“Jake’s never introduced us, but I’ve seen pictures of him,” Kim said. “He’s seriously gorgeous, but I got the impression he’s a worse commitment-phobe than Jake.”
“But Jake’s not a commitment-phobe,” Jess pointed out.
“Anyway, there’s nothing like that between us,” Dani muttered.
“So what is there?”
“We had sex.”
No response. They both appeared shell-shocked. Then Kim broke the silence with an excited squeal. “Tell all.”
“That is all. It was just sex.”
Jess patted her on the arm. “Dani, you are…sorry, were a twenty-seven-year-old virgin. There is no such thing as just sex for you. Otherwise you would have done it a long time ago.”
“It was just once and—”
“It was an anti-climax, and you hated it?” Jess asked. She’d never had a high opinion of men.
“No. But I promised Gary I wouldn’t go near him again.”
“Who’s Gary—your dad?”
“No, but Zach is my boss—sort of. And then Gary told Jake and Jake told Zach to back off. And he did. And that’s that.”
“I’m thinking maybe not,” Jess said. “And why? Why this man when there’s been no one else?”
Dani thought about it. “Because, right now—this time isn’t real. Soon I’ll”—she crossed her fingers—“be going back to my unit and back to real life. This is different. Besides, it’s over,” she said with conviction, but again there was a flashback to his mouth on hers, his hands on her breasts, between her thighs.
“I can’t wait to check him out at the wedding.” Jess grinned. “The god who managed to wrestle away my best friend’s virginity when I was convinced she’d take it to the grave.”
“Fuck off.”
…
Zach leaned against one of the huge stone pillars in what he supposed was the banquet hall and watched her from across the room. She was beautiful.
Small and perfect and totally unlike the Dani he had come to know. She was talking with the second bridesmaid, a stunning blonde who towered over her like an Amazon.
Kim joined the other two at that point. It was obvious they were close as they all laughed at something Kim said. Dani looked a little wistful. What was she thinking? Why did he care?
He turned slightly as Jake came up beside him and handed him a glass of scotch. “From the cellars,” he said.
“I knew there must be a reason you bought this place.”
He’d known Jake for a long time. They’d met ten years ago on a climbing expedition and been best friends since. It was hard to believe that he was actually married. He’d thought his friend was as shy of commitment as Zach, but apparently, he’d been waiting for Kim to realize she loved him.
Weird. And a little scary. He reckoned he’d lost his climbing buddy, but strangely, the idea didn’t upset him too much. Maybe he was growing up, no longer needed the adrenaline buzz.
“Happy?” he asked.
“Scared.”
“You’ll be fine. I like her.” He nodded across to where Kim still stood talking with Dani and the blonde.
“I thought you might. That’s why I made sure you wouldn’t meet.” He considered Zach for a moment. “We’ve got a lead.”
“On the dickheads who sent the threats.”
“Yeah. Another email was sent to your agent—these guys really don’t like you—and we managed to get a lock on the IP address.”
“You know who it is?” Was his freedom in sight? Could he go back to L.A. and take up his life again? He glanced back at Dani. Was he ready?
“Not yet, but we’re close. Jess is going to keep up the investigation while I’m away.”
“Jess?”
“The blonde talking to Kim. She’s in charge for the duration, and she’s good. She’ll let you know if, or rather when, they find something. Then you have to decide what to do about it.”
“I want the bastards nailed.”
“We’ll see what we can do.” Jake grinned.
They stood in companionable silence, contemplating the three women.
“Dani looks good,” Jake said after a few minutes. “Better than I’ve seen her in a long time.”
Zach turned back to study her. She did look well compared to the pale shadow she’d been when she turned up in Spain weeks ago. Her skin was tanned to a soft gold, shown off by the strappy dress. The front was tight and fitted and did something amazing to her breasts, so they almost spilled out over the top. Heat washed through him. He tried not to stare, dragging his gaze up to her face instead. Her eyes sparkled with laughter, but then she glanced across to where he stood and the laughter faded. Their gazes locked. Zach raised his glass to her and she blinked and looked away.