Brazen or Bust

by Anara Bella

  His swimsuit was on under his clothes so he shucked his T-shirt and shorts and tossed them onto an empty chair before diving in. The bracing water shocked his heated flesh. Too bad it couldn’t cool off his fiery conscience too. He immediately started doing laps, hoping the workout would clear his head and get rid of his residual headache at the same time.

  “Hey, Nica. Toss it this way.”

  Logan pulled up mid-stroke and whirled around. Nica’s in the pool?

  He scanned the area but couldn’t see her anywhere. When he finally did spot her he almost drowned. All thought vacated his brain. No doubt because there wasn’t any blood left in the top half of his body. He forgot to tread water. He forgot to breathe. He forgot his own goddamn name.

  Nica stood at the edge of the pool in the skimpiest black bikini he’d ever seen.

  Holy hell. She was damned near naked.

  And Joe was lapping up every bare inch of her.

  Logan fought the urge to grab Joe by the throat and throttle him. Instead he focused on calming down. A necessity since choking fellow guests was not considered good form, no matter what the provocation.

  Besides it wasn’t Joe’s fault Nica was wearing next to nothing. All he’d done was ogle the view she so freely provided. She was the one who needed to be throttled.

  And he’d be happy to do it too. Just not right now. Because right now he couldn’t even think of getting out of the water. At least not without embarrassing himself and everyone around him.

  He was pathetic.

  What the hell was wrong with him anyway? It wasn’t as if he’d never seen a woman in a skimpy bikini before.

  He tried to peel his heated gaze away from her barely clad form but his eyes had their own agenda. He just couldn’t seem to do it, afraid he’d miss the sight of her perky little breasts peeking out of her bikini top as she bent over to pick up the beach ball that had been knocked out of the pool.

  She tossed the ball back to Joe and headed over to a lounge chair, giving him a lovely view of that incredible ass he’d been working so hard to forget. The memory of it had given him a hard-on all day. The reality damned near took his breath away. He swiped away the drool he was certain was on his chin.

  It looked as if he wasn’t getting out of the pool any time soon with Nica parading around in all her near-nakedness. Yep. A whole lot of laps looked to be in his immediate future. He only hoped the exertion would work off all that sexual tension revving up his cock.

  He started swimming in earnest and forced himself to concentrate on each movement of his arms. Stroke after stroke, lap after lap. The vigorous exercise didn’t help much at first, but in the end it was just what he needed to cool off his libido and get control of himself.

  By the time he heard the call for supper, he was able to get out and join the others crowded around the tables of food.

  He’d worked up one hell of an appetite and everything looked great. Barbequed back ribs, corn on the cob, fried chicken, potato and macaroni salads, hamburgers, hotdogs were all loaded on the table in front of him. He knew the other table would be filled with traditional Italian fare, like pans of Mamma Morelli’s amazing lasagna, assorted pasta dishes and her mouth-watering desserts.

  He spotted Nica helping her mother. Thank God, she’d covered herself up with some kind of wraparound thing. It wasn’t much but it was better than having her beautiful little body on display for all to see.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to help him any. His imagination simply kicked into overdrive filling in the gaps as he pictured the sweet curves he knew were there. Her silky skin, so warm and inviting, beckoning him to taste and stroke it to life until she moaned and writhed for him.

  Shit.

  He had to stop torturing himself like this. Oh for the days when he’d been in blissful ignorance of what was underneath her monotonous selection of baggy clothes. Now that he knew there was no going back.

  He forced himself to concentrate on his plate of food. Not that he had much success, but he did try.

  When he’d finished eating, he tossed his paper plate and went over to the drinks table. He was fishing out a beer from an ice-filled cooler when Joe sauntered over and grabbed one for himself.

  Joe nodded and twisted off the cap. “Great spread, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah. I always eat too much at these things.”

  Joe laughed. “Who doesn’t?”

