The telltale color tingeing her neck nearly choked him. He couldn’t find air.
The blood in his body emptied into his groin, again. Jesus, she’d been in her room with her door closed, and now her neck was flushed.
Count to ten, Bonnard. Count to ten, and breathe. Do it. Now!
Her cheeks turned the same color as her neck. “You you what?” she prompted in a strangled voice.
His gaze was glued to her neck. “Yeah, I, uh, I organized dinner.
Thai home delivery.” He flexed his fingers. Made a fist. Anything to stop himself from reaching out to her. “That okay with you?”
“Of course it is. Thank you.” Katie’s hand crept to her chest, covering her neck.
“Chicken with cashew nut and thin rice noodles still still your favorite?”
Jesus, he couldn’t think. couldn’t talk.
She nodded awkwardly.
“Good.” Finally he dragged his gaze up to meet her eyes. They were wild, desperate, and he was sure they mirrored his own. He leaned against the doorframe and flexed his hand again. Damn it, he wanted to haul her against him. Crush her belly against his dick. “Katie…”
She licked her lips nervously. “Uh, yeah?”
“Katie,” he said again, and dropped his gaze to her mouth. Her lips quivered, and he felt the tremble in his bones.
“Ty?”
He shook his head, forcing reason into his thoughts. he’d sought her out to tell her something. What? What the hell was it? “Are you doing anything Sunday morning?” Yeah, that was it.
She frowned. “Not that I know of.”
Sunday. Focus on Sunday. “Now you are. We’re going out.”
“Alone?” Her voice was fractionally louder than a squeak.
Did the idea of being alone with him frighten her? Good. “No, sweet Katie. Steve’s coming too.” Steve had to come. This might well be one of the last activities they did together as friends. After Ty made his move on Katie, Steve would, in all likelihood, despise him.
She nodded, relief evident in her face. “Where are we going?”
Huh, no way. If he told her, she’d never join them. “Don’t ask, my sweet. It’s a surprise.”
“Why not just tell me?” She looked pointedly out the window behind him, to where his motorbike was parked. “I wasn’t all that impressed with your last surprise.”
Ty frowned. What was it about the bike that Katie found so objectionable?
“We’re headed out of Sydney for the day, to do something you’ve never done before. You’ll love it, I promise. And don’t worry,” he reassured her. “We can take a car.” Of course she’d love it. No matter how ambivalent she might be at first, this was right up her alley.
She looked at him dubiously.
“Trust me.” He gave her a wicked grin. Katie smiled back. It fried his insides and did funny things to his balls.
“Well, as long as Steve’s coming…”
His grin faltered. Steve. Always Steve. Even when he wasn’t there, his presence lingered between them. “Make sure to wear something warm. It might be a little cold for a while.”
“Cold?”
“Don’t ask questions, Katie,” he chastised her. “You’ll ruin the surprise.”
“At least tell me if I need to dress smart for the occasion.”
Hell no. “Jeans or trackie daks and running shoes will do just fine.
One more thing I won’t be here tomorrow night.”
“You won’t?” she asked, perhaps a little too quickly.
“Nope, I have a business investment to look into.”
“At night? What kind of business takes place at night?”
Ah, was that a flare of jealousy in her voice? He hoped so. “A British conglomerate is opening a string of hotels in Australia. A casino, entertainment center setup, similar to Star City.” He pushed his desire to the back of his mind, focused on their conversation. “They want to build them all over the country, and they’ve approached us for capital.
One of my initial duties is to check out their first hotel. It opened in Manly about three months ago. He mentioned the name.”
Katie nodded. “Yeah, I know the place. Never been there, though.
There was bit of a media frenzy when they opened their doors. Lots of controversy about a multimillion-dollar hotel destroying the neighborhood.”
“That’s the one. We’re not sure if we want to invest yet. I’ll spend a couple of nights at the hotel to get a feel for the place, have meetings, do research, etcetera. They’ve offered me a few tickets for the show there Saturday evening. What do you say? Up for an evening of live entertainment?”
“On the company?” They’d seen countless shows together over the years. He knew she wouldn’t pass up this chance.
Panic flashed in her eyes. “Steve?”
