His Favorite Mistake (Baby Its Cold Out) (11 page)

             
“Do I want you there? Yes. I won’t let you to miss your class for it. The meeting will be long, boring, and brutal. No doubt, the first of many to come. You go to your class. Just be careful. The streets are getting icy. With any luck, I should be home tonight around the same time as you.”

             
Reyna left him, disappointed by his answer. She was just finishing the last schedule change to Brody’s calendar for the following morning, when she heard the door. Distracted, she glanced up to see her cousin Jenna standing in the doorway looking every bit the rich socialite, dressed impeccably in a white wool coat and matching hat and gloves, snow still clinging to her soft brown perfectly styled hair.

             
Jenna’s dark green designer suit must have cost a small fortune, in spite of its simple cut. “Hi there. How are you?” She gave Reyna her usual hug, but her focus was on Brody’s office door. It was easy to see the true reason for her visit. Reyna had conveniently forgotten to bring up the subject of her cousin to Brody on the numerous occasions Jenna asked her to. She still remembered her cousin’s angry reaction to hearing that Reyna was living with Brody. Even after Reyna reassured Jenna there wasn’t anything going on between them, her cousin still didn’t believe her. Then, Jenna had decided her cousin’s living arrangements might just work out to her advantage after all. Since that time, Reyna pretty much avoided Jenna’s calls.

             
Now it seemed her cousin was taking the matter into her own hands. Reyna wanted to scream at Jenna’s selfish behavior. Jenna never called, and certainly never just dropped by without reason. She was hoping to run into Brody.

             
“I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time? I was in the neighborhood and thought I would stop by and say hello.” Jenna looked around her office in disgust. “So, how have you been? I haven’t heard from you in such a long time, that I was starting to get worried. How’s the job?”

             
Reyna closed her eyes and counted to ten. She glanced nervously at Brody’s door, which she had forgotten to close.

             
“I’m fine, Jenna, really. The job is great, but I’m in kind of in a rush right now, I’m afraid. I have class in less than an hour and I really need to hurry or I’ll be late. Maybe we can have lunch together sometime soon?” She stood, shut down her laptop, and began gathering her things before looking pointedly at Jenna, who seemed to ignore Reyna’s impatience altogether.

             
“Well, since I’m already here, why don’t you just let your boss know and we can chat for a while? There’s really no need for you to stay.”

             
Reyna was just ready to tell her Brody wasn’t in the office when he came out looking from her to Jenna in surprise, leaving Reyna little choice but to introduce her cousin to him. “Brody, you remember my cousin, Jenna Vanderhaven. You two met at Cade’s…” She stopped shook her head. She couldn’t talk about Cade. “Jenna, my boss, Brody Samuels.”

             
Brody took Jenna’s hand as she smiled seductively up at him. Something flickered in Brody’s eyes before he returned her smile and glanced at Reyna.

             
“I see. Yes, I do remember. It’s good to see you again, Jenna. How have you been? Why don’t you come inside for a moment? We can talk for a while until my meeting starts.” Reyna followed them reluctantly feeling every bit the third wheel as Jenna looked around his office with more enthusiasm than she’d shown up until that moment. Brody turned back to Reyna and smiled, the look in his eyes telling her that he believed she’d set the whole thing up. He blamed her for Jenna’s intrusion. In fact, he looked furious with her.

             
“That will be all for now. You can leave.”

             
For a moment, she couldn’t move. She looked past Brody to where Jenna stood smiling back at her. Then Reyna turned and walked silently from the room, closing the door behind her. She wanted to cry and she wasn’t sure if it was because of the way Brody had looked at her just now, or the look he gave her cousin. She hadn’t wanted to believe Brody would be interested in someone like Jenna, but she was wrong. Reyna didn’t really know what kind of woman he was interested in; all she did know was that it wasn’t her.

             
Reyna grabbed her things and started for the elevator, her vision blinded by tears. She wiped them away angrily, punching the buttons several times. She only wanted only to escape.

             
“Just a minute.” She hadn’t heard him follow her out, but as she looked back at him in surprise, she knew he was fighting to control his anger. Reyna looked quickly away, trying to scrub away her foolish tears before Brody caught sight of them, wishing she had been just a few steps faster. She was just about to step into the elevator and leave when he caught her.

             
“Don’t pretend that you didn’t hear me calling you. Don’t pretend that you didn’t know I would come after you. What kind of game do you think you’re playing? What do you think you’re doing?”

             
He turned her roughly to face him and she saw the way his eyes narrowed at the brightness in hers. She didn’t want him to question her. She didn’t want him to know that she had been crying. “Brody, I’m late for class.”

             
“To hell with your class,” he said angrily, holding her firmly in place. “The next time you feel the need to meddle in my life, remember this. I’ve never had to be fixed up with a woman before, and I’m not about to start now. My private life is none of your business.”

             
He released her and walked away, leaving her standing there shaken, tears falling from her eyes.

             
Brody could not have made his feelings any clearer if he’d told her outright. She was nothing more than a friend. At this moment, she wondered if she was even that.

             
The elevator doors slid open and through the blur of tears, she stumbled inside.

             
Well what had she really thought? That he would proclaim his undying love for her. That they would live happily ever after. Reyna laughed bitterly as she left the building.

