Billionaires Don't Like Nice Girls (A BWWM Romance) (15 page)

To hell with that, she thought. If she had to seduce Kent to get him to stop acting like an ass, well then … wait, what exactly was wrong with that line of logic?

She did want him. No, she REALLY wanted him. Sweatpants and t-shirt suddenly seemed like a bad plan.

No. She didn’t know what was actually wrong about that line of thought, but it seemed wrong, and at the moment, that was good enough for her. She didn’t want Kent if all he was on the lookout for was sex.

“Here goes nothing,” she whispered as she headed for the living room.

Kent lay stretched on the sofa, one arm thrown over his face.

“Taking a nap?” Phae asked.

He jerked his arm away and lifted his head. “Good. You’re back to normal.”

Phae pointed to the empty glass sitting on the coffee table. “I’m glad you got yourself something to drink. Did you find the juice in the fridge?”

Kent shook his head and sat up. “Water’s fine.”

“I can get you some juice.”

“No, just water … please.”

Phae shrugged, picked up his glass and went to the kitchen.

Kent’s mood hadn’t improved much while she’d been showering. She tried to think of something to make him relax, something that would help him listen calmly to her explanations.

Pasting a smile on her face, she refilled his glass and returned to the living room.

She handed the drink to him then sat in the easy chair. “Are you hungry?”

Kent took a deep drink. “No.”

“Want some music?”

He gave her a funny look.

Phae hurried on and surveyed the man’s rumpled, filthy clothes. “I have a washer and dryer in the shop. Why don’t you take a shower and I’ll wash your clothes? You’ll feel better once you’re clean.”

“I don’t want to feel better. And I’m not going to hide in your bathroom while I wait for my clothes to dry. All I want is for you to explain why you spend your nights acting like a strange do-gooder ninja.”

“I’m trying to be civilized, but you’re not helping matters with your attitude. Go take a shower. I’ll find something for you to wear while you wait for your clothes. Think of how nice it will be to feel clean again.”

He frowned. When he began a serious study of the rim of his glass, Phae knew she had him.

She rose from the chair and walked toward the hallway, hoping Kent would follow. “Come on. Let’s find something for you to wear.”

He heaved himself up off the sofa and followed her. In her bedroom, Phae opened one drawer after another, trying hard not to think about how close to her bed they were, and how big and close Kent was, standing beside her.

“I know it’s in here somewhere,” she babbled as she rifled through drawers. “Dad accidentally left behind a pair of sweats after he showered here the last time he visited. We work out together whenever he’s here. I saw them a few days ago when I cleaned house. They’re in here somewhere. Wait. This is them. Here you go.” She held them out triumphantly, convincing herself she wasn’t being a rambling twit.

Kent held the gray sweats in front of himself.

“Well,” Phae said, “They’re a little too short, and a lot too wide, but they have that drawstring. It’ll work, don’t you think?”

Kent mumbled what she thought was an affirmative.

She tossed him one of her largest t-shirts. “The bathroom’s across the hall. Towels are under the sink. Toss your dirty clothes into the hall so I can get them started.”

“I don’t suppose you know how to remove gum from jeans, do you?”

“Gum? Where? Oh, I see. How did you get gum on your—” She stopped short, noting the dangerous glint in his eyes.

“So? How do you get rid of it?”

“Go take a shower already.” She pushed on his shoulder, finding him to be an unmovable goliath of hard muscle.

Without a reply, Kent stalked off and closed the bathroom door.

Phae sighed and tried to remember he was tired and cranky. And didn’t he have a right to be a little angry? All of this must be a shock. She certainly knew how shocked she was at having been discovered.

When Kent tossed his clothes into the hall, Phae gathered them up and quickly went to work. She tried using ice to pry the gum off his jeans, but it was too mashed into the fabric to pull off cleanly. She did the best she could.

After shoving everything into the shop washing machine, she relaxed into her easy chair, a tall glass of orange juice in her hand, and waited.

It wasn’t long before she heard the water shut off. He’d bathed quickly, not a good sign for her sooth-the-cranky-beast plan.

“Don’t be nervous,” she told herself. “Be honest. Remember, it’s like at the fair. He didn’t run away. He’s still here.”

