Does this little toy car of yours have heated seats?” Brynn asked as she peered at the fancy buttons of his sports car.
Wordlessly Will punched a button and turned his attention back to the road. Brynn studied him out of the corner of her eye. They might not get along, but she’d known him long enough to know that silence and Will were never a good combination. Her body went on high alert.
“You shouldn’t have offered me a ride if you were going to sulk the entire time,” she said.
“Had I known you were going to chatter the whole way, I probably wouldn’t have offered.”
Brynn straightened her shoulders and gazed out of the passenger window and tried not to let his words sting. He’d never made a secret that he didn’t like her, but she couldn’t quite understand why her company was so repellant to him. And she really couldn’t understand why someone as open, loving, and sweet as her younger sister had befriended such a selfish oaf. His entire existence revolved around casual sex and business ventures. He had zero substance.
“I don’t understand why Sophie loves that bar so much,” Brynn mused as she stared out at the line of red brake lights on either side of them. “It’s so out of the way.”
Will made a sharp turn to take a side-street detour, and Brynn braced her hand against the dash, surprised by sudden movement. She was about to nag him for driving like a freaking NASCAR driver when his outburst obliterated the sullen silence.
“Don’t you ever get tired of being selfish?” he exploded.
She snapped her head around to look at his clenched profile. “Excuse me?”
“I’d just think you’d get sick of yourself after a while. I know I do.” His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel.
“What—”
But he wasn’t done. His voice took on a whining, high-pitched, mimicking tone. “Sophieeee, you need to sit through a hellish double date to make my life more convenient. Why doesn’t everyone pick a bar that’s closer to me? Mommy, Daddy, it’s been ten minutes since you’ve praised all of my superpredictable accomplishments. Gray, why aren’t you adoring me the way I deserve to be adored? Gosh, Will, you’re so mean to me.”
The unprovoked attack sent a river of emotions rolling through her, the anger hitting her hardest. How dare he of all people accuse her of being selfish?
The sharpness of her anger was followed quickly by an automatic denial. Will didn’t even know her, not really. She was a good person. Sure, maybe she’d asked Sophie for an unfair favor, but Sophie was resilient. Nothing bothered her.
But as hard as Brynn tried to hang on to her anger, doubt crept up her spine. Was he right? Was she selfish? Brynn didn’t mean to be. She loved her sister and would never want to sabotage her happiness. But did Brynn even know what Sophie’s version of happy looked like? Had she really stopped to assess what was going on with her sister, or had she just assumed that her own priorities were more important?
God, she was selfish.
The last emotion was perhaps the worst of all.
Hurt.
Hurt that it had to be Will of all people who’d held up the mirror and forced her to see her own narcissism.
Oh no. Not tears. Not now. She could not let Will Thatcher see her cry.
“Are you crying?”
“No,” she said, the word soggy.
“Shit,” he said softly.
Exactly.
He pulled over to the side of the road, and Brynn was surprised to see through the haze of her tears that they were outside of her condo building. Grabbing her purse, she fumbled at the door, desperate to escape Will and the flood of emotions he’d thrown at her.
“Thanks for the ride,” she muttered tersely.
Again with the damn manners! She should have told him to go screw himself, but even at her most vulnerable, she couldn’t get the words out.
“Brynn,” he said softly, putting a hand on her arm.
“Don’t you dare,” she hissed, turning to face him, suddenly not caring that he was seeing her with puffy eyes and black rivers of eye makeup running down her cheeks. “Don’t you dare insult me, outline every single flaw I have, and then turn around and try to make it better. You wanted to hurt me and you succeeded. At least have the balls to own your victory.”
“I never meant to hurt you,” he said, not breaking eye contact. “I just couldn’t stand the way you were trying to push Sophie down so you could pull yourself up.”
“Of course, we wouldn’t want your poor precious Sophie to suffer,” she said scathingly, hating the words she heard coming out of her mouth.
“This isn’t about Sophie!” he said more sharply. “This has never been about Sophie!”
“Oh really?” She scoffed. “So it’s just coincidence that you’re taking her side on everything. You just don’t want to see me happy, so you’re doing your best to ensure my relationship with Gray never has a chance.”
“You don’t even like the guy!” Will yelled. “This isn’t about Gray or Sophie, it’s about you trying to control absolutely every little detail in your life because you don’t know what you really want.”
“I do know what I want! I want Gray. He’s perfect for me. Smart, successful, genteel…”
“The man’s a Goddamn mannequin, which is exactly what you think you want because you can ensure he fits into your plastic life.”
“Why are you acting like this?” she whispered, staring into his blazing blue eyes. “I know we’re always bickering, but you’ve never been cruel before.”
“God, Brynn.” He turned away and stared out the front of the car, running his fingers through his blond hair and muttering a string of curses.
“I don’t expect an apology,” she said quietly. “I know better. I just want to know why.”
“Why? Why?!” His voice had taken on an agitated tone, and he sounded completely unlike the controlled and manipulative Will she knew so well.
“This is why, Brynn.”
A rough hand slid behind the nape of her neck and jerked her over to the driver’s-side seat. Firm lips slammed down on hers as he held her head still and took control of her mouth.
She parted her lips on a surprised gasp and his tongue flicked teasingly across her bottom lip. Brynn moaned. She didn’t know if this was supposed to be her punishment, her embarrassment, or simply more ammunition that he could use against her, and she didn’t care.
She didn’t care that they hated each other, didn’t care that she was lying awkwardly across the middle console of his car like one of his groupies.
She didn’t care that he probably had some sort of agenda or that she was most certainly going to regret this in the morning.
Because at this moment, all she cared about was kissing Will.
His tongue slid against hers in a silky stroke and she moaned again. Winding her arms around his neck, Brynn pressed closer, letting her tongue tangle with his in a kiss that wasn’t civilized or rehearsed or practiced. Kissing Will was a lot like dirty dancing. It was heady, instinctual, and it gave her the urge to move her hips.
They kissed like they argued. Savagely, taking as much as they gave. His hands tilted her head to the side so he could press deeper, and this time it was Will who let out a low groan. His mouth broke away from hers, and his lips softly pressed against the side of her mouth, skimming along her jaw before gently brushing her cheeks, her eyelids.
Reality crashed down as Brynn realized what he was doing. He was kissing away her tears. He cupped her face gently, as though using his lips to try to erase the pain he’d caused.
And suddenly it just felt too…tender. Animal passion had been safe. She could blame that on the champagne and their anger.
But kindness and tenderness from Will…she couldn’t…she wouldn’t…
She pulled away sharply.
“Brynn,” he said quietly, reaching out to her again.
“Don’t,” she said. “Just don’t.”
Clutching her purse, she scratched at the door again, shoving it open in clumsy haste. She set one foot out into the stormy night before hesitantly looking back at him.
“You won’t…you won’t tell anyone about this, right? We’ll just chalk it up to a moment of absurd insanity?”
Any softness that might have been in his eyes vanished. “Don’t worry,” he snapped. “Your secret is safe with me. You think I want anyone knowing that I failed to get a hot reaction from Ice Princess Brynn? You’re just as cold as everyone thinks you are.”
She didn’t let his words sting. She was already numb.
“Good night, Will,” she said stonily as she climbed out of the car. “If you’ve given me some sort of disease, you’ll be hearing from me.”
She’d barely slammed the door before he peeled away from the curb with a squeal of tires. Typical, she thought. Slowly her snarl faded as she stood hunched in the rain, staring after his long gone taillights.
That was a mistake. The realization came as a shock.
Because Brynn Dalton did not make mistakes.