Broken Justice (Justice Brothers) by Suzanne Halliday

pair of strappy sandals with a chunky heel that would look great with the new pants, tops, and skirts she’d found. His look of astonishment made her stop and pause. Did he think they were too…..too ? She hated feeling unsure. When she was around him it was like every single female insecurity ever recorded bloomed in her mind.
    “Hmmmm,” she heard him rumble as he carefully considered the shoes he was dangling in the air. “I like these,” he informed her solemnly with the briefest suggestion of amusement coming from his eyes. Clearly he was going to joke with her about what she bought and just like that, another crack appeared in her invisible armor. He. Was. Teasing. Her. Wow.
    Oh God, each time all that dark eyed intensity focused solely on her, she couldn’t concentrate. How was it that he could scramble her thoughts so completely without saying a word? Standing as they were, with her packages tossed on the sofa and by their feet, separated by just a few inches, she was enthralled by the power radiating off of him. That she felt compelled to put her hands on his chest shook Lacey considerably.
    He didn’t skip a beat as he playfully pretended to peek in her bags. “I hope there’s a pair of shorts in that pile ‘cause with these shoes on, your long legs would look magnificent.” How she stayed standing, she did not know.
    Pulling herself together with a strong mental shake, Lacey neatly sidestepped the flirty banter with a very specific segue back to more important matters. Coughing lightly to clear the sudden thickness in her throat, she ended by tugging at her bottom lip with quick bites of her teeth.
    The shoes completely forgotten, Cam had to restrain himself from reaching out his hand and smoothing her luscious lips with a stroke or two from his thumb. She was trying to look so serious but was hiding her eyes from him. Remembering his earlier instinct that he’d foolishly bullied her into compliance, he remained silent and waited.
    “Cameron,” she started. Hesitating and still not fully meeting his gaze, her eyes darted in every direction as she shifted on her feet. He held his breath for what came next because he understood that she needed to own her part of this decision. She was not a coward and probably felt that she would stand or fall on the strength of her actions. Hmmph , he grimaced. She’d probably want to lay down a few well-stated rules if he was reading her correctly. Okay Ponytail, he thought, give me your best shot .
    Squaring her shoulders and straightening to every one of her five feet and eight inches of height she nodded in his direction. “Thank you for your incredible offer. Even though we just met, I am grateful and beholden to you for this opportunity.”
    Unable to stop himself, Cam blurted out, “Wait! What does beholden mean? If it has anything to do with obligation, forget it Lacey. You won’t owe me a thing. I had a rough time growing up so I’m in a unique position to understand what you’re going through.” The admission of his difficult past came out of nowhere, shocking him almost as much as it clearly intrigued Lacey, if the expression on her face was any indication.
    “All you need is a break, the rest is up to you. If you’re like me, you’ll grab the opportunity and wrestle it to the ground. Make it your bitch!” he snarled good-naturedly. Finally, because he couldn’t hold himself back any longer from touching her, he wrapped his big hands around her upper arms and rubbed slightly. “I have faith in you, Ponytail”.
    There was more she wanted to say about sharing expenses and honorable stuff like that but all her mind could comprehend was the way his green eyes gleamed when he said ‘ if you’re like me’ . He was so solid and hard, focused, intense. Lacey assumed that was the military in him coming out. Learning some of that may have come from circumstances much as her own made her stop and pause. Maybe her dark knight understood. Actually