Sinful (Restless Nights) (2 page)

Jace
Evans, the man I had been thinking about every night for the past year had stood in front of me and seemed so nervous. Which was weird, the man had no need to feel nervous or self conscious or whatever had him stammering like that. He was gorgeous sex appeal in a six foot frame.  His hair was the color of warm chocolate just like his eyes which were sinfully delicious orbs of promise. A promise I had to keep reminding myself was not for me.

He has a wife.

He has a wife.

He has a wife.

I repeated the mantra as I moved around my room to get ready for dinner. I’d been too shocked and excited to ask where we were going. Meaning I had no idea what to wear. Even with my mantra on repeat I ended up in a black dress and heels.

I blew out an anxious breath as I looked in the mirror. The dress wasn’t fancy, though it was strapless and clingy. I pulled a light grey cropped shrug on and mulled over the results. It could be casual but could be a little
dressier depending on where we went to dinner. The question was heel or no heel? I stared at my pair of glittery Guess flip flops and then down at my super cute peep-toe pumps.

This is not a date. He has a wife.

I started to toe off my heels when he knocked. I knew it was him. It was 7:30 and I wasn’t expecting anyone else.

Still wearing the heels
, I made my way to the door and flung it open with a smile.

“I am almost ready
.”

Jace
arched a brow and I could swear I felt heat radiate from his gaze as he gave me a none too subtle once over.

He has a wife!
The thought rang loud and clear as I swallowed hard in an attempt to relieve my suddenly very dry throat.

“You look ready to me
,” he managed.

“Well
, that depends on where we’re going.”

He arched a brow
. “Why?”

I pointed to my feet
. “Because I need to know what shoes to wear.”

A wicked grin pulled at his lips
. “Stick with the heels.”

So help me
, I smiled.

Jace
opened the door to the Twisted Forest Grill. It was a beautiful restaurant. Most of the interior walls were made of deep paneling and large glass panes that depicted forest scenes in lightly frosted tones. A large fountain and pond graced the waiting area, and at every turn I was greeted with greenery. It was an enchanted forest among the desert.

“This place is beautiful
,” I whispered as the hostess led us to our table.

“I hear the food
’s amazing too.”

After a few minutes of perusing the menu then placing our food order
, Jace and I fell into a comfortable back and forth. It felt like I’d known him my entire life and not just through a computer screen.

“So
,” he started, “what are you working on?”

I smirked at him
. “That’s always your first questions. I’m surprised it took so long for you to ask tonight.”

He shrugged
. “I’m curious about what you’re writing.”

I took a sip of the
rich wine he’d ordered, and sat back in my seat.

“Is that what this is about?
You wanting to turn my novel into a screenplay? Is that what this dinner is? An attempt to loosen me up to the idea?” The thought hurt, but I tried to cover it with an emotionless tone.

He made a grunting noise and set his fork and knife down, forgetting about the forty dollar porterhouse and leveling his eyes on me.

“Give me a little credit, Avery, of course it’s not. I just want to know what you are working on.”

I arched a brow at him, but smiled.
“All right. I am about a third of the way into the final Crimson Heart Novel.”

“So you decided for sure? This is the end of the series?”

I nodded. “Yep, it’s come full circle and the characters have had their stories told.”

Jace
’s phone vibrated loudly from his pocket, it was the third time in the past twenty minutes. I picked up my fork and speared a tortellini. “You should probably get that,” I said before taking my bite of food.

His eyes traced the movement as my lips wrapped around the fork. I swore I saw heat flash in his liquid eyes. I reminded myself once more that it was not ok
ay to take pleasure in those moments.

“I know who it is
,” he muttered as he fished his phone from his pocket. A flustered smile twisted his lips as he read the screen. “It’s Cole.”

My brows arched
. Not who I expected it to be. Jace punched in a quick text and set the phone aside.

“Everything ok
ay?” I asked.

“Yep, it
’s just Cole being himself.”

I tilted my head and asked
, “Oh?”

“First
, he was flipping me shit about not being at James’ pre-bachelor Bachelor party. Then he had a string of questions about you and what we were doing.”

My curiosity flared and I had to ask
. “What does he want to know about me?”

Jace
gave a wry smile and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

I sat forward bracing my elbows on the table and folding my hands so
I could rest my chin on them. “Now that makes me want to know all the more what you two are saying.” As if to punctuate my words his cell buzzed again with a new message.

Jace
grabbed his phone and groaned lightly. “Fine, he said: you’re missing out. Well maybe not, I’d rather hang out with a hot chick than all this sausage.”

I laughed and he continued.

“You seriously need to get your ass over here. At which point I texted back that we were having dinner and I wasn’t going to ditch you to go hang out with them.”

I smiled
. It was a sweet gesture, but I felt weird that he was ditching his friends to have dinner with me. No matter how much I was enjoying myself.

“Then he says some other stuff…
,” He trailed off and that caught my full attention.

“What stuff?”

Jace squirmed. “It’s kind of a dickish statement….” My brow cocked. He sighed and handed me his phone so I could read it for myself.

