Space in His Heart

  “It’s casual,” Vivi insisted. “Family, neighbors, a few people from the Bullet. Please, Sam. I promised… them you’d be here.”

  “Them?” Like Sam didn’t know who “them” was. “Who do you think you’re kidding?”

  Vivi just laughed, not even trying to deny the truth. “He’s only here for three weeks, Sam,” she said in a whisper. “Then it’s wheels up and back to Iraq. Can I help it if I want you to meet Zach? I know you two would hit it off.”

  How did she know that? Nothing Vivi had said about her twin brother had appealed to Sam. An Army Ranger, reported to have a sizeable ego and a penchant for getting in trouble, Zach Angelino didn’t sound like Sam’s kind of guy. Although since she’d started working at the ad agency a few years ago, Sam didn’t really have a guy of any kind, just a job that chewed her up and spit her out in small pieces.

  Plus, she couldn’t help imagining spiky-haired, nose-studded Vivi in a male form when she pictured Zach. Deliciously funky on Vivi, but on a guy? No, thanks.

  “I’ll meet him some other time, Viv. I really have—”

  A burst of laughter in the background cut Sam off. “I gotta go, Sam. Just, please. For me? Half an hour? I’ll cook you dinner every night next week. Uncle Nino’s meatballs in red sauce,” she added in a temptress’s voice.

  “Listen, let me take a shower and then—”

  “Cool. See you soon.” Vivi clicked off before Sam could finish her sentence.

  “—I’ll decide if I want to come,” she said into thin air, closing the cell phone. “Why do I even bother to fight that woman?”

  One hot shower and an ice-cold Sam Adams later and she actually braved high heels again, the only feasible choice with straight-legged jeans and a low-cut black halter top.

  Giving her hair a final fluff, she snagged her purse and considered lip gloss. No, sorry, Army guy. The cleavage would have to be femme fatale enough to convince Vivi that Sam had given this her best shot.

  Grabbing a bottle of pinot grigio from the fridge to add to Vivi’s festivities, she slipped into the hall and down the stairs to apartment 414. Just as she raised her hand to knock, the din of a party in full swing and 80’s classic rock rolled out as the door opened.

  A man looked down at her: tall, broad, dark, and… imposing. He stood stone-still and completely silent, filling the doorway, not even a hint of a smile pulling at his generous lips. Lips, Sam noticed, that were surrounded by the shadow of a day or two’s worth of whiskers. His hair wasn’t much longer than his beard growth, but it was so thick and so dark it almost rivaled his eyes.

  Those were fringed with an unfair amount of lashes, topped with thick brows, and glinting with… interest.

  “Well, if it isn’t the elusive upstairs neighbor, come to do some damage.” His gaze meandered just slowly enough to leave a trail of warmth, one corner of his mouth quirking up. “Hello, Sammi.”

  She didn’t know where to start with a comeback. Elusive? Damage? Sammi? But no retort formed in her head because every single cell in her body that called itself female woke up, shook itself off, and came out to play.

  “You must be Zach.”

  For a moment, neither one spoke, or moved. They didn’t even breathe.

  He couldn’t have looked less like his twin sister, and right that minute, Sam couldn’t have been happier not to be in the bath with a beer. Unless, of course, he climbed in with her. That would be just fine.

  # # #

  The moment Samantha Fairchild hit his scope, Zach had one simple thought.

  Sex.

  There were more responses battling for brain time, but that one took precedence over everything. He wanted her. As soon as humanly possible.

  He blocked her with two arms on the door jamb, a move that made her almost take a step backwards. But she held her own and met his gaze.

  “Vivi lied to me,” he said, already imprinting the image of finger-tickling blond hair and soul-searching blue eyes onto his memory, to be called up at will some night in a filthy Baghdad bunker.

  “She told you I wasn’t going to show?”

  “She told me you were pretty.”

  One lovely brow arched north, her kissable lips opening to a little “o.” “Sorry to disa—”

  “She didn’t tell me you were gorgeous.”

  “—point… for you. Nice opening line, Sergeant, is it?”

  “Just Zach for tonight.”

