Chapter One
The doorbell rang.
Between blackmail, the threat of a lawsuit, and the throbbing hand she’d been sporting since delivering the smackdown of the century last week, Maya figured she’d earned some relaxation time. Screw her “appointment” with Dex—no way in hell she’d call it a real date. The man could get bent. She and her bathtub had plans.
Frickin’ Selena Thorpe. Maya snorted. The woman had been a major pain in the ass back in high school. A snob, a bigot and a bully—not only to Maya, but to her two best friends as well. So after learning Selena had ruined Maya’s best friend’s relationship all those years ago, causing so much pain… Yeah, she’d tricked the woman into returning to Bend for a little payback—a Maya-sized fist to the nose. So what? The bitch had deserved it.
Maya rubbed her knuckles, not at all sorry. If Dex hadn’t interfered, she would have knocked out a few of Selena’s teeth too, for shits and grins. And her friends said she had anger issues. She chuckled to herself, reliving Selena’s shock and ignoring the fact that she’d narrowly avoided a major lawsuit.
Dumb Dex and his meddling cousin had been good for one thing at least. Her heart raced at thoughts ofotherthings Dex would surely be good for, so she hastily focused on her bubble bath.
The doorbell rang again. And again. And again.
She ignored it and eased deeper into her tub, sighing with pleasure.
Thunderous knocking soon followed. Maya gritted her teeth and sank under the water. When she finally needed to breathe, she surfaced to silence. Only the flicker of candlelight, the aroma of jasmine and frothy bubbles caressing her skin teased her senses.
She closed her eyes and smiled, enveloped in an all-too-rare tranquility.
“Damn, you’re even sexier covered in suds.”
Maya screamed, flailed in the tub and nearly drowned herself.
Big hands slid under her arms to pull her above water. They also grazed her breasts when she tried to sink back down.
“Hey,” she sputtered.
“Easy, it’s just me. If you’d stop squirming, I wouldn’t be touching your…ah…there.”
She coughed and sat up, crossing her arms over her chest and praying she hadn’t decimated the bubbles guarding the rest of her. “What thehellare you doing in here?”
Dexter Black. Her nemesis—as she liked to think of him—raised a brow, and she barely held back from launching herself at him and taking the sexy oaf down. She had to crook her head to see all of him. It still floored her that the geeky dweeb she’d literally looked down on in high school had grown so tall.
And turned out so handsome.
From the scrawny nerd who’d once blackmailed her to be his prom date, Dex had matured into a hot-as-hell infuriating male. With his short black hair, broad chest, and even his big-ass feet, the man put the S in sexy. For the life of her, she couldn’t seem to block him from her thoughts.
And lucky, lucky Maya, the guy had recently moved back to Bend. Permanently.
He quirked a grin. “Got room in there for me?”
“Don’t you dare move,” she ordered. “Why are you in here?Howdid you get in here?”
“You left your door unlocked.”
“So you felt it was okay to come on in?”
He narrowed his eyes. “You have a problem with it? Call the cops and have them arrest me for breaking and entering.”
She’d like to, but then… “Why? So you can squeal on me to them about Selena? No thanks.”
“Exactly.” He gave a satisfied smile which faded as he stared at her. “I’m confused. Why are you in the bath? Did you forget we have a date tonight?”
“The first of many,” she sneered. “I can’t believe you have to blackmail women into going out with you.” She really couldn’t. At six-four, with dark hair, light gray eyes and a body that now featured in her dreams, the man caused mini-orgasms by simply breathing.
“I only blackmail the really pretty ones.” He winked, the bastard.
She had to fight not to smile. Not known for having a great sense of humor, Maya thought it odd that even after twelve years of not seeing him, Dex could still get her to smile.
