Rules of Engagement (4 page)

Could she make herself into
the kind of woman he always seemed to go for?

She’d vowed never to do
that. She’d watched her mom make herself over, and over and over
and over, while growing up. Whichever guy her mom was with, she’d
morphed into his perfect woman. Gina had promised herself that when
she found her dream guy, he’d accept her for who she
was.

As the sexual haze started to fade, Gina
snuggled into the warmth of Rico’s arms. This felt perfect. It felt
right. So if she had to change a few things to keep it, well, hey,
the dream was worth it.

“
I said it before, I’ll say
it again,” Rico murmured against her hair. “I like the way you
move.”

It was like he’d read her mind.

Joy, glowing and bubbly,
filled her. Gina gave a soft laugh.

But before she could
suggest they go back to her place and try a few other moves, she
heard the unmistakable clatter of high heels on the cobblestone
walkway.

“
Rico?” a woman’s voice
called out. An upscale voice.

There went all her joy bubbles, burst by
reality.

Gina jumped up from Rico’s
arms, grabbing for her dress. Pantiless, she held the fabric
against her breasts as she bent low and peeked through a hole in
the bushes.

Reality took the form of
one of Rico’s pretty, perfect dance partners from earlier. Blonde,
busty and normal. The epitome of everything he went for. Everything
Gina wasn’t.

Blinking back tears, Gina
shot a look at Rico, who didn’t seem to be in any hurry as he stood
and zipped his slacks. Or maybe he was just worried about damaging
the merchandise.

“
Stay quiet,” he instructed
in low tones. “Otherwise she’ll find us.”

It was like he’d dumped ice
water over her head, snapping her back to reality. Obviously he
didn’t want to get busted with his pants down doing the goth-girl.
If word got out, who knew what it’d do to his perfect little woman
hunt.

Gina’s jaw clenched even
tighter when she saw he was right. After calling once again and
giving a cursory glance at the garden, the pretty blonde turned on
her very expensive, very perfect heel and headed back to the
reception.

“
Now where were we?” Rico
asked slowly.

Her stomach tight, Gina
turned back from glaring through the bushes to focus her rush of
emotions on Rico.

Time to put this little
fantasy to an end before she did something crazy. Like beg. Or
worse, cry.

Or to use lingo Rico would
understand, make a preemptive strike. That was better than falling
apart. Definitely smarter. Push him away first, pretend she’d had
no expectations. Make believe her heart wasn’t breaking as she sent
him on his way.

When a girl had no chance
at making an impossible dream come true, saving face was all she
had left.

“
We were done,” she
dismissed with a shrug and a stiff smile. She hated the jealousy
clawing at her gut. She’d known better. She and Rico had laid out
the rules before they’d gotten naked. So she had no right to feel
possessive.

But dammit, just a few minutes ago he’d been
hers. All hers.

And she’d loved it.

She looked around,
desperately scanning the dark ground trying to find her underwear.
Not that she minded sneaking out of the reception commando, but
this was Sophia’s mother-in-law’s house. Leaving her undies just
screamed bad manners, and Tabby St. James was a stickler about
things like that.

“
I’m young. I’m fit. We can
go again in a few minutes,” Rico teased.

Gina turned to glare at him. He was dangling
her panties from one finger. She held her hand out for them, but he
gestured with a c’mere wave of his fingers.

“
Don’t you need to get
back?” Gina prodded.

Despite the chilly air blowing down her
naked back where her still unzipped dress gaped, all the way around
her equally bare, but still tingling privates, she stayed where she
was. She wasn’t about to take a single step closer to temptation.
She knew she wasn’t strong enough to resist him.

“
Nah. The happy couple took
off before I came out to find you. Nobody’s gonna miss me.
Besides,” he said with a shrug, “I’d rather be here. With
you.”

“
Right.” Giving up on the
underwear, she twisted in a pretzel-worthy move to try and catch
the zipper at the back of her dress.

“
Don’t take this the wrong
way,” Rico said slowly. Obviously catching a clue from her
oh-so-subtle signals that playtime was over, he snatched his shirt
off a bush where it’d been thrown and pulled it on. “But are you
always this grumpy after sex? I mean, if I did something wrong,
speak up. I’m willing to do it again and again until I leave you
with a smile instead of a frown.”

Her body twisted
half-backward as she struggled with her zipper, Gina sent him a
sardonic eye-roll.

“
What?” he
asked.

He wanted to go again? With
her? Gina’s heart raced, even as her mind screamed
caution.

“
Maybe you should get
dressed,” she said, sidestepping all the confusing emotions
battling through her. “Hurry back to the reception before your
admirer gets away.”

Rico gave her a knowing look, then gave one
of those manly smirks that inspired even the mellowest of women to
violence. “You’re jealous?”

“
Me? Jealous? Of you and
little Miss Perfect?”

Hell, yeah.

Gina finally managed to
maneuver her zipper all the way up and started looking around for
her shoes. She had to get the hell out of here. Fast. Before she
did something insane, like tell Rico that she was head-over-heels
crazy for him.

Rico surreptitiously slid
Gina’s shoes under the hibiscus to his right. Sure the minute she
found them, he knew she’d hightail it out of here.

And he wasn’t ready to let her go.

He didn’t know why. But he figured he had
about five minutes to figure it out before she took off.

“
So what was this?” he
asked, buying time. “A little Valentine’s fun?”

“
If this was Cupid’s idea
of target practice, I’d say he needs to get his eyes checked,” Gina
muttered, her butt high in the air as she peered under
bushes.

Rico tore his eyes off the most excellent
view to scowl.

Why was she calling Cupid a failure?

