When Love Happens (15 page)

Tori couldn’t contain her laughter. “Okay, your
parents
are
weird.”

“That’s what I’m saying.” Maggie took a long drink of wine. “This is
really
good. I’m going to make Kyle take me to this winery. It is local, right?” She looked at the label.

“Yes. We went to school with their son—he helps run the business now.” Tori put her hand to her forehead. “Oh wow, I just remembered . . . Speaking of bad dates, I went out with him once. The summer
before my sophomore year in college. He took me to a comic-book convention in Portland.”

“Um, that sounds . . . interesting.”

“It would have been if it had been an actual convention with comics I’d heard of. But it wasn’t—it was a group of guys who wrote their own comic books. Fun for him, I guess, but not a great date activity.”

Maggie shook her head. “Sounds boring.”

“It was until one of
his friends asked if I’d strip down to my underwear so he could use me as a model for something he wanted to draw.”

Maggie’s eyes rounded, and her jaw dropped. “
No.
Your date told him off, right?”

“Uh, no. He said he didn’t mind if I didn’t mind.”

“Holy crap.” Maggie howled. “That’s the worst. What did you do?”

“I called Liam to come pick me up.”

“Is it weird now when you go to his winery?”
Maggie asked.

“I don’t go. I love the wine, but I don’t go there.” Tori shuddered as she took another drink of wine. “In fact, just thinking about that again might force me to open a different bottle.”

“I wouldn’t blame you,” Maggie said. “But this is pretty freaking tasty.”

They continued swapping bad date stories, and Tori relaxed more than she had in days—months, maybe. The beer she’d drunk
upstairs coupled with the wine put her into a nice fuzzy state, making it easy to laugh and just forget.

“Hey, what’s so funny down here?” Kyle came into the wine cellar, interrupting Maggie in her retelling of a high school date on which the guy had picked her up with his friend in tow. They’d gone to an underage dance club in Portland, and when they’d come out, their car had been pinned in.
The two guys had actually tried to lift the compact out in order to leave, arguing loudly about the best way to accomplish the feat and drawing tons of attention, much to Maggie’s embarrassment.

“Oh my God, Maggie is telling the funniest story,” Tori said, wiping her eye. She froze as Sean came into the cellar behind Kyle.

“What is it?” Kyle went over to Maggie and massaged her shoulders briefly.

“Stupid dating stories. You don’t want to hear them,” Maggie said.

“On the contrary,” Sean said. “Knowing that other guys dated Tori and lost out makes me feel pretty effing superior, since I got her in the end.”

His words heated Tori straight through. She thought about the way women had reacted to him today and realized she felt the same—he could have his pick of women, but he’d chosen
her
.

“Dinner’s ready,” Kyle said. He picked up the magnum and whistled. “You two have been drinking.”

They were on their second glasses—nearly done with them, in fact.

“We’re having a mini girls’ night,” Maggie said.

“Does that mean you want us to leave?” Kyle’s eyes drooped with disappointment.

She smiled up at him. “No, carry the wine. I’m starved.” She stood up and looked at Tori. “Come on, let’s
see where this date ranks on our lists.”

She and Kyle headed out of the wine cellar while Sean watched Tori bemusedly. “This is a date?” he asked.

Crap, it certainly looked like it. But she could stop it from feeling like one—if she wanted to.
Hell.

Right now she didn’t know what she wanted—she only knew that for the first time in ages, she felt good, and she didn’t want that to end.

S
EAN
WAITED FOR
her answer, but it never came. She scooped up her glass and preceded him from the room. He followed her out, watching the sway of her hips as she climbed the stairs back up to the main floor.

After a short but bracing nap, he’d awoken to an empty apartment. Since she’d said she had to go to the house, he’d gone in search of her and had found Kyle cooking dinner for four. It had looked
like a double date, but even if it was, Sean had his guard up. After the last twenty-four hours with her, he’d be stupid not to.

He’d helped Kyle finish up the dinner and had set four places at the kitchen table. He had no idea where Rob and Emily were, but they weren’t at home.

Kyle pulled two wineglasses from a cabinet near the beer bar as they entered the kitchen. “You want wine, Sean?”

“Definitely.”

The place settings were two on either side of the table, and it looked like Maggie and Kyle had claimed the side closest to the kitchen. Maggie was already seated.

