Sisters in Love (Snow Sisters, Book One: Love in Bloom Series #1) (5 page)

The lights inside the modest two-story home
went out. Blake stepped off the porch in a stupor of sorrow and
guilt. His shoulders rounded forward as tears filled his eyes. He
opened his car door and sat in the driver’s seat, wanting
desperately not to be alone.

Danica was on her third drink, feeling less
inhibited and enjoying the feeling of having her guard down. She
drank so rarely that she had an almost immediate reaction to
it.

“Hey, there’s Jeffrey and Mike.” Kaylie
pointed at Camille’s fiancé. “Oh. My. God. Yummy, yummy.” Kaylie
stared beyond Jeffrey and Mike, to the entrance of the bar, where
two men filed in like rowdy football players. One of the men leaned
down to hug a woman as he passed. Behind him, the man from the
coffee shop came into clear view.

Oh shit
.

“Dibs!” Kaylie squealed.

“Oh no, you do
not
want him. Trust
me.” Danica downed her drink, while Kaylie nursed hers.

“Are you kidding me? Want him? I
need
to taste him, feel him, own him—at least for a night or two.”
Kaylie’s eyes danced with mischief. “Look at that body. Where on
earth has he been hiding?” In a serious voice, she asked, “Do you
know him? Can you introduce me?”

Danica’s throat tightened. Behind Jeffrey and
Mike, Blake was making a beeline for the bar, right where she and
Kaylie were standing. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. This
was impossible. Too coincidental.

“Danica, you look beautiful!” Jeffrey was the
mirror image of Bradley Cooper. He was athletic, smart, witty, and
very, very rich.

Danica kissed his cheek. “What are you doing
here?”

“I can’t let my fiancé go out alone on a
Saturday night, can I? I brought my guys to make sure the
bridesmaids weren’t misbehaving.” Behind him, his posse of
groomsmen were greeting Kaylie and the others. Danica told herself
that Adonis’s presence was just a coincidence; he wasn’t one of
Jeffrey’s groomsmen. They couldn’t know each other, could they?
Wouldn’t she have known that? She’d seen the list of the bridal
party and there was no Blake on it. Why, then, was he walking
toward her, his eyes locked on hers, his goddamned gorgeous body
coming closer by the second, rattling her nerves until her legs
were trembling. She yanked at the hem of her dress, wishing she’d
worn pants, something, anything to cover up her body a little more.
Now that she was among the bold and the beautiful, she didn’t feel
quite as in proportion as she had in front of her mirror.

Kaylie elbowed her. “Here he comes!”

He was there, standing right in front of her
in his black, button-down shirt and black slacks, his thick, wavy
hair perfectly coiffed like Patrick Dempsey’s. A smile spread
across his cheeks; his teeth were like little, polished pearls,
perfectly formed and as white as snow.
He knows he’s hot. He’s
an egomaniac for sure
. But something was different from when
she’d first seen him. His eyes had lost their roguish spark. He
looked…sad. Surely she was misreading him. What did she know about
him, anyway? This was probably his sullen pick-up look.

“Hi.” Kaylie touched his forearm. “I’m
Kaylie.”

His green eyes flicked toward Kaylie, then
right back to Danica. “Hi, Kaylie. I’m Blake.”

“This is Danica,” Kaylie said quickly.

Danica could actually feel her heart turning
soft against her steeled reserve. His deep voice reeled her in. He
leaned down and kissed Danica on the cheek. Tommy Hilfiger cologne
assaulted her senses and weakened her knees.

“The nose looks better,” he said.

“You’re the one who bonked her nose?” Kaylie
turned her back to Blake and mouthed to Danica,
That’s the
jerk?

Danica nodded.

Kaylie mouthed,
Oh my God
, and her
eyes sprang open wide.

“It’s much better,” Danica responded.

“I really don’t make a habit of going around
elbowing women. I’m sorry.”

His swarthiness had toned down a notch. Her
therapist senses came to attention. “It’s okay. Are you with—” She
pointed to Jeffrey, who was buying a round of drinks at the
bar.

“Jeffrey? We know each other from college. He
came by the shop the other day to get some gear and mentioned he’d
be here tonight.”

“Gear?” Danica asked.

Jeffrey handed a beer to Blake and piña
coladas to Danica and Kaylie.

“Thanks, man,” Blake said.

