Page 28 of Xactly What She Needs

“Hmmm,”hehums non-committedly.

I roll my eyes hard enough to make Jenny proud. “Cut the shit. Bri will be down any minute. What stunt are you pulling?”

He reclines back into his own chair and shrugs. “You were taking too long.”

“What the fuck are you talkin’ about?”

“You’ve been dancin’ around Bri for weeks now. I decided to help you speed shit up a bit,”hereplies calmly.

“Speed shit up?” I scoff. “Mother fucker, you stalked Kea’s ass for a whole year before doin’ anything.”

“Different circumstances,”hegrunts.

My lips purse. “Really? How so? It doesn’t seem too much different to me. Both women have bad shit in their pasts, causing a longer timeline.”

“Yes and no.” I wave my hand around to get him to speed this up. Definitely don’t want Bri walking in on this conversation. I wouldn’t even blame her ass for running for the hills if she did. “Kea was a lot more damaged than Bri.” He holds up his hand when I get ready to yell at him. “Yes, they both were in abusive relationships, however, where Bri is able to actually be around guys without jumping at her own shadow, Kealy was not.”

“Okay, you have a point,” I mumble. It still makes my stomach churn in anger every time I remember how bad off Kea was when I first met her. Hell, it was half the reason I went out of my way to annoy her so much. I figured that she wouldn’t be scared of me if she was constantly pissed at me. The only drawback is how damn petty that woman truly is. I really didn’t see that one coming.

“I had to go slow with Kea, otherwise, shewould haveretreated into herself. But Bri has seemed to flourish at your shop. Marrow has told me how well she does with all the guys and that she only seems a little edgy when going into the main bays.”

I rub my hand over my face. “Yeah, none of us can figure that one out, but we just decided to leave it alone and make sure that she doesn’t have to go in there.” I’m probably going to need to ask her about that at some point though. He’s right, she’s fine around all of us, as long as we don’t accidentally sneak up on her, but she goes white as a sheet anytime she goes near the garage itself.

He gives me a knowing look. “And you haven’t asked because you’re scared of how bad her answer will be.” Inciteful bastard.

“Somethin’ like that,” I mutter and rub the back of my neck. “The look in her eyes every time she passes the door to the garage, is enough for me to know that I’m really not gonna like what she has to say.”

He gives me a small nod. “Understandable.” He rubs the side of his face and gives me a thoughtful look. “But that’s reallyher onlyAchilles heel. She has been able to be around your guys a lot better than she ever was here.”

I give a small shrug. “She has the option to stay in her office for the most part. She doesn’t have to deal with anyone if she doesn’t want to.”

He tilts his head. “Yes and no. My shop wasn’t the best fit for her because she was out front where a ton of randoms can come in.” He gives me a long look. “But make no mistake, she’s comfortable at your place because of you and Jax. She trusts you guys,” he gives a snort, “which is odd because most women seem to fear Jax.”

I smile and give a low chuckle. “Yeah, she seemed to get over that when she saw Jenny yellin’ in his face and him just sittin’ there like a puppy gettin’ scolded for pissin’ on the carpet.”

Edge gives me a rueful smile. “That girl is goin’ to be a force of nature when she’s older.”

“She already is.” I purse my lips. “If I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t hate any jackass she dates, I would almost feel sorry for the poor bastard.” I shake my head. “Anyway, back to our original conversation." Igive him a hard look. “What did you do?”

“What?” His eyes are dancing with mirth. “You mean, like shut off her electricity and water manually?” He lifts his hands to his chest and gives me a mock look of innocence. “Do you think I would do somethin’ like that?”

“No, not you,” I drawl while infusing as much sarcasm as I can into my voice. “Ya, know, I had already told her that we were goin’ to dinner tomorrow. You didn’t need to come up with one of your schemes.”

He picks up a pen and twirls it through his fingers and quirks his lip. “Told her?” His eyes are dancing. “How did she take that one?”

I get more comfortable andcrossmy leg over my knee. “Not sure," I shrugmy shoulders. “I drove away before she could say anythin’.”

He bursts outlaughing, makingme smirk. “I’d expect nothin’ less.” He smiles while nodding his head. “Smart though.”

“Jax doesn’t think so,” I reply grumpily.

“Eh, eventually a woman will come along and knock him on his ass. Then he’ll see the wisdom in your decision.” He gets an evil look in his eyes and rubs his hands together. “I can’t wait to watch it. I hope she’s even worse than Dee just to really fuck his mind all up.”

“Come on now,” I chuckle while picturing it. “That’s still my brother. I can’t wish that upon him.” Even though it would be funny as shit to watch.

“You can’t,” his smile is vicious, “but I can.”

“That’s fucked up man,” I laugh. “What has that big bastard ever done to you?”

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