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But this life?” Adrian waved as they came around the corner
25
into a kitchen fi lled with activity. “With my friends and my fam-
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ily. No paparazzi. No drama. Just great food and drink. That
27
keeps me grounded and sane. Makes me happy.”
28S
Damien tended to agree. Though he did like fast cars, par-
29N
ties and fast women, he appreciated the slower pace on the ranch
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his entire family lived on. There would be no games here tonight.
01
No label people to impress or to try to impress you. It was real
02
people, and god knew he needed that.
03
A pretty blonde scooted out the back door and he was disap-
04
pointed, as he loved a pretty blonde. But then he saw
her
. Dark 05
hair held back from her face though acres of curls strained at
06
their confi nement.
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She was bent over a counter, slicing a tomato. Her hands
08
glistened against the red fl esh. He’d seen women cut up toma-
09
toes hundreds of times over his life and had never actually got-
10
ten wood. Until that moment.
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And when she looked up, it was on a full- throated laugh as
12
Gillian put her head on Curly’s shoulder, also laughing. Gillian
13
was friendly and sweet, but this woman was clearly comfortable
14
with her friend, totally open.
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“English, there you are.” Adrian stepped to his fi ancée to
16
give her a kiss.
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Gillian smiled up at him. “I was trying to shoo Mary out of
18
here. I already got Jules gone. Thank goodness for Cal, who was
19
more than willing to help with that. But Mary is being diffi cult.”
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Mary. Ah, a name then.
21
Mary gave Gillian a somber look. “I have problems with
22
authority.”
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Damien laughed.
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Curly glanced up to catch his eye. “Hey there. Damien Hur-
25
ley is standing in Gideon’s kitchen.”
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And then . . . he blushed. Damien couldn’t recall the last time
27
he’d blushed, but it had been a while.
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“Mary Whaley, this is Damien Hurley. Damien, this is Mary;
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Lauren Dane
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she’s responsible for the food you
will
gorge yourself on. Trust 02
me on this. Once you start, you can’t stop. She’s also our very
03
dear friend.”
04
Gillian wrapped an arm around Mary’s shoulder, beaming.
05
Clearly so very proud. Damien couldn’t help but respond in
06
kind.
07
“I’d shake your hand, but mine are covered in tomato.” She
08
held them up. “Hang on, let me wash up.”
09
He watched as she moved to the sink. As she washed her
10
hands with precision she spoke over her shoulder to one of the
11
servers. She dried off and then removed the apron.
12
Wow.
13
Underneath the apron she wore a dress that hugged her
14
curves. And she had them.
15
“I’m so glad you went with that color.” Gillian beamed and
16
Damien agreed.
17
“Raspberry sorbet.” Damien hadn’t meant to say that out
18
loud.
19
Mary looked to him, holding her hand out. He took it in
20
both of his, bending to kiss her knuckles instead.
21
“Pleasure to meet you.”
22
“Please tell your mother I said she raised you right.”
23
“You smell like vanilla and cinnamon.” Why he kept blurt-
24
ing stupid shit, he had no idea. He was normally far more
25
fi nessed at this. “That’s a compliment, by the way.”
26
She laughed. “I made some coffee for my brother, Cal. He
27
likes vanilla and cinnamon in it.”
28S
He liked the sound of her laugh.
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“Mary, out of the kitchen now. I know you’ve pestered your
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staff more than enough. Everything is wonderful. I want you to
01
enjoy this party and I forbid you to do any more work.” Gillian
02
snatched something off a tray and popped it in Adrian’s mouth.
03
“Okay, okay. I just want everything to be perfect.”
04
Damien bent his arm and held it in her direction. “Shall we
05
go outside then?”
06
“All right.”
07
08
09
So, yeah, she knew Gillian would only tolerate her fussing with
10
the food for so long before she nagged her to stop and come
11
enjoy the party. But to up her game with this?
12
Damien Hurley sat across the table from her, drinking cham-
13
pagne and laughing with Miles, Adrian and Gillian’s son, before
14
Miles grabbed his plate and ambled off with his friends.
15
He was a thousand times more arresting in person than he
16
was on the television screen. Long and tall— and she had a weak-
17
ness for long and lanky— he seemed to take up the air in the
18
room when she’d looked up to fi nd him standing in the kitchen
19
with Adrian..
20
He had dark hair, a bit too long, so it fl opped down over his
21
eye every once in a while so he’d have to push it back. A casual
22
gesture that worked wonders with the muscles in his biceps.
23
Drumming muscles.
24
A rogue’s eyes, her mother would say. Big, fringed with lashes
25
as dark as the hair on his head. Intelligent with the light of
26
humor in them. His lips were framed by a neatly trimmed mus-
27
tache and beard. She knew too that he had lots of great ink on
S28
his body, though most of it was hidden by the clothes he wore.
