Wyne and Chocolate (Citizen Soldier Series Book 2) (4 page)

Oh,
Lordy. Her heart rocked as several thoughts rushed through her head, but only
one stuck. A bad one.

If
only he had…

“Well I
hate to disappoint you little brother, but I didn’t,” Mason stated. “Isn’t that
right, Jill?”

He
turned to stare at her, and darn it, her cheeks flamed as images, inspired by
that bad thought, flashed through her mind, tempting, teasing, making her
neglected body wish they were real.  

 “Yes…that’s
right.” She nodded, her dang lips too loose to rein in. “But no one’s copped a
feel in so long, I’m not sure I’d know it.”

Just
kill me now.

Instead
of mortifying her with laughter, the enthralling man leaned closer, gaze
direct, unwavering. Sinful. “Trust me, Jill Bailey, if I copped a feel, you’d
know
.”

It was a
good thing she was sitting down, because her legs were suddenly boneless. They
disintegrated, along with her air supply.

“And
that’s my cue to grab the breakfast sandwiches I came to pick up for me and
Greg,” Keiffer said, his announcement filtering into her brain from far away.

“What is
he working on this week?” Ben asked, taking the focus off her.

Thank
God.

Still
holding Mason’s delectable, hot gaze, she was unable to do more than listen to
the conversation going on around them. And talk her lungs into breathing.

“A 1970
Oldsmobile 442,” the younger Wyne replied.

Ben
whistled.

Even
Mason broke eye contact to stare at his brother, envy lighting his gaze.
“Convertible?”

“No.
Hardtop with a W-25 ram-air option,” Keiffer replied with a grin, and he might
as well have been speaking a foreign language because none of it made any sense
to Jill. “And I should get going. The special order part I just picked up from
the post office isn’t going to install itself.”

“Any
chance we get to drive that classic?” the older Wyne asked, practically
drooling.

“Yeah, a
good one, since it’s for Stone Bennett.”

Her
eyebrows shot up. “The NASCAR driver?”

“Yep.
He’s Greg’s cousin,” Keiffer replied. “And Ethan’s old classmate.”

Her
brows remained airborne as she recalled tabloid images of the sexy,
dark-haired, blue-eyed, tattooed racecar driver. Damn, she was giving her mind
a visual workout today.

Ben
nodded. “Yeah, Stone would definitely let us take the Olds out for a spin.”

“Sounds
similar to his first car.” Mason smiled.

“It is.
Only better. Gotta run.” The youngest Wyne winked, then pointed at her.
“Digging those glasses, Jill. ”

A minute
later, he was gone.

Why did
she always feel out-of-breath when Kieffer was around? The charismatic man had
a commanding presence…and she understood what the two little old ladies had
been waiting for while sipping their tea in the corner booth.

The Wyne
brothers.

She’d
noticed the women had perked up as soon as Mason and Ben arrived, then shifted
their chairs to see better when Keiffer joined them.

Understandable.
Each of the men were hot and distracting, and she needed to think about
something else. Her poor body was already on hot guy overload.

“So,
tell me, hun…do you think you have enough chocolate on your chocolate chip
pancakes?” Ben asked Lea, his amused tone capturing Jill’s attention.

She
turned to watch her friend smile and nod her head. “You know me. I love to
cover
everything
in Jill’s chocolate…”

Heat
entered the sergeant’s gaze. “True.”

Her
over-active imagination jumped on the chocolate bandwagon, and in no time flat,
images of a naked Mason covered in liquid heaven played out in her head.

Bad
head
.

She
cleared her throat and glanced at the man sitting on her right, blocking her
escape, because, oh yeah, those last images were too much. She needed air. She
needed space.

She
needed to get away from the guy before she did something even more embarrassing
than practically inviting him to cop a feel.

God, she
was such a dweeb.

It
wasn’t the seriousness in his expression, or even the slight quirk of his lips
that fueled her need to flee. No. It was the spark of interest visible in his
dark gaze.

That
scared the heck out of her.

“Well,
I’d better get going. I’ve got a…thing,” she said, risking contact by pushing
him to get out of the booth.

He
didn’t budge.

Bugger.

“Do you
now?” A slight grin tugged his lips.

“Yeah,
what thing? You just finished your big order,” Lea said, frowning at her across
the table. “I thought you were taking a break.”

