On Dublin Street (37 page)

I waited, unnerved by this fire-breathing, scary caveman-on-crack, version of Braden as he strode menacingly towards me. “First, you wear that dress so every man in this club wants to screw you. Then you start flirting with the man who fucking betrayed me,” he hissed into my face.

I pushed against his chest to no avail, my own anger rising. “Hey!” I retorted. “One: back off the dress. I like it, so suck it up. And two: I didn
’
t even know who he was!”

If it was even possible his face got a whole lot cloudier. I shivered, trying to step back, but the desk was in my way. “And yet you were still flirting with him!”

He
’
d never yelled at me before, and I flinched back, intimidated and pissed off in equal measure. I shoved harder at his chest, but he only pressed into my hands like a damn cement block. “Me?” I huffed incredulously. “You ask me to take the night off for this, and then I find out you
’
ve invited all your previous fuck buddies and girlfriends, and you spend the entire night flirting your ass off with more than one of them! What is this, Braden?” I felt the anger dissolve into hurt and with it my voice grew quieter, “Is this me getting laid off early?”

I watched some of the fury melt from his expression, his hands coming up to grip my hips tight to his. My breath stuttered at the feel of his erection rubbing against me, but I wasn
’
t surprised. There was something electric between us, and it was really confusing being this angry and this turned on all at the same time. “Babe, that wasn
’
t anything out there,” his voice was low, his head bending towards mine. “I wanted a big take tonight, and a lot of those girls like to party and have a lot of friends who like to party. That
’
s all it was.”

“And the flirting?”

He shrugged. “I didn
’
t even realize. I didn
’
t mean to hurt you.”

I scoffed, needing to hold onto a little bit of dignity. “You didn
’
t hurt me. I can
’
t be hurt by you.”

At my scathing tone, Braden
’
s mouth hardened
—
the anger was back. I found myself pushed roughly against the desk as Braden grasped the back of my thighs and lifted my legs, pressing in between them as he shoved the hem of my dress up to my waist. I clutched at him for balance, the desk cold against my backside. “Don
’
t fucking lie to me, Jocelyn.”

I tried to push at him, but he only pressed deeper, his right hand leaving my leg to unbutton his slacks. I was panting now. “I
’
m not lying.”

I felt his cock nudge against my sex as he leaned in to whisper in my ear. “You
’
re lying.” He kissed my neck.

Then he surprised me by taking a shaky breath. “I
’
m sorry for hurting you.”

I could only nod unsurely, feeling out of control of the entire situation.

“Babe.” He pulled back, his eyes blazing now with something I didn
’
t understand. “I hit him,” he said hoarsely and I suddenly realized the look was disbelief. “I hit him. Seeing him with you… I hit him.”

Because of me
. I cupped his face in my hands, suddenly not afraid of him. “Don
’
t,” I whispered across his lips. “Don
’
t do that to yourself.”

He crushed my lips beneath his at the exact same time he tore my panties off, his tongue thrusting into my mouth hungrily as his cock thrust hungrily inside me. I gasped at the sudden invasion, arching my back as he gripped me high by the back of the thighs and pounded into me over and over, my cries of pleasure filling the office, his grunts muffled in my neck. “Jocelyn,” he growled, trying to bury deeper. “Lie back,” he demanded.

I did it instantly, falling back, the bare skin revealed by the dress pressed against the cool wood. At this angle, Braden lifted my legs higher, allowing him to slide in harder, deeper. I writhed on the desk, my lower body completely in Braden
’
s control. The torture was exquisite, and the orgasm tore through me in record time.

Braden wasn
’
t done. As I came down off my orgasm, I watched him watch me as he ground into me, chasing his own climax. I could feel another orgasm building. When Braden came, he threw his head back, his teeth gritted, the muscles in his neck straining as his hips jerked against me. The feel of him coming inside of me, the image of his face in release, was the sexiest thing I
’
d ever seen, and I cried out, my sex pulsing around his cock as I came again.

“Jesus.” Braden watched me, hunger in his eyes.

Finally, my muscles relaxed and I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath.

He was still inside me when he apologized softly, “I was a dick tonight.”

“Yeah,” I murmured.

He squeezed my hip. “Am I forgiven?”

I opened my eyes and smiled, amused. “I already accepted the two orgasms as an apology.”

Braden didn
’
t laugh like he normally would. Instead he nudged his semi-hard cock a little further inside me until I could almost feel it kissing my womb, and he muttered, “Mine.”

I blinked, not sure I heard right. “What?”

“Come on,” Braden sighed, pulling carefully out of me and tucking himself back into his pants. He gently eased me up off the table and grimaced as he picked up my torn panties.

“Now, I
’
m walking out of there in this dress without any underwear on, Caveman.” I grinned saucily.

Braden closed his eyes at the thought. “Fuck.”

