Katee Robert - In Bed with Mr. Wrong

“Says the man who can’t be trusted near an open flame.”

Jaw clenched, he dumped the rest of the dishes in the sink and turned on the faucet. “If you want to keep me away from anything flammable, go grab some more firewood from the lean-to so we don’t have to cling to each other to keep warm.”

“I’d rather freeze to death than touch you again.”

“You’ve said that before.” He didn’t even look at her. “Good thing I chopped a shitload of firewood, huh?”

Bri stomped back to the bedroom to look for her boots, because the alternative was to grab one of the cast-iron pans and try to pound some sense into his thick head. She slammed out of the back door, not sure what she was so angry about, only that it was Ryan’s fault.

Everything was his fault.

If he’d just been some nice guy—like Drew and Avery claimed—then she could have smiled politely through their interactions up to this point and gone on her way. Even being stuck in this cabin with a nice guy wouldn’t be so terrible. But no, from the moment he’d shown up at her door looking like temptation personified, he’d proceeded to push her buttons, then turn around and shake her world to its foundations by making her feel things she never could have anticipated.

As if that wasn’t bad enough—and it was plenty bad—he’d gone and changed the game. How was she supposed to keep her distance if he insisted on showing her glimpses of a childhood not so far off her own? Hadn’t she run from LA like the hounds of hell were chasing her? The similarities weren’t comfortable.

Nor was the idea of keeping her hands off of him.

Instead of clearing her mind, the cold air made her more acutely aware of her body. Her stupid nipples hardened, which only made her think of how good it felt when Ryan put his mouth on them. “Stop it.”

Wonderful. Now she was talking to herself. She shouldered through the back door and stalked across the room to dump the firewood in the metal holder. Her ire lasted only as long as it took her to turn around and catch a glimpse of Ryan washing the dishes with the same single-minded intensity he had when his hands were on her body.

Heat chased the cold from her skin and left a flush in its wake. Oh, this wasn’t good. If she stood here much longer, she was going to end up walking over there and seeing just how serious he was about holding out on her.

Ryan finished washing and drying the dishes and moved on to cleaning the rest of the kitchen. It didn’t really need the scrub-down, but he needed something, anything, to keep himself away from Bri. Though she seemed ready to go toe-to-toe with him again, his goals had changed with their conversation.

While he cooked the oatmeal, he’d gotten a glimpse of the side of Bri that sparked his curiosity in a huge way. She’d be easy to write off if she didn’t show him those flashes of vulnerability and sweetness. More than that, the way she shied from talking about her past only intrigued him more. There were shadows there, and he wanted to find out exactly what had brought her to Wellingford.

Hell, he wanted to know everything .

It didn’t help that she was wrapped around her book on the couch, absently running her fingers through the ends of her hair. She was totally lost to reality, and he had a few ideas on how to bring her back. None of which he could implement, because he was supposed to be talking with her—not yanking off her clothes and kissing every inch of her body. She looked so damn comfortable he was tempted to curl up next to her, which was exactly the wrong thing to do if he was intent on keeping his hands to himself.

He built up the fire, watching her out of the corner of his eye. She didn’t look up, not even to throw out a comment about him burning something down. Disappointment flared, followed by the realization… Holy shit, he actually enjoyed bickering with her.

Ryan sat back on his heels and gave her his full attention. She didn’t so much as twitch. That must be one hell of a book if she was able to ignore him—and the opportunity to rib him—so completely. Though common sense said he should just let it be, he couldn’t sit here and let her ignore him. And the temptation to see if he could provoke her, just a little, was too much to resist.

He dropped onto the sofa across from her. “What are you reading?”

“A book.”

He could already see her checking out on him, her attention sliding back to the words on the page in front of her. An idea took root, slipping out of his mouth before he had a chance to think better of it. “Read it to me.”

That got her attention. She actually tore her gaze from the book and frowned at him. “What?”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but this place doesn’t have much in the way of entertainment. So entertain me.”

“I’m not a performing monkey.”

“Never said you were.” He held up his hands. Bickering was one thing, but an actual argument would only end with them right back where they started. “Throw me a bone, here. I’m about to go out of my mind.”

“It’s been fifteen minutes since we had breakfast. You can’t possibly be that bored already.”

Maybe not, but he was having a hard time remembering why he wasn’t supposed to seduce her when Bri sat there, all comfortable and kissable. “Come on, Bri. Please.”

She sighed. “It’s a romance. You aren’t going to be interested.”

“On the contrary—there’s nothing like an intriguing romance. Is it good?”

“You’re really interested?” She looked at him over the top of her glasses. He didn’t think now was the time to tell her that her doing that sent a bolt of desire through him so strongly, he almost scrapped his resolve and closed the distance between them. No . Jumping back into having sex would accomplish even less than fighting. He gave his best sincere look. “Yep.”

“If you promise to refrain from commentary, then I will.”

“I’ll be as silent as Mr. Smith.”

The corner of her mouth twitched. “He’s a wonderful listener.”

“I’ll be just as good. I promise.” God, he hoped this wasn’t one of those bodice-rippers. His buddy’s wife was into those, and James was known to bitch about them from time to time. Then again, he did it with a grin on his face, so Ryan didn’t think he minded all that much. “So what’s the setup?”

“The hero is a duke who’s trying to find the group of people who killed his little sister. The heroine grew up on the streets in his city and has had to do some pretty terrible stuff to keep herself alive. They met when she sneaked into his room to steal this pendant he has so she can pay to free her sister, who’s been taken captive by a rival group. They are just about to get married to solve both their problems.”

Well, hell. His head was already spinning. He eyed the book. She wasn’t more than a quarter of the way through—he could catch up. “Got it.”

“Okay, then. Here goes.” She took another deep breath, as if steeling herself. “Dmitri knew he couldn’t trust Savannah, knew it right down into the depths of his soul, but he was unable to walk away…”

Ryan knew exactly how this dude felt.

…

Bri got lost in the turning of the pages and the unfolding of the relationship between Dmitri and Savannah. She did a Story Time session several times a week, so it felt perfectly natural to read aloud, even if she was reading romance to Ryan and not a picture book to a group of prekindergartners.

She was so caught up in the conflict that she was two pages into a sex scene before she realized what had happened. Oh hell. She tried to ignore the flaming of her face and carefully set her bookmark between the pages and shut the book. “I think that’s enough for now.”