Tease Me (2 page)

“
Do you think all I do is
eat and have sex?”

She laughed. “Brandon Johnson, I was
your best friend in high school. I know that’s all you think
about.” She took another sip of her tea. “Oh, and you are in charge
of cleaning up your bathroom. I am
not
going to do it. Men
are disgusting.”

* * * *

“
So, that’s the tour of
the place.”

Bran looked around, thinking he would
have been able to tell anyone this was Tess’ house. Mainly because
it was in order. She liked everything in its place, and that was
something he understood. It wasn’t part of being in the military.
It was more about being a military brat.

Both of them had been born and bred
into the military. Government issue. And for a woman, she had very
few knick-knacks around the house. Mostly there were pictures of
her, her family, along with some with his family.

“
I need to get cleaned up
and ready for tonight. I would say make yourself at home, but I
know you will without the invitation.”

He smiled at her. “Sure thing. I guess
I can survive.”

She rolled her eyes and left him to
get ready. It was nice to be back with Tess again. They had been
thick as thieves through high school and most of their time at
Annapolis. It had been difficult to keep in touch these days. He’d
been deployed, as she had, and they both had demanding jobs when
they were stateside. Now though, it seemed they were going to have
time together and that would be fun.

As he wandered around the living room,
his phone rang.
Jesse
.

“
Hey, bro, checking up on
me?”

Jesse chuckled. “Well, you did say you
would call when you got there.”

He had, then he’d seen Tess and
forgotten all about calling his family.

“
I had to secure
quarters.”

There was a beat of silence. “Don’t
tell me you’re mooching off Tess.”

“
I am, although she seems
too busy to care.” And it still pissed him off. It irritated him
more that he didn’t have a right to be angry about the date. He
wouldn’t have expected a male friend to break a date to spend time
with him, but for some reason, he felt betrayed that she wouldn’t
dump a guy for him. It wasn’t like she was going to marry the
guy.

“
What’s that supposed to
mean?”

“
She has a date tonight
she refused to break.”

Another beat of silence. “You expected
her to drop a date because you showed up? Did you give her any
advanced notice?”

“
No.”

And Bran knew he was being an ass
about it, but he was kind of disappointed that Tess was busy. They
hadn’t spent any time together since…well since they both graduated
from Annapolis.

“
I can see where she would
have her hands full there.”

His tone rubbed on a nerve Bran didn’t
know he had. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“
Come on, Bran. There
aren’t that many women on base like her, you know that. She’s
hot.”

The nerve was now beyond irritated.
“And just when did you see her last?”

Now that he thought about it, the girl
with the huge green eyes had grown into her long legs. Those sharp
angles had turned into subtle curves and with her hair somewhat
tamed, she sort of…well, any other guy would say she stole his
breath away.

“
I was down there…well,
about six months ago. I knew she was stationed there so I called
her up and we had lunch.”

Bran pulled the phone away from his
ear to look at it, then set it against his ear again.

“
You had a date with
Tess?”

“
Good God, no. I can’t
because, well, she’s like a little sister.”

Bran snorted. “A little sister you
find hot?”

“
Couldn’t help
noticing.”

“
At least she made time
for you.”

“
I called her ahead of
time because I didn’t presume. I know she’s a single woman on a
military base. The fact that she’s sweet and good looking, well
that adds to the package.”

“
Sweet?” he asked as he
heard a sound behind him. He turned and every drop of moisture in
his mouth dried up. Lord. Tess wore a pair of jeans, the type that
hugged a woman’s hips, and a t-shirt that just barely touched the
waistband. When she moved, he could see her belly button and good
God, a belly ring. Her hair was a sexy mess of curls as if she had
just gotten out of bed.

“
Bran? Are you
there?”

Bran shook his head trying to get his
brain to work again. “Uh, yeah. Just tired from the drive
down.”

“
Okay. Well, I’ll tell the
old man you’re there and MJ, before she calls again.”

“
She didn’t call
me.”

“
She texted you. So you
better text her back or the soon-to-be momma to be is going to be
upset with you.”

He nodded and hung up without saying
goodbye.

Tess smiled at him, making his pulse
dance. “Let me guess, that was Jesse.”

She knew his family well. “Yeah. I
forgot to call.”

She shook her head. “You know, I’m
amazed they let you fly a Raptor. I would think you might forget
where you parked it.”

He knew she was trying to lighten the
mood. That was what he would have done in the situation, but his
brain wouldn’t work. In fact, he was feeling a little lightheaded
but it might have to do with the lack of sleep. It definitely had
nothing to do with that belly ring, or his need to see what other
interesting things he could uncover on her body.

“
You’re wearing makeup.”
It came out as an accusation, but he couldn’t help it. He wasn’t
used to seeing Tess Keller all made up. She wasn’t wearing much,
but even as he said it, she slathered on lip-gloss. How did he not
notice her lips were so full and sexy before now?

She smirked at him. “Yes, I do that
sometimes. It’s kind of something I do on dates.”

“
You wear
makeup.”

“
Uh, yeah among other
things.” She rolled her eyes, a sure sign of irritation.

He frowned and opened his mouth to ask
her just what those other things were, but the doorbell
rang.

“
There’s Jed.” She walked
to him and gave him a pat his cheek. “Don’t wait up.”

“
Don’t you have duty in
the morning?”

She stopped with her hand on the
doorknob. “First of all, I’m an adult and a lieutenant in the Navy,
so I can decide for myself. But, to ease your mind, I’m off
tomorrow.”

