The Winner Takes It All (A Something New Novel) (39 page)

Disgruntled, Gracie pointed at him. “He started it.”

James gave her a disapproving scowl he reserved specifically for her. “
You
started it. I was standing here minding my own business.”

“You insulted my doughnut!” A stray blond curl flopped into her eye and she pushed it back behind her ear even though it never stayed put.

“After you turned your nose up at my shake.” He crossed his arms over his chest and his biceps rippled.

For a second, the corded muscles running the length of his arms distracted her, but she quickly shook the image away and snorted. “Shake! That’s an insult to shakes. Real shakes are made with actual ice cream. And I’m not talking low fat frozen yogurt either. I’m talking—”

A loud, piercing whistle filled the air and Gracie covered her ears.

Cecilia’s four-carat diamond ring flashed, nearly blinding Gracie as she sliced a hand through the air. “Please. You two are already giving me a headache.”

Shane slid a big hand around Cecilia’s waist, pulling her close. “And I’m the only one allowed to upset her.” He leaned down and kissed his future wife’s neck.

Between Shane and Cecilia getting married, and newlyweds Mitch and Maddie, the constant lovefest grated on Gracie’s last nerve. She was ecstatic for her friends, overjoyed for their happiness. But Shane and Mitch weren’t exactly shy about their desires, and Gracie had to witness or hear their public displays of affection all too often. Last night she’d had to put a pillow over her head, Shane and Cecilia had been so loud. Gracie could only hope they had soundproofing in their new place or their mothers would have strokes the next time they stayed overnight.

And . . . Gracie was big enough to admit she was a tiny bit jealous. She loved herself a little PDA, only she had no one to PDA with. The year anniversary of her unintentional celibacy had come and gone and she was starting to get a bit twitchy. Abstinence hadn’t been the plan; she’d dated plenty, only no one had flipped her switch enough to get her into bed.

She shot a sidelong glance at the professor. He probably thought kissing in public was as disgusting as doughnuts. Hell, he probably only had sex in the missionary position with the lights off. Anyone that uptight would be a complete dud in the sack.

When Shane’s tongue flicked over Cecilia’s skin, Gracie wrinkled her nose. “Hey, stop that.” She jerked a thumb at the professor. “You’re going to give him nightmares.”

Shane sucked on Cecilia’s neck, his teeth scraping over the soft skin. Gracie couldn’t blame her friend one bit when Cecilia’s eyes practically rolled into the back of her head.

Unlike his brother, Shane Donovan was not the kind of man who fucked with the lights off.

James sighed, a deep, heavy sound of the resigned. “Once again, you’ve managed to lose me.”

Shane lifted his head and grinned at his younger brother. “She thinks you’re a prude, Jimmy.”

James scowled for several seconds and then shook his head as though Gracie was just too silly for words. Without a word to defend himself, he picked up the box labeled “kitchen” off the counter and started toward the door. “You make a gazillion dollars, so why aren’t you paying for movers?”

That was actually a good point. “Hey! He’s right.”

“Holy fuck, you agreed with him.” Shane craned his neck and called after his brother. “Did you hear that, Jimmy? She agreed with you.”

“I’ll mark it down in my calendar and drop dead of a heart attack,” James said wryly, and out the door he went, thus concluding round 513 of their ongoing battle.

“That’s it? That’s all I had to do?” Gracie grinned at Cecilia. “Think of all the time I’ve wasted.”

Shane narrowed his green eyes. At first, Gracie had thought all the Donovans shared the exact same eye color, but James’s were different. A cool, crisp evergreen amongst the rest of the clan’s warmth.

“Do you have to antagonize him?” Shane asked.

Indignant, Gracie placed a hand over her expansive cleavage. “Me? What did I do?”

“Don’t play innocent. You bait him. You’ve been baiting him since the day you met.” Shane slid a hand onto the counter behind Cecilia and when her friend shivered a little, Gracie suspected he’d worked his fingers under Cecilia’s black top. Again.

Gracie sighed.