He suppressed the wariness in his response. “Yeah, Katie. There’s a ticket for Steve as well.” Usually, Steve opted out of musicals, leaving Tyler and Katie to enjoy them alone. This time Ty suspected Steve would be happier joining them.
“I… Thank you. That will be lovely.”
She dropped her hand from her chest, revealing her flushed skin.
Ah, crap. So much for the control he’d regained while talking. He stared once more at her neck. Imagined its heat beneath his tongue, the honeyed sweetness of her flesh. She’d been in her room with the door closed, and she’d emerged with skin stained that delicate pink Get out of the kitchen, Bonnard. Quickly. She’s still engaged to Steve.
His legs wouldn’t carry him. For a long moment he could do nothing but stare and imagine and lust, until finally she shifted under his gaze.
He nodded slowly. “Good,” he said hoarsely, “I’m looking…” Her pulse jumped jerkily in her throat, matching the rhythm of his own heart.
“I’m…” Speech had become impossibly difficult. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I’m looking…” A muscle ticked in his cheek. His subconscious told him again to get the hell out of the kitchen.
Two years of lust crashed over him, yanking his tortured dick even harder.
“I’m Damn it, Katie!” he growled. “Fuck. I shouldn’t do this!”
“Shouldn’t do…?”
Before she could finish, he hauled her into his arms. There was no time for protests. No time for regrets. The instant her body smashed into his, he kissed her.
Two years worth of restraint rose to the surface and erupted.
He held nothing back, kissed her with every desperate iota of passion he felt for her. Unexpectedly, she responded in kind. Her mouth seared his. Her lips burned a path of fiery destruction over his.
Her tongue was hot, demanding, and left him reeling in its assault.
Desire slammed through him, swift and certain, leaving no doubt that this was the only woman who could stir the fires of lust in his soul.
His balls constricted painfully as she ground her pelvis against his.
A kiss.
One kiss, and his body was ablaze. Burning with a desperate need to get closer. To fuck her.
She whimpered beneath the onslaught of his mouth and submitted to the demand of his tongue. Greedily, she accepted the invasion of his kiss, and he basked in the victory of his conquest. This was what he had craved for two years.
This, and so much more.
Her hands were in his hair, clamping his head to hers. The cold metal of her ring grazed his ear.
Shit!
Tyler tore his mouth from hers. She was still engaged to his best friend.
“Katie.” His voice was like gravel. “Fuck it, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Not yet.”
She whimpered.
His heart slammed into his ribs. “Shit. Katie, I didn’t mean to do that.”
Her body was limp as a dishrag, her eyes enormous. Her legs trembled beside his. It was all he could do to pull away from her. Damn, it was fucking impossible to let her go.
She gaped at him, fumbled blindly for a kitchen chair and collapsed into it.
He dragged a hand through his hair, hating himself for his weakness. That wasn’t supposed to happen, he said. His chest heaved unevenly beneath his ragged breath. Not yet.
“Not yet? What what the hell is that supposed to mean?” Her voice was as breathless as his own.
“We need to talk. You and I. Soon.” He couldn’t keep the truth from her much longer. She needed to know why he left her in the first place, why he hadn’t offered her the explanation she‘d deserved. he’d destroy all three of them if he kept up the pretense. “Soon, my sweet,” he promised. First he needed to ascertain Steve’s feelings for Pen. He needed to make absolutely certain that by claiming Katie he would not destroy his friend’s future happiness. Soon.
Then he turned around and stumbled out of the kitchen.
Fuck it. If she could go to her room and close the goddamn door and come out flushed he could too!
She could do this. She could so do this. She. Could. Do. This. It was just a show and dinner. That was all. It was irrelevant that Steve couldn’t make it.
She was an adult. A mature, engaged woman, and she could cope with a Saturday evening alone with Tyler.
True, when Steve was around conversation ran more smoothly.
True, she felt more comfortable and more confident when he was there. That did not mean she couldn’t spend a few hours alone with an old friend.
Oh please. Who was she fooling? Certainly not herself. Tyler wasn’t an old friend. He was an old lover she’d never gotten over. An old lover, who, if she didn’t watch herself very, very carefully, was likely to become a new lover.
