“According to you, I’m aplayer,” I continued, “sluttier than all the alley cats put together. Why go to some amateur whenIcan give you what you want?” I flung the shirt onto the bed.
She blinked. The delicate curve of her throat moved as if she’d swallowed a boulder. Yeah, she finally realized I was dead-serious. Good. Maybe some sense would finally reclaim its space in that stubborn head of hers.
Except her gaze drifted over my body, following my hands to my pants as I unbuckled and got rid of my belt. Slowly, I tossed it on top of my shirt, and her gaze rushed to mine. I prowled closer. She hurriedly stepped back as if that would stop me from making my point.
The bed halted her retreat. She glared. “I don’t want you.”
“Too bad.”
I lowered my hands on her waist. Her eyes popped even wider. For once, she seemed at a loss for words. Satisfied she hadn’t pushed me away, I lowered my head and brushed my lips along her jaw. She didn’t have to know I wouldn’t do anything more than this.
Her breath hitched…in anticipation?
Was she actually that damn curious about sex…or was it with Cal? Something inside me coiled like a spring at the thought that she would seek out a dickhead like him to fulfill whatever lusty fantasy she had—
Hell, she smelled amazing. Like flowers…and apples. The fragrance seeped into me, lodging in my olfactory cortex or whatever the hell it was that trapped smells in my senses. At the sensation of her peach-smooth skin beneath my mouth, the air caught in my lungs, and the swirling emptiness—even the shitstorm that had plagued me since this morning—quieted.
As if her mind finally caught up with her brain and waded through her shock, she slapped her palms against my bare chest, a touch I felt right in my solar plexus, stunning me senseless once more. “Don’t you dare, Griffin,” she choked out. “Or…or I’ll tell Max.”
“Go ahead. Here’s the thing, Bug. Max, your idol? He asked us to keep an eye on you. War must have lost his fucking mind looking into those limpid hazel eyes of yours. Go ahead, shout it from this hotel rooftop to all of San Francisco. It makes little difference.”
Her jaw dropped. If looks could kill, her favorite boy and I would be skewered by now.
“Max?” she choked out, breaking free of my hold. “Max put you up to this?”
Not this time, but no need for her to know that. I shrugged. “What’s it gonna be, Bug?”
“I don’t even like you.”
And she was still arguing with me.
“Still don’t care, as long as I’ve saved you from your own foolishness.”
“Saved—foolishness?” she sputtered, her cheeks taking on a tantalizing shade of pink beneath her tan skin, her eyes flashing a striking gold-streaked emerald.
“Yes,” I retorted…then I relented. “Very well. Since I saved you, I’ll take your gratitude as payment instead.”
“Gratitude—pay-payment?”
“Why do you repeat everything I say?” I asked, knowing it would irritate her.
“Because I’m so freakin’ furious, I want to-I want to—”
“Is that your way of telling me you want me to fuck you, Rayen?” I cocked a brow, hiding my amusement. “Very well, I’m ready. Undress.”
RAY
Undress?My breath tangled in my throat.
No-no, I had to be in some alternate universe. I wasn’t really in this hotel room with Jack, but home in my warm bed and with my cranky cat.
Jack and I were like the North and South Poles, repelling magnets, never the twain shall meet and all that crap. Yet my unruly eyes did a quick downward glide from those inked right biceps and pec to trail over his ripped abs. Even the five-inch scar low on his left oblique didn’t mar his male beauty.
Ugh. This had to be another bad dream—okay, a sexy one, I wasn’t blind. The guy oozed sex appeal like God hadn’t known where to shelf the abundance and used Jack to shore up all the looks and hotness. But that was neither here nor there right now. Not when the wretch had me trapped in this penthouse.
“Yes? No?”
I blinked. At his amused stare, I wanted to slap myself upside the head. Great. He’d caught me checking him out. My body suddenly too warm, I shifted uneasily.