Cole:
She’s not as hot as her picture, is she? Oh shit, is she hotter than her pictures? Just bring her with you and I’ll decide where she fits on the hotness scale
.

I handed
Jace back his phone. “How old is he? 15?”

Jace
chuckled. “He certainly sounds it.”

I caught our waiter’s attention and gestured for the check.

“Are you mad enough that you’re done with dinner?” He looked concerned as his dark eyes studied me.

I grinned
. “No, we’re going to go see Cole. I plan to make my own judgment on his placement on the
hotness scale
.”

Cole had no idea what he had just stepped into. Thankfully, it was all with mischievous intent, and Avery wasn’t angry by what he had said.

The truth was I wasn’t sure how the rest of this night would play out. I honestly didn’t like the thought of her judging Cole’s hotness, but if it hadn’t been for me giving my pain in the ass
, relentless best friend the go ahead to contact her, none of this would be going on. Scratch that… Cole would still be acting like a pain in the ass.

I had talked to him about Avery and he couldn’t let it go. He just had to know about this mysterious woman who plagued my every thought. He couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around my need to talk to a woman other then my wife. Gemma didn’t think
much of it either, but I’d found someone who understood my life on a different level then Gemma could. Avery lived and breathed the world I loved and because of that we had a connection.

I pulled into the down home country bar the guys had landed in and put my rental car in park.

Avery smiled. “Seriously? They’re in Vegas, and instead of going to the casinos or clubs, they end up at a dive bar?”

I nodded
. “This place fits them better.”

She beamed a gorgeous smile at me
. “It’s my kind of place too. I only wish I was wearing jeans and boots.”

With
a lingering look, I murmured, “I like the dress and heels.”

She gave me a shy look and got out of the car.

Rein it in, asshole
. I had been telling myself that ever since she opened her room door and I saw her in the tight black dress and too sexy heels. Hell, I even noticed the bright red polish on her cute little toes.

We walked into the bar and I spotted the guys
, all of whom spotted us instantly as well. Cole let out a catcall as we approached the booth. He slid over and patted the spot next to him with a wolfish grin directed at Avery. She rolled her eyes but slid onto the vinyl seat next to him. I followed and began introductions.

“James
, the groom.” I gestured at my grinning friend and moved on to the other three who occupied the table. “Anthony, Mark and of course, Cole.” I shot a warning to Cole as he eyeballed Avery with a hungry glint in his blue eyes.

Cole moved his gaze from Avery and looked to me
. “You could have just said
way
.”

Avery’s eyes narrowed
. “
Way
hotter, or way less hot than my picture?”

Cole’s eyes snapped back to her face. “He told you what I said?”

“No,” she answered sweetly. “He let me read your freaking text, you jackass.”

Our table went from silence as they watched Avery to
raucous laughter.

“Fuck, Cole
, she pegged you in less than thirty seconds,” Anthony said with a massive smile.

Cole chuckled and smiled at her
. “What do you expect? I’ve only seen your profile picture. People be lying on the internet.”

She smiled and shook her head. Turning to Anthony
, she said, “I’ve had the pleasure of being harassed by Cole over the past month. That’s why I feel comfortable in telling him he’s a jackass.”

“I was not…
,” Cole paused for a second, the wolfish grin returning to his lips, “harassing you… much.”

I watched as time passed around us and Avery melded into my group of friends easily. I also spent a lot
of my time either grunting or glaring at Cole as he continued to flirt with Avery. I knew he was just trying to get a reaction from me, but it still pissed me off.

Cole had listened to me talk about her for a while before he pointedly told me it sounded like I was either in love or obsessed with her. When I denied both accusations he went in for
the kill saying,
“Then you don’t mind if I contact her.”

I had no choice but to say go for it. I seethed over it with a blast of jealousy I had no way of fighting. I also felt guilty for feeling it in the first place. He was flirting with Avery to prove a point.
Not that she wasn’t beautiful. Cole would have gladly taken a piece of her, but in this moment, he was just being a prick and pushing my buttons.

What are friends for, right?

“I’m going to get some drinks,” I said, finishing off my beer and sliding from the booth.

Cole smirked and I wanted to slap him upside the head as he turned his gaze back on Avery.

“Is Cole pissing you off?” Mark had snuck up behind me, and gave a sympathetic pat to my shoulder.

“Nah, he
’s just trying to push my buttons.”

Mark laughed
. “And it’s working, so what are you going to do about it?”

I shrugged.

“Has she asked about Gemma?”

“No
.” My gaze drifted back to her, a flirtatious smile graced her lips, but there was no heat in her stunning eyes.

“Don’t get me wrong
. She seems cool, but doesn’t it seem weird that she hasn’t even asked about Gemma?”

I glared at Mark
. “Why would she? We’re just two friends who had dinner and now we’re hanging out with all of you.”

Mark snorted
. “Keep telling yourself that.”

He grabbed half the shots I’d ordered and headed back to the table. I grabbed the other half and
followed. I slid a shot in front of Cole and then Avery. I stood there, said “cheers” and then shot back the smooth silver tequila.

“I’ll be back.” They all heard but the statement was directed at Avery.