Tease Me (3 page)

And the fact that this felt a little
bit like jealousy didn’t sit well with him either.

“
You’re off
today?”

“
Yep. One of the joys of
swapping shifts. I get three days off. I had planned on hitting the
beach.”

“
It’s supposed to rain. So
you can help me find a place.”

“
Yeah, exactly what I
need. Traipsing around in the rain with you sounds like a lovely
day.”

He frowned. Bran normally liked her
sarcastic tone, but for some reason, it rubbed him the wrong way
this time. He was sure it had anything to do with the fact that he
was still tired from the trip and hadn’t slept the night
before.

“
I’ll spring for
lunch.”

She slanted him a look. “No fast food
burgers.”

“
You used to live off
those.”

“
I haven’t been in a fast
food restaurant for three years, except the food court at the
exchange.”

“
Okay. But, no
lobster.”

She patted him on the cheek. It was
totally normal that when she looked at him with her hand on his
face, his heart jerked a little bit, right?

“
You pilots are always so
cheap.”

She slipped off her stool and turned
to head back to her room.

“
What’s that supposed to
mean?” he asked.

“
Every time I go out with
a pilot, they are so cheap. Not that I go out with a lot of them, I
have pretty much sworn off them. Maybe it’s just me that brings it
out in them. Although, most guys aren’t like that when I go on a
date with them, so I am just assuming all of you are
cheap.”

“
How many pilots have you
dated?” And how many of them would he have to beat over the
head?

“
Ahhh, I think three. No,
wait; there was the Air Force Major last year. I went out on a few
dates with him while he was on vacation.” The way her voice rolled
over the words, along with the secret little smile she was
sporting, almost had him losing his temper.

Why was he so pissed? He didn’t
understand it. “Well, he was Air Force, so he doesn’t
count.”

She laughed as she walked back to her
room. “You keep telling yourself that, Bran.”

Then she disappeared, leaving him
alone with his thoughts. That wasn’t exactly a good thing. Why was
he acting like an ass? She might not realize it, but his thoughts
were…well, weird. This was Tess Keller. Best buddy a guy could have
of the female variety.

Maybe it was the long drive coupled
with the sleep deprivation caused by wondering where she had been
the night before. He just had to get back to being her friend and
all these weird feelings would go away.

* * * *

“
So, what was wrong with
the second house we looked at?” Tess asked, trying her best not to
get irritated. From the beginning of the day, Bran had been
unbearable. Every house and apartment they looked at, he had
something horrible to say about it. And it wasn’t getting any
better. They had looked at five rentals and if she didn’t cold cock
him at this point, it wasn’t that long off.

“
It was too far from the
base.”

She sighed as she pulled into her
driveway.

“
You’re gonna have to find
a place to live,” she said, getting out of the car and turning
around. She almost walked straight into her property manager, Diana
Michaels.

“
Oh, Diana, was there
something you wanted?”

She shook her head, her blue gaze
going from Tess to Bran. Great. There was no doubt about it—Diana
was Bran’s type. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and lots of teeth. Former
cheerleader for sure. And well…she had some other attributes Tess
was sure a plastic surgeon helped her with.

“
No. I was just showing
the house two doors down. Hi,” she said. The whole thing was said
without taking her gaze from Bran.

Tess knew there was no way out of
this. “Bran, this is Diana Michaels, my property manager. Diana,
this Bran Johnson, an old family friend.”

Diana glanced in her direction, then
back to Bran.

“
Oh?”

Bran looked at the woman like she was
insane. Diana, for her part, was licking her lips.

“
Yeah, I’m looking for a
place to rent. Do you know of any place?”

Diana’s lips curved, then she gave him
a full grin. Oh, good lord, she looked like the raptor in Jurassic
Park.

It was inevitable so Tess jumped in.
“Yeah, Bran, why don’t you go with Diana and talk about
it?”

“
Wait, what? Aren’t you
coming?”

She shook her head. “I want to get a
run in today. Have fun.”

Then she hurried into the house trying
to ignore the way it made her feel…again. She had been through this
all through high school. Bran had always treated her like a little
sister and at first that had been fine. Then, he had become the
football captain, the all around hunk of the school, and she had
been his…little buddy. She shut the door behind her and tried to
wish away those horrible memories—even if it had never worked
before. It was pathetic. She was over him. If he was too stupid to
see her for who she was, she didn’t want him. But those memories
still hurt.

Her phone rang, bringing her out of
her thoughts. She frowned at the caller id and didn’t pick up
because it was a cell phone number. Her outgoing message played
then she heard a familiar voice.

“
Hey, you stupid idiot,
pick up the phone.”

Tess laughed when she realized it was
MJ, Bran’s sister, leaving the message.

“
That’s not a very nice
message to leave me,” she said, still chuckling.

“
Oh, sorry. I figured you
would be at work today.”

“
I switched a shift
yesterday with someone, so I now have a three day vacation. You
know how rare those are.” MJ was a physical therapist at Brooks
Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

“
Yes. Is my idiot brother
there?”

“
He’s out looking at a
house.”

“
Oh, that didn’t sound
good. What did he do? Did you have to kick him out?”

“
Well, first he just
showed up yesterday and assumed I would take him in.”

“
They’re all like that.
Well, not Jesse. He plans everything. Drives me batty. But Bran,
he’s the worst.”

“
Then, he was pissy
because I wouldn’t cancel a date.”

There was a beat of silence. “Oh,
really.”

