He waved off my offer as though I were insane. “Well?” he asked as he took his change. The drinks sat before us on the bar but Braden didn’t seem that intent on getting them back to the table.
I sighed, knowing the faster I answered the faster I could get away from him. “Because reality has no authority there. My imagination controls everything.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth I regretted them. A smart person would read between the lines. And Braden was smart.
Our eyes met, a silent understanding passing between us. Finally, Braden nodded. “I can see the attraction in that.”
“Yeah.” I dragged my gaze away. Bad enough he’d seen me physically naked. I didn’t need him stripping me bare to the soul.
“I’m glad you and Ellie are getting along.”
“You’re very protective of her, aren’t you?”
“Understatement.”
“Why? She seems a lot stronger than you think.”
His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about it. “It’s not about her strength. Maybe it’s the way she looks or talks that fools people into thinking Ellie’s fragile. I know different. Ellie can take the bad stuff and bounce back better than anyone I know. It’s not about that. It’s about making sure the bad stuff doesn’t happen to her in the first place. She’s too nice for her own good and I’ve seen her hurt too many times by people who claimed to care about her.”
I didn’t envy him that job. “Yeah I can see that. Ellie wears her heart on her sleeve.”
“Unlike you.”
Startled by the observation, I looked up at him warily. “How’s that?”
His eyes were searching, burrowing, trying to get inside me. I took a step back and he inched closer. “I’ve heard what Ellie had to say about you. And then there’s how you are with me. You try not to give anything away.”
Back off. “You don’t either. I don’t know anything real about you.”
“I’m not that hard to get to know, really.” He flashed me a quick smile. “But you… I think you’ve made an art form out of deflection and self-possession.”
Stop analyzing me. I rolled my eyes. “You think throwing a dishrag at you is an example of how self-possessed I am?”
He laughed, a deep reverberation that bumped its way down my spine. “Fair enough.” And then he shot me that look again—that look that felt as though he were sliding his long, masculine fingers inside my panties. “You look beautiful tonight.”
I flushed inwardly at the compliment. Outwardly I smirked. “So does your girlfriend.”
Braden sighed heavily at my pointed comment and picked up a few of the glasses from the bar. “I didn’t mean anything by it, Jocelyn. It was just a compliment.”
No it wasn’t. You’re playing games with me. And if we’re going to be around each other all the time, I want it to stop. “Was it? Do you talk to everyone the way you talk to me?”
“And what way is that?”
“Like you’ve seen me naked.”
Grinning, Braden’s eyes glittered with heat. “No. But then I haven’t seen everyone naked.”
Frustrated, I shook my head. “You know what I mean.”
I almost jumped at the warm whisper of his breath on my ear as he leaned down to murmur quietly into it, “I like the reaction I get out of you.”
I pulled back. So I was a challenge? Right. I got it now. “Just stop. You’re Ellie’s brother and we’re probably going to have to see one another, so I’d prefer it if you wouldn’t try to make me uncomfortable around you.”
A scowl formed between his eyes. “I don’t want you uncomfortable.” His gaze was searching again but this time I was giving nothing away. With a deep sigh, Braden nodded. “Fine. Look, I’m sorry. I want us to get along. I like you. Ellie likes you. And I’d like us to be friends. From now on I’ll stop flirting with you and I’ll try really hard to forget what you look like naked.”
He put the drinks on the bar and held out his hand for me to shake. The look in his eyes was a new one. It was pleading, boyish and totally endearing. I didn’t trust that look at all, but I found myself shaking my head, smiling despite myself as I reached out to clasp his hand. As soon as my fingers slid along his palm, the hair on my arms rose.
I’d thought that spark that people apparently felt when they touched someone they were attracted to was a myth reserved for chick-lit and Hollywood.
But no.
Our eyes collided as heat rushed up my arm. The tingling between my legs intensified, the need in my gut moaned with want. All I could see was Braden, all I could smell was Braden, and his body was so close I imagined I could almost feel all his hard strength pressing against me. Right then I wanted nothing more than to pull him into the ladies restroom and let him screw me hard against the wall.