Game On (9 page)

“Hey,” Dom said, winking at Brianna. “I
heard he’s not the only one makin’ an impression on the opposite sex. Evan
tells me all the boys at the office are talkin’ about the sexy new lawyer with
the killer smile.”

Ryan’s hand tightened on her leg. “Did he
tell you who’s after her?”

Brianna elbowed him in the ribs. “What’s it
to you?”

“How will I know who to threaten if I don’t
know who it is?”

“It’s no wonder I couldn’t get a date in
high school or college,” she said, rolling her eyes at Lena. “Between this
guy,” she said, hooking a thumb at Ryan, “Evan, and Aiden, all the guys were
afraid to ask me out.”

Ryan put his arm around her, drawing her
closer. “Hey, it’s my job to look out for you.”

“I know you think so,” she said, patting
his leg affectionately. “But you need to know when to back off. At this rate,
I’m gonna turn in to the crazy cat lady ‘cause I can’t get a date.”

“That’ll never happen,” Ryan said, running
his finger up her arm.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked,
looking up at him.

“Trust me, I know.”

“Well,” Dominic said, stretching his arm
across the back of the sofa, “I guess we better head out, baby. I’ve gotta work
tomorrow.”

“Yeah, so do I,” Lena said, standing up.

Lena leaned over to give Ryan and Brianna a
kiss on the cheek and he pulled her down on his lap, folding his arms around
her when she tried to get up.

“Let me go,” she said, laughing when he
started to tickle her ribs. “I’ll get you back for this,” she said, gasping for
breath. “I swear I will.”

Dominic chuckled as he offered a hand to
help his fiancé escape her captor. “I didn’t even know she was ticklish there.
I’ll have to remember that.”

“I know all of her secrets,” Ryan said,
tugging on a lock of Lena’s hair as she got up. “If you wanna take me out for a
beer this week, I might be willin’ to tell them to ya.”

Lena stuck her tongue out at him. “Don’t
forget I know all of your secrets, too.”

“Hey, a beer sounds good,” Dom said. “It
may help lift Evan’s spirits.”

“That’s what I was thinkin’. Jimmy’s on
Friday night?”

“Sounds like a plan. I think Nick’s still
here. Why don’t I ask him if he wants to join us?”

“Yeah, do that. I’ve been meanin’ to get
together with him. I wanna hear all about how life on the ranch is treatin’
him.” He chuckled. “Can’t say I understand it. I mean, why would he waste his
degree mendin’ fences and shovelin’ shit?”

“No one would expect you to understand,”
Brianna said, reaching for his hand and holding it up for their friends’
inspection. “Look at that. That’s why he hasn’t been in to work this week. He’s
been too busy gettin’ his nails done.”

“Is that so? “Ryan said, grabbing her
wrists and flipping her onto her back with her arms pinned above her head. “You
wanna try sayin’ that again?”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“Oh yeah?” He looked up at Lena. “Maybe you
better tell her how dangerous I can be.”

Lena laughed as she reached for Dom’s hand
to lead him up the stairs. “Stay strong, Bri.”

When it was just the two of them, the
energy in the room seemed to shift. Their breathing became labored as Ryan’s growing
arousal pressed into the V of her open legs.

“What’re you doing?” she whispered.

He released her hands, but didn’t move.

“Ry…”

“Sssh,” he said, lowering his body on top
of her. He brushed the hair off her face and stared into her eyes. “Have I told
you how beautiful you are?”

She couldn’t breathe when he looked at her
like that. Ever since the first time he’d kissed her, the kiss she spent years
trying to forget, she always wondered whether he would try again and whether it
would be as explosive as the first time.

“I love that perfume,” he said, positioning
his face in the crook of her neck.

“You should; you bought it for me.” The
words sounded breathy when he started skimming his lips over the delicate skin
at the base of her neck. Almost of their own volition, her arms circled his
neck, holding him prisoner. “This is a bad idea,” she whispered, tipping her
head back and suppressing a moan when his tongue found its target. “We’re in
your parents’ house.”