  “True.” A movement caught Logan’s eye and he watched as Nica brought out a bowl of something and set it on one of the tables.

  Joe’s gaze followed Logan’s and he grinned. “I see you’ve been checking Nica out too. What a hot number she turned out to be.” He leered in her direction. “I plan on getting to know her a lot better.”

  Logan fought to keep his temper under control. “You sure that’s a good idea? She is the boss’s daughter.”

  Joe’s hot gaze raked over her again. “She’s worth the risk.”

  Logan glared at him. “You should probably rethink that.”

  Without taking his eyes from Nica, Joe shook his head. “Mind’s already made up.” He raised his beer in a mock salute and started to move off. “See ya.”

  Logan watched him amble away with a potent mixture of anger and frustration prodding him to do something. Anything. Joe was nothing but a player, which meant he was major bad news for Nica.

  Deciding he’d better talk to her about it, he headed over and pulled her aside. “We need to talk.”

  She speared him with a look. “Why? I thought you pretty much covered everything you had to say this morning.”

  He ignored her anger, knowing she was entitled to it. “Trust me, we need to talk.”

  “I disagree.” She tossed her head and started to turn away.

  “Don’t be like that.” He caught her arm.

  She pointedly looked at his hand. He dropped it. “Hurry up and say what you have to say. Mom needs my help.”

  “You’re asking for trouble parading around like you have been today. That bikini of yours doesn’t leave much to the imagination.”

  She threw him a scoffing look. “What’s the big deal? Carmen and several others here are wearing similar suits.”

  She had a point, but none of them seemed to attract the same kind of attention Nica did. Or was that just him? “You have half the guys here ogling you.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “What’s wrong is that you’re asking for the kind of attention you don’t want.”

  Her eyes sparked in anger. “How the hell would you know what kind of attention I want?”

  “What are you saying? That you want guys to be thinking lewd thoughts about you?”

  “Maybe I do. Maybe I want men to find me attractive.”

  He raked his hand through his hair in frustration. “You aren’t getting this.”

  “Oh, I’m getting it, all right. You’re in full big-brother mode again. The thing is, you’re not my brother and I don’t want you to be my brother. I have quite enough of them already. Besides, I’ve decided I don’t care what you think.”

  He fought to keep his voice calm. “Don’t be this way.”

  She looked towards the other guests and leaned closer to Logan, whispering furiously. “I can be any way I want. You have no say in what I do or what I wear. You made it abundantly clear this morning you’re not interested in me in that way, so I can do whatever the hell I want. I can fuck every guy in town if I want to and it’s got nothing to do with you.”

  Stunned speechless, he watched in amazement as she stomped off back to her mother.

  Well, damn.

  He blinked. He couldn’t believe she’d just said that to him. This new version of Nica sure didn’t pull her punches. He knew he’d be furious at the thought of her being with any other man later, but for now, he was just plain blown away by her feisty chutzpah.

  He shook his head. Nica had definitely grown up. All the way up. He had to admit, he fucking loved it.

  Chapte
r Seven

  “Oh my God! You really said that?”

  A huge grin on her face, Nica looked up from the assortment of paper plates she was filling with leftover desserts for guests to take home with them.

  She loved the fact that she’d shocked Carmen as much as she had Logan, and it made her want to do it more often. Saying whatever she wanted was liberating. “Yep. I sure did.”

  Carmen nabbed a homemade cannoli. “What did Logan say?”

  Nica followed Carmen’s example and nabbed one too. “I didn’t give him a chance to say anything. I just turned around and left him standing there with his mouth hanging open.”

  Carmen threw back her head and laughed. “Way to go, girlfriend. Guess you gave him something to think about.”

  Nica couldn’t wipe the grin off her face. “Guess I did.” She shook her head. “Honestly, the words just poured out of me. The way he’d already shifted back to treating me like a little sister after all the intimate things we did together last night got me more steamed than I’ve ever been in my life. So I let him have it.”

