On Dublin Street(9)

With my dark blonde, brownish hair piled in a wet mess atop my head, I stormed back out into the hall to face him.


Braden had turned around, his lips quirked up at the corner now as he ran his eyes over me. The fact that I was dressed didn’t matter. He was still seeing me naked. I could tell.


My hands flew to my hips in belligerent humiliation. “And you just walk in here without knocking?”


A dark eyebrow rose at my tone. “It is my flat.”


“It’s common courtesy to freaking knock,” I argued.


His reply consisted of him shrugging and then jamming his hands casually into his suit pants. He’d taken his jacket off somewhere and his white shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, revealing tan, masculine forearms.


A knot of need tightened in my gut at the sight of those sexy forearms.


Shit.


Fuckity, shit, f*ck.


I flushed inwardly. “Aren’t you going to apologize?”


Braden gifted me a roguish smile. “I never apologize unless I mean it. And I’m not apologizing for this. It’s been the highlight of my week. Possibly my year.” His grin was so easy-going–coaxing me to smile back at him. I wouldn’t.


Braden was Ellie’s brother. He had a girlfriend.


And I was way too attracted to this stranger for it to be healthy.


“Wow, what a boring life you must lead,” I replied haughtily and weakly as I walked by him. You try being witty after flashing your girl pieces to some guy you barely know. I couldn’t really give him much of a wide berth and had to ignore the flutter of butterflies in my stomach as I caught a whiff of the delicious cologne he was wearing.


Grunting at my observation, Braden followed me. I could feel the heat of him at my back as I entered the sitting room.


His jacket was tossed across an armchair and a near empty mug of coffee was sitting beside an open newspaper on the coffee table. He’d just made himself at home while I was soaking in the tub, completely oblivious.


Annoyed, I shot him a dirty look over my shoulder.


His boyish grin hit me in the chest and I looked away quickly, perching on the arm of the couch as Braden sank casually into the armchair. The grin was gone now. He stared up at me with just a small smile playing on his lips, like he was thinking of a private joke. Or me naked.


Despite my resistance to him, I didn’t want him to think that my nakedness was funny.


“So, you’re Jocelyn Butler.”


“Joss,” I corrected automatically.


He nodded and relaxed into his seat, his arm sliding along the back of the chair. He had gorgeous hands. Elegant, but masculine. Large. Strong. An image of that hand sliding up my inner thigh crossed my mind before I could stop it.


Fuck.


I unglued my eyes from them to him. He appeared comfortable and yet totally authoritative. It suddenly occurred to me that this was the Braden with all the money and responsibilities, a vainglorious girlfriend, and a little sister he was undoubtedly overprotective of.


“Ellie likes you.”


Ellie doesn’t know me. “I like Ellie. I’m not so sure about her brother. He seems kind of rude.”


Braden flashed me those white, slightly crooked teeth. “He’s not sure of you either.”


That’s not what your eyes are saying. “Oh?”


“I’m not sure how I feel about my wee sister living with an exhibitionist.”


I made a face at him, only just resisting sticking my tongue out at him. He really brought out my mature side. “Exhibitionists get naked in public. As far as I was aware, there was no one else in the apartment and I’d forgotten a towel.”


“Thank God for small mercies.”


He was doing it again. Looking at me that way. Did he know he was so blatant about it?


“Seriously,” he continued, his eyes falling to my chest before snapping back up to my face. “You should walk around naked all the time.”


The compliment got to me. I couldn’t help it. The touch of a smile curled the corner of my lips and I shook my head at him like he was a naughty school boy.


Pleased, Braden laughed softly. A weird, unexpected fullness formed in my chest and I knew I had to break whatever weird instant attraction thing was going on between us. This had never happened to me before, so I was going to have to wing it.


I rolled my eyes. “You’re an ass.”


Braden sat up with a snort. “Usually a woman calls me that after I’ve f*cked her and called her a taxi.”


I blinked rapidly at his blunt language. Really? We were using that word already in our short acquaintance?


He noticed. “Don’t tell me you hate that word?”


No. I imagine that word can be a total turn on in the right moment. “No. I just don’t think we should be talking about f*cking when we’ve just met.”


Okay. That came out all wrong.


Braden’s eyes brightened with silent laughter. “I didn’t know that’s what we were doing.”


Abruptly, I changed the subject. “If you’re here for Ellie, she’s tutoring.”