Pushing His Luck (Surf, Sun & Sex Book 3) Read online

  “I can’t believe he could be this stupid,” Natalie seethed. “Sean was furious when I told him how Paul had treated you. The second he realizes the prick’s here with another woman, he’s going to kill him.”

  “He’ll have to get in line behind Chris,” Sophie added, sounding just as angry as Nat.

  “K, are you all right?” Natalie asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

  “I…” She tried to force the rest of her response out, but couldn’t, her jaw locking down when Paul’s dark blue, bloodshot eyes suddenly looked right at her. She could have sworn he flinched, for just a second, before his face was wiped clear of all emotion and he quickly glanced away, lowering his head and placing a kiss on the side of the blonde’s tanned throat, while sliding his left hand down the back of her shorts.

  “I have to go,” she blurted, turning back around so swiftly she nearly toppled the chair over.

  Natalie looked stricken. “Don’t. Don’t do that. Don’t run.”

  Karin blinked up at her friend, unable to believe that was Natalie’s advice. “What?”

  Natalie’s forehead creased as she lowered her voice. “I know it sucks, but don’t let him run you off. You’re the one who has the right to be here. This is where you live. Not him. He doesn’t get to show up like this, after what he did, and make out with another woman right in front of everyone, rubbing it in your face.”

  Oh God. Making out? She couldn’t stop herself from taking another quick glance over her shoulder, and sure enough, the blonde looked like she was trying to eat his face off.

  Looking forward again, Karin downed the rest of her drink and sucked in a sharp breath, using every ounce of strength she possessed to fight off the hot tears that were burning at the backs of her eyes. There were no words for how badly she hated being one of those people who cried when they were hit by a heavy wave of emotion, whether it was sadness or anger or fear. The last freaking thing she wanted was to look upset in front of the jerk, so she just kept sucking in deep breaths and blinking like a crazy person.

  “I just don’t get it,” Natalie said, sounding angry and confused. “Paul might be a hard-ass alpha, but he’s a good guy. He’s not the type to be a dick. To any woman. And you’re not just any woman, K. You’re fucking gorgeous, you’re successful, and you’re an amazing mom. I mean, you’ve got the kind of looks that make men trip over their feet when they see you, and an awesome personality. No way in hell was he not into you.”

  “I love you, but you’re freaking blind if you think men trip when they see me. And if Paul was ever into me, which I seriously doubt, he fell out of it pretty quickly.”

  “No, Natalie’s right,” Sophie said. “Chris and I have both noticed how closely Paul watches you. We’ve been talking about it for months.”

  “What?” she gasped, blinking up at her friend in surprise. Even though he’d asked her out for a drink the first time they’d met, when he ran into her and Natalie at Manolo’s back in the fall, and he never failed to say something that was just flirtatious enough to make her blush whenever they hung out, she’d kind of felt that she’d been friend-zoned until the stupid bonfire two weeks ago.

  “It’s true,” Sophie said with a little nod. “Ever since we all became friends, if you’re anywhere in the vicinity, Paul’s eyes are on you. Always. We were both surprised it took him so long to make a move.”

  “Huh. Weird,” she mumbled, still finding it odd that he’d been attracted to her in the first place. But while she wasn’t basking in confidence, she also wasn’t going to body shame herself for having had a kid. She had curves now and she was fine with that.

  The sad truth was that she’d always viewed Paul’s about-face after they’d first met as more of a lifestyle thing, seeing as how she was a bit shy and not at all flashy. And Paul was… Well, he was the kind of hotness that meant he could date anyone he wanted. The kind of guy who could easily walk into any event and quickly have the most beautiful, dynamic woman in the room begging for his attention.

  “I wonder what happened,” Sophie mused, probably wishing she could get him under one of her microscopes and somehow uncover an answer. “I mean, there’s got to be a reason for his dick-of-the-year behavior.”

  Karin’s chest shook with a hard, humorless laugh. “Who knows? Maybe I’m just a really bad kisser.”

  Natalie frowned, clearly unhappy to hear her bagging on herself.

