Read Cousins: An Alpha Bad Boy Romance (Book 1) for Free Online Page A

behind me. The same man who was responsible for commanding my nipples to attention just moments ago. He notices her staring at him too and abruptly finishes his call. At least it seems abrupt to me, but maybe that's his usual phone etiquette.  
    When he walks back over and stands directly in front of me, I don't like how completely out of my own body I feel. I bravely look up into his eyes thinking maybe the words will come, but now I wish I hadn't. My breathing slows and my chest locks up. His eyes are like magnets. Pulling me into some strange vortex. I've read novels featuring characters that have an instant attraction to each other, and I roll my eyes every time I read one of those plots. I've been attracted to several guys over the years, and seriously dated two of them, but never experienced anything like this. I didn't think this really existed.
    "Are you sure you're okay?" He asks with concern.
    "Yes." I nod while rubbing my arms.
    "Cold?"  
    I can't hide the fact that I'm slightly shivering. The nights are getting cooler as the summer starts to wind down, not to mention the fact that I'm totally underdressed. Last time I'll wear Sloan's skimpy tops.
    "A little."
    He takes off his jacket and wraps it around my shoulders, allowing his hands to linger across my shoulders a little longer than necessary. The lining of his jacket is a midnight blue satin, which smells uniquely like him and it warms me quickly with his residual body heat. I was just about to let out a small audible groan, if I hadn't caught myself. I'm pretty sure he notices.
    He pushes up the sleeves of his shirt and holy mother of god there are more tats. Two intricate arm sleeves worth on strong, corded forearms. A simple but very expensive looking silver watch adorns his left wrist. I can't help but stare and once again, he notices.
    "May I ask what you do?" He asks me.
    "What I do?" I nervously rub the thin horizontal gold bar necklace I'm wearing between my fingers.
    "Most of the women that come to the club on techno night are tightly wound corporate types looking to let loose."
    "And I don't look like the corporate type?" I take slight offense. Why I'm not sure.
    "I know you're not one of those types."
    "I work in the tech industry."
    He nods his head. "Interesting."
    "What do you do?" I ask.
    "I am a consultant."
    With all those tattoos? I highly doubt that.  
    "Can I give you a ride home?"
    "Umm, no we're fine." Right now almost every man looks like a potential drug addict or drug dealer to me. Including him. Especially him.
    "Well he could drop us off–" Sloan adds her two cents, but I quickly cut her off.
    "We're. Fine." I state firmly.
    "Sheesh. It's not like we live that far Bitsy." Sloan mutters under her breath like a bratty teenager whose mom just scolded her.  
    She's definitely annoyed with me, but it's been a long night, and it's just dawned on me that I still don't know the stranger's name. I was too dumbstruck to remember to ask him, and he never offered it. This is just one of the many obvious red flags waving directly in front of my face about how lost I could become in a man like this. An attraction like this. I barely escaped the last relationship I thought I was so careful with. I'm definitely not doing that again. So I decide to listen to my mind and not my hormone driven body. If I accept a ride home or go anywhere with this guy, I may just barely survive it. Do I think he's a serial killer? No. But do I think he is someone with the capability of destroying me nonetheless. Absolutely. No thank you.
    I finally see a yellow cab that looks empty and raise my hand to hail it. I slip the stranger's jacket from around my shoulders and hand it back to him. It's so weird that I feel like I've lost something important when I give it back. I already miss his scent and his warmth. Sloan jumps in the backseat of the cab and gives me a moment while I say my goodbyes to him.
    "Thank you again for everything tonight," I say sincerely.
    He