Break of Day. Andie J. Christopher

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ whatever.”

      He gestured for her to go up the stairs ahead of him, so she put a wiggle in her step as she ascended toward the rooftop.

      “Hurry up.”

      Carla sniffed at him. “Seen enough?”

      * * * *

      Jonah would never see enough of Carla’s firm, little ass. But he wasn’t about to tell her that. He wasn’t about to give her any indication that she was anything but an annoyance to him.

      Her little gasp when they’d entered the lobby was enough to make him half hard. Any more of her cuteness, anything resembling a sex sound might send him over the fucking edge.

      And Charlie was going to eat this shit up with a spoon. If Charlie hadn’t kicked in half the seed money for this book project, he wouldn’t have agreed to meet the guy for drinks, much less brought Carla along with him. But he didn’t like the idea of Carla traipsing the streets of Havana all by her lonesome.

      So, he’d just have to grit his teeth and try not to tear his erstwhile friend into tiny pieces while he flirted with Carla. And he’d flirt his rich, smug ass off. Charlie reminded Jonah way too much of his former best friend from college, and there were a lot of good reasons for the “former.”

      Sure enough, as soon as they got to the roof, Jonah noticed Charlie noticing Carla.

      “You brought me a treat?” Charlie’s question made Jonah grind his teeth and suppress a growl.

      Instead of clocking the guy, Jonah lifted his chin. “More like a white elephant gift.” He only said it because he thought Carla was too busy looking at the city to hear his words.

      He realized that he was wrong when she punched him in the arm. “Never liken a woman to an elephant. It’s bad for your health. If anyone around here is a crappy gift, it’s you.”

      Charlie laughed, and Carla extended her hand. “Carla Hernandez.”

      Jonah rolled his eyes at both of them. Until Charlie kissed Carla on both cheeks, and his shoulders tensed. He had no right to be upset. She wasn’t his girlfriend; she wasn’t even his lover. But he hated Charlie’s lips on her.

      “Charlie Laughlin.”

      “How do you know Little Mary Sunshine over here?” Charlie’s eyes got big when Carla asked that question, and he laughed again. So hard he doubled over.

      “It’s not that funny.” Jonah narrowed his eyes at his soon-to-be former friend.

      When Charlie caught his breath, he said, “Of course it’s funny. No one gives you shit like this. I fucking love it.”

      Carla sat down in one of the orange chairs bordering the pool. “I’d hardly believe that. He’s so easy to give a hard time to.” She patted Jonah on the arm, and goose bumps rose on his skin. Carla had him on a leash and she didn’t even know it. “You can practically see the steam coming out of his ears.”

      “Most people are afraid he’ll step on them if they piss him off.” Charlie had stayed standing. “A mojito? I owe you a drink for the best laugh I’ve had in ages.”

      Carla nodded. “I’ll let you buy me two. That laugh was worth at least two.”

      Jonah scowled at Charlie. “Beer.”

      Charlie winked at both of them. “Maybe I’ll see if they have anything on the menu that will pull that stick out of your ass.”

      When Charlie walked away, Jonah sat in the chair next to Carla’s and leaned over into her space. “Stop flirting with him.”

      “You can’t tell me what to do.” Something defiant flashed in her eyes, and it made his jeans tighten over his cock. “Why don’t you want me flirting with him, huh? Jealous?”

      “Why would I be jealous? I’m trying to save him from another messy divorce.” Jonah didn’t know for a fact that Charlie’s divorce was messy, but still.

      “Maybe we’d be very happy together. He seems like a nice guy. Unlike some of my recent acquaintances.” Carla smiled, but her words still hit him.

      She might be right about that, but the thought of Carla happy with his friend made him kind of sick. Shit. Maybe they belonged together. They even had the same first initials.

      Jonah didn’t say any of that. He just stared at her, looking for some indication that she was joking. He didn’t know why he cared. She didn’t like him, and it wasn’t like they were going to start dating.

      But it did matter. Charlie brought their drinks back, and Carla beamed at him. Jonah wanted that light shined on him. He didn’t deserve it, not after the way he’d treated her, but he wanted it just the same.

      “Why are you here?” Jonah wanted to get this over with, so he could get Carla away from Charlie as soon as possible.

      “Can you be nice for like five minutes?” Carla pinched his forearm, which did the same thing to him as all of her other touches—it made blood rush to his dick. It was sick and twisted, and he took a long swallow of beer to calm himself down.

      “No, he can’t.” As usual, Charlie was going to say too much. Jonah held his breath, hoping that his friend wasn’t going to lay out why Jonah couldn’t have nice things. “Ever since college, he’s been a surly asshole.”

      Jonah took in air, but stared Charlie down, trying to silently communicate a plea for discretion.

      “You’ve known each other since college?”

      “Yeah, we were the same year,” Jonah answered, hoping he could steer the conversation away from a trip down memory lane. “So, man, what are you doing in Cuba?”

      “Vacation.” Charlie sat back and took a long drink of his mojito. He looked like a tool drinking through a straw. Normally, Jonah would give him shit about that, but he wanted this excursion to be as short as possible. “And I have a proposal for you.”

      “Are you secretly in love with him?” Carla piped in, uninvited. He looked at her half-empty glass and color brushing her cheeks, glad that at least she was getting some amusement out of all this. “If you ask him to marry you, can I be in the wedding? I’ll give him away.”

      “If I didn’t know you were in a rush to get rid of me before...”

      Charlie looked back and forth between them for a long moment, with a smile that, back in college, would have meant a trip to Windsor, Canada, and a killer hangover. Now that they were over twenty-one and didn’t have to go over a border to drink, it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

      Charlie looked at him. “What ever did you do to make this glorious creature hate you?”

      “I don’t hate him.” Carla smiled at Charlie again, which had Jonah on the edge of a coronary event. “He’s too pretty to hate.”

      Jonah scoffed and pointed at his friend. “Clearly you have some vision issues.” Charlie had always been the best-looking, best-dressed, most well-connected guy that Jonah knew. He СКАЧАТЬ