Page 30

“Where—” Bianca started to say, but Alessandra interrupted.

“The guys are in a booth. See? Over there, near that big potted palm.”

Bianca followed her sister’s pointing finger and spotted Chay and Tanner seated across from each other in a leather booth that clearly had not been constructed to accommodate men who each stood six feet two inches and weighed in at what had to be two hundred muscle-hard pounds.

Alessandra laughed. “They look like giants trapped at a kids’ table.”

Bianca supposed it was an apt description.

But all she could really think about was how close she’d be sitting to Chay.

Her pulse beat stuttered.

And of how perfect a male specimen he was.

There was nothing new in the knowledge.

No matter how much he irritated her, she wasn’t a fool.

The chiseled face. The deep green eyes with their thick fringe of dark lashes. The short, thick midnight-black hair. The long, sculpted body.

Any woman who didn’t admire what she saw was kidding herself.

Now, for reasons that were beyond her comprehension, looking at him almost stole her breath away.

Maybe it was how he was sitting, his arms folded over his chest because he really had nowhere else to put them, his body all but sprawled across the seat so he could gain some floor space for his long legs.

Maybe it was the intensity with which he was listening to Tanner, an intensity that radiated in the glitter of his eyes, the tilt of his smiling mouth.

Maybe it was something more basic than any of those things.

Maybe it was the memory of how it had felt to hold him on that bike…

“Here they are,” Tanner said, smiling as he got to his feet. “They asked us to move from our table. Seems they had a larger group to seat…Well, anyway, we said this booth was fine.” His smile broadened. “You know, ladies, there’ll come a time when some smart guy is gonna figure out why women go to the bathroom in groups, what takes them so long once they get there, and he’ll make himself a small fortune.”

Alessandra slipped past her husband. It was a tight fit and she turned her face up to his, grinned and fluttered her lashes. Tanner brushed his mouth lightly over hers.

“Welcome back,” he said softly. “I missed you.”

Bianca looked away. The moment was too intimate, too tender to watch. Instead, she turned her attention to the lieutenant.

He’d stood up as soon as he saw her. And, unlike Tanner, he’d stepped into the aisle to give her room to get into the booth without their bodies coming in contact. She was grateful for that. Her thoughts were a maelstrom of confusion. The last thing she wanted was to feel him against her.

“Thank you,” she said politely.

He nodded, but just as she started to edge into the booth, a harried voice said, “Sorry! Sorry! Coming through.”

She barely had time to see the waiter barreling towards her, a huge tray laden with steaming plates in his hands.

Chay grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the waiter’s path. She fell against him, his body hard against hers, his strong arms locking her to him.

A tremor swept through her.

She looked up and found herself staring into his eyes. They were fixed on hers and burned hot with emerald fire.

Her heart began to race.

And—and so did his. She could feel its swift beat under her hands, which had ended up spread over his chest.