  Carmen talked around a bite of cannoli. “Good for you. You need to do that more often.”

  The grin got bigger. “I have to admit, it felt incredible.”

  “That’s because he deserved it. I hope the thought of you sleeping with other guys gives him nightmares. You’re going to follow up on your threat, right?”

  About to take another bite, Nica stopped mid-motion. “What do you mean?”

  “I know you’re not going to go out and sleep with every guy in town, but you need to at least date a few of them. And make sure Logan knows about it.”

  Nica’d had the same thought. Making Logan jealous was more than a little appealing on so many levels. “A couple of guys have already asked me out. I was thinking I should take them up on it.”

  Carmen licked cannoli filling off her finger. “Damn straight you should. Who asked you out?”

  “Mickey for one, but he’s so not my type. If you can believe it, Joe asked me out too.”

  Carmen’s eyes went wide. “Joe. Do you think you could handle him?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  Looking doubtful, Carmen hedged. “I don’t know. He’s a real player. Definitely likes to love ’em and leave ’em. There’s a long trail of broken hearts behind him.”

  “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t be one of them. Joe’s not my type either. But I’m thinking he’s good looking enough it might actually make Logan jealous if I went out with him.”

  Carmen reached for another cannoli. “You have a point. I guess if you’re careful you could make it work to your advantage.”

  “It’s worth a try. Logan needs a major wake-up call if I have any hope of getting him past thinking he should treat me like a sibling.”

  “That’s for sure. Last night should have done that in spades.”

  “You’d have thought so. Stubborn ass.”

  Even though Nica had sounded confident she could handle Joe, the thought of actually going out with him made her feel a little queasy. There was also something else that bothered her. “I don’t like playing games like this with a guy. Even a jerk like Joe.”

  “At least with Joe you know you wouldn’t be hurting his feelings at all. I don’t think he has a heart. Women are all just potential conquests to him.”

  Nica reached for another cannoli as she thought that over. “I know. I guess I just don’t like sinking to his level.”

  Carmen pooh-poohed the idea. “You’re doing nothing of the kind.”

  Nica wasn’t so sure, but she let it drop. “You know, it’s always amazed me the way women throw themselves at Joe.”

  “I know. It’s kind of mind-boggling. Although, I’m sure a lot of them are just out for a good time themselves. And some must delude themselves into thinking they’re going to be the one who changes him.”

  “And some get hurt.”

  “Yeah, unfortunately they do. You know, it might do Joe some good to have a woman not fall for his charms for a change.”

  “Hey, maybe I could view this as a public service.” They looked at each other and burst out laughing. “Okay, that’s definitely reaching.”

  “Definitely. You’ll be okay if you only go out with him once or twice. Just to see if you get a reaction out of Logan. If it doesn’t work you’ll know you need to move on and get over the stubborn idiot.”

  Carmen was right. Nica would give this a try and if it didn’t make Logan jealous, then she’d know. She just hoped she’d be able to move on, because right now even the thought of never being with Logan again the way they’d been last night made her want to curl up in a ball and cry her heart out.

  That’s more than enough torture for one night.

  With gut-deep relief, Logan looked around the Morelli backyard at the considerably thinned out crowd. Darkness had settled in and patio lanterns had been turned on, but despite the festive lighting the party was winding down. Those with young children had already left. Of the stragglers who were still there, some were chatting in small groups, others had gone back into the pool to cool off. A very few of the more energetic were dancing. But Logan didn’t fit into any of those groups. He was done in.

  He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. And he’d spent an inordinate amount of time and energy that day struggling with an exhausting combination of anger and turned-on libido. With the party all but over, he figured he could make his escape and no one would comment on it. Even more importantly, the Morellis wouldn’t be hurt or offended.

  He looked around the yard one last time but couldn’t see where Nica had gotten to. Even though she’d eventually changed into a slightly less revealing top and shorts, it had been a relief to his strung-out system when he realized he couldn’t see her anymore.