  “And for tomorrow?”

  He leaned closer, got a whiff of something that smelled like lemon and heaven and girl. “By then you should call me…” Sex. It really was his only intelligible thought. “Lover.”

  Her hand landed right on his chest. “Right now I’d call you optimistic. Can you move so I can come in?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  She laughed, just enough to make her deep blue eyes dance and reveal perfect teeth as she held up a bottle of white wine. “I bring gifts.”

  Once more he let his gaze fall from her face—where it would be perfectly happy spending a few hours—to the hollow of her throat, to an inviting, soft, feminine valley of breasts. Jesus, where would his mouth begin? “You have plenty of gifts, Sammi. Nicely displayed, too. So, sorry, I can’t let you in.”

  She obviously didn’t know whether to laugh or argue, and that made every feature even more alive, and hotter. “Why not?”

  He glanced over his shoulder, down the hall to where two of Vivi’s journalist-type buddies were deep in conversation, one a player who’d been flirting with someone not even close to this girl’s league.

  “Because there are at least three other guys in here who are going to zero in on you, try to lure you into a corner, and talk you into bed. And I really don’t want to kill anyone tonight.”

  She leaned a little closer, torturing him with her scent and proximity. “I promise I will not be lured, cornered, or talked into bed,” she whispered. Just as he came an inch closer, she jabbed her elbow into his solar plexus. “By anybody. Move it, soldier.”

  She ducked under his arm, quick as liquid mercury, then strode right down the hallway behind him. His head swiveled like she had him on a short leash.

  Heels clicked. Hips swayed. Hair flounced.

  And his boner sprang to life.

  He waited until she reached the clowns from Vivi’s office, who, predictably, stopped talking and opened ranks to let her sail through, their gazes locked on her ass.

  They didn’t even notice Zach until he was right between them. “Put your tongues away. She’s taken.”

  In the doorway of the kitchen, blond silk swung over bare shoulders as she sliced him with a look. “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me.” Very slowly, he smiled and watched the color rise in her cheeks as she tried not to react. But he knew by the little tremble in her lip, she was his.

  It was like they were screaming the word at each other, so loud everything else in the room silenced while they connected with one simple thought.

  Sex.

  # # #

  “You made it!” Vivi launched her butt off the counter, bouncing on her checkered Vans sneakers, shooting her hands out to reach for Sam. “I knew you’d rally.”

  They hugged for a second, then Vivi pulled back, taking the bottle Sam offered. “Thanks. Did you meet—”

  A warm, large hand landed on Sam’s bare shoulder, no words to accompany the claim. He didn’t need any, unless he wanted to howl “Mine!” at the moon.

  Why, for the first time in her life, did such possessiveness turn Sam into a pool of lust from the waist down? This was crazy.

  “We’ve met,” she said, stealing a look at him and getting flattened by the intensity of his gaze. “You failed to mention your brother is a…”

  “Smart ass?” Vivi gave her brother a sly smile, reaching up to squeeze his jaw. “I knew you two had a lot in common.”

  Zach raised his free hand, a brown beer bottle nestled in his palm, the label familiar. “Want one?” he asked Sam. “O
r are you a wine drinker?”

  “I prefer beer,” Sam admitted, reaching for the bottle. “And Sam’s my favorite.”

  “Mine, too,” he said, the comment loaded with double entendre.

  The glass rim was warm, like his mouth had just been there. She slugged the foamy, bitter liquid to cool the blast of heat that thought generated.

  “And now we’ve just shared our first Sam Adams,” he said softly, way too close to her ear. “Here’s to it being the first of many.”

  She had to work to swallow the gulp. She did, though, and lowered the bottle slowly, vaguely aware that Vivi was taking in the exchange with a wicked gleam in her dark eyes, black brows raised to her tousled short hair.

  “What’s so amusing, Viv?” Sam asked.

  “Just how things somehow have a way of working out.” Vivi winked, matchmaker all over her smug little face. Subtle, she wasn’t.

  “Vivi! Someone’s at the door!”

  She held up a finger and waggled her eyebrows. “Can I leave you two alone for a few minutes?”

