Room 732: Bridesmaid with Benefits. Amy Andrews

chuckled again. ‘What, never?’

      ‘That’ll do for a start.’

      ‘Ooh,’ he murmured and she could hear the smile warming his already silky smooth voice. ‘I like it when you’re bossy.’

      Johanna rolled her eyes. She was not going to be drawn into a sexually charged conversation. She was having this one dance with him then spending the rest of the night as far away from him, his elf-sewn suit and fate as possible.

      ‘Let’s just get through this dance, okay?’

      ‘Come on now,’ he said, his lips dropping far too close to the vicinity of her ear for Johanna’s comfort. ‘Is it that hard to dance with me?’

      She swallowed. Dancing with him – in both senses – was the easiest thing in the world. And he knew it as well as she did. ‘Don’t talk to me.’

      Another sexy chuckle. ‘I think you need to loosen up.’

      The low suggestion was followed by him invading more of her personal space. His thighs brushed hers and even through the layers and layers of stupid ruffles she could feel her belly clench and her nipples stir again.

      Loosen up? If she got any looser around this man Ed might as well just go ahead and put her under E for easy in his very extensive little black book.

      ‘I'm not having sex with you,’ she said out of complete desperation. If she said it out loud then maybe he’d believe her.

      Maybe she’d believe herself.

      He threw back his head and laughed this time. ‘It’s customary to wait to be asked.’

      Johanna glared at him. ‘That’s the problem. You don’t ask, you just kiss me and my clothes fall off.’

      He quirked an eyebrow. ‘I don’t believe you've ever objected.’

      ‘Of course I haven’t,’ she hissed. ‘I develop this kind of…insanity around you. It’s very annoying.’

      ‘So…’ he said and Johanna could already tell he was going to take the piss out of her just by the slightly amused tone of his voice. ‘Let me get this straight. You’re mad at me because your clothes fall off when I kiss you?’

      Johanna knew it sounded churlish and she didn’t have an argument for her lack of reasoning. The fact was he did drive her insane and she wasn’t a masochist. So it was best to let him know up front that she wasn’t going to fall for his charming chuckle and his fabulous suit anymore.

      She looked back over his shoulder. ‘Don’t talk to me.’

      In a rare display of obedience, Ed graciously yielded and they danced on in silence. Johanna just wished she could relax enough to enjoy the night and take in the gorgeous ambience.

      The ritzy Chatsfield Hotel had done an amazing job making the ballroom everything that Brie had wanted. Johanna knew for a fact it had cost Brie’s parents an absolute bomb.

      ‘Okay, so this will be a new thing for us,’ Ed said after a while. ‘Not sleeping together.’

      Johanna pulled back and looked at him. A big mistake. This close up he was incredibly sexy. His square jaw covered in light brown stubble that her fingers ached to touch. Killer cheekbones that begged for the attention of her tongue. Sandy hair all tousled into a spiky do that on any other twenty-eight year old would have looked far too high school but not on Ed.

      On Ed it looked stylish and sophisticated, completing his big-city, stock market hotshot look.

      Which irritated her even further.

      Even now – eight years later - she lamented that Ed had sold out. He’d been on track to be a lawyer and he would have made a brilliant one at that. He’d whipped her butt in debate class a zillion times during high school. He regularly wrote editorials for the uni paper that had made her cry and he’d aced every single exam.

      And then he’d sold out to big money.

      She shot him an exasperated look. ‘Sleeping together is a new thing for us, remember?’

      He shook his head and tutted at her. ‘We’ve been sleeping together for two years. How can that be new, Jo-Jo?’

      Johanna glared at him indignantly. ‘Three times in two years?’

      He had the good sense to look sheepish. ‘Well…on and off.’

      She arched an eyebrow. ‘More off than on, don’t you think?’

      He gave a little shrug and smiled at her. Her underwear heated up, announcing its imminent departure. ‘If you say so, Jo-Jo.’

      Johanna went on immediate alert. ‘Don’t call me that.’

      ‘You used to like it when I called you Jo-Jo.’

      She had liked it. Loved it, in fact. When they’d been in high school and her stupid heart had thought his pet name for her meant he was as secretly into her as she was into him. But now it was just a reminder of all that wasted time and emotional angst as she’d waited for him to look beyond the bad hair and braces.

      ‘No. I always hated it,’ she lied.

      ‘Okay.’ He frowned down at her. ‘You’re angry with me. But I’m not entirely sure why? We haven’t even seen each other for seven months.’

      Yes. Exactly. The last time she’d seen him he’d been naked and wrapped around her, her head tucked under his chin, his big hand warm on her bare belly. And when she’d woken in the morning he was gone. No goodbye kiss. No cute little note on the pillow.

      Like the other two times.

      Johanna looked back over his shoulder. ‘Don’t talk to me.’

      ‘Not very articulate for a lawyer,’ he said after a few moments.

      Johanna ignored the dig.

      ‘So I get convicted without even knowing my crime?’

      She ignored him again. Would this song never end?

      ‘You get to be judge, jury and executioner?’

      She rolled her eyes but kept them firmly fixed over his shoulder.

      ‘Johanna?’

      Johanna sighed at his persistence. ‘I’m not angry with you,’ she said, looking up at him, her nostrils filling up with the scent of him, her breath hitching at how very close, how very tempting his mouth was.

      How could she be angry with him when she wanted to kiss him so damn bad her head was pounding with the temptation of it? ‘I’m angry with myself.’

      And that was the kicker. She could blame Ed and his underwear-melting smile as much as she liked but he hadn’t put a gun to her head. He hadn’t forced her into his bed those last three times – she’d gone willingly.

      Hell, she’d gone faster than a speeding bullet.

      But it had to stop.

      ‘For denying yourself the pleasure of my company tonight?’

      He waggled his eyebrows and grinned down at her and she couldn’t help but smile back even as the true answer burned a hole right through her chest wall.

      For falling in love with you, you moron.

      ‘Because I don’t do casual sex, Ed. And then you come along and my inhibitions fly right out the window and I don’t like being that girl.’

      ‘What girl is that?’

      ‘Your bonk buddy. Your booty call. I don’t want to be your bridesmaid with benefits.’

      ‘The sex is that bad?’

      Johanna rolled her eyes at his faux crestfallen look. She was pleased