Double the Heat (7 page)

Read Double the Heat Online

Authors: Lori Foster,Deirdre Martin,Elizabeth Bevarly,Christie Ridgway

Tags: #Erotic Stories; American, #Man-Woman Relationships, #Mate Selection, #Contemporary, #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Short Stories

BOOK: Double the Heat
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“I’m sure she did.”
Hart looked between them with heightened awareness.
Dex slanted a look at his brother. “She barely knew Hart, and what she did know, she didn’t like all that much.”
Lisa grinned.
“When I behaved differently from Hart, it confused her.”
“Especially his pursuit of her,” Hart pointed out, “given that I’d made a point not to get too friendly with any of the women in my apartment complex.”
“I think when she found out the truth, she was more relieved than anything.” Dex smiled. “She forgave me, and finally started calling me by my name, instead of Hart’s.”
Lisa could only imagine how uncomfortable that had to have been for both of them. “But you were truly able to fool her?”
Dex shrugged. “You had the advantage of already knowing that Hart had a twin brother.”
Brows drawn in confusion, Hart leaned forward, saying to his brother, “Did she—”
“She did,” Joe told him.
Hart stared at her. “You knew he wasn’t me?”
She rolled her eyes. “As soon as I approached the table, yes.”
“How?”
Lisa gave him a long look, considered explaining, but then narrowed her eyes instead. “I’m really not talking to you right now.”
Affront straightened his back. “What the hell did I do?”
Dex elbowed him before saying, “Christy is planning the wedding, but in the meantime, she lives with me instead of next door to my brother.”
“Dex doesn’t trust me,” Hart said.
And Lisa agreed. “I don’t either.” She pushed back her chair.
Joe forestalled her with a hand to her forearm. “We haven’t even ordered yet.”
And she wasn’t going to. Sitting across from Hart, knowing the indifference he felt, was nearly painful. Her demure clothing might dissuade him from lascivious thoughts, but it did nothing to make her yearning ebb. “I didn’t really come to eat, just to share what I know, and that’s done.”
Joe stood, too, as did the brothers. Dex looked uneasy; Hart, frustrated.
“What are your evenings like?” Joe asked.
Boring, but she wouldn’t admit it. “Why?”
“I’d like to get everyone together at this place where the fighters hang out. Maybe the guys will show up there and you’ll recognize them.”
“Oh, um . . .” She did not want to spend an evening with Hart. “Why not just report them to the authorities? Surely they could investigate.”
“We can’t prove anything. They could say you misunderstood their conversation—but I don’t think you did. I want to catch them in the act.”
“Yeah,” Hart grumbled, “and I have to trust everyone that I won’t get maimed.”
“Sissy,” Dex accused, surprising Lisa with the insult until Hart laughed.
She said, “Don’t worry, Skippy. I’m sure you’ll do fine.” But
she
was worried.
“Skippy?” Dex repeated in confusion. “Hart ‘Skippy’ Winston. I like it.”
“Don’t start,” Hart said with a dark scowl.
Lisa stewed. Would Hart be injured? Could he possibly even be . . . killed? Hoping for reassurance, she said to Joe, “Do you have a foolproof plan?”
“Actually, it’s Hart’s plan, but I don’t see a problem with using him as bait. At the very least, it’ll be expedient.” Joe squeezed her shoulder. “We need to expose the guys, or Hart will forever be looking over his shoulder. And I can tell you from experience, anyone determined to get to him will manage it eventually. So can I impose on you to join us?”
She didn’t want to, but what choice did she have? Without looking at Hart, she nodded. “Yes, of course.”
“Great. Let’s get started tonight, say nine o’clock. Does that work for you?”
No way would she admit that most nights, nine o’clock found her in her pajamas on the couch watching DVDs. “That would be fine.”
Joe gave her brief directions on how to get to the bar. “We’ll hang out till midnight, unless you spot the guys before then. And if you don’t . . . we’ll go back the next night.”
“I’ll pick you up,” Hart told her.
“Actually, you won’t.” Without another word to Hart, she bade Joe and Dex good-bye and made what she hoped appeared to be a steady exit when in truth, conflicting emotions left her churning. She’d be with Hart tonight, and every night until they found the guys.
Given her weakness around him, maybe she
should
buy herself a chastity belt.
Four
 
