Off Limits (12 page)

Her brother turned with a knowing smile. “He asked, Paige.”

“He asked you to let me make a scene at your party?”

Matt’s expression was indulgent. “He asked me to help him make it up to you. He said you weren’t answering his calls.”

“He wasn’t exactly Mr. Persistent.”

“Maybe he has something in mind.”

Zach turned, and Paige realized he’d been watching her reflection in the glass. All her shields were useless as she looked into his eyes. He offered her that tilted smile that made her stomach flutter, and rose.

“Can we talk? Outside?” He nodded toward a door leading to a balcony overlooking the river.

Better than in here. She jerked her head in response and stepped toward him, aware of Matt watching. She resisted the urge to glare at him—she’d save that for later.

Zach held the door for her. She should have held her breath, because the scent of him—his expensive shaving cream and soap—hit her right in the solar plexus. She wanted to turn into his arms with no hesitation. Instead she gathered her pride and marched past him, head held high.

The breeze off the river was cool, and Paige fought a shiver, instead stoking a fire of anger as she turned to him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, leaning against the iron rail.

“For what, exactly?” She cocked her hip and wished these damned shoes in the river.

He edged toward her but kept his arms folded over his chest. “You were right,” he said in a tone she hadn’t heard before, part charming and part—something she couldn’t name. “I guard my privacy—I have since I got my own place. And I guard it so well I don’t even know how to share it with someone I want there.”

She mirrored his posture, but countered the defensiveness with honesty. “You didn’t want me there. That was clear.”

“I didn’t know what to do with you when you were there,” he said. “Other than the obvious.”

The wind whipped her hair into her face, and she shoved it back with an impatient hand. “I wouldn’t have minded another round of the obvious. I wouldn’t have minded if we spent all day in bed.” And she’d fantasized about that often enough. “But I felt so unwelcome, like an intruder, and it felt unfair because you brought me there. You invited me. I felt like—another conquest. Maybe I am.” She gave up on the shield of her folded arms and tossed her hands up. Just looking at him made her heart ache. Knowing she’d asked for too much made her feel foolish. “Maybe once you got me back in bed, you felt like you won. And maybe it’s my fault for thinking it was more.”

His brow furrowed in a pained expression. “You knew from the beginning that I’m not good at this.”

Her stomach dropped. She hadn’t even realized until now that she’d hoped his apology would lead to the next step in their relationship. She’d been prepared to take the step, though her guard would be higher. He’d fooled her twice. She wouldn’t fall for it a third time. But now he was saying it was over. She couldn’t quite catch her breath.

“I don’t know how to be part of a couple. I haven’t let myself try in a long time. I haven’t wanted to try.”

“Why are you doing this here?” she managed past the lump in her throat, gesturing toward the party on the other side of the door.

“I need you to understand. I want them to understand. I wanted them to know what you mean to me.” He inclined his head to where Matt and her parents were watching them through the window. He took her hands, both of them in both of his, and lifted them to his chest. “I suck at this. I don’t know what to do, and I’m going to stumble and screw up and hurt you when I don’t do what you expect. But I don’t want you to run away. I want you to teach me, and show me what makes you happy and what a boyfriend is supposed to do.”

Confusion clouded her head. “What?”

He angled his head and gave her that breathtaking smile, smoothing her hair back from her face. “I’m saying I want to be with you. I want to try to be a proper boyfriend, and I’m going to fuck up and you’re going to have to smack me upside the head until I get it right. But I want to get it right. Do you think you can give me another chance?”

His face blurred and danced before her, but suddenly it didn’t matter because she was nodding and his hands were on her face and he was kissing her, his taste familiar and lovely and…

“What. The. Hell?”

Paige broke the kiss and pivoted to see Adam standing in the door, lip curled, shoulders squared.

“What did I tell you about touching my sister?” Adam snarled, advancing.

“It’s not like that.” Zach grasped her arm and drew her behind him.

Paige resisted, remembering the last time Adam had caught Zach touching her, the bruise on Zach’s face.

