Katee Robert - In Bed with Mr. Wrong

“It’s a recent thing. Don’t worry about it,” Drew said, then turned to field a question from Avery’s grandmother.

“You would have known if you weren’t so busy running away from this place.” Bri spoke so softly he almost didn’t catch her words.

“For the last time, I’m not running from anything.” He smoothed her hair off her shoulder. “I sure as hell didn’t run from you the other night.”

Bri huffed out a breath and reached for her water. She fumbled it, knocking the glass over—and into his lap. Ryan cursed and she stammered out something that might have been an apology, followed by, “I can’t believe this is happening.” She grabbed a handful of napkins from the dispenser in the middle of the table and started dabbing at his crotch.

He groaned, instantly going harder than a steel pike as she patted him. She was so busy trying to clean up her mess, she didn’t seem to realize what part of him she was spending so much time stroking until he cleared his throat.

Bri froze. “Oh crap.”

He pulled the wet napkins from her suddenly limp hands. “This was fun, but I can take it from here.”

Her goddamn perfume teased him much the same way her pink lips did, tantalizing and yet subtle. She finally looked at his face and frowned. “You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?” He knew exactly what she meant, but he wanted to see if she’d actually call him out on it. “I didn’t knock over your water—you did.”

“You’re staring at me like you’re thinking—” She blushed and frowned harder. “Knock it off.”

“You’re projecting. I wonder why?” He abandoned the napkins and traced a finger up her thigh, chuckling when she shivered. “Could it be that you recently had your mind blown?”

She elbowed his side again. “Shut up. We’re in public.”

“That didn’t bother you the last time we were together.” Nor did his touch, since she hadn’t shoved away his hand yet. Interesting.

“Oh my God, will you stop talking?”

“It’s not my fault someone has their panties in a twist.” He trailed his hand higher than was proper and squeezed her thigh. A flush stole over her chest, creating a fascinating contrast to her white V-neck T-shirt.

She leaned in, kissably close. “Don’t think for a second that you had more than a passing effect on my panties.”

The heat and unmistakable challenge in her eyes was all too similar to the other night on the porch, right before she’d called his bluff and kissed him. It wouldn’t take much to shove her over the edge again. He opened his mouth, though he couldn’t say for sure if he was going to push her away or closer…

Drew cleared his throat. He leaned on the table, his gaze jumping from Ryan to Bri and back again. “Is there something I should know?”

“I…” She went red and then pale. “Excuse me. I need some fresh air.” And then she was gone, moving so quickly she was almost running.

“What the hell was that about?” Drew said, though his face said enough—he knew. Goddamn it. His brother shook his head. “You sure know how to clear a room—and you didn’t even use any stink bombs this time.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Ryan pushed out of his chair and headed for the door, cursing when his wet pants clung to his hips. Even as he pushed out into the cold night air, he told himself he wasn’t chasing Bri down. But when he saw her leaning against almost the same stretch of wall he had earlier, he walked over. “Listen—”

“No, you listen.” She stepped up and smacked her hands against his chest—and then left them there. “I don’t care what happened the other night. It’s not going to happen again.”

“Who said I wanted it to happen again?” He did, though. He wanted to kiss his way across the flushed skin of her chest and pull down her shirt to taste her nipples. Just one more time.

“Why, you!” She shoved at his chest, but he didn’t move. “You’re insufferable—an arrogant ass of a man and—”

“You want me.” He stepped into her and put his hands on her hips, mimicking the way they’d stood the other night before things got so out of control. Bri froze, her body tensed as if she couldn’t decide whether to kiss him or run back into the bar. He didn’t give her time to decide. He pulled her closer, until she could feel just how much she affected him. “You want me so bad, you can’t see straight. You’ve touched yourself thinking about me. And all you can think about is how badly you want to do it again.”

She licked her lips. “You have a very high opinion of yourself.”

“Am I wrong?” He reached down to cup her ass, grinding her against him, loving the way her lips parted in response. “Tell me I’m wrong and it’s done.”

She moved closer, her breasts pressing more firmly against his chest. “Stop talking and kiss me already.”

He crushed her against him, and it felt so terrifyingly good to take her mouth and have those luscious lips pressed against his again. They both groaned at the first stroke of tongue against tongue. Her arms went around his neck and he squeezed her ass. She may have been hell-bent on hiding beneath her frumpy sweaters and loose skirts, but her behind was goddamn biteable.

“Not here.”

She kissed him again before he could respond, and it took a truly outstanding amount of self-control to break it. “My SUV.”

“Okay.” She let him back them off the curb and to his vehicle. He had to release her long enough to open the door and climb into the driver’s seat, but then Ryan lifted her in with him. The large front seat gave her plenty of room to straddle his hips, and he groaned when she pressed against his cock.

But she didn’t kiss him again. “Can you pull around back or something? Someone might see.”

As much as he didn’t like the idea of being her dirty little secret, he also didn’t need his brother or Avery seeing them go at it, either. “Sure.”

