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  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520

  Macon GA 31201

  Sweet Charity

  Copyright © 2008 by Lauren Dane

  ISBN: 978-1-60504-273-2

  Edited by Angela James

  Cover by Natalie Winters

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: December 2008

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Sweet Charity

  Lauren Dane

  Dedication

  As always, this one is for my most awesome husband who makes this all possible and makes my life worth living simply by looking so good in a pair of jeans.

  Thanks goes to Angie James, my fabulous editor, for always wanting to make me into a better author.

  And to my readers, without whom none of this would be happening. Thank you for all your support.

  Chapter One

  The day wasn’t too bad. Despite the fact that the air had a bite, the sky was clear and blue. She’d had a nice lunch, stopped by to see her mom on the way back to her shop and Christmas was coming. Not only was it a good time of year for her business but white and colored lights decorated the light posts and shop windows. Charity smiled with some amount of satisfaction because she’d nearly finished with all her shopping. Even better, she’d just found a gorgeous menorah to sit in the front window of her shop because Hanukkah was so close to Christmas this year she’d be able to celebrate both holidays at the same time. Nothing like feeling you’d checked off more items on the never-ending personal to-do list.

  As she turned the corner to head back to her shop she caught sight of Gabriel Bettencourt leaning against his truck, all long and sexy. And her day just got even better. Mmm! Dark sunglasses shaded his eyes, and the beard and just-a-bit-too-long hair gave him an edge that thrilled everything right down to her toes. Charity’s pulse sped as she took him in and pretended that just friends was just fine with her. Stupid pretending. All she really wanted to do was jump on him, knock him down and find out if that night eight years ago was a fluke.

  She took her time approaching him, content to look her fill until he noticed her. Her fingers tightened on the lapels of the wool coat she wore, fighting against the always present desire to reach out and run her fingers through that black, shoulder-length hair.

  He was dark and hot and she wanted to eat him with a spoon. Only, well it wasn’t ever going to happen again and she needed to accept it. Someday anyway.

  “Hey, Gabe, whatcha up to?” she said, sounding confident and nonchalant as she walked past.

  “Charity.” He reached up and removed the sunglasses, looking her up and down. At the blatantly sensual perusal her hormones threw a party. Man was she pathetic. A smile tipped the corner of his mouth. “Just waiting for my mom. She’s picking up bread for the nine hundred relatives showing up for dinner tonight. What are you up to?”

  She moved close to him out of a sheer perverse need to see if he’d react. They’d been playing this game for years now and at this point, Charity wasn’t sure if it was real or all in her head.

  “Coming back from lunch. Going to work now. Just took this way because I stopped in to say hello to my mom at the bank. And look at my reward for being a good daughter. I get to see tall, dark and delicious standing here in the winter sunshine.” She winked, meaning it. “Oh, Gabriel, you should give all this up and run away with me.”

  He turned his head and they stood so very close. She drew in a deep breath, hoping for just a small touch but just barely missed. His eyes were brown, the color of dark chocolate and she knew that they went nearly black just after a kiss. Right then, they were pretty dark and she wondered if he’d kiss her. She doubted it. He never did.

  “You wouldn’t know what to do with me if you had me.”

  He said it like a joke but it really just made her mad. She took a step back. “I’ve had you, Gabriel, remember?” Moving back to the sidewalk, she gave him a glance over her shoulder. Pig. “I need to get back to work. Have fun with your bread.”

  She slammed back into the store and her assistant Faith—and yes, Faith and Charity, they got the joke so please don’t ask where Hope is or someone will kick you—looked up, raising a brow.

  “I don’t know why I bother,” Charity muttered, hanging her coat up.

  “With what?” Faith asked, looking through some new stock that’d come in the day before. “Oh, nice.” She held up a sweater and Charity nodded absently.

  “Men.”

  “Shut up. God. There you stand all tall, dark and gorgeous and you talk that way. Pffft. Men love you.”

  “Sometimes.” She shrugged. The truth was, the specter of that one, disastrous night with Gabriel eight years before haunted her. It wasn’t like she hadn’t had good sex since. Or she shouldn’t say “since” because once they’d gotten naked it hadn’t been good sex at all. Gabriel was all steamy and sexy and sort of dark and broody. She’d heard rumors of how hot and commanding he was in bed but with her? So very not.

  Was it her? Had he been all into it and then saw her naked and wanted to run? He only went through the motions—stilted and totally unsatisfying motions—because he was already naked?

  Gah. She should just stop thinking about it. There wasn’t a damned thing to garner from this obsessive nitpicking of one experience she’d had eight years ago. There’d been four men between then and now and they’d all been very good in bed and had seemed to be into what she did. She knew she wasn’t a dud in bed, but in her heart of hearts, she hated the idea that Gabe was horribly turned off by her when she was so hot for him. He ran hot and cold! Some days he would give her one of those sexy looks like he wanted to do her brains out and others he put all that into other women.

