CHAPTER THREE

BRYAN

The day is too fucking hot for being this early in the morning, he thought as he unlocked the front door of the house.

Like a wuss, he had taken up his future sister-in-law’s dinner invitation in hopes to avoid his pretty little roommate. After a game of Monopoly with his niece that went on for way too long, he took up Grace’s offer of staying in the spare room of her home.

Marcus, the middle of the Wright brothers and Hollywood actor, was on set in Canada, and Bryan knew he liked knowing his brothers popped in to make sure his girls were safe and sound.

He was happy to do it. It wasn’t like he had much going on, and if he had to admit it, he had a great time over there when he went to visit.

Grace and Lexi, Grace’s daughter from a previous relationship, spoiled Bryan, Garrett, and their childhood friend, Donnie, when they visited. They were pretty awesome. Funny, smart, and beautiful. His brother was a lucky man to have made himself a part of their family. Luckily for the three of them, Grace and Lexi had taken in the rest of Marc’s brothers as well.

Walking into the quiet house, he stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes pinned to the beautiful creature, sound asleep, he felt like he had swallowed his tongue.

There she was.

Sprawled out, her hair stood out against the darkness of the upholstery of the couch. Her golden tresses covered most of her face, her pink lush lips stood out, parted slightly. Loose and long, her hair looked like a silky cascade of dark gold, and all he wanted to do was touch it. Feel the brilliant strands slip through his fingers like water, and a need to bury his face in her hair to smell her scent washed through him. She moved, shifting her body slightly, and his went on full alert, blood immediately rushing south. The tight white tank top she was wearing shifted upward, revealing a soft patch of creamy skin, exposing the bottom half of her belly button. His cock hardened behind his jeans. All because of half a damn belly button? What the fuck was his problem? He needed to get himself in check, and it was getting too close to impossible to do so.

He should walk away.

He should head straight into his bedroom and shut the door.

But he knew what would happen the second he locked his bedroom door. He would waste about five minutes trying to wash out the sight of her. Even now, standing, watching her, knowing what her kisses taste like, how she had felt in his arms, almost half-naked in that lucky-as-hell towel she had been wearing, he was losing his fight at being turned on.

Shit. What the fuck? He was a grown man, not some walking hormone-laced pubescent teen. If he walked into his room, he was going to jerk himself off, come all over his hand, and if he were a betting man, he’d still be left hard and hungry for her.

He should get the hell out of there before she woke up to him staring at her like some creepy perv, but he couldn’t get himself to move.

Nailed to the spot beneath his feet, he looked at her. Pretty, pink lips, white tank top that held her braless breasts, black cotton shorts so short they showed off the curve of her hips and plump ass, making his eyes roam down her sexy-as-hell legs. He swallowed hard looking at the endless tan skin on long, toned legs. His lips quirked upward as he looked at the ugly as fuck socks covering her feet.

He should walk away. He should go into his room. But he couldn’t get himself to do either. She is so fucking beautiful.

He watched her eyes flutter open, and his heart stopped.

For a moment, he wondered if she could feel his eyes on her. He also wondered what she was thinking. For a long, quiet moment, time stood still; neither of them said a word. He wondered if she was going to yell at him for gawking at her like some pervert. When he finally opened his mouth to speak, she beat him to the punch, which was okay. Hell, just gawking at her, observing her sit up, her body moving, made him lose track of what he was going to say anyhow.

“You didn’t come home,” she whispered, and he frowned.

Home. He hadn’t had that in a while.

Home.

A woman waiting for him. He didn’t like how good it felt her calling it that.

“You waited?” he asked incredulously. She didn’t even know him and she had waited?

“You wanted to talk.” She sighed, giving him a small shrug before rolling her eyes. When she stood to her full height, he watched her adjust and lower her shorts. She was taller than he’d realized. The top of her head reached his lips. He suddenly wanted to pull her close, kiss her forehead, and breathe in the scent of her hair.

But he didn’t.

“Look, you said you paid for three months, yeah?” she asked, and he could tell by the sudden sharpness in her tone that he wasn’t going to like wherever she was going to take this conversation.

“Right,” he answered cautiously.

“I’m a nurse. I work twelves and sometimes doubles. I’ll keep to myself, and you do the same. With my schedule, I’m hardly home to begin with, and I’m sure cops do what, like twelves?”

“Some do, yeah…”

“Then we’re good. We will hardly see one another.” Yup. He wasn’t going to like what she had to say. He should be happy with what she was saying. He had no business being around a woman as tempting as Valerie Duncan. “Okay, then,” she repeated as if to herself, taking a step forward when he did the same.

