“Well, I’m not the kind of girl who hands out her number to a guy she just met.”
Even though Braden couldn’t ask for her number, he was disappointed by her answer. He’d begun building an idea of who she was in his head and, despite the sweet smile, ‘sweet, virginal girl next door’ was not it. “Ahh.” He glanced away. “You’re a no-sex-until-the-third-date, marriage-and-babies kind of woman.”
“No, no, and no,” she answered, affronted by the idea. So affronted Braden suddenly wondered if the opposite was true. Was he in the presence of that rare creature? A woman afraid of commitment?
“Interesting,” he murmured.
“I’m not giving you my number.”
As a somewhat blunt-speaking person himself, Braden enjoyed finding that quality in other people. He grinned wickedly at her, trying not to let the fact that he couldn’t have her number diminish the enjoyment he derived from their little verbal sparring. “I didn’t ask for it. And even if I wanted it, I wouldn’t ask for it.” Fucking lie. “I have a girlfriend.” Unfortunately, true. He mentally slapped himself across the head for that ungentlemanly thought. Holly was a good girl and deserved better than his disloyalty, even if it was only in his head.
“Then stop looking at me like that.”
“I have a girlfriend, but I’m not blind. Just because I can’t do anything doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to look.” Pity. Braden wanted to look. He wanted to look past the cynical eyes and through the sweet smile and find out which one of them was her. Maybe she was both. Maybe she was neither. He didn’t know. At all. And he wanted to. Jesus—
“Here’s good, thanks.”
What? Braden’s fascination with her was suddenly brought to an abrupt halt by her direction to the driver. They weren’t at Dublin Street yet. They still had—he looked outside to discover they were at Queen Street Gardens. Only seconds from her destination. And what was he panicking about, anyway? She was off limits.
Fuck.
The driver pulled up to the curb and she handed him fare and reached for the door.
“Wait,” Braden said.
She turned to him, her expression impatient. “What?”
He sensed he had seconds. Braden could either tell her to take her money back and offer to pay for the entire taxi fare as he’d intended. Or he could ask her the one thing he’d wanted to ask since she first opened her mouth.
He went with the latter.
“Do you have a name?”
She smiled. “Actually, I have two.”
What?
She jumped out of the taxi and was gone.
Despite the loss of her, Braden chuckled at her cool reply. It was his own fault. He’d asked a smart woman the wrong question.
Just as abruptly as she’d left him, Braden’s amusement fled as he realized he’d probably never see her again. His intuition made him a successful businessman, and his intuition was telling him he’d just let a significant opportunity pass him by.
Swallowing his disappointment, he directed the cabbie to turnabout.
Braden headed toward his meeting in an even worse fucking mood than before he’d met the gorgeous American.
2
Braden’s POV - The Second (Naked) Meeting
ON DUBLIN STREET
Letting himself into the airy flat, Braden immediately heard the loud music coming from the bathroom. He eyed the hallway for any signs of the new arrival, but there were only Ellie’s things. Hmm. He pressed his ear against the bathroom door, listening to The Killers filter through the woodwork, along with the occasional splash of water. The roommate was taking a bath. Braden sauntered through the flat, checking each room, and finding no evidence of someone new living there. Finally, he stopped at the entrance to the second bedroom and saw the empty boxes, books, laptop and photographs. She was still unpacking it seemed.
Deciding he’d timed this perfectly, Braden went about his business casually, making himself a coffee and settling comfortably into the sitting room with the newspaper Ellie always had waiting for him. Fifteen minutes later he heard the music stop and got up, grinning wickedly at the thought of catching this person unaware. Sometimes his sense of humor strayed into the playground.
Leaning casually against the sitting room doorframe, Braden thought he heard a muttered curse, and then the bathroom door was wrenched open.
Bloody hell.
Before him was not the stranger he expected in a bathrobe.
Before him was the girl from the cab. And she was naked.
Wet and glistening and naked.
And every man’s fucking fantasy come to life.
