Free Tease Me by Melissa Schroeder Page A

contact with Bran, but since he’d never noticed her
before now, it had been easier somehow. Now though…this was going
to be tough. And she didn’t want to brood about it. It wasn’t like
her at all. Or cry, which was just what she was doing, she thought
as she wiped tears off her cheeks. Crying was for
wusses.
    Before she could finish the argument
with herself, her doorbell rang. She frowned. It was the middle of
the morning, and most of her friends were at work or busy. Also,
they usually called before coming over. Being a nurse always left
her with weird work hours, so they knew she could be sleeping at
odd times.
    The doorbell rang again and was
followed by pounding on her door.
    “ Open up, Tess, I am not
in the mood to stand out here.”
    Bran.
    Dammit. Just not what she needed at
the moment. She wanted to pull herself together before facing him
again. Since he’d agreed to her friends with benefits , she
had to play the part. Or, dammit. He hadn’t. Right? He had her head
so screwed up, she didn’t know if she was coming or going. It was
pathetic and, with any other man, she wouldn’t take that kind of
arrangement. Okay, she sort of had that arrangement, although not
agreed to.
    “ Tess, if you don’t answer
me, I’m going to assume you’re hurt and call the cops. Mr. Beasley
across the street said he would call for me.”
    She closed her eyes and tried to
compose herself. Drawing in a deep breath, she slipped out of the
chair and headed to the door, grabbing a tissue on the way. After
cleaning off her face, she took another deep breath, and opened the
door.
    He was frowning at her and yet she
still wanted him.
    “ What the hell,
Tess?”
    She leaned against the doorjamb and
crossed her arms. “Most of my friends know not to show up without
calling first.”
    His frown darkened. “I did call
first.”
    Well, damn. She had been ignoring her
phone today knowing that the hospital would call her home phone if
they didn’t get her on her cell. It was childish, to be sure, but
not any worse than him avoiding her the day before.
    “ Did your father leave
today?”
    He cocked his head to one side and
stared at her for a long few seconds. A crack of thunder sounded
overhead. She hated that he seemed to have the weather on his side.
Of course Bran did. He always got everything he wanted.
    “ That was well timed,” he
said.
    She said nothing to that, waiting for
her answer.
    “ Are you going to leave me
out here on the stoop to get drenched?”
    “ Are you going to answer
my question?”
    Okay, that was kind of childish, but
she couldn’t help it. She was out of sorts and she needed time to
figure it out. But, just like every other time in their lives
together, Bran just butted his way into her business.
Dammit.
    “ Is everything fine over
there, sir?” Mr. Beasley yelled from across the street. She glanced
past Bran and saw the grumpy man standing on his sidewalk with an
umbrella in his hand.
    “ It would be if she would
let me in the house.”
    “ He’s going to get wet,
Tess,” Mr. Beasley yelled out.
    When she looked back at Bran, he was
smirking at her. She wanted to close the door on his face, but then
Mr. Beasley would get onto her for being rude. And that was one
thing Mr. Beasley understood.
    With an aggravated sigh, she turned on
her heel and marched back into her living room. Someone up in
heaven hated her. It had to be the only explanation of her luck
lately.
    Bran followed her in. “Mr. Beasley
claims you are ever so nice to most people, so he was kind of
confused by your actions today.”
    She rolled her eyes then turned to
face him.
    “ What do you want,
Bran?”
    He let one eyebrow rise and she felt
her face heat. She had known he had a one-track mind, but she
didn’t know it was quite that bad.
    “ Other than
that.”
    “ Not sure there will be
anything other than that.”
    She didn’t know what to make of that
statement. “I thought you were supposed to report