Whipped by Sabrina York Read Free Book Online

she’d had of having him again evaporated. They were replaced by a scorching anger. And, if she was being honest, pain.
    Oh, he’d wanted her last night. And he wanted her still. But he didn’t want her enough. He didn’t want her enough to sweep all reservations—and stupid codes—aside and yank her into his arms and kiss the shit out of her.
    She gored him with a glare. “Well,” she said frostily. “I’d better be getting back…to my brother .” She nodded to his two Neanderthal friends, garbling something like, “Nice meeting you,” and then she whirled on her heel and left, pawing her way through the fronds, blinded by the sudden tears in her eyes.
    She didn’t know why she was crying.
    Certainly not because he didn’t follow her as she fumbled her way through the casino to the bathroom, which for some reason was far away from the restaurant. Too far away. By the time she stumbled in, tears were streaming down her cheeks and her breath came in sobs.
    It wasn’t as though a dream had died just then—she wasn’t as melodramatic as all that. But damn it, she’d loved being in his arms last night. Loved being with him. She’d thought the interaction had sealed something between them. She’d thought it had meant something.
    Apparently it had not. At least, not for him.
    He didn’t share this amazing sense of discovery. He didn’t feel complete with her, the way she did with him.
    It was devastating.
    Because she felt all those things…and more.
    But apparently, while for her last night had been the culmination of every romantic dream she’d held since high school, for him it had been a hot fuck. With a hooker. Who happened to be related to his best friend.
    A hooker he would never hire again. Because she was related to his best friend.
    Goddamn him and his stupid, idiotic, Neanderthal code .
    Her devastation turned to anger, which, frankly, had never been far away.
    So he didn’t want her.
    So he didn’t feel it the way she did.
    She’d show him. She’d show him good.
    By the time she was finished with him, Dane Coulter would be the one weeping in the ladies’ room.
    Or the men’s room.
    Whatever.
    She’d show him.
    She’d make him pay.
    With this vow, she swiped away her tears and tipped up her chin. And then, with a deep breath, she threw back her shoulders and marched into battle.
     

Chapter Six
     
    It was hard as hell avoiding Tina because she was everywhere—she was as involved with the wedding party and the planning and the preparations as he was. Whenever he saw her, or smelled her, or heard her voice, he’d ache.
    Which was awkward, because in addition to Angie’s family and Cody’s teeming clan, Dane’s family had descended on Vegas for the wedding as well. He was surrounded by siblings and buddies and parents. There were hugs and kisses and casual conversations. There were gatherings, and meetings and fittings. And through it all, he was hard.
    He knew he needed to thrust Tina from his mind. Forget they’d ever tangled. Forget how she tasted, how she felt, forget the sweet, slick slide of her body on his. But he couldn’t.
    It nearly killed him that she flirted with everyone at lunch. Everyone. Smiles and fluttered lashes for all the Rangers on Cody’s team, who seemed besotted with her—although they respectfully kept their distance. But there were other men there too, including Adam, Dane’s older brother, and Ransom, who was younger by three years. Ransom was clearly infatuated with Tina, though far too shy to respond to her lures.
    But Adam? Adam didn’t seem to have any compunction about flirting with Cody’s sister. None at all. It made Dane want to puke.
    To make things worse, Angie’s sister, Holli had taken a liking to Dane and shadowed him everywhere, popping up at his side incessantly and ogling him and touching him. All this while he stared at Tina, across the room, smiling at Adam. Or Ransom. Or Ennis, or Kaye, or Taylor, or his dad. In the end, he had to