Beguiling Briley Read online

He set the laptop on the desk then grabbed a black photo album from a desk she hadn’t noticed. When he came back, the book was open, showing pictures of various tattoos on various parts of people’s bodies. Ack! Did some people really, willingly, let a stranger needle that particular portion of their anatomy?

  “Here’s an idea of what I can do and the price listings for the various upgrades.”

  “Um…wow.” Stunned, she could think of nothing else to say. “Impressive?” Did he consider recreating a pepperoni on a penis an upgrade? “That’s something all right, but not really what I’m in the market for.”

  Carter looked confused, his brow wrinkled and small lines formed at the edges of his eyes until he looked down to the page he’d opened. “Oh damn.” Flustered, he quickly flipped back several pages. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to look at those. I mean…that’s my brother’s book. Mine is here somewhere. It has the listing of parts, prices and install time.”

  “It’s okay. My motto in life is whatever floats your boat so long as you don’t try it out on mine.”

  He smiled, and that smile melted her brain, turned her knees into mush and sent several naughty bad girl fantasies flashing though her lust laden mind. Geek sexy—hell, this guy could start his own trend.

  “Great motto. Too bad more people don’t think that way.” He handed her back the book and pointed a long finger to a picture in the corner of the page. This time the page was filled with geek things she’d never understand. “Here’s what I meant for you to look at.”

  There beneath his tanned ring finger were lines of…stuff along with cost and time lines. Gack, what the hell did he expect her to do with all this? She’d had more fun looking at the porno tats. “Really, can’t you just do a little mouth to mouth and bring the poor thing back to life?”

  “I take it you’re not interested in how it gets fixed so long as it does?” One thick brow rose up in question.

  Briley’s head rapidly bobbed up and down. “Yep, that’s exactly what I want. You do that voodoo that you do so well and I’ll sit over here looking through the naughty book. Some of them are really artistic.”

  His laugh sent tingles down her spine. “Most people think body art is just for bikers or men in their mid-life crisis. Trev says it’s an expression of beliefs or ideals. Personally, I still think it’s mostly a pissing contest between drunk frat boys. You know, see which one can handle the most pain without squealing like a kid?”

  “It hurts that much?” Shit, Briley was in the permanent camp of better living through chemistry. If pain came into play, she’d much rather prepare herself than go into it cold. Good thing she’d never be in the market for one of these things, no matter how pretty she thought they looked.

  “Depends.” Carter took his book back, flipped it closed then handed her the tat gallery back. “People have different tolerances at different levels. Plus, the more details you add, the more time it takes and the more sensitive your skin gets…or so I’m told.”

  Briley knew from her in-depth and completely out of character stare fest with Carter’s naked skin he had no visible tattoos. “No body art for you?”

  “No, I have this thing about pain and deliberately inflicting it on myself.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  He nodded and shot her a small smile that barely curved his enticing lips. “Yeah, I promised myself I’d never do it.”

  Briley threw back her head and laughed. “Yeah, I can get behind a vow like that. I have one against putting OnStar in my car or driving in any vehicle with the spy system installed.”

  Again, that dark brow shot up at her words. “You have a thing against safety?”

  “Nope,” she replied then found a comfortable-looking black rolling chair to sink into. “I have a personal dislike for spyware.”

  Apparently, her actions made him find a more comfortable position and he leant against the wall across from her. One foot propped against the white wall while his hands rested casually in his pockets. No sign of nerves now. “You think they’re spying on you?”

  Though she caught the hint of laughter in his voice, Briley ignored it. Most people had the same reaction to her slight phobia and she’d learned to take it in stride. “No, but the possibility exists. After all, if you had the power to listen in on someone with just the touch of a button, could you resist? Hell, I know I couldn’t.”

  Laughter filled the quiet room as Carter dropped his foot to the floor, slapped both hands on his knees and bent over, almost choking on his amusement.