The next few months were a blur of Braden. After the night at
Fire
he was still pretty raw about the whole Gavin thing, but I did my best to convince him the guy deserved to be punched, but more importantly that losing his temper in that moment did not a make him a bad guy. I discovered more from Adam about Gavin. Apparently they
’
d all been friends since elementary, but as they
’
d gotten older Gavin had turned into a bit of an asshole. He was sly, sometimes caustic, horrible to women, a shit-stirrer as Adam called it, and a liar. Braden had had this stubborn sense of loyalty to him because they
’
d been friends for so long. That was until the guy had screwed his wife. As I reiterated all these things to Braden, I think I finally got through, and a few weeks later I watched the grim contemplation gradually disappear from him.

Of course I cancelled my gym membership and Braden persuaded me to join his gym where I discovered that part of the reason he had those sexy broad shoulders and narrow hips was because he swam after every workout. Somehow, more often than not, I ended up working out with him and taking that swim too. Somehow, in fact, we invaded one another
’
s lives almost completely. We took turns staying at each other
’
s apartment on weeknights whenever we could; we both were pretty content to just hang out watching TV, listening to music, but we also had fun throwing in restaurants and going to the movies, or grabbing a few drinks with friends. At least twice a month we had some kind of event that involved Braden
’
s work. I
’
d even ended up mentioned in an entertainment article for the local paper as Braden
’
s regular plus one and latest
‘
woman
’
. I tried not to let it get to me.

Braden tried to make it to
Club 39
on Fridays and Saturdays, and that meant Ellie and Adam and whoever else was with them that night, were there too. Braden told me he liked to watch me work, that it was sexy, but Ellie pronounced that he was marking his territory in front of my colleagues and customers.

All I knew was that he was with me as much as he could be and that meant he made he sure he was there a lot. And it didn
’
t bother me.

In fact, I missed him when he was gone. Our arrangement hadn
’
t turned out the way I
’
d expected it to at all
—
the arrangement actually kind of fell apart. And somewhere along the way, I
’
d stopped caring as long as it meant I could be with him without any scary questions about the future.

We were in my room, Braden was going over Adam
’
s drawings for a new development and they were spread out all over my bed. I was at my typewriter working on chapter fifteen of the novel, and I was happy with it so far. In all honesty, I was really excited about where it was going. The characters felt more real than any I
’
d written before, and I knew it was because they were based on my parents. I was staring at my notes, trying to work out if the line of dialogue I
’
d written in this scene was appropriate for my main character. The more I thought about it, it didn
’
t feel true to her and I was trying to think how to change it without changing the point she was attempting to make. I was so lost in thought I didn
’
t even realize Braden was watching me, so I jumped, startled when he spoke, my heart lodged in my throat at his words, “It
’
s Jenna and Ed
’
s wedding next week, and the end of the terms of our arrangement.”

I froze.

I already knew that. I
’
d been dreading him bringing it up.

***

“Why haven
’
t you brought it up?” Dr. Pritchard took a sip of water. “The three months are nearly up. Don
’
t you think you should discuss it?”

I tilted my head to the side. “Don
’
t you think I
’
ve come a long way in five months?”

“You
’
ve definitely opened up, Jocelyn. But I still think you haven
’
t fully dealt with your family
’
s passing. You still won
’
t talk about them.”

“I know you think that. But what I
’
m saying is that five months ago I had a best friend I knew nothing about and who knew nothing about me. I didn
’
t like getting involved too deeply in people
’
s lives, and I was determined to surround myself with casual acquaintances.” I grinned in relieved disbelief. “Ellie and Braden changed all that. Especially Braden. He
’
s…” I shook my head, still not able to really believe it was true, “He
’
s my best friend. Three months ago I was determined to just have sex and then end this thing. But he
’
s a part of me now. He
’
s in deeper than anyone else, and I have no idea what to expect from that or from the future. I don
’
t really want to think about it. However, I do know that I
’
m not ready to lose my best friend again.”

“You should discuss this with him, Joss. He needs to know this.”

I frowned, anxiety gripping me at the thought. “No. No, I
’
m not doing that. If he wants this to end, then fine, but if it ends, it
’
ll be easier if only I know the truth.”

Dr. Pritchard sighed. “Why? So you can bury that truth along with all the others?”

You
’
re such a buzz kill.
“You
’
re such a buzz kill.”

She laughed. “Only because I don
’
t bury the truth.”

“Always have to have the last word, huh?”

***

I turned slowly to face him. “Yeah, it is.”

Braden pushed the paper off his lap and gave me his entire focus. “How do you feel about it?”

“How do
you
feel about it?”

His eyes narrowed. “I asked you first.”

I sighed, little ants of uncertainty swarming in my gut. “What are we, five?”

“Well are we?”

I stared into his stubborn eyes. “Braden,” I didn
’
t even mean for it to come out as a plea, but it did.

His obdurate expression seemed to reinforce itself. “I could answer this one easily, Jocelyn. We know out of the two of us who
’
s more open here. But I
’
m not going to. I want, for once, to know how
you
feel.”

“What do you mean for once,” I snapped. “You get more out of me than most people, buddy.”