Page 13 of Wanting Wentworth

James the Giant dips his chin, looking down at my hand from behind his dark aviators. For a second, I’m sure he’s going to laugh at my attempt at manners and I feel my spine stiffen in response. Biting my tongue, I start to withdraw my hand but before I can, he reaches for it with his own, moving with surprising speed. Catching my hand before I can pull it back, James’s fingers wrap around it, my entire hand disappearing into the palm of his.

“Likewise,” he says with a smirk, lifting his chin to pin me with another look from behind his sunglasses. “Are you fucking Damien?”

In front of me, Damien makes a gurgling sound like someone punched him in the throat while the bottom drops out of my stomach.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Damien manages to choke out, knocking his brother hard on the shoulder. James the Giant barely moves an inch, his gaze locked onto my face behind the dark tinted lenses of his glasses. “No,” Damien tells him, darting a quick, queasy look in my direction. “Kait and I aren’t—”

“Fucking.” The corner of James’s mouth twitches when the word makes me flinch. “I didn’t ask you—I asked Sunshine, here...” He leans into the space between us just enough to remind me that he’s still holding my hand, his long, blunt-tipped fingers circling my wrist. Looking down at where we’re connected, I notice that the fingers clamped around it are a shiny, dark silver at their tips. Like he doesn’t like me looking at them, he squeezes my wrist a little tighter. “Are you—”

“No.” Yanking myself out of his grip, I look up to find his gaze aimed right at me like he was waiting for me to find it. “Your brother and I aren’t sleeping together.”

The corner of his mouth quirks again before it falls flat. “I didn’t ask about your sleeping habits, Sunshine. I asked if you were fucking my brother.” His tone makes it obvious he’s not thrilled that Damien told me that they’re related.

Beside him, Damien makes that choking noise again. “Okay—obviously, this was a—”

“It’s okay, Damien.” I lay a restraining hand on his forearm that knocks the smirk right off his brother’s face. “The day I can’t handle a foul-mouthed Californian is the day I curl up and die.” Looking at James the Giant, I shake my head. “You sure do like that word, don’t you?”

“Fuck?” He doesn’t just smirk this time. This time he gives me a full-blown, knee-knocking grin. I can’t see much of his face between the hat and the shades but if that smile is any indication, Damien’s brother is drop-dead gorgeous. “The only thing more fun than sayin’ it, is doin’ it.”

“Well...” I give him a nod while I step down onto the porch step that separates us, bringing us nose to chin. “Since you’re so curious, the answer is no—Damien and I aren’t fucking each other,” I tell him quietly, unable to keep the note of distaste out of my tone. “He’s like a brother. The only one I have left.” Saying it out loud squeezes my heart while beside me, Damien is back to looking like he might throw up. “He looks out for me—which is why he told you about the predicament I’m in with my classes and asked you to let me keep coming up here to work so I can finish out the semester.” Adjusting my backpack, I give the silent giant in front of me a tight smile. “Which is why you’re acting like a complete asshole—because you think if you offend me or maybe even scare me enough, I won’t want to come up here and I’ll leave you alone.”

James the Giant smirks again. “Did it work?”

“Not even a little bit.” I give him a flat, nice try smile. “What I want is to ask Damien to drive me back down the mountain so I never have to look at you again,” I tell him plainly. “What I need is for you to allow me a few hours in the morning to access my online lectures and study for my finals.” When he doesn’t laugh or throw an immediate no in my face, I press harder. “I have to come up here anyway to clean the place. I’ll be quiet and gone before you even wake up.”

The corners of his mouth tighten while he stares at me, the weight of his gaze so heavy I have to plant my boots on the porch steps to keep from squirming. “What do I get out of the deal?”

Heart knocking in my chest, I shoot a quick look at Damien before I answer. “What do you want?”

Still staring at me, the corner of his mouth twitches while beside him, his brother mutters something that sounds a hell of a lot like this motherfucker. Ignoring him, James answers my question. “I need a model.”

I look at Damien for help but he’s too busy glaring at his brother to notice. “A what?”

“A model.” He says it slower this time like I might have a head injury while he jiggles the portfolio in his hand a little to draw attention to it. Looking at it and remembering his shiny tipped fingers circled around my wrist, it finally clicks into place.

“You’re an artist.” I cock my head, still slightly puzzled. "And you want me to model for you?”

“My mother pronounces it disappointment,” he quips on another quick tug at the corner of his mouth. “And yeah... you’ll do. Unless your mother’s available.”

You’ll do.

The palm of my hand starts to itch with the urge to slap that smirk right off his face. Instead of giving in and knocking him off the porch, I scrub my hand across the leg of my jeans because like before, I’m getting the feeling Damien’s brother is trying to offend me on purpose. “My mother’s a busy woman,” I tell him with a sweet, syrupy smile. “I’m afraid I’m the best you’re going to get.”

He makes a sound in the back of his throat that proves impossible to interpret while he offers me his hand. “So, I guess we have a deal then, don’t we, Sunshine?”

Ignoring it, I give him a curt nod. “I guess we do,” I tell him before sliding myself between him and his brother, forcing myself to walk instead of run while I retreat to Damien’s truck.

EIGHT

Wentworth

Well, shit—that didn’t work.

Against my better judgment, I turn to watch her walk away and regret it instantly.

Yup—her ass is just as incredible as the rest of her.

“Is there something wrong with you?” Damien growls while he watches me watch his boss’s daughter climb into the seat I just vacated. “Are you on medication I should know about?”

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