Quiet Nights by Mary Calmes Read Free Book Online Page A

narrowed eyes and how quickly he crossed his arms. “What’s wrong with you?” he snapped.
    Coz interrupted our rapidly disintegrating conversation. “I think I know. Look at me.”
    Tilting my head back just a little to meet Coz’s gaze—with me at five eleven, he had those four inches on me—I couldn’t help grinning.
    He squinted. “Are you stoned?”
    “Just a little,” I confirmed, unable to stop a sigh from escaping.
    “Since when do you—oh, your charming neighbors.”
    I shrugged, shifting closer, unobtrusively inhaling his clean, masculine scent—soap and a trace of the cologne he wore, citrusy and smoky at the same time. “It’s fine.”
    “It’s really not.”
    “Why? I’m not driving or operating heavy machinery. I’m no threat to anyone.”
    “Except yourself.”
    The psh sound I made did not go over well.
    “You should go home.”
    “Fuck that,” I said dismissively. “After I charm the socks off of Emmett’s kid, I’m hittin’ Laredo.”
    “To dance?” Hutch asked brightly.
    “To pick somebody up,” Coz informed him.
    My smile widened as I stared up at Coz, enjoying the proximity, the heat I could feel rolling off him, watching the muscles in his jaw clench and seeing the scowl darken. The man was truly just edible. Licking him all over crossed my mind.
    “Mia called me, told me about what’s his name,” Coz continued.
    “Mmmmm.”
    “You don’t care?”
    Trance broken, I shook my head and leaned back out of his personal space. “No, man, I don’t care. I already knew I’m forgettable.”
    I turned to go, but he grabbed my upper arm, spun me around, and dragged me back to his side.
    “You’re not forgettable,” he said, staring down into my eyes, his voice all quiet thunder. “That guy’s a fuckin’ idiot.”
    I licked my lips, I couldn’t help it; the urge to taste him was almost overwhelming. The whimper from the back of my throat was unmistakable.
    We stood there, frozen, and after a moment, when I could breathe again, I noticed his entire focus was on my mouth.
    “Did you have a family thing tonight, Coz?”
    It took him a second, but he turned from me, even though he didn’t let me go, and gave Hutch his attention. “I do, and I’d be remiss not to show up. You should come with me since we’re honestly not going to get into Delarosa, no matter who I work for.”
    “Yeah, I’m so sorry,” Hutch said softly, tipping his head to one side. “When you invited me out, I never actually thought we’d be going to a place like this.”
    Coz let me go to face Hutch. “Why not?”
    “Because I don’t usually date, Coz. I meet people places and fuck.”
    “Yeah, me too,” I chimed in.
    Coz looked from Hutch, to me, and back to him. “Well, that’s not me. I pick you up, take you to dinner, maybe even spring for dessert… we walk, we talk, and then I take you home. God only knows how many times we do that before we get around to the screwing.”
    Hutch smiled at him. “You really are a good guy.”
    “No,” he countered. “Just better than the guys you’ve let near you.”
    “Meaning what?”
    I could hear it in the tone on both sides. Coz was drawing the conclusion that Hutch had zero self-respect, and Hutch did not love being judged. I would have said something, but it wasn’t my place to—
    “You’re both being dicks,” I flared before my brain caught up with my mouth.
    They looked startled by my outburst.
    “You”—I waved a hand at Hutch—“think he’s slurring your character, and he is, a little, but only because he can be a total self-righteous prick, and not because he actually thinks you’re a whore. He respects the fact that you put yourself out there.”
    “I—”
    “And you,” I said curtly, indicating Coz, “want him to value himself more, but you can’t help being a little bit of an asshole about it. But you gotta remember, not all of us have families that love us and good friends who think we walk on water. You’ve