She propped her feet on the table, sipped her drink and waited. A few short minutes later, Kent came into the living room.

She’d expected to see him wearing the clothes she’d given him, so she wasn’t prepared for what she saw.

Kent wore nothing but one of her bath towels wrapped around his hips. She swallowed hard. Day-umm. He looked good. Better than good.

Droplets of water still shimmered on his wide, tanned shoulders. His hair was damp, mussed and spiky in attractive disarray.

Phae tried not to stare at his impressive six pack and bulging biceps as he walked past her, but once he was past, she got a nice long look at his tight butt snuggled under the towel, and his thick, muscular thighs.

She swallowed hard again and had the crazy thought of, “What if he’s trying to seduce me the way I should have tried to seduce him?” If so, it was working. She almost laughed out loud.

Kent didn’t look at her as he seated himself on the sofa. He picked up his water, took a drink then turned to her. “You were right. I feel better.”

“I’m glad. Are you hungry now?”

“No. The first thing I want to know is why you supposedly let me follow you tonight.”

“Guess we’ll get right down to it, then,” she said wryly. “There’s no ‘supposedly’ about it. When I saw you were tailing me, I realized I didn’t have any choice. It’s not like I could turn around, go home and pretend I’d been out on a midnight walk wearing all that gear.”

He didn’t smile or respond in any way, so Phae continued stoically. “I noticed you following me almost immediately. When I saw it was you, I knew that you had to have been hiding at my house because there was no way I could have run into you accidentally. Now it’s your turn. What made you suspect me?”

“I saw you in your garb last night only a couple of blocks away from here,” he said. “As you can see, accidents do happen.”

She was surprised, not realizing she’d been recognized. “You were the one in the car?”

He nodded.

“I couldn’t see inside it,” she said. “But what made you think it was me?”

“It’s not important. Suffice it to say I became suspicious as a result of what I saw.”

“What did you see?”

“It’s not relevant to the discussion.”

The more he refused to answer, the more she wanted to know. “It’s relevant to me. I can’t have people recognizing me out there.”

“They wouldn’t.”

“That makes no sense. You knew it was me, but no one else could?”

He blew out a breath. “Fine. I recognized your butt.”

Phae’s eyebrows shot up. He couldn’t be serious, but she could see that he was. She didn’t know if she should be flattered or offended. She opted for flattered and smiled, mostly because he’d been embarrassed to admit it.

“You got your answer,” he said brusquely. “Now answer one of mine. Why did you allow me to follow you?”

“I knew if we kept seeing each other, I’d have to tell you about Captain Nice Guy eventually. You simply rushed the process. A lot.”

He looked skeptical.

“Honestly. I was going to tell you. I just didn’t know when. Everything has moved so fast between us, and I didn’t know if I could trust you to keep my secret.”

“Uh-huh. Go on.”

She tried not to let his ongoing skepticism distract her. “Anyway, when I saw you standing out there tonight, I figured you must have been trying to tail me because you were curious about what I do. I mean, you could have confronted me the second I stepped foot out of my apartment, but you didn’t. You followed me and I took that to be a good sign.”

“You shouldn’t have,” Kent said with a frown.

“Obviously. Regardless, I decided the best way to explain what I do was to show you. That’s it.”

“So you didn’t set out to make a fool of me?” he asked, a furrow between his brows.

“No! Why would you think I’d do something like that?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I took quite a beating tonight, Phae.”

“You did well,” she said softly. “I was being honest when I told you that earlier. And you’re not used to the humidity around here, either.”

He sipped his water and studied her.

“I know,” she continued. “I was a little flippant in the woods. I made a couple of jabs and I’m sorry about that. I was so pumped up, though. My plan at the bar worked perfectly. I was afraid I’d get there too late to sabotage Uncle Leon’s truck. That’s why I cut through the woods. Everything took longer than I expected tonight.”

Kent’s mouth formed in the tiniest hint of a smile. “What you mean to say is that I slowed you down.”

She returned his smile. “Yeah, but I wasn’t going to say it.”

“I know you weren’t.” He slowly shook his head. “Tonight didn’t turn out the way I had planned in San Diego. Right now, we should be in bed, sipping wine. Instead, I’m sitting on your couch drinking water.”