Struggling to control his body’s reaction as his gaze drifted over her ample, perfect breasts, flat soft stomach and mouth-wateringly full hips all wrapped up in gorgeous wet, olive skin, Braden choked out an inane greeting, “Uh…hullo.” Ellie’s flat mate was cab girl. What a delicious twist of fate. Hello, Jocelyn Butler.
Jocelyn. Braden suddenly liked the sound of it.
Her head snapped up, wet strands flying back over her shoulders as she made a hoarse sound in her throat, her eyes wide with shock as she stared up at him. He noted the confusion and panic in her eyes, but did nothing to assuage it; the allure of her body was too great and his eyes drifted downwards again. He’d known many a beautiful woman—he’d married one—but he couldn’t remember wanting any of them as much as he wanted this woman right then.
The image of her naked was seared into Braden’s memory forever.
Realizing he had visual access to all her good bits, Jocelyn clamped an arm over her breasts and drew his gaze back to her eyes. Her expression was one of cool annoyance and Braden was immediately impressed with her reaction. Most women would be a simpering, mortified mess right now. “What are you doing in my apartment?” She asked belligerently in that sexy, husky voice of hers. Jesus. She was killing him. He almost groaned, catching the sound in his throat and drawing her narrow-eyed gaze. Unashamed of his want for her, Braden let the heat blaze from his eyes and saw a tremor run through her as she felt the tension spark between them.
As if affronted that she could be turned on in this situation, Jocelyn’s eyes flared. “Turn around!” she yelled in outrage.
Not wanting the situation to escalate out of his favor, Braden immediately lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender and reluctantly turned around to face the sitting room. Not quite believing Ellie’s new flat mate was cab girl, and that he’d just walked in on her naked like some scene from a comedy, Braden began to laugh. This was fucking brilliant.
He heard her hurry off toward her bedroom and decided he better explain who he was in case she thought he was a stalker and decided to return with a weapon of some kind. “I’m Braden Carmichael,” he called to her. “Ellie’s brother.”
There was no response but Braden could hear shuffling, and then the sound of her deliberate stomping as she came back to him. When he turned around Jocelyn stood before him, gracefully petite in a tank top and shorts with her mass of hair haphazardly shoved on top of her head. He smirked, imagining her naked again. Oh yeah, he definitely wasn’t losing that image any time soon.
Her hands flew to her hips, her pale eyes darkening around the edges of the irises with obvious irritation. “And you just walk in here without knocking?”
“It is my flat,” Braden reminded her.
“It’s common courtesy to freaking knock.”
He shrugged, jamming his hands in his pockets. Despite her obvious desire to create contention between them, Braden was surprisingly comfortable with her. She was entertaining. And she wanted him too, he mused, trying not to smile as her greedy, exotic eyes roamed over him.
As if it suddenly occurred to her she was checking him out, Jocelyn shrugged back her shoulders defiantly. Braden tried not to laugh again as she asked, “Aren’t you going to apologize?”
For what?
Grinning, he shook his head. “I never apologize unless I mean it. And I’m not apologizing for this. I
t’s been the highlight of my week. Possibly my year.” Come on it’s funny. Laugh with me. You know you want to.
However, she didn’t. He thought he detected a lip twitch but he was wrong.
With her nose tipped haughtily in the air, she breezed past him with a, “Wow, what a boring life you must lead.”
Far from it, especially these days. Braden grunted in response and followed her neat little figure into the sitting room. His eyes skimmed the back of her neck and shoulders. She had such a small frame for a curvy woman. It was enticing. So was her throat. Stunning skin. And she smelled of that fruity stuff again.
Watching her, his amusement increased at the tight-lipped look on her face as she took in his empty coffee mug, newspaper and jacket. Realizing he’d been here a while, she threw him the dirtiest bloody look over her shoulder. God, she was fun.
Grinning at her seemed to disarm her somewhat, so Braden shot her another one and sat down in the armchair. As he did she drew in an exasperated sigh causing her braless breasts to tighten against the fabric of her top. Braden’s skin prickled and he could suddenly see her wet and naked in all her glory in the hallway again.
