Tease Me (10 page)

Before she could finish the argument
with herself, her doorbell rang. She frowned. It was the middle of
the morning, and most of her friends were at work or busy. Also,
they usually called before coming over. Being a nurse always left
her with weird work hours, so they knew she could be sleeping at
odd times.

The doorbell rang again and was
followed by pounding on her door.

“
Open up, Tess, I am not
in the mood to stand out here.”

Bran.

Dammit. Just not what she needed at
the moment. She wanted to pull herself together before facing him
again. Since he’d agreed to her
friends with benefits
, she
had to play the part. Or, dammit. He hadn’t. Right? He had her head
so screwed up, she didn’t know if she was coming or going. It was
pathetic and, with any other man, she wouldn’t take that kind of
arrangement. Okay, she sort of had that arrangement, although not
agreed to.

“
Tess, if you don’t answer
me, I’m going to assume you’re hurt and call the cops. Mr. Beasley
across the street said he would call for me.”

She closed her eyes and tried to
compose herself. Drawing in a deep breath, she slipped out of the
chair and headed to the door, grabbing a tissue on the way. After
cleaning off her face, she took another deep breath, and opened the
door.

He was frowning at her and yet she
still wanted him.

“
What the hell,
Tess?”

She leaned against the doorjamb and
crossed her arms. “Most of my friends know not to show up without
calling first.”

His frown darkened. “I did call
first.”

Well, damn. She had been ignoring her
phone today knowing that the hospital would call her home phone if
they didn’t get her on her cell. It was childish, to be sure, but
not any worse than him avoiding her the day before.

“
Did your father leave
today?”

He cocked his head to one side and
stared at her for a long few seconds. A crack of thunder sounded
overhead. She hated that he seemed to have the weather on his side.
Of course Bran did. He always got everything he wanted.

“
That was well timed,” he
said.

She said nothing to that, waiting for
her answer.

“
Are you going to leave me
out here on the stoop to get drenched?”

“
Are you going to answer
my question?”

Okay, that was kind of childish, but
she couldn’t help it. She was out of sorts and she needed time to
figure it out. But, just like every other time in their lives
together, Bran just butted his way into her business.
Dammit.

“
Is everything fine over
there, sir?” Mr. Beasley yelled from across the street. She glanced
past Bran and saw the grumpy man standing on his sidewalk with an
umbrella in his hand.

“
It would be if she would
let me in the house.”

“
He’s going to get wet,
Tess,” Mr. Beasley yelled out.

When she looked back at Bran, he was
smirking at her. She wanted to close the door on his face, but then
Mr. Beasley would get onto her for being rude. And that was one
thing Mr. Beasley understood.

With an aggravated sigh, she turned on
her heel and marched back into her living room. Someone up in
heaven hated her. It had to be the only explanation of her luck
lately.

Bran followed her in. “Mr. Beasley
claims you are ever so nice to most people, so he was kind of
confused by your actions today.”

She rolled her eyes then turned to
face him.

“
What do you want,
Bran?”

He let one eyebrow rise and she felt
her face heat. She had known he had a one-track mind, but she
didn’t know it was quite that bad.

“
Other than
that.”

“
Not sure there will be
anything other than that.”

She didn’t know what to make of that
statement. “I thought you were supposed to report in
today.”

“
I did. I had breakfast
with Dad then reported in. It’s raining like hell and I said I had
something important to take care of so I took my house hunting
days.” Then his gaze traveled down her body. “Did you go running
today?”

It was then she remembered she was
wearing her workout gear. And she probably stunk. Yep, someone up
there hated her. He was standing there looking like Captain
Freaking America and she smelled like dirty gym socks.

Life was just not freaking
fair.

“
Yeah, I do that every now
and then.”

“
Is there a reason you’re
pissed at me?” Bran asked easily.

Yes. I love you and you just want
friends with benefits.
But she didn’t say anything. She
couldn’t. Not when she had been the person to suggest it. It was
her own fault and that irritated her even more.

“
No. I thought you were
mad at me last night.”

He shook his head. “No. I was mad at
the situation and I knew I made a mistake.”

Her heart sank just a little.
“What?”

“
I shouldn’t have agreed
to the arrangement.”

She tried to swallow and found her
throat suddenly dry. “Oh?”

“
Yeah, Tess, you deserve
more than that.”

“
No problem.”

She had to get out of there before she
started crying again. Was it worse that he agreed or that he was
calling it off? Either one sucked. And what he said was true, she
did deserve more, but she also knew he didn’t have it to
give.

“
Well, if that’s all you
came over for, I need to get washed up. I have plans for
later.”

He frowned again. How could a man who
had just broken her heart still look so sexy while he was irritated
with her?

“
What kind of
plans?”

“
A date.” That was a lie,
but she needed to save face. She would not let him know how much he
hurt her.

“
I don’t like
that.”

She crossed her arms again. “Too
bad.”

If anything his frown turned darker.
“You’re not about to go out with another guy.”

He said it as if his word was law.
There was a small part of her that found the tone he used
completely and absolutely sexy. Which, in turn, annoyed her.
Seriously, if she always felt like jumping the man’s bones, even
when he was being an ass, she wasn’t ever going to get over
him.

