Where There's Smoke: A Texas Heat Novel Read Online Free

did Becky know something she didn’t? As Sawyer walked down the aisle she looked at Rowan for platonic reassurance. His green eyes burned and locked with hers. Her stomach quivered in response.    

Chapter 5
    Rowan knew he was in big trouble. When Sawyer turned the corner, at first he didn’t recognize her. He blinked in the sunny courtyard and every muscle in his body went taunt. Her fly away, frizzy hair shined a glossy mahogany with a riot of curls. She wore light, natural make up that enhanced her sparkling hazel eyes, rosy cherub cheeks and pink, luscious lips.
    Rowan wanted to charge down the aisle and cover her from the neck down! He didn’t like the lingering looks of male appreciation one bit. She had breasts! Round, perky breasts that could fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. The Black Widow jumpsuit hugged every lush curve of her body. He stared hard, unblinking. On a primitive level, his body wanted her with a single minded fury that shocked him. He’d never felt anything like it.
    This is Sawyer, his sidekick from school days, the first person he called when his dad died, the first to know which college he selected, the one he celebrated with after his first hotel development deal. She knew when he lost his virginity to Becky on a moonlit beach and they compared notes about sex. When he married Becky, Sawyer was his ‘best man’. She even dressed in a tuxedo. Becky distrusted their relationship from day one.
    Was Sawyer a lesbian? She asked hopefully.
    Ah, no, he answered.
    Why did he need Sawyer when he had a wife? How could he explain what Sawyer meant to him? It was hard for his wife to imagine him a skinny, pimple faced ten year old kid who got the tar beat out of him on a daily basis. Melvin and his thugs were the friendly neighborhood bullies. They used to chase him all the way home, across the railroad tracks on the Aberdeen/Great Hills boarder.
    After months of sheer terror, Sawyer appeared one day with her baseball bat and pepper spray. Melvin and company never bothered him again.
    Sawyer and Rowan became inseparable after that daring rescue. They did each other’s homework, paired up on field trips. He taught her how to cook. She taught him self-defense moves her dad taught her. “It’s called Krav Maga, the Israelis use it to kick ass.”
    Krav Maga led to weight lifting and Cross fit. By senior year in high school, Rowan towered over Melvin and had the muscles to pound him into the ground. Girls who didn’t give Rowan the time of day, suddenly flirted and asked him out by the dozens. Rowan turned them down flat. He asked Sawyer to the prom.
    After the dance, they watched a Star Wars marathon on TV with a box of pizza between them. It never occurred to him to make a move on her. He never thought in a million years that she might have feelings for him. He treasured her friendship so much, he only ever focused on nurturing that. Sawyer Landon just made everything in life better. If anyone else was threatened by that, tough shit. He refused to dump his best friend regardless of who did the asking.
    Becky was a gorgeous, fun, loving life partner but she could never be Sawyer. The thought of Becky was sobering. Right now, he felt the seductive pull of temptation. He made a vow of abstinence years ago until he remarried, which he didn’t intend to do. His mother accused him of punishing himself for Becky’s death. Maybe she was right. It was his fault, after all. Becky would do summersaults in her grave if she knew what he felt for Sawyer. He wore a Scottish kilt for the wedding. Thank God his heavy arousal was well concealed. He remembered laughing when Becky told him Sawyer’s threat.
    I’m gonna ride him like a stallion.    
    Please do! Unholy lust filled him with heat. The thought of Sawyer, naked with her sweet, round ass riding him…damn!
    Rowan cleared his throat. He heard one of the groomsmen, Seth McClain ask, “Who is that?”
    Dylan Chambers, who stood on the other side of