One of the Guys by Shiloh Walker Page B

know exactly why. If Jaynie argued with Kate and convinced Kate she didn’t need a date, he was off the hook. He wouldn’t have to spend several hours sitting next to Jaynie, standing next to her, dancing with her…
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    Shiloh Walker
    “I’m going anyway, J. We might as well go together. It will get Katie off our backs,” he said. He didn’t look up as he spoke, focusing instead on the tomatoes, but he could feel her gaze on him, knew she was watching him. He forced himself to glance up at her—one quick glance. He could do that without showing that she had him tied up in knots on the inside.
    But that one quick glance into her hazel-green eyes had him remembering how she had looked four months ago, those eyes fogged with desire, her hair tangled around his hands and her mouth swollen from his. It had him remembering how she had cuddled into his body after they’d made love, and the soft, sexy little sounds she’d made while she slept. It had him remembering the night she’d come racing to the house, tears glittering in her eyes.
    His voice was tight, rusty when he finally spoke. “You don’t really want to go to that asshole’s wedding alone, do you, Jaynie?”
    She stared at him for a minute, silent and somber. Finally, she gave a jerky little nod. “Okay. Yeah. Whatever.” She looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead, she moved to the stove and started working on dinner.
    If Katie noticed the strained silence in the kitchen, she made no mention of it. She chattered on about the new guy she was seeing, some rich investor who was putting up condos on the stretch of beach between Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. She mentioned that he’d invited all of them to spend a weekend out on an island he owned a little farther south. She kept up an unending string of chatter while they all worked on dinner and Jaynie couldn’t have been more thankful.
    It gave her some time to think.
    Brian was right. Katie was right. She didn’t want to go to Dean’s wedding alone.
    Showing up with Brian was actually the perfect solution. She didn’t know if he would exactly hang on to her every word the way Katie had talked about earlier, but he was a nice guy and from what Jaynie had seen, he was very attentive to his dates. Just as he’d been that night— Whoa , time - out .
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    One of the Guys
    That wasn’t a date. They’d had sex. A mind-boggling, breath-stealing, heart-pounding night of sex, but it hadn’t been a date. Jaynie hadn’t been looking for any kind of romance that night and Brian knew that.
    Still , the man did take his time , didn ’ t he ?
    Some grease from the frying pan splattered her hand when she stirred the browning sausage. Hissing under her breath, she turned away from the stove and went to the sink, shoving it under the flow of cold water.
    When Brian spoke right in her ear, she jumped. “You okay?” he murmured, reaching around her and catching her wrist, bringing it out of the water so he could inspect the small red blotch forming on the sensitive skin between her thumb and forefinger.
    Nonchalantly, she tried to draw her hand away but he kept his fingers manacled firmly around her wrist. “I’m fine,” she said. Man, was that her voice? All throaty and raspy. She winced and dipped her head, hoped he couldn’t see the sudden rush of blood to her cheeks. “Just daydreaming instead of paying attention.” Brian made a noncommittal hmmm under his breath and then he pushed her hand back under the water. He shifted away and she breathed a sigh of relief when his body was no longer pressed against hers. Her system was abuzz from that light contact, though, and Jaynie was left wondering, What the hell is this ? There had been nothing remotely seductive or sensual about that touch, but suddenly she was remembering a night four months ago when he had held her wrists, one in each hand, as he’d pressed her into his mattress and pushed inside her.
    Jaynie’s breath squeezed out of