I Crave You - C.C. Wood Page 0,52

I saw the heat in his eyes. I shivered, which made his eyes crinkle in the corners. "I just want a chance to express my gratitude."

"You can say thank you," I replied, feeling breathless and more than a little hot.

"Maybe I prefer to use my mouth for something other than talking."

Oh. My. God.

"Uh. Um." A bead of sweat slid down my hairline. "Do you think the A/C is broken in here? It seems awfully hot all of a sudden."

Brody leaned forward like he intended to kiss me but stopped short and closed his eyes. Just like me, he'd forgotten where we were for a moment. And who was watching. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "We'll continue this later."

I had no words. My tongue refused to function and my brain was completely off-line. The only part of me that was functioning properly was my hormones. And they had absolutely no issue with continuing this discussion later, especially if Brody didn't intend to use his mouth to talk.

He smiled at me and touched my hand before he turned away. My legs were shaky as I walked back behind the counter.

As I passed Sierra, she whispered, "I think we need to go lingerie shopping soon."

"Shut up."

She didn't say anything else but she also didn't hesitate to laugh behind my back as I continued on my way.

I couldn't flip her off with so many people in the shop, but we'd been friends for so long, I had no doubt she knew that I desperately wanted to.

Mostly because she was one hundred percent correct.

Brody Murphy would be seeing me in my underwear at the soonest possible opportunity.

16

"Why am I nervous?" I asked Sierra.

I dug into the bottom drawer of the desk for my purse and hauled it over to the mirror hanging on the wall. I had five minutes to touch up my minimal make-up, pee, and leave the shop.

I fished the make-up bag out of the bottomless pit I called a purse and swept powder over my forehead, nose, and chin. Then I took a peach-flavored balm stick and rubbed it over my lips. The final result wasn't exactly daisy fresh, but definitely an improvement over the shiny, haggard visage from moments ago.

I didn't realize until I put the make-up bag away that Sierra had never answered me.

"Hey," I said as I turned to face her. "You never answered my question. Why am I so nervous?"

She glanced up from her computer and shrugged. "I don't know. You shouldn't be. It's going to be a PG rated event since Brody comes with his own little cockblocker and you've known the man for twenty years. I mean it's silly to be so unnerved by the guy. He's just a guy. Nothing that special." She smacked her palms on the desk on either side of her laptop. "I mean, so what if he has gorgeous hazel eyes and dimples? And so what if he's kind to little old ladies and small children? That doesn't necessarily mean he should make your brain turn to mush every time he looks at you. You're a grown ass woman. You've had boyfriends before. Lots of boyfriends. Some of them were even pretty serious. He's a poor woman's Zac Efron!"

By the time Sierra wound down, I understood that her impassioned speech had nothing to do with me or Brody and a lot more to do with his younger brother, Ben. Especially since Brody's eyes were bright, jade green rather than hazel, like Ben's.

"Speaking of hazel eyes, how is Ben?" I asked as I hefted my purse-slash-tote bag over my shoulder.

"How should I know?" she grumbled. As she spoke, she scooted down in the chair, crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at me. Her body language screamed she knew exactly what I was asking.

I crossed my own arms over my chest and glared back at her. "Why are you so determined to hate Ben?"

"I don't hate him. We're actually friends. I, uh, actually think he's really cool and I like spending time with him. I just haven't had a male friend before."

My lip curled. "I don't think that's the problem at all. I think you like him a lot. And I think he likes you, too. I'd bet ten bucks he's already asked you out. Why haven't you said yes?" Her cheeks turned red and I knew I was on to something, but she spoke before I could dig deeper.

"That was before," she mumbled, her eyes dropping from