Be Good (11 page)

“Why do you care?” I
turned my back to him.

He grabbed my arm and spun me around toward him. “Ma
ybe I want some action.” Definitely crude.

“The only action you’re going to see is my fist making contact with your eye if you don’t let go of me.” I was so angry, I was practically spitting on him.

“Feisty. I bet you’re a real knockout in bed.”

He didn’t let go of my arm. I had given him fair warning. I didn’t want to leave a mark on his face with the wedding the next afternoon, so I did the next best thing, I kneed him in the groin.

“You fucking bitch,” he moaned as he doubled over in pain.

“I told you to let go of me,” I yelled as I stormed away.

***

I knew I should have waited until Brett got into town to meet everyone at the Screaming Cactus, a popular bar that was within walking distance of the hotel. But there was a little voice in head saying, “Go, just have one drink. It’ll be fun.”(Like I’d ever had just one drink in my life.) I knew I shouldn’t have listened to that stupid voice.

I was on my third glass of wine (wine and beer were being paid for by the wedding party) when Joey
Vincetti asked me to dance. I had briefly dated Joey in high school but we hadn’t seen each other much since then. He joined a frat in college and hung around mostly with his frat brothers. When he saw me standing by the dance floor, he approached like a vulture to a fresh carcass. Even though I was a little drunk, I could still tell he was even more wasted than I was.

“Hey, Babe,” he
slurred as he slung an arm over my shoulder. “You’re looking delicious as always.”

I glanced up at him. He wasn’t much taller than me but he was thick with muscle. He was always a jock in high school, he excelled in football and wrestling, and obviously still worked out. His dark brown hair was a little messy and I noticed his white button down shirt was starting to get
untucked from his well-worn and extremely well-fitting jeans. I remembered how well he filled out his jeans in high school. That was one of the main things that attracted me to him. That and his brown bedroom-eyes. All of his attributes seemed to have been slightly enhanced since our high school days. The good looking high school boy that I had been with was now an incredibly hot guy.

Joey was so close to me I could smell his cologne. The bar was crowded and loud, so he leaned in close to my ear. I could feel his breath on my neck. My body responded with shivery tingles even though my mind was screaming, “No, run!”

“Wanna dance?” His question was more seductive than a normal request. I’m sure he wanted to dance in his bed later, too.

“I’m kind of waiting for someone,” I managed to get out with some difficulty. He was killing me with those
beautiful brown eyes.

“Kind of?
What does that mean? Either you’re waiting for someone or you’re not.”

I gulped. “I am waiting for someone.”

I knew he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. I remembered Joey being very persistent in high school. I doubted things had changed much. The way he looked now, I’m sure he rarely heard the word
no
anyway.

“He’s not here now, is he?”

I shook my head.

“Remember how good we were together, Babe. That was, what, six
—seven years ago—and I still remember how good you felt. You rocked my little sixteen year old world.” Then he leaned in even closer. His lips were so close to my neck, I thought he might start kissing me. “I still want you. Bad.”

I could feel my heart start to pound. I wanted to escape. My resistance was low and in my compromised (okay, half-drunken)
state, I knew Joey would be able to talk me into going back to his room with him.

Joey then pressed himself against the back of my short white dress. “See how hard I am for you, Babe. See what you do to me.”

I swallowed hard. It had been weeks since I’d had sex—the wedding with Brett, which I didn’t even remember. I was horny as hell. Joey pushing his rather prominent erection against me wasn’t helping.

I closed my eyes for a minute to try and clear my head. When I opened them again, an extremely angry Brett was standing right in front of me and Joey.

Brett’s arms were crossed over his chest and his glare was blazing. “What the hell is going on?” he roared. I had never seen him angry. I know it sounds terrible but Brett’s anger kind of turned me on. Probably not the best reaction considering the situation I was in. Joey backed away but only slightly. He still had his arm around me.

“Get your hands off of her,” Brett ordered. He actually had an alpha-male inside of him, which surprised me.

Even though Joey could have knocked the shit out of Brett fairly easily, he did as he was told and removed his arm from my shoulder. There was something in Brett’s tone and definitely in his eyes that said he wasn’t fucking around.

“I guess this is the guy you’re waiting for,” Joey said.

“Yeah,” Brett spewed. “I’m
that guy
.” As soon as he said the words
that guy
, Brett glared at me. He really meant that Joey was
that guy
, one of the many that guys, who I had no business being with.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Joey
was focused on Brett. The tone of his question made it sound like he couldn’t believe I’d choose Brett over him.

Brett really wasn’t my boyfriend. At least, I didn’t think he was. I wasn’t sure what he was because we had never really discussed it.

“Something like that,” Brett said to Joey as he grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him.

“We’re going,” Brett
demanded. “Now.”

Brett pulled me by my elbow out of the bar and down the block toward
the hotel where the wedding party and guests were staying. He was walking so fast, I could barely keep up with him in my high heels. “Can you slow down a little?” I muttered.

As if he hadn’t even realized how fast we were walking, he said, “Yeah, sure” and slowed down.

When we got back to his room, I prepared myself for whatever was going to come next. I could see Brett was still incredibly angry and I still thought it was sexy as hell. Probably not the best reaction, I knew, even though I was still tipsy.

Brett had kept his eyes closed for what seemed like several minutes. He rubbed his temples and I presumed he was trying to calm himself down and think about what he wanted to say.

