She curled her fingers into her palm to stop from reaching out and seeing if that wall of muscle felt as good as it looked.
"On what you plan on doing to shut me up."
His gaze roved over her face, her chest, and lower. "Plenty."
How could one word pack so much punch, so much promise?
"As a wise guy once told me, big statement, but can you deliver?"
He lifted the sheet and she mouthed 'wow'.
Yep, he could definitely deliver.
"I'm not the one who fell asleep last night."
Still reeling from the size of what she'd seen under that sheet, she swallowed. "You're not the one who had to tell her sister she'd married the enemy."
His smile faded and she mentally kicked herself. "Is that how you see me?"
"You were undercutting our gem prices and driving us out of business. What do you think?"
He paused, emotions flitting across his expressive face—regret, annoyance, pride. "I think if this is your idea of pillow talk, it leaves a lot to be desired."
She knew what she was doing. Picking a fight, deliberately sabotaging the unexpected zing of attraction, too scared to have sex and fully commit to a marriage she'd barged into with the finesse of a wounded rhino.
Waking up next to Jax was too cosy, too intimate, too soon.
She didn't want to fall into his arms, didn't want him to get the wrong idea. They might be married but she had no intention of acting the dutiful wife.
He chose that moment to run a fingertip across her shoulder and down her upper arm. Slow. Teasing. Leaving a trail of tiny goose bumps.
"Because I can think of more interesting versions of pillow talk, Ruby…”
His fingertip lingered in the hollow of her elbow, lightly skating across her skin with the barest of touches but enough to make her yearn to have him touch her all over.
She bit her lip as he picked up her hand and nibbled on the pad of her thumb, inching his way towards her wrist where he licked her pulse point, and she moaned.
She had two choices. Do this the hard way and deny them both a good time, or do this the easy way and have scintillating sex as a bonus to a dodgy business marriage.
His lips trailed up her arm, nipping at her skin, setting her alight until she couldn't stand the minimal contact and wanted more.
She wanted it all.
Determinedly ignoring her residual doubts that this could prove to be a very bad idea, she tugged on the sheet, exposing his entire chest in all its magnificence.
"Maybe I don't want to talk anymore?"
"Me either."
In one swift movement he rolled on top of her, pinning her to the bed, and she sighed with pleasure at his weight pressing her to the mattress, his hard cock pressing into her pelvis.
Her arms slid around him, her hands gliding down his back until she encountered an exceptionally taut butt.
Nuzzling his neck, she murmured, "One of us is gloriously naked, the other is way overdressed."
"Easily rectified." He rolled off her, taking her with him, so now she lay flat on top of him.
He tugged her zip down, eased the straps off her shoulders, and pushed the dress down with the finesse of a man desperate for skin-on-skin action.