“I see you’ve met these lovely ladies,”
Jeffrey said. He turned toward Danica and answered, “Ski gear.
Blake owns AcroSki, just down the block. I got to go give my girl a
squeeze.” He headed for the booth where the others had settled
in.

Of course he does
.
Mr. Perfect,
drop-dead gorgeous
and
a business owner
.

“AcroSki? What’s the Acro for?” Kaylie asked,
as she slowly drank in every inch of Blake while she twirled her
hair.

Danica watched Kaylie give Blake her best
I-wanna-fuck-you
look, her eyes soft and dark, the signature
lick of her lips, and…
Don’t do it
.
Don’t entice a guy who
I can’t decide if I want to make out with or kick in the ass…Please
don’t do it
.

Kaylie dropped her finger from the end of her
curl to her open neckline, then ran it along the crest of her
breast and looked down, as if she’d had a tickle there.

Blake’s eyes followed. “Acro, you know, for
acrobatic?” He took a swig of his beer, shifting his eyes from
Kaylie’s breasts to Danica. He raised the beer bottle in her
direction, as if to say,
Hey there
.

Danica’s insides tightened.
Is he just
being nice or flirting?
Kaylie would know the difference.
Danica had no clue.

Kaylie touched his hand. “Wait. You actually
do acrobatics on skis? Like jumps and stuff?”

Danica had seen that touch a thousand times.
Next she’d laugh, throw her head back, and expose that gorgeous
neck that men could not resist. Anger rose within her. Why was she
angry? Let Kaylie have him. Who cared? She looked away in an effort
to let go of the anger. Her eyes immediately found their way back
to him. The simmering heat in her body remained.

“Jumps, flips, spins, you name it, I can do
it.” He shot a glance at Danica and winked.

“Of course you can,” Danica snipped.
Asshole
. “He’s all yours,” she said to Kaylie, and didn’t
dare look at Blake for fear of finding yet another thing way too
handsome to ignore. She felt his stare burning into her back as she
headed for the nearby booth where Camille, Chelsea, Marie, and
Stephanie were leaning head-to-head, drinks at the ready within
their perfectly manicured fingers. They’d left their men behind for
the girls' night out, and Danica wondered if they’d minded that
Jeff had crashed their outing. Love drove Jeff there. She could see
it in the glow in his eyes, and a nagging need in the back of her
mind wanted to feel that same love.

She was proud of herself for walking away
from Blake. The last thing she needed was a guy with roaming
eyes…or anything else that tended to roam. A familiar feeling crept
in like a giant spider, wrapping itself around her muscles and
squeezing them so tightly that she wanted to scream. She bit back
the jealousy she’d so often felt toward Kaylie and sat in the
booth. While watching Kaylie and Blake out of the corner of her
eye, she downed another drink and leaned in to hear what the girls
were talking about.

“His name’s Blake,” Camille explained while
the girls salivated.

Of course…

Blake watched Danica walk away and took
another swig of his beer. She was feisty, with a killer body and
the sexiest hair he’d ever seen. There weren’t many women who
walked away from him. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last one
who had. He watched her huddled with the other women at the table.
He longed to touch her wild, unkempt hair, to slide his hand under
that mass of curls and touch the hidden skin beneath. Why was he so
drawn to someone who clearly did not like him?

“I would love to go with you sometime.
Skiing, I mean. Maybe you could teach me how to do some of those
tricks.”

He turned back to Kaylie. The thought of
hitting the slopes so soon after Dave’s death turned his stomach.
Dave
. Blake closed his eyes for a minute, remembering Dave’s
anger as he’d stomped away. He couldn’t believe he was really gone,
and he didn’t want to think about it now. It hurt too much. He
snuck another glimpse at Danica. He needed something to keep his
mind off of Dave’s death, but Kaylie wasn’t the answer. She was too
sweet, too easy.

“I’m free this weekend. I mean, if you’re
going.”

She was practically standing on top of him.
Her straight, blond hair flowed like silk across her shoulders, a
few manufactured curls spread throughout. He looked around the
crowded bar and counted at least four guys staring at her. The
competitive side of him reared up even though he wasn’t sure he
wanted her for himself. He gently touched her upper arm, staking
claim, and at the same time, he glanced over at one of the men. The
man immediately looked away. As he drew his eyes back to Kaylie, he
skimmed the table where Danica sat nursing another drink.

