All of a sudden, Brick stepped away from her. He took several steps back then ran his fingers through his hair.
“Sorry for . . . for everything.” He turned away, took another few steps while she gaped at him.
Then he turned back. Right, this was it. This was the part in the movie where the hero would run towards her, wrap his hands around her waist and spin her in the air before setting her gently down and kissing her.
Except real life wasn’t a movie.
And truthfully, she’d rather be pressed up against a wall, with his hand wrapped in her hair while he ravaged her mouth.
Yeah, she kind of had a thing for the sort of romance books where the man was all possessive and dominant. Where he wanted the heroine so much that he was constantly bending her over pieces of furniture or ordering her to suck him off, or pulling her over his knee.
Not that she was ever going to get that. Because she had less than ten people who she could stand touching her, let alone trust to do any of that with. And of those ten people, there was only one she was attracted to.
And Xavier definitely wasn’t the push her against the wall and fuck her until she screamed kind of guy. He was more of a roses, champagne, and sex under the covers guy. Which there was nothing wrong with. That was absolutely what she wanted.
Right?
Stupid Juliet. Just because something sounds sexy in a book doesn’t mean it is in real life. She’d probably immediately freak out and then make a fool of herself.
She could totally see that happening.
“Get out of those wet clothes,” he ordered.
Why don’t you make me?
Sheesh. Where had all this sassiness come from? This wasn’t her. Well, she was a bit sassy in Little space. But not in the rest of her life. She was sweet and compliant, mostly. Unless she didn’t want to do something
Hm. Okay, maybe she was more disobedient than she’d thought.
“Have a shower. Or you’ll get ill.”
She rolled her eyes at him, but he’d already turned and started stomping away.
To Brick’s surprise, she came to dinner. She stood shyly at the edge of the patio, watching them as they got dinner ready.
Well, Sterling was at the grill, and Elias was putting out some condiments while he set out the plates and cutlery.
Part of him had been hoping she wouldn’t turn up. Even though he’d been the one who’d basically demanded she come.
There was something wrong with him. Really wrong with him. When he’d seen her floating on the bottom of the pool, he’d nearly had a heart attack. He’d felt sure she was drowning. And then when he’d picked her up, well . . .
He hadn’t wanted to let her go.
He hadn’t felt this attracted to someone since Linda. And Linda was the reason why he shouldn’t trust himself. Because it turned out he was a bad fucking judge of character when it came to the women he was interested in. His dick didn’t make good decisions.
And doing anything with Juliet wouldn’t be a good decision.
He could kiss his reputation goodbye if Reuben Jones decided to blackball him.
So, no way was he going to go any further with this girl.
But that didn’t mean that his dick wasn’t still interested in her. When she’d been pressed against him, he’d been so close to kissing her. To ravaging that small mouth, picking her back up, and carrying her inside to strip her of her clothes.
But not because he was worried about her getting pneumonia.
Nope, he’d wanted to strip her for entirely different reasons.
Thank fuck he hadn’t.