Stephanie Julian - No Reservations

Because somewhere in this crowd, he was pretty sure he’d find her fiancé.

He waited for her to move away, to drop his gaze and put him out of his misery.

Instead, she held it. And stepped closer.

Now he caught a whiff of the spicy scent she wore. Not perfume. It didn’t have that underlying astringent smell most perfumes carried. This smelled more organic.

And much more enticing. It made him want to nuzzle his nose into her neck and lick a path from her collarbone to just behind her ear.

“How have you been, Tyler?”

The sound of her voice jolted through him like a mild electric shock. Luckily, he controlled any outward response that could’ve embarrassed the hell out of both of them.

Instead, he nodded. “I’ve been fine. And you?”

She hesitated, her head tilting to one side, as if weighing her response. Or maybe she was reacting to his cold tone. He hadn’t meant to sound so damn distant, but he didn’t want to put her in an awkward position either.

If she were free—

“I’ve been better, actually.”

She smiled but he saw it didn’t reach her eyes.

Irrational fear made his heart pound and sent a chill through his body even as he stepped closer. “Is everything okay?”

She nodded but began to worry her bottom lip with her teeth. “Everything’s fine. I just . . . I mean, there’s nothing physically wrong.”

He frowned, wanting to pull her away from the crowd, from all the people and the noise. Get her alone.

Which wasn’t going to happen.

“Did something happen? Do you need help?”

He’d do whatever she needed, get her whatever she wanted.

The corners of her mouth lifted and he was struck by the fact that he didn’t think he’d ever really seen her smile, as if she didn’t have a worry in the world.

Her smiles were always tinged with . . . something. Not fear, but something that held her back from total enjoyment.

“Actually . . . could we talk for a few minutes? Alone?”

He bit back the immediate urge to say “Absolutely” and hustle her out of the building. She’d think he was an idiot, not to mention it’d probably cause a scene.

He nodded. “Of course. Where—”

She took his hand, the one not holding the ring, and tugged him toward the front room and the door. But not before giving a furtive look over her shoulder.

As if searching for someone. He looked too, but no one appeared to be watching them.

She dropped his hand as they entered the less-crowded front room. She smiled and nodded at a few people but never stopped to talk, kept moving forward. They reached the front door in less than a minute and she pushed through, releasing a barely audible sigh of relief when she stood on the sidewalk.

The cool night air slapped against his senses but didn’t make a dent in his internal temperature, which was working its way to a boil.

And wasn’t helped by the fact that his gaze kept trailing down her back to watch her swaying ass.

You’re a dog.

True. And still, he couldn’t make himself not look. Shit.

He thought she’d stop now that they’d reached the sidewalk in front of the building. Instead, she continued on, not running but not taking a leisurely stroll either. Finally, when she reached the intersection at Main Street, she stopped at the corner and took a deep breath, which she released with an audible rush.

She didn’t say anything right away, just stared straight ahead. He was pretty sure she wasn’t looking at anything in particular.

He, on the other hand, allowed his attention to shift over his surroundings.

Brick townhouses and small wooden homes with picket fences. A beautiful church and a Victorian bed-and-breakfast. Several storefronts farther up the street.

All the properties appeared well-maintained. Quaint described it perfectly.

Considering that he and Jed had just bought a large property not too far from town that they planned to turn into an exclusive spa retreat in the next few months, he should be more interested.

Time enough for that later, he decided.

Right now, he focused all his energy on Kate. He wanted to enjoy these few stolen moments before he had to walk away from her. Again.

He gave her a full minute before he couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “Kate, is everything okay?”

With a sigh, she turned to face him, arms crossed over her chest as if she were cold. Slipping his leather jacket off his shoulders, he wrapped it around hers. She didn’t tell him not to, and he could’ve sworn he saw her shiver, even after she drew it together in front of her.

Her gaze lingered on his for a few seconds before she looked up into the sky.

Following her gaze, he realized he could see a hell of a lot more stars here than he could in center-city Philadelphia.

Nice.

But far less interesting than she was.

“I’ve spent all of my life here,” she finally said. “It’s so peaceful. Quiet.”

Since he had no idea where she was going with this, he nodded, though she couldn’t see because she was still staring up at the sky. “Seems like it would be.”

She looked over her shoulder at him, dark eyes huge. “Are you going to be spending a lot of time up here getting the spa going? Or will Jared handle that?”

Did she want him to be here often? “We have good people in place at Haven, so I’ll probably be able to spend some time here. Jed tends to go a little wild if I’m not around to rein him in occasionally.”

There was that half smile again. “You two work well together. You get along well, too, don’t you?”

“Yeah, we do. Better now that we’re older.”

He took a step closer, unable to stop, but clenched his hands into fists so he wouldn’t reach for her and pull her against him.

Her smile spread. “I bet Jared was a hell-raiser as a teenager.”

Tyler laughed and felt his lips curve in an answering smile. “You could say that.”

Her head tilted to the side. “And you were always the stable one, weren’t you?”

“Would you be surprised if I told you I wasn’t?”

She shook her head and a ribbon of straight silky black hair fell over her shoulder. He wanted to wind it around his hand and tug her closer. “No, because I don’t really know you, do I?”

“True.” He took a deep breath. “Would you like to know me better, Kate?”

She paused, and a deep-seated longing curled through him, tightening his stomach into a knot.

“I broke off my engagement.”

He blinked, momentarily stunned. Then the dark, fiery lust that’d been percolating deep in his gut began to rise. “I’m sorry.”

But he wasn’t. Hell, how could he be sorry when he wanted her so badly his teeth fucking ached with it?

She turned away and tilted her head back to look into the sky again. “I’m not. It was a long time coming and the right thing to do.”

He heard a “but” in there and wanted to prod her until she spilled. Instead, he remained silent, waiting for the rest of the story. He knew there had to be more.

“Arnie’s a nice guy. A real sweetheart.”

Tyler’s jaw clenched but he forced it to release before she turned and caught him looking like he wanted to hurt someone. Mia had literally flinched away from him in fear the few times he’d ever looked at her like this. He’d learned to submerge most of his darker emotions, knowing Mia had loved him enough to satisfy some of his cravings but had been unable to handle all of him. And he’d been okay with that because he’d loved her, and love meant compromise.

He didn’t think Kate was afraid of much of anything.

“He’ll be better off without me.”

His gaze narrowed. “Why do you say that?”