All the Way (4 page)

“You remembered I drink it black?”
Layla offered him a hesitant smile as she took a sip, enjoying the hot, nut-flavored liquid splashing down her throat.

“I remember a lot of things.”
The corners of his mouth slipped into a frown.
“Like your face tonight when I met you on the road.
What happened back there, Layla?”

The mug trembled between her fingers.
She set it on a coaster and shoved her hands in her lap.
“I…I was just worried about Robby.”

His eyebrows pulled together sympathetically, but a slight narrowing of his eyes told her he didn’t entirely believe that.
“While we’re on the subject, I’ve been thinking.”

“You said you knew where I could find him.”

“Not exactly,” he clarified, “but I know where
we
can look.”

“What do you mean?”

Setting down his mug, he turned, and she assumed it was accidental when his knee brushed hers.
“Bikers are generally a harmless group, but gangs are dangerous.
You’re positive that’s what Rob’s note said?”

She nodded. Drawing it out of her purse, she handed it to Blake to read.

After scanning it, Blake sighed.
“There is only one gang I know around here, but I can’t figure out how he hooked up with them.
A few months back, I introduced him to a good friend of mine, Will Waller. He’s an undercover police officer. They seemed to hit it off, with a lot in common. Rob seemed totally psyched about going into law enforcement after spending time with him, like he’d found his calling.”

“What?”
Layla frowned.
“He can’t stand cops.”

“I wonder why,” he deadpanned.

The rising heat of frustration filled her.
“Stop with Jack, already.”

“Johnson treated his dog with more respect than he did Rob.”

Layla shot to her feet, the accusation hitting too close to the truth.
“Did you invite me here to rub my face in my mistakes?
Because I can do that without your help.”
She snatched her purse off the coffee table.

On his feet before she could bolt, he blocked her in.
“Sit down.”
His voice came out low and harsh, and a quiver ran through her knees.
“I’m not finished.”

Layla blinked.
Her backside met the leather cushion.

“Thank you.
Now,” he said, joining her, “if Rob took off with this gang, there is only one place they’d be headed.
Sturgis.
It’s the biggest, most historic rally in the world, the Sturgis Black Hills Classic.
I’m heading there tomorrow myself.”
He took a deep breath.
“I think you should come with me.
We’ll look for him together.”

Blake’s smile seemed forced, like he was bracing himself.
As well he should.
“Yeah, great idea, Blake.
Because it worked so well the last time we tried that.”

His expression hardened.
“Why do I bother rebuilding this bridge we’ve burned a thousand times between us?
You throw every attempt back in my face.”

“Wow, that’s so big of you.
Too little, too late, don’t you think?”

“I think you need a man who knows what to do with that big attitude bottled up inside that hot little body.” His cool expression contrasted with the heat flaring in his eyes.

Layla’s stomach slid low in her abdomen and her smile slid off her face. Then she shook free of the lust he inspired. Did he really believe one steamy pick-up line could erase their past? She let out a spurt of laughter. “And you think you’re him?”

“Give me a chance and I’ll prove it.”

“You had your chance. You blew it. Game over.”

“So you never thought about us again? Never wondered what it would’ve been like if we’d talked things through, worked things out?”

She crossed her arms over her heart. “That has nothing to do with the reason I’m here—”

“Because I have. I’ve thought about saying to hell with what happened in the past. I’ve pictured me and Rob working on our motorcycles
in my garage, you coming up my driveway to get him after your restaurant shift. Your hair is in a loose ponytail, kind of mussed and sexy as hell. You’re too tired to be defensive. So when I say we should forget
what happened and pull you into my arms, you don’t resist. You let me touch you the way I’ve wanted to since it ended between us. That’s what I imagine when I think about you, Layla.”

“You…you do?” Confusion plagued her. Was he trying to distract her from his wrongs by reminder her how perfect their chemistry had been? How it had always felt so right when he touched her?

“I think about kissing you.”

His glance flicked to her lips and her mouth went dry.

“I think about holding you…”

His gaze traveled up and down her body and she felt her skin tingle all over.

“…Making love to you.”

He looked into her eyes, plumbed their depths as if he could see right into her soul. Desire pulled her tangled emotions into a tight knot inside her. “Blake, don’t.”

“Just tell me, Layla. So I can put this to rest. I need to hear you say you haven’t thought about me once since last year.”

She shifted uncomfortably, unable to look him in the eye. “Yes, I’ve thought about you,” she admitted, and a load lifted from her. Then she added, “That’s hardly relevant—”

“It’s not?” Suddenly his arms came around her, holding her tight against him. His lips were a breath away from hers. “Not even now?”

His mouth captured hers before she could answer.
She flattened her hands against his chest to push him away. Somehow they curved around his shoulders instead.

Liquid heat filled her veins.
Her pulse became as erratic as her breathing.

She tried to catch her breath and collect her thoughts.
She should be concentrating on her brother’s rescue.
But Blake blew through her defenses with his potent sensuality.
Damn him.

Of all the men in this world, why did Blake Desanto have to be the one who seeped into her veins and ignited her beyond reason or control?

Blake kissed and sipped the moisture off her lips.
He slid one arm around her waist and one hand into her hair.
The silky feel mesmerized him.
He sucked her tongue into his mouth, held it captive, teasing, flirting, easing into what he hoped would follow.

