Nicholas wrapped his arm more firmly around Jay’s waist. “Perfect.”
When the other woman walked away, Nicholas leaned in to Jay’s face and kissed her pretty, wine-stained mouth hard enough that she squeaked. “You need to eat something before I take you home and sober you up.” He layered a piece of dried fruit over the crackers and pressed it against her lips. When they parted for him, the graze of her teeth against his thumb sent a shiver arcing down his spine, and he found himself watching her mouth with a frozen fascination.
There was no way she couldn’t feel what she was doing to him, sitting where she was, but she didn’t seem to care. And even though they were far from alone on this vast patio, she seemed content to remain on his lap with his cock nestled against her ass.
His throat grew tight and he knocked back his port, letting its fiery sweetness consume him and hoping it would wash away the images of things he could not do with a drunk Jay.
“Here,” he said, passing her the second, smaller glass.
“Oh my god, that’s so good.”
I know. And I want it all.
When the server came back, he handed her cash for the tasting and the tip, before asking for a bottle of water.
As they walked along the dirt road that led back to his car, Jay had her cold bottle pressed against her throat. Her other hand was in his. “That was nice,” she said guilelessly.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
Trees formed a living tunnel over the path leading back to the crude parking lot. A dirt shoulder separated the tarmac from the property itself, though the owners had allowed it to become overgrown. Her sweater was dangling around her elbows, and the leaves were making patterns on her bare arms as the wind made her curls bob around her face in a way he foundenchanting.
Jay’s head whipped towards the shrubs and bracken when a high-pitched whine filled the air, the satisfied, slightly sleepy smile disappearing from her face.
“There’s something in those bushes.”
“Probably a snake or something.” He tugged on her wrist and she lurched unsteadily in his direction. “Let’s get you to the car.”
“It soundshurt.” Before he could stop her, she dropped her water and stumbled for the greenbelt.
Nicholas stared after her incredulously—“fuck”—before giving chase. Drunk Jay was surprisingly agile, and although he was faster than she was, she had a head start. By the time he caught up to her, breathing lightly with exertion, she was already stooping down, offering her hand to god-knows-what. “No,” he barked, making her jump. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“It’s just a baby.” She bent to scoop up what appeared to be a mound of brown and black fluff. “It’s not even running away.”
The fluff uncurled, and he saw a face, two eyes, and a pink tongue. Somebody’s dog, he thought, though it looked too matted to be newly escaped.A stray dog, he thought, eyeing the puppy’s grotesquely large paws.And it’s not going to be a small dog.
Jay looked at him with a pleading expression that was so similar to the puppy’s that he almost laughed, but he’d just had his car detailed and getting a dog was not in his plans.
Jay lifted up a dirty paw and waved it at him.
“Please?”
(it makes me want to say yes)
Hisnodied in his throat as he realized he couldn’tremember the last time she had directly asked him for something that he would be able to give her.
“Fine,” he said tightly. “Hold onto it.Bothhands.”
He remembered his father saying,There are two types of women in this world. Those who will demand the world from you and those who will sit back and quietly accept their lot in life.
But Nicholas had never seen any woman smile at his father the way Jay smiled at him.
Chapter Eleven
???????
Nicholas walked her in through the door, one hand planted on her lower back. After settling her on the couch, he disappeared with the dog. “Where are you going to put it?” she asked, kicking off her shoes, and Nicholas answered, a little grimly, “I’ll find somewhere.”
To anyone else, the words would have been alarming, but the dog’s tail had been wagging as the two of them walked away, and she had seen the way he’d looked at her when she’d been holding the puppy. It made her remember a time that felt very long ago now, when she had walked past Damon’s office and heard Nick asking for a dog and his father telling him, no, that pets were a lot of work and wasted time that he would be better off spending elsewhere.
