“You seriously want me to leave?” I put my plate on the floor. “I will, if that’ll make you happy.”
“Please don’t leave,” some random woman begged.
“Jesus Christ.” I snatched the Kindle from Juliette. “I’llread the scene, if you want.”
Juliette’s mouth dropped open, her face turning crimson. She held her hand out. “Give that back to me.”
I kept it firmly in my hands. A quick glance down at the highlighted scene told meexactlywhy she was blushing.Holy fuck.
My eyes widened as I looked over at her. She gulped.
My mom read romance novels, too. I cringed at the thought that she might be reading something like this.
“Youshould read the scene for us, Wes,” someone said.
NowIwas the one feeling embarrassed—and I was normally a pretty bold motherfucker. It was hard to make me blush. But this? Reading it aloud in front of these thirsty women?I don’t know.
Ultimately, I decided it would be worth it just to get a rise out of Juliette. Although, she might not forgive me for this one. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and cleared my throat. “Okay then.” I flashed Juliette a wicked grin.
She turned her gaze away, while every other set of eyes in the room remained firmly on me as I began to read aloud.
“Jonah wrapped his hands around Brooke’s arms, both of them clearly spooked by the crashing sound, which turned out to be a false alarm. But there was nothing false about the need erupting between them as they held each other. Brooke could feel Jonah’s heart beating against her chest. That wasn’t all she could feel.” I paused, trying to keep a straight face. “He was throbbing against her, causing her panties to slowly melt with each second that passed.Once they realized they were safe, a desperate need for each other tookover…”
For the next several minutes, I recited what could only be described as straight-up porn, which included (among other things) three C-words I never imagined uttering aloud among a group of mostly older women:cock, cum,andcunt.Excuse me:beautifulcunt.
When I finished and looked up at my audience, I was a little freaked out. Every woman in the room remained entirely focused on me. One was licking something and sort of looked like she was imagining it could be me. Some of them seemed to be drooling or foaming at the mouth. Everyone stared—except Juliette. She still looked away, sinking into her chair as if she were trying to disappear into the cushion.
Pam fanned herself with a napkin. “That was…wow. That was something, Wes.”
“You have an open invitation to be our official live reader,” someone else said.
Another woman chimed in. “You should consider audio narration. You have the perfect deep voice for it.”
I laughed awkwardly. “Not sure Juliette agrees.”
But whether she agreed or not was irrelevant because she wasn’t saying a damn word. She’d gone mute since my live reading.
And the walk home later was no different. Juliette remained quiet.
The silent treatment continued until the moment the door to her house closed behind us. Then she turned to me. Finally, she’d come alive, but not in a good way. She looked ready to spew venom.
“Did youreallyhave to insert yourself into my book club like that?”
“You need to lighten up. It was all in good fun. And I mean, come on…the subject matter of that book? I was meant to be at this one. It was written in the stars. What were the chances?”
“The chances were very good, actually. Bodyguard and client is a popular romance trope.”
My eyes went wide. “It is? I thought we just got lucky.”
“It’s a stupid trope, if you ask me. But yeah.”
I squinted. “Stupid? Why?”
I found that a little insulting. Like, she thought it was so far-fetched that someone could find their bodyguard attractive?Pfft.
“You wanna know why it’s stupid?” She arched a brow. “Because that doesn’t happen in real life. A client falling for her bodyguard is a contrived situation—convenient. In reality, the situation would be inappropriate, messy at best, and unlikely to happen.”
“But couldn’t you argue that’swhyit’s a fantasy? That could be why it’s so fucking hot to them because itisinappropriate and not something you see every day in real life.” I’d raised my voice a little louder than intended. Damn, was I butthurt over this or something? I needed to get a grip.
