Page 12 of Cocky Player

He scowled like that disgusted him.“If I hurt you—”

“You didn’t.”

“I did.Seriously, I have a right to know why you’d fucking target me for that.And I was there, Brenna.I heard when I hurt you, I felt it—”

“Please stop.”I threw up my hand and cringed.Reliving it wouldn’t help either of us.

“I didn’t know it was you, or who you were.”There was no way to explain without shame slithering through me.To him, I’d sound like a slut.Like there was something wrong with me and I was so tired of there being something wrong with me.“That I promise.But I don’t want to talk about it further.”

He stepped closer, one long stride almost moving in slow motion, yet he was in front of me before I could back up and get space.“I’m not a man who appreciates the idea of hurting a woman.You need to know that about me.But yes, considering who I am and who you are, I really think I deserve an explanation.If this was some game…some trick by someone…”

“It wasn’t.”He wouldn’t let this go and once again, tears burned the backs of my eyes.“I’d like for you to step back.”I stared at his shoulder.He couldn’t see me again, not like this—crying and humiliated and running from him.But did he have a point?

I put myself in his shoes.He was a player for the Rough Riders.Of course…of course the one time I try to do something for myself I still screw it up epically.“I won’t tell my dad.It wasn’t…I wasn’t trying to trick you, I wanted…”

I clamped my mouth shut.

“Wanted what?To throw away something special on a stranger?I’ve wracked my brain all weekend trying to figure this out.You fled with your blood on my fingers.”

“Yes,” I hissed.Blood boiling.He was too close.And that pulsing was increasing at my thighs.Goddamn, why did this turn me on?His fear of hurting me actually made mewantit.“Okay?Yes.I wanted to lose my virginity to a stranger.Are you happy now?”

And could I crawl into a hole and die yet?

“Why?”

“Because it’d be my choice and over with it.That was why.Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go.”

“To find another stranger to finish the job I started?”He spit it out with such venom, I attacked right back.

This man.I was never supposed to see him again.Still, he listened and stepped to the side, giving me my opening, but not before leaving with a parting shot.

“Yeah.Probably.What difference does it make to you?”

Six

Connor

The nerve of her.She was back and as I watched her prance through the main floor of Glitz from my view on the monitors, this time where I was in the office meeting with Malcom Lawrence, the majority owner in the bar, my blood boiled.

No more innocent angel for Brenna fucking Kemper.Learning who she was was still such a surprise it shamed the hell out of me that I hadn’t been able to kick her out of my brain since the disaster at her parents’ yard.At first, she’d looked so freaked out by me I almost left.But then, something else had happened.As she fought through her fear, it’d changed.Not to acceptance or awareness…but something else.My presence and her fear had turned her on in a way that made my dick jerk beneath my pants and iced my veins.It was equal parts scary and enticing.And her parting words to me?That she’d have no problems finding a stranger to finish what I started?

Hell no.Was that why she was back here?Red hair now pulled back into a sleek ponytail, vibrant red lips and a black dress even sexier than her angelic one.Was she trying to find me?Turning this into the game she originally denied or was she still on the hunt?

If this girl had a death wish it wasn’t going to happen at my damn club.There was no way in hell I was having her assaulted here, not now when I knew who she was and what she claimed to be looking for.

Someone had to keep her safe from doing something stupid.I wasn’t the man for the job.Not even close.But hell if I wasn’t thinking about signing up for it.

“Who is that?”Malcom asked, peering over my shoulder as I zoomed in on her at the bar.Her friend wasn’t close by this time like she’d been last time.

“Goddamn it,” I grunted.She came here alone but now the question was if it was for me or someone—anyone—else.

“Know her, I take it?”

“Yeah.”My eyes stayed glued to the screen as she ordered a drink.She waited, scanned the bar and her shoulder slumped in a way I only saw because I was so focused on her.Not once did she peer up at the VIP section though.She didn’t behave in a way a woman usually did if she was even trying to get attention from someone.

No, she wasn’t looking for me, but she wasn’t leaving here with another man taking her either.

“I gotta go.”I shoved back from the desk and the screen, eyeing her as she sipped her drink and scanned the dance floor.“We good?”

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