I was ready for the worst. I knew there was a high probability he was going to kick me to the curb and I braced myself for it.

When he opened his eyes and looked at me, he looked sad instead of angry
and that made me feel even worse.

“How much did you have to drink?” he asked.

I gulped. I had to think about it. I thought I had two, or maybe it was three, no, definitely three. “Three glasses of wine.”

He eyed me. “How big were the glasses?”

I giggled, which seemed to raise his temper again. I bit my lip in an attempt to stifle the giggles. “They were pretty big,” I said as seriously as I could.

Brett’s eyes grew dark as he looked at me. I suddenly couldn’t breathe. Panic was setting in. Brett was so good at making me nervous. “
Did you want to sleep with that guy?”

I shook my head. As attractive as I may have found Joey, I really didn’t want to be with him again. I think I just liked the attention he was giving me more than anything else.

Brett still didn’t seem satisfied. “Have you ever been with him?”

I swallowed. My words seemed to get stuck in my throat. “Yes,” I finally managed to squeak out.
“In high school.”

Brett turned away from me and shook his head. It was as if he was thinking again. Then he turned back to me. “Sometimes you make it extremely difficult to love you.”

I couldn’t believe what he had said. It sounded like he was trying to say he loved me, in a weird backhanded kind of way, but the words were still there. But how could he love me? Especially after what happened with Joey and every other guy I had ever been with. If he really knew me, if he knew every flaw on my long list, would he still tell me he loved me? I didn’t feel like I deserved his love.

I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around his chest. I could feel the tension drain from his body as he relaxed into my embrace. He gently kissed the top of my head then rested his cheek there. I could feel him let out a sigh then he kissed the top of my head again.

Then he leaned back and looked at me. It felt as if he was trying to take me all in.

“You look absolutely amazing,” he said. “I can understand why Joey wanted you. I’ll bet every guy in that bar wanted you, yet here you are with me.”

I nodded. “I want you, Brett. Only you.”

He ran his thumb softly down my cheek. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Only me?”

“Yes.”

I placed a soft kiss on his lips. Neither one of us moved as our lips continued touching. After a long moment, his mouth crashed into mine and his kisses became urgent and needy. He grabbed my ass and pulled me so close, I could feel his erection pressing against my body. I moaned in delight.

“I want you, Brett,” I said breathlessly. “Please. I want to feel you inside of me.”

To my surprise, he grabbed my arms and pushed me a few inches away from him.

“I’m sorry. I can’t. Not like this. Not when you’ve been drinking.”

“Please,” I pleaded. I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks. “I thought you wanted to be with me,” I
sobbed.

“I do, Anna. I want you so badly it’s taking every ounce of willpower I have to say no but I have to.
For both of us. When we make love, I want it to be special. I want it to be perfect and wonderful and everything you deserve it to be.”

I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed. I had never been turned down before and it hurt. I didn’t know how to feel about what he was saying. I had never considered waiting an option.

“I promise it will be worth the wait” He tried to reassure me.

I still felt sad and rejected. I tried one more time to get my way. I placed my hands on his chest and looked up at him. Then I licked my lips.

He swallowed. I could feel his heart beating faster. I kissed him. At first, he didn’t respond but as I kept at it, he slowly came around. When he thrust his tongue into my mouth, I knew it was game on. His kisses became raw and intense and he moaned.

“Anne, we have to stop,” he whispered between kisses.

But he didn’t stop, he continued kissing me with the power of the alpha male I had seen make an appearance at the bar. That was the man I wanted him to be in bed. And I wanted him more than I wanted air. I was desperate to feel him inside me. To fill the void that was now aching between my legs.

When I reached down to touch his rather large
bulge, he grabbed my hand to stop me.

“No,
not tonight.”

He turned me around so my back was facing him and he put his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me toward the bed.

“You have absolutely no self-control. I’m putting you to bed.”

“You’re not coming to bed with me?”
I said as seductively as I could.

He sat me down on the edge of the bed. He removed the pumps from my feet and placed the
m on the floor next to the bed. Then he unzipped the back of my white mini dress and pulled it down. He paused for a moment to take in the sight of my lace pushup bra.

“Please wear that again,” he said.

I had to smile. Then he lifted my hips slightly so he could ease the dress completely off. He carefully placed the dress on the back of the desk chair and grabbed a tee shirt from his bag. It was Blink 182, a band that was on both of our Top Ten lists. He placed the tee shirt over my head then said, “Lift your arms.” I did as I was told and he put the tee shirt on me like he was dressing a five year old girl.

Then he inspected his work. “God, I love it when you wear my clothes. At this rate, I’ll be buying a new wardrobe soon.”

That made me laugh.

“Now get under the covers and go to sleep.”

“Where are you sleeping?” I asked. “I’m in your bed in your room.”

“In that chair,” he pointed to an overstuffed lounge chair in the corner of the room. “And I’m moving it in front of the door, so you don’t try to leave. I don’t want you ending up in Joey’s bed.”

That hit me. It felt like a slap in the face. Brett must have sensed that he hurt me because he immediately apologized.  “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

The remark probably would have hurt a lot less if it wasn’t half true. A small part of me had wanted Joey. Granted, it was a small part, and getting even smaller the more I got to know Brett, but it was still there.

“Don’t you trust me?” My voice shaking.

Brett didn’t answer right away and he looked uncomfortable. “I trust you when you’re sober
. But I don’t trust you when you’ve been drinking.”