Chapter One
He was reading her mail again.
Jade Stevens advanced into the lobby of her condominium complex, eyeing the man lounging on the sofa in the sitting area near the residents’ mailboxes as he flipped through her Victoria’s Secret catalog. Kyle Stephens had too much nerve, too much charm and way too much interest in her. The first two she could deal with. It was the third she couldn’t seem to discourage, no matter how many times she rebuffed his advances and turned down his outrageous, flirtatious proposals.
Any other man would have backed off long ago. Not Kyle. After twenty-three rejections he was still going strong, dauntless and bold as ever.
He had trouble written all over that gorgeous, lean body of his—from his reckless grin and seductive baby blues, to his unapologetic approach that should have irritated her, but stimulated her instead. Which was enough to alert her to keep her distance emotionally. So far she’d been successful.
During the past six months, they’d developed a friendship of sorts. Not by her choice, but out of necessity. Since her name was Jade Stevens, and his was Kyle Stephens, and their addresses were so similar—hers 321 Camilia and his 312 Camilia—their mail was continuously getting mixed up and dropped in each other’s box.
She released a sigh of breath and prepared herself for Kyle’s brand of trouble. “Hello, Kyle,” she said pleasantly.
“Mmm,” he replied distractedly.
Which wasn’t surprising, considering how engrossed he was in her lingerie catalog. He turned the page to the next spread, and let out a low, appreciative whistle—the same sexy whistle he’d given her a time or two.
Stopping at the bank of metal mailboxes, she set her attaché case on the plush mauve carpeting and dug through her purse for her mailbox key. “I take it we’ve got another new mail carrier on our route.”
“Yeah.” His voice was a rich, silky rumble that did delicious, wicked things to her nerve endings.
He lowered the women’s mail-order magazine just enough for her to glimpse eyes filled with mischief and sin, and a bad-boy grin creasing the corners of his mouth. Thick, roguishly long, tawny-colored hair tousled around his head in its normal, windblown fashion. He wore what she’d learned was his bartending attire: black jeans and T-shirt with his bar’s name The Black Sheep emblazoned across his wide chest in white lettering, along with black leather boots, propped negligently on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
“This one was kind enough to put this very stimulating piece of mail into my box. And here I thought you were a nice girl,” he chastised softly, the gleam in his eyes turning as wicked as the low timbre of his voice. “Though I have to warn you, I find naughty extremely exciting.”
An involuntary shiver coursed through her, and she turned her back on him to open her metal box. “In your dreams, Kyle.”
He chuckled. “Wouldn’t be the first time, sweetheart. But I’m certain reality will be ten times better than in my dreams.”
The man’s confidence astounded her. “Don’t waste your time thinking about it. It’s not going to happen.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” he drawled lazily. “One of these days you’re gonna throw that caution of yours to the wind and take me up on my offer to go out on a date. And when you finally give in, you’re gonna wonder why you waited so long.”
She reached for her mail while casting him a pointed look over her shoulder. “Do you ever take no for an answer?”
He tilted his head. A speculative gleam entered his eyes as he oh-so-slowly swept his gaze down the length of her, a visual caress that left a trail of heat in its wake. Then he countered with, “Do you ever let down that guard of yours long enough to let a man get close?”
Not anymore. Ignoring his direct challenge and his even more discerning stare, she glanced back at the mail in her hand. Out of all the men she’d encountered since her breakup with Adam three years ago—and she encountered plenty at Roxy’s, a nightclub she frequented—Kyle was by far the most daring and forthright. He challenged her defenses and brazenly confronted the emotional boundaries she’d established between them, barriers that usually dissuaded men’s advances.
“Looks like I have a few pieces of your mail,” she said, shifting to a safer, more mundane topic.
She heard the sofa creak as he stood, then his hushed steps on the padded carpet as he started toward her. Ignoring the crazy leap of her pulse, she continued sorting through the letters, periodicals and advertisements for his mail.
Concentrating on the simple task proved futile. Unable to see him as he approached from behind, she felt at a distinct disadvantage, but refused to move or turn around and let him know just how much he affected her.
She might not be able to see him, but she could feel him closing in on her. Awareness fluttered deep in her belly, and a traitorous anticipation tingled just beneath the surface of her skin. He stopped behind her, bracing a hand on the wall to her left, and she almost lost her grip on their mail.
