Unsuitable Men Read Online Free Page A

coming back from the hospital with a kid. But that’s Shawn, all heart but no head when it comes to Riley.”
    Brendan poured them each a shot and slid one across the bar to Tracy. She looked at it for only a moment before lifting it. He knocked his glass briefly against hers before tossing back the clear liquid in one quick gulp. Tracy followed suit, enjoying the heat on the back of her throat.
    After going clean-shaven for awhile, Brendan had grown a goatee once again she noted. Impeccably-shaped, and smooth to the touch as silk. Unbidden, a memory returned to her, of the scratch of his facial hair against the sensitive skin of her inner thighs and the pleasant burn as it brushed against . . .
    “Don’t fall asleep on me,” Brendan was saying. “Damn, I didn’t know you’d pass out from a single shot, Trace.”
    She smiled. “I’m not. I was just thinking.”
    “About?”
    She knew she shouldn’t; and that it was unfair. But she said it anyway.
    “I was thinking about that night,” she said, looking him directly in the eye.
    That night . Their code for ten reckless hours spent together over two years ago. Ten hours that Tracy, despite her best efforts, had been unable to get out of her mind. Brendan looked at her now, his eyes hooded. She couldn’t tell whether he was remembering it as fondly as she was, or just annoyed that she’d brought it up at all with Meghan a few feet away.
    “I’m sorry,” she said quickly, before he could respond. “That was tacky, with your girlfriend sitting just over there.”
    “Not my girlfriend,” he shook his head.
    “Really? I thought you didn’t do repeats,” Tracy said. “Riley said you’ve brought her over before.”
    Brendan smiled. He had the best smile. His eyes practically disappeared when he smiled. It wasn’t all lips and teeth. His entire face smiled.
    “Didn’t know you cared,” he said.
    “I wish I didn’t,” she said. Maybe it was all the alcohol, but she seemed unable to censor herself.
    “Tracy, I know you,” Brendan said. “Fifty percent of why you care is competition. I don’t recall you blowing up my phone these last few months, even though you knew I was around. So I show up with someone else and all of a sudden, you’ve been thinking about me?”
    “I didn’t say I had been thinking about you. I said I am thinking about you right now.”
    “Is anything different?” Brendan asked, suddenly serious.
    Tracy swallowed. “Excuse me?” she asked. But she was stalling. She knew precisely what he meant.
    “Since the last time we had this conversation. Is anything different? Does the fact that I have a desk job now make a difference? Is that what this is?”
    There was an edge to his voice, a tone that suggested he was a little bit angry with her, or at a minimum, frustrated. And why wouldn’t he be?
    “I wasn’t thinking about any of that,” she admitted. “I was just thinking about . . . how it was. It was good. Wasn’t it, that night?”
    “Yeah. It was,” he said almost resentfully. “Better than good.”
    Brendan poured himself another shot and offered her one as well, but Tracy shook her head. When he looked up at her again, there was unmistakable annoyance etched on his face. Tracy turned away from him and headed back to the circle where everyone else seemed to be preparing to leave. Putting a hand on Riley’s shoulder, she pulled her aside and let her know she probably wouldn’t be driving back.
    “No problem,” Riley said. “You know where everything is. Are you going up now?”
    “Yeah,” Tracy nodded. “I think between the heat and the wine, I’m done. I’ll help with clean-up in the morning if . . .”
    “No, no worries. Go get some sleep.” Riley’s glance shifted momentarily to the bar where Brendan was just tossing back his third shot. She squeezed Tracy’s arm before rejoining her guests.
    Upstairs, Tracy took a shower in the guest suite and changed into a t-shirt she’d pilfered from the master