Page 6 of Dirty Hot Valentine
The next heartbeat, she was in the room, but her hard face wouldn’t give me the answer. I stood, staring back at her, still trying to put my finger on what was wrong with her.
Kyle put on his ugly smirk. “Zach, we’ve managed to—”
“I didn’t mean to call you a bitch,” I interrupted him.
“Okay…” She moved around the couch. Would she sit? “What did you mean to say when you did?”
“You’re too hot to stay a virgin. I thought you must be this terrible, awful woman that couldn’t keep a guy for a day or two. Because that’s the longest I could have waited to fuck you if you were mine.”
She blushed. The color added to her innocent allure. Her head whipped to my brother and cousin. “I can use that drink now.”
Both of them looked too fucking surprised she wasn’t running for the door. “Sure,” one of the said, and then they excused themselves.
Her eyes, blue, striking against her dark hair, returned to me. “Do you always speak like that?”
Ever since I’d started to speak again in the past couple of years. “Pretty much.”
Her ass found the couch. “Because you want to drive people away? Or because saying something nice and not offensive at the same time makes you vulnerable? You know, because it gets people to maybe like you, get attached to you, and you them?”
Something stirred inside me. Something that had been dormant for two years. I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that at all. Time for some more damage. Hopefully, this time it would be irreversible. “You have a smart mouth. I see now why no one wants to fuck you.”
She shook her head. “Thank you.”
My nose scrunched. “Thank me?”
“I was on the fence, but you’re making this way easier for me.” She rose to her feet and walked to the curtains, looking at the snow. “When I came here, I wasn’t just going to…you know… I had another bargain in mind. I was going to ask for a Valentine’s date in exchange for the wedding date. And then if it worked—”
I snorted. “You want romance. You want your first time to be perfect.”
She pressed her palms and nose to the glass. Her breath fogged on the cool surface. “Yes.”
My gaze dragged from her mouth to her neck down across her body to the way her ass stuck out. I felt far too warm, far too…hard. “No body’s first time is perfect.”
She shrugged. “Maybe because it happens when they’re young, and they don’t know what they want or how to ask for it. But I’m old enough, and the man who is going to do it will be too, with enough experience to please a woman, I hope.” Her eyes met mine. “I’ve waited for so long. I don’t mind to wait some more if that’s what it takes to have this perfect moment I’ve always wanted.”
“You might wind up waiting for too long,”
She pursed her lips, moving away from the glass. “It is what it is.”
Brandon and Kyle were back in the room with drinks. She just passed them and headed out.
“What happened here?” my brother asked as if he didn’t see that coming.
“She’s been left alone with Zach Beastly for two minutes. That’s what happened,” Kyle scoffed and went after her. “Keera?”
I wanted to go after her, too. Instead, I poured myself some whiskey. “Let her go.”
Chapter Five
Brandon
“I made dinner.” I didn’t know what else to say to stop her from leaving. Miss Gibson—Keera—was a very sweet person. Kind and adorable. Great with kids. Samantha loved her. Zach had ruined all his chances beyond repair. The least I could do was make it up to her.
She grabbed her coat off the hanger. “That’s nice of you, but I really have to go. I have to work tomorrow.”
“But—”
“Look, coming here was a mistake. This will never work. I understand Zach might not be the awful person he’s tried to make me believe he is, but he clearly doesn’t want to be with anyone. Maybe you should give him more time to heal.”
