Drawn Together by Lauren Dane Read Free Book Online Page A

the way she smelled. The feel of her body against his own. She’d lodged herself under his skin, drawing his attention. And he didn’t care to fight it.
    That night at his home he’d wanted her to stay over but she’d refused. Politely enough. But when he’d woken up alone and hard, it had only underlined how much more he craved from this woman.
    She stood at the counter, grinning up at Brody Brown. Jonah frowned. Oh, he knew there was nothing romantic between them. Not anymore.
    Just the evening before he’d seen Levi and Daisy at an art event in town and he’d opened himself up to so much trouble when he’d pumped Daisy for information about Raven. He’d never hear the end of it. From Daisy and from his brother.
    He knew though that for a time, many, many years before, Raven and Brody had been a thing. That Brody had been in love with her, or had thought he was, and she’d never wanted to settle down and had been with someone else. Daisy had been careful to underline, though, that Raven, by all reports, had been clear with Brody that she wasn’t monogamous. It had meant something to know she hadn’t cheated.
    But the two were close to this day. Daisy had indicated that there was trouble when Brody’s wife, Elise, had first come onto the scene, but the two women had worked things out, and that she was extremely connected to Brody and Elise’s daughters.
    He knew she wasn’t seeing anyone seriously. Again, Daisy had underlined her lack of
wanting
to see anyone seriously. Which Jonah thought was bullshit. If anyone deserved some seriously, it was Raven. She needed a man to cherish her. To anchor her. He was old enough to understand this thing he felt about her was way more than infatuation. There was a lot of getting to know each other to be done. But he knew what he wanted, and he got what he wanted.
    He wanted Raven.
    She turned her head at the sound of the bell at the door and her smile changed when she recognized him. She was touched. And he was doubly glad he’d come by.
    “Hello, Jonah. What brings you here?” She moved around Brody to him and triumph heated his gut.
    He took her hands, linking his fingers with hers, tugging her into a hug. She went willingly, kissing the side of his neck as she did.
    “You bring me here. Are you free for lunch?”
    “I have a piercing coming in in five minutes. After that I’m free for a few hours.”
    “You do piercings too?”
    She smiled as he released her and she stepped back. “I do. Why? You got something you want me to pierce?”
    “Maybe later.”
    She laughed.
    “So how about I hang out for a few and we can head out when you finish? Is that all right?”
    She shrugged. “Sure. Or you can pop over next door and grab a coffee or something and I’ll collect you when I’m done.”
    “Can I watch you work? Or is it a piercing in a place I can’t see?”
    “It’s an eyebrow piercing so you can watch from this chair here. My station is there.” She pointed.
    He grinned. “All right then.”
    Her client came in and he didn’t fail to notice the more-than-friendly kiss the woman planted on Raven’s mouth.
    “An ex. But
really
ex.” Brody stretched out in the chair next to Jonah.
    “Am I that obvious?”
    Brody laughed. “Nah.”
    “I know there are women in her past too. I’m not shocked or anything.” If he couldn’t hold her attention, it wasn’t that he was male. He knew enough about their chemistry to understand it was more than that for her anyway.
    Brody sucked in a breath and began to speak, but held back.
    “What?”
    “She’s a lot more than she appears to be on the outside. I know you’ve been asking around about her. She’s abrasive sometimes. Blunt. But she’s not as tough as you might think.”
    “I’m not out to hurt her.”
    “That’s good. Because she’s had enough of that in her life. Just don’t go thinking she’s someone you can tame. That way lies madness. Heartache.”
    Well, Jonah tended to think that she’d