She stared into the rich, ruby-red liquid in her glass. How was she supposed to have a normal relationship with a man? The very man who was supposed to bring her up, to nurture her, had turned his back on her when she’d needed him most. A law enforcement official, the very person she was supposed to trust, had assaulted her belief that she could trust anyone. And when she had tried, really tried with Jordan, thrown herself into her relationship with him with a blind faith that maybe her past was not the way it had to be, he had discarded her as though she was defective, worthy only of a cheap affair. And wasn’t that always what men wanted from her? Her body for the short period of time it took to slake their thirst?
Her fingers tightened around the stem of her glass and drew it to her. She didn’t want to be a loner. Sometimes she desperately wanted someone to lean on—to catch her when she fell so she didn’t always have to be the last line of defense. But that was the way it was. She chose not to engage because she wasn’t capable of a relationship. Not because she didn’t want one.
Gabe was wrong.
“Lex.”
Lilly’s excited voice came from behind her. She turned, ready to gather her sister into a huge hug and spill her guts, then saw who was with her. All three De Campo brothers, dressed to kill in designer suits and designer smiles. All except Gabe, that was.
Oh, God. Not tonight.
“Look who I brought with me,” Lilly buzzed. “Matty wanted to see you.”
Alex’s gaze bounced from Gabe to Riccardo to Matty back to Gabe, whose expressionless, I’m-not-angry look meant he was very, very angry.
She kicked herself out of her stupor, slid off the stool and gave Matty a hug. “Where is your gymnast? I heard you were dating an Olympian or something.”
“Finito.” He spread his hands with a rueful smile. “You want to help me lick my wounds?”
She detected a darkness behind his usual charming smile and would have called him on it if she hadn’t been so intent on the scowling De Campo across from her. “There are about a million women who’d be happy to do that,” she declined with a smile. “And you know that’s not my strong suit.”
“I live in hope.”
She gave Lilly’s hard-as-nails husband a kiss on both cheeks. The only thing soft about him was the indulgent smile he regularly lavished on his wife.
“Gabe,” she murmured last, moving on to brush a very cursory greeting to his cheek, lest the whole situation look as awkward as it felt. The current of awareness that ran through her as her lips made contact with his hard, tense flesh rocked her back on her heels. “I thought I wouldn’t see you until Friday.”
“Surprise.” The sarcasm in his tone was bested by the dark storminess of his gaze. She dragged hers away for fear of being singed. Caught Lilly staring at them.
“All the brothers together,” she murmured caustically. “Should we request a sign for the table indicating who’s married and who’s single so all the women have the groundwork laid out for them?”
Riccardo and Matty seemed to find that amusing. Gabe didn’t crack a smile.
“I’ll go tell the maître d’ we’re five now.” She grabbed Lilly’s arm. “Come with?”
Lilly gave her a sideways look as she dragged her to the reception stand. “What is wrong with you? What is wrong with Gabe, for that matter?”
“I would have told you if you hadn’t brought the whole De Campo clan along,” Alex hissed. “This was supposed to be us catching up.”
Her sister gave her one of those doe-eyed looks that would stop a serial killer in midstride. “Aww, Lex, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.” She curved her fingers around Alex’s arm. “We can talk after, okay?”
Alex sighed. “It’s fine. I just really needed to talk to you.”
“After, I promise.”
They were seated immediately once she threw the De Campo name around. Alex buried her attention in the menu, finding not one single item appealed to her. Why, oh, why hadn’t Lilly just left it the two of them? She could at least be venting instead of having to pretend she didn’t care.
“So tell us about the party.” Lilly asked. “I heard Jared Stone was there with that pop singer.”
“With Briana Bergen, yes. I sort of played with that match.”
Gabe shot her an icy glare. “You messed with one of the matches?”
She made a face. “It was worth a hundred photos. And it was just the one.”
“Do not do that in New York. It’s unethical.”
She spun her wineglass around and flashed him a recalcitrant look.
