The Sparkling One

of hot monkey sex. The alternative was doing it right here in the garden, but she’d never been one for public displays of affection.

Before she could decide if she could overcome her inhibitions, Zach drew back just enough to break the kiss. He rested his forehead on hers. She had a feeling he’d come to his senses, which really pissed her off. At least he was breathing just as hard as she was. She would hate to be the only one in the throes of uncontrolled passion.

He rubbed his thumb across her swollen lips. “You’re full of surprises.”

She tried to smile, but had a feeling it came out a little shaky at the corners. “The same could be said about you.”

“No way.” He cupped her face and kissed her again. “I’ve been kissing on and off for the past twenty years and I know I haven’t felt anything like that before. So it must be you.”

Even as she told herself his smooth line didn’t mean anything, she found herself desperately wanting to believe it. Okay, Zach had promised to do whatever he could to change her mind about Mia and David, but she didn’t want to believe he would go so far as to seduce her to his side. Except she had a feeling he just might.

The fact that she didn’t know should have sent her running for the hills, or at least her car. Instead she felt only regret that they hadn’t hooked up under slightly less charged circumstances.

“This is going to be complicated,” he said.

“Not for me.”

He grinned. “You’re tough, Katie. I like that. I like it a lot.”

His words made her shiver, which only proved she was a fool.

She stepped back and straightened her jacket. “This was great and all, but I really have to run.”

“You could come back to my place.”

The invitation, delivered in a sensually husky voice, made her knees melt. She had to consciously force her muscles to tighten so she wouldn’t collapse in a heap.

“I could, but I won’t. Thanks for asking, though.”

“Want a rain check?”

She risked glancing at him. His dark blue eyes were bright with passion, his lips were still swollen. He looked impossibly sexy and irresistible. Giving in made perfect sense. No one would blame her.

“This is L.A.,” she said. “We don’t actually get rain.”

“You’re afraid.”

“I’m smart.”

“And scared.”

As they both knew that was the truth; she didn’t see any point in admitting it. “Let’s just say I don’t trust you.”

She picked up her briefcase and made a timely retreat. Because ten more seconds in his company would put her on the verge of giving in, and she couldn’t risk that.

Mia stood up from her place at the kitchen table and stretched to relieve the muscles in her back. Too many hours spent hunched over a book, she thought. She crossed to the calendar posted on the refrigerator door, where she checked off another two-hour block of study. She only had a week until finals. As usual, she’d prepared a schedule dividing up her non-classroom time into review sessions. Also, as usual, she was right on schedule.

Thanks to Katie, she thought, her gaze straying to a picture of all four Marcelli girls standing together in the middle of a vineyard. Her sister had always been the most organized student, and she’d passed all her tricks along to Mia.

A knock on the door made her turn. She knew instantly who stood in the hallway of her apartment building. She wrestled with two parts anticipation and one part apprehension.

She crossed to the door and opened it.

“Before you say anything,” David told her as he entered, “I’m only staying thirty minutes. We need to stay focused on finals. But I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.”

She studied his familiar face, the blue eyes that she’d noticed right off, and the way his blond hair always fell across his forehead.

He held up a white bag. “I got your favorites,” he said. “Just yesterday I was reading that sugar helps with mental acuity.”

She glanced from the bag containing Baskin-Robbins ice cream to David. Apprehension faded as love swelled to take its place.

For the past few weeks, ever since they’d tried to shop for the gift registry, things had been kind of twisted between them. Not wrong, exactly, but not right, either. The fight had changed things. They’d been seeing each other, but the seeing had been strained.

Suddenly everything felt right again. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. He dropped the ice-cream bag and pulled her hard against him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, suddenly fighting tears.

“Me, too.” He kissed her. “I love you, Mia.”

“I love you more.”

He smiled at the familiar joke. She continued to cling to him, needing to crawl inside and be a part of him. Whatever else went wrong in her life, being with David was always right.

10

Zach arrived at the Marcelli hacienda shortly before five. The house calls were killing his billable hours, but he willingly accepted that. After all, there was a greater good to consider. Besides, he could feel time ticking away. It had been six weeks since David and Mia had announced their engagement. Six weeks during which he’d made little progress toward breaking up the happy couple.

A recent spat between them had given him hope, but David had called to tell him they’d made up. Katie had yet to see the light, and he found himself spending as much time thinking about getting her into bed as getting her on his side.

Brenna was a potential ally, but she was too caught up in her own personal grief to be of much help. So despite a plan to find a fellow dissenter in the enemy camp, he was still on his own.

He parked and collected his paperwork, then walked to the front door of the hacienda. Brenna met him there, looking dark-eyed and tragic. Despite her olive complexion, she appeared pale. Shadows stained the skin under her eyes, and there were new lines by the corners of her mouth. Divorce did not agree with her.

“Thanks for coming,” she said as she stepped back to invite him into the house. “I know I really need to start driving down to L.A., but right now that seems like an impossible task.”

“You haven’t been back to the apartment to collect your belongings?”

She gave a strangled laugh. “What is there to collect? Some old clothes and costume jewelry?”

“Stereo, television, a clock radio, whatever was yours to begin with.”

She frowned slightly. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you have a point. I guess I should force myself to check out the place. I can’t imagine Jeff would do anything to my things, but then I never thought he’d want a divorce, either.”

He’d heard of a whole lot worse. “If you find anything missing, I’ll need a complete inventory of what’s not there. Wanting to end the marriage doesn’t give him the right to destroy your personal property.”

She nodded listlessly, as if the entire process would take more energy than she had, then pointed to the living room.

“Do you want to work in there?”

“Somewhere with a table would be better.”

He had plenty of papers for her to review and some news that wasn’t going to brighten her day. It would piss off the family, as well.