With hardly any distance between them, he could smell the fruitiness of her shampoo, and his cock stirred. Had she taken a shower before falling asleep on the couch? What would it be like to fall asleep with that scent next to him all night? Hell, better yet, that curvy, perfect body next to him.

Shit. What is my problem?

He moved right when she moved left, and again they found themselves in each other’s space. They both stopped, and his hand found itself on her hip. He heard her sharp intake of air and couldn’t help enjoying her reaction to his touch. His eyes grazed her tits, and his mouth watered at the sight of the small, sharp-pebbled peaks. Oh, yeah, she was just as attracted to him as he was to her.

“I got a question,” he announced. She looked up, her eyes meeting his own, her gaze leaving his lips.

“What?” she asked huskily.

“This what you wear to bed?” he asked, and she frowned, little lines forming on her brow questioningly, like she didn’t understand him. “Like, on a normal basis, this or something like this, is it what you wear to sleep?”

“Sometimes, why?”

“And you parade around in a towel? Normally?”

“I…” Her cheeks flushed, and he didn’t think she even realized that she moved closer into his body. “I didn’t know you were here. I mean, I didn’t know you lived here and…” She was flustered. He could work with that.

“That might be a problem, Blondie,” he told her honestly. Confusion filled her eyes.

He pressed his body closer to hers to show her exactly how hard his problem was. He had wanted to scare her off, have her be the one to push him away. Instead, his plan backfired. The curvy goddess in front of him rubbed up against him as if by instinct. He watched as heat ignited behind the light green pools of her eyes.

He hadn’t expected that from her at all.

“I like this kind of problem,” she rebutted, and he breathed in through his nose, trying to control himself. But just breathing around her fucked with his head. Her soft scent filled every one of his senses; his self-control snapped.

“Shit, baby…” His hands slid to cup her ass—her flesh fit in his hands perfectly—and he squeezed the soft beauty he held. He walked her backwards, their lips hovering over one another’s. Anticipation snapped and crackled between them, thick sexual tension like a fog covering only them.

“Bryan.” Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! A soft whimper made his hands clench deeper into the soft flesh of her ass cheeks fitting in his big hands perfectly.

“Tell me to put you down,” he ordered. Half of him prayed she would, while the other prayed she wouldn’t.

Her soft almost mint-green eyes dilated, and he watched her lick her lower lip a second before she answered his prayer. “No.”

“Blondie, if I don’t, and I keep you in my arms—“ he started to warn.

“What? What will you do?” she asked but didn’t let him answer. She licked his upper lip, and the string of control started to loosen. She was teasing him, and he needed a taste. He kissed her. Hard. Demanding. Trying to keep his shit together was going to be impossible.

“I’m gonna take you against the wall,” he breathed heavily, still nipping and pulling on her lips.

“Why?” she asked, half dazed.

“Why not?” he retorted, giving her a peck on her lips, his mind going wild with how he was going to pound into her all the while making sure the few frames on the walls shook. She surprised him again by grabbing his face with both hands, pulling at him so they would be eye to eye.

“Between the two of us, we have two perfectly good queen-sized beds,” she said, and he wasn’t sure if she was messing with him.

“If you give me the green light, I don’t think I will be strong enough to get us to either of our rooms.”

“You could put me down and we could walk there,” she told him like it made sense, and he frowned wondering if she’d ever even had sex against a wall. If she’d ever felt the passion they felt now, because he knew he’d never come close to this, not even when he was married. He knew in his gut he would never feel this with anyone ever again.

“Why would I ever put you down?”

“You said I was too heavy.”

“That’s not what I said,” he growled. Why do women twist things?

“You just said—“

“Shit,” he sighed. His dick rubbed against the denim of his jeans. “Are you this much of a ball buster to everyone you’re about to fuck, or am I just that lucky?” he huffed out, his body tensing when he realized he’d said that out loud. Her eyes blazed.

“You’re such a—“

“Val, I didn’t mean it the way—”

“Put me down,” she muttered, not meeting his eyes.

“I didn’t mean it the way—“

“Right,” she scoffed, but he could see the hurt in her eyes.

“I…” He swallowed hard. His heart was like a damn drum in his chest, and he had a weird feeling it had nothing to do with the fact he wanted her. It did, but it was more than that. Eyes locked on her, he gave in. “I meant I want you so fucking bad, I don’t think I could wait to get us to a bedroom to get inside of you.”

“Sure,” she whispered, her hands still on his face. “I’m heavy, you should just—“

“You are not. You’re perfect,” he told her sincerely. He didn’t know this girl at all. But he knew, somehow, someway, deep down in his gut and soul that she was special.

