Page 15 of Anger Bang
Oh. My. God. Thea. Pull it together.
She let out a steadying breath. Fight. Flight. Fawn. Freeze.
She had an option, if she was brave enough to take it.
And she really wanted to be.
“No personal information,” she said, barely recognizing her voice as she took an appreciative glance at his substantial inseam before moving down toward Kade’s scuffed boots. “No connecting,” she continued, wishing like hell she could squash the nervous squeak in her tone. “Just for fun tonight.”
Wow. That sounds so sexy. How could he ever resist, Thea?
“With orgasms?” he asked, not bothering to hide the laughter in his voice.
Heat that made the face of the sun seem downright arctic blasted up from her toes, and she looked back up at him. “Preferably.”
For a second, he didn’t say anything. He just stared at her like he was skeptically weighing his options as the fire crackled and somewhere in the distance a coyote howled. Finally, he let out a weary sigh and shot her a look that veered waaaaay too close to pity for Thea not to flinch.
“No offense, but…” He paused, obviously giving her a chance to brace herself for what was coming next. “This doesn’t exactly seem like it’s your usual MO. Are you sure this is the kind of thing you’re into? You seem more like a roses-and-rosé kind of woman, maybe strip Scrabble on a wild night.”
Strip.
Scrabble.
Thea had no idea why, but the fact that itdidsound so much like her version of a too-freaky-for-words good time scraped against the inside of her heart—because it might be who she seemed like, but it wasn’t who shewantedto be.
She didn’t want to be the center of attention like her sister. She didn’t want to be a Machiavellian momager like her mother, always looking for the next big move. But that didn’t mean she wanted to be overlooked, underestimated, and dismissed for the rest of her life.
She wanted to be seen, respected, and valued. And that realization sparked a fire inside her, and suddenly she wasn’t staring at Kade’s boots anymore.
“Why?” she asked, taking two steps toward him, her whole body vibrating with a million tiny jolts of badassery she didn’t even know were inside her that had totally surprisingly flickered to life. “Is it because I don’t look like I’m ready for my close-up like the rest of the bridesmaids?”
He raised an eyebrow in question. “More like because I never knew someone could blush so much that it was visible in the dark.”
“I’m not blushing,” she said, desperate to hold onto that sizzling, powerful feeling inside her that had already started to ebb. “I’m overheated from the fire.”
“Really?” Dubious didn’t begin to describe the doubtful look on his face. “Look, you seem like a nice, sweet woman, but—”
And at that moment, all of the buzzy lines of electric need and want and determination to really go after it and put herself first for once crashed together, and she was surprised the air didn’t smell like a summer thunderstorm.
What he was doing right now was what always happened to her. People always thought she was sweet and nice and not to be taken seriously because she had always let them.
Not any more.
Theadora Eloise Pope was going to be the woman she’d always secretly wanted to be—starting right now.
“I am not sweet, and I am not nice,” she declared—okay, she was, but that didn’t mean she had to be everyone’s favorite pushover for the rest of her life.
She cleared the space between them in half a breath, her heart hammering against her ribs as adrenaline and desire raced through her body. Standing toe to toe with him, she looked up at Kade, taking in his crooked nose, square jaw, and the unconvinced look in his eyes, and did the last thing anyone who knew her would expect.
She kissed him.
Chapter Seven
Every single thought in Kade’s head went poof the instant Thea’s lips crushed against his, except for one: she sure as hell didn’t kiss like a woman who’d spent most of their conversation staring at his boots.
The asshole that he was, he’d figured any kiss with her would be hesitant at best and an awkward clash of teeth at worst. He hadn’t been so wrong since he bet Americans’ true-crime obsession would be satiated when all the Netflix documentaries started streaming.
Thea Pope kissed like a woman determined to prove the world wrong.
