Free Hen Party 1 (Hen Party #1) by Ashlyn Brady Page B

the momentum of her swinging arm. He held up his palms to call a truce. She gave a feminine grunt of annoyance that she’d missed her target, which made him laugh.
    “My mistake, I misread the signs you were interested in a kiss,” he drawled. “Go back inside the lounge and wear out your temper in another round of the catfight.”
    She was so mad at him that more gutsy sounds were tumbling out of her mouth. He gazed into the depths of her misty eyes, and the world around him closed down. Time meant nothing to him as he fell into the twin pools of passion. He was lost there…and didn’t want to leave.
    She lifted her hand to cradle the side of his face. His breath was jagged at what she would do next. Give him a stinging slap or what? Her fingertips caressed the stubble over his cheek and jaw.
    “Kyra, it feels good when you touch me,” he murmured.
    “I thought you were a cut above the average guys I’ve met,” she said, choked up. “It’s cruel to throw Maddy’s words back in my face.”
    What had he done to her? “I’m sorry. I was a parroting idiot. It was dumb, and I won’t do it again.”
    “You’ve treated me as a joke and twisted me in knots.” She drew a shuddering breath and exhaled with gusto. “Go away so I can forget I ever met you.”
    “Don’t blow me off,” he said, devastated. A volcanic eruption of heated Italian threatened to pour out of his mouth. He clenched his jaws together to hold it back. The thrill of getting to know her in a personal sense combined with the effort required to block out their professional hierarchy was pushing him to breaking point.
    “Give me another chance to be your friend.” He rested a hand in the crook of her neck. Her skin was warm and perfumed. It took all of his self-control not to blurt out about how her fire was burning down the cold walls inside that had kept him locked up in a stark, loveless prison for so long.
    “Look, it’s been a chaotic evening, but I can feel something special growing between you and me.” He pleaded with her like he had never done with a woman before, but she was worth the humble skid. “We might find something crazy spectacular together.”
    She shook her head in denial. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass on the bumpy ride. You and I are done.” She continued to walk past him to leave the garden restaurant.

Chapter Six
    Before Kyra could take another step away from Joe, he snaked his arm around her waist and tugged her close to his chest. “Stop fighting with me. It’s a waste of time,” he said, as if he was in charge of their attraction.
    No way. Kyra pushed her shoulders back to widen the gap between their bodies. “What are you talking about? There is no fight. I’m finished with your jokes.”
    “But you and I aren’t finished. I think we have a long way to go before we run out of steam,” he said in a masterly voice.
    The implication of how they were going to generate that steam crackled the tension in the air. Her life on the hamster wheel wobbled in that moment. A guy who didn’t give a toss about her three core relationship values was a powerful thrust out of the friend zone, heading into dark and dangerous territory.
    Tomorrow, she could pick up the routine of her ordinary, boring life again. Tonight, she could play with fire. Yep, Joe’s magnetic allure had the power to defeat sensible thinking.
    “Take it or leave it.” His eyes glowed with brilliant brown light and some animal part of her brain switched on. She looked at him, eye-to-eye, wild tigress to his tiger. Both of them were defensive beasts and survivors of relationship hemorrhages. The chances of two losers in love from opposite sides of Australia finding each other like this defied the odds.
    “Stay with me.” There was an unmistakable yearning in his voice.
    Dare she run wild on instinct with an enigmatic guy at a hen party? “Give and take are my terms for hanging around, and then we’re equal partners in what, if