Free Perfecting the Odds by Brenna St. Clare Page B

around like a weapon.
    As h e drew a finger down her cheek, he didn’t miss her body tremor and her lips part just slightly. “You’re right. I was deliberately evasive, but I seem to recall it was you who propositioned me for sex…something about preferring it ‘hard’ and ‘straight up’.” Her mouth dropped open shock, and he grinned at her immediate pout.
    “ I …uh…that was a slip. I’m drunk, for godssake.” She said in obvious frustration.
    “Are you growling at me, Karis?”
    She glared at him and pressed her lips together so hard, they blanched. “You’re an arrogant jerk.”
    “You’re beautiful.”
    She barked a laugh despite the anger. “You’re a frickin’ jerk and blind… and why the hell are you talking so much. Last time you didn’t talk so damn much.” He laughed then stepped closer.
    “You’re adorable.”
    “Stop,” she hissed.
    He shrugged. “Stop what,” he asked before crossing his arms.
    Her brows shot upward. “This!”
    “This ? As in a demonstrative determiner? Because then the word needs a noun. For instance, this table or this chair—,” he said, gesturing to objects in his apartment.
    “Michael! Don’t play semantics games with me. Thi iis.” She threw out her hands and waved her arms frantically between them.
    “You’re gesturing to air, Karis,” he said with a smirk playing on his lips.
    She pitched the bridge of her nose and shut her eyes. “ Is this your brilliant juvenile plan to get me to stay and talk this out because I’m not gonna lie--I’m about five seconds from slapping that arrogant smirk right off your face. And I will love every. fucking. second of it. 1, 2, 3--”
    Michael invaded the space in from of her, his mouth a wisp of breath from hers. He inhaled, luring in the hints of vodka and sweetness. She gasped before her body softened against his. God help him, he wanted her so bad his dick throbbed almost painfully. But he had to diffuse the anger long enough to make her acknowledge their connection, that they deserved a chance to see if what he felt was real and worthy of more. He glided his lips along her cheek and beneath her ear.
    “I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you ,” he whispered and rolled his hips hard against the apex of her thighs. “I’ve been hard for you for three fucking years, Karis.” She released a cock-twitching moan before she stepped back to distance herself from him.
    Karis cleared her throat . Michael knew now it was a nervous habit. “Okay, fine,” she said, raising her hands in defeat. “I inadvertently propositioned you for sex, but that’s not going to happen, so we’re back to why you didn’t say your name at the bar.” Her self-satisfied smile appeared, pleased with how well she turned the conversation back to the original argument.
    He studied her for a moment. She had calmed significantly and was now perhaps ready for his truth. “I was afraid,” he said.
    She rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation. God, the woman was difficult. “Afraid of what, pray tell?”
    “Of losing you again,” he whispered and dropped his eyes. And there it was. The truth that left him vulnerable hung in the air between them. And she could man-handle that truth in two very different ways.

Chapter 10  
     
    Karis sucked in a breath. Her heart beat wildly as the tears glazed her eyes. This was the Michael who resided in her thoughts and came forth at the most random times. This was the Michael of her dreams night after night, who missioned to please her in wickedly unspeakable ways.
    She swallowed hard to remove the lump in her throat and did her best to glare into his eyes, but they looked so damned wounded and, lord help her, beautiful.
    T his was the Michael she wasn’t ready for .
    “Dammit, Michael…you never had me,” Karis rasped. He exhaled audibly, and she winced at the cruelty hanging between them, palpable and repulsive.
    His chest lifted with another breath as he searched her