Courting Justice

He must have felt her quivering. She bit down on her lips to bite back the feelings of shock. His erection meant he was attracted to her. Why? Sam had teased her about the dress drawing male attention. But arousing the likes of Angelo Di Meglio? Come on? Really?

She shook her head, knowing she was way off base. There had to be another reason he had a hard-on. “No, I’m not cold,” she said, aware that her denial hadn’t sounded convincing.

He tightened his arms around her anyway, and the warmth of his touch was almost startling, and definitely unexpected. There had to be a reason she was reacting to Angelo this way. She quickly figured out that since she hadn’t had a real serious date in months, her body must be starved for attention and affection. Yes, that had to be it.

She leaned back and glanced up at him. “Angelo?”

“Yes?”

He’d only responded with that one word. Why did he have to sound so mouthwateringly sexy when he’d said it? Why did her breath continue to catch that way? And why had he suddenly moved his hands to rest in the center of her bare back? And why had a warm rush of desire trickled over her skin the moment he’d touched her?

She wanted to ask him what was going on. Why were they embracing in what seemed like a sensual cocoon? Instead she replied, “Nothing.”

Peyton was tempted to close her eyes and wrap herself up in the sensations that were overtaking her like a summer breeze on a hot July night. But she knew she had to keep her eyes open and try to figure out what was happening to her. Why had the palms of her hands, which were flattened against his chest, lifted of their own accord and wrapped themselves around his neck?

“Peyton?”

He said her name and for the life of her, even though she was staring into his face, she didn’t see his lips move. “Yes?”

“Think about what you said moments ago.”

What had she said? She couldn’t remember. It was as if her mind had suddenly gone blank and the only thing she was focused on was him. Peyton couldn’t say that she was seeing him in a whole new light, because she’d always been aware of just how overpoweringly sexy he was—how breathtakingly handsome. But she was confused about her reaction to him—her deep-in-the-belly kind of attraction. Of course she had been drawn to him years ago when they’d first met. What woman wouldn’t be drawn to such a sexy hunk?

But that had been more than seven years ago and the attraction had quickly worn off when she’d known she was way out of his league. Sam had already told them about her brother. Peyton had known about the revolving door to his bedroom and about the women who threw themselves at him. She hadn’t wanted to be one of them, figured she didn’t have a chance even if she’d wanted to.

Besides, she’d never fit into his world and preferred her own life anyway, thank you very much. She’d been proud of her humble beginnings in the South Side of Chicago. Times had been hard, and she’d had to be tough. But growing up with very little had taught her how to appreciate much. She didn’t need a lot of money to be content.

And speaking of content, why did it feel so good being in his arms this way? Why was she in his arms anyway? Thinking she needed to come to her senses and quick, she made a move to step back, but his hands on her back tightened, making it impossible to retreat.

“DeAngelo?” And why did she feel it necessary to call him by his first name and not the shorter version she usually used? And why did doing so sound so right at that moment?

“Yes?”

His single-word response packed a wallop, and she drew in another deep gulp of air. “What did I say? I can’t remember. And just what is going on here?”

She’d tried sounding a little annoyed, but the feeling truly wasn’t there. She was overwhelmed by sudden feelings of lust and yearnings that she hadn’t indulged in in a long time. She felt warm, and her body was getting hotter by the second. He had opened the French doors to the balcony and the gentle June breeze was coming through but was doing nothing to cool her off.

Her brain was warring with competing emotions. One side kept reminding her that this was Angelo, Sam’s outrageously sexy brother—the one who made her do a double take the first time she’d met him. But then the other side of her brain, the one that had a few screws loose on occasion, reminded her where she was and why. This was a singles resort, and she was here to celebrate her birthday. If she was going to get buck-wild, then shouldn’t it be with someone she knew?

Peyton blinked when he reached out with his thumb and touched her bottom lip moments before he leaned in close to her—so close she could feel the warmth of his breath on her mouth.

“I can show you what’s going on here, a whole hell of a lot better than I can tell you, Peyton,” he said, his voice dropping an octave to a sensuous low.

And then, before she could draw another breath, his mouth slanted across hers.

* * *

Angelo hadn’t known just how much he wanted Peyton until he got his first taste of her, and then it was on. He wasted no time kissing the confused look right off her lips. It was obvious she hadn’t expected it, but she would find out soon enough that he was full of surprises.

Now it was time to take the kiss to the next level.

She stiffened only for a second when he slid his tongue into her mouth and began devouring her with all the heated desire that had been bottled up inside of him for some time now—a couple of years in fact. During those two years he’d wondered how she tasted. Now he was finding out firsthand. Caught off guard, Peyton began returning his kiss. She didn’t have a choice, particularly when his tongue became more demanding and probing, exploring her mouth with a persistence and greed that he felt everywhere, especially in his groin.

Initially, he had thought about being gentle. After all, this was their first kiss and he intended for there to be plenty more. But the more his mouth plundered hers, the greedier he became. Whether she knew it or not, she was the one he wanted. The one woman he wanted to make love to.

