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  “Me?”

  “The guy Mike and a few of the other restaurant owners in town were talking about. You should come to one of our monthly meetings. A few of us get together to talk business and shoot the shit—er, discuss the industry,” Ben quickly corrected with an apologetic look at Riley. “Riley, you should come too. I know you specialize, but you’d be more than welcome.”

  “So you own a restaurant?” Anson asked.

  “I do, along with my partner.”

  Did he mean life partner or business partner? Anson didn’t quite know how to ask.

  “Mike’s a genius when it comes to marketing. I’m more in charge of menus.”

  Riley added, “Don’t let him fool you with all his humble talk.” She seemed to emphasize humble and glared at Anson. “Ben’s a genius in the kitchen.”

  “And other places.” Ben winked at her.

  Okay, so Mike wasn’t a life partner then. Hell. “Maybe I will come to one of your meetings.”

  Ben brightened. “Great.”

  “Me too,” Riley said.

  We could go together, Anson would have offered, but he didn’t want to be rejected in front of the others. Riley seemed to have no problem ignoring courtesy around him. He didn’t understand why. He had money, looks, a borderline genius IQ and a body that matched the rest of his brilliance. What wasn’t to like?

  As long as he’d known her he’d been doing his level best to impress her. It worked with his parents. The better he did at everything, the more they doled their love and affection on him. Yet his accomplishments only seemed to infuriate Riley, the one woman who mattered most.

  Not most. She’s just an anomaly, a woman not impressed. It’s a perverse “want what you can’t have” desire.

  He saw her studying him out of the corner of her eye again and began to think he might be able to win her over with his body, if nothing else. How best to intrigue her then? Walking around without his shirt, in the middle of winter in Bend, wasn’t an option. He’d have to come up with a sound strategy. He could do anything if he put his mind to it.

  The party continued, and he hung around, waiting her out while he chatted with those he hoped would someday frequent his restaurant. Jack’s friends from the college where he worked. Ann’s teacher buddies. Neighbors, friends of friends. Frankly, he didn’t care that much for crowds, but he knew the value in networking.

  His cousin, Jack and the Terrible Trio didn’t annoy him—much. But others sucked up time he had little to spare. Some called him arrogant. He considered himself focused on the end result. Why beat around the bush and act humble when he rated accolades? He was honest to a fault, and for that he received censure?

  Normally he shrugged off what others thought of him. Women flocked to him like bees to honey. Men did the same, wanting either his body, his knowledge or his business. When they realized he had no sexual interest in men, they still stuck around to be friends. He didn’t know how he did what he did, but though his cousin and Riley told him he bragged too much, his honesty didn’t seem to bother anyone else.

  Anson didn’t attribute his physical attractiveness to anything but good genes. Like Dex, he had the Black family looks. Yet no one accused Dex of being conceited.

  Anson acknowledged his brain worked on another level than most people’s. But he was confounded with how to deal with Riley in a way that wouldn’t paint him in a bad light. For years they’d gone rounds trying to be number one. Then he’d left after high school, and the issue went unresolved. He wondered if that lack of closure bothered her as much as it did him.

  The many guests left until only Jack, Ann, Dex, Maya, he and Riley remained.

  He figured he might as well go, as Jack and Ann seemed ready to settle in for the night. Maya had her jacket on, and Dex stood by the door. Anson looked for Riley to say goodbye and found her in the kitchen, her head down as she contemplated the half-full glass of wine in her hands.

  “Riley, I—”

  Red wine splashed into his eyes and all down the front of his shirt. Wow. What had he done to earn her wrath this time?

  “Oh no. Shit. Shoot.” A cloth blotted his face and chest while Riley rambled a harried apology. “You scared the crap out of me. Sorry.”

  At least she hadn’t intentionally doused him in cheap red wine.

  Her hands continued to brush his chest. The contact broke through the firm control he’d had over himself all evening. He felt the heat of her all the way to his bones and closed the short distance between them, backing her against the kitchen counter in the corner. He’d waited long enough. Time to end his curiosity about one thing, at least.

  She froze, her hand trapped between them.

  He waited for her to look up at him and drowned in her amber-green eyes.

