#Selfie (Hashtag Series Book 4) (21 page)

“I’ll come get it in the morning, and I’ll look it over for damage from the accident,” was all I said. I didn’t think she’d appreciate my real thoughts.

“I’m gonna get a lecture from my dad. And my brothers,” she muttered.

I smiled. “Maybe I can fix it. You won’t have to say anything.”

“You know how to fix cars?”

I stopped beside my truck and pressed a hand over my chest. “I’m a man.”

She shrugged like that meant nothing.

I slapped my Ford on the hood. “I did all the work on this beast.”

She eyed my truck as if giving it an appraisal. “Not bad. For a pretty boy.”

“You just call me a pretty boy?” I was incredulous.

“If the shoe fits.” Ivy shrugged and started around to the passenger side.

“Oh, hells no.” I grabbed her wrist and pulled her around. In seconds, I had her pinned between me and the grill of the truck.

Her curves were distracting. My hand found that place where her waist dipped in and fitted itself there with unapologetic ease. “There’s nothing about me that’s a boy, Blondie,” I drawled, stroking my fingers along her side. I lowered my mouth closer to hers so she could feel the words as I whispered them between my lips. “Everything about me is all man.”

Her head fell back against the truck; the curve of the hood fit into the arc of her neck, displaying all its creamy perfection to its full potential. “Is that so?”

I pressed my lips against the exposed, vulnerable flesh. Her quiet sigh made me hard all over again. I trailed feather-light kisses upward on the underside of her jaw and then up to the corner of her lips.

She remained pressed into the truck, and I remained plastered to her front.

Our lips were so close they almost touched, but I didn’t close the last centimeters. I held myself there and felt sick satisfaction when she moved restlessly against me.

“I know so,” I murmured. “And so do you.”

I pulled back, robbing us both of the kiss we almost shared.

When she realized I was gone, she straightened and blinked. I saw something snarky form on her tongue. I wasn’t in the mood, so I slid my fingers between hers. The words died before she could speak, and I led her around to the passenger side.

My truck was lifted off the ground. It had large tires and no step rail to make getting in easy. When the door was open Ivy hesitated, unsure how to get in.

Usually, girls just whined and wanted me to lift them. I did it, just so I wouldn’t have to hear them yap.

I was actually looking forward to giving Ivy a boost, but she didn’t ask. I was about to wrap my hands around her waist and lift when she moved forward, took a leap, and grabbed onto the handle on the inside of the door. From there, she climbed in like she’d done it a hundred times before.

Well, that was sexy.

“You part monkey?” I cracked.

“I’ve got lots of sides you’ve never seen.”

“You’ve got lots I have.”

Ivy rolled her eyes. “There’s a lot more to a woman than just sex.”

I grunted and slammed the door. This conversation was heading into Nowhereville.

Walking around the front of the truck I glanced back at her car and the spot where I knew the deer was lying. The image of the way she looked when I pulled up was seared into my head. The sound of her crying and the bleak way she tortured herself over the hurt she caused another living being was also something I wouldn’t soon forget.

Yeah, Ivy had a lot of sides. She was like a flower in the spring, slowly blooming and opening up her petals to reveal a stunning blossom.

I was always good—no, I had it down to an art form—when it came to keeping my dealings with women one-dimensional.

Yet the more of Ivy that bloomed, the more I wanted to know.

I wanted so much more.

Ivy

I’d never been inside his truck before.

Sure, I’d seen the monster driving around campus and parked at the parties we all attended. Braeden’s truck was the kind you would see on a beer commercial. It was an older model Ford, cherry red (but it was never shiny because that would mean he’d have to wash it), and had huge tires on it. I would bet money he put them on there so he could go mudding through the woods on the other side of campus.

It wasn’t sleek and sporty like Romeo’s Hellcat. But it was just as defining and just as attention-getting as the sports car.

This truck was macho, full of muscle in the form of what was beneath the hood, and was definitely rough around the edges. It was always dusty, there was always mud on the tires, and the fact he had no step rails for people—like ladies—to get in showed he was no gentleman.

Maybe this truck was meant to intimidate, but it never worked on me. I had too many brothers to be put off by this kind of vehicle. And I didn’t need a step rail to get in it either. I might look like a girly-girl, and I was, but I’d grown up a tomboy in the mountains of North Carolina.

Inside, there was a single bench seat, and it didn’t have any fancy cup holders in the center, just seatbelts. The dashboard was black and didn’t have all the gadgets new cars had today. There was just a radio (he upgraded to add a single-disc CD player), the heat and A/C controls, and the couple other necessary gauges and buttons. The thingy that put the car in drive and park was on a long black stick and stuck up out of the floor.

