Foreplay

Studying him, I asked, “You don’t want to go back to school? Finish your degree?”

He shrugged. “I’m running a business now. Learning through trial and error. And if I went back to school my ol’ man would sell off Mulvaney’s. It’s been in my family too long. I couldn’t let him do that. I guess it’s in my blood.”

The hostess called for us. She led us to a table for two near the window that faced the street. Seated, we opened the menus.

“What kind of pizza do you like?” he asked.

“My favorite is usually the Greek. Love the olives and feta and bits of shaved gyro meat on it. I usually get a slice or two of that—”

“That’s one of my favorites, too. Let’s get a large.” Closing the menu, he added with a grin, “I eat a lot.”

“I remember. Pancakes this tall.” I floated a hand above the table.

He nodded. “That’s right.”

“And fourteen meatballs.”

“You cheated me on those. I think you just gave me five.”

I shook my head. “So unfair. Guys have some kind of superhero metabolism.”

“You should see Logan eat. He’ll get a large just for himself and a side of wings and the meatball calzone.”

“Teenage boys,” I grumbled.

“Yeah, and he plays sports so he has no body fat at all.”

My gaze skimmed Reece’s chest and arms appreciatively. He was all hard, lean lines and tight muscle. He didn’t appear to have an ounce of fat on him either. Recalling that I had stripped down to my panties in front of him suddenly astonished me.

Pushing away the memory, I added, “And your brother has a lot of late night activity, too.”

The instant the words slipped out, my face caught fire. I had pretty much just called his brother a man-whore to his face. And it only called attention to what brought us together in the first place—the fact that I had thought he was the infamous bartender that slept with every girl to pass through Mulvaney’s doors.

Luckily, he didn’t take offense. He laughed. The waitress arrived to take our order right then. She froze, an awed smile fixed to her face as she eyed Reece.

“Ah, what can I get for you?” she addressed Reece without glancing at me. I couldn’t really blame her. Whenever he was around he was all I could look at, too.

He turned that dazzling smile on her and the waitress’s eyes might have glazed over. He ordered our pizza. It took her a moment to look down at her pad. She fumbled with the pen before finally managing to write. “Excellent choice. That’s my favorite.”

Reece’s gaze slid to me and his look made me warm from the inside out. “Ours, too.”

She looked at me as though remembering my presence. A stupid smile curved my lips and I looked down at my hands laced together in front of me. Ours. That single word ricocheted through my head. It made me feel all kinds of good to hear him say that single word. Foolish, I knew. But there it was.

She asked for our drink orders, and I chimed in with my request.

“I’ll have that right out.” She beamed at Reece and even sent me a quick, awkward smile—like she knew I knew she was imagining him naked.

And then we were alone again.

Reece leaned forward again, looking so at ease I began to feel relaxed. “So the gloves are off when it comes to my brother, huh?”

“Sorry.” I plucked at the edge of my napkin, my sense of ease evaporating.

“It’s okay. His reputation is well earned. I tried to stop it in the beginning, but he’s eighteen now. He’ll start college in the fall. I can’t tell him what to do anymore. He’s gotta learn for himself.” His lips cocked in that sexy half-grin that made my stomach flip every time. “And just hope he doesn’t end up a father before his twentieth birthday.” He laughed and winced at this simultaneously. The low deep sound rippled over my skin and sank deep inside me. He scrubbed a hand over his short-cropped hair. “Shit. I sound like a father.”

He did, and it totally threw me. It didn’t fit with my initial notion of him. He really was a nice guy. “I get it. You’ve had to be more than a brother to him.”

Some of the levity faded from his face. He was quiet for a moment before saying, “He was just so little when our mom died . . . and I already told you that our father isn’t exactly the type to sit down and talk us through things or comfort us. For bad or good, I’ve been a parent to him.” He shrugged again. “But this year I decided I needed to take a step back.”

The waitress set our drinks down and left. I stared at Reece, wondering how many eight-year-old boys would have stepped up to the plate and adopted the role of mother and father for their younger sibling. “I’m sure what you gave him is better than him going without.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “It was something. He knows I care about him at least, and he’s not alone.”

And isn’t that everything? I thought of my own mother. I couldn’t say that I knew she ever cared about me. Maybe once. Before she started to care about her addiction more.

Almost like he guessed that I was thinking less than pleasant thoughts, he suggested, “Let’s talk about something else.”

I nodded, okay with leaving the subject behind. Talking about his upbringing only made me think of mine. Maybe that was the downside to us being not so different. “Sure.”

“Pepper?”

I looked up at the sound of my name and stared at Hunter’s face, not registering him at first. It was a strange, bewildering experience staring at Hunter with Reece across from me. Like two worlds coming together that never should have met.

“Hunter.” I leaned back in my chair, not realizing until that moment that I had been leaning half across the table, so into Reece and being close to him. “Hi,” I added dumbly.

“Hey, how’s it going?” His gaze slid from me to Reece and back again. He hovered there, waiting. I couldn’t seem to think of a thing to say even though it was apparent he was waiting for an introduction.

