Dare to Resist (a Wedding Dare novella) (Entangled Brazen) by Laura Kaye Read Free Book Online Page A

want the same. More than that, she deserved it. Which meant she deserved more than him.
    “Like I said”—Kady’s voice jolted him from his thoughts—“let’s not let this conversation make things weird. Okay? I just needed to say that stuff.”
    He nodded. “Right. Of course,” he said. Did she hear the grit in his voice? And what would she think it meant if she did?
    She gave him a small smile and stepped around him, opening a clear path between him and his reflection.
    Colton looked himself in the eye. Could you give a relationship a meaningful try for her? he asked his mirror image.
    His gut gave a squeeze of alarm at the thought, not because of the idea of being with her, but because nothing he’d seen growing up had taught him how to be a good half of a whole. And he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he gave her anything less than the happy future she deserved.
    And that wasn’t the only question worth considering.
    Could you dial the roughness down for her?
    Another squeeze. Not really. He’d had “regular” sex before, and it could get him off. But no way he could only have regular sex. Something in him required the release of aggression that rough sex gave him. And for him, it was so much more …exciting, satisfying, fulfilling.
    He couldn’t change. Not this. And trying probably wouldn’t serve his cause, either—instead, it was likely to create the same kind of tension and conflict that had cracked the foundation of his parents’ marriage and slowly but surely rotted everything from the inside out.
    If you couldn’t be your true self with the person you planned to spend your whole life with, you shouldn’t be with them in the first place.
    Problem was, he cared about Kady Dresco—about what she needed and what she thought of him—too damn much to put their relationship at risk.
    …
    Kady busied herself with the ten new emails that had come in while she’d dealt with Bob and then Colton.
    Colton. Who had almost kissed her.
    Why the hell had he almost kissed her?
    More importantly, why had she stopped him?
    Kady’s fingers pounded harder against the keyboard than perhaps was strictly necessary.
    She knew exactly what she’d just missed. Colton Brooks kissed in an all-consuming way that stole her breath, demanded her surrender, and blocked everything else out until the only thing she saw or heard or felt or knew was his lips, his tongue, his hands, his body. Him . After all this time, she could still remember the almost aggressive way he kissed, claiming her with his mouth, his harsh grip, the hard press of his chest and hips and thighs against hers. Just the memory of it made her heart flutter.
    And she’d just turned him down.
    No, he’d just withdrawn. Again. Though, she respected him for being honest, at least, even if that led him to a different decision than the one she wanted. Much better than him taking advantage of her interest and willingness and putting them back in that awkward place they’d had to navigate after their ill-fated encounter at the party.
    Which was exactly why she’d turned him down—or at least, made it clear what proceeding meant to her. Because as much as she’d seriously consider selling a kidney for one night of no-strings-attached sex with him—just one —she knew she wouldn’t be able to weather the blow if he did anything that communicated that the fact he was with her wasn’t important. And she suspected her ego might never recover if he pulled away midstream like he had the last time. It had taken Kady a lot of phone calls with Julie, who was hands-down the best listener among all her sorority sisters, long talks with her roommate Christine, quite a few pints of Ben & Jerry’s, and therefore, lots of trips to the gym to make up for said emotional eating, to realize that what had happened between them that night had absolutely nothing to do with her.
    But having worked so hard to achieve that insight, she wasn’t putting it at risk