Strong and Sexy Read online

  Noah had reacted in a very different manner than they’d all expected—he’d fallen in love with Bailey. And somehow, he’d come back to them, the Noah they all loved. He’d found his way back to the living, and Shayne and Brody and Maddie herself had all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

  Life had gone on.

  But now Shayne seemed . . . different. In crisis somehow, and she didn’t know what was going on, or how to help, how to make things better.

  “What is it?”

  In surprise, she looked up to find Brody watching her with those sharp eyes that missed nothing, including the fact that she’d changed her hair color again, dark brown now, or that she’d bought a new skirt.

  An even shorter one.

  It looked good on her legs. Okay, it looked great on her legs and she knew it, and for reasons not quite clear to her, or maybe for reasons perfectly clear, she’d wanted him to notice, and she wanted him to suffer.

  He’d just come in from Cabo, where he must have spent some time outdoors either waiting on his client or working on the plane, because he had a tan going.

  It worked for him.

  Damn gorgeous grumpy man. Too gorgeous. Standing this close to him was making her . . . itchy. Making her want to shove him against the wall and press her body to his and kiss that grumpiness right out of him.

  She could do it too.

  But she wouldn’t, of course she wouldn’t. He didn’t deserve her damn kiss. And she needed space. But in order to move out from behind the counter, she had to practically brush against him. She held her breath so she couldn’t smell him—self-defense, because he always, always, smelled amazing—and then without a word headed toward the tarmac. She needed to tell Shayne about the phone call she’d just received. She needed to do her job, not be daydreaming about things that could never be—

  “What’s the matter?”

  Damn it. “Stop following me.”

  “Then stop and talk to me. What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing.” He nodded, though he clearly didn’t believe her. “I saw you the other night. On your date.”

  So he had seen her. Fine. She’d seen him too.

  “Did it work out for you?”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning, did . . . did the rest of your night go well?”

  “Are you asking if I slept with him, Brody?”

  “That would be none of my business.”

  “That’s right. It wouldn’t.” Once again she looked at Shayne, who was still on the tarmac.

  Brody followed her line of vision.

  “If you want him for yourself, all you have to do is say so.”

  Whipping her head toward his, she stared at him. “What?”

  “You find him attractive.”

  “You mean because he has a penis?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Then you’d better say something.”

  “You had an expression on your face—”

  “Annoyance?”

  “No. Frustration. Worry.” His jaw tightened. “And something else.”

  “Spit it out.”

  “Arousal.”

  She stared at him in shock. That was for you, you idiot.

  But Brody wasn’t done pissing her off. “He’s single right now, and—”

  With a low growl in her throat, she reached up, grabbed his shirt, and shoved him back against the wall, then did as she’d been fantasizing about, pressed her body along the length of his and kissed him, hard.

  There was a beat of utter stillness from him and then his hands came up to her face.

  The almost reluctant touch fueled her frustration, her anger, her sheer lust. She hadn’t planned on going anywhere with this but his mouth was warm and firm, and somehow also soft, and she licked his bottom lip until with a low, rough sound, he opened and thrust his tongue to hers.

  And just like that, she went from seducer to se-ducee.

  Holy shit, the man could kiss. His fingers slid into her hair, his thumbs sweeping her cheekbones in a soft caress that was in complete opposition to the feel of his long, hard body pressed so intimately to hers.

  Then he changed the angle of the kiss, at once deepening it and gentling the connection so that she went from fury to straight-up desperate for him so fast her head spun.

  And then they ran out of air. Somehow she found the strength to lift her head. To let go of his shirt. Stumbling back a step, she blinked the haze of desire from her vision and forced a glare. “Does that feel like I want Shayne, you arrogant, insufferable ass?”

  He blinked once, slow as an owl. “Arrogant?”

  “That’s right. Your picture is in the dictionary next to the word.”

  He blinked again. “Insufferable?”

  “Don’t forget ass.”

  Still looking a bit stunned, he just stared at her. “You . . . you want me.”

  “There is no way you are that slow to have just figured that out.” And then, knees knocking, she walked away. Don’t look back, don’t look back . . .

  She looked back.

  He was still leaning back against the wall as if he needed the support, looking both staggered and boggled.

  And so damn cute she felt herself come to a stop. Damn it. “Brody.”

  He lifted his head, his eyes so hot she couldn’t suck air into her lungs. “I’m going to tell Shayne about a phone call. He . . . he might need you.”

  Straightening, he went from passionate to concerned in a single heartbeat. “What is it?”

  “The woman from the other night.”

  “The crazy one?”

  “Shayne likes her.”

  “Shayne likes all women.”

  “This one’s different.”

  He rubbed a hand over his jaw, the day-old growth there making a rasping sound that went straight to her good parts. “She’s on her way to the ER. There was some sort of accident at her work.”

  “Shit.” Apparently already completely over the kiss they’d just shared, he sighed and moved ahead of her to the tarmac door. There, he hesitated, glancing back. “We’ll deal with what just happened later.”

  Or never. But Maddie nodded, and when he was on the tarmac, she let out a low breath and reminded herself that the kiss had been her idea, which meant she had no one to blame for messing up the best thing that had ever happened to her.

  Shayne let Brody drive him to the hospital because it was easier than arguing. “Seriously. I could have driven myself.”

  “Are you kidding? Our insurance company is going to dump you if you get another speeding ticket.”

  “I don’t have that many.”

  Brody sent him a baleful look.

  “Okay, so I have a few speeding tickets.” Shayne didn’t care. He eyed the road, jaw tight, hardly able to breathe. Maddie had taken the call, so he hadn’t heard Dani’s voice, but Maddie had admitted she hadn’t sounded so good. Dani had said only that she was at the ER, and that if it wasn’t too much trouble, she needed Shayne to come and verify her sanity, preferably before she was questioned by the police.

  The police?

  Shayne had called Dani’s cell, which had gone right to voice mail, then tried the hospital, but they wouldn’t release any information except directly to a family member. Patrick had been next on his list, but he’d had to leave a message.

  When Brody got caught in afternoon traffic, Shayne staved off a heart attack by calling the zoo. Their main switchboard was closed, and he couldn’t get past it. “Take the 5,” he directed Brody.

  “It’s bumper-to-bumper. I’m going over the pass. What happened, anyway? I thought you two had your one-night already.”

  “It turned into two nights.”

  “How? I thought it was just sex.”

  It had been. Only then he’d gone back for seconds.

  And wanted thirds. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Are you sure? Because you’re looking like this is