Space in His Heart (38 page)

“Your ass is perfection.”

She had to laugh. “So’s your game, Sergeant.
What makes you so sure I’ll sleep with you?”

“Because.” He took the bottle, tilted his
head back, and teased her with the rise and fall of his Adam’s
apple. “It’s inevitable.”

“You.” She pointed at him. “Are
arrogant.”

“I’m not arrogant,” he replied. “I’m
confident. Big difference. And you want to laugh in my face, push
me away, and go tease the losers in the hall? Have at it.”

She didn’t move, pinned by the sheer force of
him.

“I thought not,” he said, easing back just a
little.

She rooted around her hormone-pickled brain
for some common sense. “Look, I hate to break the bad news to you,
but
nothing
is inevitable.”

He just grinned, slow and sexy. “That’s where
you’re wrong.”

And, deep inside, she just knew he was right.
“Will you excuse me now? I need some air.”

She pushed off the wall and he had no choice
but to drop his arm, letting her step away and out of the
kitchen.

“Sammi?”

She stopped as he said her name, closing her
eyes for a minute. She’d always hated that nickname, except…she
liked the way he said it. Slowly she turned, raising her eyebrows
to respond.

“
We
are inevitable.”

# # #

Zach let her breathe and move into the living
room to talk to a few girls she appeared to know. From his spot in
the kitchen doorway, he leaned on the jamb and looked beyond the
dozen or so people in the room, only one blip on his radar.

“Told you she was all that and a bag of
Doritos.”

He didn’t take his eyes off his target. He
knew Vivi wore her most self-satisfied smile. “If you like ’em
tall, blond, sexy, and smart-mouthed, yeah, you were right.”

“She’s also very special,” Vivi added.

Across the room, Sam laughed at something one
of the women said, her gaze drifting across the room to him. Again.
Fifth time at least. The eye contact fried the room like an arc of
blue-white electricity.

“Very special,” he agreed.

“And she really doesn’t date much.”

“Who said anything about dating?”

As if she heard him, color rose to Sam’s
cheeks as she attempted to hold her conversation and obviously
failed. She didn’t have to hear him; their silent communication was
loud and clear.

“You can’t just sleep with her,” Vivi said,
elbowing him in the side.

“Who said anything about sleep, either?”

Vivi laughed softly, then stepped in front of
him to force his attention onto her and not Sam. “I knew you two
would spark.”

More like ignite. He didn’t answer, his
attention back on Sam. Like magnets, their eyes just couldn’t go
anywhere else but on each other. She took a stabilizing breath and
returned to her conversation.

“You look like you’re about to
eat
her.”

He just smiled. “That could be arranged.”

“Zach!” Vivi gave him a punch in the stomach.
“I thought you guys would enjoy spending some time together.
Vertical, not horizontal.”

He finally dragged his gaze from Sam to his
sister. “Vivi, your friend is, what, our age?”

“Yeah, she’s twenty-seven.”

“She’s a big girl. She doesn’t need you to be
her bodyguard.”

Vivi huffed a breath. “Just go easy on her.
And, oh my God, speaking of bodyguards, did you hear where Johnny
Christiano got a job?”

He frowned, thinking of his cousin down in
New York, a bull of a guy who could cook like Uncle Nino.
“Christiano is one step away from the law. Who gave that hoodlum a
job?”

“The Bullet Catchers. Heard of them?”

He snorted softly. “Who hasn’t? Every special
ops guy in the Army wants to quit the corps and work for that
Sharpe woman.”

“That business has so much potential, Zach,”
Vivi said, finally off the subject of how he should stay away from
Sam. “When you get out, you should work for her. Although, I
understand she’s very picky with new hires.”

“She took Christiano. She’d be lucky to get
me. What’s he doing for her, anyway?”

“Making buckets of money, that’s what.”

“It’s not always about money, Vivi.”

Sam moved away from the crowd and instantly a
guy was on her with a much-too-friendly hand on her shoulder. Zach
felt the twinge in his fist, but he squeezed it around the
unfinished beer that still tasted like her mouth. “Who’s that
prick?”

