Still Into You (14 page)

“She seems pretty tough to me. I doubt she needs anyone watching out for her.”

“Trust me. Evan always needed someone to do that even if she thinks she doesn’t.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Twelve years is a long time. People change.”

He grunted. “No one changes that much.”

“You should let it lie, man. She obviously doesn’t want to reminisce with you, and if you push it, you’re going to piss her off and risk her saying something to the doctor. Stay focused on why you’re here.”

Jace stood and stalked over to the mini-fridge to grab a beer. Yes, why he was here. That’s what he needed to concentrate on. Dr. Dan Witter could be the key to dragging Jace’s sales numbers out of the drastic decline they’d been in over the last year. Between the struggling economy and the financial hit he took from his divorce, Jace’s once-thriving business was on shaky ground.

If the good doctor agreed to feature Wicked as the best adult store and website for couples on his sure-to-be-a-hit new TV show,
Reignite the Flame
, Jace could almost guarantee that he’d get enough of a bump in business to stabilize his current location and expand the chain.

It was make-it-or-break-it time, and make-it was the only option he’d consider. He would rather die than admit to his parents that he’d fucked up yet again, that he’d made the wrong decision walking away from his lucrative financial planning job to pursue his passion.

He tipped back the beer and took a long swallow. He just needed to steer clear of Evan. That’s what he should’ve done when he was nineteen and that’s what he needed to do now. He wasn’t the guy looking out for her anymore. If there were things amiss in her life, it was none of his business. And even if he had wanted to make it his business, she’d certainly made it clear she had no intention of talking to him about it.

He turned back to Andre. “You’re right. No use dredging up the past with her anyway. I just wanted to make sure she was doing okay, and I guess she is.”

Andre sat forward, setting his feet back on the floor. “So what’s the deal with you two anyway? How do you know her? Old flame?”

Jace leaned against the wall, feeling his lack of sleep. He didn’t want to talk about this right now—or ever, really—but he knew Andre would put on his police interrogator hat if he tried to brush him off. Jace drained the last of his beer. “She lived with my family for a little over a year when I was in college. She was sixteen the last time I saw her. My parents fostered her.”

“What happened at sixteen?”

“She ran away. Without a goddamned trace.” He tossed his bottle in the trash can. “Seeing her again is like seeing a ghost.”

Andre’s forehead wrinkled. “So you were her foster brother? Man, the way she was looking at you, I would’ve bet money that you two had something more than that between you.”

Jace’s stomach knotted—the word
brother
stirring the old guilt into a maelstrom. His gaze shifted to the sliding glass doors and the darkened beach beyond. “Yeah, well, I’m not done with the story yet.”

Roni Loren
wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills haven’t improved, but she likes to think her storytelling ability has. Though she’ll forever be a New Orleans girl at heart, she now lives in Dallas with her husband and son. If she’s not working on her latest sexy story, you can find her reading, watching reality television, or indulging in her unhealthy addiction to rock stars—er, rock concerts. Yeah, that’s it. Visit her website at www.roniloren.com.

Titles by Roni Loren

Crash Into You

eSpecials

Still Into You