Fuck, she’d been bang-on with that. He just hadn’t wanted to face it.
“Bernadette would kill him if he made a move on me,” she said.
Alex nodded and drained the last of the juice from the carton. “She would see it as him trespassing on his brother’s territory. I doubt Ruben would like it much either. But I’m not sure if their disapproval will hold Calvin back.” He binned the carton. “Will you give him a shot?” Even Alex heard the note of barely contained menace in his voice, so it didn’t surprise him that she tensed.
“He’s Paxton’s brother.”
“That’s not an answer.” Alex prowled toward her, liking the sound of her pulse spiking. “Will you give him a shot, Bree?” he pressed.
She lifted her chin. “Do I need to remind you that that’s none of your business?”
A growl rattled his chest. He’d figured she’d say something like that. Alex cupped her jaw and put his face close to hers. “You’re very much my business, baby girl,” he whispered, his eyes following the path of his thumb as he brushed it over her soft, plump lower lip.
His gaze snapped back to hers just in time to watch her pupils dilate. And then the scent of her need rose up between them and perfumed the air.
That scent threw him back to another time, another place. He remembered the feel of her tongue sliding against his, her teeth grazing his lip, her nails pricking his shoulders, the heat of her pussy pressed against his thigh, and that little sound she made just before she came. Fuck.
She swallowed and stepped back, making his hand slip away from her jaw. “We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that.”
His beast rumbled a growl, annoyed that she’d put space between them. He urged Alex to lunge. Subdue. Dominate. To take what he wanted. And shit if Alex didn’t long to do exactly that.
He clenched his fists, fiercely conscious of how close she stood, of how easy it would be to reach out and take what he’d craved for so goddamn long. It was excruciatingly hard to hold back when a primitive, greedy hunger beat at his skin and battered at his control. That hunger taunted him. Teased him. Tempted him to act.
“Anyway, thank you for personally delivering the news of what happened at the agency. It was very much appreciated.” She gestured at the door.
Hell if he was leaving yet. “Have you talked to Mateo today?”
She sighed. “No.”
“He wanted to be here with you last night. It gutted him that he was sent away. He cares for you. A lot. Always has.”
“And I’m sorry that it hurts him that I don’t care for him in the same way that he cares for me, but that’s not something I can change.”
“So, what, you guys finally got around to talking about his crush on you, and the talk went south?”
“Something like that. Now, like I said before, I appreciate you coming here to bring me an update—”
“So eager to get rid of me,” he mused.
Bree gave him a bland smile, a little pissed by how easy her body was for this male. “Maybe I have plans to play with the toys in my room and you’re being something of a silicone-cockblocker.” He shot her a heated look that made her all tingly. “You were certainly something of a cockblocker last night at the Tavern,” she reminded him.
“Was I?”
“Chasing off Freddie was unfair to me. It was a total asshole-move that you had no reason to make.”
“Oh, I had every reason to make it. The guy’s a user; he sees women as objects. He wouldn’t have been good for you.”
He wasn’t wrong there, but … “I get to decide that. Not you. What did you say to him anyway? He scampered out the place like you’d lit his ass on fire.”
“I just pointed out that he needed to treat you well if he wanted to live. Think of it as a test of his strength and guts. He failed it by letting me scare him off. He wouldn’t have made a good partner for you.”
“Who says I went there last night looking for a potential partner?”
Alex’s eyelids drooped. He growled low in his throat. “You just wanted to fuck, huh?” he ground out. “Is that what it was?”
And then … it was like there was a spark in the air. Air that suddenly seemed thick and hot and muggy, like just before a thunderstorm. Flexing her fingers, Bree took a ragged breath. “Well, a girl’s gotta eat.”
Just like that, the shutters disappeared from his gaze. Those dark, hooded eyes stared into hers, held her captive … glittering with a naked greed that seared her soul. A bolt of electricity jarred her entire body, making her heartbeat kick into high gear.
She felt it happening; felt her body roar to life. Her hormones went wild. Her nerves turned ragged. Her breathing sped up. Pinpricks of sexual awareness teased her skin.
He dragged his gaze down to her mouth. And then lower. And lower. And lower. Honest to God, it felt like he was peeling off every layer of clothing. It was a slow, methodical, blindly intense eye-fuck. Just being the focus of it made her damp. It was torture and pleasure and the ultimate tease. She felt vulnerable and nervous yet totally electrified.
Her cat pressed against her skin, wanting to rub up against him. Bree was pretty sure he sensed her feline’s interest, because a growl vibrated his chest.
He didn’t step away, though. He remained unnaturally still as his eyes once more blazed into hers, dragging her into his orbit, stripping away all her defensive layers, withholding nothing from her. Everything he was feeling was conveyed in that stare—his reluctance, his frustration, his hunger. It was so intimate, so absolutely fucking hot, that it turned her brain to pudding.
Anticipation charged the air until it crackled. The tension built and built, rubbing at her raw nerves. It felt like any second now she’d simply explode. And that kind of pissed her off, because she did not want to feel this way. She did not want to crave someone she couldn’t have.
She embraced the anger, hoping to use it to drown out the arousal pounding through her. It didn’t work. It just seemed to make her edgier. As if each state had fueled the other somehow.
His jaw hard, he ate up that last little bit of space between them. “Who was it that you wanted last night, Bree?” The lethal whisper trailed down her spine, leaving goosebumps. “Who?” The word was a whip.
Hmm, it appeared that she wasn’t the only one who was pissed. Well, good.
“Who, Bree?”
“Does it matter?” she snarked.
His eyes flared with … something. “Yeah, it fucking matters,” he bit out.
“I don’t see how—”
“It was a simple question. Answer it.”
She planted her hands on her hips. “Just where the hell do you get off on acting like I owe you answers to anything?”
“Who did you want?” he growled, his warm breath fanning her mouth. That growl was as thick with need as it was with anger. “Tell me.”
Goddamn tenacious bastard. “Jesus, Alex, it was no one in particular, okay,” she burst out.
“No one in particular? You just wanted to get yourself some? Take care of an itch?”
“Well, like I said, a girl’s gotta eat.”
He slammed his mouth on hers and sank his tongue inside. Just that easily, her body went up in flames. Her anger gave way to the sheer elemental need she had no way of fighting.