Need You Tonight Read Online Free

trouble.
    Honestly, I should be grateful he’s so rude. It makes it easier for me to forget about his gorgeous face and body. I snort. How he can look like the sweetest thing while hiding the sourest disposition, I’ll never know.
    I don’t want to know. The less I know, the better.
    Pushing Parker out of my mind, I open the box labeled living room. My heart beats funny as I pull out photographs of Braden and me. His dark eyes were always crinkled at the corners when we were together. I run a finger over his face, wishing I could remember the way he smelled.
    He was always the life of the party, while I liked to hide out in the corner of the room. Just like the first time we met.
    “Hey, pretty girl, come dance with me,” a man in uniform calls out. His accent is hard—he’s definitely a Yankee. Someone my mother would not approve of, despite his occupation. “It’s much more fun than being all by yourself.”
    I shake my head, embarrassed as anything. “That’s okay,” I practically sputter. “I’m fine. Really.”
    Cocking his head to one side, he pouts a little. “Guess I’ll have to go dance by myself. A shame really, since I’ll be deploying soon.” He exhales. “Thought you were my very own angel.”
    I gasp. “You’re a soldier getting ready to deploy?”
    He gives me a look. “God, no. I’m a Marine, sweet thing.”
    Making a face, I shake my head and tap my temple with the heel of my hand. A total dork move. “Right. We are in Jacksonville. What was I thinking? Sorry.”
    “Don’t apologize.” A teasing smile covers his face. “Apparently, you weren’t thinking of dancing with me, like I thought.”
    I watch him walk away, right into the middle of the dance floor. For some reason, my stomach starts to flip. This guy is going off to war and all he wants is a dance. Nothing else.
    He winks at me and begins to perform the most horrible, most white-guy choreography I’ve ever seen in my life. My eyes widen.
    “C’mon,” he yells over the music. “Don’t let me make a fool of myself.”
    Giggling, I cover my mouth and look around the club. There’s barely anyone here. Then again, it’s Tuesday and even I’m alone. I couldn’t convince my roommate, Hannah, to go out with me.
    Unable to help myself, I stand and walk to the edge of the dance floor. “I don’t know why I’m doing this,” I mutter.
    He grins. “That’s right, girl. Knew you couldn’t resist my wicked moves.” Holding his arm perpendicular to his head, he jerks it around. Another fit of giggles hits me. “Sexy, right?”
    “It’s something.” I bite my bottom lip to keep from laughing at him.
    The music changes, slowing down. He stops moving like a maniac and walks to me, his handsome face softening. “Please, ma’am. Don’t let a Marine go off to war without dancing with a pretty lady like you.”
    “I’d be honored to dance with you, Marine,” I say, and he takes me in his arms.
    “What’s your name?” he asks, whispering into my ear.
    “Brooklyn.”
    His head jerks back, dark eyes staring into mine. “You serious?”
    I nod. “Who would joke around about their name?”
    “It’s meant to be.” Lifting me off my feet, he swings me around, laughing. Right then, I fall under his spell. There’s something compelling about him, about his accent… everything. “Well, Miss Brooklyn. I’m Braden Reeves from Brooklyn, and you’re my good luck charm.”
    “I promise to be better,” I whisper to the picture. “No one will ever take your place in my heart.”
    *
    Parker
    I THOUGHT BY hanging out with West at King’s, an exclusive bar in downtown Charlotte, that I’d be able to get Brooklyn off my mind. Hot girls are everywhere—dancing, serving drinks, and eyeing us like we’re something they’d like to get their mouths on.
    Normally, a woman eyeing me like that turns my stomach. Normally, a woman eyeing me like that is paying me to spend time with her. Paying me to put my mouth on her and