Элла Франк - Entice

Suddenly, it all fell together as he sat there in the firing line. He was the target. For some reason, she had brought him all the way across the country to deflect her father’s bullets onto an unsuspecting bystander—him.

While he didn’t overly care about this man’s opinion, Shelly’s behavior pissed him off. So, she did care that he was in construction, or so she thought, and she had decided to use that to as ammunition against her father..

Nice, Man-Eater, real nice.

“Yes, I work with a construction crew—as in building things, such as restaurants, offices, and hospitals, just in case you weren’t sure.”

Josh didn’t like to be rude. When he heard Mrs. Monroe suck in a breath, he felt a slight twinge of guilt until Shelly’s father spoke.

“And that satisfies you?” he asked. “Is it really the kind of job that is stable enough these days to provide for a family?”

Josh felt a headache forming and clenched his teeth. He was about to answer when Shelly decided to pipe up.

“Father, Josh doesn’t have a wife. Otherwise, I hardly think he’d be here, trying to get to know me better.”

Josh blinked across at her, not believing she had just said that.

“Shelly, why do you find the need to be so blunt and distasteful about these things?” her father asked.

Josh sat dumbfounded as the sweet Southern girl disappeared, and the Man-Eater appeared.

“Why shouldn’t I? I took lessons from the best, Father. If I’m attracted to someone, I should just tell them or show them, and I am most definitely attracted to Josh.” She paused and took another sip of her wine as she turned her smoldering blue eyes on him.

Josh felt that hot stare all the way down to his toes, but he was still livid with her. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to nail her or strangle her.

“I mean, look at him.”

“Shelly Monroe! That’s quite enough,” her mother snapped her accent sharper, like a whip cracking.

Josh watched Shelly turn to face the small woman at the other end of the table.

“Is that right, Mother? When will what he does be enough for you?”

“Shelly!” her father boomed.

Josh watched her stand.

“What, Father?” she said, now adding an ugly twist to the word. “You’re quite happy to sit in lofty judgment and regard of everyone else in this world, but when it comes to you—shhh, we can’t talk about that.” She stood and moved to leave the room. When she reached the door, she turned back to look at her mother. “I’m sorry, Ma, but what he does, it just isn’t right. Not for me and certainly not for you.” With that, she left with her wine glass in hand.

Josh sat completely still in the aftermath of a storm he didn’t quite understand.

Then, her mother’s soft accent floated across the quiet space, “I’m sure she went down to the barn, Josh, if you’d like to go after her. It’s down the back of the property.”

Josh nodded, placing his utensils down. “Thank you for dinner,” he said as politely as he could before he left the now cold and silent room.

Shelly was pissed. She was walking back and forth in the barn from one side to the other. Her father was such a damn hypocrite that he drove her nuts. For years, the man had paraded his affairs around right under his mother’s nose, but her mother had stuck around.

Not to mention that when Shelly had been interning at the same hospital as him, she had seen him chase nurse after nurse or pretty much any kind of woman that walked through the hospital. The sad part was he usually succeeded.

Well, I’ll be damned if I end up like my mother. Used by different men over and over in the past, she was determined to find a man who respected her. She was not going to be stuck in a dead-end relationship with a man who took everything from her, only to watch him walk away when he was done.

She heard her name being called from the front of the barn.

“Shelly?”

She’d known Josh would follow her out here, but she didn’t want to talk to him either. Wiping her tears away, she stayed silent.

“If you don’t come out, Georgia, when I find you, it won’t be pretty,” he warned in a pissed-off voice.

Shelly took a deep breath and moved out from the shadows to see him standing at the end of the barn.

He marched forward with his hands on his hips and stopped when he was a foot away from her. “You want to explain what that was all about in there?”

Shelly shook her head and answered, “Not really.”

He took another step this time, making her retreat back. “You used me tonight.”

She nodded. “Yes, I did.”

“Well, at least you’re honest about it,” he granted.

