THE BRAVO BOYS - SNAKE EATER [book three]

Chapter SIXTEEN

Shelby Quinn

… the morning after …

"Nggghh–shiiiit.." A raspy groan of agony rattles around my parched throat as I blink my sensitive eyes awake beneath the glare of the early morning sunrise. Glaring white light streams through the apartment windows to punish me for all my sins, a baptism of fire that burns my retinas and causes little white spots to pop behind my eyelids.. My heavy head throbs with a vengeful rage that reminds me of the half bottle of whiskey I'd consumed last night and my mouth is so unbearably dry it hurts to swallow.. My exhausted muscles ache as I sit up on the floor, looking around to find myself out of place in Logan's living room, butt naked, hungover and oh so ashamed of my reckless behaviour..

God, Shelby!
I've really done it this time!

A sudden wave of nauseatingly naughty memories wash over me and a prickly panic strikes through the heart of me, paralysing my limbs.. Images of hands, tongues, teeth and a tangle of sweaty limbs flash in broken pieces in my head to remind me of the all night fuck-session I'd shared with the arrogant man who now sleeps blissfully nude in the sofa.. "Oh no.. No no no.." I hiss disappointedly to myself..

My bleary-eyed gaze passes over the hulking form of the sleeping Hacker, who like me, wears nothing at all but a throw blanket slung low over his narrow hips, the rise and fall of his well defined pecs is slow and relaxed..

Ugh.. Of course he looks this frustratingly good in the morning.. Tousled and toned, he is like some kind of sleeping sex-god.. One I don't have the stomach to face in the harsh morning light with my makeup sweated off and my hair a tangled mess.. No, not today.. Not after everything I had let him do to me last night.. Terrible, dirty, delicious things..

That stupid, sexy motherfucker.. Why did he have to go and humanize himself?
I could have happily hated him forever if not for that deep aching empathy his emotional damage had evoked..

No!
No catching feels, Shelby!
I scold myself..

Crawling on my hands and knees I begin to quietly gather my crinkled clothes, dressing in a hurry while making not a single peep.. Unable to find my bra I opt to go without it in order to escape, pulling on my shirt and jacket before stuffing my feet into my boots.. I collect my phone and my car keys from the coffee table, tiptoeing to the door and slipping out into the stairwell before taking off at a hasty jog down the stairs and across the street to where my BMW is parked.. The air is brisk and the breeze cools my cheeks as I rush to climb into my Beamer where I flick on the AC to warm my hands, muttering to myself.. "Shelby, you dumbass! What were you thinking?"

What the hell did I do last night?
Okay, so I know exactly what I did and if I were honest with myself it had been worth the trouble I know it will inevitably..
God, it had been good.. Too good.. Actually, it was the best sex of my life..

What the hell is it about him that gets me so out of control? I never act like that, thoughtless, disregarding the consequences.. It just doesn't make any sense..

And why did it feel so fucking good to do something so bad?
I totally hate the guy, but the fire between us.. Oh sweet heaven.. Intuitive and intimate.. It had been as if he knew my body better than I know it myself.. Somehow Logan knew exactly what I needed, he knew which buttons to push and which triggers to tickle and I'd been powerless to resist his raw primal magnetism.

And to make it all worse, I learned things about him that made me feel– something..
Something strange that I've never felt before, impulsive and intense, a kismet kind of connection.. It glows warm and wanting in the cavity of my chest.. Something curious that urges me to know more about him, tempting me to seek out his sweeter nature, the one I only get to see in small glimpses when he forces me to drop my guard, catching me disarmed..