Beyond Jealousy by Kit Rocha Read Free Book Online Page A

and burn it to ash, and he'd still go to hell happy.

Chapter Five
    Avoiding Ace was easy. Avoiding Cruz turned out to be harder.
    When Rachel edged through the warehouse door, she almost dropped the box of bottles she held. She managed to catch them--barely--between her hip and the doorjamb, then stood there stupidly as Cruz did one-armed pushups in the center of the cage. His torso gleamed with sweat under the harsh lights, and his dark hair clung to his temples. He grunted softly with every push off the rough concrete, a noise that made her stomach clench and the back of her neck prickle.
    She considered turning around and walking back out, liquor restocking be damned. But fuck that--she was an O'Kane, dammit. She wasn't a coward, not even when presented with this. So she got a better grip on the box and let the door slam shut behind her. "Good morning."
    He looked up without breaking his rhythm. "Rachel. Need some help?"
    The situation was too ridiculous for words. An ill-advised laugh bubbled up in her chest, and she bit her lip. "I wouldn't dream of interrupting your incredibly difficult workout, not when you're making it look so stupidly easy."
    His mouth quirked. Barely a smile, but the warmth in his eyes had more than her neck prickling. "Let me finish this set, and I'll haul boxes for you."
    "You don't have to."
    He polished off five more pushups in quick succession before rocking to his knees. "I want to."
    A bead of sweat rolled down the center of his chest. Rachel dropped the box on the bar with a clatter. "I'm just making sure everything's topped off before the party in a couple of days."
    Cruz hopped out of the cage, snagging a towel tossed over the door on his way by. "That's right. Six is drinking in. And Jade, too?"
    "Yeah. Should be a good time."
    "Hey."
    She paused with her hand around a bottle of tequila and looked up at him. He stood there, watching her, his hands locked around both ends of the towel around his neck. "What?"
    He met her eyes squarely, and the warmth was still there, but so was something else. Something darker, that dangerous edge she'd never seen in him until she'd tried to shove him away for his own good. "You don't have to keep running from me. If you and Ace have a thing now..."
    Oh God, he must have heard something, even seen them. "It's not like that. He and I have always had a thing--just like you and me. It's always there, no matter what."
    After a moment, he nodded. "I know how much it hurts to be pulled in opposite directions. I don't want that for you."
    "But you can't stop it." No one could, not since the beginning. Maybe not even then. "It's not about what you've done or might do, Cruz. It's about who you are . What it does to me when you--"
    She bit off the words, but he wouldn't let her hold them back. "When I do what, Rachel?"
    It felt like balancing on a ledge--and one wrong move would tip her off it. "When you look at me." She had to close her eyes. "When you touch me."
    The bar stood between them, but that wasn't enough protection when he could just reach over it. His fingertips grazed her cheek, warm and electric, and she sucked in a breath. "What if I stopped pulling you away from him?"
    No matter what either of them did, it would hurt. "I don't know what to do," she confessed.
    "I do." His touch returned, lower this time. Brushing the corner of her mouth, so close to her lips. "But I need to know one thing."
    She swayed toward him. "What?"
    "Did you ever want us both? Or did I just get in the way?"
    That brought her back to reality. She jerked away from him, snapping her eyes open. "Do you really think that?"
    "No." He let his hand drop. "I'd be stupid not to make sure, though. Arrogance is a liability."
    He deserved the truth, not hints and scared, halfhearted admissions. "If I didn't love you both, this wouldn't be so fucking hard."
    She caught his smile, just a flash of it as he planted one hand on the bar. All those bare, gorgeous muscles flexed as he vaulted over