He didn’t touch her, but then he didn’t have to. The heat of his body settled along her spine, over her bottom, and traveled the length of her legs where they extended from the short, silky sarong skirt she wore. She was acutely aware of him as a man, the lean, muscular strength of his body, his warm male scent and the hazardous level of desire he evoked within her.
Despite her resolve not to be, she was attracted to Kyle Stephens. And tempted. And that was a dangerous, destructive combination for her, one she refused to be enticed by again.
She held her breath, clutched their mail, and waited, wondering what he intended next, even while she searched her turning-to-mush mind for a way to stop this madness. This was, by far, his boldest move yet, and it had to stop!
But there was no stopping Kyle.
He lowered his head to the side of hers and his free hand stretched around her waist to hold the Victoria’s Secret catalog in front of her. The magazine was folded back to a page advertising luxurious lotions, fragrant sprays, scented soaps and body washes. Jade recognized her favorite scent, peach hyacinth.
“Now I know why you always smell like peaches,” he murmured, his breath tickling her ear. He dipped his head lower, grazing his chin along her neck. Inhaling deeply, he groaned low in his throat, like a man savoring the scent of something decadent and forbidden. “Ripe, juicy peaches. I can’t help but wonder if you taste just as sweet.”
Her breath left her in a whoosh. Yanking the incriminating evidence from his hand, she turned and slapped his own mail against his chest.
“Here’s your mail,” she said evenly. How could he look so calm, composed, amused even, when he had her unraveling from the inside out? “I’ll be sure to contact the post office Monday morning so they can let the new carrier know about the problem.”
He folded the advertisement around the few letters she’d given him and slipped the mail into the back pocket of his jeans. “I don’t mind exchanging our mail.”
She’d bet he didn’t, but she did mind. Especially since it was getting more difficult to shake her attraction to him. The man just didn’t shake!
Turning and presenting him with her back in dismissal, she shut her mailbox and retrieved her key. But before she could move away, two large, strong hands settled on her shoulders and eased toward her neck in a slow, sensuous massage. She automatically stiffened, shocked at his intimate caress.
“You’re so tense,” he said, his tone a trifle mocking. “Long day at the office?”
Oh, Lord, his hands were pure magic on her skin. Skillfully and firmly rubbing taut muscles, then gentling into a luxurious kneading that had her softening, dissolving beneath the mastery of his incredible touch. She bit back a groan and suppressed the urge to roll her head forward to give him better access to the tight muscles at the nape of her neck.
“It’s, uh…” She caught her breath as his thumbs pressed between her shoulder blades and rolled upward. An automatic, appreciative rumbling purr rose up in her throat. She promptly swallowed it “It’s been a long week.”
He continued his wonderful massage. “What do you say you come by The Black Sheep tonight and have a drink, relax, unwind…. I’ll have Bruce close up and you and I can take a stroll along the beach and talk….”
His brand of conversation, all sexy innuendo and sweet-talking charm, would inevitably turn into more. And his hands were talking plenty, telling her he’d be a generous, giving lover.
Not that it mattered.
Not that she cared.
She slipped from under his hands before she did something incredibly stupid…like agree to meet him for a drink. “I’ve got other plans,” she said, using the businesslike tone she reserved for the pushy clients who came into her and her sister’s design firm, Casual Elegance.
He leaned a shoulder against the bank of mailboxes, unaffected by her brush-off. “Roxy’s?” he guessed, having caught her a few times on a Friday evening when she’d been on her way out of the lobby to the nightclub.
“I have work to do, not that it’s any of your business.” And a long, hot bath she wanted to take. She was tense, but now for an entirely different reason than her long week. Stuffing her mail into her attaché, she grasped the leather handles and started around Kyle toward the main entrance into the complex.
He followed by her side. “Don’t you know you’re supposed to leave work at the office? All work and no play is going to make Jade very dull.”
“Trust me,” she said, giving her head a sassy shake and making her chin-length hair sway along her jaw. “You add more than enough excitement to my ‘dull’ existence.”
His fingers curled around her elbow, giving her the choice of halting or being yanked back into his arms. She did the smart thing and stopped.
His thumb stroked the soft skin of her inner elbow. “Do I?”
She forgot what they’d been discussing, enthralled by the darkening of his blue eyes, as warm and arousing as his touch. “Do you what?”
He blinked lazily. “Add excitement to your life?”
More than he knew, and more than she’d ever verbally admit. Sighing, she extricated her arm from his gentle grasp. “I only meant that I never know what to expect from you.”
He grinned, that wonderfully sexy smile that lit up his eyes and tempted her common sense. “If you went out with me you’d know exactly what to expect. A great time.”
