The Rebound Pact (4 page)

Holden
set down his wine glass, and leaned back on the opposite counter. “So what happened, Gabrielle? Before you got here today.”

Her eyes locked with his, their depths filled with pain and disappointment.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Why not?
Talking over wine with an old friend always helps, and if you say something you regret, I can pretend to be too drunk to remember.”

She laughed, tilting her head back and exposing the length of her creamy neck. He wanted to touch her, stroke her flesh,
kiss the base of her throat. He remembered how she’d smelled that night. Like honeysuckle and sex.

“Well, if you must know
, my fiancé dumped me—because I’m a chef.”

“Ouch.” The man must be a total moron. Who would dump
her
? Holden would have given anything to be with her. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

Her eyes sharpened on his, and she stared for the space of two breaths. Then she glanced away and took a sip of wine. “Well, actually he broke up with me because of what he was missing. Me. I wasn’t at his events.”

“Events?”

“He’s a politician.”

“You’re better off without him, Gabrielle,” Holden said softly. He wanted to reach across the counter and pull her into a hug. To kiss her and tell her the guy was a douche and he would be happy to have her cook for him, morning, noon and night for the rest of their days. But he didn’t, because that would be crossing the line, and they’d already gone down that road once before.

“I didn’t think so this afternoon, but I’m starting to think that there is a reason for everything.
”

Holden
refilled their glasses, his fingers brushing over hers for just a brief second as he held the stem of her glass. Even that brief touch heated up his body. Their eyes locked and something passed between them both. Passion.

It was still there. She wanted him and he wanted her.
Needed her.

To hell with consequences and crossing the line.
Max was in Paris, there was no way he could find out… Find out what? That they’d had wine together?

That was all there was to it. Gabrielle wasn’t here to hook up with him.
To offer him a one night stand like she had all those years ago. But she was hurting… and he could use a nice distraction from his recent break up. There was only one way to get them both over that painful hump a break-up built—a rebound.

Hold
en couldn’t believe what he was about to propose to Gabrielle. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he yanked them back. Completely crazy. Never in a million years… but dammit, he was going to take the plunge.

“I have an idea.”
Fuck
. He couldn’t do it… Max would kick his ass. But Max wasn’t here.

“What’s that?” she
asked, a coy smile on her face.

“Let me be your rebound.”
Holy shit…he’d not actually said it had he?

Her face froze. “What?” S
he narrowed her eyes, then she laughed, playfully swatting at him. “Very funny, Holden.”

Yeah, buddy, real funny.
He took a deep breath and forged on, “I’m not joking. I just broke up with my girlfriend, you just broke up with your fiancé. Everyone needs a rebound. But rebounds are always so messy, you never know how the other person will react. How about we make a pact? Right here. Right now. We’ll be each other’s rebound. No strings attached, just good sex.”

Gabrielle
’s mouth fell open. But he saw it before she could hide it; there was a spark of interest in her eyes. Score one for Holden…

She picked up her glass and
took a lingering sip, her eyes still locked on his. She set the glass down hard on the counter, and wiped her lips with her pointer finger and her thumb. “Maybe.”

“
Maybe?” He couldn’t believe she didn’t immediately punch him in the sac. Excitement gripped him, and he had a hard time not leaning over the bar to kiss her, to start their pact immediately. Even though he’d uttered the invitation, Holden suddenly wished he could take it back. Their last encounter hadn’t ended well. He wasn’t sure if he could take that again…or that he’d be able to keep it strictly casual. Hell, maybe this was more of ploy to pull her in, which was out of the question. Max would tie his cock and balls into a crazy knot not even the penis puppeteers would be able to get out of.

“Ye
ah…maybe. What are the rules?” Gabrielle’s smile was addicting.

Did he really want to turn his back? Or could he deal with a knotted set below deck?
To hell with Max. He was halfway across the world.

H
olden rubbed his hands together and imagined the heat that friction created as he rubbed it over her skin. “Let’s put a time limit on it. Thirty days or less. However long it takes us to get over our exes.”

She laughed. “Like pizza delivery? What’s my guarantee you’ll help me forget?”

Holden winked and nodded, oozing confidence. “Oh, you’ll forget him all right. Count on it. And if we’re half as good as we were six years ago,” he pressed his hands flat on the bar, his face coming within inches of hers, “then it might only take one time.”

Her eyes dilated, and she licked her lips. Holden wanted to reach out and take that tongue
of hers between his own lips. To suck on it. His mouth went dry, and a pulse started at the base of his spine, ending in a warm rush to his cock. Holden hoped it was much more than once. The whole thirty days was what he wanted. The way she looked at him said she wanted it all, too.

Gabrielle
swallowed, her throat bobbing. “We have a time limit, what other rules should we put in place?”

“No emotions.”
He just wasn’t ready for anything more than a physical relationship.

She laughed. “Oh, please don’t tell me you
’ll be that boring in bed. Passion is an emotion.”

He grinned.
“There will be passion, one exception. I mean…no getting tangled up in our emotions.”

“
Only between the sheets.” A flash of her legs entwined with his, a sheet wrapped around them both sped through his mind.

His grin widened.
“Your turn for a rule.”

Gabrielle turned serious for a moment. “My brother absolutely cannot find out.
”

Nodding, he said, “Absolutely. This is in the privacy of wherever we take off our clothes.”

