Heartbreaker (Unbreakable #1)(54)

On a hard swallow, I considered what he offered. More than a one-night stand. More than friends. I’d be risking it all on what I’d been afraid of for years. But then, my friend wasn’t promising me a guaranteed happy ending, just that it would be different—better.

Could I take that chance?

My heart raced. My whole body began to shake. I tried to push out of his hold, scared to death that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. What if my own fears screwed it up?

What if I…lost…him?

“That bad, huh?” His voice quieted as he tightened his arms around me.

I nodded, tears springing to my eyes.

“He really did a number on you.”

“Yeah.” My breath stuttered as I tried to pull air into my lungs. “I was crushed. It wasn’t just him. All the kids who’d ostracized me knew. Like I’d become some puzzling endangered species they stared at and whispered about until he flushed me out of the jungle one day and conquered me.”

“He was an *. They all were.”

“Yeah.” I sniffed.

“I’m not.”

“I know.” And yet fear still gripped me.

When my lips parted, all the reasons why I thought it was a bad idea ready to tumble off my tongue, he pressed a gentle finger to them.

Fierce determination glittered in his gaze.

“Don’t. Don’t say no. Don’t answer now. Don’t even think about it—about us.”

He huffed out a frustrated breath, brows furrowing. “All I’m saying is, don’t fight it. Don’t be afraid of us. If we are meant to happen…just let it.”

Then his eyes softened.

And my resolve crumbled on a whisper. “Okay.”





Darren…

Okay. Twenty-four hours later, Kiki’s soft-spoken word still echoed in my head.

So did the memory of her shoving gently against me, trying to break free of my hold—trying to deny…us. Which had only made me tighten my arms and my resolve.

No way was I letting her fears make her run.

I’d loved her pressed against me, all soft curves and hard determination. Black hair wild. Cheeks pinked. Fiery spirit masking a tender heart.

Before I’d had a chance to call her, she’d texted at 11:08 a.m. Saturday morning.



Okay if I run on my own today?



The gentleness of her request had floored me. She needed space. Time.



Of course. See you at the party tonight?



Her reply had pinged right back.



Definitely. I’m looking forward to it.



No afternoon had ever dragged slower.

Saturday night finally came. Set-up happened as usual. Cade played point man, like he typically did.

But the party started without his sisters showing up.

Minutes ticked by. Twenty…thirty…forty-five…an hour.

Nervous excitement buzzed through me.

Just to see Kiki.

I busied myself manning the sound booth. Colored lights pulsed onto a boogying dance floor. A rotating disco ball glittered over their heads. The low hum of conversations filled the space between notes of loud music.

The next time I glanced up, there she stood. In the middle of the dance floor.

I instantly abandoned my booth and strode through the crowd toward her.

She broke into a wide smile the moment her gaze fell on me.

My steps slowed as the hilarity of her outfit finally made it past my need to be near her.

“What…are you wearing?” I blinked, turned on in a shocked kind of way.

“It’s my 70’s getup.” She danced backwards, one step for every beat, shoulders and hips working the rhythm. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah.” My voice broke as my gaze roved downward from the foot-high bobbing Afro wig on her head.

“Amazing how fashion comes around. These are my favorite yoga pants.”

My favorite too.

Bell-bottom cuffs let her purple-polished toenails peek out. But the black fabric snugged in at her knees, clung to those sexy hips and thighs, then tucked inward at her trim waist—a waist I hadn’t seen before. Slight defined vertical cuts began somewhere under the waistband of those pants and ran upward, toward her ribs.

“You’re staring at my boobs.”

My lips quirked up. “Can’t help it. They’re bouncing.”

Yep. Hidden from view only by a clingy band of sparkling silver held up by two tiny straps.

“It’s vintage.”

Coolness edged her tone. As if she had no effect on me. That my throat hadn’t gone dry. That my cock behind my tightening jeans hadn’t grown hard. For her.

“Can’t believe I found it in a thrift shop,” she continued, oblivious. “Only needed a few extra sequins sewn on.” She talked about the bangles on her wrists. Then she described her other thrift-shop finds while showing off her shoes.

I’d stopped actively listening. Because it was her face, the glow in her cheeks and the bright shine in her eyes, that had stolen my attention.

Until she nodded her head so hard her outrageous hair shifted halfway down her forehead.

She pressed her lips together, fighting a smile as she straightened her wig.

“Kiki!” Kristen called out to her, waving.