She left him standing there in the
middle of the room, mildly frustrated and trying to figure out what
the hell just happened.

Tess looked out over the water,
enjoying the way the lights reflected off the waves. Out of all the
places she lived in her life, she really liked Surf City. The water
drew her more than she thought possible. Not odd for a woman in the
Navy or a Marine brat, but she knew when her career was over she
would end up near the water. Still, that was years off.

“
You seem preoccupied,”
Jed said, breaking into her thoughts.

She glanced at him. “Sorry. You know
how I am about my schedule, but Dillard needed someone to cover
today and then Bran showing up…I don’t like that many changes in
one day.”

He smiled and she waited for her heart
to kick in. It had before. Before Bran had gotten there. Okay, not
that much. Not the way it did when she’d heard Bran laugh at some
stupid joke he’d made. She had thought she moved on from her high
school crush, but now here she was comparing Jed to Bran, and that
just wasn’t fair.

“
Plus, I always space out
when I watch the water. It’s so calming,” she said.

His face cleared and his smile
widened. “So, Johnson, not competition, then?”

She blinked. It was odd that he would
get worried about her attention. Less than three years before she’d
still considered herself an ugly duckling. Okay, maybe not that,
but odd to say the least. She’d been too skinny and too geeky for
most boys to pay her any attention. Now though, she rarely had a
weekend without a date unless she didn’t want one.

“
Uh, no. Bran and I went
to high school together. My father worked for his…that kind of
thing. I don’t think Bran sees me as date material anyway, but
then, he’s a pilot.”

Jed rolled his eyes. No matter what
service, all pilots had horrible reputations. Jed knew she refused
to date them for that reason. It was acceptable to be friends, but
when a pilot pushed for more, she usually pulled away.

“
Ah, okay. I just wanted
to be sure with him staying at your house.”

She snorted. “That’s not going to last
long.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but
the waiter bringing their drinks and taking their food orders
interrupted. When they were alone again, he apparently wasn’t done
with the subject of Bran.

“
Why do you say
that?”

“
Say what?” she
asked.

“
Say that Johnson won’t be
around that long.”

“
Well, Bran doesn’t
understand that I’m not going to clean up after him. Also, not
cooking for him. He’s not used to women acting that way around him.
You know what that’s like.”

It was his turn to blink at her. The
long silence told her she’d said something goofy again. Dammit.
Bran was back in her life for less than twenty-four hours and she
was losing control of her mouth.

“
It’s just that…okay, Jed
you know you’re good looking, so we don’t have to pretend
here.”

He said nothing for a second or two,
then slowly, his lips curved. There was that little ping and
instead of making her nervous, it comforted her. “So…you think I’m
good looking.”

Tess knew she could play this one of
two ways. Being cool probably wasn’t going to work so she settled
back against her chair and laughed.

“
Yeah, Jed, I think you’re
good looking.”

“
Good. Because I think
you’re hot.” Then he wiggled his eyebrows, pulling a giggle out of
her.

“
Yeah?”

“
Now that we have that out
of the way…why don’t you tell me all about your day?”

She settled back, happy to be on a
subject that didn’t make her nervous.

* * * *

Bran was frowning at his cereal the
next morning when Tess finally ambled out of her room. She wore a
t-shirt and shorts. Damn, when did her legs get so long? She had
always been a tall woman, but now, those legs were no longer the
toothpicks they’d been in high school. Lean with just enough muscle
to make them shapely, he could just imagine how it would feel to
have them wrapped…

Whoa, Johnson. What the hell is
wrong with you?
He shook his head trying to forget what he’d
just been thinking. It was way out of line. Instead, he frowned
harder at Tess.

“
So, I see you finally got
out of bed.”

She looked at him, then down at his
cereal. “You just got up yourself, Bran. I know you can’t wait to
eat in the morning.”

Dammit
. Having a woman who knew
him so well wasn’t advantageous for him. Bran knew it was horrible,
but he usually liked to keep things on the surface with women. He
wasn’t around for the long haul…and it also gave him a little edge.
With Tess, he didn’t have that.

“
Okay, I did, but I drove
a long ways yesterday.”

She rolled her eyes and walked into
the kitchen. “And I stayed out late last night with Jed. Suck it
up, Marine.”

“
Yeah, about
that.”

“
Yes?” she asked as she
started her k-cup to brew.

“
I didn’t know you dated
so much.”

She looked at him. “Not that I date a
lot, but I guess…compared to high school and the academy, I do date
more. Probably not much more than anyone else our age,
though.”

He grunted and decided it was better
not to touch on the topics of high school and Annapolis. Those
seemed to be some kind of sore subjects with her.

She pulled out some creamer and poured
it into her coffee.

“
So, what are your plans
today?” She slipped onto the stool next to his. Their shoulders
brushed as he drew in the just-showered scent of her. He could
smell the herbal soap on her skin…and it made him sweat.

Damn.

“
Bran?” she asked when he
didn’t answer.

He released a breath he hadn’t
realized he’d been holding and rolled his shoulders. “Not
sure.”

“
Shouldn’t your answer
have something to do with looking for a house?”

“
Kicking me out,
Keller?”

She shrugged. “I like my
space.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. It
irritated him that she seemed to have this whole other life now. At
one time, they had been thick as thieves. Now, they seemed a bit
awkward and it felt like she didn’t want to spend time with
him.