Page 14 of Brutal Obsession

Her engagement announcement to Finn still broke something inside me. The part that pretended I was just fine existing on the outskirts of her life, watching from afar but rarely interacting. The part that acted like I’d rather fuck a hundred women than the only woman who drove me crazy. Thepart that told me I wouldn’t be jealous of the man Thomas and Shane eventually chose for her to marry.

Not that I want to marry Harper.

This isn’t about that. This is about the way she kissed me that night. I remember every detail, and can I just say, what the fuck?

One minute, I’m doing a line of shots with five women, and the next minute, I’m trying to work out how the girl who lives rent-free in my head somehow showed up at the same bar I picked at random.

Since I don’t believe in coincidence, I went over to talk to her. She was there that night for a reason, and I wanted to know why. Did I do a good job finding out? No. But that’s to be expected. Whenever I’m within a ten-foot radius of Harper Brennan, words spew from my mouth, I say whatever I say, and usually she ignores me or leaves.

Nothing about that night unfolded the way I anticipated.

I didn’t expect to lose control of my stupid mouth and needle her about Finn. I didn’t expect her to toss wine in my face. And I definitely didn’t expect to follow her out, push her up against a wall, and stick my tongue down her throat.

It was supposed to be a simple kiss, something I’ve shared with more women than I can count. Instead, she infected me with a sickness that killed my appetite for anyone but her and left my brain—as well as other key body parts—in some strange state of atrophy.

The way she touched me. That soft, supple body. Her delicious scent. The moans she uttered against my mouth, goading me to do her in a back alley like a damn mutt in heat. I wanted her so badly, I offered to take her home. I would’ve begged if necessary.

The crazy thing is that she agreed.

Except, as it turns out, Harper Brennan never intended to go home with me.

She played me.

When I think about how easily she fooled me, I want to bend her over my knee, spank her ass until it darkens to a cherry red, and then fuck her until she begs for forgiveness.

Harper made a chump out of me that night, and I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive her for that.

Although at least the truth came out. Harper may try to hide it, but she lusts after me too. No woman can fake that kind of reaction. And despite the fact that getting caught could have landed us both in hot water, she kissed me anyway.

Eagerly.

She craved my touch as much as I did hers. Yet she still ran away.

She hid in the tropics while I ran around the state like a jackass, terrified that someone kidnapped her.

If Enzo’s men don’t find her first, I might save them the trouble and murder her myself.

I grab a cab off the estate and ride to JFK with all those same thoughts cycling through my mind.

This will be my first out-of-state assignment for Shane, and I’m nervous for multiple reasons.

I don’t trust myself around herbeing number one.

Even though I’m livid and my nerves are shot from worrying about her, and I know she needs protection, I don’t trust myself to carry out this mission without getting in my fucking feelings about her.

If I don’t find a way to pull myself together, I might slip and reveal what a serious hard-on I have for this girl to the rest of the family.

Andthatis a worst-case scenario I’m unprepared to face.

Chapter 4

Harper

“Dish Waikiki. How can I help you?” I cradle the phone between my ear and shoulder, but I can still barely hear a word this customer’s saying over the restaurant noise. I want to say that Tuesday afternoons aren’t usually a very busy time for us, but in Waikiki, every afternoon is busy.

The Fukuokas’ farm-to-table restaurant is a standalone shack-like structure that faces the water. The building itself is half open-air with bright hardwood floors, Indigenous Hawaiian art on the walls, and this yummy, infectious smell wafting out onto the beach, luring ravenous surfers and summer-vacationers in from a day in the sun.

An outdoor patio extends from one side of the building, paved with flagstone and lined with torches and bright fuchsia hibiscus flowers. Sometimes we have live music from local artists, and other times I get to DJ from the iPad stashed in the host stand by the door.

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