Finally, he would pick up where they had left off a year ago.
Every nerve ending sizzled with recognition that this was the woman who could ease the incurable ache inside him.

Is this what it took?
Would sleeping with her get her out of his system for good? God, he’d missed her.

He heard a sigh catch in her throat.
Her eyelids slid down, thick black lashes fanning her cheeks.
He’d tried so hard to forget she was this beautiful.

Battling with himself, he forced lust to override emotion.
“I want you,” he said roughly, fastening his mouth over hers again before she denied him.

How fast could he get her upstairs and into his bed?
Mmm…not fast enough
. He lifted the sides of her sexy red top so he could feel her bare skin beneath his fingertips.

And he knew he couldn’t wait. Taking her here, on the couch, wasn’t his first choice.
He’d rather have her in his bed, where he’d pictured her countless times.
But the heat from her fingers as they trailed down his neck drove him to sensual madness.

Until the back door crashed open.

Breaking the kiss, Layla sprang out of his arms to the other side of the sectional.
Blake’s nostrils flared, his arms spreading to grip the back of the couch.
He stared hard at the ceiling, willing away the erection threatening to burst his button-fly.
“I’m going to kill him,” Blake muttered, only half joking.

Boisterous conversation echoed through his kitchen.
A heavy thump was the sound of an amplifier hitting the floor.
Alongside the thud of his brother’s boots he heard the click of high heels belonging to the blond suctioned to his side.
Her boobs defied nature and gravity and gave away her profession.
Tanner never did have much in the way of lofty standards.
And actually, Blake admitted, for the past year neither had he.

The realization made him frown.
Mile-long legs, heavy makeup and a bodacious body seemed like a foolproof recovery, to bury himself in a fantasy, since he couldn’t have the naturally gorgeous reality of the woman he wanted.
But buxom and willing lost its appeal ages ago, and he still wasn’t cured.
Although he might have been, if his brother hadn’t barged in.

“Tanner,” he called out, “didn’t you say you were out for the night?”
By the end of the sentence, he spoke his words through his teeth.

“Just came by to drop off—”

Tanner froze, filling the doorframe.
Sweeping a glance over Layla, who blushed to the tips of her ears, he swung his attention to Blake.
His brother’s eyes glittered knowingly, a half-grin on his lips.

“My bad, bro. I guess I won’t stick around here then.”
His gaze moved to Layla again, and Blake recognized the look of appreciation.
His hands clenched in a surge of irrational possessiveness.
“Have a good one.
Don’t do it anywhere I wouldn’t do it.”

The blond on his arm erupted in ditsy giggles.
Tanner nodded at Blake and shut the back door behind him on his way out.

Blake gave a curt, two-finger wave and let his hand drop to his lap where Layla should be right now.
His groin throbbed at the thought.
With a sigh and a can’t-be-helped shrug, he said, “Now you’ve met the gigolo of 1428 Rosewood Street.”

Layla looked at him askance.
“He couldn’t possibly be worse than you.”

“Hey, Desantos are a competitive breed.
But Tanner’s long surpassed me.”

“More like a breed apart.
How charming.
To think, I was stumped over why women lined up at your door.”

His lashes lowered halfway.
“Let me pick up where we left off.
I’ll show you.”

“Not a chance,” she scoffed.
“You just caught me in an awkward moment and took advantage.”

“Layla Farrell had a moment of weakness?”

“I didn’t say
weakness
, and you’re changing the subject again.
We are supposed to be talking about Robby.
You can tease and flirt with me until I go out of my mind, but I will never be just another of your women.
I made the mistake once, thinking I was different and there was more between us.
How stupid could I be, right?”

“You didn’t have enough faith in me to find out, did you?”
If you had, you would know how much more you are to me
.
Maybe too much time had passed to salvage what they’d had. If he hadn’t been so stubborn and she hadn’t been so accusatory, things might’ve turned out differently between them. They had both put too much stock in being right, instead of trying to see things from the other’s point of view. It seemed nothing had changed. “Look,” he said on an exhale, “for once, we are actually on the same team.
You need to find your brother, and I am the only way you’re going to do it.”

“I’ll do just fine on my own.”
Her eyes didn’t share her confident tone.

“Is that right?”
Blake folded his hands behind his head, amused.
“You will single-handedly extract your brother from a motorcycle gang, with no car to get you to Sturgis and no clue how to find him once you get there?
This I’d pay to see.”

Not that he planned to let her get that far.
He intended to take her with him as much for her protection as for the guarantee of her brother’s safety.
Rob was like a little brother to him, too.
The kid would need his help once they got there.

Gratification stroked his ego when her glance flicked to his biceps, straining his T-shirt sleeves when he laced his fingers behind his head.
Her pupils dilated a fraction.
Not as immune as you want me to believe, are you, baby?
Perfect.
Seduction still a possibility, he could finally free himself from the hold she had on him.

If nothing else, this trip would be interesting.
Take two people who drive each other insane, who take turns wanting and hating each other, stick them on a motorcycle trip for four days, and see what happens.

It sounded like they’d found the road to disaster.
Or the highway to heaven.