Page 55 of Inexplicable

Brock chuckled. “It doesn’t have to be my fault for Marshall to get pissed off. It’s almost a state of mind for him. Or it was until he found Emma again. He’s actually a lot softer than he used to be.”

“You could have fooled me,” I mumbled. “He’s more than a little intimidating. Actually, you all are. I’m assuming the billionaire partners are the same.”

“I don’t think you were ever scared of me, even when you were being rescued,” he said thoughtfully.

I smiled at him. “I was too damn grateful that you were there to rescue me to be intimidated.”

As soon as he’d told me that he was there to rescue me, I’d wanted to climb him like a tree and never let go.

I probably couldn’t explain to him in words how relieved I was that rescue had arrived.

My heart rate accelerated as I thought about how close I’d come to getting sent to South America to be used by some cartel boss.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before my anxiety could get to me.

I had plenty of training to control stress and I’d battled with some anxiety my entire life because of my past.

But I’d never had this kind of anxiety, the kind that clawed at me from the inside sometimes.

I was glad that Brock had managed to get me a virtual visit with their specialized counselor tomorrow.

“Hey!” Brock said in a firm, deep voice. “Where did you go, Stargazer? You okay?”

I shook myself. “Sorry. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Anxiety?” he questioned.

I nodded, relieved that I didn’t have to come up with creative ways to cover it up with Brock anymore.

I swallowed the last of my cone and shook my hand a little over the grassy lawn beneath our feet. “I should have grabbed a napkin.”

Brock, who had finished his ice cream without getting a drop of the stickiness on him, took my wrist gently and pulled my sticky fingers toward him.

I watched, mesmerized when he took one finger at a time, put it into his mouth, and swirled his tongue around the tip until the ice cream was gone.

He’d met my gaze and held it the entire time, his eyes filled with lust.

That simple act was sinful, erotic, and meant to be incredibly naughty.

I sucked in a breath as my core clenched. Hard!

Dammit!

It was probably the most sensual thing I’d ever experienced in my life, and that included every one of my sexual encounters.

He shot me a shit-eating grin as he reached into his pocket and handed me a napkin.

“You knew exactly what that would do to me?” I said breathlessly as I took the napkin from him and wiped my fingers.

My panties were damp and something was fluttering around like a trapped moth in my stomach.

This man got to me, and he knew it.

Brock rose and held out his hand. “How’s the anxiety now?”

I blinked and did a mental check before I took his hand so he could pull me to my feet.

Any of the nervousness I’d felt a little earlier was now inexplicably…