Page 6 of Hate to Love You
“Davies, why so angry this morning?” Before I can snap out an annoyed retort, Brody continues. “Wait, wait, don’t tell me. Let me see if I can guess.” He taps his chin with a finger in contemplation. It’s an interesting look on him. Not one I’ve seen too often. I’m about to tell him this, when he says, “Your favorite vibe died just as you were getting to the kinky part of your self-love session.”
One side of my mouth curls up in disgust, and I shove at the arm anchoring me to him. It doesn’t budge. Not that I expected it to. “Nailed it. How’d you figure it out?”
Brody has the rare ability of making me feel like a rabid dog on a choke chain. If I could rip him to shreds with my bare teeth, I would in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t even give it a second thought.
I’m in no way a violent person, but Brody McKinnon brings out the worst in me.
The chuckle that escapes from his lips is warm and sultry. Even though I fight against it, it still manages to strum something deep inside me.
“Well, you’re even more pissed off than usual. Which is really saying something.” He tugs me closer so that I’m inundated by the scent of his cologne. Something that smells unbearably like beachy sunshine overwhelms my senses. God, why does he have to smell so delicious? Why can’t he reek of BO? That would be so much easier to deal with than this.
How can I detest someone so much and yet still want to devour them? It’s not the first time I’ve wondered this. I can only hope it’ll be the last.
His voice dips until it vibrates somewhere in the vicinity of husky and sumptuous. “Tell you what, if you’ve got some time to kill, I’ll remedy that situation for you.” He wiggles his eyebrows and purrs, “Take the edge off, so to speak.” Even though I’m pressed against his hard, unyielding body, he somehow manages to give me the once-over. It feels very much like a physical caress. Heat floods my panties in response. Damn him for making me feel this way. “I bet I could get you off in ten minutes.” He narrows his eyes in a thoughtful manner. “Probably less. You seem wound pretty tight, Davies. Ever have a multiple orgasm? I think it would do wonders for your disposition.”
If any other guy on campus were stupid enough to say the same thing to me, I’d probably slug him. Even though it goes against my better judgment, I withhold any kind of response from him. This isn’t the first time we’ve verbally sparred with one another, and it won’t be the last. This, unfortunately, is the kind of demented relationship we’ve developed over the years. He loves to give me shit, and I do my best to pretend he doesn’t exist.
Which isn’t easy. Even though it kills me to admit it, Brody McKinnon is a lot to take in. Tall. Muscular. Athletic. Broad shoulders. Narrow, tapered waist. Long, dirty blond hair streaked with gold that grazes the collar of his shirt. Whiskey-colored eyes that are always crinkled with laughter. Usually at my expense. Damnable dimples that are capable of making grown women turn into babbling idiots.
I, however, am the exception.
It’s like I have a superpower where Brody is concerned. He might be hot…Actually, there’s no might be about it. The guy is off-the-charts smoking. Girls follow him around campus in droves, drooling and giggling while trying to catch his wandering attention.
But he doesn’t affect me the way he does every other female at this school. I’m immune to his charms.
Okay.
Not immune exactly.
I’d have to be dead not to feel something when he’s near. But there’s no way I would ever act on the unwanted heat generated between us.
Good Lord, I’m not a masochist.
Brody’s reputation as a manwhore preceded him before he ever stepped foot on Whitmore’s ivy-covered campus. There are legions of women who have already punched their ticket for that ride. They could, if they were so inclined, form their own support group.
I have zero interest in joining their not-so-illustrious ranks.
If you’re stupid enough to fall under his spell and into his bed, then you deserve to suffer the consequences of your stupidity. Which probably means getting swabbed regularly for a variety of STDs.
Reminding myself of his reputation is all it takes to stomp out the heat that had flared to life in the pit of my belly. All right, damn it, lower…much lower. I give him my best dead salmon look. “Thanks, but I’ll be taking a hard pass on that generous offer.”
He shrugs as if it’s no skin off his back. And it probably isn’t. He could get laid within a matter of minutes if he wanted to with any number of willing participants. “Suit yourself, Davies. It’s your loss. I’m just trying to help a friend out.”
I laugh. “Ahhhh. That’s where you went wrong, McKinnon.” I shake my head and give him an expression full of faux-sympathy. “We’re not friends. We’ll never be friends. Unsurprisingly, your thinking was flawed from the very beginning.”
He places a hand over his heart as a wounded look flits across his handsome face. “Ouch. That hurts.”
“Doubtful.”
I exhale a breath when Brody holds open the door leading out into the bright sunshine. I’m not sure how much more of this intimacy I can take. I mutter my thanks as the warm wind hits my cheeks and we step on the wide stone stairs before descending. The last dregs of summer are still hanging on. Soon all of the trees on campus will change. Fall will be in the air. Which means one thing…
Hockey season.
Ugh.
A group of about six or seven girls at the bottom of the steps catch my eye. As soon as their hungry gazes fall on Brody, they start clamoring en masse. It’s like a rock star has just stepped into their midst.
I roll my eyes at their ridiculousness. Are they unaware that women have been marching all over the world demanding gender equality, and here they are chasing down some hot dude? They seriously don’t have a more productive way to spend their time? Maybe empower themselves with the education they’re supposedly here to get?