Authors: Kate St. James
“How did you know I was in the ladies’?”
“Teresa told me.”
That female Benedict Arnold. “Did she say anything else?”
“Yes, she asked me to relay a message—payback is a bitch.” His smile exposed pearly whites she’d love to slick with her tongue.
She dried her hands and trashed the paper towel.
“Chloe, this running has to stop,” he said.
Well, well, Tess had also provided her name. Regardless, Chloe agreed with Ethan. No more running. She had to face the facts. She was insanely, absurdly, inexplicably drawn to the man. He hadn’t even touched her breasts, and she wanted to drag him into the nearest stall and crawl onto his naked and hopefully very aroused lap.
However, something else lurked beneath the most compelling attraction she’d ever experienced. It didn’t make one speck of sense that her soul had tattooed FOREVER on a man she barely knew. But the bone-deep surety existed all the same.
“Ethan…”
Contentment lit his fawn-brown eyes. “Teresa mentioned my name.”
“Her friends call her Tess.” Chloe drew in a breath. “You’re right about the running. I won’t do it again.”
Confusion marred his handsome face. “Why did you ever?”
“Because, you scare me.” Her cheeks heated. “It’s not like I thought you’d attack me in the park or anything. But there’s something between us. A weird connection. That scares me.”
“Generally, when two people are attracted to one another, there’s a connection.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m attracted to you. But there’s more.”
“Chloe, I want to ask you out. Just a date. I promise, nothing scary. It’s not like I’m getting down on one knee and begging you to bear my children.”
That’s what you think.
She stepped toward him. “Ethan, let me demonstrate. Shake my hand.”
“Like we’re strangers—?”
“Meeting for the first time.” She hadn’t the foggiest what she intended her stunt to prove, but intuition booted her forward.
He extended a hand. Nerves hopping, she grasped it. His strong fingers swept her knuckles, and a vibrant shock shot through her.
Eyes popping, she let go. “Feel that?”
Glancing at his palm, he muttered, “Static.”
“From a tile floor?”
“People static. My hands are dry.”
“Call it what you want. You can’t deny that our chemistry’s amazing.”
“I want amazing chemistry with the women I date.”
Women. As in plural.
The poor, deluded man.
He quite simply had no idea that once they started down the path of life together, it would take a thousand guests shouting objections at their traditional church wedding to separate them.
Yawning, Tess unlocked her apartment door. Despite that her watch displayed 1:45 a.m., all was right in her world. She’d dug a huge dent in the Crockett’s paperwork tonight. A few hours of uninterrupted sleep and she’d work even harder tomorrow, saving Friday night and all of Saturday for alone time with Zach.
She missed him. Not only the incredible sex, but how easily he prompted her to laugh and the enthusiasm in his eyes when he updated her on the renovations to the warehouse site for Climbing The Walls.
They got along as well as if they’d known each other for years.
An off-kilter sensation nagged at her as she switched on the kitchen light and plopped her keys and purse on the counter. A chirp trilled from the dining area. She glanced at the budgie cleaning a claw on his play perch.
“Buddy?” She walked to the perch, and he hopped onto her outstretched finger. “You little Houdini,” she cooed, stroking his power-blue feathers. “How did you escape?”
“It was me, Tess.” Chloe’s sleepy voice drifted from the living room. “Sorry. I was lonely, so I let him out of his cage.”
The lamp beside the couch snapped on, illuminating her best friend. Chloe rubbed her eyes and swung her sandaled feet off the sofa. A blanket snuggled her shoulders.
“Is this a surprise attack to give me hell about trapping you in the washroom with Ethan?” Tess asked.
“You wouldn’t answer my cell, so I used my key.” Chloe sat up, crossing her arms. “Explain yourself.”
Tess returned the chirping budgie to his cage. “I’m sorry,” she said without conviction. She pulled off her high heels and sat on the couch beside her friend.
“You sicced him on me! What am I supposed to do now?”
“Come on, you deserved it.” Tess rubbed an aching heel. “You’ve salivated after him for weeks, and you haven’t dated in months. You’re always after me to get a life. Get your own, girlfriend.”
“I
know
I deserved it. There’s something I haven’t told you, though.”
“What?” Tess’s gaze shifted to her hardcover Anne Gheddes photography book on the coffee table. An unfamiliar paperback crowned the glossy pages open to portraits of babies and blossoms. “What’s this?” She reached for the paperback.