Cecilia nodded. “I’m afraid he’s right.”

Gracie rolled her eyes. “Ugh. I miss the days when you guys didn’t constantly agree with each other.”

Cecilia grinned at Shane, her sleek ponytail perfectly in place even though they were doing manual labor. “I’m trying, but I can’t seem to work up a good mad.”

Shane tugged her mane of caramel-colored hair. “I’m sure you’ll think of something soon.”

“How about the fact that you don’t have movers?” Gracie asked. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could stomach their ooey-gooey love. Between them and the stuffy professor, her body couldn’t decide if it was stuck in bad porn or
The Sound of Music
.

Shane’s hand settled on Cecilia’s neck. “The movers will be here in thirty. Ce-ce wanted to take care of the important stuff herself.”

“Oh, all right.” Gracie smiled at the happy couple. “It’s hard to believe six months ago Cecilia cried on my couch over you and now you’re moving in together.”

Cecilia’s expression held nothing but complete adoration as she gazed up at her fiancé. “Pretty crazy, huh?”

Shane brushed her lips with his, his mouth soft on hers, and Gracie looked away.

In six months Cecilia had changed her entire life around. She’d gone from a shut-off, work-obsessed career woman stuck in a job and life she hadn’t wanted, to the vibrant woman she was now. In six short months, she’d quit her job, fired her father, made amends with her brother and mom, started a new business, and fallen in love with Shane. Now she’d moved into a brand-new house and was getting married.

And Gracie hadn’t even managed to get herself laid. She shook her shoulders. Enough of that. She had a great life. She had everything a woman could want: a thriving business, great friends, and a beautiful home she shared with her brother.

If she lacked a bit of reckless craziness, she had no one to blame but herself.

James strolled back into the room, moving with an easy grace that irritated her. Irrational and unfair, but true nonetheless.

She’d be hard-pressed to pinpoint why she’d taken a dislike to him. Other than his addiction to health food and exercise, there wasn’t anything the least bit objectionable about him. Unlike his testosterone-laden alpha brothers, he was quietly handsome in a bookish sort of way. At six-two, he was the shortest of the three Donovan brothers, and there wasn’t anything threatening about him. He was an ordinary guy. Nothing at all exceptional. She should go out of her way to flirt and flatter him, like she did with most men she met, but she didn’t. She couldn’t even muster a smile for him.

“What?” James asked, startling her out of her thoughts.

Her stomach did an unwelcome little jump, as it sometimes did when he gave her that hard glare and his jaw got all stern. She waved a hand. “Oh, nothing.”

He shook his head as though she exasperated him. “Are you going to get to work, or stand there?”

Gracie huffed. “Um, I was here an hour before you.”

A quirked brow. “But did you do anything?”

“You are such an ass.” Gracie shook her head at the ceiling. How would she survive this day? Let alone the whole weekend?

“You’re getting repetitive.” James cocked his lean hip against the island countertop and took another drink of his disgusting shake. “You’ve already told me that twice today.”

Gracie searched her mind for a proper comeback, only to find herself flummoxed. Another reason he irritated her. While she’d never admit it in a million years, she often got tongued-tied around him. She hated it!

Ignoring him, she whirled around to Cecilia. “Do you see what I have to put up with?”

Cecilia pressed her lips to suppress a laugh.

Shane, however, did not have the same problem. “You did kind of start it.”

Cecilia elbowed him in the ribs and shushed him before crooking her finger at Gracie. “Come on, let’s go start on the bedroom.”

Shane grabbed Cecilia’s wrist and tugged her back, bending down to whisper something in her ear that made color splash onto her cheeks before letting her go. Cecilia wobbled, then righted herself, a secret smile on her lips and a quirked brow. “We’ll just have to see about that, now won’t we?”

Shane gave her a long, slow once-over. “Yeah, we will.”

Gracie rolled her eyes. God help her.

Cecilia spun on her heel, head held high. “Come on, Gracie.” As she passed, Shane smacked her on the ass and she yelped. “Hey!”