Vivi looked over her shoulder. “That
prick
is my new boss at the
Bullet
. Please don’t
sucker-punch him.”

Just as he was about to remove the jerk’s
hand from Sam’s body, she inched away, her gaze once more flicking
to Zach, and this time she winked. Talk about a sucker punch. He
felt the impact down to his heels, rocking him.

She walked across the room toward the
hallway. As she passed, they held eye contact and one pretty blond
eyebrow lifted imperceptibly. Message sent and received, Sammi.

She continued on into the hall and
disappeared toward the bathroom.

“’Scuze me, Vivi.”

“You’re just going to follow her into the
bathroom?”

He looked down at his sister, then handed her
the almost empty beer bottle. “She just invited me.”

“She didn’t say a word.”

“She didn’t have to.”

# # #

She left the bathroom door open an inch… so
he knew not to knock.

Her heart skipping around wildly, Sam opened
her bag and took out her lip gloss, her fingers a little shaky as
she opened the tube.

She didn’t know much about Zach Angelino, but
she knew this: he’d be in this bathroom in under two minutes. And
she’d be here, waiting.

What was wrong with her?

“Nothing,” she mouthed as she dabbed at her
lower lip. Nothing was wrong with her. This was a perfectly normal
female response to an overdose of the testosterone and pheromones
that emanated from the single hottest guy she’d seen in years.

In the mirror, her cheeks grew pink and her
eyes glinted in anticipation. She couldn’t remember the last time a
guy got to her like this. Since college, her life had been nothing
but
advertising
. Which was turning out to be miserable.

So why shouldn’t she make out with him? Just
one kiss.

One long, hot, wet, crazy…

The door creaked, inching open. She leaned
back against a towel rack, watching the mirror, waiting for his
face to appear.

“Hey,” he said softly when their eyes met in
the mirror.

“I’m freshening my lip gloss,” she said, as
though he’d asked if he could come in. As if a guy like Zach would
ask
.

He stepped inside, instantly taking every
molecule of air in the room and replacing it with heat. Behind his
back, he locked the door. “Lip gloss is a waste of time,
Sammi.”

Still pressed against the towel rack, she
slipped her lower lip under her tongue, tasting the gloss, aware
she’d never made it to the top lip. “No one calls me Sammi and
lives.”

He closed the space between them. “Then it
looks like I’m about to die happy.”

Attempting to swallow, she looked up at him,
his sheer closeness stealing her ability to talk.

“Did you get enough air out there?” he
asked.

She nodded, still speechless.

“Good.” He slid his hands onto her waist and
slowly glided up her sides. With a little pressure, he eased her
arms up, like he expected her to reach around his neck. “’Cause I’m
about to take your breath away.”

He pinned her arms over her head, his eyes
scanning her face from top to bottom like he couldn’t decide where
to start.

The effect was dizzying. She was helpless,
vulnerable, exposed. And completely seduced.

He lowered one hand and thumbed her bottom
lip, gliding across the slick gloss, his nostrils flaring as each
breath grew tighter. Her chest rose and fell, mere inches from
his.

He put his thumb to his mouth and slowly ran
his tongue over the remnants of her lip gloss, an imperceptible
grunt from his throat.

Holy hell…
hot
.

“You ready, Sammi?”

Her body coiled with sexual response. Her
nipples hardened, her knees buckled, her toes curled, and her arms
grew heavy with the need to wrap around him.

“Cause once we start, sweetheart, we’re not
gonna stop.”

She tried to breathe, tried to come up with a
quip or a comeback, but all she managed was a powerless gasp.
Instantly, his mouth was on hers, trapping that breath in her
lungs, covering her lips, teasing her with the tip of his
tongue.

Sweet mother of God, this was a kiss.

Dreamy, wet, and warm, her lips burned and
melted at the pressure of his mouth. He tasted like Sam Adams and
peppermint, bitter and sweet. She lost her grip on everything but
their kiss, a perfect exchange of affection and attraction. Under
her feet the world spun away and disappeared.

A low moan from his chest vibrated in hers.
The first press of his hips pulsed and pulled her into him. His
palm settled on her waist while his thumb brushed under her breast…
grazing so close to her nipple she wanted to cry with need.

