Three
Ransom
By the time we finished dinner and were on our last drink of the evening, I’d realized a few things.
The first being that Opal had been fed horseshit.
There was an elitist jackass at the table, but it wasn’t the fucking gorgeous blonde sitting across from me.
She was the opposite of how Opal had described her.
My sister was normally better at reading people.
We’d been taught young to pay close attention to the eyes, and, Jesus Christ, did Juliette have a heart-stopping set of them.
They weren’t blue, but more like the color of a storm cloud or the early morning sky.
I guessed they’d be considered gray, but that word wasn’t descriptive enough.
For someone who looked like her, the hesitant insecurity that she was trying so hard to mask seemed out of place.
What the fuck did she have to be insecure about?
Full lips that turned down slightly at the corners; a small, elegant, straight nose; sun- kissed skin; and the shade of honey blonde with champagne highlights that hung in a long, wavy mass down past her shoulders. Then there was the body.
I’d had to clench my fist and bite my damn tongue when she stood up to speak and have her picture taken with the woman who had approached her.
Once I got my cock under control, I’d been able to observe her.
She was gracious with the woman, eased her, and when she barely glanced my way, I noticed the awkwardness she was trying to hide.
She wasn’t reveling in being seen. It had made her nervous.
It seemed the blond dork sitting beside her, who had my sister’s attention, had blinded her with his overbright smile, which annoyed the fuck out of me. First my brother, now her. Letting someone make them stupid.
Juliette, whose real name I wanted to know, had been quiet most of the evening. Speaking only when spoken to. Again, not a trait of a diva. She also reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Her mannerisms were so oddly familiar.
She also hadn’t looked my way once since sitting back down at the table.
I deserved it, but it didn’t mean I was going to end this evening with her disliking me.
Okay, she probably fucking hated me. I’d been a dick, but when I had walked in here and gotten a look at her, my cock had instantly gotten hard the moment I saw her body, and I’d been pissed off that she was off-limits.
I’d have liked to fuck this one tonight.
If it wasn’t for my sister not liking her, I wouldn’t have cared about her being a diva or a bitch.
In fact, those could be the kinkiest ones.
Jesus, the thought of those curves bared … I had to stop it. I didn’t need to stand up with my dick hard and bulging in my pants for all to see.
“Where are you from, Juliette?” I asked, tired of hearing all about Arden and his life. He talked a fucking lot.
Those eyes snapped up from the glass she’d been drawing circles on with the tip of her finger to meet mine.
The surprise was there. Probably because she hadn’t expected me to be the one to remember she was sitting at the table and direct conversation her way.
There was also trepidation. And again … why was that so familiar?
Her expression. I’d seen it somewhere before, but I knew I’d never laid eyes on this woman.
I’d remember her—because I’d have fucked her.
And there was no way that body, naked, wasn’t memorable.
“Rhode Island,” Arden said before she could speak.
No, the fuck she was not.
I cut my eyes at him. What did my sister see in that douche?
“With that accent? No, I don’t think so,” I told him, then looked back at her. “Besides, I’m sure she can speak for herself.”
Now she was nervous. Her eyes darted from me to Arden and then back, and she licked her bottom lip. I swore to God I’d never seen lips that plump. Was it fucking filler? I didn’t care. I just wanted to see them wrapped around my cock.
“Um, well, I lived in the South when I was younger. My mom and I moved around a bit,” she said hesitantly, as if she wasn’t sure she had or not.
She was lying. Not about living in the South though. She’d lived in the fucking South, so it was the moving around bit she must be lying about.
“What parts?” I asked her, already knowing it was either Alabama, Mississippi, or northern Louisiana. When you lived in the South, not all Southern accents were the same. There was a difference that Northerners didn’t notice.
“Oh, um … well, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.”
Lies. All three were lies. Her voice had even wavered. What was it she was hiding? Was it for publicity? I didn’t get it. Why lie? Unless she was afraid of someone finding her. That thought bugged me. I didn’t like it. Who was it she had to be afraid of?
Why the hell did I care? I wanted to get her panties off and bend her over—because, Jesus, she had an ass—then shove my dick in her. I didn’t give a shit what her story was.
“Your accent doesn’t fit any of those places,” Opal said, calling her out on it when I was going to let it slide.
I’d noticed Opal’s attitude toward her had softened. She hadn’t spoken to her much, but the cold snarkiness she’d started off with was gone. I wondered if it was because Juliette didn’t bite back or if she’d realized the woman wasn’t what she’d been led to believe.
Juliette glanced at Arden again, who was smiling at her, amused.
“You know, I didn’t even know that,” he said. “How did I not know you had lived in the South when you were younger?”
How the fuck could he not know? The moment she opened her mouth, it was obvious.
She shrugged. “I don’t think it ever came up.”
“You sound like I would if I hadn’t spent years learning to speak without my accent,” Opal told her.
There it was again. The flicker of something in her eyes that was bothering me.
She was so … so … goddamn timid. How the hell was she timid?
She was a successful author who looked like a motherfucking centerfold.
Yet she acted like some mousy librarian who had never been noticed in her life and was suddenly getting attention.
“Oh, where are you from?” she asked, not once looking back at me. But it was purposefully. She was having to work at not shifting her eyes back to me.
I almost chuckled but held it back. Her entire body was stiff, and that only made her shoulders straighten and the set of tits she had on her stand out more.
My gaze traveled down the cleavage she was showing.