“You come here, invited as part of the family, and you put your hands on her?”

“Stop it, Adam,” she demanded, restraining herself from stomping her foot in frustration at all the testosterone flying around. “We’ve been seeing each other for a while.”

“Because he’s trying to get you into bed.”

“He didn’t have to try hard.” She could have bitten off her tongue when she saw the colors Adam’s face turned before he lunged forward.

Zach threw a hand out to stop him, then blew out a breath when Adam hesitated. “It’s not like that. She’s my g-girlfriend.”

Paige pivoted at his stutter, like the word was foreign to him, like he’d never said it before.

“Your what?” Adam and Paige asked at the same time, Adam’s tone suspicious, Paige’s breathless.

“My girlfriend.” The word was more definite now. He turned to Paige, his back to Adam, but he didn’t seem to care. He took her hands in his. “Mine.”

Nothing was in focus but his face, the uncertain furrow of his brow, the intensity of his gaze. She ducked her head against his chest, her arms around him. He drew her close and sighed in relief as he buried his face in her hair.

Paige was close enough to feel the tap on his shoulder.

Zach lifted his head and turned toward Adam, and his best friend punched him in the face.

Epilogue

The bruise had faded by Matt and J.R.’s wedding. Zach looked down at his hand folded around Paige’s on the table at the reception. He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off her at the ceremony, and now he couldn’t stop touching her. Okay, that had happened before, but the hand-holding thing, that was something he’d never really enjoyed.

Except with Paige.

And he loved watching her. She’d enjoyed every aspect of her brother’s commitment ceremony, teared up during it, hell, sobbed until her breath came in hitches and her nose was red. So fucking adorable. Now her smile was brilliant as she watched her brother and his life partner dance to the old Dean Martin song. Zach had every intention to get her on the dance floor too, though he’d have to mind his manners since her parents were here.

The past week had been astonishing. Paige stayed over on nights when she wasn’t babysitting CeCe, had a drawer in his room, space in his closet. On nights she didn’t stay over, he went to her apartment, just to be with her, and maybe make out a little. But even when he went home horny as hell, he was happy.

She had forged a peace between him and Adam, though Adam watched them warily. He and Adam were more cautious around each other now, but civil. Zach wondered if they could be as close, if Adam would eventually understand that Zach was falling in love with Paige.

Paige turned, her smile expectant.

“What’d I miss?” he asked, tucking a curl behind her ear.

“They invited us to dance. Where were you?”

He shook his head, unwilling to reveal the sappy nature of his thoughts. “Let’s dance then.”

“Be good,” she warned, leading the way to the dance floor.

“Around you? Impossible.”

Especially when she wound her arms around his neck and pressed her breasts against his chest, let her champagne-scented breath wash over his lips. Unable to resist, he dipped his head and kissed her, gently. He lifted his head and saw the glow in her eyes that reflected everything he was feeling. He smoothed her hair away from her throat. She smiled and looked toward where her brother danced with his partner. She rested her head on Zach’s shoulder.

“They deserve every minute of this.”

“Makes it worth everything they went through,” he agreed. The pure joy radiating from the men made him want things he’d never wanted. Never thought he’d wanted.

He stepped back and took her hand.

“What are you doing?” she asked as he led her from the dance floor, almost skipping to keep up with him. When she saw he led her toward the French doors to the patio, her eyes widened. “We are not making out at my brother’s wedding.”

“Be quiet,” he said, and opened the door onto the patio. He glanced around—he wasn’t the only one with this idea. Well, not
this
idea. But the idea to come out on the patio. He’d hoped for privacy, but—maybe there, the lower patio overlooking the fountain. That might be perfect.

“Where are we going?”

He didn’t answer, just started down the steps, her hand firm in his. He stopped near the fountain, which was busier than the patio. Looked like no one wanted to dance. Didn’t matter. He was going to do this now, even if he had to go back inside on the dance floor. But he didn’t want to take anything away from Matt and J.R.