  “Anson?” she whispered.

  “Riley,” he growled before lowering his head to prove, once and for all, what a great catch he’d make.

  Chapter Two

  Riley had a hard time breathing as her worst fear came to life. Anson Black was kissing her, and the contact spun her into a direction she’d dreaded heading.

  She fell headlong into inescapable lust. His body heat bled into hers while he played her body like a freakin’ fiddle. His lips were firm yet soft, and he kissed as if sipping from a fine wine, savoring her.

  He caged her in his strong arms, and she felt the muscles of his chest bunching under her hand. He moved closer, and she felt him hard and ready against her belly. Jesus, he felt big. He’d fill her up just right.

  A small masculine groan and he changed the angle of the kiss, deepening the intensity. Lightheaded and thoroughly aroused, she sucked his tongue, nibbled at his lips and couldn’t think of one protest when a large hand cupped her breast and teased her nipple.

  He shocked her by not being super aggressive, the way he normally acted all the time. Anson held her like a fragile piece of glass, touching, caressing, until she wanted to melt at his feet. She’d never been held, kissed or consumed so passionately, the sole focus of this man’s attention.

  The moment was unreal. Anson Black? But she couldn’t force herself to push him away, not when this sublime ecstasy continued to course through her like a drug.

  She’d been made love to before, but not like this. Not with the heat and power generated by slick lips and a barely-there skimming of fingers. He pinched her nipple, not too hard, but learning her, and she felt a shocking rise to climax. One that grew bolder as he ground his cock ground against her, finding the perfect spot between her legs that connected to every pleasure point in her body.

  “Yes,” he murmured as he trailed kisses down her cheek to her ear and whispered, “You’re so soft. So sweet, Riley.”

  He nipped her earlobe and his fingers traveled to her other nipple, and Riley lost herself.

  She panted, gave a low moan, then readied to cry out when Anson kissed her again, swallowing her cry of release as he dry humped her against the kitchen counter.

  Her heart raced as she kissed him right back, eagerly eating at his mouth. She felt him stiffen against her but couldn’t be sure of anything except that she’d been pleasured, fully clothed, in Jack and Ann’s kitchen.

  “Hey Riley, it’s time—” Maya’s voice broke off and grew distant. “Dex, she might be in the back. Check there.”

  Anson lifted his head, his eyes glazed, his lips slick from her kisses. He looked shocked, replete and still hungry all at the same time. “Riley?” The husky sound of entreaty, so unlike his normal conceit, shocked her into getting herself together.

  “Oh, wow.” She felt shaky, still aroused and so freakin’ buzzed she wanted to fly. Then it sank in who’d made her feel that way and she wanted to crawl under the table. Before Anson could act all big and bad and ruin her post-orgasmic moment, she pushed past him and found Maya dithering in the living room, talking to Ann.

  Of Jack and Dex she saw no sign.

  The pair stared at her, wide-eyed. Then Maya grinned past her. No doubt at Ans
on.

  Riley stormed to her friend, told Ann she’d see her in the morning, then dragged Maya with her to the car. “Dex, let’s go,” she shouted and raced into Dex’s SUV, sitting in the back and praying Anson wouldn’t attempt to reach her before they left.

  She got her wish, then regretted it when she saw him standing in the lit doorway, staring after the vehicle. He looked a little lost. Or was that her hormones talking, missing the cause of her sudden endorphin rush?

  “So.” Maya turned in her seat and stared at Riley.

  “Maya, at least wait until I’m out of the car,” Dex pleaded.

  “You and Anson.”

  Dex groaned.

  Maya’s grin unnerved her. Too much evil intent in it for comfort. “He looked really into you in the kitchen.”

  “Not that much into me,” Riley snapped, knowing the only reason he hadn’t been was because they’d both been too far gone to remove their clothes. How humiliating. “Oh, shut up, Dex.”

  Dex coughed to muffle his growing laughter.

  “The chemistry has always been there,” Maya continued. “But you resisted for a good long time. Guess your ovaries got the best of you, eh?”

  “Stop talking.” Riley tried to pretend she hadn’t just had a clothed orgasm in her friend’s kitchen with her arch-nemesis.