They were real and had to be double Ds. Maybe I’d fuck her while she straddled me first so I could watch them bounce.
Then I’d flip her over and get handfuls of her ass.
“Madison, Mississippi,” Opal told her. “My family is all still there. Does your mother still live in the South?”
She licked that bottom lip again, and a pained glint in her eyes caught my attention. “I … yes, I believe so.”
“Juliette and her mother aren’t close,” Arden told Opal.
Juliette was staring down at her lap now. She’d not liked that question.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said, then looked up. “I’ve missed a call that I need to take.”
She didn’t wait for anyone to respond but slipped out, and I had to bite the inside of my jaw when she walked away, giving me an excellent view of her round ass.
“She doesn’t seem very bitchy or diva-like,” Opal said when she was out of sight.
I smirked. She wasn’t one to let things slide. Arden had lied to the wrong female.
“She’s on her best behavior this evening,” he told her.
I cut my eyes back to the bastard and scowled. “I don’t like liars,” I warned him. “Whatever your angle is, I’ll find out. Be very careful. I also don’t overlook anyone fucking with my sister.”
“Ransom,” Opal hissed and glared at me.
I shrugged and reached for my glass. “He’s been warned.”
She let out a sigh and shook her head.
“I’m sorry if I offended you. I don’t know what happened just there. I haven’t lied about anything,” he said, looking at my sister, then me, as if he were confused.
“Ransom is good at reading people. And, well, so am I. Someone’s character is something that can be seen through more than just actions. Anyway, I think maybe you’ve misread Juliette. She’s not what you believe she is. Perhaps the two of you have had some miscommunication.”
Very political of you, sis. Make it sound like he’s not a lying prick.
“I’m curious,” I drawled. “Did you try to fuck her and she turned you down?”
Which was what made the most sense. He’d wanted her, and she hadn’t wanted him. His bad-mouthing her was his payback. How many people had he lied to about her? Dumb shit didn’t realize once someone was around her for less than five minutes, they’d figure out he’d lied.
Anger flared in his eyes. I’d hit pretty close to home, it seemed. I chuckled, amused with his reaction. My guess was, no one called him out often. He didn’t like it.
“Ransom,” Opal bit out. “Why don’t you go get our coats? I’ll meet you outside.”
I downed the last of my whiskey and stood up. Not bothering to speak to the man again. I knew Opal was going to bitch me out about what I’d said, but she would get over it. She had to see he wasn’t what she’d thought.
The delectable backside of Juliette Romeo was already at coat check when I approached. I grinned as I closed the distance between us.
“Are you skipping out?” I asked, leaning down close to her ear.
She jerked, startled, and her entire body was stiff again. The scent of honeysuckle and vanilla had me drawing even closer. Damn, she even smelled incredible.
“I, uh …” She stumbled over her words, and I watched as goose bumps covered her bare arms.
She might not like me, but she wasn’t unaffected by me. I could work with that.
A girl stepped out of the other room, holding a white wool coat, and held it out to Juliette.
She moved away from me subtly as she thanked the girl and handed her a folded bill.
I watched as the girl glanced down at it, and her eyes widened before she pocketed the money.
Realizing generous was also on the list of things that had been left out of Juliette’s description, I took the coat out of the girl’s hand before Juliette could.
She spun around, staring up at me with surprise and a touch of annoyance that I’d taken her coat.
There was a fire in her. One she was afraid to allow free. She wanted to tell me off, but she wouldn’t. She’d refrain because of the timidness that baffled me. But it was there in her eyes. Something she wanted to overcome, but it seemed to be embedded deep.
I held open the coat for her to slip on, and her eyes dropped to look at it for a moment, unsure, before lifting back to meet mine.
I waited her out as she stood there, not moving. She was a seductive, smoking hot piece of ass, but she was also fucking adorable. Again, how the hell this woman managed to be both, I didn’t know.
Finally, she held out her hand and lifted her chin. “I’d like my coat, please.”
Ah, there was that spark. Good girl. Bite back. I deserve it.
“Just trying to help you put it on,” I replied.
“I can manage it myself. Thank you.”
Do not laugh, Ransom. That’ll only piss her off more.
“Where in Mississippi did you live?” I asked her just to see her reaction.
The widening of those gray pools and flicker of surprise, as if she were trying to read me, tugged at a memory somewhere tucked away.
So fucking odd. I felt like I’d seen those eyes before but there was no way I’d forget them.
What was clear however was that I’d been right, as had Opal.
Her accent was too close to home. Sure, she’d toned it down a touch, not like Opal had, but some, however, it was still there.
“I didn’t mention Mississippi,” she said tightly.
The corners of my mouth quirked. “No. But your accent says you did.”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Just give me my coat. It’s been a long night, and I would like to leave.”
And I wanted to go with her, but it was going to take longer than trying to charm her at the coat check for that to happen. My earlier damage needed more cleanup, and she wasn’t going to give me time for that. We weren’t done here. I’d find a cause to run into Ms. Juliette Romeo again.
“Fine. You can have it. But it’ll cost you your name. Your real name.”
This time, she was the one who smirked. And there was that familiar glint in her eyes. Who the hell did she remind me of?
Stepping forward, she snatched the coat from me, and I let it go.
“That’s something only my friends are privy to,” she replied. Then, without putting the coat on, she headed for the exit.
I grinned as I admired the sway of her hips. Damn, she was fun.