             
There had been so many times when she had wondered what he felt for her. He seemed to grow closer, to need her in a way that gave her hope. Now all that false hope was gone. He had forced her to face the bitter truth. He would never love her the way she wanted him to.

             
Reyna promised herself as she stepped onto the subway car and found a seat that she would never embarrass him again. She would never let him know that for her, he was more than just a friend. He was the love of her life.

Chapter Ten

By eleven, Reyna gave up listening for Brody to return long enough to shower.

              There had been no message waiting for her when she got home. No phone call since, to let her know he was running late as normal. Nothing.

             
Brody was furious with her. That much was for certain. He hadn’t even tried to hide that anger from her. She wanted to scream at Jenna for showing up unannounced and forcing her to do what she did not intend to do.

             
Reyna picked up the phone and dialed her cousin’s number only to hear the answering machine pick up. The thought of Jenna being with Brody made Reyna physically ill. She couldn’t bring herself to think about the two of them together.

             
Reyna gave up even thinking of sleep. She picked up her classroom notes instead. She should at least attempt to go over the material covered in tonight’s class. Her professor had promised there would be a test on the subject matter the following Tuesday.

              After several failed attempts at concentrating, Reyna abandoned the notes entirely and went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate.

             
She was just pouring the hot drink into her cup when she heard Brody’s key in the door. She didn’t want to talk to him right now, but before she could escape, he spotted the kitchen light and found her there.

             
“What are you doing up? It’s late. I expected you would be in bed hours ago.”

             
She turned off the tap and put the saucepan in the dishwasher, not looking at him.

             
“And I expected you to be home hours ago. I guess we both expected too much of each other.”

             
She turned to Brody. “Where have you been? Didn’t you think I might be worried about you? Were you out with Jenna, Brody?” Reyna cursed her foolish tongue to silence. She sounded like some irate wife. That was the last thing on earth that she wanted to know the answer to.

             
She watched his reaction across the granite island separating them.

             
“I’m sorry. That was unforgivable. I had no right to ask you that.” At that moment, she wished the floor would just swallow her up. She picked up the cup again and her fingers shook, spilling the hot liquid onto her hand. She didn’t care. She just needed to get away so she could think clearly again.

             
Brody wasn’t prepared to let her off so easily. He stepped in front of her mere inches away.

             
“Is that what you want to hear, Reyna? That I was out with your cousin?” She could see the controlled anger in every inch of him as he spoke. “Why the hurt look? Isn’t that what you wanted? Wasn’t that the whole reason you invited her to the office today in the first place? To set her up with me? That’s what Jenna told me. She told me you’d been planning this moment for a long time.”

             
He watched her expression closely, seeing every emotion. The fear, the self-hate, the pain. Then he slowly took the cup from her unresisting fingers and sat it down, whispering, “Isn’t that what you intended to happen? What you wanted? For me to be with your cousin?”

             
“No.” She made a soft tortured sound, looking at him with all her longing and desire showing in her eyes. She wasn’t sure which of them moved first, but then she was in his arms, his hand threading through her hair turning her face up to his.

             
Brody’s lips met hers, his kiss still held remnants of his anger. It didn’t stop her from responding to his touch. Reyna was drowning against his lips. She wanted him so much. Brody lifted her up in his arms, his lips never leaving hers as sat her on the kitchen island parting her legs and then he drug her up against his hard body.

             
His lips moved seductively against hers, forcing them apart. He took his time, exploring her inner softness with his tongue. Touching her. He jerked the knot of her belt loose parting her robe, his hands moving inside, touching her waist before his fingers slid slowly over her ribcage to her breast. Her nipples hardened and swelled within his hands.

             
He said something, but it sounded little more than a whisper against her lips. Cold air replace his touch against her skin. He had let her go, turning his back on her. His breathing hard and labored, mirroring her own.

             
“Brody? What is it?” She heard the corrosive sound of her voice as her fingers went automatically up to touch her swollen mouth.

             
He turned back to look at her, his gaze traveling slowly over her naked body seeing the havoc his touch had caused before resting on her soft swelling lips almost against his will.

             
“Reyna, for God’s sake.” His voice had never sounded so hard. “Go. Just leave before it’s too late. Before I change my mind. Before I forget who you are.”

             
Reyna couldn’t stop the sob that escaped as she pulled the robe together with fingers that shook and ran from him. She closed her bedroom door leaning heavily against it placing her hand against her mouth to stifle her sobs.

             
She didn’t want Brody to know how crushing his rejection had been.

             
How could she have been so stupid as to ask him the one question she didn’t want to know the answer to? He had been with Jenna. Maybe he was imagining Jenna’s body in his arms when he’d kissed her.

             
Just how much of her true feelings had she exposed to him tonight by responding to his kiss, his touch the way she had? She had all but told him she loved him with her every response.

             
Reyna closed her eyes. She wouldn’t cry. She heard Brody knock quietly on her door as she squeezed her eyes shut not responding. She couldn’t face him now. The last thing she wanted to do was look into his beautiful blue eyes and beg him to love her.

             
The door open slightly and the light from the hallway invade the room. He said her name softly but she didn’t answer.

             
She lay perfectly still and prayed he wouldn’t press the issue enough to call her hand. He knew she wasn’t sleeping, but hopefully, he would have mercy on her and not force her to reveal how vulnerable she was to him tonight.