In a tiny towel, Phae added silently. He was sitting on her couch, drinking water while wearing a very tiny towel and nothing else. That salient detail made all the difference, in her opinion.

“Are you still mad at me?” she dared to ask.

He exhaled. “I’m not sure. I need some time to think about all this.”

She hopped up from her chair. “You stay there and think. I’ll go check the laundry.”

She took her time as she removed the wet clothes from the washing machine and tossed them into the dryer. She couldn’t understand how Kent thought she might want to make a fool out of him, but at least it explained why he’d been so upset.

After starting the dryer, she waited in the shop for a few moments to give Kent a little more time to think. She hoped that he’d seen how important her work was.

Tonight, she’d been happier going about her tasks than she’d been in a long time. Knowing Kent was behind her pleased her immensely. She’d longed to have someone to talk with about her work.

Kent was confused, but he’d come around eventually. What was the big deal, anyway? So she liked to help people. He shouldn’t have a problem with that, should he?

She took a deep breath and walked back into her apartment. When she entered the living room, Kent looked at her with a wistful expression.

“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen, Phae Jones,” he said, “even in sweatpants and a t-shirt.”

Chapter 14

PHAE HALTED IN THE MIDDLE of the room. Being called sexy was the last thing she’d expected.

Kent patted the cushion beside him. “Come sit by me.”

And that quickly, tendrils of sensual fog came wafting in from nowhere and wrapped themselves around Phae, pulling her onto the couch beside the handsome man. One minute she wanted to smack him and the next she wanted to kiss him.

He lifted her hand, lightly stroking her palm. “I want you,” he said, almost formally.

A sense of relief washed over her, loosening a tightness in her chest she hadn’t realized was there. He was okay. Everything was okay. He’d thought it out and seen that her being Captain Nice Guy was no big deal. He still wanted her.

She looked into his bright blue eyes. “I want you, too.”

“We have … issues to work out.”

She nodded and trembled when his fingertips passed over the sensitive skin of her inner wrist.

He continued, his voice gone rough, deep. “And I have confidence we’ll work them out. Do you?”

She nodded again, entranced by the passion in his gaze as he looked into her eyes. Right at the moment, she was rapidly losing sight of what those issues might be.

“Good,” he said. “But we’ll do it later, Phae, because I can’t wait another instant to be with you.”

She sighed in pleasure. “It’s about time.”

Phae wasn’t a shy type, and this proved to be no exception. She reached out and pulled at the towel that was hardly masking the unmistakable bulge between his legs.

He inhaled sharply as she tossed one end aside and finally exposed what she needed so badly to see.

She licked her lips as she took in all that silky, solid length. His cock sprung out, smooth, with a perfectly-shaped swollen head, pointing at the ceiling, growing longer and harder as she studied it.

“Oh …” she sucked in a breath as she realized how large Kent actually was. She ran her fingers down the length of his cock, ticking off inch after inch.

She glanced back up at his face and her insides twisted when she saw the intensity there. Gone was the playful, joking man and the surly, sour man. He’d been replaced by a sex-fueled alpha who was about to take everything he wanted.

A muscle worked in his jaw. “Lose the shirt,” he demanded.

She didn’t know this voice, this commanding, demanding side. She liked it. No, she more than liked it even when a small part of her thought she shouldn’t. She swallowed hard. And pulled off her shirt.

He took it from her and dropped it on the floor. “Now the bra.”

Again, she swallowed hard. She reached back, hyper-aware of how the movement thrust her breasts out. She unclasped the bra and let the straps fall down her shoulders, then let the whole thing slide off her arms.

Kent took the bra and dropped it on the floor after the shirt. His gaze burned on her flesh. “Come here,” he said.

He lifted her around the waist and pulled her over until she straddled his lap. His rod was hot and hard against the juncture of her thighs. He wrapped one hand around the back of her neck and pulled her head down for a kiss.

It wasn’t any old kiss. It was like in the park. It was a claim, a you’re-mine-and-you-re-not-going-anywhere kind of kiss. She dug her fingers into his damp hair and opened her mouth. She breathed in deeply, inhaling his essence of clean soap and aroused male.