Since the only time I’ve ever spent with him was while he was between my thighs, our communication restricted to grunts and dirty talk, I thought—prayed, really—that maybe I’d find him obnoxious or annoying. Irritating or frustrating. And while I’m both irritated and frustrated, it has nothing to do with his personality and everything to do with his presence.
Because all I can think about is shoving these plates and beer bottles and martini glasses out of the way, crawling to the other end of the table, and sitting in his lap so I can grind on him until we both come. Never mind the four other people here with us.
And the way he keeps looking at me. God. His face gives nothing away, his expression impassive. But his eyes. Those crystal blue eyes several shades lighter than my own, noticeable even in the dim light of the pub, stay focused on me throughout the night. Even when I’m not looking at him, I can feel his gaze on me. It’s like he’s trying to undress me with that alone.
The worst part is, I’m pretty sure I’d let him.
Okay, there’s no pretty sure about it.
Someone says something, and it isn’t until Tessa elbows me in the ribs that I realize it was apparently directed at me. I snap my gaze up from my food—the food I’ve been staring at to avoid looking at Mr. Hot Pants. “Huh? What?”
Tessa’s brother, Cade, laughs across from me, his arm slung around the back of his girlfriend Winter’s chair. “I asked when you start the internship.”
If there’s one thing that can get my mind off Adam and his delicious abs and rock-hard chest and delectable cock, it’s my coveted internship. I smile my first authentic one all night. “Monday. It’ll probably be a lot of filling out paperwork and shit like that, but I’m hoping they’ll let me get into the thick of things before too long. Tanner says they don’t usually, but I’m crossing my fingers that with his pull and my knowledge, they’ll let me get a little more involved than they’ve done in the past.”
“That’s awesome.” Cade nods, smiling at me before taking a drink from his beer.
He and Winter have only been back from their relocation to Chicago for a few weeks, and I’m about to ask him how the restaurant is doing, how he likes being head chef, when I’m interrupted before I can get a word out.
“Who’s Tanner?” Adam asks. By some miracle, we’re seated on opposite ends and across the table from each other. Probably Tessa wanting to keep everything mellow tonight, thinking I hate his guts.
I look at him, and, oh boy, that’s a mistake. Especially when I replay how he sounded when he asked who Tanner was. It’s not the first time I’ve heard his voice tonight, but there’s a note to it now I haven’t heard before. No, that’s a lie. I’ve heard it before. Just never in mixed company. It’s one that speaks of possession—like even the mere mention of another guy’s name in the same airspace as mine is unacceptable—and if there’s one thing I don’t stand for, it’s guys treating me as a possession.
So then why are my panties so fucking wet?
I try to swallow and impart some moisture into my too-dry mouth, but nothing helps. I don’t dare even attempt to croak out an answer, too afraid it’ll sound a lot less like, “He’s my brother,” and a lot more like, “Fuck me now.”
Finally, Tessa takes pity on me and steps in. “Tanner’s one of her older brothers. He’s a cop.”
That’s all she says, but she glances at me, her eyebrows lifted in a silent question. A, “What the hell is going on?” kind of question. A question I am definitely not answering tonight. Or ever.
Conversation starts up again around the table, Jase, Cade, Tessa, and Winter all diving into talk of the restaurant, while Adam and I have a stare-off. To everyone else, I’m sure he looks the same, but I notice his shoulders relax the tiniest bit and the tension around his mouth dissipates after those brief words from Tessa. And as much as I shouldn’t be happy about this, I can’t help the satisfaction that sweeps through me. He wants me just as much as I want him.
Except him not wanting me would be a lot easier on both of us, because then I wouldn’t have any problem keeping my distance. And I need to. Because Adam has Relationship Material written all over him, and the only relationship I’m interested in is the one I have with my vibrator.
I knew the night we slept together he wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of guy. And even if he didn’t give off that vibe, Cade, Jase, and Tessa have all said enough over the years that I’ve assumed as much. The guys had all graduated from high school by the time my family moved here when I was a junior, so I never spent much time with Adam since he went to college in Colorado. He came home on breaks, I assumed, but we never saw each other in more than passing. Never long enough for me to learn I wanted to ride him like a pony. Oh, no. That was reserved for the one night months ago I was off my game, having had too many appletinis in an effort to help Tessa forget Jason’s douche-like behavior—best friend that I am.
That night, Adam drove me home at Jason’s request, walked me to my door, and then instead of thanking him and telling him good night, I was just tipsy enough to ask him if he wanted to come inside. Even knowing his relationship stance. Even knowing how close he was to my closest friends. Even knowing how it could potentially blow up in my face.
But it doesn’t have to blow up in my face. I can totally handle this. He isn’t going to be here forever—only as long as it takes him to get his parents’ business back on track. I can wait it out.
I’ll just stock up on batteries.
“—walked in on him choking the chicken the other morning,” Jason says through a guffaw.
As laughs erupt around the table, Adam scowls. “Thanks, man.”