Ryan chuckled as his hand moved beneath her
thin cotton shirt to cup her breast. “You think this is the first time I’ve
made out in my parents’ basement?”

She couldn’t suppress her smile. He was so
outrageous, and she loved everything about him, from his sense of humour to the
way he stood by his brother when he was going through a tough time. If only
they didn’t stand to lose so much by exploring their obvious attraction for one
another. Ryan was the best friend she’d ever had, and she wouldn’t risk losing
that relationship for anything.

His mouth hovered just above hers and she
knew he was giving her a chance to stop him from taking this further. She
wanted to, she knew she should, but she told herself she just wanted to satisfy
her curiosity. She needed to know if that first kiss had been so explosive
simply because he’d been drunk and horny, so she could put it out of her mind,
once and for all.

“Kiss me,” she whispered.

Ryan growled as he threaded his hands
through her hair and stole her breath in a kiss so intense she never wanted it
to end. Their tongues mingled as he deepened the kiss, mapping her mouth,
taking her further into the abyss of desire than a kiss ever had before. She reached
for the hem of his shirt to pull it over his head when she heard Evan’s voice
like a splash of ice water, dousing her excitement.

“Shit,” Ryan muttered, reluctantly getting
off of her. “Yeah, we’re down here. What do you want?”

Evan paused on the bottom step, looking at
both of them before glaring at his brother. “I wanna go. Now!”

Brianna knew Evan was trying to protect her
from becoming his brother’s next casualty, but in that moment, she wished he’d
never ventured downstairs.

This time it was Ryan who was trying to
block Evan out.
No such luck.

“What the hell were you thinkin’ mixin’ it
up with Bri?”

I was thinking I want to be intimate with
the woman I love. “It’s none of your business; just stay out of it.”

“Like hell. Brianna’s like a sister to me.
If you think I’m gonna stand by and watch you treat her like you do all those
other-”

“Watch it, man.”

“I’m serious. I never said shit all those
times I saw women comin’ and goin’ from your place like you had a revolvin’
door on your bedroom. But this is different. This is Bri. I love her.”

“Yeah, so do I.” Ryan knew Evan loved
Brianna like a protective big brother. He would be shocked and likely appalled
if Ryan confessed the depth of his feelings for her. His past relationships
with women tainted everyone’s opinion of his ability to commit to just one
woman, rightly so, but he wanted to prove to everyone, especially Brianna, that
he was willing to change. He’d already changed. He hadn’t been with anyone
since before the holidays, and for him, that was a new record. The last time
he’d gone without sex that long, he’d had mono and been bed-ridden for two
months.

“Then why are you messin’ with her this
way? Josh would have your ass if he found out, not to mention Aiden, Jay, and
Mike.”

Aiden was one of Ryan’s closest friends,
and he didn’t want to compromise his friendship with Brianna’s brother, but he
wasn’t going to let anyone convince him that he was the wrong man for her.
Tonight she’d confirmed the attraction was mutual, and in spite of the inherent
risk to their friendship if things didn’t work out, he knew he couldn’t spend
the rest of his life suffering in silence.

“I’m not messin’ with her. I care about
her, a lot.”

“Man, gettin’ laid has always been easy for
you. Why not just stick to the chicks you usually go out with? Is it because
Bri’s a challenge? Is that why she does it for you?”

Everything about her turned him on, from
the soft and gentle exterior the world saw to the paradox he’d witnessed in the
courtroom: the tough lady lawyer ready to fight to the death to secure a
victory. There was nothing he didn’t know about her, nothing he didn’t love.

“You haven’t got a clue,” Ryan muttered. This
wasn’t the time to confess his feelings to his brother. It seemed cruel to tell
him he’d finally found the woman of his dreams when Evan had just lost his soul
mate. “I don’t wanna talk about this anymore.”

