Trademarked: Bad Boys Need Love Too
Page 21
“So who’s the lucky lady?” Razer whistles.
“What?” Tom tosses a beer at Razer’s head, which he plucks out of the air like he’s a baseball player, not a marine.
With a grin, he twists the lid off and pinches it in half before dropping it on the counter. “You’ve gone to a lot of trouble for someone who doesn’t cook. Plus there’s a whole lot of windows along the east side. What, four bedrooms, or three and a study? This isn’t a bachelor pad.”
“It’s a house, dickhead, and who says I don’t cook? It’s been a long time since you’ve been around. I thought you were coming tomorrow?”
“Well, it’s a good thing I got here early, since Little Bit got stuck on the side of the road.” Razer sheds his leather jacket and tosses it over the back of a chair at the oak dining table.
Tom pours half a beer into a glass and tops it off with lemonade before pushing it in front of me with a raised eyebrow. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until next month.”
I glance at Razer who swigs from his beer nonchalantly and then studies the label. “This is a good brew.”
“Yeah. I made it myself.” Tom’s keen gaze holds mine, even as he speaks out the side of his mouth. “Everything okay? What’s going on?”
No. Not really. “Nothing. I just thought I’d come visit for a couple days.”
My voice must wobble, because Razer clears his throat. “I need to make a phone call. Can you excuse me for a minute?”
Tom and I both nod in unison. I watch him prowl out of the room, his cell already in his hand. His muscular shoulders are outlined clearly through his tight shirt, now that he’s taken his jacket off.
“So what’s really going on?” Tom leans over the counter and gathers up my fingers. I dart a glance at the one I hurt earlier. It’s already looking better. But my other finger, the one that’s supposed to have a ring on it, the one Tom is staring at, doesn’t even feel naked. He’s always been intuitive, instinctual. He’s always been able to drag my secrets out. He’s the only one of my brothers who knows I had a crush on Razer. Though I never did tell him the full story. “What happened with Henley?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I wander over to the range and fiddle with the knobs. “This is some pretty impressive equipment.”
“You’re stalling.” He crosses his arms. “Tell me the problem.”
“There’s no problem. We decided to go our separate ways,” I mumble.
“Right.” He shoves off the counter and grips my shoulders. “If you don’t spit it out I’m going to go find Henley and beat it out of him, since I’m pretty sure he’s done something to deserve a pounding.”
“Not everything can be solved with violence.” I stick my tongue out, but tears prick my eyes again.
“True. But it sure can make you feel better.”
I chuckle. “Maybe.”
“So what did he do?” Tom wraps his arms around me. “Come on, Little Bit, talk to me. I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”
I exhale. “Fine. But I don’t want anyone else to know. I found him with a woman.”
“Wait.” He spins me around, his brow drawn down over his stormy gaze. “Isn’t he always going on about purity, or some such bullshit?”
“It’s not bullshit.” Or at least I never used to believe it was. I push him away.
“It is if the bastard is cheating on my little sister,” Tom roars, and I cringe. I can only assume that Razer hears him. And for some reason the idea of him knowing my life is going down the toilet pisses me off.
“Anyway, I broke off the engagement, but you can only imagine what will happen if the media find out. And the CFN just donated a massive sum to House to Haven as part of the contract for televising the wedding. They’re going to be pissed.”
“You sure you don’t want me to go smash his skull in?” Tom clenches and unclenches his hands, the muscles up his arms tensing enough for a couple veins to stand out. “Give the dickhead paps a real story.”
“No.” I slap a hand to his chest. “Honestly, I think it’s for the best. In hindsight I think I knew we weren’t doing it for the right reasons.”
“Ha. No kidding. You couldn’t tell it was a bad idea to marry a guy whose first name is practically the same as our last. Besides, Henley sounds so bloody girly.”
I smile despite myself. “Maybe. It doesn’t matter now. I just need a couple days to lie low, get my head wrapped around it, and work out what I’m supposed to do next. Is it okay if I stay here?”
“You know you’re always welcome. There’s no need to ask.” He slings his arm around my shoulder and grins. “But I have bad news for you.”
“Right. Because today can’t get any worse.” I roll my eyes.
“Razer’s staying here, too.”
“Here?” I squeak as he leads me out to the living room. Razer isn’t there so I figure he must have gone outside to make his phone call.
“Here. Do you still sleep in that T-shirt you stole from him?” Tom chuckles. “Of all the people you could have had a crush on. Quite frankly, it’s weird. You’re weird. He’s family.”
“It was years ago.” I shrug, though my insides are quivering. Why the hell hadn’t I thrown that T-shirt out, instead of continuing to wear it to bed? “And Razer’s an asshole. If we’re practically family why haven’t I talked to him since my sixteenth birthday?”
I will not admit that after seeing Razer, and the deep down tingling he unleashed in my core, I’ve gone straight back to wanting to jump his bones. I won’t.
I probably shouldn’t, but given the opportunity? Oh hell, yes. But not because of any misplaced sentiment. It’s just that after today I’m going to be crowned the poor little prude whose fiancé would rather get it on with bimbo Barbie than her. If I’m going to have to suffer because Henley can’t keep his two-inch dick in his pants, then what does it matter if I don’t save myself for marriage? The reasons I had don’t mean anything now. And the reasons for wanting to be done with my V-card are mounting with each minute I spend in Razer’s company. Besides, maybe if I wasn’t a virgin I could make Henley believe I hadn’t been all along. The look on his face would be priceless.
RAZER
Claire Hadley has the most incredible violet eyes, framed by the thickest, longest lashes I’ve ever seen on a girl. Hell, I’ve checked. Compared woman after woman over the years. But none of them had the kind of eyes that haunted me. That stayed with me in the darkest of hours.
Pacing the length of the yard, my cell in my hand, I wonder how long it will take for their little chat to be over. I’ve already heard enough to know some asshole hurt our girl. I’m ready to climb on my bike, find him, and beat the living snot out of him for what he’s done. Only I don’t know who he is. So instead I keep up the pacing, wearing a path in the lawn.
Their conversation drifts out to me. Her high-pitched squeak when Tom tells her I’m staying with him. Something about a stolen T-shirt. And then very clearly my name and in quick succession asshole.
Not that I blame her. I have been an asshole. A bonafide prick. And I can’t pretend I didn’t expect her to hate me, since I put a shitload of effort into producing that particular result. But I couldn’t have done it any other way. There was no point that the feelings I’d had for her would be welcomed. Thank God I’d been able to shake them off and put her back in the box I kept for her as the little sister I’ve never had.
That’s all this prickly surge of anger is. Brotherly protectiveness. It has nothing to do with the way my body hummed when I’d wrapped her arms around me earlier, and she’d pressed those generous curves against me, giving a tangibleness to my fantasies. “You’re a sick asshole,” I mutter under my breath.
Not that it had ever been like that with us. She’d been the baby, six years younger than me and Mace. Practically family, and I’m not a fucking pervert. But there’d been a time when I’d wanted none of that to matter, that I’d fancied sticking around Reverence to find out what kind of woman my best
friend’s little sister would turn into.
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TANGLED DESIRES SERIES
Prick Tease
Lady Killer
Cocky F@#ker
Maximum Rush
CASEY BROTHERS SERIES
This Radio Love
It’s Holy Matrimony, Baby
THE MISTERS SERIES
SUGAR
Catching Mr. Right
Keeping Mr. Sweet
VICE AGENCY NOVELS
Playing Hero
Playing Royal
THE SEXY BADS
Sexy Bad Neighbor
Sexy Bad Daddy
Sexy Bad Boss
Sexy Bad Valentine
Sexy Bad Escort