  It was, however, more than a little annoying that he couldn’t seem to stop looking for her. He shook his head at his newly developed masochistic tendencies.

  With his goodbyes said to the Morellis, he headed for his truck, only to stop short partway down the driveway.

  So much for not seeing Nica again. Not far down the street she was talking to Joe beside his slightly rundown pickup. The jerk was leaning in, standing way too close to her.

  Logan gritted his teeth, fighting the instinct to charge over and whisk Nica away from Joe’s clutches. She’d already told Logan in no uncertain terms who she spent time with was none of his business. And she was right. He had no business having these possessive feelings for her and he knew it.

  The trouble was, logic played no part in how he felt. Now that he’d slept with Nica a part of him felt like she was his. Which was ridiculous, impossible and downright stupid.

  Of course, it would have helped a lot if he’d never slept with her in the first place. But since he had, forever burying all memories of last night was his only option.

  Like it or not, he had to jam all the he-man nonsense down and stroll past them as if he didn’t want to reach out and rip Joe’s head off. Nothing to it.

  Taking a deep, calming breath, he continued walking towards them, ignoring the fact that Joe had his grubby hand on Nica’s bare shoulder, rubbing his thumb back and forth across her skin as if he had every right to touch her.

  The guy was seriously asking for it and Logan again had to tamp down his newly acquired violent streak. A few more steps and he’d be past them. He just had to keep calm and focus on getting to his truck. Might have worked too, except when he was close enough to hear what they were saying his inner Mr. Hyde threatened to erupt again.

  Joe leaned even closer than he’d already been to Nica. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  The crazy woman smiled up at Joe with an expression Logan could only call come-hither. “I’ll be ready.”

  Shit. She was actually going to go out with that numbskull? Didn’t she know he was a player? All manner of protective instincts screamed for his attention. He had to clamp down on every last one of them, burying the urge to do something, anyt
hing, to stop that date from happening. But it wasn’t his place, and he had to remember that.

  With a calm façade he wasn’t even close to feeling, he didn’t break his stride. He just kept walking past them. A quick nod was his only acknowledgement he’d seen them at all. How he’d managed it he had no idea.

  Unfortunately, once he got home his new-found knowledge wouldn’t leave him be. He spent the rest of the night imagining the many interesting and enjoyable things he could do to stop the date from happening. Most consisted of him smashing Joe’s face in just for daring to think of the lascivious things Logan knew were on his filthy mind.

  Which he had to admit wasn’t a totally unpleasant way to spend a sleepless night.

  Chapter Eight

  This was a huge mistake.

  One of epic proportions.

  Agreeing to go out with Joe was the worst idea Nica had ever had. All day, the guys at work had been giving her looks best described as comically lewd. As for Joe, he’d been strutting around like some kind of demented peacock. It was nuts. All she’d done was agree to go out for a drink with the guy.

  Big deal.

  At least it shouldn’t have been a big deal. But the constant barrage of sly looks aimed her way today had succeeded in making her feel more than a little nervous about tonight even before Joe had picked her up. And now that they were here at PJ’s, all she wanted to do was get away from his endless groping. He stood too close, was way too touchy feely and all but mashed them together into one flesh whenever they danced.

  Worst of all was the really uncomfortable feeling she couldn’t shake that Joe was expecting a lot more from her than she was willing to give. Trouble was, she couldn’t figure out how to get away from octopus boy without blowing her front with Logan.

  She glanced across the room to where Logan was nursing a beer in the sexy, laid-back way only he seemed able to pull off. Right on cue, the ever-familiar thrill looking at him generated made her heart skip a beat and her pulse quicken. It’d be nice if her hormones weren’t so single-minded where men were concerned. Joe was a good-looking guy, but he totally left her cold. She sighed at the impending doom of her great plan. She couldn’t stand being anywhere near Joe and with Logan here she was stuck.