Bargaining with the Bride (Honeybrook Love, Inc. 1)

It was sweet, really. Or it would have been if a nagging part of her didn’t wonder if he was only interested for the science of it. For the research. Somehow, though, she didn’t think that was it.

As his lean muscles flexed against the fabric of the couch, she found herself wondering, not for the first time, what might have happened if her sister hadn’t barged in on them tonight. She swallowed hard, and then crossed to settle into the chair across from him.

“Thank you. For tonight, I mean,” she said.

“My pleasure. Your sister is charming.”

“Crazy might be a better way of putting it.”

“All the best people are. After all, what we’re doing here isn’t exactly normal,” his gaze lingered on hers for a tense moment. Was it her imagination, or was there heat behind his words? Maybe even longing?

Awareness surged between her thighs and she crossed her legs to dull the ache. This was all just part of her imagination. What happened before had been in the heat of the moment. She knew how Garret felt about her, and if he’d wanted things to be more intimate he certainly would have acted on it by now. Sure, they’d kissed, but he’d walked away. And earlier…

That was her. She’d been out of bounds. She’d broken the rules of their agreement. Eliza gave him an easy out, and it would be unfair of her to test him by crossing that line again. The best thing to do would be to remain cool. She just had to relax.

“Believe me, if you’d been forced to spend time with my brother, you’d think you’d won the family lottery,” Garret smiled.

“A multi-millionaire executive playboy? Yeah, you’re right. Your brother always seemed like a real drag.”

He laughed. “A real dog is more like it. Maybe he’s not as…formal as your family, but trust me when I tell you he makes an impact. And if he met you?”

She waited for him to go on, but he didn’t. Instead, he cleared his throat and stared out the wide, bay window at the starry spring sky.

“He’d what?” She prompted, but Garret didn’t turn to look at her. He simply speared a hand through his thick hair and shook his head. “You don’t want to know.”

“I assure you, I do,” she scooted closer to the edge of her seat as if to illustrate her point.

He tilted his mouth to the side, and, after another nine-months-pregnant pause, he said, “He would hit on you.”

She laughed, “He would not. I’m not exactly the multi-millionaire type.”

“He doesn’t have much of a type.” Garret shrugged.

“So you’re saying he’d hit on be because I have a vagina?”

Garret shifted uncomfortably on the sofa. “It’s not like that. He’d hit on you because…ugh, it doesn’t matter.”

“I’m pretty sure it does.”

Silence fell again, and she prompted him, “Come on, Garret.”

“Okay, okay. He sort of has a system when he meets women. If they’re beautiful, he’ll come up to me and ask me their story.”

“And you’ll tell him my family is a nightmare?” she raised her eyebrows.

“No.” He didn’t bother to elaborate.

“So…what would you tell him?”

“I might mention your aversion to dogs.”

“Not aversion, fear.”

“Anyway, I would mention that. And that you’re a hard worker. He’d hate that.”

“He likes a lazy girl, does he?”

“Not lazy so much as stupid. You’d be too much for him to handle.”