  “I know we talked about getting our revenge, but giving the guy blue balls isn’t what I had in mind. Not a bad idea, though, come to think of it.”

  Dex coughed some more.

  Not sure those balls were blue, Riley wanted to say but didn’t.

  Back in October when Jack and the Black cousins had returned to town, Riley and the girls had gathered on their weekly wine night. Ann, feeling low at seeing the man who’d left her high and dry in high school, had suggested all three of them get back at the men who’d “done them wrong.”

  Ann would make Jack fall in love with her and dump him. Maya would have Dex crawling on his knees, apologizing for blackmailing her to the prom. And Riley… Riley hadn’t figure out the how of it, but she’d agreed to best Anson, finally, while she did a victory dance on his face. At the time she’d envisioned pummeling the bastard, but after that incident in the kitchen, she kept envisioning a dance with Anson that involved his skilled lips and her straddling his head.

  She covered her eyes with her hands. I am such a whore.

  “You’re such a whore.” Maya laughed. “In Ann’s kitchen, Riley? Really?”

  “Jesus, Maya. Wait ’til we get home. Please,” Dex begged.

  Riley glared at her friend. “Don’t be throwing stones, Lady Lusty. The way you two go at it, you’ll soon be bowlegged.”

  “I can only hope.” Maya sighed.

  Riley couldn’t help but chuckle. Then she relived her orgasmic kiss with Anson again and groaned. “Oh man. Why him?”

  “Still not home yet,” Dex muttered.

  “I mean, of all the guys to make out with in Ann’s kitchen, why Anson Black?” No way in hell she’d admit she’d come from some grinding and petting while her friends had been in the other room, and especially not with Dex listening to her every word.

  They pulled up at Riley’s door, and she practically jumped out of the SUV.

  “Tomorrow at your place for breakfast. We’ll be discussing tonight’s events. In detail,” Maya promised.

  “Shit.”

  “Nice potty mouth.” Maya tsked. “Such a lady. Ha! Not.” Maya leaned out the window and yelled, “Later, ho.”

  Riley flipped her the bird, to which Maya answered, “Right back at ya, Kissy Face. Tomorrow, eight sharp. And you know how I hate mornings, so consider this an emergency meeting of the Trio.” Maya turned to Dex. “Not too many orgasms tonight for me, okay, baby? Or I’ll never get up tomorrow.”

  “Maya, shut up,” Dex growled, and the SUV sped away.

  Riley had to laugh, unable to resist the sight of Dex being embarrassed. The tall, sexy Marine who could bench-press a Volvo had a shy side to him she’d always liked.

  Unlike his studly cousin. She let herself into her house and groaned. “Anson Black? How could I?”

  She locked up behind her and headed for a bath. Half an hour later, she sat in her suds and stared at her painted toes hanging off the lip of the bathtub.

  Sure she’d been in a dry spell for a while. But to make out with her nemesis and then orgasm too? She had no idea if he realized what had happened, or if his apparent shudder meant what she thought it might.

  But if she was desperate enough to come from some bumping and grinding, he should have as well. Perhaps his shudder had been him making a mess of himself. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if she had equal power over him. Not to mention a dirty part of her loved the idea of him coming in his jeans, out of control in lust.

  Yet how could she know unless she asked him? Something she’d never, ever, do. Maya would. But not Ann, and certainly not Riley.

  “Forget it, girl. You need to think about how you’re going to deal with Lord Arrogant when you see him again.” Anson would be smug, giving her weird looks and acting superior.

  She’d have to collect herself, act all cool and pretend the kiss had just been a kiss. She could do that. She knew she could. First, she had to survive breakfast—or rather, her interrogation with Thing One and Thing Two.

  She sank under the water and prayed for a snow day.

  Saturday morning at eight a.m., she had no such luck. Ann arrived looking way too perky. Maya, at least, dragged ass and flopped onto Riley’s couch begging for java.

  “And not that decaffeinated crap Ann likes, either. The hard stuff. I want to hear beans grinding.”

  “Oh, I’ll grind something, all right,” Riley muttered, wondering if she could dump a bucket of ice water on Maya and find a safe place to hide before the vengeful woman caught her.