Lisa no sooner walked away than Hart slouched back down in his seat.
Dex gave him a pitying look. “You should have walked her out.”
“So she could snub me some more?”
Joe laughed. “She’s not what I expected.”
Immediately on the defensive, Hart turned to him. “She’s gorgeous when she lets herself be.”
“That’s plain.” Joe smirked. “I’m not blind or anything.”
Dex laughed. “Remember, brother, Joe sees through feminine disguises.”
“Wasn’t much of a disguise, if you ask me,” Joe said. “In fact, I always took more sedate clothes as a dare, if you get my drift.”
“I get it,” Hart snarled, knowing Joe had eyes only for his wife, but still pinched with jealousy.
When Joe only laughed again, egged on by Dex, Hart said, “So what was unexpected?”
Dex spoke before Joe could. “She’s a hell of a lot more engaging than most of the women you seek out.”
“Yeah.” He had to agree with that. She certainly engaged him—on many levels.
“Funnier, too, with that prickly wit of hers,” Joe said. “She put you in your place.”
“Yeah.” And Hart had to admit he liked where she put him. He glanced toward the exit.
“You could probably still catch her,” Joe told him, “and apologize properly for being such a dumb ass.”
“I don’t know . . .” She’d made it clear how she felt about him.
“She knew I wasn’t you,” Dex announced. “Right off. No hesitation. Didn’t you tell me that was a rarity?”
“It’s unheard-of.” Hart stewed for three seconds more, then bolted from the table to go after Lisa.
Joe sighed. “I guess this means I’m picking up the tab?”
Hart didn’t slow down. His brother and his cousin could both afford lunch, and besides, he hadn’t even eaten.
He spotted Lisa unlocking her car across the street. “Lisa!” He jogged toward her.
She looked up, shielded her eyes with a hand, and waited.
Hart had to smile at the picture she presented. Joe had nailed it—she was a challenge, and that damn tie at her throat only made him want to untie it.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A lot of things.” Not touching her was impossible, so he brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
Behind her glasses, her nose scrunched. “For?”
“The crack about your clothes.”
“Oh.” And then, “That
was
remarkably rude.”
“And for being a jealous jerk.”
Her eyelashes fluttered. “What?”
Damn, he couldn’t take it. He cupped both hands around her neck. “I saw you ogling Joe.”
She stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Baloney. He made you all tongue-tied, when I’ve never seen you get that way. You’re usually the most self-confident woman I know.”
“I am?”
“Hell, even from the back of the restaurant I could see you blushing.”
Confusion darkened her soft brown eyes, and her tongue slipped out to dampen her bottom lip. “I was somewhat affected by him.”
He locked his jaw.
“I assume that you’ll probably look like him one day. That’s what affected me, thinking of you a few years down the road.”
“Do you? Think of me?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she refused to answer. “There are strong family resemblances between you.”
Hart hid his grin. “All the Winston guys have a certain look about them, or so the women say.”
“I can imagine.”
Hart hoped that was jealousy stiffening her lips. To keep her from running off, he changed the subject. “Did you know that my brother, Dex, is a writer? He uses the name Baxter for his novels.”
She drew back in surprise. “I’ve read him.”
“So had Christy. She even got smashed one night and quoted one of his love scenes back to him—thinking he was me. Can you imagine how she felt when she sobered up? Dex told her he was a writer, and even showed her the book.” Hart grinned. “Funny shit, huh?”
“You’re warped. That poor girl had to be mortified.”
Hart shrugged. “I’m sure Dex made it up to her somehow.” He smoothed her cheeks with his thumbs, and badly wanted to kiss her.
“Hart?”
“Hmmm.” He stared at her mouth, almost tasting her. He’d always enjoyed seeing lipstick on women, but Lisa’s bare lips seemed twice as appealing.
Lisa’s voice shook as she said, “I don’t understand you. Why are you doing this?”
“This?”
“Coming on to me.” She caught his wrists, but didn’t pull his hands away. “You are, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
Most definitely.
She made a frustrated sound. “But you had your one-night stand, and you got your fill, so—”
“I didn’t.”
Lisa rolled in her lips, blinked, and waited.
“Get my fill, that is.” His muscles all tensed; his voice went low and deep. “Damn, woman, not by a long shot do I feel done with you.”
Hesitantly, she said, “I . . . You mean . . .” But she didn’t finish either sentence.
“It’s making me nuts thinking about you going out with that
putz
oral surgeon dude, and what you might have done with him.” His voice went deeper still, rough and raw. “What I’d rather you be doing with me.”
“Nothing.”
Hart couldn’t blame her for denying it, but he felt the damn chemistry. Still. She wanted him, maybe not as much as he wanted her, but he could work on that.
“How can you say that?” Moving closer to her, Hart hid her from view of the street with his body. He put his palm beneath her breast in the silky blouse, right over her heart. “Your heartbeat is pounding double time.”
She drew a breath, nodded, and admitted, “You always do that to me.”
Hell, yes. “Well, then . . .”
She licked her lips again. “I meant that I did nothing with the oral surgeon dude—who, by the way, is not a
putz
at all.”
Hart grinned at how she mimicked his words, even as he felt encouraged. “Really? Nothing happened? Not even a little something?”
Her chin lifted. “If you want the painful truth, the entire night was a bust.” Her eyes narrowed in accusation. “And I had looked forward to that night for more than a week!”
“Why did nothing happen?” God, he needed to know.
Lowering her head, she mumbled, “You . . . distracted me from my original intent.”
Never before had a grumbled accusation made him semihard, but that confession did. “I won’t say I’m sorry, Lisa. Not when I still want you.”
Heat warmed her cheeks, and her expression turned chiding. “You’re too bold.”
The weight of her breast rested over the back of his hand, but he didn’t dare cop a feel, not here, damn near in the street, where anyone could see . . .
A thought occurred to him, and he asked her, “Are my cousin and brother watching us through the restaurant window?”
Looking beyond him, she scowled. “Yes, they are.” And with that, she shoved him away.
Hart sighed. “Let me pick you up tonight. It’ll give us a chance to sort this out.”
“There shouldn’t be a ‘this’ to sort out.”
Maybe not, but that didn’t change the facts. “Let’s face it—there
is
still something between us.”
She surprised him by looking resigned. “Fine.”
Now it was his heart thumping. He couldn’t help but press his luck. Tentatively, he broached possibilities. “Given that we’re both mature, reasonable people, maybe after we leave the bar, we could pick up where we left off?”
Her chest swelled with a deep breath. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.” He leaned down to put a light kiss on her mouth. “You want me, Lisa. God knows I want you. In a couple more weeks I’m going to have to leave for a training camp, and I won’t be back until after the fight.”
“When is the fight?”
“Not for a few months yet, and while I stay in shape, fighting shape is something altogether different. I’ll put in at least six weeks of specialized training. There won’t be much time for anything else.”

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