  Patiently, Briley waited him out. She’d been through this and worse when her friends had learned of her anti-spy fetish. Trinity had even gone so far as to plant fake mini spy cams all over Briley’s office with signs saying ‘We’re watching you’. Most days, she loved her friends. All the other days she thought they needed to be locked up for the general population’s safety.

  “Sorry.” Carter straightened up for his laughter induced slouch. “It’s just that I’ve never heard of anyone threatened by OnStar. You must have some really good moments in your car.”

  “Huh, why?”

  “If you didn’t then you wouldn’t be worried about someone hearing things you didn’t want them to listen to.”

  Great, just what she didn’t need…logic. It doesn’t matter if my car etiquette is the most boring one out there. I like to be assured of privacy just in case I feel freaky one night.”

  “Freaky?” he repeated, shoving his glasses back up his nose. “Ah, that’s sounds…well more than interesting. Care to share?”

  Hmmm, when had the shy, sexy geek turned into confident, studly nerd boy? She liked both sides of him. And surprised herself with that revelation. Her men tended to be generally one dimensional without a whole lot in between. Carter Moore had her hormones and brain cells firing away at all cylinders.

  She absently licked her dry lips before answering. “I’m not that easy or at least I’m not supposed to be,” she joked, finding herself more at ease with this man than on any of her dates in the past year. “Which brings me back to the whole Big Brother watching you squeamishness.”

  He tilted his head like he was seriously considering her words. “A woman of many and varied layers, very rare and interesting.”

  “Thanks and back at ya. You’re the most interesting male I’ve talked to in what seems like forever.” Silently she sent apologies to Ethan and Brock. Olivia and Emma’s hunka hunka burning men of love. Both males were intelligent, capable of laughing at themselves and others while not deliberately inflicting pain. Brock tended to be slier with his dry humour than Ethan’s boy-next-door persona.

  Though she enjoyed spending time with both men, neither one of their nicely built selves hit anything on her bed-worthy metre.

  She watched Carter transform yet again. This time back into the self-conscious brain boy. He shuffled his feet nervously, his hands once again balled into fists only to be jammed back into the worn pockets of his jeans as he refused to meet her gaze. “So…ah…since you’re not dating my brother…”

  God, was that another blush on his cheeks? Briley’s heart melted while other parts of her anatomy heated up. She chose her next words with care. A fine line needed to be walked between eager to jump his bones and flat out ho’.

  Before she admitted to having no idea what this Trev looked like, much less dating the man, the shop’s door slammed open and her night of sex and debauchery went straight to hell.

  Carter jumped as the solid frame of the door smashed against the inside wall. When the dingy grey, smelly dirt encrusted T-shirt clad figure stumbled in, he knew his evening and his beautiful stranger were in serious trouble. Why hadn’t he locked the door when he had the chance?

  He knew why. Because Carter didn’t want to come off looking like a loser on the make to a woman whose very laughter made his heart pound and other portions of his body throb. This tall blonde with big light brown eyes and the kind of curves a man could get addicted to spelled trouble for his
happy bachelorhood. She was astoundingly beautiful with her pale, silky hair, snapping brown eyes and a scattering of freckles across her nose. She was several inches shorter than he was which made her the perfect height for kissing and other things.

  In his entire life, he’s never come across another female like her. She was outrageous and delicious. Though she wasn’t beautiful by centrefold standards, there was definitely something about her that increased his heart rate and the tightness of his jeans. With her sexy voice and infectious laughter, Carter wanted to be her hero.

  Look where it got him, straight in the middle of mess with a strung out junkie by the looks and smell of him. He caught his breath as the breeze from the door drove the would-be robber’s scent straight into his innocent and unprepared nasal passages. His eyes watered in sympathy.

  He saw her wrinkle her nose at the new offensive smell too. Just like that, Carter saw his days as a happy computer hacker and repairman go straight down the drain.

  He had to be crazy to considering falling for this woman. He felt a smile creep into the corners of his mouth and a disturbing zing of heat fire through his stomach. Yep, crazy all right.

