Engaging the Bachelor (Pulse) Read Free

mess.
    Unable to help herself, she breathed in his scent and let it evoke heated memories that she’d spent ten long years trying to forget. Or remember. She could never be sure. One thing she did know—Sailor Boy, or rather Carson, was the guy who’d taken her virginity, the only guy she’d ever let close, and that wasn’t something she was going to forget in a hurry.
    His hard chest pressed against her, making her so very aware of him, right down to the way his zipper dug into her stomach, and the firm bulge throbbing beneath it. She swallowed, remembering the sting of his erection as she wrapped her legs around his back and pulled him deeper into her body. But the pain didn’t matter. No, the only thing that mattered that night was that he’d protected her, and she’d given him the only thing she had—herself.
    “Gemma, are you okay?” he whispered, his warm breath on her face drawing her back to the present. Tension hung between them, taking up space, hovering like the sharp blade of a guillotine. His lips were close, so close that if she wanted to kiss him, all she had to do was go up on her toes. He wet his bottom lip like he was expecting her to do just that.
    No!
    She sucked in a quick breath to get her head on right then straightened. With a twist of her body, she broke from the circle of his arms and stepped back. Guard firmly back in place, she spun the handcuffs and flashed him a brilliant smile, hoping it didn’t come off as shaky as she felt.
    “I’m just fine, Sailor Boy ,” she said, stepping into the bad girl role she knew so well. She embraced her reputation, wore it like a shield to protect herself from the heartbreak that came with loss—and there was always loss. If there was one thing she knew, eventually everyone checked out, they went across the country, or to the bottom of a bottle.
    Hooded eyes dropped, and he angled his head. Everything in the way he was watching her was intense. Too intense. “We need to talk.”
    “Nothing to talk about,” she said, her voice feathery light.
    “Gemma—”
    “Look, what happened between us was a long time ago. I’d actually forgotten all about it until I saw you just now,” she said, pushing the lie past her lips.
    “Is that right?” He eyed her suspiciously, unconvinced.
    “That’s right. The past is the past, Sailor Boy.”
    The look in his eyes warned he still wanted answers. Too bad. She didn’t owe him anything. Like she said, the past was the past and her future didn’t involve him, no matter how hot he was, or how her body reacted to him.
    She turned away and forced her knees to work. Her heels wobbled, but she quickly righted herself and made her way around the room. She didn’t need to turn to know Carson’s eyes were drilling into her back. She felt it all the way to her core, and then some. Desperate to get her mind off him and back to business, she stopped at a table full of hot young doctors, where she tapped her chin in consideration.
    “Hello boys,” she purred. “Anyone want to play along?”
    “As long as you’re bidding,” one of the men said. She grinned, and gave him her usual flippant answer. “Already got a date, Doc.” It was a lie, but it helped fend off unwanted attention, and she didn’t care that everyone in town thought she slept around. In no way could she qualify as a slut, having been with only three men, one of them Carson. But her bad girl persona painted her as someone never to bring home to mother, and that was just the thing that helped her keep people out. Past experiences proved that getting close led to disappointment, and she wasn’t about to set herself up for that kind of failure. Now, the best way she knew how to keep a measure of distance was by pretending to be something she wasn’t.
    One of the men stood. She walked backward as she guided him to the front of the bar. She took over from Andy, spinning the guy around to give the girls a good view of what they could purchase.