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He had energy. Even as he relaxed he seemed to hum with
02
it. She tended to like that, as she was the same sort. And he
03
kissed her knuckles. Who kissed knuckles?
04
“Are you thinking dirty things?” Daisy slid into the chair
05
next to Mary. “And if so, fess up.”
06
Daisy was Mary’s closest, dearest friend. She had few fi lters,
07
a heart bigger than Texas, was an incredibly talented artist and
08
dancer and was absolutely gorgeous. If it weren’t for all the other 09
stuff, it would be easy not to like her at all.
10
Damien swiveled to catch her eye. “Dirty, huh? We all need
11
to hear.”
12
Mary, admittedly, was surprised he didn’t seem to give Daisy
13
a second glance. Daisy was, well, the aforementioned gorgeous.
14
“Pay no attention to her. She’s trying to start trouble.” Mary
15
waved a hand in Daisy’s direction.
16
Daisy laughed. “True. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know
17
that look on your face.”
18
“Don’t you have a handsome man to poke at?” Mary looked
19
around for Levi, Daisy’s boyfriend. Man friend. Lover. What-
20
ever. They’d found something powerful together and Mary liked
21
Levi a great deal. Very few people would be good enough for
22
her friend. He managed to be.
23
“He’s off with Brody talking tattoos. And who are you
24
then?” Daisy smiled up at Damien.
25
“This is Damien, he’s a friend of Adrian’s. Damien, this is
26
Daisy.” Gillian made the introductions.
27
“Nice to meet you.” Daisy grabbed a server as he passed with
28S
a tray. “What’s this? I haven’t had this one yet.”
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“Figs with cheese and prosciutto. You had these just a few
01
days ago.”
02
“Oh, yes. Then I need several because they are fabulous.”
03
True to her word, Mary watched as Daisy grabbed three little
04
plates and put them down on the table. “I got one for you,
05
Damien, because you didn’t have any and you should.” She
06
pushed one his way and then dug into hers.
07
Damien obediently took a bite and Mary got sort of sweaty
08
when he closed his eyes for a moment and sighed happily. Nor-
09
mally she liked it when people enjoyed her food, but this, well,
10
he was delicious.
11
“This.” He nodded solemnly.
12
Warmth fl ooded her. “Thank you. People often miss how
13
good simple food can be. Fresh makes a difference too.”
14
Mary tried to rein it in because she loved talking about food
15
and ingredients and she could go on and on.
16
“She’s an artist. You have music, she’s got food.”
17
Mary blushed. “Thank you, Adrian.”
18
“She’s doing the food for the wedding too. Next time you’re
19
in town we’ll have to be sure to go to her supper club. Insanely
20
good food.”
21
“I’ll be back for the wedding next month.”
22
Her heart sped for a few moments. It would be fun to fl irt
23
with him again.
24
Adrian looked back and forth between them and leaned to
25
say something to Gillian, who nodded. Mary knew that look
26
on Gillian’s face.
27
“Damien and his brothers are going on tour with us.”
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“Really? Awesome. I saw you guys. Twice, actually. Once at
02
Lollapalooza over at the Gorge. Another time Daisy and I drove
03
down to see you in San Francisco.”
04
Daisy mock- slapped her forehead. “I knew you looked famil-
05
iar! Sweet Hollow Ranch, right?”
06
“That’s us.”
07
“We sat so freaking far back for both those shows. Up on
08
the grass at the Gorge. Though when you go places with Mary
09
she brings treats. So everyone else will be eating crappy eight-
10
dollar nachos and she’ll whip out fresh mozzarella and tomatoes.
11
Tailgating is swankifi ed with Mary on your side.”
12
Damien wanted to reach over and kiss that mouth. Every
13
time Mary spoke, her bottom lip was so juicy and shiny it began
14
to make his cock throb in time with his pulse.
15
She seemed to gleam in the starlight and the glow of the fairy
16
lights in the trees. He liked the way she lit up when she spoke
17
with her friends. He liked the way she talked about food too.
18
“You’ll have to come see us when we’re touring then. I prom-
19
ise to get you better seats than up in the rafters if you’ll bring
20
me something tasty.” Like that mouth.
21
One corner of said mouth tipped up and he had to strangle
22
back a moan.
23
“All right. I’m getting pretty good at traveling with food.”
24
“She can whip up a freaking gourmet meal from a conve-
25
nience store on the dashboard of a car. She’s amazing.”
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Damien also dug the way her friends spoke about her. Adrian
27
had mentioned to him that Gillian had a very close group of
28S
friends there on the island. Clearly their love for one another
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was genuine and deep. It said a lot about a person— who loved
01
them best.
02
“Who’s that guy who keeps staring over here?” Damien
03
asked Adrian in an undertone. The way the guy stared, he began
04
to wonder if it was the boyfriend of one of the women at the