"You think I'm girlie?" he asked in a low, slightly dangerous voice. A voice thick with power. A voice that made her realize he was a whole lot bigger than her and that there were a couple of floors between her and help."Not at all," she said quickly. "I didn't mean to say it. The words just slipped out. Bad me. You should probably stalk out and teach me what for by leaving me alone."Instead he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Do you play all the men in your life?"She swallowed. "Pretty much.""Does it work?""Mostly.""Not this time."He cupped her cheek with his hand, bent down and kissed her.She'd sensed he was going to and should have had time to brace herself. It was just a kiss, right? No big deal. They'd kissed before, and while she'd liked it, she'd managed to keep perfect control...sort of.But not this time. The second his mouth touched hers, she started dissolving from the inside out. Technically that couldn't be true, but it felt true.Heat poured through her,
"What?" Derrick's eyes widened. He pushed up his glasses again. "No. She's great, don't get me wrong, but we're just friends. She's not anyone I would...you know...be attracted to."Liam's first instinct was to grab the little weasel by the throat and ask him what the hell he thought was wrong with Eva. Then he got a grip and told himself to back off.His second instinct was to walk away, because he didn't do personal conversations. But then he remembered Eva's insistence that they help Derrick and Sloane get together.He refused to play matchmaker, but maybe a couple of questions couldn't hurt."You're a lucky guy," he said. "Surrounded by beautiful women."Derrick blinked. "Sloane's beautiful.""Yes, she is. Van mentioned she wasn't one of the scientists?""Oh, no. She coordinates the project. She's just a normal person. She keeps us on track with our time and our budget. She takes care of things." His voice had a dreamy quality. "She always smells good. It's not always the same sce
"That's sure the story," Sloane said calmly. "The one you've been telling yourself for years. But is it the truth?" She shrugged. "I have my doubts. I think you've never gotten over Liam. I don't think any of this is about revenge. You can't accept you still love him so this is the story you tell yourself. But be careful. You're not into casual relationships. What happens if you sleep with him and then can't walk away? You want him to break your heart twice?"In love with Liam? "Never. He can't hurt me. I won't let him. He's little more than a symbol of the issues in my childhood. Once I prove I've outgrown him, I can let my past go.""An excellent theory. You'll have to tell me how that works out for you."Eva hated her friend's doubts. Sloane was her oracle, the keeper of social and romantic knowledge. They'd never disagreed on anything significant before."I have to do this," Eva said. "I've waited too long to walk away now. I have to go for it. You should, too. Tonight."Sloane la
He was so hard she had trouble with the zipper but finally managed to get it unfastened. He helped her push down his jeans and briefs.She knelt between his legs, taking in the beauty that was his aroused naked body. His erection called to her. She reached out and touched him, then stroked his length. He put his hand on top of hers."I don't have any protection," he said.She smiled. "Come on, Liam. It's me. When have I not prepared for every contingency?"She leaned forward and opened his nightstand, then pulled out the condoms she'd put there before she'd started her bath.Seconds later, the condom in place, she eased herself onto him.He was big and thick and he filled her, stretching her inside in the most delicious way possible. She braced herself on her hands and knees, settling in for the ride.+His dark gaze met hers. "You really think I'm going to let you be on top?" he asked."Uh-huh."He reached for her breasts. "You're right."She laughed, then rocked back and forth, easi
When Liam finished getting dressed after his shower, he debated going downstairs for coffee or heading up to the loft to check in with his office. Coffee won, mostly because he hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night.Sharing a bed with Eva had been anything but restful.He walked out of his bedroom, then paused at the landing to look at the picture he'd mostly avoided since arriving at the house. It showed him and his friends during college. When everything had been easy and they'd called themselves the Six Heavens.Emmett laughed into the camera, because he'd always enjoyed whatever he was doing. Ryder and Jackson-twins who couldn't be more different-held Ian in a headlock, while he and Kevin poured beer over the group.He knew that just outside the view of the camera sat a teenage girl on a blanket, her head buried in a book. Because Eva had never quite fit in.Emmett had worried about her, especially after he'd found out he was dying. That's when he'd asked Liam to take care o
Eva rolled her eyes. It was as though they were a couple of dogs and she were the favorite tree they both wanted to pee on. While she was sure Liam was more than capable of winning the contest, she was surprised he would bother to play. She also hadn't expected Justice to get drawn in. Since when had he become competitive?"There's a little too much testosterone in here for me," she said as she stepped back. "You two boys have fun."~~~~~~~Eva made her way to Sloane's room and found her friend typing on her laptop."Girl emergency," Eva said as she closed the bedroom door and sat on the edge of the bed. "How could he be here?""Justice?"Eva nodded. "I had no idea. We've been staying in touch via e-mail and we've talked a little on the phone, but there was no warning. He just showed up. How could he do that?""He got on a plane and flew here. It's romantic. Does it feel romantic to you?""I don't know," Eva admitted, still unclear how she felt. "It's been weeks and weeks. I thought h
