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

But most of all, it was hot.

She blinked up at him, knowing that he was surprised that she hadn’t shrunk from his touch. Then again, maybe it was time someone tested the great scientist’s hypotheses.

Maybe that will show him how unpleasant I can be.

She shook the thought away, grateful she hadn’t said it aloud. Somehow, she didn’t think that would have come out right. Still, he did deserve a little baiting, and she was right here…

“Well, why don’t we just try it, then? Just to get a head start. I should warn you, though. I prefer to run before I walk,” she said.

“Are you propositioning me?” He looked surprised, but not horrified. That was something at least.

“No, don’t be stupid. I meant we could try kissing.” She was just drunk enough for her mind to feel like it was the greatest idea she’d had all night long. And his mouth did look full. And warm. And very kissable.

I’ll show him unpleasant.

She shook her head. There had to be a way of getting that idea to make sense…

“Okay. Sure.” He shrugged, his tone matter-of-fact as ever. Her heartbeat jumped to an alarming pace as he leaned closer and closer, his lips only inches from her own. She could feel the heat of him; smell the spicy muskiness of his cologne.

She closed her eyes, but just as their noses brushed together and they tilted in opposite directions to connect their mouths, her elbow triggered a button and opened the secret compartment between them in the center console.

“Maybe we should try inside,” she stepped from the car before he could help her, but he still held the door to her house open for her as she crossed the threshold. It was awkward and kind of exciting having him there. He was a fake husband and already he was more real than her real fiancé had been. Go freaking figure.

She sat on the sofa and patted the space beside her, inviting him to join her.

He sat down politely, and then turned to face her.

“So, I guess we just…” She started, but his hand had already cupped her jawline, and she noticed what a deep, rich blue his eyes were as his face grew closer to her by the minute, his lips finally coming to rest upon her own.

The current of his kiss, of his touch, was like a lightning bolt, traveling down her throat, coiling around her spine, and coursing between her thighs. Maybe he thought she’d back away, but the velvet of his lips was hardly something she planned on escaping any time soon.

Instead, she pulled in his warm bottom lip, flicking her tongue over the space of his skin before deepening the kiss further, pushing into his mouth to taste him. God, where did he learn to kiss like this? Moreover, how did her intense, determined boss ever find the time to hone this kind of skill?

She inched closer, draw in equal measures by the mystery and the touch and she wondered for the first time if she should be the one getting to know him better instead of the other way around.

It was so good. Too good to stop. The best kiss of her entire life.

And then it was over.

His eyes opened, and her heart sunk as she felt his lips pulling away from hers, the taste of his sweet, minty breath still on her mouth.

But then there was another surge of electricity as his lips parted against hers again, harder and more demandingly than he had before. The power of his kiss had her falling backward, onto her back as he continued to deepen the kiss, greeting her tongue with his own as they swirled around each other, the hard muscles of his body pinning her down. His chest pressed against hers, and the sound of their hearts melded together like primal drums.

His fingers abandoned her jawline to weave between her locks, tugging gently on her curls until her bun was completely unraveled. But then, just as she fully surrendered herself to the kiss, it was all over.

He pulled away, pushed to standing, and then strode quietly toward the door.

“I have to go,” he said calmly, “I’m sorry.”

“Garret?” She panted, and he turned, his face a half in shadow. His lips were red where she’d nibbled on them, and she was suddenly overcome by the urge to cross the room and pull him back toward the sofa.

Before she could act on her instincts, he said, “I’ll call you tomorrow.” Then, he swung the door shut behind him without another word, and she listened to his car drive away into the night.

5

Garret sped the whole way home.

He thought he'd laid his plans out so well, accounted for every variable and constant. But this...