Maddox and Damon thought he’d lost his mind, but they just didn’t understand. He hadn’t understood at first either, but now he did. His grandfather had always warned him things would be this way when he found the woman who was his soul mate.

For years, he hadn’t accepted such a thing was possible. At least he hadn’t wanted to believe it, considering he was having so much fun being single. But then the bachelor life had begun losing some of its allure and the thought of just being with one woman had begun to appeal to him.

He knew Peyton had had everything to do with his change of heart. She lived in Oklahoma, and he lived in New York. Sometimes he found the distance between them almost unbearable. In the past two years he had found excuse after excuse to visit his sister in Oklahoma. But now that Sam lived in Houston most of the time, he couldn’t rely on that as an excuse. That’s when he’d made the decision to do something about the woman he wanted in his love life.

When she leaned closer into him, he instinctively deepened the kiss. His tongue feasted on hers, staking a claim like he had every right to do so.

He wanted to just pick her up in his arms and carry her to the bedroom and make love to her, but he couldn’t. He had waited a long time, and so he wanted to do things right.

She suddenly broke off the kiss, and he watched her draw in a deep breath. Her lips were wet, and he wanted to taste them again. But the frown that marred her features let him know that wouldn’t be happening.

“What did you do that for?” she asked angrily.

He smiled when she unconsciously licked her top lip where his taste still lingered. “This is Dunwoody Cove,” he said. “Everyone who comes here does so for a reason, Peyton. And as you reminded me, you might be close to my family but you are not my sister. And I don’t intend to play the role of big brother to you—in fact, far from it.”

He leaned down and swiped a quick kiss from her lips. “Get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As he headed for the door, he knew without looking that she was standing there stunned. But she would have plenty of time to figure things out because starting tomorrow, he was taking off the kid gloves and Peyton Mahoney wouldn’t know what hit her until it was too late.

Chapter 3

Peyton opened her eyes then closed them when the insistent throbbing in her head became almost unbearable. It had been years since she’d had a serious hangover. Not since her college days, and this one was off the charts.

She kept her eyes closed as snippets of the previous night slowly began coming together in her mind. She recalled having a little more to drink than she’d intended. And then Angelo had appeared out of nowhere, and the next thing she knew he walked her back to her room where she’d rushed to the bathroom to throw up. She vaguely recalled what happened after she’d come out of the bathroom, and suddenly her eyes sprang open when she remembered that Angelo had kissed her. She reached out and touched her lips. Had he really kissed her or had she just dreamt it? She turned her body and stared up at the ceiling. Ignoring the deep pounding in her head, she tried to recall everything that had happened in the hotel room last night once she’d stepped out of the bathroom. They had been talking about nothing much, and he had gotten ready to leave. He had walked over to her, pulled her off her feet and into his arms and…

She shook her head. No, she had to be imagining things. There was no way Sam’s sexy-and-handsome-as-sin brother would have kissed her. It had to be the side-effects of last night’s drinking binge that had her brain mushy.

But if that was the case, then why was the memory of being locked in Angelo’s arms so vividly clear? They did kiss, she thought. And then there was his touch. She remembered his hands grazing her spine, which was exposed in her backless dress. There had been the feel of her body plastered close to his, and even now she could feel the solid wall of muscles pressed against her.

Peyton closed her eyes, unsure whether her memories were reality or fantasy. At that moment, the only thing she was absolutely sure of was the persistent pounding in her head. That, combined with the memory of being held and kissed by Angelo, made her brain feel as if it was in overdrive. She tried clearing her head and found it nearly impossible to do so. The pounding and memories continued. And moments later she was pulled into another deep sleep.

* * *

Angelo leaned back in his chair, sipped his coffee and smiled. His kiss had taken Peyton by surprise last night—probably shocked the living daylights out of her. That was good, and it was something she might as well get used to, he thought.

He knew there was a possibility that she wouldn’t remember anything about last night. That was okay since at some point today he intended to make his desire for her quite obvious. He had two weeks, and he intended to use them wisely. He’d never pursued a woman before. But then he’d never tried either. But he planned to do so with a purpose and a resolve like no other.

“Why am I not surprised to see you here DeAngelo?”

He glanced up and wished he hadn’t. Lela Stillwell, the woman who had been a thorn in Sam’s side throughout high school. For some reason the two of them always butted heads and had never gotten along. He later found out why. Lela always put herself on a pedestal, especially with the help of an over-indulgent father, who happened to be one of Angelo’s father’s clients.

Lela had come into the office several times with her old man some years ago, and Angelo had once even considered having an affair with her. But that was before she had accused a pro football player of attempted rape. The authorities weren’t buying it and had detected holes in her story. Angelo’s father had gotten her to drop the charges, and she later admitted that she had falsely accused the athlete when he had brushed off her advances. Luckily he didn’t press charges against Lela, but that was only after her father reached an out-of-court settlement with the accused athlete. Her father had sent her to Paris for a year or so until the scandal died down. Evidently she was back.