Free What He Wants: Trusting You prequel novella by L.P. Dover Page B

was afraid of pursuing a relationship with Galen after that. Now look at them … they were happily married with a baby girl.
    When my eyes wavered from Korinne’s, I spotted Brett across the room, staring at me as he was talking to a group of men. Taking her by the shoulder, I turned her around so she could look at him with me. I didn’t care if he knew I was talking about him.
    “All right, Kori. I know you have to see what I see when you look at him. He’s gorgeous, and you can feel the arrogance flowing off of him in waves. He’s confident and he knows it. Do you honestly think a man like that could stay faithful when he could have any woman he wants?”
    Shaking her head, Korinne scoffed and turned her attention back to me, “Yes, I do think he could stay faithful. All you have to do is get to know him and judge for yourself. There’s no harm in that. If in your gut you don’t feel like he’s an honorable man then don’t date him.” She placed her hands on my shoulders and stepped in my line of vision so my gaze would be on hers instead of Brett’s. “And yes, I’m sure he could have any woman he wants, and right now he wants you. I can feel it from across the room, and I’m sure he wants me to move so he can look at you from afar.”
    Indeed, I could certainly feel it. Against my better judgment, I glanced over Korinne’s shoulder at Brett. He tilted his lips ever so slightly at me before directing his attention back to the men he was talking to. Groaning, I flung my arms dismissively in the air, giving up. “Okay, I’ll give him a chance. But I’m not going to have another one night stand with him tonight.”
    Korinne snickered and rolled her eyes. “Maybe you two could just talk and get to know each other? That’s typically how this works.” Taking my hand, she pulled me over to the bar and grabbed two glasses of wine, handing me one. “Okay, bottoms up, darling. I think we’ve talked about men enough already, now it’s time to have some fun.”
    Smiling, I agreed and tapped my glass to hers, the high-pitched clinking noise being music to my ears. “I do believe you’re right. Bottoms up, baby.”

 
     
    AS THE NIGHT drew on, I said my good-byes to Korinne and her husband before making my way to the elevators. I didn’t know if I could deal with Brett yet, so I did what I thought was best and snuck away as fast as I could. When I got in the elevator, I breathed a sigh of relief when the doors started to close. I thought I was in the clear, but then a hand broke through the middle, stopping them from making the final seal.
    When the doors pulled back, Brett lifted an eyebrow and a slow smile spread across his face as the elevator closed behind him, capturing us together. “I meant it when I said I was going to find you before the evening was up. You weren’t trying to sneak off were you?”
    I honestly did lose track of him in the crowd and I wasn’t going to look desperate searching for him. However, sneaking off was my prime agenda so I lied, “I didn’t know where you were and I saw that it was getting late.”
    He pressed the button for the ‘ground’ level, and I realized that we had sixty floors to descend, all alone in the confines of an elevator. The tension in the air was electric, sizzling across my skin, and I was fully aware of the heat his body gave off as he moved closer to me. I told Korinne I would give him a chance, but I couldn’t help how nervous I was. I was never nervous around men. His scent intoxicated me as it filled up the small space, and it only grew worse the closer he got.
    No! He was getting too close.
    I held up my hand and backed up a step. “Look, I’m not doing a repeat of our night three months ago, Brett. It was stupid of me to let it go that far. If that’s all you want from me you can forget it.”
    Facing me, Brett growled low and grabbed my hips, lightly pushing me against the elevator walls. Tilting my chin back with his finger, his stormy