Delayed Call Read online

  “Your body says otherwise.”

  “It’s dumb.”

  “It’s fucking hot.” Grinning at him, she pressed her lips to his before he nipped at her bottom lip and then her chin. Taking her by her hips, he dug his fingers into her as he started to pick up the rhythm, going into her harder and deeper with each thrust. The sounds of their bodies slapping together were intoxicating, and she never wanted to hear another sound but that one. When his head fell back, he let out a loud groan, his body jerking up into hers. He leaned back with the force of the motion, snapping the back of the chair and sending him falling to the patio with her on top of him.

  Then they were both just laughing.

  From the gut.

  Falling to his side, the coolness of the concrete patio against her skin, Brie couldn’t stop laughing. His body rumbled against hers, and she felt so perfect. So amazing as she gazed up into his beautiful face. “Are you okay?”

  Looking down at her, he smiled as he nodded. “Better than okay. But damn cheap chairs.”

  “It was plastic.”

  “That’s the first time I’ve broken furniture.”

  “Me too.”

  “I assume it won’t be the last for us either.”

  She grinned as an answer before he dropped his lips to hers, kissing her hard. Pulling back, he kissed her nose and looked deep into her eyes. “Do you know how beautiful you are right now?”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing the side of his mouth. “No, but tell me. I like flattery.”

  Laughing, he kissed her jaw. “So beautiful. You take my breath away, Brie.”

  She smiled smugly. “Well, I am hot.”

  Again, they both found themselves in stitches as they got up and headed inside, where they made love over and over again. As she lay in the bed, her leg lazily over his, she ran her hand down his chest and felt complete.

  Perfectly complete.

  She was worn out, tired to the bone, but she was happy. So very happy, and she never wanted him to leave. How this guy she assumed was a spoiled prick stole her breath, she’d never know. But he could keep it. As long as she got to kiss his lips and feel his caress.

  “Shit, I gotta go back to my room.”

  “Ugh, no,” she moaned, holding him down in the bed, which made him laugh.

  “Jensen will tell on me.”

  “He will not.”

  “No, but if I get caught by Coach, he’ll murder me.”

  “So why don’t you just sleep here?”

  “We both know I can’t,” he said, kissing her nose and then her mouth. “Plus, I don’t sleep with females.”

  Her brows pulled together. “What?”

  “I don’t sleep with females. Only Tricksie now.”

  She laughed as she looked up at him. But he wasn’t laughing. He was serious, with just a stupid grin on his face as she stared into his eyes. “Wait, what about when you’re in a relationship with someone?”

  “I don’t do relationships.”

  Her heart stopped as he kissed her nose before rolling out of bed. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t do relationships.”

  Unable to speak as he grabbed his clothes, she watched him, repeating his last phrase over and over again in her head. Something wasn’t clicking. If he didn’t do relationships, what was he doing with her? “Vaughn.”

  “Yeah?” he asked, smiling as he threw on his shirt.

  “What are we doing?”

  He shrugged. “Having fun.”

  “Fun?”

  “Fun.”

  Her blood started to boil. “So we’re just fucking?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And nothing more?”

  “Yeah, why?” he asked, looking over at her. “Why are you mad?”

  Sitting up, her eyes wild, she found that her heart was pounding so hard she was convinced it was going to come out of her chest. “Because I don’t want to just fuck around. I want more. I want a relationship. A you and me. And I thought you did too.”

  Looking away, he sucked in a deep breath before letting it out in a whoosh. Meeting her gaze, he shrugged, like what she wanted was nothing. Just a request he wasn’t able to grant. Instantly, her heart shattered in her chest. “Then I owe you another apology for implying that I wanted that too, because I don’t.”

  And for the billionth time since knowing Vaughn Johansson, she was pretty sure she was going to kill him.

  As Brie’s eye started to twitch, Vaughn knew he was fucked.

  She was going to kill him.

  And he couldn’t blame her.

  Jensen warned him.

  Standing up, she reached for her shirt, throwing it on. “You don’t want to be in a relationship?”

  “No.”

  “But you yearn for me? Need me? Want me? All that other jazz?

  “I do.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “No. I meant everything I said.”

  “But you don’t want more than to fucking fuck me?” she yelled, her face turning red. Shit, was she going to cry? “Is that all I am, a fucking fuck?”

  “Well, no, I like you just fine—”

  “Just fine!” Taking in a deep breath, she pinched the bridge of her nose. “You like me just fine, enough to fuck me, and spit some mad game, but I’m not good enough to have a relationship with. I can’t believe this.”

  She stomped past him, and he followed. “Brie, it’s not like that. It isn’t you. I don’t want to be in a relationship with anyone.”

  “So that makes this okay?”

  “Brie, wait. Stop for a second, I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Oh well, lookie here, you’ve done it twice now! You’re on a roll, JoHo.”

  “I thought you wanted the same thing.”

  “What in the world would make you think that? Did I say that?”

  “You didn’t say otherwise either.”

  She glared. “Touché, you ass. But when have you ever known anyone to be like, ‘Hey, I’m just here for the sex’?”

  He held her gaze. “Almost everyone I’ve ever slept with.”

  Her eyes widened, almost crazed as she threw her arms in the air. “I’m not them. You know I’m not, and still, you couldn’t tell me that you didn’t want anything more than sex when you were begging me to go to bed?”

  He shrugged. “I mean, I was begging for you to go to bed with me, not marry me.”

  And then it happened. She punched him hard in the middle of the chest, knocking the breath out of him. “That’s so not right. You said all these beautiful things, you made me feel special, important, and it was only to get in my pants? How far would you have let this go? Until I fell for you?” When he caught his breath, he looked down to see that she was crying. Big, fat tears rolled down her face as she shook. “That’s not fair.”

  He didn’t know what to say. He hated tears on women, they sucked, and soon he was rambling. “You’re right, it’s not. But it’s also not fair that I’m always the victim of your violence.”

  “Oh, please, you act like I hit hard.”

  “You shouldn’t be hitting me at all!”

  “And you shouldn’t be leading me on!”

  “I didn’t mean to.”

  “Apparently, you never mean to do anything. You just do and leave everyone in the wake of your assholeyness!”

  “Brie, it isn’t like that. I honestly didn’t—”

  “Yeah, whatever, Vaughn. You know what gets me is I thought you were different. I thought you were this good guy, but it was all a lie. Man, you’re really good at hiding behind that damn organization you’ve got. Trying to be all good and great for them, and fucking over anyone else that could feel even an ounce for you outside of that fucking place.”

  “Brie, that’s not true. I honestly thought you wanted the same thing,” he tried. But he’d known from the beginning she wasn’t that girl. He’d just kind of hoped maybe she was because he couldn’t resist her. Go