“There you are, Chance.”
With regret, he turned from his temptress. “Here I am,” he agreed, genuinely smiling at Alessandra Dalmount-Ansah as she walked up to him, looking beautiful in a white light georgette dress with perfect tailoring.
She grabbed his upper arms lightly as she rose up on the tips of her shoes to press a kiss to his cheek. “Welcome home, Chance,” she said with warmth, looking up at him with sympathetic eyes as she raised a hand to lightly tap his chin. “You good?”
He nodded, hating the unease he felt. How much more of this pity will there be today? he wondered, purposefully turning from her to eye the beauty in peach as she stepped inside the foyer.
Her eyes landed on his, and he gave that lingering stare and slow once-over that was nothing but pure appreciation and a desire to know more. Her brows arched a bit and her mouth gaped as she gave him the hint of a smile that was just enough to give him hope.
“Hey, Ngozi,” Alessandra said, moving past Chance to kiss her cheek in welcome.
So, this is Ngozi? Alessandra’s best friend and attorney. Brains and beauty. Just as Alessandra had said to him so many times.
Her eyes left him, and Chance felt the loss, finally taking a sip of the champagne he instantly recognized as Armand de Brignac.
“That’s right, you two have never met,” Alessandra said, reaching for one of Ngozi’s hands and then one of Chance’s. “Chance Castillo, godfather, meet Ngozi Johns, godmother.”
She pressed their hands together.
Their eyes met.
As they clasped hands, Chance stroked the pulse at her wrist with his thumb, enjoying how it pounded. It matched his own.
* * *
Ngozi felt breathless.
Her first sight of Chance Castillo as she stepped inside the house had made her entire body tingle with excitement. He was tall with an athletic frame that could not be denied in his tailored suit. His stance as he stood there eyeing her over the rim of his glass spoke of unleashed power. A man. A strong man built for pleasure. Not just handsome, with his medium-brown complexion and angular features softened by lips and intensified by his deep-set eyes, the shadow of a beard and his low-cut ebony hair...but intriguing. Something about him had instantly drawn her in. Excited her. Made her curious. Forced her to wonder, Who is he?
And now, as Ngozi stood there with her hand seemingly engulfed by his with his thumb gently grazing her pulse, she shivered and sought control of her body. Her pulse. Her heartbeat. Her breaths. The pounding of the sweet fleshy bud nestled between the lips of her core. Damn.
All of it surprised her. Never had she had such an instantaneous reaction to a man before.
Needing to be released from the spell he cast upon her, Ngozi pulled her hand from his and forced a smile that she hoped didn’t look as awkward as it felt. “Nice to finally meet, Mr. Castillo,” she said, proud of her restored cool composure.
It was all a sham, and she deserved an award for the performance.
“Chance,” he offered, sliding the hand she once held into the pocket of his slacks.
“Right this way, y’all,” Alessandra said, leading them across the stately round foyer, past the staircase and down the hall into the family room, where the glass doors were retracted, creating an entertaining space that flowed with people lounging inside or outside on the patio or around the pool.
Alek spotted them and excused himself from a couple he was talking with to cross the room to them. It was similar to watching a politician or other public figure as he spoke to each person who stopped him while still moving toward them. The man was charismatic.
Ngozi took a sip of her champagne as she glanced at Alessandra over the rim. The look in her friend’s eyes as she watched her husband was nothing but love. She’d found her happily-ever-after.
A twinge of pain radiated across her chest, and Ngozi forced herself to smile in spite of it.
“Careful, Ngozi,” Alessandra said, holding out her arm in front of her. “Don’t get in the way of this bro love, girl.”
Ngozi looked on as Chance took a few strides to meet Alek. The men, equally handsome, confident and strong in build, clasped hands and then moved in for a brotherly hug complete with a solid slap of their hand against the other’s back. It barely lasted a moment, but it was clear they were close.
As the men talked quietly to one another, Ngozi eyed Chance’s profile, surprised by her reaction to him. And she still felt a tingle of awareness and a thrill that ruffled her feathers. He smiled at something Alek said, and her stomach clenched as a handsome face was instantly transformed into a beautiful one.
“He looks happy,” Alessandra said softly to herself.
Ngozi glanced over at her, seeing the hope on her face that her words were true. She remembered Alessandra explaining Chance’s absence because he had been left at the altar by his fiancée and was in the Dominican Republic recovering from his heartache. That had been nearly nine months ago.
What woman would leave him behind?
Ngozi had never asked for any more details than Alessandra offered, but that was before she’d seen him. Now a dozen or more questions flew to mind with ease. Her curiosity was piqued.
“I’m going up to get the baby,” Alessandra said. “Be right back.”
Ngozi glanced around the room, raising her flute in toast to those she knew professionally or personally. When her eyes landed back on the men, she found Chance’s eyes on her. She gasped a little. Her pulse raced.
He gave her a wolfish grin—slow and devastating—as he locked his gaze with hers. They made their way toward her, and Ngozi forced herself to look away as she felt a shiver race down her spine.
“I wanted to finally greet you, Ngozi,” Alek said.
She looked up at him with a smile. “I thought I was invisible,” she teased, presenting her cheek for a kiss as she pretended Chance was not standing there, as well.
“Chance told me Alessandra already made the introductions between you two,” Alek said.
She stiffened her back and glanced up at Chance. “Yes, it’s nice to finally put a face to the name,” she said.
“Same here,” he agreed. “Especially since we’re sharing godparent duties.”
“Right, right,” she agreed with a genuine smile. “We’ll rock, paper, scissors for overnight stays.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it, biting his bottom lip as if to refrain himself. He shared a brief look with Alek, who then shook his head and chuckled.
And she knew—she just knew—Chance was going to say they could have overnights together.
“Really, fellas?” she asked, eyeing them both like a teacher reprimanding naughty schoolboys.
“What?” they both asked innocently in unison.
Ngozi was surprised to see Alek, normally severe and businesslike, standing before her with mirth in his eyes. “So, we all have that one thing or one person—a vice—that makes us different. Today, Alek Ansah,” she said before turning to face Chance, “I have met yours.”
Chance’s smile broadened as he looked down at her. “And what—or who—makes you different, Ngozi Johns?”
She loved how her name sounded on his lips. “Oh, is there something about me that needs fixing?” she asked, forcing herself not to quiver under his intense stare as she met it with one of her own.
“From what I can see, not one damn thing,” Chance responded