Read Online Knocked Out By Love (Love to the Extreme) by Abby Niles - Free Book Online Page A

especially first dates, are rarely, if ever, comfortable, especially at the start of the date. You need to practice with strangers.”
    There wasn’t anything comfortable about what had sparked to life between them a moment ago. That had been excitingly un comfortable. Why was he pushing her off on another man? “But—”
    “I’ll be there. You’ll still be safe. If you start to feel overwhelmed we can come up with a signal, and all you have to do is give it, and I’ll step in. Sound good?”
    She blew out a breath. Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe he hadn’t felt it. God knew, she was horrible at picking up on cues. Or…maybe he had, and it freaked him out so much that he was making sure to put distance between them. Either way, it was clear he wanted her to focus on other men and not him. Disappointment settled on her chest, which was crazy. “Yeah. Sounds good.”
    “It’s a plan then,” he said. “They’re having a dance party tonight around the pool. I’ll stand watch, and you go mingle your hot ass off.” He popped the meat in his mouth and gave her a pressed-lip smile before he chewed.
    “What about you?” she asked as she took a bite of the steak Brody had put on her plate. Though it tasted heavenly, it lay heavy on her tongue, and she had a hard time swallowing it.
    “What about me?”
    “Are you going to mingle your hot ass off?”
    “I think I might.”
    And if that didn’t just make everything perfectly clear. Brody had no interest in her as a woman. Not that it should surprise her. Hadn’t it been the way for years now with her own husband?
    There had to be someone on this damn island that found her attractive, and not because she was two sheets to the wind. She planned to put everything she had in dancing tonight.
    …
    If he had to watch her dance with one more fucker, he was going to punch something. Brody raked a hand over his face, trying to rein in the jealous green monster that was pretty much screaming at him to go rip her away from the fourth man who’d asked her dance.
    At dinner, his advice that Scarlett dance with others had seemed like a wise idea. Especially because, after all these years, it’d finally happened—the lingering, heated glance. He’d felt it all the way to his fucking balls, and he’d blurted out the dancing idea.
    It’d been one of dumbest suggestions to come out of his mouth.
    But the sexually charged moment had been mutual. It was one thing for him to deal with a one-sided attraction to Scarlett. But having her share in it made everything a whole lot harder. Add in the fact that she looked so goddamn beautiful with the ocean behind her and her blond hair blowing gently in the wind, and for the first time ever, he worried he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her. Worried he was going to do something he couldn’t take back. And it scared the shit out of him.
    Because he would not be the man she used to get even with her husband. She had just found out Ryan had been cheating on her. She wasn’t in her right mind.
    But he was.
    And he refused to be a regret of hers because of something she’d done in the height of fury. If that meant he had to use every goddamn bit of inner strength to make her believe he only saw her as his best friend’s wife, then by God, he would. Even if it killed him to push her to flirt with other men.
    He scrubbed his face with his hand.
    Why did it have to be Scarlett? Why couldn’t he feel this way about any other woman on the planet besides that woman?
    It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried. He’d dated. Did the same damn thing Julie had done to try and get over Tommy. But Julie’s situation had turned out differently. She was in love with her best friend, and Tommy had eventually opened his stupid eyes and had fallen in love with her.
    Maybe he needed to try a little damn harder. Maybe he needed to have his own fling to keep himself occupied while he was trapped on this godforsaken island with Scarlett.
    Yeah, that