  She lifted her shoulders in a sad shrug. “Or maybe he just decided that he didn’t want to bother dating a single mom.”

  “If that’s the case, Sean won’t need to kick his ass. I’ll be doing it for him.” Natalie tossed her glossy red hair over her shoulder as she sniffed with disdain, then looked over at Paul again. “God, he’s so wasted he can barely stay on his feet. I don’t even think I’ve ever seen him drunk before, and now this.”

  Before she could respond, Chris obviously got his first look at Paul and the blonde, because he suddenly snarled, “What the fuck?” and was on the move.

  As the chattering around them ground to a halt, every person there seemed to be watching with varying degrees of confused fascination and dread as Chris walked around the edge of the bonfire, heading straight for Paul, a scowling Sean right at his side. When they reached Paul and the blonde, he had his arm wrapped around her waist and she was kissing his neck, her lips trailing drunkenly across the Celtic tattoo that covered his left shoulder and trailed up the side of his throat.

  Hating that Chris was about to get into a fight on her behalf, Karin quickly rose to her feet. But before her cousin could throw a punch, Sean stepped forward and got right in his brother’s face. “What the fuck is wrong with you, man?”

  Staring into his brother’s outraged face, Paul somehow managed to force down the nauseating shame that was curling through his insides until it was finally so deep, he couldn’t feel it.

  Christ, he was so drunk he could no longer recall why this whole charade had ever seemed like a good idea, but there was no going back now. He’d started this shit, and now he was going to finish it. Then maybe he’d finally be able to stop thinking about Karin Riley every fucking second of every day, and get the hell on with his life.

  “Sean. Chris,” he murmured, unable to keep from slurring their names.

  “You’re completely wasted,” his brother muttered with disgust, while their friend Chris just looked like he wanted to beat the shit out of him. The guy was super-protective of his cousin, not that Paul blamed him. Karin Riley might be a strong, independent, successful woman, but there was also a sense of vulnerability about her that kicked a man’s protective instincts into high gear.

  But the guy proved he was a better man than him, because instead of breaking his nose, he simply grabbed Paul’s arm and jerked him away from Stacy. Or was it Kasey? Before he could decide, Chris gave him a shove and said, “Time for you to go, asshole.”

  Struggling to stay on his feet without Stacy/Kasey there to prop him up, he glared at his friend. Make that his most likely former friend. “What the hell, Riley? You’re kicking me out of a bonfire? Last I checked, this beach is public property.”

  “Christ, Paul,” Sean growled. “Just shut up and go home. You’re so drunk you can barely stand, and this shit isn’t cool.” He cut a dark look toward Stacy/Kasey, then brought his narrowed gaze back to him. “I don’t know what kind of sick game you’re playing, but I’m not going to stand by and watch you hurt someone I care about. So get the hell out of here.”

  “Paul,” his date whined, choosing that moment to speak up. “I thought you said this party was going to be fun.”

  “Sorry,” he muttered as he looked her way, wondering why there were suddenly two of her. “But at least I bought all your drinks earlier at the bar. And paid for the Uber. Night’s not a total waste, Stacy.”

  “Stacy?” she screeched, looking ready to take his head off. “My name is Lacey, you ass!”

  “Oh.” His forehead scrunched as he tried to focus on h
er pissed-off face. “Then who’s Stacy? Or is it Kasey?”

  “Stacy’s my roommate,” she bit out through her clenched teeth. “You met her at the bar.”

  One of the guys from Chris’s work who was close enough to overhear started to laugh, and his brother turned his head and glared the jackass into silence. Paul was so drunk he was on the verge of snickering himself, when he looked over Sean’s shoulder and caught sight of Karin still staring at him, her brown eyes big and shadowed, full lower lip caught in her teeth. Her fucking beauty hit him like a kick to the gut.

  “Paul,” Lacey growled, stamping her bare foot in the sand. “God, are you even listening to me right now?”

  “Sorry, babe,” he muttered, figuring it was time to slam the final nail in his coffin. “I’ll make it up to you once I get my mouth between your legs.”