She inclined her head. “You are a persistent one, aren’t you?”
He shrugged those broad shoulders of his. “Only when I see something I like.”
“And if I told you I wasn’t interested, tonight or in the future?”
He considered her question for two whole heartbeats. “Then I’d have to say that mouth of yours is lying.”
She touched her tongue to her bottom lip before realizing what she’d done. “And if I told you you had a giant ego?” she asked, unwilling to let him have the last word.
“I’d have to tell you you’re absolutely right,” he replied unrepentantly, and leaned closer. “Why should I give up when I’m so close to wearing down your resistance?”
Her mouth twitched with a smile she refused to let loose. “The answer is still no.” She started again toward the entrance leading to the units, and when he stayed behind, she glanced back and gave him a brisk wave that tinkled the gold bracelets on her arm. “Have a good night, Kyle.”
He pressed a hand dramatically to his chest and gave her a pained look. “You’re breaking my heart, honey.”
Without a doubt, he’d break hers. “I’m certain I’m not the first, or the last.”
Kyle grinned as he watched Jade walk away. Tilting his head, he admired the slow, sexy sway of her hips covered in scarlet red silk, and those incredibly long legs that ended in three-inch heels. His gut tightened as a hundred fantasies sprang to mind, one in particular of Jade wearing one of those silky teddy things he’d seen in her lingerie catalog, and him slowly stripping it away. And along with the scrap of lace, he’d shed that cool reserve she wore like armor and discover every one of her sweet, feminine secrets.
In your dreams, Kyle.
Despite himself, he chuckled. There was more to Jade Stevens than met the eye, and he was fascinated enough to pursue an attraction he’d proved minutes ago was mutual. She was the most exciting, intriguing woman he’d ever met, strong but utterly feminine, and full of a fire and sass that continually surprised him.
It was that damnable emotional barrier of hers he couldn’t seem to get around. And he’d tried every conceivable way in the past six months to shatter that restraint of hers.
She turned the corner and was out of sight, but she still lingered in Kyle’s mind. She always did.
“One of these days, Jade, I’m gonna figure out what makes you tick,” he murmured to himself in the deserted lobby. “And when I do, you’re gonna be all mine.”
* * *
Kyle stared in disbelief at the burgundy bound journal filled with a collection of intimate fantasies, stunned that something so personal and revealing had found its way into his hands—at a yard sale, no less.
Remaining crouched in front of a box full of cookbooks, popular hardbacks and other miscellaneous paperbacks, and keeping his back to the people milling through the other items set out for sale, he casually opened the front flap. The name Jade Stevens was written on the inside cover, along with a date of close to three years ago. He drew a deep breath, and giving in to curiosity, he skimmed through the journal, wanting to read what else lay between the pages—and discover more of Jade’s deepest secrets and desires.
Unable to help himself, he thumbed to the beginning and read the first entry:
The waiting was over.
Out of the shadows, he appeared at the edge of the pond where she swam, the silvery cast of moonlight silhouetting his tall, lean build and glinting off his light, tawny-colored hair. He was everything she’d ever dreamed of in a man, a breath-stealing combination of sin and sensuality.
Magnificently naked, he dove into the lake, sending rippling waves of water lapping against her bare shoulders, as cool and sensuous as a lover’s caress. Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited for him…
He broke the surface an arm’s length away, rising out of the water until it pooled around his waist. His dark magnetism entranced her, seduced her, yet she knew she had no reason to fear him.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered.
Midnight eyes glittered with a heat that started a slow ache within her. “You invited me, remember?” She did invite him. Many times. She just never expected him to come. “You’re a fantasy, nothing more.”
“You created me, Jade.” He held out his hand, palm up, an invitation to trust. “Swim with me.”
Knowing she had complete control over the fantasy, she placed her fingers in his palm and glided toward him. The contact of slick, naked skin was searing, breathtaking and exciting. Her breasts swelled and tingled against the solid wall of his chest, and a liquid heat settled low in her belly.
His mouth moved near her ear. “Now close your eyes…and feel.”
Biting back a moan of pleasure, she succumbed to the stroking of his hands, the feel of his lips against her throat and moving lower. She wanted to go with the impulse and revel in the sheer enjoyment of being undisciplined. Wild. No restraints, no reservations. With him, she knew there were no restrictions…
Feeling the slow thrum of desire coursing through his veins, Kyle closed the book. A slow smile curved his mouth. A journal filled with private fantasies at a yard sale was obviously a mistake on Jade’s part, but one he intended to use to his advantage. What he held in his hands was an invaluable insight to the woman who tried so hard to keep a tight rein on the fire and passion he’d known simmered beneath the surface.
