Flirting With Disaster Read Online Free PDF Page B

laughed more than they fought. The circumstance was exactly as
she feared: She liked him.
    Brooke waved her hand. “Let's skip that
part.”
    Her friend leaned against the bar. Even as
packed as the Grog was, it was a slow night for drink orders.
Brooke couldn't count how many times she had to refill the peanut
bowl. Sooner or later they had to get thirsty.
    Peyton sighed, the sound filled with
exasperation. “And this is where you lose me. You're attracted to
him and he's attracted to you. I think you're more mad about that
than anything he's said or done.”
    Brooke put a hand on her
hip, hating the fact her friend was a little right. “Wouldn't you be pissed
if you wanted to sleep with an asshole?”
    “ Not that mad. For the
record, I think Dane's nice. He gives you shit because you give the
same to him, which leads me to believe you make sure he's mean to
you.”
    Brooke looked at her friend as though the
woman had lost her mind. “So I have to be nice first? Why?”
    Peyton laughed and shook her head. “Don't
get started on your I'm-woman-and-hear-me-roar bit. If you noticed
someone only snapped at you because you did it first, would you
stop? Would you take a moment and reassess?”
    “ I hate my friends,” Brooke
muttered, but bumped Peyton playfully with her shoulder, because
she could see her point “They always want me to be reasonable. And
he's so condescending.”
    “ You're
abrasive.”
    “ He thinks he knows
everything.”
    “ So do you.”
    Brooke huffed out a chuckle. “I'll go
through my list and you'll counter everything, won't you?”
    Her friend tugged at her ponytail and
grinned. “Yup.”
    Brooke sighed, unsure of what to say next.
“So how's being the town's slut going for you?”
    Recently, her friend had
told a crowd of the biggest gossips in their small town she was
having sex six ways to Sunday with Tate. Peyton's purpose had been
to squash a much uglier rumor. Didn't matter, she became somewhat
of a sideshow. Two years ago, her friend would have gone into
hiding over it. Now, because she was in
love , her friend
didn't mind the attention too much.
    Peyton pointed to the crowd. “Damn good.
Should have told everyone I was having lots of sex a long time
ago.” This time her friend bumped her shoulder. “What's really
bothering you about Dane?”
    Of course straying from the subject wouldn't
be that easy. “What I always worry about with men like him.”
    Peyton's gaze swept over the crowd. “That
he'll want to change you.”
    That she'd change herself
to please him . She'd done that before and
never wanted to be that woman again. “Exactly. He's attracted to me
now but a year down the line and I'm still not soft and
cuddly...”
    “ But you'll never know,
because you make sure there's nothing likeable about you. It's a
preemptive strike.”
    They'd been friends long enough Brooke
didn't doubt Peyton saw the pattern. “I'm just saying, he's the
kind of man who'd walk in the door five minutes after I get home
and ask what's for dinner. Like it's my job. He won't understand
why I'm annoyed because he’ll think it's a woman's work.”
    Peyton shrugged. “And I'm saying I've talked
to Dane. If you say to him 'are your hands broken?' he'll see the
light. Hell, he might even make dinner to apologize for being
insensitive.”
    Her heart squeezed. “I shouldn't have to
point it out.”
    Peyton only shook her head, probably seeing
the argument as a lost cause. “How's the calendar going?”
    Brooke accepted the change in subject
because talking about Dane made her stomach flutter and her skin
tight. “I'm going to have to call my brother. He always has a few
junkers he's fixing in his spare time.”
    “ How many do you
need?”
    “ Looking like six. I might
be able to squeeze four out of him.”
    “ And he'll likely know
someone else who can help you.”
    Brooke rubbed her face. “Yeah. I'm not
troubled by that. I'm troubled by what he's going to ask for in
return.”
    Peyton