  His voice had been loud enough for Karin to hear, and sure enough, she flinched as if she’d been physically struck, then immediately turned and started walking away, Natalie and Sophie hurrying after her. Paul would have kept right on watching her, chugging down every second like a desperate man dying of thirst, but Sean was quick to get right back in his face.

  “I don’t know what the fuck is going on with you,” his brother seethed, “but you’re being a goddamn dick.”

  “What? ‘Cause of Karin? Did Sophie and Nat tell you some sob story and you’re taking their side now? Jesus, man, what happened to bros before hos?”

  He heard Chris make a rough, graveled sound, and then Sean was quickly pushed to the side just before Chris’s powerful fist connected with the edge of Paul’s jaw, the blow jerking his head to the side so hard it nearly spun him around.

  Fuck, he thought, fighting back a wave of nausea as he hunched forward. That shit hurt. Almost as bad as he figured it was going to feel when he sobered up and realized he’d actually muttered such a juvenile saying.

  Chest heaving, Chris reached down and fisted his hand in the front of Paul’s T-shirt, jerking him upright again. “Don’t make me hit you a second time, because I hate that shit. But you don’t get to act like that to Karin…and you sure as fuck don’t get to call my woman a whore.”

  “Jesus, man, it’s just a saying.”

  Chris sighed with disgust, then shoved him away. “Call an Uber and go home, Paul. You need to sober the hell up.”

  “Fine, I’m outta here. Anything’s gotta be better than watching you pathetic pussies following your bitches—”

  One minute he’d been spewing nothing but a load of drunken bullshit, and in the next, his brother’s powerful right jab was connecting with the center of his face, cracking against his nose.

  Paul felt his feet actually leave the sand as he sailed backward, his breath gusting out on a pained groan as he hit the ground.

  Then everything went black.

  And he mercifully passed out.

  Chapter Two

  Early April

  The “Bonfire from Hell” had been a week ago, but there were times when Paul could swear his skull still throbbed from the hangover that had kicked his ass over the past weekend. Granted, he was kicking his ass for a hell of a lot more reasons than over-drinking.

  Like the fact that he’d been a dick to his brother and Chris.

  Had said shit about their girlfriends that made him an even bigger dick. Not only were Natalie and Sophie great women, they were his friends.

  And Karin… Yeah, he wasn’t even going to think about that. He was still at work and the last damn thing he needed was to go punching a wall or some other adolescent shit that would have everyone on his case. His partner, Michael Hunter, wouldn’t let that kind of thing go without getting to the bottom of it, wanting to know what had him so twisted up he was letting it get to him at the precinct.

  His job was his life, and there weren’t many things that could get under Paul’s skin or worry him to the point that it took over his mind while he was working.

  His family was one.

  His partner, who was as good a guy as Sean and their cousin Jonah, was another.

  And now, apparently, Karin-Fucking-Riley had joined the group.

  The first time Paul had met her, she’d been sitting on her own at a table at Manolo’s, talking with Natalie, and he’d been fucking floored by how naturally gorgeous she was, with her wavy, sable-colored hair that looked so fucking soft his fingers had actually itched to touch it, which sounded lame as shit, but had been weirdly true. And those big brown eyes that had blinked up at him, startled and wide, as if she’d felt the same sizzling shock of attraction that had been jolting through him. Not to mention that incredible mouth, her lips full and pink and so deliciously soft-looking, he’d spent way too many minutes since that afternoon fantasizing about having them wrapped around his dick.

  Then she’d replied to his introduction, looking a little dazed as she’d said, “I’m, um, Karin,” and her husky voice had sent fucking chills down his spine. And when she’d caught her full lower lip in her teeth and stared up at him with a shy look of hunger, his cock had gotten so fucking hard he’d had to slide into the opposite side of the booth before he embarrassed himself. They’d spent a few minutes talking and laughing, until she’d reluctantly said she had to go. He’d hated watching her walk away, his heavy-lidded gaze glued to her ass and his jaw aching, since he’d had to lock it to keep from calling after her and asking her to stay. Knowing she was one of his brother’s neighbors, which meant it would be easy for them to run into each other again, was the only thing that had made it tolerable.

