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CHAPTER FOUR
Liv
Liv sat frozen on her stool at the bar, replaying her conversation with Brick.
What had just happened?
He made it clear the attraction she felt toward him wasn’t one-sided. His eyes drank her in when he walked in the door like she was water in the desert. She hadn’t imagined it. There had been a spark when they talked, and when she showed him her interest, his pupils had dilated, and his breathing had sped up. He’d looked as though he wanted to kiss her, then he’d shut down, and less than a minute after rejoining his friends by the pool tables, he’d marched out the door.
Why?
No matter what he said about himself, she’d pegged him as a nice guy. Not only had he stuck up for her, with the elbow jab at the work-site, but he’d been kind to the foreman’s assistant, even if he’d been subtle about it. First, when his biker buddy slammed Robby’s skill at playing pool, then when the guy forgot to bring cups for the beer. A lot of the guys she knew would have made fun of his mistakes. Ryan would have.
Were those small tells enough to judge Brick better than he judged himself? She trusted her own judgment about men as far as she could throw one. She’d thought Ryan had loved her, and wasn’t he a colossal miscalculation?
Her brother stepped into her line of sight. His blue eyes flashed. “Why were you talking to Brick?”
Great. Will had kicked into Protector Mode. “Hello to you too, big brother. Yes, I am having a nice time at this birthday party I threw for you.” Her voice climbed. “Oh, no need to thank me for this. It’s what any sister would do.”
“I’m serious, Liv.” He looked at the ceiling, then modulated his voice. “You need to stay away from him. He’s no good for you. Besides, you should be focusing on yourself. Taking it easy.” He pulled on her ponytail like he had when she was fifteen.
Annoyance prickled beneath her skin. Will had been gone for years, and it was far too late for him to try to resume his role as her older-sibling savior. Besides, she finished her chemo months ago. She was in complete remission, and Will knew it. It grated for him to bring it up now, especially when she was still reeling a little from Brick’s bizarre brush-off. “I’ve had about enough of men telling me what’s good for me tonight,” she warned. “I know you were gone for a while, but I am twenty-six years old, Will. A grown-ass woman. Don’t treat me like a child.”
“Then don’t act like a child.” He sounded reasonable, which grated more.
She narrowed her eyes, and he scowled in response.
“You don’t know the first thing about Brick Barlow, and you’re making eyes at him like a lovesick schoolgirl.”
Her irritation went up another notch. She growled as she got to her feet. “I haven’t had a daddy in almost seventeen years. I don’t need you to come back in my life and try to act like one now. Brick and I only talked at the bar for a few minutes, which you clearly saw. But if I wanted to fuck a rodeo clown and post it to PornHub, it would still be none of your business.”
“All grown up, huh? Too many drinks could be clouding your judgment.” He swiped her driver’s license from the bar and held it in the air with a smirk. “I’m officially cutting you off.”
She resisted the urge to fight him for it, like she did when he’d swipe one of her toys as a kid. Back then, he’d laugh, holding the prize over her head, while she jumped and tried to reach. He wanted her to do it now, be the same kid he remembered. She would not give him the satisfaction.
She didn’t drive tonight, anyway.
Instead, she clipped his shoulder with hers as she headed toward the door. “Happy birthday. Dick.”
It wasn’t until her Lyft driver dropped her home, she allowed herself to think more about what happened. As she searched her memories, she grew surer and surer Brick had a thing for her. Still, she couldn’t ignore the puffy, purple black eye he had tonight and the scabbed-over knuckles on his hand.
He was obviously into some rough stuff but trying to keep her away from it. Perhaps she should listen to him and keep her distance.
The way he’d looked at her, though…no one had ever looked at her that way. Sure, she’d had boyfriends over the years and a fair amount of sex, so she’d seen desire. But never anything this intense.
Brick’s eyes consumed her. It was a stark, naked, needful thing, and it burned her from the inside out.
He made her feel alive. Wasn’t that what she was looking for?
When he’d grasped her fingers, his touch echoed in every part of her body. She could still feel the thick callouses on his skin, the roughness completely at odds with the careful way he touched her hand.
She dreamed of those calloused hands as she slept, wrapped in the sheets of her bed. The way they scratched against the tender skin of her nipples. How they ghosted down her body, attending her between her legs.
His features were hazy, but Brick’s eyes were unmistakable; his fierce stare locked on her face as he gave her pleasure.
It had never been like this with Ryan.
She woke up as she came, her own fingers moving beneath her panties. Sweat drenched her body, but her limbs felt languid. Loose. Satisfied. Groaning, she pulled the pillow over her head.
