“You have a dog?” she asked, gesturing to the bowls as Jayden took the bread and peanut butter out of the cabinet.
“Technically, Tuffie belongs to the entire team.” Jayden reached into the fridge for a jar of grape jelly. “She was shot by one of the men who broke out of prison today. Our team medics kept her alive until they could get her to a vet, and after that, there was no way we could let her go. So we adopted her. Now she takes turns staying with different members of the team each night.”
“That’s so perfect!” she squealed, pretty sure these SWAT guys might actually be angels in disguise and not just amazing cops.
As Jayden made the sandwiches, he talked about how they figured out who Tuffie got to stay with each night. Selena laughed when Jayden suggested some of the guys on the team tried to tweak the Tuffie duty roster so they’d get extra time with the unit mascot.
“They all try to act like they’re big and tough, but when it comes to Tuffie, they’re a bunch of pushovers.”
“Might you be one of those pushovers?” she teased.
Jayden chuckled as he poured two glasses of milk. “Maybe. Not that you’ll ever get me to admit it.”
Normally, Selena never ate anything this late at night, but for some reason, she was nearly starving right then. And the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were calling her name.
“Sorry about how the date turned out tonight,” he said as they stood at the counter eating a little while later. “CPR and overdoses weren’t exactly on my mind when I imagined how the evening would end.”
Selena polished off the last of her sandwich faster than she would have thought possible. The scary part was that she couldn’t stop eyeing the big jar of peanut butter, wondering if she should have another.
“While I agree the last part of the evening was something I never want to experience again, I wouldn’t say the whole night was a waste,” she said. “In fact, parts of the night were pretty nice. Actually, better than nice. And as for how the evening ends, I think that’s still to be determined.”
Jayden lifted a brow as he popped what was left of his sandwich in his mouth. “Are you implying our date isn’t over yet?”
The heat in his gaze as he asked the question immediately reignited the fire that had been burning in her tummy earlier when they’d been dancing…and kissing. She gave him a smile while fighting the urge to reach out and pull him close, to press herself tightly to his muscular body and rub herself all over him like a cat.
“You really think the only reason I came here was for the PB&J?” she asked in a husky voice, taking a half step closer to him.
Selena was kind of shocked she was being so bold. It wasn’t like her. She tried to tell herself that Jayden was to blame for the change, but at the same time, part of her knew that wasn’t the truth. This was all her…the new her.
Jayden laughed as he took a step toward her, closing the distance between them. She swore she could feel the heat of his body bathing her skin. “So, if it wasn’t my amazing sandwiches that brought you here, what was it?”
Selena placed her hands on his abs, moving her fingers upward, feeling the ripples and indentations under his shirt of what could only be the most amazing set of six-pack abs on the planet. “Maybe it was because I wanted another chance to get close to you and feel you against me again. Like when we were dancing.”
This time, she wasn’t shocked at how bold she was being. It seemed this was the way things were going to be between the two of them.
Open.
Real.
She couldn’t describe the sense of freedom that came with knowing that.
Jayden’s eyes glinted so bright, Selena almost turned around to figure out where the reflected light was coming from. But she dismissed that concern when he rested one of his big hands casually on her hip for a few seconds before tugging her against him in the most delicious and possessive way.
“I guess you like to dance, huh?” he asked softly, his deep voice making the words vibrate in the air between them.
“The dancing was nice, better than nice, like I said.” She swayed a little against him so she could feel his growing hard-on pressing against her belly. “But truthfully, the dancing was only an excuse. The touching was the part I really enjoyed.”
Jayden growled a little, pulling her tighter. She felt him pulsing against her now, and knowing how excited he was made her crazy. Not only was her whole body tingling like mad, but there was a pleasant warmth between her legs too. And for some wild reason, her fingertips were throbbing.
“Do you know how amazing you make me feel?” he asked, his words rough and primal, like his throat was choking on emotions…or lust. “The way you make my body shake, just by touching me?”
She gazed at her hand on his big pecs, not remembering when she’d moved it up there. But all those muscles felt really good under her palm. It felt even better knowing that her touch did the same thing to him that his did to her.
She lifted her head to look at him, her lips curving into a smile. “You too, huh? And here I thought I was the only one feeling like I was about to lose control every time you got your hands on me.”
He returned the smile, his gaze even hotter. “Sometimes losing control can be fun.”
Selena felt a stab of electricity zip through her at the flirtatious words, her nipples tightening and the heat pooling between her legs turning into a throb. “I tend to remember the last time I lost control, it ended with me biting you and you bleeding.”