Words that should have melted her hearts emotionally if not physically. Because the temperature required to melt a body part would cook it first, and that was gross, even for her twisted mind. So what was wrong with her? Why wasn't Justice getting to her?A question that seriously needed an answer.***An hour later they were down at the edge of the lake. Eva counted heads to make sure no one had ducked out of what she had planned and was surprised to see Liam had joined them."Derrick told me I wouldn't want to miss it," he said when she approached."He's right." She had a little trouble speaking, which was weird but possibly explained by how great Liam looked in swim trunks and a T-shirt. He was tanned—mostly all over, she remembered from the previous night.Bad memory, she told herself. Don't think about making love with Liam. Think about Justice and how sweet he is. Although sweet Justice had chosen not to show up for her afternoon of fun on the lake."So what are we doing?" Sloan
They bounced through the wake of a boat, then settled onto smoother water. Eva leaned against him, her thighs nestling him. The image of her naked, hungry and ready filled his mind.For once, he didn't push it away. He let it stay there, arousing him, making him want to pull into shallow waters and make the fantasy real.He didn't. Instead he headed back to the beach, where her friends were being shown the right way to board a Jet Ski.There was also a new addition to the group. A dinghy had been pulled up on the beach, and Justice stood slightly to the side, staring at Eva."How about something with a little more power?" he said, pointing to the twenty-five-foot boat anchored offshore.She climbed off the Jet Ski and pulled off her life jacket. "I need to stay here," she told him. "This was my idea."Justice glanced around. "The nerd brigade will be fine." He grabbed her hand. "Come on. It'll be fun."Liam wanted to step between them the way he had with surfer dude. But this was diff
His arm draped around Sarah's shoulders, Ian looked around at the Sixth Heavens who'd finally gathered together again. Emmett had brought about this reunion, thanks to his will. Emmett had always been the glue that had bound them together, and now they were his legacy. Ian looked down at Sarah. They'd been married just weeks, but they'd been the best damn weeks he'd had in a long time. Since before his mother and Emmett had died, in fact. He felt alive again. They'd gotten married in an intimate ceremony in Napa Valley. Eunice and Gary had served as the matron of honor and best man. Because it was summer break, he'd been able to fly them in, along with their kids, for a family vacation. He grinned thinking about how thrilled Sarah's friends had been to get away to a romantic place, even if it was with the kids in tow. He and Sarah would be in the same situation in a few years, especially if they kept having the same steamy nights they'd been having the past few weeks. Sarah glanc
"I love you, Eva. I have for a long time. I always thought..." He shrugged. "I thought there was something between us back then. But you were young and I was young and then Emmett got sick. I couldn't deal, so I ran. You know all this. I ran, but I couldn't let go. I took the coward's way out. I spied on you. You were right to call it that. I kept track from a distance, where it was safe. Where I was safe."She had to sit down. Her legs felt weak and the room was spinning. Instead she reached for him, and he caught her and held her as if he might never let go. "I missed you," he murmured, speaking into her hair. "I missed you so much. Not just the past three weeks, although they were hell, but for the past nine years. I'm sorry I didn't know before. I love you, Eva. I want to be with you. I want to make this right." He grabbed her by her upper arms and held her in front of him. "Can you forgive me? Can you tell me what to do to make it right? Can you ever care about me?" She began
He hadn't expected to ever see her again. Then she'd been here and he'd been thrown. She'd wanted to seduce him and he knew he couldn't let that happen. Because of what he owned both her and Emmett. Liam's POV ;I walked into the empty living room and stared at the perfectly arranged furniture. It was all so comfortable. I wanted to throw things, break things, mess it all up. Because life wasn't tidy or comfortable. It was a pain in the ass. I turned to leave, then spotted a DVD case on the floor, by the sofa. Someone had dropped it. Or left it on purpose. Eva? Sloane? Emmett? I picked it up and stared at the plain black cover. Someone had stuck on a piece of paper covered with a single word. Emmett. Against my better judgment, I walked to the DVD player and put in the disk. Then I turned on the television and braced myself for the pain. Someone had taken the time to transfer Emmett's home movies, I thought as I watched snippets of the first confusing days at Yale. There were sh