It was a big space in here, and it was much cleaner than the outside.

It made me curious.

Was Braeden a lot cleaner, a lot tidier on the inside than what he wanted people to believe?

My feet didn’t touch the floorboards, so I swung them over the floor as my eyes snooped around the inside. His jacket was warm. And it smelled like him.

I have no idea what he smelled like; there was no signature scent to Braeden. It wasn’t some cologne you could get at the mall. Yet whatever it was, I loved. It was heady, the kind of scent that when you got a lungful, something inside you instantly eased. Kind of like walking into a coffee shop after a long day and being bombarded with the rich scent of coffee.

I curled my hands in the too-long sleeves of the jacket and leaned against the seat.

“You still cold?” he asked.

I shrugged. I was, but I didn’t care.

“Come here.” His voice was just as enticing as his words.

No guy ever had so much power to affect me the way he did.

He lifted his arm, inviting me close. I was sort of glad there were no cup holders in the center. Their absence allowed me to slide right over and fit myself against him.

Braeden dropped his arm around me and his free hand on the steering wheel. Once he pulled onto the road, he tucked his hand into my side, pulling me a little closer.

My head felt heavy, my eyes puffy, and my stomach was slightly nauseated. The image of that deer just wouldn’t leave my thoughts.

His shirt was soft against my cheek. He was so warm, so large, and I felt so safe sitting here beside him that without thinking, I turned and faced him, tucked my knees up close, and curled into his side.

He didn’t say anything, but his arm tightened.

My eyes slid closed, and he slowly pulled out and turned in the direction of Rimmel’s. He killed that deer… Well, technically, I was the reason it was dead and he was the reason it didn’t have to suffer. I couldn’t imagine how hard that must have been, to break its neck like that.

I never would have been able to do such a thing.

But I was grateful he did. The image of that deer struggling, hurt and confused like that, would haunt me for years to come. It didn’t understand why it was hurting, and it only wanted to get away where it thought it would be safe.

I’d never hit an animal before. I hoped I never did again. The horrible sound it made when the body slammed into the side of my car… so deafening and frightening.

My car skidded sideways, and I’d screamed. When the car was finally still on the side of the road, I looked up and saw it. It was illuminated by my headlights, and I knew immediately it was going to die.

Driving away didn’t even cross my mind. I got out and rushed toward the animal, but my presence seemed to make its pain worse. And I admit panic clawed at me, too. What if it was able to get up? Would it come at me, try and attack me for what I did?

I paced on the side of the road for a long time, trying to figure out what to do and getting more hysterical by the minute. I called Rimmel because she was always a voice of reason. She was close by and she would know what to do. Hurt animals were her specialty.

But B answered. The second his voice, urgent and demanding, flowed through the line, my body sagged with relief. I hated it, but my body seemed to have a mind of its own where Braeden was concerned. It reacted to him as if he were the most familiar thing in my life.

I mean, just now I was curled against him and drawing comfort from the even way he breathed.

And, oh momma, if he didn’t stop calling me baby… It wasn’t the kind of nickname a feminists would want. Hell, most of them would argue it tried to pigeonhole us into the role of a lesser equal.

But not to me. Yeah, maybe Braeden did make me feel… lesser, but not in a bad way. It’s just because he was so big. He was so all-encompassing that it was impossible not to feel small. I realized I’d always felt that way around him. Maybe it’s the reason I disliked him so much. I thought he was trying to make me feel unimportant, like I didn’t matter.

Yet that wasn’t it at all.

Lately, when he looked at me, I felt like I mattered so much.

The truck slowed and he pulled into the long driveway around Romeo’s parents’ and parked nearby the pool house.

I wasn’t ready to move away, to pull away from him just yet.

To my surprise, he didn’t try to make me.

The engine cut out and the silence of night filled the air around us.

His fingers started idly caressing my side. Even through his jacket and my clothes, the touch seared me to my soul.

“Hey,” he murmured.

I didn’t lift my head or open my eyes. “Hmm?”

“Are you hurt at all? Did you hit your head or anything when that deer ran into you?”

I mentally took stock of myself. How was I supposed to feel any pain when I was sitting here like this?

“I don’t think so,” I whispered.

“Thank fuck,” he murmured and lifted his hand to stroke the side of my head.

And then he did something.

Something I never expected in a million years.

Something I never thought I’d like so intensely.

He pressed his lips to the top of my head. He kissed my hair like he really was grateful and relieved I was okay.

