Page 24 of Bad Boys After Dark - Brett
“Do not remind me,” Sophie said. “If you were going, I’d pawn him off on you this year instead of Lindsay.”
They talked about the party, and after another quick hug, Sophie headed home. She tipped her face up to the sun, enjoying the warmth as a breeze swept over her cheeks. It was a beautiful morning, and she’d kicked butt with her workout. Maybe Grace was right. She’d had her fantasy. It was time to move on before Brett Bad took up any more of her thoughts.
It’s his loss. The thought felt wrong when she was so full of hope.
As she waited at the crosswalk for the light to change, she remembered the way he’d sung to her and danced with her like they were the only people on the sidewalk. He hadn’t cared that people were watching them.
Is it your loss? Or is it mine?
She knew she was letting him cloud her thoughts again. He hadn’t minced words when he’d told her he couldn’t promise anything past last night. Why was she even bothering to hope for more? She crossed the street and made her way to her apartment building, deciding once and for all that she wasn’t going to do this to herself. It was the perfect day to take a book down to the park and disappear into a world of victims and villains.
An afternoon at the park was just what she needed before watching the football game. She loved football, and four o’clock couldn’t come fast enough. She entered the elevator feeling good about her decision, but as the doors closed, she was thrown right back to last night. She could feel Brett’s thumb on her lower lip and the heat of his gaze boring into her. Her pulse quickened, and she closed her eyes, but that only made the images of him more vibrant. She could smell him all around her.
She was losing her mind.
The elevator stopped on her floor and she bolted out of it, digging her keys from her bag. She looked down the hall, and her heart leapt into her throat at the sight of Brett leaning against the wall beside her door. His arms were crossed, and as their eyes connected, electricity blazed a path between them. Sophie swallowed hard, too confused to think. Her legs turned to noodles, but she forced herself to straighten her spine as he pushed from the wall, looking unfairly hot in a pair of running shorts and a sweaty shirt. His lips curved up in the same smile she’d seen at the bookstore, and she felt her resolve chip away.
She was not going to end up in bed with him again. Nope.
What if he was there to say last night was a mistake? That would be mortifying. Shit, shit, shit. Maybe she could get back into the elevator. Oh Lord, he was a few steps away, and his eyes smoldered.
No! Don’t smolder.
Smoldering made her knees weaker. She looked away, but it was too late. Lust simmered low in her belly, filling her up, streaming through her veins until it pulsed inside her like an animal needing release. She focused on unlocking the door and refused to look into his eyes.
“Hi,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound as nervous as she felt. “What are you doing here?” Please don’t say it was a mistake.
He followed her inside, swept her in his arms before the door even closed, and captured her lips in an intoxicatingly sweet kiss. Her bag and keys clunked to the floor as he backed her up against the door, forcing it closed. She told herself not to enjoy it, not to kiss him back. But he took the kiss deeper, held her tighter, and her thoughts spun away. She couldn’t remember why she shouldn’t enjoy him, and as a needy noise slipped from her lungs and he smiled against her lips, she stopped trying and surrendered to their passion.
Her arms circled his neck, and he eased his efforts, placing a series of feathery kisses on her lips, her cheek, her jaw, and a single tantalizing kiss on the hollow of her throat. There was a dreamy intimacy in every touch of his lips, but it was the intensity of his gaze that had her holding him tighter, hoping for more.
“You wanted everything,” he said heatedly.
“Yes.” She was unsure if he meant between them, or sexually, and right then she didn’t care which.
“I can’t promise you tomorrow, but I couldn’t leave you wondering what our everything would feel like.”
“Me?” she asked hastily. “Or you couldn’t be left wondering?”
