it, who had hugged me when I’d cried and when I’d needed a hug the most, who had given me confidence, and the guy who had then stripped me of all of that. It had been eight years, and I’d found myself and was happy with who I was. I wasn’t the sniveling little girl that had no one and who had let Luke Montgomery make a fool of her anymore; I was Isla Banks, and damn it, I could do this.
“Okay, sweetheart, your office is next to Luke’s and just over here. It’s great having you back, Isla,” George said, guiding me toward my office. “Now, the rest of the legal team will be coming to meet you at 1:30 p.m. to introduce themselves and lay out the different items and cases that they’re working on. On your desk are the personnel files of your team so that you know levels of experience and can allocate the work properly. If you have any questions, Luke is next door, I’m across the office, and LeAnne will be at her desk. Until you have a secretary, feel free to use her.”
I was shocked at his confidence in me and started to wonder if I’d bitten off more than I could chew by taking on this job.
“George, what if I can’t do this? What if I let you down?”
Walking over to me, he held my shoulders. “You can do this; that’s why I gave you the job. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, and give yourself time to learn the company and the ongoing cases. It will all be fine.”
I swore this man was wasted as an architect, even though he designed beautiful buildings. He’d always been able to pep me up, and if he’d been a counselor or therapist, I had no doubt he would have been a billionaire.
“Morning, son. Look who’s back,” he crowed, turning me around, and my eyes hit the object of both my dreams and nightmares, who was walking toward me with a look in his eyes that threw me off balance.
“Isla,” he rumbled, and then I was in his arms and surrounded by the smell of him with his face was buried in my neck. “I’m glad you’re back,” he whispered in my ear, and I had to remind myself not to groan as the scent of him, being in his arms, having his breath on my neck, and him just being Luke hit me.
“Great to see you,” I replied quietly. I needed to be careful; I couldn’t give him any ammunition to rip my life apart again. I had to be immune and vigilant, but friendly, so I slowly pulled away and gave him a quick smile that I was sure didn’t reach my eyes and that he knew was as fake as his last girlfriend’s chest. I couldn’t forget who the real Luke was; I’d made that mistake before and would never do it again. From now on, I had to be fake too—fake fake fake, and if life was kind to me, maybe I’d escape with my dignity intact.
“Morning. Luke, I need your advice on something,” sounded a soft voice with an accent I couldn’t place—and belonging to a seriously beautiful woman—standing behind George. She gave everyone, including me, a beautiful smile, and then moved to hug George and Luke. “Hi, you must be Isla. I’m Maya Price,” she said, walking up to me and hugging me. It was then that something that had been niggling at me hit me full force—she was real. There was no fakery on her.
Luke
Isla looked even better up close than she did from a distance, if that was even possible. I hadn’t planned to hold her, but I couldn’t stop myself, and God, she’d smelt out of this world. When I pulled back and saw the quick smile she’d flashed was tight and false, I knew that I was going to have to work hard for her forgiveness. I’d been about to ask her to lunch or dinner when Maya had come in with a stack of papers, looking for me.
“Sure, my office?”
“One second, kids,” my dad said, thankfully stopping the slow steps that I was taking toward the door. “Let me just properly introduce you, Isla. This is my niece, Maya Price—she works here as an interior designer. Maya, this is Isla Banks—her father is a senior architect and is heading our location in Italy at the moment. Isla grew up with Luke, Adam, and Mark; they were inseparable as kids.”
Isla had looked stunned until my father had said the last piece, and I don’t think anyone in the room missed the grimace that both Isla and I gave. Yeah, we had been inseparable, and then I’d done something wrong, unforgivably bad—but I was going to change it. I just needed to figure out how. How did you fix the heart and trust of someone you’d betrayed?
I could feel Maya’s stare drilling into the side of my face as we left Isla’s office after the introductions had been made, and as soon as the door shut, she pounced. “Okay, asshole, what the hell did you do to that poor girl?” she asked, glaring at me with her arms crossed. Shit!
Chapter Twelve
Maya
A fter an exhausting morning that had included trying to get Luke to spill the beans, I finally started on some work. Since Luke, the tight ass, wouldn’t tell me about Isla, I’d conned him into doing quick drawings of the renovations that I’d come up with on Saturday. I was in the middle of creating a virtual shot of what the changes would look like when there was a knock on my door, and Ren was standing there, smiling at me.
“Hey, baby, you look adorable behind that desk with your serious face and the pencil in your hair,” he said, winking at me. He looked disheveled and was wearing a tight black t-shirt and well-worn jeans, and the whole outfit just gave him a hot bad boy look.
“Hey,” I croaked, because even if I was worried about his reputation, I’d still gone to sleep with a smile on my face last night.
“You up for lunch?”
“Lunch? What time is it?” I hadn’t even had my morning coffee. Was it some a mechanic thing to have lunch mid-morning?
Ren
Maya looked gorgeous today in her work dress and with a pencil sticking out of her hair. I’d been watching her concentrating on the screen and biting her lower lip, frowning and tilting her head and then closing one eye and looking at it with the other.
Yesterday had been amazing, and it had been hard to leave her last night after our kiss, but for Maya, I was going to take this slowly, because she meant too much to me to rush and lose or just write off as a one-nighter.
Obviously, she had no idea that it was already 12:30 p.m., so I figured she’d had a busy morning and mentally patted myself on the back for coming to take her for a surprise lunch. Laughing at the way she was looking around the office for a clock when she had a watch on her wrist, the time on her computer screen, and her cell on her desk, I walked up and pulled her out of her chair gently and put my arms around her. “Baby, it’s half past twelve,” I chuckled.
“No way! Oh my God, how the hell did that happen?” She sounded confused, which made me laugh harder.
“It’s what happens. Get your cell and whatever shit you need and let’s get some lunch, baby.”
Something about holding Maya centered me, and I hated letting go of her, but I did—reluctantly. When she slowly le
t go of me too, I knew she felt the same way, and the fire that had been burning inside me since I met her burnt hotter.
Maya
“So where are we going?” I asked, picking up my purse and cell and powering down the computer after saving the designs.
Just as we got to the door, he tugged me back. “I need to say hello properly.”
He lowered his head and his lips moved slowly over mine, gently rubbing, and when the pressure increased and his tongue gave a lazy swipe across my lower lip, I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. I vaguely heard the thud of something as my arms went around Ren’s neck, and our tongues stroked slowly and gently against each other.
With one of Ren’s arms around the base of my back and his other hand at the base of my head, our bodies were pressed as close together as they could get. His hand had tilted my head back and to the side, giving him control over the slow, gentle lapping of his tongue. My hands moved up his chest and into his hair, and I pulled his head against me a bit more. Before the kiss could get out of control, Ren pulled away, and his hand moved out of my hair and around my neck, cupping my chin, and he rubbed his thumb gently across my lower lip while we tried to calm our breathing.
“Remind me to surprise you at work some more,” he whispered, looking from my mouth to my eyes and then flashing me a cheeky grin. “Now, can I take you for lunch before we get carried away?”
Getting carried away actually sounded perfect to me, until I realized that we were still in my office and that my cousin’s office was beside mine and George’s was directly across the floor.
“If you must,” I sighed, like it was a burden to spend time with Ren, trying to hide how much I liked our bodies that close together and how much the kiss had affected me. I don’t think it worked, because he laughed even harder.
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