Page 12 of Mountain Beast

“Fuck. Shit. Autumn… Fuck.”

Nice to know I’ve reduced him to one word exclamations. I mentally buff my nails in satisfaction.

Wobbling to my feet, I brace myself on the opposite brick wall.

“What… the hell… was that?” His narrowed gaze pins me to the building at my back. Ah, and the grumpy caveman is back. That afterglow sure didn’t last long.

“That was me doing what I wanted for once.”

“I see,” he says, straightening his posture with a sniff. “You’re one of those women. The kind that gets off slumming it with the bad boy.” He rolls his eyes so hard it’s a miracle they don’t get stuck staring at his pea-sized brain.

“Excuse me?” Sure, I figured he’d go for my half-baked plan to be bad because of his reputation, but it’s not like I think I’m better than him.

“It’s fine; whatever. We’re not friends, but we can fuck,” he says nonchalantly. “You want to be bad, and I need a way to blow off steam before ruining one of my longest friendships. It’s a win-win.”

Suddenly, my one-off moment of being spontaneous has turned into a plan to be… fuck buddies? Somehow, it doesn’t put me off as much as it probably should.

And lord knows Briggs needs to work out whatever shit is going on in his head before Cormac lays him flat with a swift punch.

So, maybe this would be good for me.

He’s not a stranger.

He’s the best friend of one of my friends.

Despite his brusque demeanor, I can trust him. Enough to know he won’t go around town decimating my reputation with gossip.

Maybe I’ll let this bad girl streak run wild a little longer…

Briggs presses, “You like being touched by the dirty, white trash…”

“Whoa, wait!” That gives me pause, and I stop him with a push at his shoulders. “Dirty is hot, but you’re not white trash. I’m not slumming it or whatever because I think you’re beneath me. That’s not why this could work. It’s because I find you damn sexy despite the bad attitude.”

And low self-esteem.

Does he really think he’s white trash?

“Whatever you say, babe. So, are we doing this? Sex with no strings?”

A summer fling?

“Sure.” I offer my hand to him for a shake because why the hell not? “What are you doing the rest of the evening?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

BRIGGS

Wait, what?

When I suggested a no-strings-attached arrangement between me and Autumn, I hadn’t expected her to agree to it. I was mostly fucking with her after she blew my damn mind with that sexy little mouth of hers.

But now I’ve got a friend with benefits situation going on? Kind of? And good girl Dr. Autumn Landish is following me home in her serviceable sedan for a night of sex.

“What the actual fuck?” I ask myself for the tenth time, scrubbing a rough palm over my beard.

When she’d approached me at the street dance, I hadn’t known what to expect, and after lying to Cormac about how much Autumn had been on my mind, I’d wanted to challenge her.

I don’t get stuck on women.