Intimacy filled the cab of his truck, thick enough to cut with a knife. I tilted my face up and our eyes met.

What was happening between us? How had everything shifted so much, so fast?

I wanted an explanation, but I was sort of afraid I already knew.

There’s a thin line between love and hate.

But I didn’t love Braeden. The idea was laughable. It was beyond ridiculous.

Missy had him first.

I pulled back, suddenly very ashamed of the way I was feeling. I was doing it again.

A sharp tap on the driver’s-side window made me squeal. Braeden turned and looked, even as his hand found mine where it lay on the seat. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. “It’s just Rim.”

He popped open the door and turned toward Rimmel so he was blocking me from view. I was grateful for the few seconds of privacy to compose myself.

God, I was such a mess.

“What happened?” Rimmel gasped. “You ran out of here like the house was on fire. I’ve been worried sick!”

He ran out of the house when I called?

“Ivy had a minor accident.”

I made a sound. “I don’t think the deer would call it minor.”

“Oh no!” Rimmel exclaimed. I saw her hands waving for Braeden to move out of the way. “How awful!” When he was gone, Rimmel reached for my hand. “Are you okay?”

“I will be.” I smiled.

“Come inside! It’s cold out here.” She glanced at the jacket I was wearing but didn’t say a word.

I reached for Prada but left all my other stuff behind.

We walked inside together, and Braeden followed close behind. Funny, he could probably be ten miles away and I’d still notice him as if he were right beside me.

“Please tell me Rome left some beer,” Braeden groaned once we were inside as he went past us to the kitchen.

“It’s behind the milk and juice. He hides it from his mother!” Rimmel called.

Braeden’s laughter filled the house. “Please. Valerie knows what’s in this fridge.”

Rimmel looked at me and laughed. “Oh, I’m sure she does.”

I giggled. Rimmel leaned forward and hugged me. “You okay?”

“Watching it die like that, it was horrible.”

Rim nodded emphatically. Inside the carrier, Prada whined. I unlatched the door and she waddled out, sniffing as she went.

“Hey, girl,” Rimmel said, and Prada wagged her tail and went to her.

Thinking of the training pads, I said, “I have her stuff. It’s outside.”

“We’ll get it in a minute.” Rimmel didn’t seem too worried about it.

Murphy appeared and stared at the puppy from across the room. Prada saw him and went bouncing across the floor to check him out.

Murphy took off running, and Prada followed.

Rimmel laughed. “Murphy’s gonna get his exercise tonight.”

I smiled.

“Want something to drink?” Rimmel asked.

“Hot chocolate?”

“Of course!” She dragged me into the kitchen with her and went about making the drink.

Braeden was sipping at a beer and his eyes swept over me from head to toe over the rim of the bottle.

I remembered I was still wearing his jacket, and I reached for the zipper to tug it off and return it. He caught my eye and shook his head.

I dropped my hand. If he didn’t want me to take it off, well, I didn’t feel like arguing.

Yeah, that was totally the reason I was listening.

When the hot chocolate was made, Rimmel turned to Braeden. “Ivy and I were gonna watch movies. I take it by the way you’re chugging that beer you’re going to stay and watch, too?”

“You two need a babysitter,” he muttered. “You eat all the food?”

“I haven’t touched it,” Rimmel said.

I was shocked he wasn’t out hooking up with some random girl. “What are you doing here anyway?” I asked, disgruntled at the thought.

He gave me a weird look. “I came by to talk to my sis. I knew Romeo was gone, so I wanted to check in with her.”

Of course. I felt dumb. Braeden cared about Rimmel. He never hid it, so it was only natural he’d be here to check up on her.

“You don’t mind if he stays, do you?” Rimmel turned her eyes on me. Her eyes swept over his jacket.

I felt like blushing. She totally saw through me right now. She totally knew.

“Of course not.” I tried to inject enthusiasm into my tone.

“Great! Why don’t you guys pick a movie? I’ll be right there. I’ll take Prada outside for a potty break and grab the stuff for her out of the truck.”

“I’ll do that,” I protested.

Rimmel shook her head. “No, you need to sit down. Go with Braeden.”

I nodded and she went off in search of Prada.

Braeden grabbed an unopened bag of chips out of the cabinet and went into the living room. I trailed along behind him. On the way, Rimmel passed us with a wiggling puppy and slipped out the door.

“You’re really gonna stay?” I asked.

“You really don’t want me here?” he countered.

“I…”

He smirked. “Have a seat, Blondie. Let’s watch a movie.”