Baiting the Maid of Honor (Wedding Dare #2)(9)

His teeth traced the column of her neck and she struggled to keep from tilting her head to give him better access. He pushed up hard against her damp center. “You know who it is. You’ve known all along, haven’t you, pixie?”

Reed. If the nickname hadn’t clued her in, she still would have known his identity beyond a shadow of a doubt as soon as he spoke above a whisper. His baritone voice resonated within her. Julie’s heart pounded wildly in her chest as she pondered his question. If she was honest with herself, she hadn’t been attracted to the successful best man, gorgeous though he might be. But the second this man’s hands had touched her legs in the dark, she’d turned into a shivering mass of hormones. Had she been aware of his actual identity? Perhaps not consciously, but deep down she knew she’d purposefully ignored the warning signals her brain had given off. She’d been too lost in the heat to let reality intrude.

Then it hit her. What Reed had done. Allowed her to sneak in and seduce him. The wrong man.

Julie shoved him with all her might and nearly collapsed onto the floor when his wall of support left her body. Her hand fumbled along the wall, searching for a light switch. When she found it, she flipped it on and spun to face him. She opened her mouth to scream every obscenity she could muster up, but his intense expression distracted her. Then her gaze dropped from dangerously narrowed hazel eyes to the body beneath…and she forgot to breathe. At least a dozen tattoos stretched over hardened muscle, some of them disappearing beneath the waistband of his low-slung dress pants. Two scars bisected his abdomen and pectoral muscles, adding to his already considerable air of danger. Big hands flexed at his sides, tightening into fists when she merely continued to stare at the most painfully masculine physique she’d ever witnessed outside of the naughty emails Regan often sent her.

“Would you like me to take off my pants now so you can really be impressed?”

His gruff question jolted Julie out of man-candy fantasyland and she dragged her gaze up from the large swell behind his fly, trying desperately to ignore the needy tightening in her belly. It enraged her that she could still feel desire for him after the stunt he’d pulled. “By all means, take the pants off. It’ll make it much easier when I castrate you.”

Julie ignored the fluttering in her chest when his full lips tilted at the ends, his amusement vanishing just as quickly. “Now that would be one hell of a shame.” He took a measured step in her direction. She refused to give up any ground when he stopped a breath away and dragged his teeth over his bottom lip, eyes tracking over her heaving breasts. “You were enjoying it so much a minute ago. When you rode it like you owned it.”

“Lord, would you please stop talking to me like that? It’s just not right.” She dragged a shuddering breath into her lungs and raised a hand to keep him backed off. Any closer and she might be tempted to lick one of those tattoos. And just where had that thought come from? Julie Piper didn’t lick tattoos. She licked the odd Popsicle on a hot Atlanta day. Maybe a cherry lollipop on Halloween. Not a depiction of a charging bull underneath the words…what was that? Latin? Huffing a frustrated breath, Julie massaged her forehead, trying to focus on anything but the pent-up sexual energy radiating from the man in front of her. It practically spilled from every inch of his skin, heating her where she stood. He needed to be put back in his place. She straightened her spine and looked him in the eye. “You knew I didn’t come here to see you. You let me think you were Logan.”

Whoa mama. That certainly worked. Reed’s demeanor transformed from ready-to-play to outrageously pissed before she could blink. He visibly reined himself in, but she could tell it wasn’t easy. She could see the effort maintaining his control cost him. “Listen to me, pixie. You can pretend all you want that you didn’t love my eyes on you all damn night when I couldn’t stop imagining your beautiful legs draped over my shoulders. You can pretend to be indifferent toward me in front of all your giggling girlfriends.” He braced a hand on the wall above her head and leaned in close. “But don’t pretend, not for one goddamn second, that you thought it was Golden Boy ringing your bell. You knew exactly who was between your thighs. You’ve wanted me there for hours. I just found a way to give us what we both wanted.” He gave a frustrated shake of his head. “Well, one of us, anyway. I’m still hard enough to cut through steel.”

“I didn’t…don’t want you,” Julie whispered shakily. Even to her own ears, it sounded like an obvious lie, but she was still reeling crazily from his provocative speech to make a better effort. “You have a wild imagination, though. Honestly, I wouldn’t have guessed it.” She cleared her throat, trying to make her suddenly hoarse voice return to normal. “I only responded that way because I thought you were someone else.”

Reed’s jaw flexed. “That so? Put your money where your mouth is, then. All the lights are on now. Let’s see how you respond when you know who’s making you come.”

Julie didn’t know what to say. No way could she take him up on such a challenge. Even if her mind insisted on denying the attraction, her body knew if Reed touched her, she’d boil hotter than a teakettle. Might even whistle. Within minutes, he would prove her claim incorrect. Have her shamefully begging and moaning up against the door once again.

She laid her hand on the doorknob. “Such a gracious and eloquent offer, but I’m going to have to pass. I wasn’t interested before and I’m certainly not interested now, especially after this little Houdini After Dark magic act.”