Brash Read Online Free Page B

I’m doing that because when I start a job I see it through. I told you Chantal’s from Craye Canyon and Mom’s a local legend there as far as planning weddings goes. Zazz visited and was hooked on Mom’s ideas, so with her incapacitated…” She shrugged. “I stepped in to help and give me something to do while I figure out where I go from here.”
    “You quit your job?”
    A spark of triumph lit her eyes. “Yep. Quit a dead-end relationship, a dead-end job and a dead-end town.”
    “Good for you.”
    And he meant it. Someone as vibrant as Jess shouldn’t be stuck anywhere she didn’t want to be.
    “Don’t you mean bad?” She winked and leaned into him, scraping her fingertips across the day-old stubble covering his jaw.
    Her feather-light touch had him gritting his teeth against the purely caveman instinct to haul her into his arms, hoist her over his shoulder, head for the nearest exit and take her up against the nearest wall outside.
    He didn’t like this game she was playing. Fire and ice. Hot and cold. Experimenting with her seductive skills by flirting with him, disarming him with her honesty and vulnerability.
    What hope did a guy have?
    He brushed her hand away, saw the hurt in her eyes, and his resolve hardened.
    She had to spend seven days on that island with him, he understood that. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t set the record straight here and now about how their relationship would evolve.
    It wouldn’t. Simple as that. They’d work together, be civil, maybe have a few laughs. But that’s where it ended. It had to.
    “I think it’s great you’re shaking things up a little. But you and me…” his hand wavered between them, “we have to work together. Ensure this wedding goes off without a hitch. We’ll hang out but that’s where it ends.”
    Her eyes narrowed into slits of angry caramel. “Let me get this straight. I’ve been honest with you, told you how most of my life I’ve done exactly as I’m told, and now you’re telling me what to do?”
    “Come on, Jess. Be rational. You know why we can’t ever…” Shit. Why had he started down this convoluted road?
    “Fuck?” She took a step closer, bringing her tits within an inch of brushing his chest. “Is that what you’re trying to say?”
    “Crassness doesn’t suit you.”
    She shoved him. Damn, wrong answer yet again.
    “You don’t have any say in what suits me and what doesn’t. I want to live a little. To cut loose. Go a little crazy.” She shook her shoulders in a little shimmy that didn’t help the situation, considering he copped an eyeful of cleavage. “So here’s a newsflash for you, Cookie. I’m going to find the hottest stud I can and screw his brains out. How’s that for crass?”
    She was magnificent. Bold and brazen and one hundred percent pissed off. She quivered with indignation, her hands clenching and unclenching as if she wanted to slug him. Wouldn’t be the first time a woman had hit him.
    “Jess, you’re Reid’s sister—”
    “Save the pathetic spiel about unspoken rules between boys and off-limit siblings, because I’ve heard it all before.” She jabbed a finger at him. “From you, remember? Ten frikking years ago?”
    She laughed, a harsh cackle devoid of humor. “Too bad for you I’m not the same naïve teenager who would’ve walked on water for you. This time, it’s all about me.”
    She tapped her chest and he would’ve given anything to do the same. “What I want. What I’m going to do. And there’s not one damn thing you can do to stop me.”
    Yeah, there was, but no way in hell would he bring Reid into this godforsaken mess.
    She glared at him, radiating indignation. “Want to know why you’d be perfect for my fling?”
    His lips compressed but he knew his silence wouldn’t stop her from telling him.
    “Because I know you. We shared a chemistry once and despite your reticence now, we still do. I want my sexcapades to be with someone I trust, not some stranger who