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.
“How are you, Lela?”
She slid into the seat across from him uninvited. “I’m doing fine now that I see that you’re here, Angelo.”
He gave her a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I don’t see why my presence would make a difference.”
“Don’t you?”
“Quite frankly, no,” he said, checking his watch. It was close to noon. If Peyton wasn’t up yet, then it was time for him to wake her up.
“I’m sure you know I’ve always been interested in you.”
“Have you?”
“Yes, and I think you’ve been interested in me as well. That unfortunate incident last year with Kevin Swank wasn’t my fault.”
He wondered how she could say that. When she had shown up at Swank’s home, security cameras had captured the entire incident. It hadn’t been hard to figure out who had been pursuing whom. There hadn’t been any inappropriate behavior on Kevin Swank’s part as Lela had claimed. She had nearly ruined his career and reputation with her allegations, which ultimately forced her father to fork over a hefty settlement to avoid a countersuit.
“I’ve been hearing a lot about you lately, Angelo,” she said, interrupting his thoughts. “Your name has been all in the news.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and you need the right woman by your side to help you handle all that media attention—one who is refined, elegant and poised.”
He
