Brazen (Brazen #1)(18)

“Maybe you need help deciding?”

He started to shake his head, but she feathered her fingertips over his jaw and pressed her lips to his. Shock exploded through his system. No matter how often he may have fantasized about kissing her, the reality was startling. He hadn’t imagined it ever happening, because he was determined it wouldn’t. Only now she’d taken the choice from him.

Her lips slid sensuously over his. Hot. Lusty. Her tongue found his in his moment of surprise. For a brief moment, he allowed himself to get lost in her sweetness, allowed himself to imagine taking her home to his bed.

He yanked away, breathing hard as he tried to settle his raging arousal. “Christ, Jasmine! We can’t be doing this.”

“Why not?” she challenged. “You don’t want me?”

He swore. “I think we’ve both established that wanting you is not the issue here.”

“Then what is?”

He chanced a look at her. Hurt reflected in her beautiful eyes. And something else. The faint light of determination.

“You need to forget this ever happened,” he said. “We can’t go down this road, Jasmine.”

“Will you forget? Can you forget it?”

“I don’t have a choice,” he said grimly.

“Why?”

He ground his teeth in frustration. And he knew he was being an ass before the words ever came out of his mouth, but he spoke without thinking.

“Look, don’t read anything into my reaction to you. You’re a beautiful woman. Men tend to trip all over themselves when a beautiful woman throws herself at him. But it doesn’t mean anything. It could have been any woman.”

Her swift intake of breath was like a rifle shot. Hurt spilled into her eyes even as her lips tightened in anger. He braced himself for her response, but she said nothing. She grabbed her camera bag and turned to the door.

“Jasmine, wait,” he called as she opened her door and jerkily got out.

She put her hand up without turning around. “I can make it back by myself.”

“Don’t be stupid,” he began. “It’s three miles back to the house.”

She turned then, eyes blazing. “I said I’ll make it back by myself.”

Seth swore and hit the steering wheel with his fist. He was torn between going after her and letting her cool off on her own. If he went after her, it would soften his stance. Even as much as he cringed at the words that had come out of his mouth, he also knew this was for the best. She’d be mad. Her ego would be bruised, but she’d get over it in a day or two and then they could get back to the type of relationship they’d shared for the last several years. One that didn’t involve him losing himself between her thighs.

He watched her retreating back as she walked stiffly into the distance. With a sigh, he started the engine and rammed the truck into gear.

Jasmine heard him roar off and rolled her shoulder in a dismissive gesture. She shouldn’t be so pissed. But she wasn’t going to sit there and take his posturing either.

“Any woman”, indeed.

Walking calmed her, some, even though the midday sun shone hot on her shoulders. She took her camera out and snapped several shots on her long trek back to the house.

Try as she might, she couldn’t rid herself of Seth’s words. Logically she knew she shouldn’t let them get under her skin, but there wasn’t much logic in emotion.

She trudged on, wiping at the sweat on her brow. She’d missed lunch, and dinner wasn’t shaping up to be a very fun experience. She’d have to face Seth and Zane, both of whom were going to be uncomfortable around her for vastly different reasons.

So far she was making a mess of her intention to make them see that she was theirs. Always had been. It had all seemed so simple thousands of miles away in a foreign city. Go home, make them both love her as she loved them, convince them that a relationship between the three of them was possible.

What the living hell had she been thinking? How was she supposed to drop that kind of bomb on them and how would they react?

“You don’t tell them anything,” she muttered. “You show them. It’s up to you to show them it could work.”

She sighed and rubbed absently at her aching temples. No, dinner wasn’t something she really wanted to experience tonight. Carmen was a stickler for family gatherings. If you were home, you were present and accounted for in the dining room. No excuses.

Which only left one possibility. Not being home.

The idea of going into town for the evening cheered her up considerably. She hadn’t yet ventured into Barley. Tucker’s bar had always been a source of fun, even if Seth and Zane had hauled her out of it on more than one occasion. At least now she was of legal age.

She grinned. A little hell-raising did sound like an awful lot of fun. And if she dressed a little sexy and managed to capture the attention of a few local boys, then all the better. Her ego could use a little rebuilding after Seth’s putdown anyway.

She took her sweet time walking back to the ranch. It was late afternoon when she puttered up to the house, her shirt soaked with sweat and her hair clinging like limp noodles to her head.

When she walked through the patio door and into the kitchen, Carmen turned around and gasped. She immediately started rattling off a stream of Spanish, almost too fast for Jasmine to understand.