A small, delighted smile played on his lips. “So you’re Jocelyn Butler.”
“Joss,” she corrected him instantly, as if her full name left a bad taste in her mouth.
Joss? No, that wouldn’t do. It didn’t suit her at all. Jocelyn… now that did. Braden could imagine calling out ‘Jocelyn’ in bed. Not Joss, though. Too young, too boyish.
He relaxed against the chair, getting comfortable, hoping his five minute chat of intimidation with Ellie’s roommate would now be an hour’s chat with Jocelyn Butler. “Ellie likes you.” It was half-conversational, half-warning. The woman may be sexy but she still needed to know he put Ellie’s best interests above everything and everyone.
“I like Ellie,” she answered casually before raising an eyebrow at him. “I’m not so sure about her brother. He seems kind of rude.”
She had no idea. “He’s not sure of you either.”
“Oh?”
“I’m not sure how I feel about my wee sister living with an exhibitionist,” he teased.
She made a face at him, like a five year old. Brat. “Exhibitionists get naked in public. As far as I was aware, there was no one else in the apartment, and I’d forgotten a towel.”
“Thank God for small mercies.” Really. Thank you, GOD. “Seriously,” he deliberately and blatantly ate her up with his eyes. “You should walk around naked all the time.”
Braden’s heart almost stopped as her full mouth twitched, and then it started racing hard as her lip curled up in amusement at the corner, and she shook her head at him. He was absurdly pleased he’d managed to make her smile and found himself laughing softly in accomplishment.
And just as quickly as the moment had formed between them, Jocelyn sought to end it with the roll of her eyes. “You’re such an ass.”
Braden snorted. “Usually a woman calls me that after I’ve fucked her and called her a taxi.” He tempered his bluntness around women. He was raised by his father to at least present the image of a gentleman. But with her… well, he didn’t know what it was about her… he just knew that he wanted to disconcert her and challenge her as much as she challenged him.
Seeing the muted shock on her face at his word choice Braden had to ask, “Don’t tell me you hate that word.” That would be a shame, because it’s one of my favorites.
“No. I just don’t think we should be talking about fucking when we’ve just met.”
Oh, beautiful. Amusement and the thrill of the chase took hold as he watched her blanch in realization. “I didn’t know that’s what we were doing.”
“If you’re looking for Ellie, she’s tutoring.”
A deliberate subject change. Damn. Just when it was getting good. “I came to meet you, actually. Only I didn’t know I was meeting you. Quite the coincidence. I’ve thought of you quite a bit since last week in the taxi.”
“Was that while you were out having dinner with your girlfriend?” she asked slyly, trying to draw some line between them in the sand.
Mentally, Braden kicked a football into the sand, destroying her neat little line and answered casually, “Holly is down south visiting her parents this week. She’s from Southampton.”
He could tell Jocelyn couldn’t give a crap if Holly was from the moon, and in that moment, frankly, neither could he.
“I see. Well,” she said, standing up in an attempt to usher him out, “I would say it was nice to meet you, but I was naked, so… it wasn’t. I have a lot to do. I’ll tell Ellie you dropped by.”
Laughing at her irreverent sense of humor, Braden took the hint and stood up to pull his jacket on. “You’re a hard nut to crack.”
Her eyebrows dipped together. “Hey, there will be no cracking of this nut. Now or ever.”
Oh she was just asking for it now. Choking on laughter, Braden took a step toward her so he had her trapped between him and the couch. The fruity smell of her shampoo caused a sensual stirring in his blood and his smile turned cocky as he came to a decision. “Really, Jocelyn…why do you have to make everything sound so dirty?” He asked impudently before abruptly turning on his heel, the image of her lush mouth falling open in outrage bringing him a sense of triumph.
Once outside, Braden stood for a moment on the front stoop, taking in a breath of crisp cool air. He’d entered the flat in the worse bloody mood, and exited it feeling better than he had in days.
Glancing back at the door, he chuckled under his breath. He was filled with anticipation.