  “For a few hours,” Zach said, making Vivi laugh as she headed to the door. Instantly, he was closer, the pressure of his hand imperceptibly stronger. “She thinks I’m kidding,”

  Sam looked up, challenging herself to remain perfectly steady under the weight of his attention. “She’s told me a lot about you.”

  “Like what?” He took a sip of the beer, then held it to her mouth, the move as intimate as a kiss.

  Still holding his gaze, she just ran her finger over the round top of the beer, liking that she was touching the spot where his lips had just pressed. For the life of her, Sam couldn’t remember what Vivi had said about her brother, but it sure as hell hadn’t been that he was drop-dead gorgeous. Or was built like a Roman god. And she’d definitely neglected to mention his stunning smile and his beautiful, black bedroom eyes. And, Lord above, what a mouth. Made for—

  “Waiting,” he prompted.

  “Thinking,” she shot back.

  “About?”

  Kissing you. “How much she’d want me to tell you.”

  “Vivi and I shared a womb,” he said, managing somehow to get even closer. Sam’s back hit the wall. “And a crazy childhood. We have no secrets. What’s the matter, Sam?”

  “You’re cornering me,” she said.

  “You like it.”

  “Flirt much?”

  “I’m not flirting.” One more inch. “But I am cornering.”

  There were three of four other people in the kitchen, more in the hall, and a burst of laughter, all competing with Led Zeppelin blaring from the living room. Somehow, nothing mattered outside of this one-foot imaginary circle Zach Angelino had managed to trap her in.

  She took the beer back for another drink. She had to change the tide here or she’d be attached to that mouth in about five minutes.

  “So, do you like the Army?”

  His eyes flickered at the shift in topic, then he shrugged while she sipped.

  “Usually,” he said, his attention dropping to the corner of her mouth where she felt a drop of beer, zeroing in like he might… lick it off. “Except for three weeks from now, when I fly to Kuwait.” He waited a beat, still scrutinizing her face like it was a work of art up for auction and he was making the next bid. “Do you like advertising?”

  “Usually,” she echoed. “Except for today, when I got annihilated by a client and felt the corporate ladder sway under me.”

  “You climbing that ladder, Sam?”

  “’Fraid so.”

  He smiled, another slow one, with a twinkle in his eye. “Bet the view’s nice for the poor schmuck right below you.”

  She shrugged, digging for a comeback, which was no mean feat in the face of this relentless assault. “I’m too busy stepping on his hands. Is this your second tour of duty?”

  “Third. But I do have nineteen more days in the States.” He leaned down an inch, a half smile pulling at his lips. “How do you want to spend them, Sammi?”

  Her knees actually weakened. Like someone had kicked them from behind and threatened her stability. “I’ll be working. That’s what I do.”

  “Twenty-four seven?”

  “Feels like it sometimes.”

  He shook his head. “You gotta sleep. Or at least go to bed.”

  Good God, he had a gift. “I suppose you plan on joining me there?” Why dance around this?

  “Vivi’s right,” he said, reaching over her head to bracket her with muscular arms again. “You’re a smart girl.”

  “No, Zach, she said smart ass. Big difference.”

  “Your ass is perfection.”

  She had to laugh. “So’s your game, Sergeant. What makes you so sure I’ll sleep with you?”

  “Because.” He took the bottle, tilted his head back, and teased her with the rise and fall of his Adam’s apple. “It’s inevitable.”

  “You.” She pointed at him. “Are arrogant.”

  “I’m not arrogant,” he replied. “I’m confident. Big difference. And you want to laugh in my face, push me away, and go tease the losers in the hall? Have at it.”

  She didn’t move, pinned by the sheer force of him.

  “I thought not,” he said, easing back just a little.

  She rooted around her hormone-pickled brain for some common sense. “Look, I hate to break the bad news to you, but nothing is inevitable.”

  He just grinned, slow and sexy. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

  And, deep inside, she just knew he was right. “Will you excuse me now? I need some air.”

  She pushed off the wall and he had no choice but to drop his arm, letting her step away and out of the kitchen.

  “Sammi?”

