Christyne Butler - Flirting with Destiny

More surprised than hurt, he easily deflected the next two bricks aimed at his head. Jerking away from the desk, he cursed under his breath as the familiar fire ripped down his leg and he wobbled like a newborn.

“Hey! Knock it off!”

* * *

Tanya Reeves stood, arm cocked, her breaths coming hard and fast, ready to hurl her last yoga brick at the tall stranger’s head. Her heart pounded in her chest, the hard-earned peace and tranquility from her yoga session blown to bits the moment she’d turned and found him behind her.

“Who are you?” she demanded, between huffs. “What are you doing here? Don’t you dare come one step closer.”

“I haven’t taken a step yet.”

She dropped the brick and grabbed her cell phone from the cushioned bench attached to the nearby weight machine. “You better not. I’m dialing 9-1-1 right now.”

“It’s not going to do you any good.”

She scooted back a foot and took a stance, pushing her sweaty bangs out of her eyes. It’d been a few years since her last karate class, but she could still deliver a roundhouse kick with the best of them.

Of course, this guy had to be almost six feet tall. Better shoot for the chest. “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.”

The man perched himself against the desk again, his arms at his sides, fingers curling around the scarred edge. The corner of his mouth quirked into a slight grin.

A familiar grin?

“There’s no reception in here,” he continued.

She looked down at her phone. No bars. Damn!

“Don’t worry. You’re safe with me.”

Yeah, if I had a dollar for every time I’d heard that. A snort of disbelief escaped before she could stop it.

“I take it from your response you don’t believe me.”

Tanya relaxed, but kept a safe distance away. She was probably overreacting, but life had a way of teaching hard lessons. “I might if I knew your name and what you’re doing here.”

His smile grew, easy and natural, warming his icy blue eyes and sending her heart back into a rapid frenzy.

Because his eyes looked familiar, too?

No, that couldn’t be it. It had to be because he was tall, gorgeous and casually sexy in jeans and a button-down blue-striped shirt, pulled tight across nice shoulders.

Her gaze dropped to his feet.

Yep, cowboy boots, too.

Quickly blaming her renewed shortness of breath on her weakness for men in cowboy boots, Tanya looked him in the eye again, offered a raised eyebrow and waited.

“I’m a friend of the man who lives here,” he finally said. “The name’s Murphy. Devlin Murphy.”

Devlin?

And just like that, the memory of a stolen night a decade ago in Reno came back to her. After all these years, who would’ve thought the first person she’d run into in this town was the same drunken fool she’d shared what had been an almost-perfect evening with?

A fool who clearly had no idea who she was.

Chapter Two

“Your turn.”

Tanya blinked, chasing away memories of bright lights, crowded casinos and dark nightclubs where the same strong arms of the man in front of her had once held her close. “Huh?”

“It’s only fair that you tell me your name now.”

She wondered for a moment if he’d remember her. Until Devlin had said his name, she hadn’t realized who he was, but she blamed that on turning in the middle of a side stretch and finding a total stranger watching her.

No, not a total stranger.

Yes, actually he was.

Ten years was a long time, and just because they’d spent one night together didn’t mean they knew each other.

Of course, she’d known in a town the size of Destiny chances were good she’d run into him during her stay. Who would’ve thought it’d happen on her first day back?

“Tanya,” she finally answered him, lowering her voice when the music shut off. “Tanya Reeves.”

She watched his eyes. His face. Not a hint of recognition flickered there. Okay, that stung, but she shouldn’t be surprised. He’d been partying pretty heavily the night they’d met. A party that had continued until the wee hours of the next morning before they’d ended up back in his fancy hotel room....

“Pleased to meet you, Tanya.” His words cut into her thoughts. “Now, can I ask how you got in here?”

She dropped her hands to her hips, the need to call for help forgotten. “How I— How did you get in here?”

“I have a key. One I didn’t have to use because the door was open.”

No, that wasn’t right. She’d made sure she closed it behind her.

“You have to jiggle the handle to make sure the latch catches,” he continued, as if he’d read her mind. “Otherwise, you never know who might walk in.”

Tanya crossed her arms, suddenly conscious of her lack of clothing. Why it bothered her now when she practically lived in yoga wear she didn’t want to think about.

Heck, the night she’d met Devlin Murphy she hadn’t been wearing much more than feathers and sequins. A lot of sequins.

“Thanks for the tip. I’ll keep it in mind for the future.”

“So, you plan to do...” His voice trailed off as he waved a hand in the air. “Whatever that was you were doing again?”

“Daily.”

His mouth pressed into a hard line and he gripped the edge of the desk. Did the idea of her working out here bother him that much? Why should he care?

“And what I was doing is called yoga. Anusara yoga, to be exact,” she added. “It’s not as demanding as other forms, but after sleeping last night on that lumpy mattress in the cabin— Hey, are you okay?”

He released his tight hold on the desk, but Tanya saw the fine sheen of sweat on his forehead.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

She’d heard about the horrific accident he’d been in last summer—it had even made the papers in Denver, the well-known names of the victims jarring her memory. Once he and his brother had been found safe, the story had disappeared from the news, but the last reports had said that Devlin would be hospitalized for months.

“I asked because you look like you’re in pain.”

His jaw tightened further. “I’m not. Did you just say you slept in the cabin?”

Tanya nodded, not believing his denial for a moment. “Mac offered me one of the spare bedrooms in the farmhouse, but I’m used to having my own space. He also told me the second key on the key ring was to this place and I was free to—”

“Wait a minute, you have—” Surprise registered over his handsome features. “Why would Mac give you a key to the hangar?”

“Why would he give you one?” she shot back.

“Because we’re friends.”

“Well, we’re family.”

Devlin’s mouth literally dropped open. “You’re what?”

“Steve Mackenzie is my grandfather.” The shock on his face had Tanya wondering if Devlin and Mac were as good friends as he claimed. “Didn’t you know he had a family?”

“A daughter, yes, but they haven’t been in touch— I mean, they were— They’d just started to...”

“Work things out?” she offered when he stumbled over his words. “That’s true. There were a lot of years he and my mother didn’t talk, didn’t have anything to do with each other actually, but that changed last fall. Mac came to visit just after Thanksgiving, and of course, my mom wanted me there, too. She thought it was time we got to know each other again.”

“Again?”

This time, Tanya smiled and took pity on him. “My mom and I lived here in Destiny with Mac until my eighth birthday.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

A fact she’d never shared with him that night ten years ago after he’d told her who he was and where he was from. Not that it would’ve helped her earn a spot in his memory.