Jade hadn’t fooled him for a minute, and now he had proof of that banked sensuality. And ammunition.
He’d just discovered what made Jade tick.
Shoving the journal into the box in front of him and burying it beneath the other books, he cast a sideways look at Jade. Their relationship had started out as a light flirtation due to their mail situation, had progressed into a mutual attraction she wouldn’t succumb to, and had evolved into an obsession he couldn’t shake. Now he hoped their relationship would become much more.
Finished dealing with her yard-sale customer, Jade stood talking to another woman who held a toddler in her arms. Warm rays of sunshine filtered through the leaves and branches on the tree overhead, weaving golden highlights through the rich brown strands of her hair. Wispy bangs framed her face and softened her features.
She wore a halter top that left her midriff bare, and shorts that displayed slim thighs and tanned, shapely legs. The bright, colorful straps on her leather sandals matched her expressive outfit, along with coordinating loop earrings and bangle bracelets.
The blonde next to her motioned in his direction and Jade looked his way, surprise lighting her vivid green eyes. Jade said something to the other woman, then lifted a brow at him that clearly asked what he was doing there.
His original intent had been to return another piece of mail, but she’d been busy with a customer wanting to negotiate the price on a headboard with a built-in bookcase. So he’d stopped at a box full of books to look through until she was done with her current transaction…and had found something more stimulating than self-help books, romance novels and cookbooks.
Hefting the entire box of books into his arms, he approached the trio. As he neared, he noticed a slight resemblance in features between Jade and the blonde. He noted the other woman’s eye color, a striking blue, and wondered if that was Jade’s true eye color as well. Jade’s eye color seemed to change every time he saw her, dramatic, bold hues too intense to be natural. He’d yet to decide which shade was the real Jade.
Another interesting facet he was determined to expose.
“Tell me you’re not moving,” he said, waving a hand toward the furnishings for sale. “Or you’ll break my heart for sure.”
“It’s in with the new and out with the old,” she said, eyeing the box he carried. “I just redecorated my place.”
“I’m relieved to hear that.” More relieved than she’d ever know, because he didn’t relish the thought of having to try and find her new address. That he’d go to such an extreme for a woman told him he was in way over his head, but he was already a goner where Jade was concerned.
He stopped a few feet away. “How much do you want for the books?”
Jade glanced into the open carton at the cookbooks and romance novels piled at the top. She frowned up at him, clearly baffled by his choice of reading material. “You want the whole box?”
He couldn’t very well flash the journal in front of her and expect her to sell it to him. “My great aunt likes to read romances and I like to cook,” he explained, leaving out the little fact that his great aunt lived in Detroit, not nearby in California, and was blind as a bat.
Jade stepped forward and rummaged through the books. Kyle resisted the urge to jerk the box out of her reach, hoping all the while that she wouldn’t discover the leather-bound journal buried somewhere in between. She barely skimmed the pile of hardbacks on top before she turned to the blonde and asked, “Aren’t some of these books yours, Mariah?”
“Most of them are the ones you told me to clear out of that bookcase headboard you just sold.” Mariah set the little girl in her arms on the blanket spread out in front of her. The baby crawled to a toy and began playing with it, gurgling and drooling contentedly. “And I threw in some of my old cookbooks I’d left behind after marrying Grey.”
Jade gave an exaggerated shudder. “I’ll pay you to take the cookbooks off my hands.”
He chuckled. “Not much of a cook, huh?”
“Not unless you like indigestion for dessert,” the blonde piped in, wrinkling her nose.
Jade glared at the other woman, but there was clearly a close bond between them.
He shifted the box under his arm, keeping his gaze on the other woman. “I take it you’ve had firsthand experience with Jade’s cooking.”
“Um, you could say that. I guarantee, it’s not worth risking your life over.” The blonde held out her hand, put on a welcoming smile, and introduced herself. “I’m Mariah, Jade’s sister.”
Kyle set the box down by his side and clasped Mariah’s hand. “I’m Kyle Stephens with a ‘ph,’” he clarified with a grin. “I’m a neighbor of Jade’s. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He glanced down at the baby who was staring up at him with her mother’s big blue eyes. “And this little princess must be yours, too.”
Mariah beamed with pride. “She’s my daughter, Kayla.”