She was his.

His? His heart stopped for a millisecond. His. No. He couldn’t have anyone. What he was, was just horny. He needed to get laid. He started to give himself a million reasons why she couldn’t be his.

He heard her make a noise between a sigh and a laugh, and it snapped him out of his thoughts. She hid her face in the crook of his neck, and he held her tighter to him.

“What are we doing, Bryan?”

“Right now?”

“I … I don’t do this. I’ve, ummm… I’m…” she nervously whispered, and he kissed her neck and really liked the soft mewl that came from her. She pulled away, her face an inch from his, and he braced, preparing for anything. “I’m not usually…” A phone rang out and she looked toward the couch. “I should answer that.”

He wanted to tell her she should just ignore it. He didn’t want to let her go.

“Handsome, you have to put me down.” She smiled.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.” He smiled and liked the way her face blushed. It gave her an air of innocence, adding a girl-next-door vibe she didn’t have the day before.

“My phone. It could be work.” She raised an eyebrow, and he really liked the way she didn’t back away from him, how she challenged him. He really liked her fire.

He sighed and took them to the couch, but instead of setting her down, he sat with her straddling him. “Bryan…” Her hands were on his shoulders, while one of his left her ass and skimmed its way up almost like he didn’t want to not touch her. Cupping her face, he lifted his chin toward her still ringing phone.

“Answer.” She reached for it, leaving the crook of her neck at a perfect angle for him to breathe her in.

Her scent soothed and riled him up all at the same time. What the fuck was up with that?

His, the recesses of his mind whispered, but he chose to ignore it.

VALERIE

With shaky hands, I answered my phone without looking at who it was. I couldn’t, because my eyes were closed. He was breathing me in. It was primal and sexy, and even if his breath and mouth at that spot tickled a little, I liked it. A lot. I had the ruined panties to prove it.

“Hello?”

“Hey Val-doll!” My body tensed.

“Vaughn?”

“The one and only, honey!” I moved off Bryan, and surprisingly, Bryan let me.

I stood, even if my legs were a little weak from everything Bryan. I seriously needed to put some space between us. “Hold on, okay?” I told Vaughn, my voice a little out of breath.

“Hey, if you’re workin’—“

“No, just, umm, wait.” I muted my phone. “I need to take this,” I shared with Bryan.

“Blondie…” His stupid nickname sounded like a plea, and silence fell between us. Even standing away from him, I could feel his lips on mine, his hands on me. He wanted me and I wanted him. Badly.

“I… this… umm…” I didn’t know what to say but knew that sleeping with my new roommate, who was a cop, was not smart. And if life had taught me anything, it was to always make the smart choice.

He stood, and I stopped talking, taking another step back, not sure of what he would do. His body leaned in closer, pushing my back against the wall. His strong, muscly arms in that white tee made me press my thighs closer together to find relief. He caged me in without touching me, while all I could think was how sexy he was. He dripped masculinity and testosterone. I had never met a man who could do that. Who made me want him like I wanted him right now.

He bent so that his face was right in front of mine. “To be continued,” he whispered against my lips.

“I don’t think that’s such a great idea,” I whispered out loud, and he pushed his body away, his eyes pinning me in place.

“Lucky for you, I think it’s the best fucking idea I have ever had.” He smirked arrogantly before walking away. The door to his room shut.

Shaking my head, I unmuted the phone. “Hey.”

“Hey, you okay? You sound funny.” I scoffed while walking to my own bedroom, my body still aching with arousal, but I had to focus.

“Yeah, just tired. Where are you?”

“Babe—“ Vaughn said too joyfully, and I closed my eyes, trying to shut away what could get Vaughn to sound that hyped up.

“Vaughn. Where are you?”

“I left you a message…”

“Seriously?”

“Val, don’t be a worry wart. Look—”

“Where are you, Vaughn?” I asked, my head starting to hurt.

“New Mexico.” New Mexico! What the hell was there to do there?!

“You got a new roommate without telling me!” I hissed, shutting the door to my bedroom to try to prevent Bryan from overhearing me.

“I know, Val, and if you got my voicemail—”

“He’s a cop, Vaughn.” Silence I expected met me from the other end, letting me know what I had suspected. Vaughn had no clue what Bryan did for a living. How could he bring someone to live with us, leaving me with him without knowing?

“No shit?” he finally whispered, and I squeezed my eyes shut. One. Two. Three.

“Yes.”

“This is a good thing, Val, baby. He will keep an eye on you.”

