Priceless (Forbidden Men 8)

I sorta loved that.

My mouth could actually rattle Brandt Gamble.

If I could have any superpower, that might be the one I wanted above all others.

But he looked so miserable, and guilty, and frazzled, that I couldn’t help but ask. “Are you okay?”

“Fuck, no,” he blurted before pressing a fist to his forehead, wincing and trying to revise, “I mean...yeah, of course.”

My grin grew, which only seemed to make him more irritable.

“I gotta go,” he muttered, whirling around and escaping through my bedroom door. “See you.”

A small laugh flitted from my lungs. Falling backward onto the bed, I stared giddily up at the ceiling and sighed.

“See you,” I told the empty room. And that right there was the only reason I was still happy. Because I knew I would see him again. There was no scaring Brandt off for good. No matter how much our kiss might’ve freaked him out, the one thing I could always rely on was the fact that I’d see him again, no matter what.

Since the moment he’d defended me in the school hall to Chloe Hilliard the first time we’d met, he’d been the most faithful presence in my life. He could take as much time as he needed to adjust to this. I knew he’d be back.

And I was content.

~*~

“So, how ‘bout that first kiss, huh?”

Stunned by the question, I ripped my fingers from my lips where I’d been touching them in thoughtful consternation and whirled to gape at my sister-in-law behind the wheel of my SUV.

“What?”

How the heck did she know?

It was mid-Saturday morning, and we were on our way to a checkup because my doctor had a new antispasmodic medicine he wanted me to try.

Ahh, the joys of CP.

Mason had been planning on going with me to my appointment, but at the last minute, Reese had swept in and taken his place, leaving him home with the twins. I should’ve known then it was because she’d wanted to girl-talk, but I’d been in too much of a daze to realize.

Glancing over at me, she wiggled her eyebrows. “It was everything you thought it’d be, wasn’t it?”

I shook my head. “Wha-what makes you think I was kissed?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she answered, though she laughed knowingly. “Maybe it’s that dazed look you have on your face as if you’re still reeling from it. Like you’ve been ruined for all other kisses ever. It must’ve been really good, huh?”

Good couldn’t even come close to what that kiss had been.

I still felt like a melted puddle of estrogen all these hours later.

“Mason was so sure Seth had done something wrong after Brandt ended up bringing you home last night, but I’m going to be honest. You’re glowing way too much for anything bad to have gone down.”

My body jerked with surprise at the mention of Seth. And I was sure the glow slunk right off my face.

But hell, I hadn’t even thought of Seth yet this morning. Or last night. Not after Brandt had left.

The only thing I’d been able to do was touch my tingling lips and just...grin.

Upon remembering him now, the sick swirl in my stomach returned with a vengeance. The text messages I’d read, the look on Seth’s face when he’d returned to the living room with two glasses of wine, as he was being forced to do something he dreaded…they were suddenly right there, back in my head again.

The last thing he’d wanted to do was touch me. It made me feel vile, as if I wasn’t worthy of anyone’s touch. Ever.