  “Sorry, man, we’re closed for the night.” Hell, even when he knew the effort was useless, Carter couldn’t help but try and change the outcome. After all, maybe the guy needed to use the phone to call a tow or something equally benign.

  The dirty, thin figure shoved the door closed and flipped the lock, and Carter instinctively placed his body between the woman and man with ragged clothes—and a very sharp knife pointed in their direction.

  Seeing the weapon, Carter silently prayed his new computer-killing companion had more than two brain cells to rub together. If not, they were in serious trouble. Though he kind of doubted it given the spark of intelligence gleaming in her bright brown eyes—despite the fact she thought her laptop spent its nights cursing at her. Should he start feeling sorry for the knife wielding thug? Because the way she was eyeing the intruder Carter knew his damsel-not-so-in-distress had something up her sleeve.

  “Yeah, you’re going to be permanently closed for the night after I’m done with you.” The man… No, he didn’t look old enough for that title. Under the dirt and grime, the figure couldn’t be older than seventeen or eighteen, but drugs had a way of aging their worshippers. “Get the chick and move over there.” He used the knife to point at a desk tucked into the corner of the large open room. “Make any moves I don’t like and the fat girl pays for it.”

  An objection instantly hovered behind his lips, but Carter kept silent, knowing better than to insult the person with the weapon. He expected his curvy dream girl to start whining and complaining. After all, that’s what the rest of the female population would have done. Instead, this bold and brassy lady laughed and moved to slide her arm through his. Right in front of a crazed meth head too. She was going to make him put the lid down on the toilet seat and stop putting empty drink containers back in the fridge. And worse, she was going to tie him in knots and lead him around by his dick.

  “Don’t worry,” she said with an easy wink. “I don’t take stupid comments from the brainless sector seriously. It falls too close to having a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.”

  Carter wanted to ask if she was serious, but the grunting addict with the nervous hands kept his mouth sealed. With slow and deliberate movements, Carter escorted his brave lady across the shop floor like they were on parade at a five-star event. Just because this mystery woman handled one situation well didn’t mean she wouldn’t break with the next. God only knew Carter’s own palms were sweating under the pressure of the situation.

  He tried reasoning with the strung out teen. What did he have to lose by using his words? They were a lot less painful than knife wounds. “Look there’s no cash here. My brother already took the bag to the bank.” Thank God for his brother’s anal and paranoid nature. Trev took the deposit to the bank early every night, because as much as Trev liked his customers, most couldn’t be trusted.

  “Don’t lie to me, fucker.” The kid’s hands twitched as his eyes nervously jerked from Carter to the empty area around them. “I know there’s money here. Can’t run this place without having some cash. Yeah, bet you got a nice wad stashed somewhere.”

  “Yeah, but we’re closed for the night so there’s no need to have money here.” He tried in vain to explain. The kid looked too deep in withdrawal to comprehend anything other than his own selfish and desperate need.

  The boy seemed to finally understand his words. Anger chased away the fogginess of his gaze. “Shut the fuck up and open the drawer. Don’t try anything or the fat chick gets it.”

  Feeling his anger rise at the insulting words Carter opened his mouth to tell the loser off, knife or no knife, when sharp nails dug into the soft skin of his hand. He looked over to his companion and saw the brief shake of her head. Right, she was right. He knew it, but hated to think she might be hurting over a druggie’s opinion. Besides, the woman standing so courageously beside him had a body made for sin and seduction. He loved her curves and wanted to sink into the lush bounty of her breasts, not to mention explore the rest of enticing womanly figure. No real man in his right mind would call her fat. Which just went to prove that the kid’s mind wasn’t anywhere close to being sane.

  Not the time or the place, Carter mentally warned himself. If he could keep the kid’s attention off the woman for a few seconds, Carter could get the knife from him.

  “Is it me or does our new friend seem a little too interested in my shape? Bet he’s got a thing for skinny chicks who only eat one day of the week.” Her smooth tone eased his stretched nerves. He wondered if it worked on the kid. “Then they binge on lettuce with no dressing. Yuck.” Her nose wrinkled up in a delightful fashion that had Carter’s jeans suddenly feeling uncomfortably tight.

