Page 58 of Brutal Sin

“Here you go.” The bartender slid over their drinks.

“Thanks.” He snatched at his beer and enjoyed the liquid solace gliding down his throat. He needed to take the edge off. To snuff theburn.

“What’s the craziest thing you’ve done, Brute?” Ella nibbled on the straw sticking from her drink, her head cocked as those eyes bore through him. “I bet you’ve got a lot of stories totell.”

He shrugged. “Nothing comes tomind.”

“You own a sex club and nothing comes tomind?”

He took another long pull of beer. Conversation became difficult—the grasp for coherence almost impossible when her lips were a tempting breath away. “Sex isn’t crazy. It’s natural. People have been screwing since the dawn of time. What I find hard to justify are those who skydive or participate in adrenaline-fueled sports.” He pointed a finger at her. “Or those who get married. Now, if you ask me, making a commitment like that is fucking insane.”

She stared at the bar, a far-off gleam in her eyes as she smiled. “My marriage was far from conventional.”

“Why isthat?”

Her lips parted and silent words hovered out of reach until she sighed. “Hold on a sec.” She leaned forward and focused on the bartender. “Excuse me. Can I get a shot of tequila, please?”

“Shots?”

Her fingers tapped against the bar, her leg jolted.

“Have I missed something?” he asked.

She gave a bark of laughter and grasped the shot glass sliding toward her. She downed the contents in one winced gulp and kept her focus on the bartender. “You might want to fill that up again, please. I think I’m going to needit.”

“What’s going on?” He didn’t like the change in her demeanor. He also didn’t like the rapid approach of lowered inhibitions. He was already battling enough for themboth.

She licked her lower lip, sweeping the remnants of alcohol away. “There was no commitment when I married.”

“You had an open relationship?” Her husband must have been one laidback motherfucker. To share a woman as beautiful as Ella was a risk. You’d never know when another guy would throw club etiquette to the wind and steal her right out from beneathyou.

“It’s a long story.”

“Then hurry up and get on withit.”

She eyed him, up anddown.

Shit. He pulled back, unsure when he’d inched close enough to hear the hitch in her breath.

“Go on.”He turned to the bar, palmed his beer, and took a gulp. “We’ve got all night.” At the very least, until he drowned his dick in liquor.

She fiddled with the refilled shot glass, running her finger around the rim. “I met Lucas on one of those European bus holidays. I was doing the touristy thing with Kim, and he was traveling alone. We got to talking and eventually hooked up. It wasn’t anything romantic. Just sex.” Her shoulders slumped with a deep exhale. “Amazingsex.”

“I get the picture.”

“No, you don’t.” She spoke to the glazed wood of the bar. “I’d never been with anyone like him before. He taught me things. He knew my body better than I did, which was strange because we rarely spoke. He kept to himself a lot and we only caught up at night.”

Bryan gripped his beer, his focus on the liquid. For a fleeting second, his chest constricted with jealousy, but he doused that fucker with the remainder of his drink and quickly ordered another with the raise of a finger.

“When the tour ended, we went our separate ways and neither one of us looked back. I didn’t ask for his number, and he showed no interest in keeping in contact. At least, not until he turned up on my doorstep a few months later.”

Made sense. The guy must’ve realized his mistake. Ella was a different sort of woman. Sexually confident and inquisitive. A catch. Anyone who let her walk deserved to wallow in regret.

“Couldn’t live without you, huh?” He welcomed his new beer with a deep pull, determined to douse the discomfort under his sternum.

“Actually …” Her voice turned somber. “He told me he wouldn’t be living at all in the near future. He found out about the cancer a few weeks after he returned from Europe.”

Bryan dropped his glass to the bar and turned toher.

---