On Dublin Street The Bonus Material - Samantha Young Page 0,5

Butler.”

“Joss,” she corrected him instantly, as if her full name left a bad taste in her mouth.

Joss? No, that wouldn’t do. It didn’t suit her at all. Jocelyn… now that did. Braden could imagine calling out ‘Jocelyn’ in bed. Not Joss, though. Too young, too boyish.

He relaxed against the chair, getting comfortable, hoping his five minute chat of intimidation with Ellie’s roommate would now be an hour’s chat with Jocelyn Butler. “Ellie likes you.” It was half-conversational, half-warning. The woman may be sexy but she still needed to know he put Ellie’s best interests above everything and everyone.

“I like Ellie,” she answered casually before raising an eyebrow at him. “I’m not so sure about her brother. He seems kind of rude.”

She had no idea. “He’s not sure of you either.”

“Oh?”

“I’m not sure how I feel about my wee sister living with an exhibitionist,” he teased.

She made a face at him, like a five year old. Brat. “Exhibitionists get naked in public. As far as I was aware, there was no one else in the apartment, and I’d forgotten a towel.”

“Thank God for small mercies.” Really. Thank you, GOD. “Seriously,” he deliberately and blatantly ate her up with his eyes. “You should walk around naked all the time.”

Braden’s heart almost stopped as her full mouth twitched, and then it started racing hard as her lip curled up in amusement at the corner, and she shook her head at him. He was absurdly pleased he’d managed to make her smile and found himself laughing softly in accomplishment.

And just as quickly as the moment had formed between them, Jocelyn sought to end it with the roll of her eyes. “You’re such an ass.”

Braden snorted. “Usually a woman calls me that after I’ve fucked her and called her a taxi.” He tempered his bluntness around women. He was raised by his father to at least present the image of a gentleman. But with her… well, he didn’t know what it was about her… he just knew that he wanted to disconcert her and challenge her as much as she challenged him.

Seeing the muted shock on her face at his word choice Braden had to ask, “Don’t tell me you hate that word.” That would be a shame, because it’s one of my favorites.

“No. I just don’t think we should be talking about fucking when we’ve just met.”

Oh, beautiful. Amusement and the thrill of the chase took hold as he watched her blanch in realization. “I didn’t know that’s what we were doing.”

“If you’re looking for Ellie, she’s tutoring.”

A deliberate subject change. Damn. Just when it was getting good. “I came to meet you, actually. Only I didn’t know I was meeting you. Quite the coincidence. I’ve thought of you quite a bit since last week in the taxi.”

“Was that while you were out having dinner with your girlfriend?” she asked slyly, trying to draw some line between them in the sand.

Mentally, Braden kicked a football into the sand, destroying her neat little line and answered casually, “Holly is down south visiting her parents this week. She’s from Southampton.”

He could tell Jocelyn couldn’t give a crap if Holly was from the moon, and in that moment, frankly, neither could he.

“I see. Well,” she said, standing up in an attempt to usher him out, “I would say it was nice to meet you, but I was naked, so… it wasn’t. I have a lot to do. I’ll tell Ellie you dropped by.”

Laughing at her irreverent sense of humor, Braden took the hint and stood up to pull his jacket on. “You’re a hard nut to crack.”

Her eyebrows dipped together. “Hey, there will be no cracking of this nut. Now or ever.”

Oh she was just asking for it now. Choking on laughter, Braden took a step toward her so he had her trapped between him and the couch. The fruity smell of her shampoo caused a sensual stirring in his blood and his smile turned cocky as he came to a decision. “Really, Jocelyn…why do you have to make everything sound so dirty?” He asked impudently before abruptly turning on his heel, the image of her lush mouth falling open in outrage bringing him a sense of triumph.

Once outside, Braden stood for a moment on the front stoop, taking in a breath of crisp cool air. He’d entered the flat in the worse bloody mood, and exited it feeling better than he had in days.

Glancing back at the door, he chuckled under his breath. He was filled