He couldn’t wait to get to that part. His doubts were dissipating by the moment.
Say yes!
Holden’s eyes were glued on hers, intense. Heat took hold. Gabrielle fiddled with her necklace, drawing his attention to her cleavage. He clenched his fists to keep from reaching out.

“
So we agree?” she asked. “Shake on it?”

She held out her hand.
Holy fuck… She was saying yes. Oh, he was going to do more than shake on it…

Chapter Three

G
abrielle couldn’t believe she’d just agreed to Holden’s rebound pact.

Holy, mother
! She held her breath and then let it out in a slow whoosh. This was Holden, the man of her secret dreams. The man she’d accidently slept with, and enjoyed very much. The man she’d hurt greatly by admitting she thought he was someone else. Max would be livid if he ever found out. He didn’t want them in a relationship, much less a friends with benefits situation.

Darla and Melanie, her two closest friends, would tell her she was insane. That she needed time to get over Len and her heartache. But wasn’t that exactly what Holden was offering?
A chance to escape that pain and enjoy the moment? Seeing Holden naked again, letting him touch her, kiss her, the way he had all those years ago would help her get over Len rapidly.

But here she was holding out her hand to shake on a deal that was completely sinful and wrong in so many ways.
And exactly what she wanted, needed. A chance to let herself go, to enjoy herself, to make love and then go about on her own without an obligation. There would be no disappointments. No expectations that she’d fail to meet.

Holden stared at her hand for the span of several moments and then reached across the counter, grasping her face between his strong hands.
Her eyes widened at the contact. A flash of doubt. His hands were calloused and the friction against her cheeks sent tingles racing along her spine. He leaned forward slowly, his eyes locked on hers. She licked her lips, waiting, anticipating, trying not to freak out—and then he pressed his warm lips to hers.

Her breath caught
. She gasped, her eyes closing as she melted into his kiss. There was no backing out now. It felt too good. Too…perfect.

In her mind she might have been taken aback, but her body knew exactly how to handle Holden. She kissed him back
with a fiery passion, shoving nerves aside. Moved to kneel on her stool, her hands pressed flat on the bar as she leaned closer. Their tongues stroked, tasted, their lips sliding back and forth.

She didn’t know if it was possible, but he kissed even better than he had
six years ago, and was a trillion times better than Len. He was gentle, but demanding, carnal. He tasted of tangy wine, and she breathed in his masculine scent. Already she was starting to get over The Dick. Holden’s cologne tantalized her senses with an intensity she didn’t think possible. It was an erotic, spicy mix that she could breathe in all night long.

Panic took hold for a moment at how fast she fell under his spell.
She pressed her palm to his chest and leaned back a moment, gazing into his heavily-lidded eyes.

“No strings?” she asked. After the way Len had just screwed her over, the last thing she wanted was a relationship. She needed to concentrate on her future, her career
—finding a new job.

His eyes darkened and he swallowed. “No strings.”

“Good.” With that settled, her boldness grew. This was purely sexual. Nothing more. She could let herself go, be brazen. She climbed on top of the bar, knelt in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Then kiss me again.”

What was wrong with her? Every time she got around Holden she became this wild, over-sexed chick. Len never made her feel this way. With him, they’d scheduled their encounters, which were always the same—missionary on his side of the bed on Tuesdays
, Thursdays and Saturdays. Not even special birthday or anniversary sex, unless it fell on a scheduled day of the week.

Holden threaded his fingers through her hair, tilting her head so he could deepen their kiss. She sighed into his mouth, stroking his neck and pressing as close as she could in her position on the bar, her knees pressing against the solidness of his chest.

God, she was losing all sense. He
r nipples pressed hard against her lacy bra, and her panties grew damp with the need to feel him inside her again. She arched her back, her breasts brushing his chest. She moaned a little as his hand caressed over her ribs, heading toward her breasts.

Panic set in again.

They were moving too fast. She didn’t know if she could do this. She pulled back, her eyes searching his. Unsure of herself all of a sudden.

“I don’t know if I can do this.”
The only one-night stand she’d ever had was with Holden. She’d never forgotten it. That night had changed her. She’d never forgotten the pain and regret that had flashed in his eyes. She didn’t want to see that again.

No one had ever been as good as
Holden, not that she slept around all that much, but each ensuing encounter had been a sadly lacking compared to the one man she really wanted. She’d disillusioned herself with Len, thinking that’s the way it ought to be, that no other man would ever make hot, sweaty, passionate love to her the way Holden had.

Holden smiled
and teased in a husky tone, “I know you can do it very well. And this time, you’ll know its me.”

Memories of that night flashed
again and she shifted on the bar, wanting desperately to rip off her pants and wrap her legs around his hips. Damn the consequences.

“I don’t want…” How could she say she didn’t want to hurt him?

“What?” he asked softly, stroking his fingers over her cheek.

She grasped his hand.
“That. You’re stroking me. It’s so…familiar. I—”

Holden held up his hands. “I don’t have to.” He took a step back and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable either. If you don’t want to—”

“No, I want to,” she said quickly. “I’m just… I remember that night at the party like it was yesterday.”

His eyes widened and a slow grin started at the corner of his mouth. “Me too.”

“I also remember how you felt
afterwards, Holden. I don’t want to make you feel like that again.”

He shook his head. “I learned my lesson,
Gabrielle. Trust me, this will be strictly friends with benefits. Uncomplicated. Casual.”