He angled his head, deepened the kiss, and
dragged his hand down her bare arm leaving a billion goose bumps
behind. With both hands finally free, she closed her fingers over
his face, whiskers scraping her palms as she slid her hands into
his hair.

Finally, he inched back but she couldn’t open
her eyes. Couldn’t come back to earth. She sure as hell couldn’t
talk.

Neither could he. When she looked at him, he
was staring at her, memorizing her, silent. For a long, endless
minute, she stared back at his flawless face.

Zach Angelino, where have you been my whole
life?

“I’ve got nineteen nights left. How many can
I have, Sammi?” Gruff, raspy, his voice was an unholy baritone that
made her blood course and pool and bubble.

“Nineteen nights, Sammi.” He kissed her
again, harder this time, his hands gripping her, his palms moving
up to capture her breasts. “How many?” he demanded.

She arched, helpless, his erection huge
against her stomach. “Nineteen.”

# # #

Zach didn’t need to open his eyes to know she
was gone. The sheets were no longer tangled and pulled to her side,
silky hair was no longer brushing his cheeks, the scent of woman
was just a lingering memory, and there was no soft, familiar breath
like music in his ear.

He knew the routine now. After a week and a
half of waking up in Samantha Fairchild’s bed, he was used to her
slipping out while he was asleep, covering him generously like she
hadn’t just spent the night sheet-stealing, and kissing his cheek
before puttering about her apartment to get ready for work.

He loved to lie in her bed, hands locked
behind his head, and watch her step into precious, lacy underwear,
then cover all that sexy skin with something conservative and
crisp. A few times he’d managed to get all those corporate clothes
right back off again and make her late for work. She hated that.
And by hated, he meant she came three times in five minutes.

But then she’d leave to conquer the world of
advertising. He’d drink some of her designer coffee, read the
Globe
, then head down to his sister’s apartment to pester
her while she tried to write an article or interview a source. Then
he’d work out, maybe run around the reservoir at Cleveland Circle,
although today he had other plans. But mostly he was waiting… for
Sam. When she came home, they got horizontal and happy.

Several times a night.

It wasn’t a shitty way to spend his last
three weeks in the States. As long as they kept this thing light
and sexy, he could kiss her goodbye and, well, kiss her goodbye.
And so far everything had been low key and very, very sexy. The
goodbye kiss was still another week and a half away.

The snap of a cell phone closing made his
eyes pop open.

“I’m going straight to hell.” Sam stood in
the doorway, wearing nothing but that lacy stuff he’d been thinking
about and one extremely sly smile.

He sat up on one elbow to get a better look.
“Wear that. The devil will give you special privileges.”

“You are the devil.”

He grinned and threw the covers back to
invite her in. “Offering heaven, not hell.”

She took a few steps closer, tapping the cell
phone to her cheek playfully. “Don’t you want to know my sin?”

“After we commit another one. C’mere,
Sammi.”

“I lied to my boss.” She bit her lip, eyes
sparkling. “I told her I had an emergency.”

He indicated his hard-on, already prominent
and ready. “Not a lie. Get over here.”

She laughed, easing onto the bed. “You’re not
listening to me, Zach. I’m taking the day off.”

She might as well have said she was moving to
the North Pole. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” She finally curled up next to
him. “We have the entire day together. What do you want to do?” She
closed greedy fingers over his erection, her touch familiar but
still incredible. “Other than the obvious, of course.”

His eyes shuttered as she stroked him,
automatically rocking into her. Instantly she melted into his arms,
closing her eyes and lifting her chin to give him access to that
sweet spot he loved on her throat.

Like they’d been lovers for years instead of
days, they barely needed to speak to tell each other what they
wanted.

Then he remembered Nino. He stopped mid-lick
to lift his head. “I’m going to Sudbury today to see my uncle.”

“I’ll go…” Her voice trailed off, but she
didn’t have to say the rest.
With you.

He froze a little inside. If he took her to
his family’s house, if he walked through that door and introduced
her to Uncle Nino… it changed everything. That was not keeping
things low key.