Eva's POV cont'd ;I blinked several times, then swallowed. "I can't stay with you, Liam." He hadn't thought about me leaving until I said I had to, and now he didn't want me to go. I scrambled out of the bed and pulled on my clothes. "This is crazy. All of it. I don't know what I was thinking. I had this great plan. Sloane warned me, but did I listen? And I'm supposed to be the smart one." "What are you talking about?"I slid on my T-shirt, then looked at him. "You have to stop it, Liam. You're not allowed to spy on me anymore. I know you'd call it looking after me. Whatever it is, you have to stop. I'm a grown woman and I can take care of myself. If there are mistakes to be made, then I'll make them. Stop protecting me.""I don't want to.""This isn't about you."He didn't understand. They'd just made love. It had been great. So why was she leaving? And when the hell had it gotten so cold in this room? "Just like that?" he asked, getting angry because it was easy and something h
Liam's POV cont'd ;"Damn you, " she cried. "I hate this. Do you know how much I hate this? I wasn't even a person to you. I was a project. You couldn't be bothered to get involved yourself." "It wasn't like that. I wanted you to be safe. I didn't want you with the wrong guy."Just a sec…we've got a ad loading up."Yes."She dropped her arms to her sides, then stared up at me with tears in her eyes. "So who's the right guy? Or does he exist?" "I don't know.""It's not you."She wasn't asking a question, but I answered it anyway. "No. I'm not him." "Just the devil?""I'm not that bad.""You are to me," she said and turned away. "You shouldn't have done it, Liam. It's a zero-sum game. All or nothing. You can't hide in the middle. Emmett would be disappointed, and so am I. It would have been better to just disappear. At least that would have been honest. I could have respected that.""I don't need your respect," I said, then realized that maybe I did. For some reason, Eva's opinion m
That made Eva almost smile. "You don't approve of it either." "I don't approve one way or the other. I'm worried about you. I think you wanted to sleep with Liam for a lot of reasons, and none of them have anything to do with punishing him.""You think I'm still in love with him.""It would explain a lot."Eva rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. In love with Liam. Was it possible? The way her personal life was going, it made sense. He'd spent the last ten years doing the least he could justify when it came to her, and she might have spent the same amount of time desperate to give her heart to him. ************Liam's POV ;I was staring at my computer screen when Derrick walked into my office. "What's up?" I asked. "You hurt Eva," Derrick said. "That's not right. You can't be so insensitive that you wouldn't know how much the information about Justice would bother her. Not to mention the fact that someone she respected and thought of as a friend had been spying on h
He took her arm and led her into the kitchen. She didn't like anything about this. After folding her arms over her chest she said, "So talk." His dark eyes were unreadable. "Justice isn't who you think." She'd thought maybe her father had been in an accident or had a heart attack. But Justice? "Not who I think? You mean like secretly a woman?""I'm serious, Eva. I have some information on him. His background. He's not the man he's pretending to be. He's in it for the money."A thousand different thoughts flashed through her brain. At any other time she would have paused to marvel at the exquisite structure of the human mind—of how it could hold so many contradictory ideas at any single moment. But right now all she cared about was being strong enough to punch Liam in the stomach. "What the hell are you going on about?" she asked, her voice low and cold. "Why would you know anything about Justice?" "I had him investigated."Anger burned hot and bright. "You have no right to get i
Eva needed coffee more than she needed air. It had been another long night but not for any fun reasons. She'd tossed and turned, not sure what to do with her life—something she hadn't wrestled with in years.She was supposed to have things together by now. She was supposed to know her heart as well as she knew her head. Or did being so damned smart mean she was destined to be stupid in other ways?The coffee had barely begun to pour through the filter when someone rang the doorbell. She hadn't seen anyone else up yet so she walked to the front door and opened it.Justice stood on the porch. He held a single red rose in one hand and a stuffed bright-green monkey in the other."It's possible I behaved badly yesterday," he said with a shrug. "More than possible. I want things to work between us."She didn't know what to say. While she was relieved to not be fighting, she wasn't exactly in the mood to throw herself into his arms. Which meant that there was a whole lot more for them to dea
They bounced through the wake of a boat, then settled onto smoother water. Eva leaned against him, her thighs nestling him. The image of her naked, hungry and ready filled his mind.For once, he didn't push it away. He let it stay there, arousing him, making him want to pull into shallow waters and make the fantasy real.He didn't. Instead he headed back to the beach, where her friends were being shown the right way to board a Jet Ski.There was also a new addition to the group. A dinghy had been pulled up on the beach, and Justice stood slightly to the side, staring at Eva."How about something with a little more power?" he said, pointing to the twenty-five-foot boat anchored offshore.She climbed off the Jet Ski and pulled off her life jacket. "I need to stay here," she told him. "This was my idea."Justice glanced around. "The nerd brigade will be fine." He grabbed her hand. "Come on. It'll be fun."Liam wanted to step between them the way he had with surfer dude. But this was diff