“Nothing.” Chloe snatched the book and stuffed it under the blanket.
“Chloe, what are you reading?”
“No. You’ll think I’m nuts.”
“I already think you’re nuts. Now give it.”
“Tess—”
“Give.”
Chloe passed her the book, and Tess read the title.
How to Tell if Your Biological Clock is Ticking or You Need to Get a Cat: A Savvy Woman’s Guide to Planning and Conceiving a Child.
“Shit, you’re not pregnant?”
Chloe winced. “No, but I think I want to be.”
“What?” Tess practically screeched. “You’d never have a baby outside of marriage! After what your mom went through—”
“Who said anything about outside of marriage?”
“
You
want to get married and have kids? When did this happen?”
Chloe released a heavy sigh. “I wanted to tell you, but the idea seemed so stupid. Me, a husband and children? I tried to ignore the yearnings, but by spring they were worse than ever, so I vowed—”
“Chloe, breathe.”
“—that I wouldn’t date for six months. Because you know what happens when I start seeing a guy.”
Tess nodded. “You have sex.”
“Usually, too early in the relationship—”
“Leading to tons of complications—”
“That result in an inevitable breakup.”
“Oh!” Tess clued in. “Ethan asked you out.”
Misery carved Chloe’s face. “I said yes.”
Tess tossed the book onto the coffee table. “Chloe, that’s great.”
“Are you insane? He’s everything I
shouldn’t
want. Yet I feel like we’re meant to be together. That once we start dating, that’s it. We’ll get married, have kids, have freaking grandchildren, Tee. How can I feel this way about the guy already? Am I some psycho who wants to get hurt like my mom did?”
Tess squeezed her friend’s chilly hands. “Sweetie, you have a psychology degree. You know as well as I do that just because your father abandoned your mother doesn’t mean that Ethan or any other guy will hurt you.”
“But ever since meeting him, I’ve felt this strange bond. Yet we’ve barely spoken more than a few sentences to each other.”
“It’s called love at first sight,” Tess murmured. Envy spun inside her.
“How can I want a future with a guy I haven’t even dated? It’s too fast. It’s crazy.”
“Okay, so you had a premonition that you and Ethan have a future. You don’t have to marry him next week, Chloe. You probably shouldn’t even tell him how you feel. Remember what I said in Lovin’. Date him but don’t have sex with him. If it helps, I’ll dare you not to.”
Chloe shook her head. “No. No dares, and no more bets. You’re right, I can’t sleep with him. If my instincts are correct and this is the man I’m destined to spend my life with, I’m not beginning the relationship with lies.”
Tess snorted. “Yet it’s fine for me to deceive Zach?”
“You don’t have to keep sleeping with him, Tee. I’m sorry I dared you to go after him.”
Her heart hammered. “Don’t be sorry. I want to keep sleeping with him.” She released Chloe’s hands. “If you hadn’t dared me to go after a guy, or if I’d chosen someone other than Zach, when Ethan saw us today, I wouldn’t have sent him into the bathroom after you. You’d still think of him as The Suit and continue avoiding him. You accepted a date with Ethan as a result of our bet. Fate led him to you, Chloe.”
“Like fate led you to Zach?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. My relationship with Zach is about sex. No marriage premonitions here.” Her neck prickled.
“We’re having dinner and seeing a movie next week. That’s as far off as I could reasonably procrastinate. Tess, what if Ethan asks me back to his place? If I ask him to mine? You know how quickly I lose control when a hot guy touches my boobs. I can’t even kiss a man without the damn things getting in the way. Ethan will make contact with them whether he wants to or not. His damn chest will arouse them!”
Tess laughed.
“Yeah, it’s real funny. How will I stop myself from attacking him then?”
“Wait here.” Tess rose. “I have the perfect thing.”
Tess’s heart clawed her throat as Zach led her away from the Hellevator. Damn Chloe for planting the idea that she could handle the twenty-story thrill ride that yo-yoed to earth at speeds no human should ever endure. She’d barely survived the PNE’s famous wooden roller coaster, which she’d only ridden two other times in her life.
“Oh. My. Stomach. I think I left it ten stories up there.”
Zach clasped her hand. “The ride was great, huh? Did you open your eyes?”
“That was the problem. If I’d kept them closed, I might not have screamed the whole way up and down. And up. And down.” The terrifying ride had popped them in the air like champagne corks. Picturing the way her butt had bounced off the buckled-in seat on the upswing rolled waves of nausea through her.
