Page 10 of Bad Boys After Dark - Brett
“I think I misjudged you,” he said indulgently. “You’ve got an excellent handle on me.”
“I wasn’t finished,” she said, as much to herself as to him, because the way he’d danced with her last night, and swooped in tonight and saved her, made her heart take note, and that was not a good thing. It was dangerous, because if he’d pushed last night, she was pretty sure she would have finally given in. And then this morning would have brought a whole different type of worrying.
She forced that realization aside and said, “You’re all those things, which makes you very tempting, but you’re also arrogant, a shameless flirt, and you collect one-night stands like other people collect stamps or baseball cards.”
He winced. “Stamps or baseball cards?”
“It was the only thing I could think of under pressure.” She smiled, thinking she saw a flash of sorrow in his eyes, but that might have been wishful thinking, because when she looked closer, it was gone. “The truth is, you’re a great guy in many ways, and I’ve been into you for a long time. But we’re on opposite ends of the life-goal spectrum. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t ever want to feel like I need to compete for someone’s affection. I still hold out hope that one day I’ll meet a special man who wants the same things as I do.”
He reached up and caressed her cheek. “And what do you want, Soph?”
She sighed at the intimate touch. It would be so much easier if he wore dark sunglasses so she didn’t have to see that look in his eyes. The one that told her he really wanted to hear her answers.
“I want all the things you don’t. Marriage, babies, to look in to the same man’s eyes for all my years and know I’ll love him more with every passing second. And that those feelings will be reciprocated, no matter what temptations come his way.”
“You deserve all those things.” The honesty in his eyes had her anxiously awaiting his next words. His gaze moved slowly over her face, lingering on her mouth. “But before you settle for any man”—he brushed his thumb over her lower lip—“it’s only right that you experience the best man, the only man, who can exceed your darkest fantasies and pleasure you so thoroughly, you’ll hear my voice in the wind, feel my touch when we’re miles apart.”
The cab pulled over, but Sophie was too stunned to respond, much less move. How did he make her want to experience him like that? Knowing he was offering only one night of pleasure? Ugh. She’d probably go straight to hell, but she wanted that one night.
She tried to pull herself together as Brett paid the driver. He stepped from the cab, offering her his hand with a pleased-with-himself smile. “Come on, sweet stuff. Let’s go check out your surprise.”
As he brought her to her feet she said, “You mean there’s more than just blowing me away in the back of a cab?”
He chuckled. “If you call that being blown away, your bar is set way too low. I’m going to take great pleasure in fixing that so you don’t end up short-changing yourself.”
“Oh my, isn’t that gracious of you?” she said sarcastically. “Where are we going?”
“The bookstore.” He pulled open the door to Pages and motioned for her to walk through.
“Brett Bad is taking me to a bookstore? What’s really going on?” She reached up and felt his forehead. “No fever. Are they having Fifty Shades night or something?”
“Jesus, Soph. I’m not one-dimensional.”
Brett took her hand and led her toward a crowd in the back of the store. She loved Pages because it was not only the largest bookstore in the city, but it wasn’t all vamped up the way most big outlets were. The floors were scuffed hardwood, like they’d been there forever, and antique velvet sofas and chairs were placed at odd angles and in nooks throughout the store. Simple wooden tables lined the front windows like a coffee shop, even though they offered no food or beverages. The chemical scent of new books and what Sophie thought of as the aura of happy readers hung in the air. Just walking into bookstores lifted her spirits, but walking into a bookstore with Brett was like walking into a sex shop with a nun. They didn’t fit together.
