LITMIR.BIZ

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could catch the most bass when we camped at Adobe Creek.”

      “Who could get the most applause singing ‘Living on a Prayer’ in the cafeteria.”

      Zane exchanged an eye roll with his brother, amused at the replay of some of their stupider dares over the years. The raw-egg one had definitely been vile.

      “I think we’ve outgrown being dumbasses,” Zane decided, getting to his feet as Xander made his last shot to win the game.

      “We can’t have a reunion without a challenge,” Mike objected.

      “And I’ve got the perfect one,” Joe claimed, returning to the table with another pitcher of beer and a grin. “Remember the girl everyone wanted to date in school?”

      “No,” Zane said. He’d dated pretty much all the girls he wanted. Then he saw Xander’s gaze shift toward the bar. Following it, he frowned. “You mean the Princess?”

      “Yep, the Princess. Quinn Oswald was the finest girl in our class. Nobody here scored with her then, and nobody’s scored with her since she moved back to Little Creek.” From Joe’s expression that wasn’t for lack of trying on his part.

      Tension shot off Xander like bullets from a gun. Nothing pissed him off more than seeing someone disrespecting a lady.

      “We don’t bet on sex,” Zane said, laying one hand on Xander’s arm before he could throw the punch his scowl promised was coming.

      “Not sex,” Joe said, backing up with his hands in the air. “A date. Just a date.”

      “To the reunion dance,” Kyle added. “Last night of the event, everyone’s wearing clothes. Nothing rude about that, right? It’ll be like prom night all over again.”

      If Zane recalled, there had been a lot of not wearing clothes on prom night. But maybe that’d just been him and Cait Carson.

      “Just a date?” Xander asked in a chill tone, despite the tension Zane still felt shooting off him.

      “A date with Quinn Oswald to the reunion dance. Let’s make it easy on her and keep the choice between the two of you.” Mike looked from Xander to Zane and back again. “Challenge issued.”

      The brothers’ eyes met.

      There was something in Xander’s that Zane couldn’t read. He hesitated, but didn’t ask. Not here in front of everyone.

      “It’s better than raw eggs,” he pointed out instead.

      “Yeah.” Brow creased, Xander looked across the room at Quinn again. “Sure. Why not.”

      “Challenge accepted,” Zane said after a second, his eyes still on his brother’s face. Something was definitely up. But he knew he wouldn’t get anything out of Xander that Xander didn’t want to share.

      Zane grinned. He’d make him share later.

      For now, he had a pool game to win.

      And win he did, playing all comers over the next hour. He’d just accepted Lenny’s tequila challenge, and the offer of the guy’s couch since it meant Zane only had to walk across the street instead of driving, when Kyle sidled up next to him.

      “Dude, Xander is getting a step up on you,” Kyle muttered, adding an elbow to the ribs as emphasis.

      Zane glanced over to see his brother at the bar with the Princess and shrugged.

      “There’s plenty of time,” he said, grabbing his shot glass and toasting Lenny. “And fair’s fair. Xander got there first, it’s his shot.”

      Zane was drinking his.

      But Zane’s thoughts weren’t on the challenge, the reunion or even sexy princesses when he walked out of the bar. Not at closing, as he’d figured, but at half-past ten. Because, apparently, everyone had to work in the morning.

      What the hell?

      Wondering when they’d all gotten so old, he turned into the alley between the bakery and the coffee shop, heading for the stairs that led to Lenny’s place.

      And rammed into a wall.

      A tall, blond, curvaceous wall that cussed like a sailor when her feet went flying out from beneath her.

      “Sorry,” he muttered, making a grab and catching only fabric. He snagged her arm at the last second, holding her there, teetering on high heels.

      Whoa.

      His smile spread wide and wicked at the sight of the gorgeous blonde. She looked like a forties movie star with her side-swept bangs, sloe eyes and Cupid’s-bow lips. She didn’t look happy, though.

      Probably because he’d ripped her blouse, leaving her standing in a body-skimming black skirt that hit her shapely knees, stiletto heels and, if the dangling fabric was any indication, a lace demi-cup bra.

      “Hello, gorgeous.”

       4

      “WHAT THE HELL?” Vivian cursed, yanking herself free from the jerk that’d rammed into her.

      One arm pinwheeled as she tried to keep her balance, the other clutching the box of her latest creations close to her chest. For one second, she thought she had a chance as the stiletto heel of her sandal found cement.

      But she was no match for gravity.

      She hit the ground.

      The box hit the air.

      It rained chocolate. Freshly molded confections flew high in the air before gravity brought them down, too. Squealing, Vivian threw out her hands, trying to catch as many as she could from her prone position.

      “Don’t let them—” she huffed “—hit the ground.”

      Groaning as they did just that, Vivian dropped three pieces she’d rescued into her lap, then shoved at the hair curtaining her face. The better to glare as she cursed the man who’d knocked her on her ass.

      That was when she got a good look at him.

      Oh.

      Vivian’s breath caught in her chest. She was pretty sure there was some surprise mixed in there, but mostly what was running through her system was pure lust.

      “Zane? Zane Bennett?”

      “Damn, sorry about that.”

      He didn’t sound sorry, though.

      He didn’t look it, either.

      He looked sexy. So, so sexy.

      Those dark eyes, the chiseled jaw and, oh, baby, that bad-boy smile of his. It was enough to melt what was left of Vivian’s chocolate.

      “Hi,” she breathed as he helped her to her feet. Realizing she sounded—and probably looked—like a wide-eyed groupie, she cleared her throat and found her pride. “It’s great to see you again.”

      “Do we know each other?” he asked, his eyes narrowed as if he were trying to remember where from. Vivian bit her lip instead of answering. She didn’t want him seeing her as Mike’s little sister. Something about that designation had always seemed to make her invisible in the past.

      And invisible was the last thing she wanted to be around Zane.

      So she took a deep breath, thrust out her breasts and offered her sexiest smile.

      “We’ve never actually been introduced,” she said truthfully. “But everyone in town knows who the Bennett brothers are.”

      “Is that so?” he murmured, his voice dropping one sexy decibel.

      “That’s so.” Vivian cocked her hip to one side and lifted one hand to tick them off, one by one. “The Bennett brothers

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