Heartbreaker (Unbreakable #1)(3)

Damn right, I deserve better than that.

But one night was all I could handle.

“Doesn’t matter.” What I continued to tell myself. “What I want right now is you.” There, I’d said it. Out in the open. Bold and direct.

“What you deserve does matter. Don’t ever forget it.” His voice hardened with every word. His dark brows furrowed to the point a deep crease marred the tanned skin between them.

Without thinking, I reached up and pressed my thumb along that vertical line, massaging until his face began to relax.

He stared at me with renewed intensity. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to get you to chill out.” I let my thumb slide a fraction to the right until I found a pressure point, then I spread the rest of my fingertips across the line of his eyebrow. “Is it working?”

“No.” The corners of his mouth twitched again.

“Liar.”

“Okay. A little.”

“Seriously, though,” I continued as if I hadn’t been distracted by his impressive scowl. “I’m an excellent one-night f*ck.”

He jerked his head away, then lapsed into a coughing fit.

I arched a brow. “What? Don’t think so?”

He shook his head. “No.” His mouth fell open. “I mean, I’m sure you are.” He blew out a heavy sigh, cheeks puffing from the effort. “You just…”

“Unnerve you?”

“Yes.” He thrust a splayed hand into the open air between us with the curt word. “Are you trying to kill me?”

A smile began to curve my lips. “No, I’m just trying to—”

“Don’t say it.”

The word hung on the tip of my tongue. “You know I’m thinking it.”

“Stop thinking it.” He took a measured breath, his chest gradually rising, then falling.

Enjoying the loaded tension between us, I remained still, waiting.

When he turned toward me again, I leaned closer and deeply inhaled his earthy scent. “Look. This doesn’t have to be complicated just because I’m Cade’s sister. You’re an adult. I’m an adult. Aren’t you attracted to me?”

Every telltale sign he’d shown suggested that he wanted me. But I’d never encountered so much resistance in a guy before. Then again, I’d never had one in my sights so long before either. I ignored the implications in that.

“Of course I am.” He draped an arm along the top of the seatback.

His warmth lured me in, and I edged even closer until my entire side crushed against his. He made no move to stop me and didn’t flinch away, but his lengthy pause indicated that he resisted committing to anything.

“All it has to be is one night,” I whispered, my lips nearly touching the warm skin of his neck.

Another heavy sigh ruffled the hair above my ear, shooting chill bumps down my side. “You gotta know, if I could…I would. It is complicated. I can’t explain. But no matter how badly either of us want to, this can’t happen.”

I blinked, confused and lost in uncharted territory. Never had a guy not taken the bait I’d offered. And he was being so nice about it. My mind couldn’t process what was happening. “You want me.”

“Fuck, yes. I mean, no.” He growled in frustration. “Goddammit, Kiki. Just get out of the truck. Please.”

I pulled away from him and straightened in my seat, almost laughing at the desperation in his tone. Then I dared a glance at him. His expression grew tortured. A tiny part of me felt bad for putting him in a position I didn’t understand. The rest of me beamed that I wasn’t the only sexually frustrated one in the vehicle.

Not yet willing to admit defeat, I gave him a smile and grasped the cold metal door handle. “Thanks for the ride, Darren.”

I wouldn’t ask for one again. But I didn’t need to. The seeds had been planted. My work was done. Either he wanted me enough to get past whatever obstacle was cock-blocking his way, or he didn’t.

Meanwhile, I’d go back to the life I’d been trying to forget, once my mind-numbing buzz wore off.

I wanted to glance over my shoulder as I unfastened the painted wooden gate, double-check to see if he was still watching, but I fought the urge.

The low hum of his idling truck engine remained unchanged. But had his mind?

This lonely girl can only hope.





Darren…

The truck door slammed shut. I stopped breathing.

Idiotic.

Responsible…but f*cking idiotic.

I watched a great girl, one I could get into—really get into—walk away.

Because I told her to.

I stared out the passenger window at an expanse of toned legs that stretched up under Kiki’s fluttering skirt before she stepped behind the white picket gate and fastened it.

She shivered as she walked up the brick path, then rubbed her hands up her bare arms. She didn’t look back once. Why would she?

Yet after she climbed the two steps to her front stoop, fumbled with a handful of keys until she stabbed one into the lock, then tucked her slim purse under her arm, she turned and waved at me with a warm smile.

Or was it a smug smile?

Or a wave off?

While she stood under the porch light, a breeze blew the ends of her dark hair across her face, plastered her tiny dress to her generous curves.