“I am…I
just want to play with another blend. You know, try to perfect it should I need
a back up to the one I submitted to that New York company.”

Crud.
Now she had to perfect another blend for back up. She hated liars, and refused
to allow her pathetic lack of control for the man to turn her into one.

“Mmm…more
chocolate?” Lea smiled.

She
laughed. “Yep. So, thanks for breakfast, but if you’ll excuse me, I need to go
experiment.”

Turning,
she caught a glimpse of heat in Mason’s dark eyes. Oh, crud. He was studying
her like she was interesting, and his smile was nothing but trouble. Even
though she wanted nothing more than to give into her long, suppressed, playful
side and take a walk on the wild side with Mason, she wouldn’t. Not in this
lifetime. No. Life had taught her frivolousness led to brief euphoria that
fizzled out and dropped you onto desolation road. Well, she wasn’t traveling
down that path anymore. Life was about surviving hard knocks, and she was far
from ready for the next blow.

Falling
for the sexy resort owner with the haunting gaze was not only a bad idea, it
was dangerous. Mason Wyne was dangerous. With a brooding gaze that sparked her
need to help and a hot body that sparked an entirely different need, he was a
time bomb. She had to keep her distance. Falling for him would be so damn easy;
surviving once he left, would not.

And he
would leave. The men in her life always did…after she gave her all and was left
with nothing.

“Excuse
me.”

 “Certainly,”
he said, slipping from the booth to stand as she rose to her feet.

He was a
good man with a close-knit family and friends. The guardsman wouldn’t set out
to hurt her, but he would—and she couldn’t…
wouldn’t
survive.

Flashing
her a grin she felt all the way to her toes, he leaned close and whispered in
her ear, “Watch out for potholes.”

Great
advice.

He was
the biggest one. If she fell in, Jill knew instinctively she wouldn’t get out.

A
fter another long day, Mason had just finished waxing and
putting away the last of the skis when his oldest brother walked into the
storage room located at the back of the resort. The snow storm that had hit mid
week, big enough to warrant state activation of the National Guard, may have
been detrimental to some business, but not theirs. It thrived. Wyne Resort had
been booked solid the past weekend, with a few stragglers staying on to make a
long weekend out of the fresh powder.

Despite
the non-stop busy schedule of tours and skiing the last four days, he was
restless and had no idea why.

“Here,”
Ethan said, handing him a beer. “We’re done for the day. Cheers to our first
long weekend of the winter.”

They
clinked bottles and took a pull. This was the first time all day Mason had
taken a break. He hadn’t even stopped for lunch, opting to chow down on an
energy bar on the slopes.

“That
hit the spot, thanks,” he said, sitting down on one of two benches in the room
where they stacked skis and poles and boots available for guests to rent if
they arrived without gear.

Ethan
dropped down on the other and blew out a breath. “I’m beat. Been a long four
days, and now I have to go out and finish that snow fort with Tyler.”

Widowed
before his son’s second birthday, his brother was a good father. Ethan
sacrificed everything for the boy. Including sleep. The six-year-old had been
excited all weekend, and even conned his grandfather and his brother’s
girlfriend into getting the fort started.

“Ben and
Lea went back to the city, but Keiffer said he’d help later,” his brother
continued, exhaustion slowing his words. “I don’t suppose you’d consider the
beer a bribe to help your nephew?”

A smile
tugged his lips. “Nephew? I get the impression I’d be helping my brother.”

“True.”
The eldest Wyne’s smile turned into a yawn. “Sucks to get old. I’m not as wry
as I used to be.”

“Hate to
break it to you, Ethan, but you were never wry.”

“Says
the guide who huffs and puffs up Chancellor’s Bluff.”

“Hell
yeah.” His head reeled back. “It has a steep pitch. Sixty degrees. Bet your ass
I get winded.”

“Keiffer
doesn’t.”

He
scoffed. “That’s because Keiffer isn’t human. I swear he has more energy than a
nuclear power plant.”

“Yeah,
and that damn bunny.”

Laughing,
they raised their opened bottles in mock salute before sucking down more beer.

“Wonder
where he gets it, because I sure as shit could use some,” Ethan said with a sad
shake of his head as he lowered his beer. “I think Tyler takes after him.”

“I think
so, too.”