“You really think I’m gonna let you off the
hook that easily?”

“You don’t have a choice.” Ryan pulled into
his brother’s driveway. He didn’t bother to cut the engine. The sooner he could
get out of there, the better. “See ya at the office tomorrow.”

“I’m not finished talkin’ about this,” Evan
said, reaching for the door handle.

“That’s a damn shame, ‘cause I’m through
listenin’.” He grinned when Evan scowled at him. “I know you’re concerned about
Bri. I get that, but you don’t have to worry. I’d never do anything to hurt
her. You have my word.”

Evan looked at him a long time before he
asked, “Why doesn’t that make me feel better?”

Ryan chuckled. “Go in there and get some
sleep. You look like shit.”

Evan smiled, one of the first smiles Ryan
had seen from him all night. “Thanks a lot, asshole.”

***

Brianna had just slipped into her sweats
and given her cat a small bowl of wet food when her phone rang. She glanced at
the call display.
Ryan.
Since when did a late-night call from her best
friend make her heart pound like she’d just run a marathon? Since he kissed her
like she’d never been kissed before. She considered avoiding the call, since
she had no idea how to explain what happened between them, but she knew if she
did, he would likely show up at her door determined to
talk.
God only
knew where that might lead, given her current state of mind.

She reached for her cordless phone the
second before her voice mail kicked in. “Hey, Spencer, what’s up?” She tried to
keep it light and friendly, as though either one of them could forget what happened
an hour ago.

“I just dropped Evan off. He read me the
riot act for comin’ on to you tonight.”

Just the sound of his voice, which she’d
heard a thousand times before, twisted her stomach up in knots. What was
happening to her? She couldn’t allow herself to feel this way about Ryan, of
all people. He was wrong for her, for so many reasons, not the least of which
was his policy regarding interchangeable women.

“I hope you told him it works both ways. I
wasn’t exactly fighting you off.” She cursed when she realized he was probably
grinning from ear to ear after that admission. “Don’t think I can’t keep my hands
off you. I’m not like all the other women who throw themselves at you.” Maybe
she had seemed that way tonight, but every woman was entitled to a moment of
weakness when a gorgeous, sexy man was wielding his tongue like a weapon,
wasn’t she?

“No, you’re nothin’ like them,” he said
quietly.

She wasn’t used to this softer, gentler
side of Ryan. Sure, he’d always been there for her when she needed a shoulder
to cry on, but this was different. It was almost felt like he was pursuing her,
which was ridiculous.
Wasn’t it
?

“Well, it’s a work day tomorrow. I guess I
should get some sleep.”
And dream about that kiss. Damn you, Ryan Spencer.

“I haven’t seen much of you this week. How
did things go with Clint and his family?”

She cringed at the memory of one of the
most awkward nights she’d ever spent in a man’s company. “It was, uh, strange.”

“How so?”

“He and his father don’t get along very
well. I get the feelin’ his poor mama has to run interference a lot.”

“So why’d he take you along? He expected
the old man to be on his best behavior if a stranger was thrown into the mix?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been trying to figure
out why he wanted me there. It doesn’t make sense.” She reached down to pet her
Himalayan cat, Coco. “He’s a nice enough guy, but-” She didn’t know if she
should admit to Ryan her attraction to the country singer had already fizzled
and died She’d wanted to feel something for Clint, but after her experience
with Jared, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t waste any more time with the
wrong men.

“But… what?” When she didn’t respond, he
said, “Bri, I’m still the same guy. You can tell me anything, you know that.
I’ll try to listen, as your friend, not as the guy who kissed you senseless a
little while ago.”

She smiled. Ryan had this uncanny ability
to make her smile regardless of the circumstances. He made the worst seem
bearable and the best seem even better when he was there to share it with her.
She had an amazing family and extended family and several close friends, but no
one like Ryan. That’s what scared her. If they found the courage to pursue
their attraction and she lost him, she couldn’t imagine what her life would be
like without him.