Tease Me Read Free Page B

cell phone number. Her outgoing message played
then she heard a familiar voice.
    “ Hey, you stupid idiot,
pick up the phone.”
    Tess laughed when she realized it was
MJ, Bran’s sister, leaving the message.
    “ That’s not a very nice
message to leave me,” she said, still chuckling.
    “ Oh, sorry. I figured you
would be at work today.”
    “ I switched a shift
yesterday with someone, so I now have a three day vacation. You
know how rare those are.” MJ was a physical therapist at Brooks
Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
    “ Yes. Is my idiot brother
there?”
    “ He’s out looking at a
house.”
    “ Oh, that didn’t sound
good. What did he do? Did you have to kick him out?”
    “ Well, first he just
showed up yesterday and assumed I would take him in.”
    “ They’re all like that.
Well, not Jesse. He plans everything. Drives me batty. But Bran,
he’s the worst.”
    “ Then, he was pissy
because I wouldn’t cancel a date.”
    There was a beat of silence. “Oh,
really.”
    “ Yeah. Hopefully Big
Toothed Diana can help him find a rental.”
    “ Big Toothed
Diana?”
    Immediately she felt guilty. Diana had
always been nice to her and, truthfully, she was only getting rude
about her because she’d brought up all those feelings she had
before. It wasn’t Diana’s fault.
    “ Sorry. My property
manager.”
    “ So, at least he’s looking
at places.”
    “ Yeah. Although,
everything we looked at today wasn’t what he was looking
for.”
    “ Bran can be particular
about things.”
    She wanted to get off the subject of
her best friend. “So, how’s the pregnancy going?”
    And MJ did exactly as Tess had hoped
and started rambling off her last trimester complaints. It was easy
to hear the joy in MJ’s voice and even easier to forget her worries
and just enjoy.
     
    * * * *
     
    “ So, you know Tess from
way back?” Diana asked.
    Bran nodded as he looked over the
kitchen. It wasn’t as nice as Tess’ but then, he wasn’t one to do a
lot of cooking. And he only had himself, unless his family came
into town. That wouldn’t happen all at once because…well, they were
a bit fractured with their schedules.
    “ Our dads worked
together.” He opened the refrigerator and poked his head inside.
When he straightened, he almost ran into Diana who’d snuck up on
him.
    “ So, there’s nothing
there?” she asked.
    “ Uh…”
    For the first time in a long time, he
was really uncomfortable with a woman. Not in a good way. The way
she was eyeing him made Bran think she was weighing and measuring
him for dinner.
    He slipped around her. “Nothing
there?”
    “ I just wanted to warn you
that Tess…well, she’s always had a reputation.”
    The alarm bells started to ring.
Predatory females were not his kind, especially when they were
petty. “Is that so?”
    Diana nodded and leaned closer, as if
she had some kind secret to share. “Yes. She dates, a
lot.”
    “ And?” He asked, barely
holding onto his temper.
    “ Well, you know women like
that.”
    Apparently she didn’t pick up on the
warning in his voice. He crossed his arms and stared at her. “No.
Why don’t you tell me?”
    Finally, Diana picked up on the tone.
She blinked and her smile faltered. For the longest time she said
nothing. Then, she shook her head. “I’m sure you are going to love
the rest of the house. Two of the bedrooms are small, but the
master bedroom is rather large.”
    He followed her down the hall,
wondering if he were more irritated with Diana or Tess. The fact
that she had a reputation—that didn’t sit right with him. But at
the moment, he wasn’t sure why it didn’t; beyond the fact he didn’t
like anyone to think badly of Tess. Still, Diana’s comments didn’t
irritate him as much as the jealousy her comment
provoked.
    He just needed to get his head screwed
on straight and everything would work out. One thing he knew was
that he couldn’t screw up his friendship with Tess, and he would do
anything to