“Hey, I’m Reece.” Apparently he knew what to say and do. Reece reached out and shook Hunter’s hand in a solid-looking grip.

“Hunter Montgomery. I went to high school with Pepper.”

“Oh, yeah.” Reece smiled amiably. “That’s cool to have someone you know around.” His expression was innocent. He gave nothing away, like that I might have mentioned Hunter’s name a dozen times. Thank God.

“Yeah. It is.” Hunter’s eyes settled on me as he answered Reece.

“We just met a couple weeks ago,” Reece added, looking at me with eyes that looked suddenly smoky blue. Probing and intimate. Like he knew what I looked like n**ed and couldn’t wait to get me n**ed again. “But it feels like we’ve known each other longer. Know what I mean?”

My eyes flared. I kicked him under the table, wondering what he was doing painting the picture that we were some kind of hot and heavy couple. Even if maybe we were. Sort of. Or not. I didn’t know what we were exactly, but it wasn’t a couple. That’s the only thing I knew for sure, and I didn’t need him planting the idea in Hunter’s head that I was unavailable.

“Uh. Yeah,” Hunter murmured, his eyebrows drawing together.

I still couldn’t find my voice. My face felt overly hot and I knew I must be as red as the little squares on the tablecloth.

“Yeah, well, nice meeting you, man.” The smile was still on Reece’s face and in his voice, but there was a steeliness in his gaze. His meaning was clear. Good-bye and go the f**k away.

“See you later, Hunter,” I murmured softly and gave a small wave, eager for him to leave, but not because I was so enamored of my date and wanted some alone time. I wanted the embarrassment to come to an end. I wanted to stop Hunter from concluding that I was involved deeply with the guy sitting across from me.

“Yeah.” Hunter nodded and moved back across the restaurant. He reclaimed his seat at the bar with a couple of other guys. I’d seen him around campus with one of them. I thought it was his roommate.

“So that’s the infamous Hunter.”

I lifted my gaze back to Reece. “This was a bad idea.”

“What was?”

“You. Us. This date we’re pretending to be on.” Reece was silent and I flicked my gaze to Hunter across the restaurant and back to him again. “Did you have to do that?”

“Do what? Make you look desirable?” He looked at me in exasperation. “You should be thanking me.”

“What? How?”

“I just took you from one category . . . the-girl-I-never-pictured-naked category, and dropped you into I-wonder-what-she’s-like-in-bed.”

I blinked and fell silent as our pizza arrived. The waitress placed it on the table between us along with two plates.

“Oh,” I murmured, processing this bit of information.

“Now don’t look, but trust me when I say he hasn’t been able to stop glancing over here.”

I leaned forward in my chair. “Really?”

“Yeah. And now it’s just about to get better.”

I leaned forward a bit more, the steam from the pizza floating up to my face. “Better how?”

He leaned across the table and pressed his mouth to mine. I immediately forgot the impropriety of kissing in broad daylight in a public place. His mouth was warm and open against mine. The kiss branded me. Too intoxicating to resist. I immediately responded. His tongue slipped inside and stroked my own. Nothing around us existed. It was just his mouth on my mouth. My hands reached out, fingers grazing the planes of his face, touching but not quite. It was like if I touched him, he might vanish from me altogether.

A plate crashed nearby and I jerked. Reece pulled back ever so slightly. His lips still grazing mine, he murmured, “Very nice. That should do the trick.”

The air whooshed from my lips and I dropped back in my seat. “What?”

“Hunter can’t take his eyes off you right now. You should see his face—but no. Don’t look. I wouldn’t be surprised if he calls you tomorrow.”

Actually I wasn’t tempted to look. That was the sad thing. I was too busy staring at the guy I wanted to pull back across the table and keep on kissing.

Which was all kinds of f**ked up. I needed to get a grip on myself. Reece wasn’t the one. He wasn’t my one.

Gulping a deep breath, I folded my hands in my lap. “Oh.” I wasn’t sure how I felt that he had just staged that kiss. I hadn’t been thinking about Hunter with my lips locked to Reece’s. I should have been. But I wasn’t. Had Reece felt anything at all?

His gaze held mine. “Pretty good luck, huh.”

“What’s that?” Right now, I didn’t feel particularly lucky.

“Running into him here.”

“Yeah.” I nodded, watching as he dug into the pizza between us, serving one slice to each of us.

“Eat up.” He took a large bite from his slice.

I followed suit, willing the knots in my stomach to untie themselves.

He groaned, and the sound elicited all manner of wicked feelings inside me. “This is the best.”

I resisted the urge to smack him.

“It really is,” I agreed.

“Hey.” He reached across the table and covered my hand with his own. “It’s going to work out. You’ll see. You’ll get your guy.”

My heart clenched a little at his words. Suddenly I wasn’t so sure who that guy was anymore.

Chapter 22

Hunter called the following day. I’d forgotten that Reece had predicted as much. Or maybe I just blew the suggestion off. When his name popped up on my phone, I practically fell out of my chair. Standing, I took a deep breath and answered, managing to sound calm.