Kyle set the empty glasses on the table next to the wine bottle and glanced at Sean. “You pour while I get the plates.”

Sean filled their glasses, then topped off the ladies’.

“Thank you,” Maggie said, smiling up at
him.

Kyle brought the dinners over—he’d plated a gorgeous meal with steak, a port sauce containing mushrooms, a medley of root vegetables, and seared kale.

“Dig in,” Kyle said. “It’s losing heat fast.”

Maggie picked up her silverware. “Looks delicious.”

Sean glanced at Tori, who’d sat down opposite Kyle.
She
looked delicious, but he wouldn’t say so. He wasn’t sure what her plan was for tonight,
but he assumed there would be some sort of torture involved. Would she pull that stuff in front of her brother? She’d seemed to lay off while they were at the ten-K, and then in front of that woman at the bookstore she’d been positively possessive. Talk about a total shift.

Sean sat down and cut into his steak. “This is amazing. Kyle, I have to get you on a cooking show. A friend of mine works
on
Chopped
. Would you be interested?”

Kyle swallowed and then grinned. “Hell yes. I love that show. I’m constantly yelling at the contestants, right, babe?” He glanced at Maggie.

“It’s true,” she said. “And he’s not afraid to eat or cook anything. He’d be perfect on that show. Honestly, he ought to judge it, but I think he’d rather win.”

He gave her a sly look. “How about I win and
then
judge
it?”

Sean tried not to envy their banter. “I’ll talk to my friend. I’d also be interested in producing a show about the opening of The Arch and Fox—chronicle the renovation and everything you’re doing to launch a five-star restaurant.”

Kyle paused in eating. “Wow. That would be incredible.” His eyes were animated with excitement as he looked at first Tori and then Maggie. “Can you imagine what
that would do for the restaurant?”

“You’d be famous.” Maggie frowned. “Women would probably throw themselves at you—successful and hot.” She shook her head. “No, I don’t think I like this idea.”

Sean chuckled as he took a drink of wine. “This pinot is great. I see why you two hit it so hard.”

“Hey, we didn’t drink that much!” Maggie grabbed the neck of the bottle and brought it closer to inspect
the contents. “On second thought, maybe we did.” She flashed Tori a conspiratorial smile and lifted her glass in silent toast.

Tori raised her glass and took a long drink. “So good.” She licked her lips, and Sean’s jeans felt suddenly tight.

He searched his brain for something to say to distract himself from thoughts of Tori that would likely go absolutely nowhere. “So you guys were talking
about bad dates? Reminds me of our first night in Vegas.” He looked at Tori. “You remember that couple at the Venetian?”

A couple had fallen from their gondola into the waterway, and the woman had been wearing white. With a thong and pasties.

Tori giggled. “I’d forgotten that. You could see just about everything.”

“And she couldn’t have cared less.”

“Totally,” Tori said. “She flaunted everything
she had, and he ate it up. I think they wanted to put on a show, but security escorted them out before they could get too serious.”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad date,” Kyle said. “Sounds kind of hot.”

Maggie playfully smacked his arm. “Knock it off.”

Sean shifted in his seat at the memory. “It was very hot.” In fact, the display had given him and Tori their own idea. They’d gone up to their
room, where he’d taken her directly to the shower. It had been a large walk-in, and they’d gone in fully clothed, though they didn’t emerge that way.

Sean glanced over at Tori and was surprised to find her eyes on him. Was she thinking about the same thing? Was the memory heating her in all the right places like it was him?

“That was fun,” she said softly, her voice low and dark. She took a
drink of wine and set the glass back on the table. Her fingers stroked the stem, and he was mesmerized by the suggestive movement. “We had a lot of great nights like that.”

Was she sharking him? Then again, did a woman really need to pursue her own husband? The thought of shagging her brought his cock to full attention. “We did,” he said slowly, afraid to hope . . .

Kyle interrupted the charged
moment with questions about whether the
Chopped
gig could actually happen, and the conversation turned—disappointingly—to talk of television shows and food. Sean was careful to keep from talking about the “Where Are They Now?” special. Kyle seemed to sense that was the case and stayed away from it, too. As the meal wore on, the women giggled more and more, and it became evident that they were
at least tipsy, if not downright drunk.