  Ann kept staring at her and smiling. “So, Riley.”

  Riley trudged into the kitchen in her PJs, making coffee and warming up the oven for a pan of sweet rolls she’d prepared before bed. Maybe if she pretended she hadn’t heard Ann, she could stave the curiosity sure to follow.

  “Hey, ho-bag. Ann asked you a question,” Maya barked.

  Riley swore. “I’m in hell.” Without coffee and at eight in the morning. On a Saturday. Her one morning to sleep in, when she had her staff fill in for her until noon. “What’s that, Ann?”

  Ann sidled up to the kitchen counter and watched Riley place the rolls on the cookie sheet. “Orange cinnamon. My favorite.” Ann gave her a thumbs up. “What was I saying? Right. So, ho-bag. Tell us about you and Anson sucking face in my kitchen.”

  “Yeah, that,” Maya yelled from the couch.

  Riley groaned. “It’s…wait.” Riley still didn’t quite know what had happened. She needed help to deal. “Look, you two have to swear to keep this quiet. I mean it. No telling Jack or Dex. This has to stay between us.”

  “Swear, swear,” Maya said. “Spill it.”

  “Well, last night Anson took me by surprise. I hadn’t heard him come into the kitchen, and when I turned, I splashed wine all over him by accident.”

  “Nice.” Maya chuckled.

  Ann grinned. “And then?”

  “And then he kissed me. I mean, he really kissed me.” She had to fan herself. “I don’t know. For so many years we avoided each other.”

  “You avoided him,” Ann corrected. “In high school, he was always trying to get your attention.”

  “Because he’s full of himself and wasn’t happy unless he could rub my nose in all my failures. Man, is he obnoxious.” Man, can he kiss.

  “Maybe.” Ann paused. “Since he’s been back in town, he seems to pop up whenever you’re around.”

  Maya added, “Even I can see that’s more than a coincidence.”

  “Yeah, well, it gets worse.” She shoved the tray of rolls into the oven, set the timer then poured them all coffee. She passed around the creamer and sugar. After stirring her coffee to caramel colored perfection,
she took a sip and sighed. She could do this, confess her lusty sins after some much-needed caffeine. Only with Maya and Ann could she be so honest. They might give her crap about it, but they’d never judge.

  “Tell me already. I’m dying here,” Maya whined and joined Ann at the counter.

  “He pinned me in the kitchen and kissed me.”

  “Oooh,” Maya and Ann said together, grinning like fools.

  “He wasn’t rough or sloppy either. Anson was forceful, controlled.” She stifled a shiver. “Totally sexy.”

  “Panty-melting sexy?” Ann asked.

  Riley groaned. “Yeah.” She drank more coffee. “So the kiss turns hot and heavy, and he’s making these sexy sounds. Then he copped a feel.”

  “Second base. Nice.” Maya nodded.

  “And then he started grinding up against me.” Riley’s cheeks felt hot. “I’m such a ho. I enjoyed it while you guys were in the next room.”

  “Good sex will do that,” Ann said with a shrug. “Besides, the last time you got lucky was in two thousand four, right?”

  “Yeah. That New Year’s party at Greg Forley’s, I think?” Maya offered.

  “Shut up.” No doubt about it, her cheeks were on fire. “It wasn’t just grinding and boob touching.” She took in a breath and let it out as she confessed, “I had an orgasm too.”

  Ann stared at her. Maya put down her coffee and gaped.

  “I know. I’m not only slutty, but I’m desperate and easy.”

  Maya blinked. “Slutty is fine. It’s good to want and even need sex. But you really need to work on easy. Did he even touch you down there?” Maya nodded down at Riley’s crotch.

  “No. Just grinding through our clothes. God. I had an orgasm fully clothed. A few kisses and I was shooting for the moon.”

  “Now that’s just sad.” Ann pitied her. “You need to make him work for it a little.” Then she laughed. “Kidding. I’m happy if you’re happy. But I sense you’re not.”

  “No.” Riley rubbed her forehead and drank more coffee. “Now he’s winning. He once again has one over on me.”

  “Wait.” Maya frowned. “You had the big O. How is he winning? Unless he had two to your one.”