  After that, every goddamn time he’d seen her, he’d wanted her a little more. And yet, he hadn’t acted on it until the night of the first bonfire. Not to sound like a prick, but the next time he’d seen her, she’d been with her little boy, and the fact that she wasn’t a woman who he could casually hook-up with, until they eventually got their fill of each other, had settled uncomfortably in his gut. She was a long-term commitment, and as intensely attracted as he was to her, he knew damn well that he wasn’t cut out for that kind of relationship.

  In the past, anytime Paul had tried getting semi-serious with a woman, things had quickly crashed and burned. No female liked coming in second to a man’s job, and hell, he’d had trouble even putting them that high on his list of priorities.

  And you have dick for brains if you think that would have been the case with Karin, a frustrated voice muttered in his head. He gritted his teeth, determined not to engage with the know-it-all, since he didn’t think arguing with himself would play out well on his next mandatory psych eval. And also because it was a depressing as fuck thought, seeing as how he’d blown his shot with her, no matter how you looked at it.

  Leaning his head back against his desk chair, Paul closed his eyes and pulled in a deep breath, wishing the Advil he’d taken would get rid of his crushing headache already. He was still just sitting there, thankful that the homicide bullpen was practically empty, which meant blessed quiet, when he heard his partner say, “Hey, man. What’s going on with you?”

  Opening his eyes and looking over at Michael, whose desk faced his, he found his partner of two years giving him a worried frown as the guy lowered his tall, muscular frame into his own desk chair. “What are you talking about?”

  Michael arched one dark brow. “You look like someone just kicked your puppy.”

  “Don’t have a puppy.”

  “You know what I mean,” Michael persisted. “Who pissed in your Wheaties?”

  “Puppies and Wheaties? Christ, man, I suggest some schooling before you try any more armchair therapy.”

  “Yeah? You in need of some therapy?” Michael leaned back in his chair, hooked his hands behind his head and flashed him the smile that Marcy, one of their friends and fellow detectives, always said made him look like a young Idris Elba. “Hit me, Cartwright. I’m all ears.”

  “Fuck off.”

  “Seriously, man. All bullshit aside, if you need to unload, I’m here for you.”

  �
�Thanks,” he muttered, knowing the guy meant it. Michael came from one of those close-knit, well-adjusted families that had enabled him to grow up and somehow become one of the most baddest badasses around, while still being in touch with his fucking emotions. The guy was always the first to comfort a traumatized victim when something horrific had gone down, and people just naturally loved him. How he was still single and not already procreating with a beautiful wife, making a family of his own, was one of the great mysteries of the universe.

  Thankfully, Paul was saved from having to dodge any more helpful enquiries into his well-being when his phone started to vibrate on his desk, a look at the screen showing that it was his brother finally calling him back. He’d been trying to reach the guy all goddamn week, but Sean had been ignoring him, which was no less than he deserved. “I’m gonna take this outside.”

  Michael’s lips twitched with a knowing smile as he jerked his chin at him. “You can run, man, but you can’t hide.”

  He flipped the jackass the bird as he headed out into the open courtyard that had been landscaped with flowers and shade trees to provide what the department therapist called a “peaceful space to reflect,” or some bullshit like that, and took a seat on one of the wooden benches as he answered the call. “Hey.”

  “That shit you pulled on Friday was fucked,” his brother immediately growled, clearly still pissed at him. But, hey, at least the guy was talking to him now. “It wasn’t cool and you know it.”

  “Huh,” he muttered, absently rubbing at the pain in his fucked-up left knee. By the time he turned seventeen, Paul had already been competing on the professional surfing circuit. He’d been set to go pro full-time after he graduated high school, but ended up taking a bad spill at an event up in Laguna, shattering his kneecap and putting an end to his dreams of being a professional athlete in an instant. When he’d gotten the bad news from the docs, he’d reacted like an idiot, going out and getting wasted, and ended up driving into a brick wall, thankfully not hurting anyone but totalling his mom’s car.