Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“What? You’re the one who said it. You think you’re not good for me, even though you barely know me,” I said with a shrug. I circled back around to the other side of the table, feeling like I was trying to contain a million tiny explosions inside of me. “Let’s just get back to it, then. Small talk. Renovation talk. Nothing else.”
He was clearly still flustered, his hair all mussed and his shirt fucked up from me pawing at it. “I thought you wanted advice on how to flirt. I’m happy to give you that. But if you play with fire, you’re going to get burned. And I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“And you’re the fire,” I said simply.
His eyes smoldered. “Yeah,” he said. “I am.”
I sighed, polishing off the last of my whiskey. “I wish Nathan hadn’t told you I was looking for a hookup and had no clue how to get one. I’m a mess.”
“You are not a mess. You’re just the kind of guy who wants a relationship. I’m not,” Rush said. “If you want help finding someone, I’m incredibly happy to help. But me? I’m a bad road to go down.”
I pinned my gaze on him. “I could do casual.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, right.”
“I’m trying to find a casual hookup, actually,” I said. “Just failing at it. I didn’t have much luck trying to find The One, and now I’m over it.”
“We were at the bar all night tonight and all you wanted to do was shoot the shit with me and play Skee-Ball,” Rush said. “I pointed out three potential guys for you to flirt with and you kept coming up with new reasons why you shouldn’t.”
“Okay, but one of those guys was Raymond Westin, and I know Raymond only showers once a week, because I worked on his kitchen renovation and the smell was ungodly.”
He puffed out a laugh, looking down for a moment. “Fine. Raymond is a no-go. But if you want to find a guy, you’re going to have to put yourself out there a little bit more.”
Or you could just hold me like that, all the time, I thought, my body thrumming with the memory of his touch. Kiss me like that all the time. Do anything you want to me.
I let out a sigh. “Sounds easier than it actually is,” I said.
“You seem to do just fine shooting the shit with me,” Rush said.
“Because you’re my brother’s best friend, you’re completely out of my league, and you don’t do relationships. I know I have no chance, so I’m less afraid, I guess.”
He shook his head. “You are one of the hottest guys I’ve seen, including all of the dudes I had on steady rotation back in San Francisco,” he said. “Trust me, you could be in anybody’s league that you wanted.”
“Thank you,” I said after a pause.
He hummed. “I still like the way compliments make you squirm,” he said, in a voice that was way too sexy even though he probably didn’t notice. A voice that made my anger dissipate again, into a big huge puddle of please let me come sit on your lap again, Rush.
But I wasn’t going to. Not this time. If Rush was going to tell me what I needed, I wasn’t going to let him have what I wanted.
I sat up a little straighter, fixing my gaze on him. “So teach me how to flirt, then.”
6
RUSH
It was official, I had decided. Shawn was sent specifically to tantalize and destroy me, and he was doing a damn good job of it. He was a relationship guy and he was also my best friend’s brother, which was exactly the type of forbidden concoction to make me desperately want to rip all of his perfect clothes off, one by one.
Teach me how to flirt.
As if he didn’t know deep in his bones that asking me that at all was already turning me the fuck on.
As if he hadn’t given me the best kiss I’d had in recent memory, just a few minutes ago. Maybe one of the best kisses I’d ever had, which wasn’t a category I’d given too much thought to until now.
“You know what I just realized?” I said, pulling in a breath and keeping my composure.
“That I’m a drunk idiot and you should have sent me home in a cab rather than sharing one with me here?”
“I’m just as drunk as you are, you know,” I said, “And what I realized is that I’ve been sitting here with you for all this time and I haven’t even thought about doing my usual seduction routine.”
His gaze flitted up to meet mine. “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”
“It’s kind of how I flirt, but only when I already know I have the person wrapped around my finger,” I said. “I compliment someone, but not too much. We share a drink, or virgin cocktails if they don’t drink. I ask about the things I’m interested in, like people’s childhoods or fears or dreams.”