This is spot in the script where anyone who truly loved her sister would tell the twenty-something man her sister wants that she’s only sixteen. He should know the truth. It would solve the entire problem. As soon as he knows, he’ll quit wanting me.
But God, I love the way he looks at me. The heat that radiates out of his gaze every time it finds me melts me from the inside out. In his eyes, I’m sexy and strong. I’m a woman. His woman. He wants me. The intensity of his kiss…the desperation in the way he ravaged me on that desk, as if I were his last breath. In all my life, nothing has ever been as empowering as the pull I have over him. Nothing has made me feel so plugged in and alive. One sentence out of my mouth would douse the inferno and bring whatever’s happening between us to a screeching halt.
But I’m not ready to give up that feeling just yet.
So, because I’m such a selfish bitch, I instead of telling him the part of the truth that would turn him off, I give him the part I know will only turn him back. “I can’t be with you, Bran. You slept with my sister and she’s still into you. She’s all I have.” I glance over my shoulder at the desk, my stomach suddenly sour at what we just did there. “This was a mistake.” I push past him and he lets me.
“This is going to happen, Lilah,” he says to my back, “because you want it to.”
I throw my guitar in the case and swipe the entire tip jar off the bar and shove it in my bag. I bolt for the front door and when I look back, Bran is just coming from the kitchen. He sends me a salute, as if he’s anything but totally in charge.
Sergeant Seduction.
And I am the pathetic plebe who’s in way over her head.
This is going to happen…because you want it to.
He’s wrong. I don’t want him. I need him. Like oxygen.
How the fuck am I supposed to resist oxygen? Even for the sister who’s given up everything for me.
Chapter 9
Bran
I watch her go, but then remember the pervert poser. With Carol gone, I can’t leave the bar, so I pull out my phone and dial.
“What?” Lilah snaps when she connects.
“Where are you?” I ask.
“Why?”
I blow out a frustrated laugh. This woman yanks me around like no other. “Just humor me.”
“At the end of the block.”
“People on the sidewalk?”
There’s a pause. “Not really.”
“Is that a yes or no?”
“No.”
“Keep your eyes open and keep walking,” I tell her.
“What’s going on?” she asks, her irritation with me usurped by a thread of worry.
“I’m walking you home.”
A sigh blusters through the connection and I can almost hear her eye roll. “I told you I can take care of myself.”
“Then think of it as a favor to me.”
“You worry too much.”
I smile when her voice is softer, like a caress through the airwaves. “How far from your apartment are you?”
“Another block.”
“Can you see your door?”
“Not really. The streetlight at that end of the block is out.”
“Since when?” I ask, my skin prickling as my natural alarm system kicks in.
“I don’t know. A few days ago, I guess.”
“Do you have your key out?” I ask.
“Not yet.”
“Get it out and have it ready when you get there. I don’t want you fumbling for it at the door.”
“Wow, you’re really paranoid, aren’t you? Is that a skill they teach you in the Marines, or does it just come naturally?”
I’m an inch from bolting out of this bar and tracking her down. “Just do as I say.”
“Chill, Captain Caution. I’ve got my key in my hand.”
“Eyes on the sidewalk, and especially the storefronts and doorways,” I tell her. “And also, enlisted guys don’t get to be Captains in the Marine Corp.”
“Major Mayday?”
“Pay attention to your surroundings.”
“Sergeant Suspicion?”
“How far are you?”
“Almost there,” she says, the tease leaving her voice.
“Your key is ready?”
There’s a pause and the sound of scuffling. My heart skids to a stop in my chest. “Lilah!”
“Inside,” she says. “Locking the door behind me.”
I release the breath I was holding and will my heart rate out of the stratosphere. “Don’t be a stranger.”
“Good night, Bran,” she says, and then she’s gone.
It’s another hour before the last group leaves and I lock up. I cash out my drawer and bring it back to Mom’s office. Everything’s shoved aside from the spot where Lilah’s ass was an hour ago and I run my hand over the smooth steel. She was everything I knew she’d be, honey and fire on my tongue and a volcano under my hands. I harden at just the memory of her.
But my first instinct was right. I shouldn’t have pushed her. Problem is, my second instinct, my libido, is definitely in charge when it comes to anything to do with Lilah. My balls ache just thinking about that tight body pressed all up the front of mine, clawing at me and grinding that hot wet * hard against my rock solid cock. What I told her is true. She wants this, and if she can get past the shit with her sister, it’s going to happen.