AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You should have just fired me,” she admitted. “HR at least would have been diplomatic. Your brothers are here because they think I’m a stalker or sex crazed woman who wants you for your body and came to Montana to get me as far away from you as possible.”
“You’re not fired,” I said. “We won’t go over that one again. As for my brothers, I promise you that if they think you’re a sex crazed woman who wants me for my body, they’ll leave and let us get back to it.”
A stick snapped beneath my heel as I closed the distance between us.
She was skittish but held still.
“That is not funny,” she countered. “I took my bra from one of them and I was in just a sheet!”
“You already used me for your body,” I reminded her. “You rode my fingers. Wiggled your pussy all over my mouth and you were about to use me for my dick.”
She rolled her eyes and her cheeks flushed the same color pink as her nipples.
“As for you being sex crazed,” I pushed on, “as long as you’re sex crazed with me, I’m fucking fine with that.”
I got close enough to wrap her in my arms, to feel her shaking. I cupped the back of her head, held her against my chest. This felt so fucking right, having her in my arms, trying to soothe her. Yet I hated that she was so upset.
I thought my attempt at wit and self-deprecation would make her feel better, but her next words slayed me. “Your brothers read my sex quiz. Nothing you say is going to make that better.”
Fuck. She was right. I didn’t give a shit what my brothers thought. It was what they knew.
I told her I would fix this, me getting her email and what it meant to others.
I had. Or I thought I had.
Then I went and blew it all over again.
24
BRIDGET
* * *
Out of all the things I imagined doing with Maverick–and I’d thought of a lot–hugging him wasn’t one of them. But even angry and upset, it felt amazing. Maybe it was that good because I was angry and upset. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been hugged. Held like this just for the sake of being comforted.
I couldn’t be mad at Maverick. It wasn’t his fault. The fact that his assistant read my email and then shared it with Maverick’s brothers was a result of my mistake. The person who was the hardest on me was myself. Rightfully so. I’d made a stupid, stupid mistake and the fallout was growing.
He was trying to make it better, to make me feel better, when it wasn’t his job to do that. Maybe that was why I clung to him a little more. And realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. My bra-covered chest pressed into his bare one. Even though he’d had his head between my thighs–holy shit that had been amazing–this was the closest skin on skin we’d gotten. Against my cheek, he was smooth and warm, but beneath, he was muscular and solid. A smattering of chest hair tickled my nose.
His scent was stronger this close. Some kind of woodsy soap. Or could be soap combined with the fact that we were actually in the woods.
“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to step back.
“Stay. Just a little longer,” he murmured, softly stroking my hair, then kissing the top of my head.
“I shouldn’t have run,” I admitted against his bare chest. “I need to face this. It’s my fault.”
His hold loosened and I stepped back.
“Your fault? That my brothers are here?”
“I sent the email. I did this to myself.”
“Fuck that,” he said, his gaze dropping to my breasts.
I took him in all broad, bare chested and the button on his jeans was open.
He grabbed my shirt from my fingers and fiddled with it so it was all bunched up and worked the open neckline over my head. “Those three are meddlers. They’re not here because they want to protect me from you.” He gave me a heated look, as I tucked my arms into the short sleeves and he pulled it down my body, as if dressing a child. “Maybe Bradley’s concerned, but I’m a big boy. They’re here because Bradley clued them in that I was acting strange because of a woman, therefore they’re curious about you.”