Shrugging, Shelly asked, “What do you care? This was just a detour for you, so you could get laid.”

“Excuse me? Screw you, Shel.” He paused, inching closer with each menacing step until her back was against the barn wall. “I do not like being used.”

Shelly was breathing a little harder now that he was close and all up in her space. She forgot about her father and dismissed all the pain her mother had suffered.

“Then, use me, and we’ll be even,” she offered on a breathy sigh.

* * *

Josh took a step back and looked at her leaning against the wall, breathing hard.

Her bare legs were slightly parted, and her palms were flat against the wooden wall. All the lights in the barn were off, and she was illuminated by only the moonlight. She looked magnificent, and right now, she was offering herself up on a platter.

“I don’t want to use you,” he told her. “That’s the problem and the difference.”

She closed her eyes and suggested, “Why don’t we use each other?”

He wasn’t feeling kind though, and she needed to know that.

“I’m not very happy with you right now, Georgia, so if you prefer to wait—”

“No,” she replied quickly. “No. I don’t want to wait.”

Josh looked her over one more time, and then looked back to the house. “Will they come out here?”

She shook her head once.

“Are you sure?”

“Not one-hundred percent, but doesn’t that make it better?” she asked him, letting her eyes wander down to his jeans. Then, she pointed out, “The idea seems to be flipping your switch.”

He gave her a smug look, and then said in a deep throaty whisper, “If we do this, it’s by my rules. You humiliated me in there tonight. This is my reward.” He watched her breasts rise and fall under the new blouse she had put on before dinner. “Got it?” he asked, needing verbal confirmation.

“Yes. I understand.”

He let his eyes wander. “Good. Now, unsnap your shorts.”

* * *

Shelly was damn glad she had the barn wall behind her because she knew she would have otherwise crumpled to the ground. The man standing in front of her was so intense that she could feel the waves of sexual energy rolling off him.

Holy shit. She was about to get it, and she couldn’t wait!

As quickly as she could, she started unsnapping her jean shorts. When they were undone, she went to push them down, but he halted her.

“No. Leave them like that. Now, unbutton your shirt.”

Shelly wasn’t shy at all, and as she untied the shirt, she almost laughed, thinking of the one he had ripped apart earlier. As she started on the buttons, she let her eyes roam all over the hot, tense man in front of her.

He had his jean-clad legs spread wide, showing off an impressive hard-on, and his arms crossed over his chest, making all his muscles bulge. Shelly wanted to see them.

She got to the top button of her shirt and raised her eyes to his. What she saw was scorching hot heat, and it flickered over her, making her insides melt and her thighs clench as moisture pooled between her legs.

“Spread the shirt apart. I want to see your breasts this time.”

Licking her top lip, Shelly spread the shirt and left it hanging down her sides. Then, she slowly peeled her lace bra cups down, baring her breasts to him.

She heard him suck in a harsh breath, and then she watched with anticipation as he reached down and peeled off his own shirt over his head, throwing it on the floor.

Mother of all that is holy! That tattoo, please bring it closer so I can lick it.

Shelly felt her knees shake, and her panties went from damp to soaked in ten seconds. The guy was her every burning hot sexual fantasy wrapped into one big muscular package, and right now, all she wanted was for him to pound her into the barn wall. Please?

* * *

Josh moved forward, watching her lust-filled eyes trail across his chest and zero in on the tattoo. He could tell she liked his eighteen-year-old mistake because a shiver ran through her, and her mouth fell open a little.

He looked at the beautiful breasts she had put on display for him, and his mouth just about watered. She stood, her back pressed to the barn wall, with her shorts unsnapped and her shirt wide open. She looked so fucking sexy that his heart almost ached as much as his cock—almost.

He took the final step toward her, closing the distance between them.

In a soft growl, he told her, “Don’t move.”

Then, he dropped to his knees in front of her.

* * *

Shelly looked down to see Josh kneeling on the floor in front of her open shorts, and she sent up every prayer she knew, hoping he was about to do what she thought.