3
Braden’s POV – The Third Meeting
On Dublin street
“Hullo Miss. Carmichael,” Braden answered his phone after the second ring, gladly walking out of La Cour now that Erik, the chef, was done with him. He’d called Braden in to discuss a menu change but Braden’s mind wasn’t really with Erik and the chef could tell. With the clichéd temperament of a man at his level, Erik wasn’t in the least intimidated by Braden and he could feel the burn of the chef’s glare on the back of his head as he departed the restaurant.
“Hello, Mr. Carmichael,” Ellie answered lightly, sounding bemused. “You seem to be in a good mood?”
“Oh I am,” Braden murmured. Not only had Thomas been in contact to arrange another meeting between them to discuss the sale of La Cour, but Braden was still savoring the mental image of Jocelyn naked in the hallway yesterday. He didn’t care if that made him a randy bastard. The woman was fucking gorgeous. He couldn’t stop thinking about her naked if he wanted to. The image of her was burned on his brain for life.
Braden approached the taxi waiting outside for him with a smug smile on his face, thinking it was the best month of the year so far. By far. He got in and gave the driver his address as Ellie continued, “Well, I was just phoning to make sure you remembered we’re having drinks at Tigerlily in a few hours.”
“I remembered. Adam and I will pick you up.” Jocelyn’s striking eyes filled his head. “Will your flat mate be coming?”
“Joss? No. She’s working tonight. Next door, actually.” Braden ignored a twinge of disappointment. “Joss said you met yesterday. What did you think? She’s nice, right?”
He grinned. Jocelyn obviously hadn’t told Ellie what really happened between them. “Oh, we met. We… well, I certainly got more than I bargained for.”
There was silence on the end of the line. Then Ellie asked, “What exactly does that mean?”
Braden told her exactly what that meant and had to pull the phone from his ear as she burst into peals of laughter. “Are you done?” He eventually asked over her heehawing.
Ellie sought to breathe normally. “Oh, that’s brilliant. It’s so funny I think I may have peed a little.”
“Charming.”
“I can’t even… oh dear.” She giggled again. “Joss is so composed. I can’t imagine her reaction.”
“She wasn’t amus
ed, but she was fairly self-possessed considering the situation. I was impressed.”
As if she sensed his interest in her flat mate, Ellie’s next question was shrewd. “Did you tell Holly you saw my flat mate naked?”
Not only was the question sly, there was an edge to it; an edge Braden knew spawned from Ellie’s dislike of his current girlfriend. In fact, his sister didn’t like any of his girlfriends. That was fine with him since he had no plans to make any of them a permanent fixture in his life. “Why would I do that?”
She scoffed, “Do you two even talk to one another?”
“Do you really want to have this conversation with me? Your big brother?”
After a moment of silence, she sighed. “I guess I really don’t.”
“Good choice because I wasn’t having it with you, anyway.”
“It would only disgust me and crush my romantic idealism.”
“And we wouldn’t want that.” Braden really wouldn’t. His little sister was a rare creature of optimism and romanticism, despite their father’s negligence and her last boyfriend’s duplicity. He wouldn’t do anything in the world to crush what made someone as vulnerable as Ellie so strong.
“Anyway, I was thinking you and Adam could come around to get me ten minutes early so we could drop in and say hello to Joss at her work.”
“Definitely.” Don’t sound too eager. “I’ll see you soon, Els.”
As he hung up, Braden felt that exhilarating rush of anticipation course through his veins at the thought of seeing his American again.
* * *
“So where’s Holly?” Adam asked as Ellie led them downstairs to Club 39. It wasn’t their usual spot. A pity. Braden might have come across Jocelyn a lot sooner had he paid more attention to the trendy basement bar.
“Still down south.”
“Do you even care at this point?”
Braden gave him a half-hearted smile. Adam knew him better than most people, and he wondered if his friend recognized the telltale signs of Braden’s waning interest.
ON DUBLIN STREET: THE BONUS MATERIAL Page 2