Chapter 25

CHAPTER25

“This isn’t what we discussed,” Cayley pointed out as Bryce adjusted her in his arms before he sat down on the couch with a satisfied sigh.

“It’s the accelerated version of what we discussed,” Bryce said as she found herself straddling his thighs and wondering why he was being so difficult about this.

“Is it, though?” Cayley found herself asking as she shifted to get more comfortable.

“Mmmhmmm,” Bryce murmured absently as he placed his hands on her thighs. “This will make it easier for you to interrogate me.”

She wasn’t so sure about that, but…

“Fine,” Cayley said with a firm nod as she folded her arms over her chest and glared at him, knowing that the best way to interrogate a James brother was through intimidation. “We can begin.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Bryce murmured dryly, not really looking all that intimidated, but that was fine.

More than fine.

Because he would soon learn that she took her interrogations seriously. She opened her mouth to begin, only to end up swallowing hard when he asked, “Do I scare you, Cayley?”

“This is my interrogation,” Cayley reminded him as she narrowed her eyes on him.

“Answer the question,” Bryce said, his gaze locking with hers as he gently ran his hands over her thighs while she sat there, unable to look away as she found herself answering, “Yes.”

Nodding, his gaze dropped to watch his hands move over her thighs, appearing as though he was thinking that over. “What did you want to know?” Bryce asked as she found herself following his gaze and watching as his large hands slowly moved over her bare skin and found herself mesmerized by the action.

“What did you do to Sean?” Cayley asked as she glanced back up and found him watching her again.

“Dragged him down the stairs and then shoved him beneath the kitchen sink before securing it with a childproof lock,” Bryce said, only to add, “But that’s not what you wanted to know.”

No, it wasn’t.

For a moment, Cayley sat there, thinking about all the questions that she came up with while she’d been waiting for him, hoping that they would be enough to help her figure out what she wanted, but…

“I’m not going to hurt you, Cayley,” Bryce said softly as he reached up and cupped her face in his hands.

“You can’t promise that,” she said because the last thing that she’d expected from Kevin was for him to hurt her.

He’d been…safe.

There really was no other way to describe him. Being with him had been comfortable and so easy. They’d never argued, never really disagreed about anything, and she’d never been this confused before, Cayley thought, biting back a sigh as she sat there, watching Bryce’s large hands slide up her bare thighs one last time before they reached up and cupped her face.

“I’m not going to suddenly disappear on you,” Bryce said softly as he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

“Then what are you going to do?” Cayley found herself asking as she reached up and covered his hands with hers.

“First,” Bryce said, pressing one last kiss against her forehead as he dropped his hands, turning them so that he could entwine his fingers with hers, “I’m going to walk you back to your apartment and say goodnight.”

“I sleep better in your arms,” Cayley felt obligated to point out with a solemn nod, watching as his lips twitched.

Clearing his throat, Bryce said, “Then, I guess I’ll be walking you back to your apartment so that you can growl viciously at me in your sleep.”

Nodding, Cayley said, “That would make things easier for me.”

When she continued sitting there, blinking at him, Bryce said, “You want me to carry you, don’t you?”

“I really think that went without saying.”

* * *

“Now, where were we?”the small woman hanging over his shoulder murmured as Bryce headed for his apartment door only to rethink that decision and turn around and made his way to his bedroom, deciding that he would probably need the homecourt advantage for this conversation.

“You were interrogating me,” Bryce reminded her.

There was a slight pause, and then, Cayley was murmuring, “I’m really good at that,” making his lips twitch.

“I sensed that,” Bryce said as he walked into his room and carried her to his bed, where he laid her down on the other side of the bed, only to sigh when the little bed hog quickly shifted to the middle of the bed.

“I can’t promise that you’ll be the same after this,” Cayley said, reaching over and patting the spot next to her.

“That was the fear,” Bryce said dryly as he laid down on the bed, only to end up biting back a groan when Cayley took that as an invitation to crawl back on top of him and sit back on his thighs.

“Where to begin?” Cayley murmured absently to herself as she sat there, watching him curiously as he found himself once again running his hands over her thighs.

“That depends,” Bryce murmured as his gaze landed on those plump, pink lips that he’d been thinking about a lot lately.

“On?” she asked, placing her hands over his.

“On what I get when I answer a question,” Bryce said, watching Cayley as she seemed to think that over as she glanced down and watched as their hands moved over her thighs.

“I suppose we could do a reward system,” Cayley said as she shifted to get more comfortable as her gaze once again found his.

“And what would this reward system entail?” Bryce asked, raising his hands back so that he could entwine their hands as he pulled his hands back and placed them by his head on his pillow, the move causing her to lean over him so that their faces were only a few inches apart.

“What do you want?” Cayley asked as her gaze flickered to his mouth.

“Revenge,” he said, watching as her lips twitched.

“Revenge?” she repeated back.

“Absolutely,” Bryce said, nodding as he gently caressed the backs of her hands with his thumbs.

“And how are you going to accomplish that?” Cayley asked, shifting to get more comfortable, the move causing her breasts to brush against his chest and forced him to bite back a groan when her hard nipples teased him through the soft cotton material of her shirt.

Forcing himself to focus, Bryce said, “By getting you to admit that I’m your favorite James brother.”

“I see,” Cayley murmured, sounding thoughtful, “and how does that accomplish this revenge of yours?”

“Because you’re going to tell Sean,” Bryce said, unable to help but smile as he watched the humor slowly fade away from her expression.

Swallowing hard, Cayley shook her head as she said, “I-I don’t think that I can do that.”

“Then, I don’t think that I can answer your questions,” Bryce said with a sad shake of his head as he released her hands and picked her up, making sure to sigh heavily as though the move pained him, and placed her down on the bed next to him before he promptly rolled over onto his side and faced away from her.

“But my interrogation,” Cayley mumbled sadly, once again making his lips twitch even as he released a long-suffering sigh and closed his eyes.

“I don’t think you understand. Your brother’s crazy,” she said, sounding close to panicking, which was understandable considering what they both knew Sean would do if she even thought about admitting that.

Still…

“Those are my terms,” Bryce said, shifting to get more comfortable.

“But…”

“Goodnight, Cayley,” Bryce said, unable to help but smile as he waited for the small woman that he had to admit was fun to torment to make him a counteroffer that he wouldn’t be able to-

“Fine!” came the heavily sighed response that had him panicking when he felt the small woman that was going to get herself killed climb over him.