CHAPTER 5
What,exactly, was she doing?
Jett had never been so bold in her life. Clueless sometimes, but never outright audacious.
Did her big mouth, when her guard was down, tend to get her in hot water every now and then? Absolutely. But in the past, she’d done a pretty good job curbing her wayward tongue when it came to superiors, men in general, and dating.
Nobody—she’d come to find out after alienating a number of her “meh”past partners—liked a mouthy woman. At least in her experience.
And now…
Her haphazard filters had completely disintegrated, and she was in danger of, God forbid, being her real self with a man she’d quickly decided she didn’t want to send running.
Not that the reason for her unleashed tongue escaped her.
It was at first his attitude, and then that kiss.
It had been so easy to decide that by poking at Trask, the big old grumpy bear’s hard edges would eventually blur. And Jett was loving the challenge. The man had initially come off as so buttoned-up and tight-assed, that Jett could tell he was a rule follower, a neatnik, and a ball-buster.
So, she thought she’d have some fun and let her devilishness, shine.
Not for an instant had she thought that would be a hardship. But she also hadn’t known how it would affect her. Like she’d been smacked with a brick.
Trask was, for sure, a gorgeous specimen of maleness, and she’d figured that stealing a kiss from him would not only be amusing for whatever reaction she gleaned, but a pleasure.
What shehadn’tknown was that it would shake her very foundations.
The demanding hardness of his lips. The feel of his packed muscles under her hands. His intoxicating smell. It was a trifecta that had combined to blow her mind.
What had started out as a romp and a tease, had quickly escalated into something much more for Jett. She’d known she was in serious trouble when she’d immediately wished they weren’t standing out in the freezing cold weather where shedding clothes would be an extremely unwise decision.
And she’d thought that Trask was on the very same page as they’d canoodled, which had added a spring to her step as she’d gone to retrieve the dogs.
So, who could blame her for letting her disappointment show when Trask had subsequently tried to speed up their business interaction, briskly attempting to get the transferring of diving equipment done, so he could forget about their kiss, and leave?
Whatshe’dthought had been an epic connection, had seemed like not that big of a deal to Trask. And that had hurt.
Jet had been caught out, or course, pouting—damn him for being so observant—and now he was driving her to a pity-meal because…
…he was a gentleman?
Yeah.That seemed likely. He was interacting with her like he’d been brought up by a mom or dad who’d look at himaskance if he left a lady hanging.Especiallya lady with whom he’d shared an impromptu kiss.
Which only meant one thing.
Instead of backing down and making things easy on him, Jett would have to up her game, stop dialing things back so she appeared to be someone she wasn’t, and flirt with him even more outrageously, if that’s what the situation called for.
She’d probably and eventually make this whole interaction so over-the-top, that the pair of them would end up laughing about it as she made no excuses for her behavior, and waved goodbye.
Not that she’d forget about that kiss once she was shed of him. The man really knew how to use his lips. Uh, huh.She’d be loading that into her silo of a brain as fodder for some highly erotic dreams in the future.
Mentally sighing, she wished they had time for…more.
She wondered briefly if Trask’s lip-skills extended to any other interesting parts she might have rubbed up against during their full-body-press, but quickly shut that down. There was no need to think aboutanythingin the future regarding Trask Sothard, not even how big the bulge had been that had burgeoned up between them.
The man, she was sure, would be long gone, truck tires squealing before she was even cleared for take-off.
Still, since he was being a really good sport right now, she’d relent; take it easy on him for a bit and act like a normal human being. Until she could blindside him.