Crouching to Kayla’s level, he gave in to the impulse to caress his hand over the blond curls framing her cherubic face. Downy soft hair sifted through his fingers, and he breathed in the scent of baby powder. Man, he’d forgotten how sweet babies smelled, and how their precious smiles could make him soften inside like a big marshmallow. It had been years…seventeen to be exact.
The subtle longing he experienced surprised him, grabbing at an instinct deep and buried, but certainly not forgotten. It made him wish, for a brief moment, that he’d made different choices in his past.
“Hello, doll,” he murmured in a gentle tone, not wanting to frighten her.
Kayla let out a squeal of delight and blew him a raspberry. He laughed at her antics and glanced back up at Mariah. “She’s beautiful, just like her mom.”
Mariah blushed at his compliment. “Thank you.”
“Personally I think she takes after her aunt.” Jade bent down and gave her niece a quick tickle in the ribs. “Don’tcha, sweetie?”
Kayla giggled, and grabbed at the bright, colorful bracelets jangling on her aunt’s wrist. “J-J!” she gurgled, a happy grin splitting her face.
“See, I told you,” Jade teased her sister, her smile smug.
“The only thing she inherited from her aunt is her ornery temperament,” Mariah gibed.
Kyle grinned at the easy friendship between siblings, a closeness he had never shared with his own brother and stepsister. Straightening, he let his gaze climb up the length of Jade’s sleek legs, the curve of her hips, the fullness of her breasts, until his eyes met and held hers. “I can’t imagine you having an ornery bone in your entire body.”
Her brows rose and her cheeks colored, but before she could formulate a response, Mariah cut in with, “Try living with her. Trust me, she’s got herself a temper.”
Jade just rolled her eyes. “How about ten dollars for the box of books?” she offered, steering the conversation back to business.
To him the journal was priceless, not that he was about to tell her she was undercutting herself. “It’s a deal.” Withdrawing his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans before she changed her mind, he riffled through his billfold for the appropriate amount of cash and handed her the money.
“Enjoy the books,” she said, taking the bills from him.
“Oh, I plan to.” Every last sultry, intimate fantasy, he thought.
“I almost forgot,” he said as he tucked his wallet away and withdrew an envelope from his other back pocket. “Looks like I got your electric bill by mistake today.”
“That one you could have kept,” she teased.
He turned the bill over in his hands, not ready to hand it over yet. “You know, there’s only one way to permanently remedy this problem we seem to be having with our mail.”
Jade glanced at her sister to see if she was still watching the exchange, which she was with interest, then glanced back at him. The caution in her eyes told him she knew he was about to flirt. “Which would be…?”
He smiled, a slow reckless grin. “Move in together.”
Her mouth twitched to suppress a smile, and she put her hand out for her piece of mail. “I think that would be a bit extreme.”
“But very convenient.” He tapped the edge of the envelope against his palm before smiling at Jade’s sister and clarifying, “For the mail carrier, that is.”
Mariah’s eyes twinkled with delight. “Of course.”
Jade wiggled her fingers and cleared her throat. “My mail?”
He slid the envelope against her palm, but when her fingers curled around the edge and gently pulled, he didn’t let go. Her gaze shot to his, the green depths darkening in awareness.
Ah, sweetheart, you don’t stand a chance at resisting what’s between us.
The fantasy he’d just read was fresh in his mind, prompting him to issue his boldest challenge to date. “Meet me for a moonlight swim tonight at the pool?”
A startled look passed over her features, then just as quickly she regained her composure. “I think a cold shower would do you more good.”
A deep chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Don’t doubt that for a minute, Jade.”
His blatant admission caught Jade off guard. Her face flushed, and this time when she tugged on her envelope, he released it. It wasn’t often he flustered Jade and guessed it was because her sister was witness to their conversation.
He pressed his advantage. “How about at midnight?”
“How about never?” she countered, her impudence restored.
His gaze dropped to that soft, smart mouth of hers. A slow heat licked through his veins and spiraled low. He dallied over those lips, wondering, not for the first time, what her mouth tasted like. He imagined rich honey, warm from the heat of her passion.
“You can’t blame a guy for asking,” he said, his voice a low, husky timbre. “You never know when a lady might say yes.”
“Maybe in another lifetime?” she suggested.
He smiled, undeterred, and picked up his box of books and the treasure that would, before long, have her softening to him and their attraction. “Well, if you change your mind in this lifetime, just let me know.”