  She’d have given up on him if she thought it was a game but Gabriel wasn’t like that. Aside from all the sexual tension, they had a good friendship. She’d known him all her life and she liked him. More than that, she wanted him and had for more than just those eight years. Charity had wanted Gabriel Bettencourt for as long as she could remember. Having one small taste of him only made not having him hurt more.

  Before she could discuss any of it with Faith, the store filled up with customers, it was coming up on Christmas after all and while many students from the university had gone home on break, there was a sizable local population out looking for holiday gifts and hot red sweaters to wear to impress recalcitrant men.

  Hm. Charity’s gaze snagged on the sweater Faith had pointed out earlier. Blood red and soft looking. Pair it with a skirt or some skinny black jeans and it could be an eye catcher.

  Gabe watched her walk away and tried, by sheer will, to make his hard-on disappear before his mother returned. Ah, that did the trick. It was good to know thinking of his mom made his ardor cool.

  Charity had had him alright and it had been one of the single most embarrassing few minutes of his life. Shit, he hadn’t meant to make her mad or hurt her feelings with his retort. He’d been teasing, but poked into painful territory they never spoke of.

  Still, Charity Harris looked damned good from behind, all long legs and high, tight ass. She�
��d looked even better naked, bearing the finest tits he’d ever laid eyes on outside a magazine. Acres of olive-toned skin and a mouth that made him stutter just thinking about it even eight years later.

  She kissed like a goddess. Her lips were lush and soft, her tongue had been warm and wet and he knew from the way she’d licked at the inside of his mouth that she’d know what to do with it elsewhere, too.

  He could still remember how her hair had felt against his chest as he’d rolled her over. And that’s when it all went south.

  He’d wanted her so damned badly and she’d been beneath him, naked and way more than willing and he’d given her a night about as hot as a fucking dental appointment. It had been so disastrous she’d hidden from him for the rest of that summer and went to UCLA without more than a waved goodbye.

  Oh sure they’d patched it up over the time she would visit on weekends and during summers. They’d rebuilt a friendship over the years. He’d taken over operations at his family’s dairy farm and she’d come back to Davis and opened up her successful second-hand and vintage clothing store near UC Davis. They were grownups now and both had full lives and all that jazz.

  But always between them, the sexual tension simmered and he still wanted her so badly his teeth hurt. He’d always wanted her, wanted her right then as she’d stood just a breath away from him. But she wasn’t for him and he knew it.

  Charity Harris was a nice, sexy woman but he liked sex rough and hard. It was holding back that night eight years ago that had created the problem. Charity was sweet. The kind of woman who liked candlelight not candlewax. He cared too much about her to do things she’d hate or, worse, things that would scare her and make her think less of him. The thought of not having her in his life at all, of having her be repulsed by him kept his hands away from that luscious body. He valued their friendship enough that he couldn’t stand to ruin it by pursuing her and both of them being unhappy.

  No. He’d laugh with her and flirt a bit and find his entertainment elsewhere. She’d find herself a nice guy like his brother Rafe or one of his sister-in-law’s male siblings who oozed all that gallantry the women seemed to go wild for. Eventually his feelings for her would mellow out, he’d find the woman who could submit to him and still be an equal and this crush would be a fond memory.

  Chapter Two

  “Wow, that’s some sweater.” Belle Bettencourt, one of Charity’s oldest friends who also happened to be Gabriel’s sister-in-law, looked her up and down as she approached the table and sat down.

  “Thanks. It came through the shop a few days ago and I had to have it.”

  “Well it shows off your, um, assets quite well.”

  Charity laughed. “Good. That’s what I was aiming for.”

  The waiter came by and Charity looked at Belle for a moment before leaning forward and happily taking in the way the waiter’s eyes widened at the sight of the soft, tight, blood red sweater with the keyhole opening at the neck. She took in his nametag, this was a college student job so they tended to be interchangeable over the years. “Hey there, Scott. I’d like two shots of Cuervo, don’t forget the lime, salt and two Coronas.”

  Belle laughed and sat back. “It’s like that?”

  Charity turned to her friend and caught sight of Gabriel in one of the back booths with Rafe and Belle’s oldest brother, Brian. She waved and noticed the way Gabriel homed in on that sweater for a moment before waving back.

  “Ah, it all becomes clear now,” Belle said archly. “This is about Gabriel.”

  Charity shrugged. “There are moments when he looks at me like he wants to lick me up one side and down the other and others when he runs the other way. Always some damned woman on his arm. Christ, Belle, not to be vain or anything, but I’m hot! What is his deal?”

  Scott the waiter brought the shots and the Coronas.

  “Wait there a sec, Scott.” Charity held her eyes on Gabriel, licked the side of her hand, shook out the salt, licked her skin again, took the shot and sucked the lime. “I’m going to need another one of those.”

  Scott ran off to obey and she smiled at Belle, who carefully wiped the outside of the lime and shook the salt into the shot instead of on her hand. After she took the shot, she sighed happily. “Hits the spot. I’ve been in court twice this week, had to file more motions than normal and I’m tired. However, I need to eat if I’m going to keep up with you.”