  “Shut up!” he screamed, spittle flying from his mouth as he pointed the blade’s edge in their direction. “The bitch comes with me. If you try to play hero, she bleeds.”

  Two options came to mind, neither of them involved handing over an innocent woman to a drug addict in the midst of withdrawal. He’d seen the symptoms enough, years ago, to tell exactly what their thief suffered from.

  “My name is Briley, not chick or fat chick. Points to you because I happily cop to bitch, but my proper title is Goddess of Evil and Bitchiness,” his companion said in a very firm yet husky, level voice.

  Briley. Carter liked it. The name felt as unique as the woman. Unique in a way that he wasn’t certain had anything to do with sanity. What kind of female taunted an armed robber? Then dared to correct him on the proper use of the word bitch?

  The kid snorted. “Like I give a shit. Now get over here while your boyfriend empties the drawer then cleans out his pockets for me. Bring your purse too,” he ordered, making come here motions with his knife.

  “No.”

  That startled their robber. His already big eyes grew larger at her defiance. “What?”

  Carter felt the movement of her shoulders as she gave a careless shrug, the material of her coat rubbing against his arm. “I’m not coming over there.”

  “You scared I’ll stick ya?” The idea seemed to delight the delinquent as he howled with manic laughter.

  “No, more like I’m scared you’ll infect me,” she replied, cool as a winter’s breeze, wrinkling her nose at the other man’s obvious unwashed smell. “You smell horrible, your teeth are just nasty and I bet your breath is worse than the other two combined.”

  While he applauded her attitude, Carter didn’t think the drug head would take her insults easily. “Maybe you should ease off,” he whispered.

  “If he comes at us pissed, he’ll make a mistake. That’s all I need—one mistake,” she whispered back, then, in a louder voice, continued to taunt their captor. “What? Nothing to say now? Used up that extensive vocabulary of yours?”

  Oh crap, Carter was trapped in a nightmare with She-Ra the princess of attitude and
Looney the Loser, meth head. All this farce needed was a dumb sidekick to ruin the heroine’s triumphant death blow.

  It took a few seconds before his normally razor sharp brain registered that he now played the part of the dumb side kick destined to screw everything up.

  “When was the last time you had a bath or brushed your teeth? Damn, I can smell you from over here,” she complained and lifted one hand to cover her dainty nose. “It’s bad enough you steal from people, but do you have to threaten their sense of smell at the same time? It’s like a really bad double whammy. I’ll have to snort bleach just to get rid of the scent.”

  The kid looked hurt for a minute before all hell broke loose and he charged them. Just as the Goddess of Evil and Bitchiness had promised.

  Carter jumped in front of Briley like the good side kick he was. Even though he felt like spanking her for instigating the mess, he didn’t want to see her truly hurt. But once again, his lady of mystery surprised him.

  Briley stepped to the side, her hands loose at her sides with her legs spaced evenly apart. When the knife, with the kid attached, came at them, she moved like the most graceful of dancers. A skilled, violent and blood-thirsty dancer, but a dancer nonetheless.

  In one smooth move, her leg snapped out and connected with the hand holding the knife. Carter heard the snap of the bone even before the blade dropped to the floor. He dove for it just in case the kid forgot to feel the pain of his broken wrist. Briley dropped to her knees, rolled then shot her fist straight up and into the kid’s nose as he bent over his broken bone. Blood exploded and the kid dropped to the floor, whimpering.

  Weapon in hand, Carter knelt next to their attacker who was crying while tears, blood and snot trailed down his face. Briley snapped up to cage the boy’s hands while her knee pressed down against the small of his back.

  Carter shook his head in amazement. “Damn, you are one scary ass woman.” He watched as her proud smile and brightly glowing eyes dimmed at his words. “I think I’m in love,” he joked to cover up his harsh words.