the toughest guys in the old neighborhood. A real badass. Which is why they had been such great friends.
She tipped her head. “Yeah. You know. The dependable type. Someone you can talk to. A guy who listens to your problems.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t think you could tell me about your problems?”
She pressed her lips together. “I didn’t mean…” She curled her legs up and pushed herself onto her knees, then leaned in close and kissed him. “Of course I do. It’s really more that … you have…” She shrugged, her lips turning up in an impish smile. “An edge. You’re sort of … unpredictable.”
“Admit it. You think I’m a badass, don’t you?” He flipped her onto her back, her sky blue eyes wide. He leaned down and consumed her lips in a fervent kiss. “All you women want is a bad-boy type.” He grinned. “Someone intent on dominating you, then walking away, leaving you brokenhearted. But deep inside, you believe you’ll tame his spirit and win him forever.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for another kiss, then smiled up at him. “And if we don’t, we know it’ll be a wild ride. Well worth the risk.”
His smile faded and he dragged her against him, his tongue driving between her lips, consuming her mouth with deep plunging strokes, leaving her breathless.
“Are you absolutely sure about that, Marie?”
She stared back at him, her blue eyes wide and filled with uncertainty. He silently cursed himself, then drew her onto his lap and kissed her again, this time with just as much passion, but with a gentle pressure of his mouth on hers, while he stroked her back in soothing circles.
When he finally released her, she stared at him, dazed. “Uh … you’re certainly in a weird mood tonight.”
He laughed. “Yeah. I told you, I need to keep you on your toes.” He eased her off his lap onto the couch beside him, then took a sip of his beer. “I think you want to go out with me because you know I’ll show you some thrills in the sack.”
She grinned. “Well, that’s not such a bad thing, is it?”
A broad smile claimed his face. “No. It’s the best. Now, I think we should order Chinese for dinner.”
“Sure. I’ll go get the take-out menu for the place in the strip mall down the street.”
She returned a moment later and they selected several dishes, then Zeke called in the order.
“You didn’t ask them to deliver,” Marie said once he’d hung up.
Zeke stood up. “No, I’m going to go pick it up.”
“You’re not going now, are you? It’ll be a while before it’s ready and the place is just a block away.”
He smiled. “That’s okay, I’ll take the long way. I’m in the mood for a walk.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck before he could pull away. “You really are in a weird mood today.” She kissed him, spearing her delicious tongue between his lips, sending his cock pulsing with need.
Her sweet seductive manner almost made him forget his intent, but he drew back and unwrapped her hands from his neck, kissing them briefly before releasing them.
“Down, sweet thing. I’ll be back before you know it.”
* * *
Zeke walked toward Ty’s door and knocked. A moment later, the door opened and Ty glared at him with chocolate brown eyes.
In fact, both eyes were brown, which meant he was wearing colored contact lenses to hide the fact that one eye was actually soft green with gold specks. Zeke shouldn’t be surprised. Although the women had always found Ty’s odd eyes sexy as sin, Ty had always felt it made him … flawed. In the old days, he’d embraced his so-called flaws … odd eyes, anger, dominant nature … but Zeke had a feeling the new Ty had decided to clean up his act and eliminate the flaws he could … and hide the rest.
Too bad he was so totally misguided.
“What the hell do you want?” Ty said.
Five
Zeke stared hard at his friend. Ex-friend actually. But by Ty’s