Taking the Heat (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 3)

She shook her head. “I don’t know how you do that.”

He shrugged. “It was scary, but it was what I was there for. It’s what you’re there for, too. And I think what you deal with is a hell of a lot more frightening than a broken ankle. You’re scared because you’re taking it seriously and you care.”

She laughed. “Is that why I’m scared? I thought it was because I was scared of everything.”

“You do a good job of hiding it.”

“Yeah,” she breathed. “I’m good at that.”

“You’re good at a lot of things,” he said, not meaning it as a flirtation, but she looked up at him with a wicked smile and his mind immediately turned toward the shower that was only a few dozen feet away.

“I’m a quick learner,” she promised.

“Then let’s get your ass inside.”

She grabbed one of the bags and held out a hand. “Lead the way.” He did.

Some part of his brain was aware that the knob turned too easily under his key, but he was too distracted by Veronica’s naughty smile to be alarmed. The shower was only a dozen feet away now, and—

The door swung open. Someone rushed at him. And suddenly the wrong woman was in his arms.

“Gabe!” she shrieked, jumping up and hitting him with her full weight as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. He stumbled back under the assault, twisting to avoid bodychecking Veronica. His assailant’s bright red hair swung into his eyes.

“Naomi?” he gasped.

“Surprise!” she yelled as another woman stepped out of his apartment and waved.

His sister was here. And she’d brought a friend.

Oh, shit. His gaze slid to Veronica’s round eyes and slack jaw.

He shook his head, but there was no stopping this now. His family had dropped straight into Veronica’s lap. And the truth couldn’t be far behind.

* * *

THE MOST GORGEOUS WOMAN in the entire world was wrapped around Gabe’s body and clinging like a vine. Or maybe the second woman standing in his doorway was the most gorgeous woman in the world. Definitely one of them was and both were focused on Gabe.

The woman draped around Gabe tossed her head and laughed, her long red hair swinging back as if she was in a shampoo commercial. “Are you surprised?” she shrieked.

Yes. Veronica was surprised. And starting to feel a little sick.

Gabe wasn’t her boyfriend. She knew that. But she’d kind of been pretending that he would be.

Still, he was free to date other women at this point. Just...just not someone so utterly stunning.

The laughing redhead was disentangling herself from Gabe now as he gasped out, “Naomi?” one more time.

God, she even had a beautiful name. And as she put her feet down and stood straight, the beauty just kept going. In her heels, she was as tall as Gabe, maybe even taller. She wore red pumps and the tightest jeans Veronica had ever seen, which only made her impossibly long legs longer.

“What are you doing here?” Gabe asked, his eyes darting from Veronica to Naomi and back again. “You said maybe next week.”

“I missed you and I wanted to surprise you. Surprise!”

Yes, Veronica was definitely feeling sick now. This girl had missed Gabe. He’d just moved here. She was his ex from Cincinnati. Or not his ex. Veronica backed up a step. She was his girlfriend from Cincinnati.

“Oh, my God,” Naomi groaned, “You’re not even happy to see me. It’s been nine months!”

His girlfriend from somewhere else.