“That was some scream, babe. You started with an F when we shot off and I heard a K near the end.”
“Sorry.” Her head swam. “I need to sit down.”
He looked at her. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I shouldn’t have pigged out on cotton candy ten minutes ago.”
Concern lit his eyes. “Babe, I told you not to eat before the ride. I thought you were kidding when you said you didn’t feel well, but the Hellevator really scared you.”
He escorted her to a bench near a concession stand, his large hand gentle on her elbow. They both wore shorts and T-shirts, and the September sun blazed high in the cornflower-blue sky. Happy-go-lucky fair-goers strolled past as the scents of popcorn, hot dogs and sickly sweet cotton candy migrated from the concession stand.
Stomach lurching, Tess collapsed on the bench. “This might not be the best spot to sit. The smells…”
“I’ll buy water and we’ll find another bench. Put your head between your legs.”
He coaxed her to lean forward, his hand warm on her shoulder. Tenderly, he rubbed her back while her ponytail dangled over her nose.
Tess groaned.
Lovely.
If she tossed her cookies within view of her studmuffin, she might as well abandon hope of becoming a bona fide wild woman, or at least restrict her adventures to the emotionally safe boundaries of the bedroom.
Zach left. Moments later, he returned. Sitting beside her, he pressed a cool, water-soaked napkin to the back of her neck.
“Zach, that feels like heaven.”
“Good.” He brushed the tiny hairs at her nape. “Want to sit somewhere else?”
“I’m fine.” His large body radiated comfort. Slowly, her nausea dissipated. Sitting up, she accepted the cold water bottle. “Thanks.” She swallowed a refreshing mouthful. “I never want to eat cotton candy again.”
He smiled. “Have you ridden the Hellevator before?”
She shook her head.
“We didn’t
have
to ride it, babe.”
“I wanted to. You’re a climber, Zach. You love heights. I wanted to share that excitement with you. Are you disappointed?”
“In you? Never.” His rough voice caressed her.
She gazed into his chocolate-sauce eyes, and something inside her softened in a way that felt incredibly dangerous.
Hands down, Zach Halliday was the nicest guy she’d ever known. If only he’d entered her life at a different time.
But he hadn’t.
He was here now for a purpose—a temporary, sexy diversion.
Remember that.
“I feel better now,” she murmured, kissing him. “Thank you for taking care of me.” Oh, she did not like how cherished he made her feel. “Let’s go back to your place, and I’ll show you how much better I feel.”
“Want to try the Revolution or the Twin Flip first?”
She shook her head. “I want to get you alone. Now.”
Making love with Zach Halliday was enough of a thrill ride for her.
Tess was on a mission to have wild jungle sex with Zach Halliday. Trapeze-artist sex. Thrill-ride sex. Swinging-from-the-chandeliers, uninhibited, hot and crazy monkey loving.
More accurately, she wished she could pursue that mission. Unfortunately, her body refused to cooperate. The nausea that had begun on the roller coaster and soared into the stratosphere courtesy of the Hellevator now saturated her entire being.
She sank onto the padded lounge chair on Zach’s high-rise sundeck facing False Creek. The sun-toasted vinyl soothed the backs of her thighs. Zach strode out carrying two glasses of orange juice. Her heart melted.
“For you, milady.” Bowing, he presented her a glass.
She smiled. “I trust it’s freshly squeezed?”
“If you count opening a can from the freezer, yes.”
Tess took the glass and drank the cold juice. “Thank you.” Her tummy somersaulted, and she moaned. “I’m sorry about this.”
He sat on the lounge, hip nudging hers. “About what?” He sipped his juice.
“For wimping out on you. I’ll be okay in a few minutes, and then we can do it out here if you want.” She smoothed a hand along his muscular thigh.
“We’re not doing it, babe.” The growing bulge in his shorts belied his words.
She skimmed her fingers toward his zipper. “But I said—”
“I know what you said.” His eyes closed as she fondled him over his khaki shorts. His erection swelled, and a wave of satisfaction rolled through her.
“Tess.” His eyes opened. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re not in shape for lovemaking.” He lifted her hand off his shorts. Leaning over, he brushed sticky hair off her forehead and planted a gentle kiss on the spot his fingers had grazed. “I’m not some poon hound who needs sex every day,” he whispered. “As long as we spend time together, that’s what counts.” His breath feathered her eyelashes.