Page 20 of Wicked Rush

“When you meet her…go easy, all right? I don’t know what’s going on with Brae but she had a rough go of it last night.”

“Brae, is it?” Seth asked with a grin and a nod. He stood and reached for the utensils.

“What about it?”

“Nothing.” He rolled his eyes and laughed.

“What?”

“Just sayin’. You’ve gone from Doctor to Brae. Already got a nickname.”

“So what? Just because I shortened her name, that doesn’t mean…” Seeing the smile on his friend’s face, Lars stopped his thought. “You’re an asshole.”

Seth laughed harder, pleased he’d found a weak spot. “You’d better watch yourself, friend. You aren’t usually this, how should I say, taken with a woman.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you seem kinda obsessed. And before you get all riled up, you know I mean that in the nicest way. It’s just you know…” Seth shrugged.

“I know what?”

“You, uh, you’ve got a lot of ladies in your bed, out of your bed. At the club. At the office.”

“I don’t date at the office.”

“Come on, Lars. Get real. You know you don’t even have to try to get women. You just show up and they flock to you. Blue eyes. Good looks. Charm. Throw in the money and the girls get wet just standin’ next to you.”

“Yeah,” was all Lars could manage. He knew it was true. He could have a different woman every day of the week, and on a good month he did. Selby had been the only woman he’d ever cared about, the only one he’d ever thought to date seriously. When she’d moved in with Garrett, the flavor of the week no longer sated him. He’d always known he’d never marry Selby, but a part of his heart belonged to her.

“All I’m sayin’ is that you aren’t usually this preoccupied with a woman. Granted, we both almost bought it because of her little incident. But still. You’ve been talking about her ever since you left the hospital. You just stalked her at that charity event. And to top it all off, she was in your bed all last night and you didn’t even touch her.”

“I did touch her.”

Seth tilted his head, giving his friend a pointed stare.

“What?” Lars exclaimed with a small laugh. “I did touch her. But not like you mean. Come on…stop looking at me like that. She just broke into my house. She was freezing cold. I only touched her to take off her clothes.”

“Jesus.” Seth shook his head. “Do you even hear yourself? You took off her clothes and you didn’t make a move on her? Ah…my hero is falling. Taking a sword.”

“I’m not falling for anyone. I don’t even fucking know her.”

“Whatever. Call it an irrational crush. You’re like a damn woman.”

“Fuck you.” Lars gave a smirk, aware his friend was calling him out on his shit. He knew he’d gone over the edge finding a way to meet her, to tell her about the key and find out what the hell had happened. But ever since she’d tried to break into his house, he felt vindicated, convinced more than ever he’d been right to do so. “As if I would try to make it with a half-conscious woman. Not happening in any universe. That’s not how I roll.”

“I bet if I ask her right now, she’ll tell me she was awake a good part of the time.” He raised an eyebrow at Lars. “Oh yeah, I’m right.”

“Fuck you again.”

“This is going to be fun, you know. Bustin’ your ass. Almost makes me feel not so bad for missing some killer waves this morning…almost.”

“I’m serious. Be nice to her,” he warned.

“I have manners,” Seth countered.

Lars ignored Seth’s comment as he walked out to the patio and set the plates onto the table. Braelynn glanced at him, giving him a small smile that he swore would kill him on the spot. Jesus, she’s beautiful. Her curly brown locks spilled down her shoulders, her green eyes piercing through him. It was the first time she’d appeared relaxed, her face softened with the morning sun. Pleased she hadn’t tried to run away while he was in the kitchen, he hoped he’d earned her trust enough to tell him the truth. But as her focus flashed to Seth, her expression went cold, and he rushed to ease her mind.

“It’s okay, Brae. This is a friend of mine. Seth.”