  More shots appeared and she fluttered her lashes up at Scott. “Scott, Belle and I need food to go with our drinks.” She ordered a burger and fries, not caring about the calories for the moment, and Belle did the same.

  “So back to the Gabriel thing. Yes, of course you’re hot.” Belle waved a hand. “I don’t know what the deal is with him. Why have you waited all this time? Why not just go for it?”

  Charity sighed and sipped her beer. Scott showed up with two more shots and some fries to “tide them over” until their orders came.

  “First I waited to see if it would go away. Believe me when I tell you this, Belle, but the one time we had sex it was not memorable for any other reason but sheer awfulness. So you know, I went off to school and came back on breaks and stuff and he was still here and eventually we were able to be friends again. He was with other women, I was with other men. I thought maybe it was better to just let it go. But this thing between us never went away. I used to wonder if I imagined it but I see the way he watched me take a shot just now. He’s interested but he holds back and I don’t know why. I know he’s not gay, or at least not all the way.”

  Belle laughed and they attacked their burgers with gusto once they arrived. Or rather, Charity ate hers like a Hoover vacuum and Belle used a knife and fork. But Belle was like that and Charity loved her anyway.

  “He might be bi, I’m not with him every moment of the day or anything. But he likes girls. I know that, anyone with eyes knows that.” Belle dabbed her lips with the napkin.

  They both laughed.

  “So why not me?” With an annoyed groan, Charity stood. “Jukebox. Any requests?”

  “Something good to sway to when you walk back here.”

  “Belle, you’re awesome.”

  She walked past the booths, waving at Gabriel, Rafe and Brian. The jukebox was filled with everything from Conway Twitty to Massive Attack. She fed it quarters and chose, smiling and bouncing past Gabriel again as Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell started to sing “Ain’t No Mountain”.

  “Oh, good choice.” Belle laughed as Charity sat back down. “Gabe’s eyes were glued to your boobs and then when you passed them, your ass.”

  “I don’t want his eyes on me, I want his hands on me.”

  More shots arrived and she laughed as she took it. Belle waved it away.

  “Rafe is already looking at me with that gleam in his eyes.”

  “Rafe is eleventy kinds of sexy. You two are so good with each other.” She smiled, happy for her friends but damn it, wanting it for herself, too.

  Belle blushed. “Rafe is all kinds of sexy, isn’t he? Just confront him! Gabriel that is. Go over there and ask him what his deal is. What do you have to lose? I mooned over Rafe for years and wham, suddenly he was kissing me! I’ve never been happier. You’ve had this thing for Gabriel since we were in high school. What if now is the time? What if, you know, you and Gabe could have what Rafe and I do?”

  “Why don’t you put us all out of misery and fuck the woman?” Rafe asked Gabriel.

  “What? Who?” He’d been staring so hard at Charity he’d only halfway heard the question. He turned to Rafe and Brian and exhaled sharply.

  Brian laughed. “Charity Harris. You know, the woman you told me two years ago that if I ever touched or tried to get naked you’d kill me and bury my body where no one would find it? The woman you’ve been staring at all night? All that licking business is making me wonder about my chances at being murdered by you. I do so love all that long, curvy stuff she’s got under her clothes. Why you two sniff around each other but never do anything
about is beyond me. It’s also a waste of a very hot woman.”

  Who wasn’t staring at her in that sweater? Her sable-dark hair loose around her shoulders, lips as red as the sweater. Her tongue, each time she took a shot, and it had been four now, darting out to lick her hand, God, the sight had been enough to make him whimper.

  He focused his eyes again to glare at Brian. “She’s a friend. You’re a hound. Of course I warned you off.” Even Gabe didn’t believe himself. He supposed if he hadn’t lost his voice twice in one sentence it might be more convincing.

  “Hi.”

  He looked up, and up some more past the breasts heaving from the front of the sweater, past the hair and up into those green eyes of hers. Zing. Their connection shot straight to his toes. And um, other parts.

  “Hey, Charity, you and Jose Cuervo having a good time?” Keep it light.

  She plopped herself in his lap and his arms went around her to keep them both from falling. So much for that. “Gabriel, why don’t you find me fuckable? What? Am I ugly? Fat? Do I smell? Did I make a weird noise before? Why do you run from me?”

  “I’m going to check on Belle. You know, to see if she wants a ride home,” Rafe said, shoving at Brian who stared at the mouthwatering tits currently pressed against Gabe’s chest.

  Gabriel wanted to throttle his friend for looking at her that way and didn’t truly relax until the other two guys had gone and he and Charity were left alone. Although relaxed wasn’t exactly what he felt just then.

  Her lips just touched his ear, her breath against the sensitive skin. “Now that we’re alone, you can tell me. It drives me crazy, you know. Why don’t you want me?” She nuzzled into his neck and he stifled a groan.

  “Honey, you’re drunk.” He knew it from the way she spoke. He’d heard her say the “f” word maybe a handful of times in the years he’d known her. She was also clearly out of it not to feel the rock hard cock she’d planted her sweet ass on.