“Eye on me?”

“Anyhow, a detective from Pasadena has no jurisdiction in Santa Monica, Duncan.” I hated when he called me by my last name.

“I didn’t tell you he worked in Pasadena,” I whispered, sitting at the edge of my bed. He knew. He had done it on purpose.

“It’s a good thing he’s a cop.”

“Why is that?”

“I’m just thinking a pretty girl like you, you should have someone to look after—“

“No lies, Vaughn.” I sighed, and his end of the line went silent. I swallowed the dread I started to feel. “Please tell me you’re in New Mexico because you wanted to check it off your bucket list.”

“Val…” he sighed, and I opened my eyes.

“That’s what I thought.” Worry hit the pit of my stomach.

“It’s not,” he huffed, and I knew him well enough to know he was probably running his fingers through his hair.

“You were doing so well.”

“Was I? Shit, babe, you see the house? The mortgage?”

“We are getting by. The house is getting fixed up. I’m gonna start the bathroom tomorrow. Plus, with your buddy living here, his share of the rent helps.”

“But all the change he pulled up front, you know what I can do with that here?” The mild throbbing at my temples picked up, and I wanted to cry. Vaughn was the only person, the only string I kept to my past and ‘family.’

After he’d left me behind to go to college, he’d come back to the trailer park where we’d grown up. He was who saved me from ending up in an even worse situation.

“I told you what would happen if you used again, honey. I wasn’t kidding. I will walk away this time.” I would, too. Even if it broke my heart in the process, I would. I’d walk away and not look back. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t live life like that anymore.

“I’m not using.” He sighed, and I hoped to God he wasn’t lying.

“Vaughn,” my stern voice warned.

“I’m not.”

“Then come home. Come back, and we’ll keep fixing the house; you can stay on track here—”

“I can’t, Val. I’ve been to a couple of games here and told them about how I used to host shindigs back there. They wanna talk about expanding.” Damn it! Gambling. He was gambling.

“He’s a cop!” I hissed. “Are you seriously thinking about doing this shit while living with a cop? Have you lost your ever-loving mind!”

“No. No. Look, I bumped into B’s roommate at a game; hell, they’re more like brothers than friends—“

“Get to the point, Vaughn.”

“Donnie mentioned Bryan and what he was into. B’s cool.”

“He’s a cop. Plus, you said you would stop. You said you were done with this shit.”

“Babe, it’s just a couple of games. I’m doing good. The other night, I had doubled the money.” That was code for he had tried to triple it and lost.

“Come back, and we will fix this, Vaughn. We didn’t even need a new roomie to do this.”

“It will help. Hell, I got plans—“

“If you use, I’ll know,” I promised him. “And I won’t stick around anymore.” I threw down the gauntlet.

“Val…”

“I’m sorry, honey, but I told you last time you fell off the wagon.”

“I know you did…”

“I can’t be around all that mess, Vaughn. I’m done with that. I walked away from them. I won’t blink twice at walking away from it again.”

“Thanks a lot, Val,” he clipped, obviously angry.

“You know what I mean, honey.” I softened my voice, feeling bad but mostly worried. Gambling and the adrenaline mixed in with stress always pushed Vaughn to the edge, which took him to use whatever he could get his hands on. He was an equal opportunity junkie.

“Whatever. I just wanted to make sure Bryan was behaving and you were okay. I was checking on you. Like a good friend. Your only friend,” he reminded me. He liked to remind me about that every possible time he could.

“I called you,” I pointed out to him.

“But I called back. If I was a dick, I would have kept ignoring your call.”

“So, you admit you were ignoring my call?” I pushed. Angry and hating the whispers in my head telling me everything was about to change. Not letting him answer, I sighed. “Just take care of yourself, Vaughn.”

“For sure.”

“And be careful.”

“Always. You. too. okay? As for Bryan, he’s behaving. right? I mean. I might have lost a bit of touch with him, but I know he’s a good guy, Val.”

My cheeks warmed thinking about the way his hands had felt on my body. The easy way he’d picked me up, like I weighed nothing. Closing my eyes, I could almost feel the way he’d squeezed my ass as he walked us over to the couch.

“Val? If he’s being a dick—“

“He’s okay, I guess.” Freaking fantastic was more like it. Greek God, masculine body from top to bottom, paired up with the most beautiful blue-grey eyes. What wasn’t there to like?

“He’s a good guy to have around.”

“He’s also a cop,” I reminded him. Not that I had anything against police officers. I liked them, but if Vaughn was gambling, that only meant trouble.

“Yeah, well, it might be good to have him around the house in case anything turns bad.” The hairs on my neck stood at attention.