Because she wasn’t
interested in Rico? The hell with that, he’d seen her interest when
she thought he wasn’t looking. Those sexy glances, the curiosity in
her big eyes. He’d felt her interest when her mouth surrendered to
his, when she’d exploded beneath his body.

It’d be a crime to push her
on this just because he couldn’t handle rejection. But a quick ego
check put him in the clear. The tightening of his gut, the feeling
of impending loss, those were his ego whining.

That was his heart wanting.

So what did he do about it?

Toss aside his rules? Change the picture in
his head?

Rico frowned, realizing that the only
picture in his head now was Gina. Gina under him. Gina over him.
Gina beside him.

It was the beside him part that was scary as
hell.

“
There they
are.”

“
What?” Rico blinked as
Gina rushed him, a surge of gratitude pouring through that she’d
taken the first move, eliminating his need to make a decision. All
he had to do was open his arms, welcome her in and hey, good times
could be had by all.

He didn’t even get his arms halfway out when
she flew past.

Shit. She was going for the shoes.

Putting his military training and stellar
reflexes to the test, Rico reached and grabbed.

Not Gina, like he wanted.
But her shoes.

She wasn’t leaving until
they’d settled this.

Cupid hadn’t made any damned mistakes. The
mistake would be walking way from what they had here.

“
That woman isn’t my type,
you know.” Rico said as he handed her one strappy sandal, then held
out his hand for her to hold while she put on her shoe.

She snagged her other shoe and slipped it
on, ignoring his offer of assistance.

“
Oh, please. She’s totally
your type. She’s exactly the type you always date. She’s exactly
the type you’re looking to marry.”

It was all Gina could do
not to slap her hand over her mouth. Confirming her jealousy was
bad enough. But outing her knowledge of his marriage quest totally
betrayed Sophia and the worries she’d shared about her brother’s
plan.

“
You think you’ve got it
all figured out?” No longer amused, Rico’s face shifted, hardened.
“You think you know me better than I know myself?”

“
I think you’re a gentleman
through and through, and this,” she gestured to the small patch of
lawn they’d used to climb all over each other, “was totally off the
rails for you.”

“
You think I regret
this?”

“
Oh, please. You always go
out with Betty Crocker types. Perfect PTA debutantes. The kind who
can cook. I burn water. You want the kind who play house in a
perfectly decorated home. I live in a loft with cement walls. You
always go for demure perfection.” Gina pointed her thumb toward her
chest and laid it all on the line. “I’m a Technicolor mess, and I
like it.”

For three seconds, Rico just stared. The
sound of crickets and the music from the ballroom filled the air
like a buzz saw. Finally, he gave a slow nod of his head.

“
Okay. So that’s the type I
thought I wanted. But I was wrong.”

Before Gina could do more than gape, he
continued.

“
I’d question your
assessment of being a mess, but you’re right about the rest. You
are definitely Technicolor. You are true to your beliefs, a loyal
friend and crazy smart. You’re cute and sassy. Sexy as hell and
anything but average.”

Frowning, she hugged her
arms around herself against the sudden chill. He was agreeing that
she was all wrong for him, but he made it sound like a
compliment.

“
So you keep track of my
life?” he asked.

Of course she kept track. She was obsessed
with the guy, wasn’t she? Since she couldn’t confess that, nor
could she lie, she opted for only answer left.

She shrugged.

“
Because I keep track of
you.”

Gina shook her head, sure the buzzing in her
ears had affected her hearing.

“
You keep track of
me?”

“
Yeah. I didn’t realize I
was until tonight. Until I was bored to death in there with those
women. I kept thinking about you. I can remember every time we’ve
talked. I’ve memorized all the things Sophia said about you in her
letters. I thought about your smart mouth and your pretty smile.
About how you keep me on my toes. And how much I wanted
you.”

Her heart raced and her mind spun. Tears
blurred her eyes for just a second before Gina blinked them
away.

“
I’m not your type,” she
said, her voice shaky.

“
But you’re exactly what I
want.”

She wanted to believe him.

“
What about this,” she
gestured between them, indicating their little garden tryst. “This
was only supposed to be a one time thing. Wasn’t it?”

“
One time?” He gave her a
look that said he thought she might be a little loco. “I just said
that to get you to agree. Guys do that, you know.”

Gina’s lips twitched but she pressed them
together. She was so afraid that she was hearing what she wanted to
hear, not what he was really saying.

She was almost afraid to ask, but had to
know. “Then it isn’t just this once?”

“
Hell no, sweetheart. This
is just the beginning.”

The beginning?

“
Of...?” She needed the
words. She’d never had a guy give her words. Had never wanted them.
But from Rico, she desperately needed them.

“
The beginning of giving it
a shot.” He shrugged, looking like she’d just asked him to put on a
dress and play girl. “I don’t know where it’s going. I just know I
want to find out.”

She stared up at his dark,
intense eyes and sighed. He really meant it. He wanted her. Rico
Santiago didn’t bullshit around. This was her shot at having her
dream guy.

At having her dream.

All of a sudden, she wanted to run away.

Girls like her, they didn’t get to live out
their dream.

Did they?

Fear curled around her,
making Gina shiver in the cool evening air. What if it wasn’t all
those guys who were wrong. What if it was her? What if she didn’t
have what it took to be in a solid, healthy committed
relationship?

“
C’mon,” Rico said quietly.
“Give us a shot.”

Gina took a deep breath, not at all
surprised that he could read her thoughts. She looked closer,
realizing that she could read his, too.

There was desire in his
dark eyes as well as his usual cocky assurance. But she saw the
need there, and the doubt.

It was the doubt that did it for her.

Suddenly her nerves fled,
fears fading. Joy and a giddy sort of peace took their
place.