Read Online Bound, Branded, & Brazen by Jaci Burton - Free Book Online

from the butterflies flitting in her stomach. She wasn’t used to being this close to him. It threw her off balance and she didn’t like it one bit. Distance gave her clarity, but Mason didn’t let go. “I don’t need a pity dance.”
    He laughed. “You think I pity you?” He laughed, then shocked the hell out of her when he bent her over, dipped her and planted his lips on hers.
    Her entire body combusted into flames as Mason slid his lips over hers right there in front of God and her sisters and practically the entire town. Their past, all the arguments and hurts, disappeared, and she was once again the sixteen-year-old girl madly in love with the hot cowboy. She was the eighteen-year-old girl who wanted to marry the man of her dreams. She was in her bedroom, getting naked with Mason, his mouth and hands all over her body, awakening her desires, taking her to screaming heights she’d never known before, or since.
    When he lifted her upright again, she was panting, her nipples tight points of need throbbing against her bra. Her panties, moist with desire, clung to her skin.
    But most of all, she was confused.
    “Why don’t you hate me?” she asked.
    “I don’t hate you, darlin’. I don’t feel anything at all for you.”
    That was a downright lie, because as he continued to lead her around the dance floor, the hard ridge of his cock rode against her hip. She glanced down between them, then back up at him with a smile. “I beg to differ.”
    “You make me hard. Doesn’t mean I still love you. Or even that I want you.”
    She laughed. “That makes no damn sense. Of course you still want me.”
    “First you don’t want to have anything to do with me. Now you’re trying to get me to admit that I want you? What do you want, Val?”
    At the moment, she had no idea. As always, being with Mason confused her, made her feel things she didn’t want to feel—things she shouldn’t feel.
    The song ended, and Mason took a step back, tipped his hat. “Thanks for the dance.”
    He headed back to his friends and grabbed his beer, took a long swill and didn’t even bother looking back at her. He’d just left her standing there like she’d been dumped.
    Asshole.
    She went back to the table where both her sisters smirked at her.
    “Guess he was the one who walked away this time,” Jolene said, looking way too amused.
    “Bite me.” Valerie grabbed the shot in front of her and downed it in one swallow, then chugged her beer. Dancing with Mason had gotten her hot in more ways than one.
    “You should just jump him and get it over with.”
    Valerie’s gaze shot to Jolene. “That would be the worst thing in the world. I’ve been gone two years. Things between us are finally settled.”
    Brea snorted. “Yeah, things looked real settled between you.”
    “Uh huh. You totally behaved like a divorced couple out there on the dance floor,” Jolene added.
    “It was one dance. It didn’t mean anything.”
    “You kissed him,” Jolene said.
    “I did not. He kissed me. It didn’t mean anything. It was just for fun.”
    “Are you trying to convince us, or yourself?” Brea asked. “Because it looked meaningful as hell from where I’m sitting.”
    Her sisters could be so irritating at times. “Look. Nothing’s going to happen between us. I don’t want to give Mason false encouragement, or let him believe there could ever be anything resurrected between us. It wouldn’t be right. It would hurt him, and I’ve hurt him enough.”
    “Right, because he’s just pining away without you. One word from you and he might just curl up and die.” Jolene motioned with her head toward the other side of the bar.
    Valerie followed Jolene’s head motion. Mason had his arm around a gorgeous blonde dressed in skintight skinny jeans that showed off one fine ass, and a body-forming, belly-hugging top that surrounded enormous tits. They were laughing, their heads bowed together. The scene was obviously intimate. The woman had her