Shane laughed and Cecilia glowered, although the huge grin on her lips gave her away. Gracie sighed, a bit wistful, as she followed her friend up the back staircase.

Nobody had smacked her ass in, like,
forever
.

The bedroom was in complete disarray. Clothes were piled up everywhere; shoes and purses littered the floor. Cecilia eyed the bed wearily. “Remind me never to move again.”

Gracie scoffed. “With the house you bought, why would you need to?”

“It is pretty spectacular.”

“I guess that’s the kind of house you get when you land one of Chicago’s richest businessmen.” Gracie pointed to Cecilia’s engagement ring. “That and a huge rock. Let me see it again.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Cecilia flashed her hand. “I told Shane it was too much, but you know how he is.”

Gracie cupped her friend’s hand as the huge emerald-cut diamond flashed. Shane Donovan was a go-big-or-go-home type of guy. The ring sparkled in the bright early fall sun filtering in from the window, hypnotizing her. “I will never understand how the professor was hatched from the same parents.”

Cecilia sighed. “Please, please, please be nice to him.”

Gracie dropped her hand. “I’m nice.”

“You’re horrible to him. Why can’t you be sweet like you are to everyone else?”

That was the million-dollar question. Without a good answer, Gracie shrugged. “Isn’t hating cupcakes enough?”

Cecilia’s brow creased as if she was giving the question serious thought. “He’s a little obsessive on the health food, I’ll grant you, but still, he’s a good guy.”

“He’s condescending.”

“No, he’s not. He has a dry sense of humor.”

“You know perfectly well he doesn’t have any sense of humor.”

“He does,” Cecilia insisted. “Just not where you’re concerned.”

“See, we’re even.” One of those unwelcome moments of truth hitched in her belly. Even though she didn’t like him, it irritated her he didn’t like her back. What did that say about her? Did she really need everyone to love her?

Cecilia pressed her lips together before sighing. “You’re going to be together all day and most of the weekend. Do you think, for me, you could try to get along? At least until the engagement party is over? After this weekend you won’t have to see him until Thanksgiving.”

Gracie wrinkled her nose and then hugged her friend. “All right, I’ll be nice, but only because you asked me to.”

“Thank you.” The taller woman hugged her back. “And thank you for helping me. I owe you big-time.”

Gracie stepped back and eyed the mountain of clothes on the bed. “That you do. Now let’s get to work.”

She could be nice to James for forty-eight hours.

Maybe.

James Donovan watched Gracie climb the back stairs, her fantasy-inducing ass encased in a pair of tight jeans that clung to her showgirl legs, in annoyed awe. The sentiment pretty much summed up his yearlong, animosity-filled acquaintance with her. The tight red T-shirt she wore displayed her hourglass figure in all its lush glory, and he’d about broken into a cold sweat as soon as he saw her.

If it was just her body it would be one thing, but her face was equally compelling with those dancing cornflower-blue eyes and wild mess of blond curls that refused to stay tamed no matter how many times she tucked them behind her ears. She was an odd mix of heart-stoppingly cute and wickedly sexy.

His jaw clenched. The kick of lust he felt bothered him. James’s mind and body had been under control for a long time, and his attraction to the blond sex goddess was a reminder of parts of him better left behind. He wished for the thousandth time she’d meet someone.

When she’d stopped seeing the Revival sheriff she’d been involved with when he’d first met her, James had been sure she’d hook up with one of his brothers. Women like Gracie
always
went for guys like his brothers. At first he’d assumed Shane, because they’d hit it off so well, but that hope had been dashed as soon as Cecilia had shown up.

At his sister Maddie’s wedding his youngest brother, Evan, had been all over Gracie, but to James’s surprise she’d rebuffed all his advances with that good-natured charm she turned on everyone but him. James still didn’t understand why. His brother was a six-five, star NFL wide receiver. Evan hadn’t heard the word no since he was fourteen. Instead of an affair, they seemed to have settled into a flirtatious friendship and Gracie remained stubbornly unattached.

James supposed it was a good thing she hated him. Despite all his years of discipline—