Finding Trust (Centre Games) Read Online Free PDF Page A

thanks.”
    “Happy New Year,” they said in unison, with a lot of loud clinking of bottles.
    Brayden wandered over to the lounge and sat beside her. He casually placed his arm around her shoulders. Then he moved in close and breathed into her ear, “Follow my lead here.” She nodded to him, not sure why. Maybe it was another shot of his killer scent or his warm breath still tingling in her ear but she trusted him.
    “Guys, this is Rihanna.” She was greeted with a chorus of hi’s. “She’s an old friend of mine.”
    “Rihanna, this is Jace, Matt, Dean, and Cody.” He motioned to each one as he said their names. She nodded in turn. She realised what all the fuss about Steel was. These guys were seriously hot. All of them were above average in the looks department and together, they sure did rock.
    Her thoughts were brought to the present by a cell phone going off. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was one of the Steel signature songs. Jace retrieved the cell phone from his pocket and answered the call. “Hey, Happy New Year, mate.” He motioned to the phone and mouthed “Reece.” They all nodded and took a little more interest in the call. “It’s a boy? That’s great, Reece. What did you guys call him?” There was a lot more “ahhs“ and “oh greats.” Jace ended the call.
    “Reece and Ally had a baby boy—all good. They called him Theodore Nathaniel.” That got a few raised eyebrows. “Yeah, they’re going to call him Teddy for short. “
    The guys raised and touched their bottles together again. “To Teddy.”
    “Let’s head back to the hotel and catch up with the girls,” Jace suggested. “You want to come back, too, or are you gonna head home, Bray?”
    “Rihanna’s just got into town this afternoon. I think we’ll head home. We have a lot of catching up to do. ” He felt her stiffen beside him. He wanted the guys to think that there was something going on. It would be much easier to explain and they wouldn’t bug him to head off with them if they thought he was about to score. He soothingly stroked her shoulder. “You guys go on ahead.” With that, they said their good nights and headed out.
    Alone at last. Rihanna stiffened immediately under the weight of the arm casually around her shoulders. The stiffening was her body’s prior reaction to her brain kicking in and asking her the obvious question of what the hell was she doing in the dressing room of the strange guy she had just met, all by herself, on New Year’s Eve? He noticed her immediate tensing and figured that her good sense was beginning to return. “Hey, it’s okay; you have nothing to worry about with me.”
    Her heart that had quickened its tempo seemed to relax and steady out. She was deeply attracted to him but that did not mean that her good sense counted for nothing.
    “What was all that about?” she asked.
    He turned his head and looked directly down into the depths of her warm hazel eyes. They reminded him of hot gooey caramel and nut candies.
    “What do you mean?”
    “The bit with the guys—follow my lead.”
    “Oh, that.”
    He paused as if gathering his thoughts and deciding the best way to tell her something. Sticking to his mantra of never straying too far from the truth, he replied, “Well, to be honest, I figured you had had a pretty rough night and could use a little space.”
    The fear and the trauma of the near abduction flashed across her face. His anger began to rise at the thought of those two guys having frightened her or putting their hands on her. She had an innocence—or was it a wholesomeness—that just didn’t sit right with the treatment she had been dished out at the hands of those guys.
    He continued on, changing the subject before she had too long to linger in her thoughts about the attack. “Also, I have to admit that I noticed you out there, thought you were hot, and that I would like to know you better.” Well, that was the truth. He’d just omitted a key part. He