Playing All the Angles (4 page)

Tad laughed. “How do you know?”

“I don’t.” She shrugged back. “I’m just trying to make you feel better.” When he stopped laughing, she was still smiling at him, leaning back in her chair, arms folded across her middle. “Do you feel better?”

“Oddly enough, I do,” he agreed. “And thanks. Thanks for the coffee. I need to get back home to check on a project I’m running, but we should do this again sometime.”

“Brilliant. And thanks for letting me in the door. I might have died on my front step, scrabbling at the kick plate, if you hadn’t come along.”

“Anytime,” he said, gathering his mail and rising from his seat. “G’night.”

Eve hummed as she rose with him. She’d made the decision to sleep with him before she’d handed him her keys, but she wasn’t sure he was aware of that. He didn’t seem to run on the same speed as her usual casual encounters. “You know, I did invite you in for coffee or something. Maybe I should have said
and
something instead?”

“Oh?”

“Do you really have a project running?”

When he didn’t answer immediately, she said, “I’m propositioning you, if it wasn’t clear. I was asking you in for coffee and sex. ‘Something’ was code for sex. We’ve had the coffee.”

“So, now we have the sex?”

“Yes.” Eve held out her hand.

His fingers were warm when they closed around hers. “You’re very blunt.”

“I was hoping for very appealing.”

“That too. It’s just, I have this feeling that if I don’t leave right now, I might never leave.”

Eve bit her lower lip, a dimple standing out on one cheek. “And that would be bad because…?”

“I—the project. I’d need to get back to that at some point. And—this is completely against my better judgment.”

She pulled him close, reaching up to stroke the back of his neck and draw him down to meet her lips. “What if I promise to send you stumbling out of here in the wee hours?”

“I’ll feel dirty and used?”

“And good. You’ll feel very, very good.”

Tad kissed her on the last word, his lips soft and slightly chapped, and she took a deep breath of him before breaking away to lead him to her bedroom.

Dominic intruded on her thoughts, but she pushed him aside. He had made his choices, and now she was making hers. If she needed someone beside her, there were a million other men in the world. She wasn’t defective. She wasn’t unlovable. She could be with someone who was good, who was maybe even good for her.

In her bed, Eve and Tad fumbled their way through their first attempt at sex, getting tangled in her sheets, bumping foreheads and teeth, and laughing through breathless desire until they found their fit. Once wasn’t quite enough after they’d found a rhythm, and he had made love to her again before tearing himself away from her warm embrace.

“There really is a project,” he said, apologizing. “And I really do have a deadline to make.”

She watched him dress from under the blankets, finding herself admiring the man as much as the body. He carried himself with such ease, as though he simply enjoyed being himself.

“It’s all right. I wasn’t going to let you stay anyway, remember?”

“Were you really going to kick me out?”

“I guess you’ll never know.”

“Maybe you’d like another try? Tomorrow? I could take you out for dinner, then we could come back here and you could kick me out.”

“Could do,” she agreed.

“How about seven?”

“I’ll be ready. That gives me plenty of time to practice my forceful voice.”

He leaned down and kissed her, doing up the last button on his shirt. “Fab. I’m sure it’s terrifying.”

“Just lock the handle as you go out. Don’t worry about the deadbolt.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll go down and set it in a few minutes.”

He kissed her again. “All right. See you tomorrow. And, Eve?”

“Yes?”

“I found absolutely nothing wrong with you.”

She felt her cheeks go flush with the compliment, and he winked at her, turning out the bedroom door. She waited until she heard him leave through the front before hurrying after him, peeking through the panels that hung on her windows to watch him. When he’d disappeared, she locked the deadbolt and went back through the kitchen, stretching happily. She rescued her almost full cup of coffee and her purse from the table and switched off the light on her way back into her bedroom. She finished the cold coffee with a wince and then took a quick shower before settling down to sleep. She’d laid her cell phone on the bedside table, where it blinked at her about a new text message. Of course it was from Dominic.

U just cldnt resist mkng urself the cntr of attntn, cld u? *wink*

Eve sighed and then grumbled, “Bastard,” as she snapped the phone closed and tossed it back onto the bedside table.

Things were about to change.

Correction: Things had already changed.

Chapter 3

“Y
OUR
S
ISTER
I
S
A R
IGHT
P
IECE
O
F
W
ORK
, you know that?” Dominic said, looking up from the paper to watch Isabelle at the stove as she made breakfast.

“Which one?”

“You know which. The one who hates me.”

Isabelle turned to look at him. “Eve doesn’t hate you.”

“She doesn’t much like me, either,” he said, folding the paper. “Of course, she’s not fond of her own family, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”

She frowned. “They’re too hard on her. She’s living her life the way she wants to. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“She’s living life to spite them, more like. Doing whatever she can to piss them off.”

“If she wanted to do that, she’d flirt with Doyle. That’s the one thing that would send Alora over the edge.”

“You think?” Dominic laughed. “I think her ignoring him sets Lora off. If she gave him attention, it would validate Alora’s taste, especially since she’s always on about what a slag Eve is. Ignoring Doyle makes Alora look like a fool.”

Isabelle put her hands on her hips. “You’ve thought a lot about this.”

“I’ve been watching, yeah.”

“She ignores you, too. I don’t feel any less validated.”

“Well, look at me. Then look at Doyle. Of course you feel validated.”

She snorted a laugh. “Is that what all this was leading up to? You want me to tell you how handsome and wonderful you are?”

“Maybe.”

“You don’t have to ask, you know. Didn’t I make it clear last night…and this morning?”