Danica turned around. Their eyes locked. She
squinted at him, not a friendly squint, more of a
how-dare-you
squint.

She turned away.

He realized he was still holding Kaylie’s
arm. He dropped his hand and said, “I’m not going skiing anytime
soon.”
I have to get out of here
.

“Well, we could still get together. I’m sure
you have other tricks you could share with me,” Kaylie said with a
playful smirk.

Blake remembered his reflection in the mirror
after the quickie with the redhead. He hadn’t liked what he’d seen,
and now, with the loss of his best friend, which he was desperately
trying to forget for just a few more hours, the last thing he
wanted was to be sexy and coy. He’d come to the bar on the prowl
for an outlet, and Danica and this friend of hers were messing with
his mojo.

He set his sights on Danica and chugged the
rest of his beer, held it up toward the bartender, then sucked down
half of the new one in one gulp. He felt caught between what would
be the right thing to do—go home and mourn his friend—and the way
his body was betraying him. He didn’t want to be the guy who had
meaningless sex with any beautiful and willing woman anymore, but
his body was aching for the familiar release. With a woman in his
arms, he could focus on the pleasure, maybe even turn his mind off
completely, forget the pain of it all, and lose himself in the heat
of the moment.

He eyed a blonde at the end of the bar.
“Look, your friends are getting together. Why don’t you join them?”
He walked away, leaving Kaylie to stare after him, her jaw hanging
open. He raised his beer in the direction of the blonde and she
waved him over.

Danica steeled herself against the edge of
the booth so Marie could get past her and go to the ladies’ room.
The floor swayed beneath her feet. Shit, she’d had a lot to
drink.

Kaylie took the seat near where Danica stood
and accepted a beer from the young, melon-boobed waitress. Kaylie’s
face was pinched tight. Danica tried to read her angry eyes but had
a hard time focusing.

 “Told you he was a jerk,” she
slurred.

“I’m fine, and he’s not. He’s just not
interested.” Kaylie sighed.

Blake sat at the bar with the blonde. His
eyes darted over. Danica shot him a nasty sneer. “Only a douche
wouldn’t be interested in you.” She swayed toward the booth.

Kaylie pulled her down to sit beside her.
“Jesus, how many have you had?”

“I don’t know. Three, four. Five, maybe? I’m
fine. You always tell me to get out and live a little. That’s what
I’m doing. Living.”

“I said you locked yourself up in your office
too much. I never said to get sloshed and leave me to fend for
myself.” She looked in Blake’s direction. “Can you believe he
doesn’t want me?” Kaylie pouted, pulling at the label on the beer
bottle.

He wants anyone from nineteen to
ninety-nine, guaranteed
. Danica stared at the hunk of a man who
was Blake Carter, trying to figure out why he rubbed her the wrong
way—and why he also rubbed her in enough of the right ways to make
butterflies swirl in her stomach like a lovesick teenager. The
insanely big-boobed waitress handed him another beer. Blake leaned
in close and said something in her ear. His fiery eyes shifted,
then caught on Danica.

Just one look from his sexy, roving eyes was
all it took.
Oh yeah, that’s why
.

An hour later, Danica was dying to get home.
She couldn’t watch Blake, whom she’d renamed in her head as Mr.
Arrogant, any longer. Two blondes flanked him at the bar. She
looked around and wondered when Camille and the others had left.
Had she been watching Blake the whole time? She remembered
listening to bits and pieces of the conversations, and at some
point someone handed her another drink. Heat ran up her chest. Was
she
that
drunk?

Kaylie whispered in Danica’s ear, “I’ll call
you tomorrow.”

Danica peered around her little sister. In
her drunken haze, the bar swirled. An adorable guy with dirty-blond
hair was holding Kaylie’s hand. “Who’s that?” she slurred.

“Chaz. You okay to walk home?”

Danica swatted the air. “Sheesh, yeah, it's
only a couple blocks. Go. Have fun.”  She watched Kaylie walk
away and took that cue as her time to leave. She hadn’t been this
drunk since she and John broke up; it hadn’t helped back then,
either. She pushed to her feet as Blake and his entourage stood. He
was heading her way, one arm around each of the women.

It’s now or never
. She pushed herself
in the direction of the door, hoping to beat him to the exit.