“Vaughn?” Dread hit and I realized that it was a lot worse than I’d first thought.

“Nothing will blow back on you.”

“Vaughn—“

“Look, I gotta go. I will call you later. Say hi to B.” Without being able to say anything else, I gently tossed my phone on my bed and ran my fingers through my hair when the line silenced.

My day was not at all what I expected it to be. At all.

Yesterday, I had plans to wait up and talk to Bryan and tell him we should stay out of one another’s way. As attracted as I was to him, he was my roommate, which was a disaster waiting to happen. Not to mention, I was attracted to him. I wasn’t a blushing virgin, but I wasn’t very experienced, either.

When I woke up to Bryan’s blue-grey eyes on me, the silence between us had felt oddly familiar. Almost right. So, I went into my spiel about us staying away from one another. He was the kind of man I couldn’t handle, anyhow. Way out of my league, I reminded myself.

But the moment he touched me, his hand at my hip, it felt like a bolt of lightning, sparks, and electricity. All the silly, heart-stopping things you read about in a romance novel. But it was more than that. It was the sparks mixed with a sense of comfort thrown in all at once. Completely contradicting sensations. And I wanted to have him touch me again. I wanted him to look at me, too. The way he looked at me, passion and hunger swirling in his stare, it surprised me. It made me think he wanted me.

I wasn’t hideous, but I was a realist.

Life had taught me that. And I knew I wasn’t anywhere close to being a Victoria Secret’s angel. Which was fine. But Bryan looked like the kind of man who would have a stunning beauty type of woman on his arm. Someone who felt as comfortable in a string bikini and lacy lingerie as I did in yoga pants.

He had been hard. For me. He had wanted me. He had told me he had wanted to fuck me against a wall. And I believed him. Not only that, I would have let him. Shaking my head, I quickly changed into jeans and a tank top, knowing it was going to be a warm day.

A soft knock on my door snapped me out of my thoughts, and I see him standing there just as I slipped into my black flip-flops.

“Hey,”

“Hi.” God, why is this awkward? Imagine if I had fucked him. Though he looked like the kind to do the fucking. He gave me a sexy smirk as if he could hear my thoughts.

“What do you want?” I clipped, trying to feign annoyance rather than show how turned on I was, but the glittering amusement in his eyes flared and I knew we were both feeling what we had been a few minutes ago.

“Wanna go get breakfast?” he asked, surprising me.

“Oh.” I suddenly felt like a bitch for being snappy and having told him we should stay away from one another. “I should probably stay and…”

“Make toast? Because that’s all there is in the kitchen.“

“Shit,” I whispered, suddenly remembering all the things I had to do on my days off. I had to go to the grocery store and stop at Home Depot to grab some supplies so I could get started on the bathroom. “Thanks for reminding me. I need to run some errands; grocery shopping, that kind of thing.” Biting my lower lip, I extended an olive branch. “If you want to make a list, I can pick some stuff up for you. I usually do that with Vaughn,” I shared, but he didn’t say anything.

Instead, he stepped into my room, his footsteps weirdly quiet for a guy his size. My room was a decent size, but having him in it made the space feel smaller. Like shoebox small. He was so big. Broad and tall, all dark features with light eyes and beautiful, sun-kissed skin.

“What are you…” My heart went into overdrive. He was looking at me the same way he had been when I had opened my eyes this morning. Passion and hunger swirling with something I didn’t recognize.

“We aren’t going to avoid one another,” he stated, like I didn’t have a choice in the matter, and I frowned. Avoiding one another is the smart thing to do, I reminded myself. Be smart, Val!

“I just think—“

“Then stop. Because we’re not.”

“Where did you sleep last night?” I asked out of nowhere. Not that it was any of my business. Though, what if he had spent the night with another woman?

Oh, my God! What if he has a girlfriend?

“Whatever you are imagining, it wasn’t that sordid.” He grinned and then sighed. “One of my brothers is out of town on business, so I went over to his fiancée and kid’s house.”

“For?” I stiffened.

“Dinner and a game of Monopoly that went on too long, because I swear my niece somehow cheats.” My lips twitched at the image of this big man playing a board game with his niece.

“How old is she?”

“Six going on twenty-two.” He sighed, smiling. “Come on.”

When he gently grabbed my hand, I felt it again. Soothing sparks. How was that even possible? I watched his hand move slowly from my wrist to my hand, our fingers weaving together perfectly. My heart calmed completely as a feeling I had never felt washed over me.

Safe.

He made me feel safe.

And that alone was terrifying.