Tease Me Read Free Page A

so
cheap.”
    She slipped off her stool and turned
to head back to her room.
    “ What’s that supposed to
mean?” he asked.
    “ Every time I go out with
a pilot, they are so cheap. Not that I go out with a lot of them, I
have pretty much sworn off them. Maybe it’s just me that brings it
out in them. Although, most guys aren’t like that when I go on a
date with them, so I am just assuming all of you are
cheap.”
    “ How many pilots have you
dated?” And how many of them would he have to beat over the
head?
    “ Ahhh, I think three. No,
wait; there was the Air Force Major last year. I went out on a few
dates with him while he was on vacation.” The way her voice rolled
over the words, along with the secret little smile she was
sporting, almost had him losing his temper.
    Why was he so pissed? He didn’t
understand it. “Well, he was Air Force, so he doesn’t
count.”
    She laughed as she walked back to her
room. “You keep telling yourself that, Bran.”
    Then she disappeared, leaving him
alone with his thoughts. That wasn’t exactly a good thing. Why was
he acting like an ass? She might not realize it, but his thoughts
were…well, weird. This was Tess Keller. Best buddy a guy could have
of the female variety.
    Maybe it was the long drive coupled
with the sleep deprivation caused by wondering where she had been
the night before. He just had to get back to being her friend and
all these weird feelings would go away.
     
    * * * *
     
    “ So, what was wrong with
the second house we looked at?” Tess asked, trying her best not to
get irritated. From the beginning of the day, Bran had been
unbearable. Every house and apartment they looked at, he had
something horrible to say about it. And it wasn’t getting any
better. They had looked at five rentals and if she didn’t cold cock
him at this point, it wasn’t that long off.
    “ It was too far from the
base.”
    She sighed as she pulled into her
driveway.
    “ You’re gonna have to find
a place to live,” she said, getting out of the car and turning
around. She almost walked straight into her property manager, Diana
Michaels.
    “ Oh, Diana, was there
something you wanted?”
    She shook her head, her blue gaze
going from Tess to Bran. Great. There was no doubt about it—Diana
was Bran’s type. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and lots of teeth. Former
cheerleader for sure. And well…she had some other attributes Tess
was sure a plastic surgeon helped her with.
    “ No. I was just showing
the house two doors down. Hi,” she said. The whole thing was said
without taking her gaze from Bran.
    Tess knew there was no way out of
this. “Bran, this is Diana Michaels, my property manager. Diana,
this Bran Johnson, an old family friend.”
    Diana glanced in her direction, then
back to Bran.
    “ Oh?”
    Bran looked at the woman like she was
insane. Diana, for her part, was licking her lips.
    “ Yeah, I’m looking for a
place to rent. Do you know of any place?”
    Diana’s lips curved, then she gave him
a full grin. Oh, good lord, she looked like the raptor in Jurassic
Park.
    It was inevitable so Tess jumped in.
“Yeah, Bran, why don’t you go with Diana and talk about
it?”
    “ Wait, what? Aren’t you
coming?”
    She shook her head. “I want to get a
run in today. Have fun.”
    Then she hurried into the house trying
to ignore the way it made her feel…again. She had been through this
all through high school. Bran had always treated her like a little
sister and at first that had been fine. Then, he had become the
football captain, the all around hunk of the school, and she had
been his…little buddy. She shut the door behind her and tried to
wish away those horrible memories—even if it had never worked
before. It was pathetic. She was over him. If he was too stupid to
see her for who she was, she didn’t want him. But those memories
still hurt.
    Her phone rang, bringing her out of
her thoughts. She frowned at the caller id and didn’t pick up
because it was a