  She stopped as he said her name, closing her eyes for a minute. She’d always hated that nickname, except…she liked the way he said it. Slowly she turned, raising her eyebrows to respond.

  “We are inevitable.”

  # # #

  Zach let her breathe and move into the living room to talk to a few girls she appeared to know. From his spot in the kitchen doorway, he leaned on the jamb and looked beyond the dozen or so people in the room, only one blip on his radar.

  “Told you she was all that and a bag of Doritos.”

  He didn’t take his eyes off his target. He knew Vivi wore her most self-satisfied smile. “If you like ’em tall, blond, sexy, and smart-mouthed, yeah, you were right.”

  “She’s also very special,” Vivi added.

  Across the room, Sam laughed at something one of the women said, her gaze drifting across the room to him. Again. Fifth time at least. The eye contact fried the room like an arc of blue-white electricity.

  “Very special,” he agreed.

  “And she really doesn’t date much.”

  “Who said anything about dating?”

  As if she heard him, color rose to Sam’s cheeks as she attempted to hold her conversation and obviously failed. She didn’t have to hear him; their silent communication was loud and clear.

  “You can’t just sleep with her,” Vivi said, elbowing him in the side.

  “Who said anything about sleep, either?”

  Vivi laughed softly, then stepped in front of him to force his attention onto her and not Sam. “I knew you two would spark.”

  More like ignite. He didn’t answer, his attention back on Sam. Like magnets, their eyes just couldn’t go anywhere else but on each other. She took a stabilizing breath and returned to her conversation.

  “You look like you’re about to eat her.”

  He just smiled. “That could be arranged.”

  “Zach!” Vivi gave him a punch in the stomach. “I thought you guys would enjoy spending some time together. Vertical, not horizontal.”

  He finally dragged his gaze from Sam to his sister. “Vivi, your friend is, what, our age?”

  “Yeah, she’s twenty-seven.”

  “She’s a big girl. She doesn’t need you to be her bodyguard.”

/>   Vivi huffed a breath. “Just go easy on her. And, oh my God, speaking of bodyguards, did you hear where Johnny Christiano got a job?”

  He frowned, thinking of his cousin down in New York, a bull of a guy who could cook like Uncle Nino. “Christiano is one step away from the law. Who gave that hoodlum a job?”

  “The Bullet Catchers. Heard of them?”

  He snorted softly. “Who hasn’t? Every special ops guy in the Army wants to quit the corps and work for that Sharpe woman.”

  “That business has so much potential, Zach,” Vivi said, finally off the subject of how he should stay away from Sam. “When you get out, you should work for her. Although, I understand she’s very picky with new hires.”

  “She took Christiano. She’d be lucky to get me. What’s he doing for her, anyway?”

  “Making buckets of money, that’s what.”

  “It’s not always about money, Vivi.”

  Sam moved away from the crowd and instantly a guy was on her with a much-too-friendly hand on her shoulder. Zach felt the twinge in his fist, but he squeezed it around the unfinished beer that still tasted like her mouth. “Who’s that prick?”

  Vivi looked over her shoulder. “That prick is my new boss at the Bullet. Please don’t sucker-punch him.”

  Just as he was about to remove the jerk’s hand from Sam’s body, she inched away, her gaze once more flicking to Zach, and this time she winked. Talk about a sucker punch. He felt the impact down to his heels, rocking him.

  She walked across the room toward the hallway. As she passed, they held eye contact and one pretty blond eyebrow lifted imperceptibly. Message sent and received, Sammi.

  She continued on into the hall and disappeared toward the bathroom.

  “’Scuze me, Vivi.”

  “You’re just going to follow her into the bathroom?”

  He looked down at his sister, then handed her the almost empty beer bottle. “She just invited me.”

  “She didn’t say a word.”

  “She didn’t have to.”

  # # #

  She left the bathroom door open an inch… so he knew not to knock.

  Her heart skipping around wildly, Sam opened her bag and took out her lip gloss, her fingers a little shaky as she opened the tube.

  She didn’t know much about Zach Angelino, but she knew this: he’d be in this bathroom in under two minutes. And she’d be here, waiting.