“
I believe you just said
you didn’t want to be involved with me.”

“
That’s not what I
said.”

“
Yes you did.”

“
No. I said the
arrangement wasn’t to my liking.”

“
Oh for the love of God,
you are worse than Jesse when it comes to being a
diplomat.”

“
No. I refuse to accept
friends with benefits
with the woman I love.”

“
Seriously, one of these
days you’re going to piss off…Wait, what?”

Then, he strode to her, determination
on his face. Before she could form a thought, he pulled her into
his arms and kissed her senseless. It took her more than a few
seconds to get her brain to work again.

She pulled back from the kiss and both
of them were breathing heavily. When she tried to wiggle away, he
tightened his arms.

“
Bran, let me
go.”

“
Nope. Never. I refuse
to.”

“
I know I smell and right
now I need some space between us.”

He hesitated then released her. She
took a step back and tried to keep her head screwed on
straight.

“
What did you mean by
telling me you loved me?”

She hadn’t meant to sound harsh, but
she couldn’t help it. All this time she had been ready to play the
game and now, this irritating man had the nerve to lie to her about
loving her.

“
I figured since I’m in
love with you, I should tell you.”

“
Stop it.”

“
Why?”

“
It’s not fair. Stop lying
to me.”

He threw his hands up in the air and
made a sound of disgust. “Dammit, woman, I am not lying to
you.”

“
Okay. Maybe you don’t
even realize it, but just because I’m not following you around like
a puppy dog doesn’t mean you have to use these tactics. I was the
one who said we could just—“

“
Yeah, I know,” he said,
growling out the words.

“
And you agreed. Then you
said no.”

“
Because I don’t want
that. You know, it figures you would give me issues with this. Out
of all the women I could have fallen in love with, it had to be the
one who isn’t easy.”

She raised her chin. “I’ve never been
easy.”

“
That’s an understatement.
I could have had any woman—”

She snorted. “That’s an
exaggeration.”

“
What woman in their right
mind would get pissed when a guy tells her he loves
her?”

“
You don’t love me. And I
am not mad.” She wasn’t. If she didn’t get rid of him soon, she was
going to lose it in front of him and that was unacceptable. Tess
was just trying to hold onto the one thing she had left, and that
was her pride. If she let him, he would rip it to shreds and leave
it in a heap at her feet.

“
Then what would you call
it?”

“
Listen, Bran, I
understand your father might have put some pressure on you to say
these things, but it won’t help either of us to pretend we love
each other.”

His eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to
tell me that you don’t love me?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but he
stopped her.

“
And if you lie, I will
have to prove you’re wrong.”

He stalked her then, following her
around her couch. “Stop that. Dammit, Bran, I am not in the mood
for your games.”

“
Really? Because I’m sick
of yours, that’s for sure.”

She faked moving to her left, then
tried to run around the couch to put some space between them. As
always, he was too fast for her. He caught up with her and backed
her up against the wall. Placing a hand on each side of her head,
he caged her in.

“
Now that we are done with
the chase scene, let’s get on to more important things. Tell me why
I don’t love you.”

“
You just
don’t.”

Dammit. She hated that he made her
feel stupid all the time. She always resorted to teenager arguments
with him.

“
Hmm,” he said as he
leaned forward and nuzzled her neck. “I think my body disagrees
with you.”

“
You’re a walking hormone,
of course it does.”

He chuckled and she couldn’t fight the
shudder that ran through her body. “It’s more than that,
Tess.”

He drew back and then cupped her face
with both hands. “I was telling the truth about that kiss all those
years ago. Do you wonder why I never acted on any of those awkward
moments in high school or college?”

She shook her head.

“
I think deep down I knew
that if I did, I might lose you and I can’t have that. Not then,
not now. I need you in my life. Every day. I need you in my bed.
Every night.”

Her vision blurred and she realized
she was crying.

“
Oh, don’t cry, baby,” he
said, brushing his thumbs gently across her cheeks.

“
Don’t call me
baby.”

He smiled. “Because you think I call
all women that? I don’t. You’re the only woman I call baby. You
asked me to tell you why I love you?”

“
Not really.”

“
Well, here it is. I love
you because you challenge me on every level. You’re smart…smarter
than I am. Your dedication to your job astounds me, and you’ve
always treated my family as if they were your own. And, you can
kick my ass when I need it.”

“
That’s because you’re a
wussy pilot.”

He laughed and gave her a quick kiss.
When he pulled back, he rested his forehead on hers.

“
And that one night we
spent in bed told me everything. You’re sweet and beautiful, and
honey, I don’t think any woman could compare to you in that area.
Just looking at you steals my breath and melts my
heart.”

“
Oh.” It was the only
thing she could say to him.

“
Yeah, oh. That night I
realized I had been an idiot all these years, but truth is, I’m not
sure I was ready for you before now.”

She sniffed.

“
Now, you have to tell
me.”

“
Tell you
what?”

He rolled his eyes.

“
Tell me you love me and
that you’ll marry me.”

She frowned. “I might love you, but I
never said I would marry you.”

He looked at her and she couldn’t help
it. She laughed in his face. With a growl, he lifted her into his
arms and started down the hall to her room.