Page 41 of Blitzing Emily

When she wasn’t busting his chops, something about her relaxed and soothed him.

He stripped down to his shorts and slid in next to her. Her long hair spread over the pillows like rose petals. He took a few deep breaths of her sweet scent, and then he was asleep.

A few hours later, Emily rolled over and bumped into him. “Mmph,” he muttered. The bedroom window indicated dawn was still hours away.

Her voice was sleepy. “Why are you here? We agreed that you’re sleeping on the couch.”

He popped up out of the blankets. “You’re awake,” he said. “Let’s talk some more.”

“What is this? Most guys want to run away from the talking stuff, don’t they?”

He stifled a laugh. It seemed he spent a lot of time doing that when she was around. He kept his voice light.

“That’s a gross generalization. I’m definitely insulted. I can’t believe you would think that.”

“You’re joking.”

“Absolutely not. This isn’t funny.”

He could see it was all she could do not to scream. He wondered what she’d do if he reached out to tickle her.

“Listen, you big brute, why don’t you move over so I can—”

The rest of her comment was muffled by the blankets she dragged over her head. She reconsidered a few moments later, tossed the blankets back, and propped herself up on the pillows. He wasn’t so sure about the evil look in her eyes. Unless he was terribly wrong, not only was she irritated, but she’d just figured out her revenge.

“Do you feel better today, sugar?”

“Yeah. My head doesn’t hurt as much. I seem to have a little more energy.” She took a deep breath. “Thanks for asking.”

“You’re welcome.” Her hand brushed his under the covers, and she jumped. He held on. Her hand was small inside of his. She tried to pull her hand away, and he meshed his fingers through hers. Nice.

“I’m curious, Brandon—”

“I need a nickname. How are you coming on the nickname?”

“Listen, Bruiser.”

He laughed. “Good one.” He pulled the blankets up to his chest. “And you were saying?”

She glanced away from him.Here it comes,he thought. “I’m not even sure how to ask you this.”

“Well, that sounds promising.” He let out a deep chuckle. “I can hardly wait to find out what you’re going to ask me now. Spit it out, okay? We’re not getting any younger.”

“This is a little embarrassing, but I knew nothing about you. I’d never heard of you before I wiped out in the parking lot.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” He took a sip of water from the glass on the nightstand. “I didn’t know a lot about you, either.”

“That’s true.” Emily propped herself up on her elbow. Somehow, lying in bed, holding her hand and talking with her in the darkness seemed more intimate than the last time he’d had sex. He knew she would be a man’s friend as well as his lover. He’d never experienced that before. He slid further down into the blankets as well, and they faced each other.

“I’m confused,” she said. “Cheryl the nurse called you a horn dog. My sister said roughly the same thing. I’ve spent some time with you now, and you aren’t like that at all. How can you have this reputation if you’re nothing like that person?”

The room was silent. He thought he’d braced himself, but evidently not. There wasnocorrect answer to that question. He’d done some stuff when he was younger to deserve the press he got, but it would be nice if he got some credit for realizing he needed to be a lot more selective in his choice of conquests. Some of his alleged hookups were blown out of proportion by the media, or were flat-out lies by women who thought sleeping with him would enhance their allure to others. Anastasia came to mind. She was the last straw in more ways than one. He really didn’t like having his nose rubbed in his mistakes. Those stupid enough to do so got the full force of his anger, every time.

“Sometimes, people say things about us that aren’t true,” she said. Emily, bless her heart, was trying to give him an out, but it pissed him off. “If you talked to my colleagues, I know that you’d hear embarrassing things about me.”

“Really,” he bit out. Unless he missed his guess, she was patronizing him. Yup, he was pissed. The more she talked, the angrier he was.

“Of course, I—”

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