He locked her against his body and put the Suburban in drive. The openmouthed kisses he dragged along her neck were rewarded when she went soft with a cry. This was the Bri he wanted to spend more time with, the one who softened her sharp comments with touches that made his head spin. The one who challenged him until he was so angry he couldn’t see straight, then flipped the switch and told him he was the only man to make her come until she lost her mind. She ran her hands over his chest and pulled his chin up for another kiss. It was the kind of soul-destroying kiss that a man could sink into until he didn’t know which way was up. He met her tongue, thrust for thrust, and reached between them to pull her skirt up until he touched skin.

“Mmm.” She slid against his hand as he cupped her through her panties. The heat of her there damn near scalded him through his wet pants. He glanced down and choked back a laugh. Uniform blue briefs. He wanted his mouth against the soaked cotton until her cries filled the SUV. But not yet. Not until they found somewhere to finish this.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t take things a step further. Ryan slid his hand up and then back down her stomach, dipping into her panties so he could cup her again, this time with nothing between them. She moaned and tilted her hips, offering him everything. He teased her, tracing her opening without penetrating. She grabbed his hand, pressing him more firmly against her, and managed to open her eyes. “This doesn’t mean I like you.”

“Good.” He shifted her enough to see the road over her shoulder, and took a left turn. Once they were on the straightaway, he pushed a finger into her, immediately rewarded when she cried out. “Because I don’t particularly like you, either.”

“I can tell.” She nibbled on his neck, her breath coming harsher with each stroke of his fingers. “God, why do you smell so good? It should be illegal. I can’t think when you’re around.”

“Noted.” He spread her wetness around and circled her clit. “Pull down your shirt.”

“What?”

He thrust his fingers into her, two this time. “Just a little bit. I want to see those pale little nipples.”

For a second, she looked like she might say no, but he kept working her with his hand and she bit her lip. “Don’t let this go to your head.”

“Honey, the only thing my head is interested in is getting inside you.”

She reached up and tugged her V-neck down, baring her breasts to him. He forgot about driving. He forgot that he might not actually like Bri. He forgot damn near everything but the need to get his mouth on her. He leaned forward and captured her left nipple.

She gripped his shoulders, her hips moving in time with his fingers. “Keep doing that.”

“I’m not stopping.”

“Thank God.” Another moan. “Mmmmm…oh my God, Ryan, we’re sliding!”

His eyes snapped open just as the SUV hit a massive patch of ice. Ryan cursed and held Bri to his chest as he fought for control of the vehicle. It was no use. They slid through the intersection, past the drugstore and the coffee shop. Despite how slowly they were moving and his pumping the brakes, they hit the stoplight pole. The impact barely shuddered through the vehicle, anticlimactic after Bri’s scream.

For one eternal second, he thought that would be it. That he’d be able to throw it in reverse and get the hell out of there before anyone could laugh at him for destroying yet another piece of Wellington’s property. But then the pole gave a startling creak, and shook. “Oh, shit.”

Bri screamed again when it came crashing down, taking out the blue mailbox in front of the post office. “Oh my God, oh my God. This is not happening.”

Less than thirty seconds later, a siren cut through the air. She scrambled off him and into the passenger seat, but he should have told her it was no use. For someone to have called his brother this fast, they had to have watched the whole thing. There was no escaping what was coming.

Drew jumped out of his cruiser and ran around the hood to their Suburban. Ryan helpfully opened the driver’s door and then his brother was there. “Is everyone okay?”

“We’re fine.” More or less.

“Uh-huh.” He looked from Bri to Ryan. “Mind telling me what happened? Last I saw, you two were at each other’s throats and now you’re involved in a car accident. Not going to lie, it doesn’t look good.”

Ryan was about to tell his brother where to stick it, but Bri started babbling before he could get a word out. “Ryan was just driving me home. And then… Then we saw a mountain lion! And he swerved to avoid it, because who wants to hit a mountain lion, but hit the traffic light instead.”

“A mountain lion.” It was painfully obvious Drew was trying not to laugh. He glanced at Ryan’s still-wet crotch. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

Bri blushed. “It’s not what you think.”

“Actually, Miss Nora Lee over at the coffee shop says it’s exactly what I think. She called and said she saw two teenagers necking while driving and then they committed public property damage. Imagine my surprise when I arrived to find my brother and Bri, who claim to hate each other.”

“We do.” She looked like she was ready to climb over his lap and clock Drew. “Don’t you dare go spreading this story around.”

“I don’t have to. I figure by now Nora has called half the town.”

“Of course she has.” Some things never changed. Ryan leaned back against the headrest and closed his eyes. Even then, there was no missing his brother’s laughter.

“Damn, Ryan. Only back four days and already taking out the only stoplight and mailbox in town in one fell swoop. That’s got to be a new record, even for you.”

“Fuck off.”

“So I know you’ve made your stance on Ryan really, really clear, despite some seriously compelling evidence…”

Bri held the phone away from her ear and groaned. Ever since the party, Avery had been making jokes about the first mountain lion sighting in a century and updating her on the stoplight and mailbox repair. As if she needed any help walking down memory lane to how thoughts of Ryan had taken over her life. But yesterday she’d sat Avery down and reiterated that she had absolutely no interest in Ryan. She thought she’d gotten through to her friend.

She should have known better.

It didn’t help that she’d fielded not one but five comments from well-meaning people asking if she and the younger Flannery boy were an item. It was enough for her to vow to avoid him at all costs—including ducking out the back of the library when she’d seen his Suburban at the diner across the street the other day.