No. She already had a lover, and she would not betray him for a man who’d deserted her.
She walked into the bar where they’d arranged to meet, but when she saw him sitting alone at a table, a drink in his hand, dressed in chinos and a trendy striped shirt and looking completely hot, all her previous determination dissolved. How could she spend an entire evening alone with him without wanting him? Without touching him?
She cursed the emergency that forced Steve to work on a weekend night. Damn it all, now more than ever she needed him at her side.
Needed his strength and reassurance.
Tyler hadn’t spotted her yet, and she took a moment to study him undetected.
He’d changed in the last two years. Matured. At thirty-two, he was all man, and his very presence commanded attention. Women turned to take a second look, to openly admire him. Men seemed to stand a little straighter when they spoke to him. A young waitress hovered nearby, wiping his spotless table and offering him another drink.
He smiled distractedly at her, and she increased her efforts to clean his table.
If she were the waitress she’d also fall over herself to please him.
If he turned the full wattage of his smile on the girl, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
He didn’t. His eyes wandered, scanning the room. Looking for something.
Someone. She should signal to him. Should announce her presence.
Instead, she stood stock-still, watching, waiting, for the moment he saw her. Her heart beat a little faster, the anticipation of meeting his gaze suddenly unbearable.
He was beautiful. The way his brown hair curled behind his ear. The way his dark eyes always seemed to see straight through her defenses.
The way his lips, his full, sensuous lips, moved when he spoke, all combined to make him quite lethal. Yep, one look from him, and she was history.
His gaze settled on her and his mouth curved into a half smile. A sexy, knowing half smile, that mocked her bravado. He knew her thoughts. Knew she still desired him as much as she had the day they’d met. And the day they’d first made love. And the day they’d said goodbye.
Tyler didn’t move. He simply sat where he was, watching her. She didn’t move either, couldn’t. If she took a step now, it would be to hurl herself at him.
To cover his mouth with hers, to drink from his lips and to accept the inevitability of their reunion.
Had anyone walked across the path of their gazes, they would have rebounded off the tangible tension that locked them together. The look in his eyes was hot, insatiable, and he made no effort to hide it.
The pulse in her neck beat harder and faster. Her breath came in shallow, sharp blasts. She briefly questioned her decision to wear the black cocktail dress. It didn’t cover nearly enough of her legs, and the plunging neckline revealed altogether too much cleavage, but she could hardly worry about her clothes now. She’d worn the dress for Steve.
Hadn’t she?
Tyler lifted his drink, tipped the glass in her direction, then downed the last drop. He stood, dropped a couple of bills on the table, slung a blazer over his shoulder and walked over to her. If they were in a movie, she thought, he wouldn’t have said a word. He’d merely have stopped an inch away from her, lowered his head to hers and kissed her.
But this wasn’t a movie. This was real life, and women who were engaged to be married did not get swept off their feet by ex-lovers.
“Tyler,” she greeted him when he was about a meter away.
“Katie.” He nodded as he closed the gap. “You look beautiful.”
If his gaze had been hot before, it burned now.
“Thank you.” Her voice was throaty, and she didn’t like it. I’m so sorry. This was supposed to be an evening with all three of us, but Steve had an emergency at the practice. He can’t make it.”
“I know.” The heat in his eyes did not lose one bit of its intensity.
“I just spoke to him.” He paused, and smiled. “Looks like it’s just you and me.”
She’d have answered, but his smile knocked the oxygen from her lungs.
“You ready to go, or would you prefer a drink first?”
“Go,” she said, and then attempted to string a sentence together.
It shouldn’t be too difficult. One thing she and Ty never had trouble with was talking. “The show’s starting soon. We don’t want to miss the beginning.”
Darn, it was hard forming words. Ty’s hair was damp, and he smelled of soap and aftershave and man. Concentrating became difficult when every time she inhaled she breathed in his scent.
He placed his hand on the small of her back, steering her out of the bar. A small, casual gesture, yet her skin prickled beneath his touch, sending waves of longing radiating through her.
He should have moved his hand away, but he didn’t. She should have stepped away from him, but she didn’t. Instead, she slowed her pace infinitesimally, prolonging the sweet moments of contact.