Page 48 of Forever Finds Us
“You’re right.” She flipped her auburn waves over her shoulder and took another sip of her drink. “I guess I just meant that Gina isn’t exactly what I’d call ‘down to earth,’ not like you and me.”
“Oh.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about her comparison or the many, glaring differences between Brand’s ex and me. Tab wasn’t wrong that we were clearly different. And while I berated myself silently for being the opposite of what Brand usually wanted, I didn’t wish I was more like this Gina Scott. I liked who I was. I loved my job and my family, and if having Brand meant changing my identity, then we really were a no-go.
When I realized it was true, a weird confidence flowed through me because I knew myself well, and surely that was an attractive quality.
I didn’t think he wanted me to change, but I couldn’t stop my brain from hanging onto the image burned into it of Brand escorting the fancy-schmancy vixen out of the coffee shop. And now my retinas were burning, too, as they pictured Brand and Miss Boyfriend Stealer ensconced in their fancy hotel together, her perfectly toned calves wrapped around Brand’s neck while he went to town on her expertly waxed, rich-lady bits.
Arghh!
My phone dinging with a text from Brand cleared the jealousy from my body, but only for a few seconds. I just couldn’t stop seeing Gina Scott writhing in the throes of passion with my… What exactly was Brand Lee to me?
5:32 PM
Tonight. Be ready for me. 10pm.
I didn’t respond. Why would I? What would I even say? Yes, sir. I’ll be waiting so your girlfriend can turn you on but then you can act out all your fantasies on your white-trash booty call after she squeaks through her elegant orgasm and falls asleep in the chic, trendy hotel you paid for.
Chapter Eighteen
Roxanne
“How was your dinner?” I asked when Brand showed up at my duplex at 10 p.m. on the dot, the top three buttons of his shirt open, jacket missing, his blue baseball cap now shading his eyes instead of his cowboy hat.
As much as I loved that Lee Construction cap on him, it didn’t escape my notice that he hadn’t worn it around Gina Scott, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t disguise the jealous tinge to my voice.
His careful gaze caressed my face, lingering on my mouth for a moment, but as it lifted to take in my expression, his intelligent eyes missed nothing. They narrowed the littlest bit, eyebrows furrowing for half a second as he stepped inside my door.
“It was fine,” he said. “Just business. I’m glad it’s over.”
Turning away from him, I walked to my kitchen. I needed a drink. “I’m sure you are.”
“I missed you this week,” he said, his gaze now following mine as it roamed my living room. I looked everywhere but at him. He tilted his head. “Roxanne? Are you… jealous?” His voice was a low hum as he tracked me, almost menacingly so, but when I finally glanced at him, a smile lifted the edges of his lips.
I turned to face him. With a jut of my chin, I said, “No,” and I spun away.
“Don’t lie to me.” He touched my arm with the tips of two fingers, but when I tried to yank it away from their warmth, they slid to my wrist, and his hot hand closed around it.
“I didn’t lie.”
“Yes, you did, and if you do it again—” He paused, and his voice was dangerously seductive when he finished his sentence. “I may have to punish you.”
Reaching above the fridge, I grabbed the bottle of whiskey I kept for special occasions, though the bottle was still sealed. What special thing had happened to me in the last two years?
There was nothing until I met Brand.
Annoyance and desire fought for control inside me. I didn’t want to admit that I’d been more jealous today than a fifteen-year-old girl watching her boyfriend flirt with a sixteen-year-old bombshell at the weekly football game, but it was true, even after Tab explained. But the images my mind conjured of just how Brand might punish me made my whole body shudder.
I wasn’t a liar, though, at least not a very good one if I wasn’t interrogating a suspect at work, so I let him turn me with a tug of his strong hand.
“Fine. I was jealous but then Tabitha told me who Gina was.”
“And that settled it for you?” he deduced, searching my face, like a detective himself, looking for clues of deception.
Without blinking, my eyes met his, and I stood tall. “Yes.”
“Liar.”