“Hmm, I dunno. It’s still a bit fuzzy. I think you might need another demonstration for it to really stick.”

She leaned over and kissed him. “After breakfast.”

“Now.” He pulled her over by the ties on her robe, then dug his hands into her hair as he kissed her. He had managed to get the robe off and had her on his lap when the smell of burning bacon interrupted, and Isabelle leaped away to move the frying pan from the stove. He followed, flicking off the burners before grabbing her and carrying her back into the bedroom.

From the bed, Isabelle watched their reflections in the mirror above the dresser as Dominic drove himself into her, his face buried in the curve of her neck. Her eyes traced the lines of his body from his muscular shoulders, down his back, to his thrusting hips, and she marveled that this man was in love with her.

A glint from the stone in her engagement ring caught her attention, and she slid her left hand down his bicep, watching the diamond solitaire glitter. Her hand looked so small on his arm. He was cut out of marble, tall and broad, making her long angles soft by comparison. Everything about him made her soft, she thought as she wound her arms and legs around him, pulling him closer, wanting more. She could never get enough of the feel of his skin, his body rocking against hers.

Dominic lifted his face to look into her eyes, tender and warm, before dropping his mouth to hers. For a few seconds, Isabelle lost track of everything but her building tension and the sound of her own breath. He made her feel things she hadn’t felt before. He made her forget there had ever been anyone else. With a few swift thrusts, he made her forget herself, losing everything in a wave of sensation that curved her spine up from the bed so that she was more of his body than her own.

When she could release her white-knuckled hold on his shoulders, he shifted and rolled, easing her on top. Now he could watch her body move, and she drew herself up to put on a real show as she rolled her pelvis against his. Locked together with him like this, everything about her was a gentle curve. She felt like she’d been made for him.

He closed his eyes, seeming to concentrate on his own pleasure, and she picked up her pace to help him along. She rocked against him until he let out a guttural cry, digging his fingers into her thighs as his back arched up, bouncing her forward against his chest. She had been made for him, she thought, as something like pride surged within her.

After a few seconds, Dominic rolled her to his side, wrapping his arms around her with a contented yawn. Now he would sleep.

Isabelle smiled to herself. How many times had this played out in the last year? She nestled down into her pillow, thinking of how it had all begun.

A few of her friends had dragged her along to a race, and he had been a muddy mess when she’d met him. Neither the race nor the other drivers had held any charm for her, but there had been something special about Dominic. Still, she hadn’t entertained any fantasies, and she’d refused to give him her number, politely rebuffing his flirtation. Apparently, that wasn’t what he’d been used to.

He’d spent two hours talking to her best friend, trying to find out details, before he managed to get her number. The first time he’d rung her up, she’d been pleasant but still refused to go out with him. He’d rung her every night for two weeks straight before she relented, and it was five dates before she’d allowed more intimacy than holding hands or a good-night kiss.

“I’m a rules girl,” she had told him. “You have to work for me.”

It had been a light way to skip over the fact that she’d been terrified. She hadn’t dated anyone seriously since Patrick, and she certainly hadn’t slept with anyone. Isabelle had known she was long past needing to be over that relationship, but she always found herself clinging to some hope until she’d met Dominic, and he had completely turned her head.

She’d made him wait three months before she let him into her bed, but he hadn’t been out of it since. Once he’d said he loved her, she couldn’t wait to introduce him to her family. They’d all been after her to start over, find someone new and live her life, and she couldn’t have gotten much farther from her first love if she’d tried.

Isabelle had been worried for him to meet Eve. That seemed to be the ultimate test. She knew her parents and Alora would welcome him with open arms. She supposed Eve would too. She was more concerned how he would react to Eve.

“Ever since we were teens,” Alora had told her repeatedly, “when she would come home on holiday from school, no matter who I was dating, she’d steal him. You’re just lucky she wasn’t around enough to fancy Patrick.”

“You don’t think she’d go for Dominic, do you?”

“If he’s everything you say? I’d lock that down before I introduced him to her gaping maw.”

Isabelle had laughed and poked her sister. “She’s not a demon.”

“Succubus. Yes, she is. But, I suppose she’s the ultimate litmus test, too. See how he reacts to her, and you’ll know what he really means to you.”

So, she’d brought him home. If he’d noticed Eve at all, it was in a short, almost electrical burst of immediate dislike. They’d said their hellos from under curled lips, equally repelled by one another, and hadn’t said another word until goodbyes were required.

Isabelle’s phone rang, and she stretched over Dominic to answer it. A full measure of her middle sister’s ringtone blared out before she could get it opened, but then she said, “Hello, Evie. How are you?”

“I’m so fucking hung over, you wouldn’t believe. Did I tell you about my new neighbor?”

“You have a new neighbor?”

“Hot, Issie. Gorgeous.” Eve described Tad to her and went on to detail the meeting from the day before. “So, I’m trying to decide when to shag him. Sooner or later? Do I drag it out and try to savor it, or just devour him the next time he shows face? I’ve already decided, by the way. I’m just giving you the chance to have a say.”

Before Isabelle could answer, Eve said, “But more important things—I’m serious about you getting a prenup. I didn’t want you to think I was kidding just because of everything. You need protection in case anything goes wrong. My attorney can help. I called and asked, and he doesn’t practice that, but he’ll make an exception, or he’ll give a referral. Which do you prefer?”

“Um, I don’t know,” Isabelle said, glancing at Dominic, who had opened his eyes. “I don’t think that’s really necessary.”