My head snaps up again, zeroing in on the conversation that managed to go on around me once more. I look between Jason and Adam, a grin spread over the former’s face. Adam lifts his eyes to me and notices me staring and stares right back. Then he quirks a brow as if to say, “Picturing it?”
And yes, yes, I am.
My entire body ignites, and if my panties were wet before, there’s a fucking tsunami going on in there now, because all I can see is Adam with his thick fingers wrapped around his even thicker cock, slowly stroking it up and down while he stares at me just like he is now.
Breathing shallowly, I shift in my seat and take a deep pull from my vodka cranberry, avoiding his gaze. Thank God for the low lighting in this place, because my face is absolutely on fire.
“I told him to do it in the shower like every other guy,” Jason says over the laughter still rolling through everyone at the table, and I choke on my drink, because now I’m picturing him in the shower, and that’s not any better. Thinking of the water sluicing down his chest and the ridges of his abdomen as he grips his length…
We never made it to my shower, but now I sure as hell wish we had so I could draw from memories rather than my imagination.
Tessa laughs along with the others and distractedly slaps my back as I attempt to catch my breath. To Adam, she says, “I know you’re trying to save as much as you can to help your parents, but have you thought about getting a place while you’re here? Something cheap? I’d offer you to stay with us, but we only have the two bedrooms.”
“No offense to your boyfriend, but I would kill him if we ever lived together,” Adam says.
“Hey, I’m not that bad.” Jason grabs a fry and throws it toward Adam, who flicks it away before it can hit him.
“Oh, babe, you kind of are.” Tessa pats Jason on the head and smiles. “I put up with it because of the sex.”
“Jesus Christ,” Cade groans. “How many times have I told you I don’t need to hear that shit?”
Winter laughs and shakes her head. “Like you can talk. How many times has poor Tessa walked in on us?”
“God, don’t remind me. I could’ve gone my whole life without seeing that.” Tessa shudders, then she gasps and turns to me, her smile bright. “Hey, what about that studio apartment that’s always for rent in your building? You said people are moving in
there every other month. Is it available now?”
I open my mouth to tell her there’s no way Adam is moving in across from me, and then snap it shut. This is not the time or the place to bitch her out for suggesting that. But seriously, why the hell would she offer this to him, especially since she thinks I can’t stand him? Except I don’t even have to think about it. Tessa likes for everyone to get along. And knowing two of her closest friends don’t is probably killing her. I totally fucked myself over by acting like I hated him.
Goddammit.
“I’m not sure if it is or not,” I hedge. It’s open. The last douchebags who lived there got evicted a couple weeks ago, and there hasn’t been a moving truck around since. Can’t tell her that, though. Instead, I try a different tactic and turn my attention to Adam, ignoring that flutter in my belly when I find his gaze already on me. “And, actually, you probably wouldn’t want to live there. It’s in kind of a shitty part of town.”
Tessa opens her mouth, no doubt to argue, at the same time Adam leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. “You live there.”
I shrug. “I like to live on the edge.”
He continues scrutinizing me, his stare unwavering, and I will not shift in my seat. Will. Not. After a million years, he says, “Your brother’s a cop.”
“Yeah…?” I draw out the word, having no idea where he’s going with this.
“Your brother’s a cop, and I’m pretty sure if you lived in a shitty neighborhood, he wouldn’t allow you to live there.”
“First of all, my brothers don’t allow me to do anything. I do whatever the hell I want, because I’m a grown-ass woman.” And as a grown-ass woman, I obviously need to step up my game if I have any hope of deterring him from looking at the apartment across the hall from me. So I tell a teeny, tiny white lie. “Second, I’m pretty sure the last people who lived there were cooking meth. And then there were all the cats. Like, at least six. In a tiny studio apartment. I can, you know”—I wave my hand in the air—“smell it through the door. It’s that bad.”
He does that staring thing again, and this time he does it long enough that I do shift in my seat. Goddamn him. Then he turns to Tessa and shoots my entire survival plan to hell with a handful of words. “Thanks for the tip, Tess. I think I’ll check it out on Monday.”
He looks at me, one corner of his mouth tipping up in a sly grin, and holy shit I am so fucked.
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Paige in Progress
Reluctant Hearts Book 3
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brighton Walsh spent nearly a decade as a professional photographer before deciding to take her storytelling in a different direction and reconnect with her first love: writing. When she’s not pounding away at the keyboard, she’s probably either reading or shopping—maybe even both at once. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and two children, and, yes, she considers forty degrees to be hoodie weather. Her home is the setting for frequent dance parties, Lego battles, and more laughter than she thought possible.
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Copyright © 2016 by Brighton Walsh
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Edited by Ashley Turcotte of Brown Owl Editing
Cover Art © Brighton Walsh www.brightonwalsh.com
Our Love Unhinged is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is coincidental.
ISBN: 978-0-9971258-2-5
ISBN: 978-0-9971258-2-5
Our Love Unhinged (Reluctant Hearts Book 4) Page 10