His
nephew certainly had kept their sister, Brandi, hopping. She’d had temporary
custody due to Ethan’s deployment when the little guy had been two. But, she’d
managed very well, and even though she was now married and living in Texas, she
Skype’d with Tyler a few times a week.

“So,
what do you say, gonna help us out? Or do you have a hot date?”

Hot
date…

He held
back a snort.
Christ
. He hadn’t had one of those in months. Had no
interest in one…until a certain chocolatier crashed into his path.

She
elicited responses in him he wasn’t ready to deal with or dissect, and that was
exactly why he needed to keep his distance. Besides, he got the impression that
was what she’d wanted, too.

“Oh,
that reminds me,” Ethan said, setting his empty beer aside to stand up and dig
in his pocket. “Here, give this to your girlfriend.” He withdrew something
shiny. “I found it when I was cleaning out the back of the Humvee. She must’ve
dropped it the night of the storm. I forgot I had it. Please apologize to her
for me.”

“Jill’s
not my girlfriend.”

“She
could be,” his brother said without missing a beat as he handed him a gold pin.
“Not all women will leave you at the altar like Renee. Give yourself a break.”

He knew
his brother’s words were meant as a pep talk, but they still produced a sting.

“I will
when you will.”

The
frowning man cocked his head. “What do you mean? I date.”

Mason
laughed. “Yeah, two times in the past four years doesn’t quite cut it, bro.”

“Why
not? They were dates.”

“They
were with old friends you were not attracted to, just so you could appease
Brandi’s harping.”

And
because it was true, his brother closed his mouth and sat back down. Idiot knew
better than to deny it.

His
brother let out a long breath. “It’s not just about me anymore. I can’t date on
a whim. I have Tyler to think about now.”

“I
know.” Mason nodded. “But I also know you are using that as an excuse not to
put yourself out there.”

“Yeah.”
Ethan leveled him with a look. “So what’s your excuse?”

“What do
you mean? I put myself out there.”

“Like
hell you do.”

“Didn’t
I date…that Broadway star…” he paused to try to remember the pretty blonde’s
name but,
son of a bitch
, his mind drew a blank.

“Kirsten,”
his brother supplied.

He
snapped his finger and pointed at him. “Yeah, her.”

“That
was six months ago, man. You haven’t dated another woman, even though they
throw themselves at you night and day around here.”

Jesus
,
his brother was such an exaggerator. His snort echoed around the room. “They do
not.”

“Bullshit.”
Ethan laughed. “Just this weekend, Harmony Aniston from Albany flashed her
ta-tas
at you in the hot tub, inviting you to join her…and you walked away with a
polite refusal.”

He
shrugged. “So? She wasn’t my type.”

“Your
type? Since when did you have a type? Damn, Mason. The woman was gorgeous and
stacked…and those
ta-tas
were the real deal. At least tell me you
noticed they didn’t float?”

Yeah,
he’d noticed, and his body had absolutely no reaction. His brothers just didn’t
get it. He didn’t trust women. Especially ones who stripped in front of a hot
tub full of people.

“Whatever.
I wasn’t interested.”

“Okay. I
get it. She didn’t get a rise out of you.”
Mr. Smug’s
smile widened.
“And I think I know why.”

Tired of
the subject, he rolled his eyes. “Fine. You look like you’re about to implode.
I’ll bite. Enlighten me,
Einstein
.” Bottle to his lips, he finished his
beer while waiting for a reply.  The sooner he could put the subject to bed,
the sooner he could leave.

“You
weren’t interested because she wasn’t Jill.”

Mason
stilled, but the beer continued down his throat. He started to cough, pounding
on his chest as if that would help.

“Yeah,
that’s what I thought,” his idiot brother said, big-ass grin on his face while
Mason continued to choke.

Effer.

“You
weren’t interested in Harmony’s goodies because a different New Yorker has
captured your attention.”

“Former
New Yorker,” he corrected, voice rough.

“So, you
admit it.”

“What?
No, you asshole,” he rasped. “I’m just correcting your logistics.”

“My
logistics are fine. It’s your honesty we need to work on, bro, because you are
definitely attracted to Jill. Hell, there’s so much chemistry between you two
the damn hair on my arms stand straight up when you’re in the same room.”

