Tangled (Playing With Fire)

Scarlett’s skin flushed hot, and she brushed a few stray hairs away from her forehead with shaky fingers. The position stretched her shirt tight across her bosom, and she forgot how many buttons she’d undone on the starchy white shirt. Enough buttons to show acres of naked skin, the black swirling lace of her skimpy bra.

His gaze locked right there, of course. Zoomed in on her cleavage, and she swore she saw a flash of appreciation in their brilliant depths.

Damn him, he had beautiful eyes. Eyes that could make a woman melt, and a voice that could make a woman come. At the very least shiver with awareness and bring her nipples to hard, aching life.

Yeah, she hated this guy. So very, very much.

She couldn’t answer him, couldn’t remember what he’d said. He smiled, a one-sided curve of sensual lips that was loaded with all sorts of meaning.

Sexual I-know-just-how-to-make-you-lose-your mind meaning.

“Nice outfit,” he drawled, his gaze locked on her breasts. “Love the bra especially.”

“I’m sure.” She stood tall, though she wanted to cover herself. Or bare herself completely. Take your pick.

“Kind of different from your usual look,” he continued. She glanced at him sharply, surprised that he’d even noticed. “Not that I don’t mind this particular outfit. You remind me of the librarian we had when I was in grade school. She was pretty. Hot. Young. I’d go in there and pretend to study after school just so I could sneak looks at her, maybe even talk to her.”

Scarlett couldn’t imagine Trevor Braxton as a child. He’d probably been a handsome little devil full of deviousness. Tricks and trouble and mischief—she could only surmise the torture he’d put his parents through.

“I’m sure you stood out. Someone like you hanging out in a library every day.”

Trevor’s dark brows drew together, his expression confused. “Someone like me? What do you mean by that?”

“Well, look at you.” She waved a hand at him, wondered if maybe she should’ve kept her mouth shut. “I’m sure you’ve never studied a day in your life. You got by on your good looks alone.”

He laughed, the sound warm and…how could this be? Inviting?

She really wanted to hate this man. But he made it hard. And that drove her nuts.

“I was a big nerd in school,” he admitted once he quit laughing. “Dressed bad, funny looking,

wore glasses, had braces. The works.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He ran his hand over his jaw, and she swore she heard the rasping of his stubble against his palm. “It’s true. I have proof. Old photos don’t lie.”

She didn’t want to have this conversation. The little details, the way he looked at her, the intimacy of it all, it humanized him. Made him more of a real person than the plastic handsome Ken doll she saw on stage five nights a week. He’d never paid her much attention. He’d rarely spoken to her let alone looked at her. She was surprised he knew her name.

But he had noticed her, and he knew her name. For whatever reason he had come to Tom’s to find her. How he had gotten the code to get inside in the first place, she had no idea.

“How’d you get in here anyway?”

“Well, I came with someone.” He stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and shuffled his feet. Looking very much like the little boy he used to be, she bet.

Well, minus the ugly bit. He was so far from ugly it wasn’t even funny.

As his words sank in though, her hackles went up. “Who are you here with? Don’t tell me you’re on a date.”

“No, no date. I came with Drake.” His gaze met hers once more, direct and unwavering. “He had the night off so he called and asked me to come here with him.”

“Oh.” She swallowed and dread filled her. Damn it, those rumors were probably true though she’d chosen to ignore them. Plenty of women had approached Drake, trying to get his number, a date, a wink, any type of interest, yet he gave none. He was friendly and polite but never flirty. No one had ever heard of him dating a woman, let alone had seen him with one.

The rumor was he might be gay. And now that he was here with Trevor, she had a feeling that rumor might be true.

Though she’d never heard that particular rumor about Trevor, plenty of employees at the theatre were known for their experimentation.

Including herself.