“Yes, well, the rest of the event looked great,” Lilly babbled, never one to tolerate a silence well. “The wine is receiving rave reviews. Congratulations, Gabe.”
“Grazie.” His stiff expression stayed firmly in place.
“Somehow I have a hard time picturing you two as roommates.” Lilly attempted a joke. “How did that go?”
The bread Alex was chewing lodged halfway down her throat. She swallowed hard and reached for her water.
“Alex is a moving target,” Gabe said evenly. “There one minute, gone the next.”
She ignored that. Looked up gratefully as the waiter came to take their order. Then excused herself to use the washroom once she was done. She took her time composing herself, applying lip gloss, anything to keep her away from that table. When she couldn’t avoid it any longer, she picked up her purse and walked out the door. Gabe stood lounging against the wall.
“Oh, no,” she murmured, squaring her shoulders. “We are not doing this again.”
He caught her by the arm, eyes blazing, mouth set. “Why not, when it was so much fun the last time?”
She yanked her arm loose and stood toe to toe with him. “Why so angry? What have I done now?”
“Why did you run?”
She lifted her shoulders. “You know why. I sent you a full update.”
“Someone here could have taken care of it. You ran, Lex. Why?”
“I didn’t trust anyone but me to fix the problem.” She pressed her hands to her hips and stared up at him. “It was one night, Gabe. We screwed. That’s all.”
A dangerous light went on in his eyes. She pulled in a breath as it slashed across her face. “I was worried about you. The way we left things— I wanted to know you were all right.”
“I’m fine,” she said harshly. “Don’t try and paint me as the wounded woman-child, Gabe. I’m far from that.”
“I’m surprised at you,” he said stonily. “The woman who takes on the world but won’t take on her feelings.”
“With you?” she whipped at him. “Why would I want to do that? Can you honestly say I would ever fit into your life as more than a night of good sex?”
Hot color slashed his cheekbones. His silence sliced through her heart like a knife. dpg is the way forward
“Exactly,” she murmured. “That’s the way it goes.”
A frown furrowed his brow. “What do you mean, ‘that’s the way it goes’?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she muttered. “What did you want me to do, Gabe? Be a girl and want to talk about it afterward? Tell you how hot you are in bed? Fall for that De Campo charm when I sure as hell know it isn’t going any further?”
“Lex—”
He reached for her but she backed away and held up a hand. “I am asking you to drop this right now.”
“Why?” he asked challengingly.
“Because you and I both know Saturday night wasn’t as simple as we’d like to make it out to be. The fact that you’re standing here glaring at me proves it.” She pushed her hair out of her face and took a deep breath. “Feelings are involved. My feelings are involved. And if you don’t want to hurt me, you’ll stay away.”
His gaze was hooded as it rested on her. She seized the opportunity, his brief moment of indecision, to turn on her heel and walk back toward the tables.
* * *
Alex and Gabe had been gone for close to fifteen minutes when Lilly blurted out the obvious. “Something’s going on between them.”
Her husband and Matty exchanged glances. “What?” she demanded.
Riccardo arched a brow at her. “They’re sleeping together.”
She set her glass down with a thud. “They are not. She would have told me.”
Matty nodded. “A hundred percent they are.”
“Oh my God.” That’s why her sister had been acting so weird. And Gabe.
“You think they’re having sex in the bathroom?” Matty mused.
Riccardo tipped his glass at him. “Good call. Would be good for him, actually.”
Lilly gave them a horrified look. “They are not having sex in the bathroom.”
“They’re doing something back there,” Riccardo stated evenly.
Alex got back to the table a couple of minutes later, quieter than Lilly had ever seen her. Gabe came back shortly after that. Their clothes were intact. But the two of them were not. One look at their faces told her Riccardo was right.
That suspicion was confirmed when Alex pleaded exhaustion after dinner and suggested coffee the next day. They dropped her off at her apartment.
Lilly looked at Riccardo after the door shut behind her sister. “This is either going to be really good or really bad.”