“Then why did you bring it up?”
Some dark note in his voice made her turn over her shoulder. He had a thumb through the belt loops of his designerjeans, his gaze laser-focused on hers.
“Was I supposed to hide it?” She kept her voice light.
The chill on the back of her neck increased; it was his breath, stirring the fine hairs at her nape. “Interesting that you would come to that conclusion. Do you still carry a torch for your ex? I’ve seen him negotiate. It’s pathetic. If you asked him to tie you up, he’d run to his father for help.”
“Don’t.” She leaned forward, bracing her palms against the granite top as if she could absorb strength from the stone. “I’m not going to talk to you if you’re going to be like this.”
“Like what?”
“You know what you’re doing.” Jay spun around again. “I don’t belong to you, Nicholas. You don’t own me just because I happen to live under your roof, and you certainly don’t get to hound me about who I’m talking to, like some kind of jealous hus—” She broke off.
“No, go on, finish that sentence. I want to hear what you were going to say.”
Jay bit her lip.
“I agreed to give you time. All the time you need.” His eyes went pointedly to her throat, where she was wearing the ring around her neck on a slender silver chain. “But you don’t get to throw my proposal in my face like it’s a fucking glass of water.”
“You’re right,” she said, looking away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“You never do, little bird.” He plucked at the strap of her tank top. “So whodidold limp-dick marry? Someone useful to daddy’s business, I’m assuming.”
“Angie.”
“Well, well. Not even subtle on the rebound.”
Jay jerked her shoulders away and picked up a dish.
Nicholas sighed. Then she felt his hands on her waist, crushing the fabric against her skin. His palms seared her through her clothes but she pretended to ignore him, loading dishes into the expensive, new-fangled dishwasher that she barely knew how to use.
“Jay.” The bubbles in the sink blurred as his hands moved. “Put down that plate and look at me.”
“Why?” she asked, holding herself very stiffly. “Is the outcome of whatever this is going to change if it happens face to face?”
He ran two fingers over the band of midriff where her top had ridden up. She jerked again, and with the hand not still wrapped around her, he reached forward to shut the water off. She was pressed flush against the counter now, her pelvis cutting into the granite. She could feel the gouge of his hips against the rounded curves of her ass.
“I’m talking to you.”
A shiver went down her spine at that familiar dark tone. She reached for another plate anyway, but her hand was unsteady and he caught her by the wrist, turning her around slowly without moving back an inch, so she felt every inch of his body as he hauled her up against him.
“Why are you breathing like that?” The words were rough against her ear. “Is this turning you on?”
“Screw you.”
With a grunt, he bent down and slid his hand beneath her ass, dropping her onto the counter so roughly that her breasts bounced. He put his hands over hers, caging them loosely against the stone as his face hovered in front of hers. She tried to look away, but he freed up one hand to tilt her chin up, hisfingers gently impressing the hollow of her jaw.
“What is this?”
“Nothing.” Her eyes flicked away. “Do whatever you’re going to do.”
His eyes narrowed speculatively. But before she could speak again, he got to his knees and tugged down her pants so roughly that she nearly slid off the counter. “Nick—”
He slid his fingers inside her, spreading her wide as he knelt between her legs and used one of his shoulders, and his braced forearm to keep her thighs open.
“WhateverI’m going to do?”
The kiss of his fingers moving inside her made her look away in shame, though she couldn’t deny the slow burning heat licking its way from her belly any more than she could hide the soft sounds of her pleasure. It made her desperate, how much she wanted this.
