Californian Kings. Maureen Child

pleasure.

      His smile slipped a little and a quick flash of irritation sparked in his eyes. “If you’d really been trying to block that night out of your mind, you wouldn’t be so mad right now about me buying jewelry for another woman.”

      She hissed in a breath and when she spoke again, her voice was low and sizzled with fury. “Are you serious? Is your ego really that big?”

      “Bella, if you’d just shut up for a second…”

      “Shut up?” Her eyes went wide and her head jerked back as if he’d slapped her. She shot another quick look at Kevin and his customer as if to reassure herself that they were absorbed in their own discussion. “Shut up? I can’t believe you just said that to me.”

      “Bella, if you’ll let me talk,” he said, irritation beginning to color his voice.

      “Oh, you’ve said plenty,” she told him, riding the wave of anger that was cresting inside, threatening to choke her. “You’re standing here trying to charm me, all the while you’re buying expensive jewelry for some poor, misguided woman who probably thinks you love her.”

      “I do.”

      She actually gasped. Stung. Hurt. Furious. Amazing that all those emotions could crowd inside her at once, each clamoring for recognition. Pain jangled through her with sharp, jagged edges and she wondered why. Bella hadn’t thought she’d really cared one way or another about Jesse King, but hearing him admit to her that he loved another woman was just…awful.

      She shouldn’t care. It shouldn’t matter. Bella hadn’t seen him in three years. She didn’t want him in her life. But oh God, knowing that it would never happen hit her on a level she hadn’t really expected. And that made her even more furious with him.

      “You bastard.”

      “Hey,” he said, smiling now, “of course I love her. She’s a great woman. Funny, smart…”

      “Mazel tov,” she snapped and tried to walk past him. “Don’t bother sending me an invitation to the wedding.”

      “Wedding’s over.”

      “What?” That stopped her dead in her tracks. Had she really been fantasizing about a married man all this time? “You’re married?”

      Jesse laughed and finally Kevin and his customer turned to look at them curiously. After a moment or two, they went back to business, though Kevin still managed to keep one eye on them while he worked and Bella tried to get herself under control.

      This was even worse than she’d thought.

      “You’re married?” she repeated it, because she just couldn’t believe this.

      “No, I’m not. She is.”

      Better? She wondered, or worse? She voted worse. “Well, that makes you a real hero, doesn’t it? Buying jewelry for a married woman.”

      “Her husband will understand.”

      “Oh, sure he will.”

      “You don’t believe me,” he said, smiling, “but my cousin Travis knows that I’m nuts about his wife, Julie.”

      “Yeah, I’ll bet he does—” Bella broke off when his words finally registered. All her air left her in a rush as she noticed his wide smile and the pure enjoyment shining in his eyes. Still a little stunned, she whispered, “What?”

      He reached out, took her hand in his and moved his thumb over her skin in a caress meant to be soothing, but was instead firing up her nerve endings. Why did it have to be Jesse King who could electrify her entire body with a single touch?

      As if he knew exactly what she was thinking, his blue eyes danced with amusement and something more…intimate. “The necklace and earrings are for my cousin Travis’s wife, Julie.”

      Bella blinked, shook her head as if she hadn’t heard him correctly and repeated, just for clarification, “Your cousin’s wife?”

      “Yep,” Jesse said, one corner of his mouth lifting into a half grin and Bella knew he was enjoying himself. “She just had a baby. Their second. A boy this time. Their little girl, Katie, is almost two and Colin was born a month ago.”

      “So you bought her emeralds,” Bella said, feeling the last of her anger fade away to be replaced by a swell of something that felt a lot like tenderness. Which was a far more dangerous emotion to be entertaining about Jesse King.

      “I did,” he said. “She has green eyes, and Travis is always buying her emeralds, so when I saw that necklace here, I couldn’t resist.”

      He bought an expensive necklace for his cousin’s wife. Why did knowing that make Bella’s heart soften toward him? Because he was close to his family. Clearly appreciated them. And she’d lived most of her life alone, so family was something of an elusive dream for her.

      A small curl of envy wound through her for Julie King. Not only did she have a husband who loved her and two children, but she had cousins who cared enough to buy her something special to celebrate the birth of her child.

      “So,” he asked quietly, “am I still a pig?”

      “Probably,” Bella said on a sigh, “but not about this, obviously.”

      “You sound disappointed.”

      “No,” Bella admitted, meeting his gaze squarely, “just confused.”

      “Well, now,” Jesse said, still giving her that amazing smile of his, “I’ve gotta say, I consider that a step in the right direction.”

      “How’s that?”

      “Confusion means you’re no longer so sure that I’m the devil incarnate and that means just maybe you’re willing to take a chance.”

      Her heartbeat quickened and her stomach did a slow roll and spin. Darn it, her body was working against her. Bella knew, logically, that she should stay very far away from Jesse King. She’d already been burned once, so wouldn’t it be the height of stupidity to stand in line to be burned again?

      Yet…he was buying his cousin’s wife emeralds. He was close enough to his family that he not only wanted to do something special for the new mom, but it felt right to him to do it. That said something about him, too, didn’t it?

      Life had been a lot easier when she had just hated him.

      “What kind of chance?” she finally asked.

      That smile of his brightened even further. “How about you give me the opportunity to take you around my offices. Show you I’m not the CEO of the evil empire that you think I am.”

      “Why do you care what I think?” she asked, instead of answering his question.

      He studied her for a long minute before admitting, “I’m not sure, but I do.”

      “That’s honest anyway.”

      “I’m just that kind of guy.”

      “Hmm. That’s yet to be seen,” Bella said softly, “but I’ll take the tour of King Beach.”

      “That’s good enough for now,” he said. “How about in an hour?”

      “Fine,” she said, the fight gone out of her as her mind and heart and body all struggled to make sense of this latest insight into Jesse King.

      “Okay. See you then.” He walked out of Kevin’s shop without a backward glance, leaving Bella feeling more confused than ever.

Chapter Five

      Jesse waited for Bella on the sidewalk outside King Beach. For some weird reason, he felt almost like a teenager on a first date. Which was beyond stupid. Since