Tori pushed her plate away. “I think I’m done. What should we do now?” She finished her glass of wine. “I know, more wine.” She held her glass up for a refill.

Kyle picked up the bottle and swung it like a pendulum. “Empty.” They’d polished it off during dinner.

“There’s more where that came from,” Tori sang, standing up from the table.

“Yes!” Maggie
agreed, standing with her.

“I think you’ve maybe had enough,” Kyle said to Maggie. “Let me throw these dishes in the dishwasher, and I’ll take you home.”

Maggie exhaled. “Boo. But you’re probably right.”

Tori went to the beer counter and picked up an empty pint glass. “Hey, where’d my beer go?”

“Sean drank it,” Kyle said as he bused the dishes.

“That was my beer,” she said, slurring slightly.
She walked around the bar and held the glass beneath the tap. She pulled the lever, but Sean stopped her when the glass was half full.

“You sure you want to drink that?” He’d seen her drunk before and knew she was probably past her tolerance level. “If you want to feel like a human being in the morning, I recommend you don’t.”

She pouted. “You are annoyingly correct. How do you know me so well?”

He laughed. “I thought you said I didn’t know you well at all.”

She took a drink of the beer despite his warning and gestured with the glass, causing a bit to splash over her hand. While he suspected last night’s beer spill had been calculated, tonight’s was due to inebriation.

He took the glass from her fingers. “Time to go. Come on, love.” He took the glass to Kyle, who arched a brow at him.
“Thanks for dinner, Kyle.”

“Night, bro.”

Sean put his arm around Tori and escorted her across the kitchen.

“He’s not your bro,” she said to Kyle. “He’s barely my husband.”

Sean ushered her out of the house and guided her toward the apartment. He probably should’ve just taken her upstairs to her own bedroom, but it was too late for that—they were closer to the apartment bed.

He held the door
open for her, and she started up the stairs, stumbling almost immediately. He rushed to help her the rest of the way.

Halfway up, she pulled away from him. “I got this.” She jogged to the top and turned, grinning.

He hurried to catch up and was glad he did because she swayed. He caught her before she could fall.

She put her arms around his neck. “Oopsie.” Her gaze connected with his, and she
squinted at him. “You are so cute. Why do you have to be so cute? Why can’t you look like a troll?”

He chuckled. “Blame my parents—they’re attractive people, what can I say?”

“They sound so nice.” She pushed against him, and he nearly tumbled backward.

“Come on, let’s get you in bed.” He steered her backward on the landing toward the door to the apartment.

She arched a sexy brow, and he would’ve
said she was flirting with him. “Are you propositioning me?”

He opened the door and got her over the threshold, her grip on his neck never loosening. The press of her body against his was a bloody distraction. He’d had a bit to drink himself—nowhere near what she’d had—but it would be far too easy to give in to temptation. “Come on, bedtime. Do I need to carry you?” he asked.

She pushed her
breasts against his chest. “Yes.”

That
he couldn’t resist. He bent and swept her into his arms. She weighed next to nothing, which was impossible to believe given the muscles in her legs.

She nuzzled his neck as he carried her into the bedroom. Faint illumination from the exterior lights on the garage filtered through the blinds. It was just enough for him to find the bed. He gently laid her
down and told himself to walk away. “Good night.”

She grabbed his shirtfront and pulled him down. “Wait. Aren’t you going to help me get undressed?”

He swallowed a groan as his brain fought a battle with his body. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Why not? You’re the one who keeps reminding me we’re married.” She pulled her sweater over her head and dropped it to the floor.

He swallowed
as the pale light splashed over the swell of creamy flesh pushing up from her lacy bra. “Tori, I should go.”

“Don’t.” She curled her hands into his shirt and tugged him down until his lips met hers.

Pulled off balance, he fell on top of her. She thrust her tongue up into his mouth, kindling the fire they’d ignited at dinner. Hell, it had started on New Year’s Eve and had never truly gone out.

Their tongues clashed as she moved her hands to his back. She gripped his shirt in her fist and slid her other hand to his arse, where she clutched at him. She spread her legs so he nestled right between her thighs. Despite their jeans, he felt the heat of her core and couldn’t help but grind against her.