Cut by Emily Duvall

surrender. The churning building inside her and the heat spreading and moving through her longed to be satisfied.
    Brent ended the kiss abruptly. “Jessica,” he said, in a rugged voice. A hint of laughter rolled off his tongue, like he also was caught off guard by their kiss.
    She stood there with her hands still bound by his and her forehead touching his as her breath subsided. She felt his erection against her. Her longing for more drowned out the rational part of her.
    â€œYou have to decide what you want,” he said.
    He gave her the choice and she knew what she wanted. To hell with Carl and the wedding and everything else. She’d made up her mind about what would happen next. “I want you.”
    He shook his head and broke away. “You don’t know what you want.”
    â€œMy wedding is postponed.”
    â€œThat’s not enough.”
    â€œI don’t understand.”
    â€œI want you to be mine.”
    â€œI’m right here. ”
    â€œBut you also have another guy in the back of your thoughts.”
    He had her there.
    Brent’s eyebrows drew together. “When you make love with me, I’ll be the only man on your mind. Not broken engagements; not someone from your past. Just me. Only me.”
    â€œYou sound so certain I’ll fall for you.”
    â€œBaby, you already have.”

Chapter 7
    Brent saw the defiance in her eyes. She was thinking this very second how to counter the argument. Her skin glowed. Her cheeks bloomed pink. Anger brought out color on her face, something he found sexy and hard to turn down. It took everything in him to resist those lush lips of hers. He fought against his natural-born urges as a man to not take her in his arms and carry her to his bed.
    He walked away before he made any more mistakes. For starters, he didn’t accept the random bit about her grandmother’s bracelet. The proof was on her face as she’d told him that lame story. The fact that she suddenly took up an interest in diamonds made him distrust her motives all the more. Jessie was a liar. She knew how to do it well. And he wouldn’t let her get away with it, not with him.
    The most valuable piece of the Abbott tiara was a green diamond. And it was missing. Up until she walked through his door, he had no idea where to begin to look for it. Now he sensed Jessie was either hiding the very thing he needed or knew about the diamond’s whereabouts. If she had one of the diamonds, then she might know the location of the other six. Or maybe she had all of them. He would have to find out what she knew. But first, he’d get her to trust him.
    The situation required a calculated approach going forward. It was possible Melanie had tipped her off somehow. The question of how stumped him. The Cahill sisters didn’t communicate. According to drunk Jessie, they remained on bad terms. Melanie refused to allow Jessica into her life. That should make the situation easy to solve. Instead, their rift further complicated the entire scenario. All of the pieces didn’t fall where they needed to be. His only tip was Jessica showing up at his door asking for an engagement ring she didn’t want to wear.
    What he had told her during their kiss, he meant. He did want her. He just wanted her to want all of him. The engagement between Carl and Jessica didn’t bother him. A lot could change between two people in a short amount of time. Experience taught him that. Her ability to be honest with herself did intrigue him. She was a beautiful mess and he should stay away, except he’d kissed her, and he wanted more. It was as simple as that.
    He picked up his phone and called Daniel. The rogue, ex-military, ex-gemstone hunter was the man he needed to discuss this with.
    Daniel answered in his clipped, South African accent, “Yes?”
    The sound of loud music beat across the airwaves. “Where are you?” Brent said in a loud voice. He glanced