“
Yeah. Hopefully Big
Toothed Diana can help him find a rental.”

“
Big Toothed
Diana?”

Immediately she felt guilty. Diana had
always been nice to her and, truthfully, she was only getting rude
about her because she’d brought up all those feelings she had
before. It wasn’t Diana’s fault.

“
Sorry. My property
manager.”

“
So, at least he’s looking
at places.”

“
Yeah. Although,
everything we looked at today wasn’t what he was looking
for.”

“
Bran can be particular
about things.”

She wanted to get off the subject of
her best friend. “So, how’s the pregnancy going?”

And MJ did exactly as Tess had hoped
and started rambling off her last trimester complaints. It was easy
to hear the joy in MJ’s voice and even easier to forget her worries
and just enjoy.

* * * *

“
So, you know Tess from
way back?” Diana asked.

Bran nodded as he looked over the
kitchen. It wasn’t as nice as Tess’ but then, he wasn’t one to do a
lot of cooking. And he only had himself, unless his family came
into town. That wouldn’t happen all at once because…well, they were
a bit fractured with their schedules.

“
Our dads worked
together.” He opened the refrigerator and poked his head inside.
When he straightened, he almost ran into Diana who’d snuck up on
him.

“
So, there’s nothing
there?” she asked.

“
Uh…”

For the first time in a long time, he
was really uncomfortable with a woman. Not in a good way. The way
she was eyeing him made Bran think she was weighing and measuring
him for dinner.

He slipped around her. “Nothing
there?”

“
I just wanted to warn you
that Tess…well, she’s always had a reputation.”

The alarm bells started to ring.
Predatory females were not his kind, especially when they were
petty. “Is that so?”

Diana nodded and leaned closer, as if
she had some kind secret to share. “Yes. She dates, a
lot.”

“
And?” He asked, barely
holding onto his temper.

“
Well, you know women like
that.”

Apparently she didn’t pick up on the
warning in his voice. He crossed his arms and stared at her. “No.
Why don’t you tell me?”

Finally, Diana picked up on the tone.
She blinked and her smile faltered. For the longest time she said
nothing. Then, she shook her head. “I’m sure you are going to love
the rest of the house. Two of the bedrooms are small, but the
master bedroom is rather large.”

He followed her down the hall,
wondering if he were more irritated with Diana or Tess. The fact
that she had a reputation—that didn’t sit right with him. But at
the moment, he wasn’t sure why it didn’t; beyond the fact he didn’t
like anyone to think badly of Tess. Still, Diana’s comments didn’t
irritate him as much as the jealousy her comment
provoked.

He just needed to get his head screwed
on straight and everything would work out. One thing he knew was
that he couldn’t screw up his friendship with Tess, and he would do
anything to ensure that.

A day later, Bran smiled as he closed
his eyes and sniffed. Salt water clung to the air. He opened his
eyes and looked out over the white sand beach.

“
This is the life,” Bran
said, as he stretched out on his towel. It was a clear day, with
just a little bit of wind off the water to make it bearable. The
soft sand beneath his body was warm and he had already started to
drift, when Tess pulled off her shorts then her top.

Holy mother of God.

She was wearing a little bitty red
bikini. It was a far cry from the racing suits she’d used to wear.
For a second, he couldn’t form a coherent thought. She’d gained
some curves and now had a bit of roundness to her stomach. Not fat,
but womanly. And those legs…they went on for-freaking-ever. The
suit covered all the important parts, but it was enough to make a
man’s fingers itch to discover more. Not to mention that little
belly ring. God, it drove him crazy just thinking about
it.

He shook his head and noticed a few
men looking in their direction. Dammit. “Uh, did you leave some of
your bathing suit at home?”

She frowned down at him. “What the
hell are you talking about?”

“
Well, you are showing off
a bit of skin there, Keller.”

She shook her head. “I’m not showing
off any more than those bathing beauties you were just drooling
over so shove it down your pie hole.”

He didn’t like that at all, but the
truth was, he didn’t have a right. She wasn’t his sister—although
MJ would argue that didn’t give him a right either. Plus, he was
just friends with Tess.

She could be more.

Oh, shit. His brain must be fried if
he was lying there thinking that he should romance his best friend.
Hell, romance was too nice of a word for what he was thinking about
at the moment. He could just imagine slipping his fingers beneath
the fabric of her suit and the way her flesh would smell of sand
and ocean.

“
Did you put on any
sunscreen?” she asked, thankfully cutting into his thoughts. If he
didn’t learn some control, he would embarrass himself.

“
Yes.”

“
Well, I brought more in
my bag if you need it.”

“
You don’t look like you
get out in the sun at all.”

Smiling, she shrugged. “I wear a lot
of sunscreen, plus, the hat.”

He glanced up at the massive straw
hat. “Yeah, that’s kind of hard to miss.”

She laughed and settled on the towel
next to his. “I got it down in the Keys last time I
went.”

It was then he realized he didn’t know
much about his old friend. They had remained somewhat close at
Annapolis, but since then, they had drifted a little. They’d both
been busy with their training and their careers…and he’d admit it.
It had been easier than dealing with the weird feelings. Those had
started when they had graduated from Annapolis. That day she had
hugged and kissed him and Lord, he’d felt something close to lust.
For his best friend.

He pushed that memory away. “So, you
go down to the Keys a lot?”

She shook her head as she pulled out
her Kindle. “Every now and then.”