One Breathless Night. Jo Leigh

and watch a movie and eat popcorn. Yeah, that sounded great.

      She kept her eye on the door for the next five minutes, but the only thing of interest was Rick leaving the suite. Two more minutes of pacing, and then she was really worried. She called Payton’s cell phone. Again. And again, but it went straight to voice mail.

      She’d have to go find him. The suite was packed but she made it out the door quickly. And then she saw Rick. Alone. Staring down the hallway with a rapt expression.

      Jenna followed his gaze. The hallway was busy with people, so at first, she only had a terrible feeling about what had made him stop in his tracks, but then she got the confirmation. A space in the crowd had opened up. As if to frame the last thing on earth she wanted to see. Payton and Faith were hugging so tightly Jenna forgot how to breathe.

      But it got worse. Jesus, how could it get so much worse?

      When they parted, it was only to take a half step back. Just enough room for Jenna to notice that Payton looked...happy. A different kind of happy. Nothing she’d seen in all their years together.

      So happy he’d forgotten her.

      “What the...?” She jumped and found Rick was inches away from her. He glanced at her, and then his gaze went back to the couple down the hall. He looked stunned.

      “They’re just friends,” she said to him. “He said that several times. Friends.”

      He seemed surprised to see himself next to her, but he was quick to go back to watching Faith and Payton. “That’s what she told me, too.”

      Payton continued to beam, even as he put their drinks on the closest surface, which happened to be a railing too narrow to properly hold the glasses, but he obviously didn’t give a shit about the drinks or her because he was talking a mile a minute, making another woman laugh, making her put her hand—both hands—over her heart. He spoke extravagantly, with lots of arm waving, although none of it in Jenna’s direction.

      She’d known him five years, and not at all.

      “Who the hell does he think he is?”

      Rather than watch the train wreck down the hall she turned to Rick. He looked ready to pound Payton into a puddle, and she thought that was a fine idea.

      “For one thing, he’s my fiancé.”

      He turned to her, and took a moment. “Look, I don’t want to cause a scene or anything, but I swear to God if he touches her again...”

      “I know. I mean, I don’t know. I’ve never seen him like this. Normally, he’s...nice. He hasn’t spared me a glance since your...girlfriend tried to absorb him into her skin.”

      Rick shook his head. “You saw that, too, huh?” He sighed, loudly. “I have a goddamn ring in my pocket. I feel like the world’s biggest idiot.”

      As tight as her stomach was, the implication of what he’d just said made it tighter. “We need to do something. Now. There are only a couple of minutes left.”

      “Do something? Like knock his block off?”

      She shrugged. “It’s too crowded to take a swing up here. You could hit anyone.”

      “My aim’s really good.”

      “Umm, has she ever done this before?” Jenna asked.

      “Hell, no. Goddamn it, she’d been so casual asking to come to this reunion. Like it was no big deal.”

      “I know. I mean, maybe they discovered they’re long lost...siblings?”

      Rick gave her a look that made her last hope vanish. “You ever touched your brother like that?” He was practically growling in a very Danger Bond way. It was sexy as hell.

      Oh, God.

      Something had to be wrong with her brain. Had she really just gotten weak-kneed over the man who wanted to beat up her fiancé? Alcohol was the only answer, even though she felt as sober as a...sober person. “I don’t know. Maybe you could hit him one time. One time wouldn’t be too much.”

      Rick retrieved something from his pocket, and for a moment Jenna was afraid it would be a gun or a knife. It wasn’t either, although she had the feeling he would have been handy with both. It turned out to be the ring, of course, and it was stunning. “It’s beautiful,” she said.

      “I thought so. I thought she’d think so, too. But then she met... Is he famous or something? Faith never said what he did for a living.”

      She sighed. “He’s an accountant.”

      “You’ve got to be kidding.”

      “I can’t seem to turn away. They just keep doing...” She moved her hand in a vague gesture.

      Rick wasn’t looking at her, though. He was tall enough to see over people’s heads. “Shit. She’s a well-respected journalist. She’s won awards. She specializes in covering natural disasters.”

      “Like the one we’re having now?” Jenna asked. The shock was wearing off a bit. More precisely, the shock was being shoved aside by a hurt that might be fatal.

      “Yeah, except there’s nothing natural about it,” he said, as he put the ring back in his pocket. “Great way to bring in the New Year, huh?”

      “I’m trying to think of one thing he could say right now that would fix this.” If only they’d left with Mindy and Zane...

      “Hey...” Rick put his hand on her arm. “You okay? You’re looking awfully pale.”

      “I’m fine, thanks,” she said, trying to breathe. “And by that I mean I’m not fine in any way. Although I doubt I’m going to faint.”

      “Ten...”

      The number filled the air, so loud it hushed the huge crowd.

      “Nine...”

      “Shit,” Rick said again. He took a step closer to Jenna. “If they—”

      “Eight...”

      “—even try to come back at the last second.” He faced Jenna. “She hasn’t even looked down this corridor. Not one look.”

      “Five, four...”

      People shifted, the crowd seemed to part, giving her another clear shot of the happy couple for a few seconds. If Payton glanced to his right, he would see her standing next to Rick. But he only had eyes for Faith.

      “For fuck’s sake,” Rick said. “All they’d needed to do was walk around a corner. We’d have never known why they’d missed the countdown.”

      “Maybe they planned...” They weren’t kissing, but they might as well be.

      On the count of three, Rick looked at Jenna again, and she’d never felt so much empathy for another person.

      Trying as hard as she could not to cry, she moved right into Rick’s personal space but she couldn’t look away.

      “One! Happy New Year!”

      Payton leaned closer to Faith. So close there was only one thing it could lead to. One second after Payton’s lips touched Faith’s, Rick put his hand on the back of Jenna’s neck and pulled her into their own midnight kiss.

      The moment his mouth touched hers...fireworks.

       3

      RICK PULLED JENNA closer and kissed her again. He thrust into her mouth as the cacophony around them spurred him on. Even through his tux he could feel her fingers digging into him, her lips and tongue as fierce as weapons, the anger and the heat between them more dangerous by the second.

      He hoped they were watching. That prick Payton