Surprised
by the statement…and the fact the same thing happened to him whenever the
beautiful brunette was around, he just stared at his brother.

“Look,
you’re acting like this is a bad thing,” Ethan said. “It’s not. You need to
move past Renee.”

Shit.
Not that again. He jumped to his feet and handed the empty beer bottle to his
brother. “Here, you can set this with the returns when you drop off yours.” He
and the rest of his family kept a return bin in the back room of
Timbers
,
their bar at the resort. Their father was big on recycling.

“Fine.
Now, back to Renee—”

“So,
this has been a barrel of laughs,” he interrupted. “But, if you’ll excuse me, I
have to go watch a Soap Opera on TV.”

“She
run-away-bride’d
you three years ago—”

“Yeah, I
know. I was there.” Along with a hundred guests, family, friends, guard
buddies. He wasn’t likely to forget—nor would he forget who had driven the
getaway car. “Don’t you have a kid to take care of? And a fort to build?”

Ethan
rose to his feet and narrowed his gaze.

He held
it, even though the eldest Wyne had been compared to their father—a retired
Army National Guard Colonel—on more than one occasion. But they were no longer
children. Mason wasn’t the gullible computer nerd he used to be…at least, not
since Renee dumped him.

He’d
changed. Wised up. Grown up.

Closed
up.

Boundaries.
Walls. Limits. He had them now. He also had a backbone. Who knew? The
Wyne
stubbornness had not skipped him, it just took getting his heart ripped out and
trampled in front of everyone he held dear, to breathe life into the gene.

So,
Ethan could stare at him all night, he wasn’t going to be the first to say a word.

“Fine.
I’ll leave, but not before I have my say.” His brother walked to him and placed
a hand on his shoulder. “If you’re really over Renee, then prove it. Ask Jill
out.”

Like
hell. “I don’t need to prove a damn thing, nor do I need to ask someone out
because you said so, Ethan.”

“True.”
His brother released him and cocked his head. “You need to do it for Brandi.
She’s worried about you. Said so when we Skype’d at lunch today.”

Ah,
damn
. He ran a hand through his short hair and squeezed the back of his
neck. His sister was a newlywed and finally had her life in order after a rough
patch with a prick ex-boyfriend. Last thing he wanted was for her to be worried
about him. “She shouldn’t be concerned. I’m fine.”

Ethan
stepped in front of him. “Then let me repeat myself. Jill is sweet and
beautiful, but above all, she’s trustworthy. So, give yourself a damn break and
take a chance on her.”

“I’ll
put myself out there when you do,” he countered.

Dark
eyes narrowed again, but then his brother surprised him. He nodded. “Okay.
Deal. I’ll put myself out there when the right woman comes along, if you put
yourself out there now.”

“Define
right?”

“Someone
who loves kids and makes the hair stand up on my arms in a good way.” Ethan
slapped him on the back. “Kind of like Jill does to you.”

Then the
guy left the room…whistling.

Bastard.

Mason
fingered the gold pin in his hand. The delicate filigree flower reminded him of
Jill. Beautiful and strong with a sharp edge when prodded. Arousal shot through
him and he rode out the wave.

Damn it.
The woman intrigued him, with her warm, dark gaze, full of light and shadows.
He had to admit, he wondered just what her story was, and how the hell she
managed to get past his walls. She made him laugh. She made him hard. She made
him feel something other than anger and self-pity.

When
she’d walked out of Gabe’s the other day, he’d gotten her
not interested
message loud and clear. Even told himself it didn’t matter if they never bumped
into each other again. After all, they’d both admitted they were too busy to
date. But apparently, his subconscious didn’t give a shit because when he was
sleeping, he dreamt about the woman. Nightly. The same, hot, erotic fantasy of
the two of them in the back of a Humvee…naked, fogging up the windows and not
through talk, at least, not verbally. Pure body language had him waking up hard
and frustrated.

Yeah,
seeking her out was a really bad idea. Especially since she had made it clear
she didn’t want to be pursued.

He
closed his fist around the pin and blew out a long breath.

Jill was
smart and had a healthy drive to succeed. He understood that drive. Respected
that drive. Respected her. So, if the pin was an heirloom and held sentiment,
then he had to return it to the woman. She would want it back. He didn’t have a
choice. He had to see her again.

It was
his duty.