He motioned for Paige to sit on the wide concrete edge of the fountain. He sat beside her with his knees angled toward her and took her hands in his. “Paige, you know more about me than any woman I’ve ever gone out with.”

She tilted her head, her pretty forehead creasing. “Probably more than I want to know.” She craned her neck to look over the rail. “Does this mean now you have to kill me?”

He huffed out a short laugh. “More than you want to know.” He glanced down at the fountain. He knew how to charm women, so why weren’t these words coming?

He curved his hand over her cheek and looked into her suddenly shiny eyes. “I love you, Paige. I’ve never said that to a woman before, ever. But I love you.”

Her lips moved but no words came out at first. “You’re just… Matt’s wedding. You’re thinking—”

“I’m thinking that I’m in love with you, Paige. You make me happy. Just thinking about you makes me happy. I’ve never been unhappy with my life, but since you’ve been in it, you made me see what I was missing.”

She was crying full-out now, and panic blossomed in his chest. He didn’t know how to stop her tears, so he tried to stroke them away with his fingertips.

“I’ve wanted to hear you say that since I was fourteen years old.” She leaned in to kiss him, her mouth tight with emotion, and he folded his arms around her.

“Purser! What the hell are you doing to my sister?” Adam shouted from the top of the stairs.

Zach reacted slower than Paige, who was on her feet and turning before Zach even let her go. He stood to face his friend.

“You made her
cry
?” Adam’s voice was incredulous as he hurried down the steps.

Paige slapped her hands on Adam’s chest. “That is no way to talk to the man who just told me he loves me.”

Adam’s expression was almost identical to his sister’s wide-eyed stare as he looked from one to the other.

Zach stepped between Paige and her brother, chin raised in challenge. “Going to hit me again?”

“You’re in love? With my sister?”

Zach braced himself for the blow. “Yes.”

A grin split Adam’s face and when the blow came, it was a clap on the shoulder. “Welcome to the family. And if you hurt my sister, I’ll kill you.”

Zach looked from Adam to Paige, and a grin spread across his face as he looked into the eyes of the woman he loved. “I won’t give you the chance.”

About the Author

Emma Jay has been writing longer than she’d care to admit, using her endless string of celebrity crushes as inspiration for her heroes. She discovered her husband has way more tolerance for screensavers and hunk-decorated blog posts when she calls them her “heroes”. Emma, married twenty-four years (wed at the age of eight, of course) believes writing romance is like falling in love, over and over again. Creating characters and love stories is an addiction she has no intention of breaking.

Website:
emmajayromance.wordpress.com/about/

Twitter:
@emmajayromance

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Look for these titles by Emma Jay

Now Available:

Two Step Temptation

They have a history. A future may be more than she’s willing to give.

Two Step Temptation

© 2011 Emma Jay

Haven Reynolds is stunned when her ex-lover Eric Viera turns up at their mutual friends’ wedding. Her sources told her he was safely a continent away, doing his anthropology thing. Instead she’s scrambling to figure out how to fend off his particularly potent brand of charm.

At least, that’s what she tells herself.

Several months in a Costa Rican jungle hasn’t dulled Eric’s memory of the two weeks he spent with the sexy spitfire. He’d even enjoyed the challenge of breaking through her walls—the warm, passionate woman he’d uncovered had been worth the effort. He’d like nothing better than to pick up where they left off, except those walls are back in place, stronger than ever.

Much to Haven’s dismay, Eric takes her in his arms for a rehearsal-dinner dance. In a split second, it all comes back—the memories, the lust and laughter, the intimacy and control she’s never allowed any other man. Falling for him again is out of the question, but a weekend of hot sex is an indulgence she can’t resist.

Except Eric hasn’t come back to Texas just for the wedding. He’s come for her.

Warning: Contains a sassy heroine, sizzlin’ hero, toe-stomping two-stepping and secret encounters.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Two Step Temptation:

She’d just finished removing her eye shadow and mascara when a knock sounded at the door. She padded across the plush carpet and turned the knob.

Her heart bounced hard off her ribs when she saw Eric standing there.