Jax

I guide the two girls to the family restroom as Raegan walks past me with her hand in Nathan’s.

The restroom has a door, unlike the men’s and women’s room. I imagine it’s for little kids who pitch a fit for not getting the candy they want, their Mom or Dad hauling them inside, scolding them for acting out in public.

One of the girls pushes open the door, and I stop as they step inside.

“Aren’t you coming?” the blonde whines, smacking her gum.

I hold back my wince, hating the noise that came out of her mouth.

“It’ll be fun,” the redhead says, running a finger down my chest.

I want to step away from her touch, but I don’t. “Actually, I can’t.” Walker pulls on his leash. Perfect. “I can’t leave Walker alone. Maybe next time.”

They scowl at him, and I’m immediately grateful I didn’t step over the threshold of the restroom. Anyone who doesn’t like Walker doesn’t deserve my time.

“Your loss,” the redhead says as the restroom door slams in my face, effectively ending our conversation.

The only reason I followed them was because Raegan was with another guy. She’s here on a date, and that doesn’t sit well with me.

I clench my hand in a fist at the thought of Nathan touching her all night. He gets to exist in her orbit all night, and I hate him for it.

Instead of going about my business when Nathan showed his smug face, I decided to slip into the persona I’ve become accustomed to since I started college.

Walker drags me toward my truck where I left Graham and Luke. They had to drag my ass out of the house. I’m up to my ears in homework, but they begged me to come, saying they needed me to be their wingman for the night.

I think it’s weird they wanted to come to a drive-in movie. Most of the chicks here are already paired off with a guy. I mean, guys bring their dates here for one reason—to get laid. Once it’s dark enough, bodies disappear from view in the backs of the trucks, and you can hear the moans coming from the vehicle next to you. I’ve done it before, but I’m not interested tonight.

They knew I didn’t want to come, but they harassed me about being hung up on someone I hardly know. I told them I’d come if I could bring Walker, and they surprisingly agreed. I’d for sure thought that would get me a pass…but apparently not.

I left Graham and Luke to fend for themselves when I saw Raegan on the back of a truck, swinging her legs and stuffing her face like she hadn’t eaten in days.

I smiled as I watched her from afar, loving that she wasn’t afraid to eat her weight in food when most girls only picked at a salad.

I waited until she reappeared from the restroom to unclip Walker’s leash. It was stupid. I should have stayed away from her, but it’s like there’s a gravitational pull around her. I can’t help but to be drawn to her, no matter where she is.

Walker pulls on his leash, and I blindly follow him, too lost in my own head. But my foot sinks into something mushy, and I look down to see a pile of mud from the downpour of rain we had earlier in the day.

I step away from the mud, noting it’s only on the sole of my shoe, but my gaze tracks to Walker, who is shamelessly plopped in the mud.

“Walker”—I yank his leash—“get up.”

He stares at me, letting his tongue hang out of his mouth, and I glower at him in warning.

He stands from the mud, and I groan when I see the bottom half of him is completely filthy.

“It’s your own fault that you’re going to smell like a pile of shit,” I tell him.

He cocks his head to the side before he shakes out his fur, drops of mud landing on my clothes.

“Thanks, bud. Now, we both smell like shit.”

I glance around the field, light streaming from the movie screen and the street lamps by the food trucks, and spot my truck in the middle of the field. I head back, ready to face Graham’s and Luke’s complaints about me running off. But I stop in my tracks when I see Raegan in the back of Nathan’s truck, kissing him.

I scowl, both at myself and them. I hate that I feel this overwhelming need to protect her. I hate that I want to be the guy her soft lips are touching, melding with her as my tongue slips between her lips. I can almost imagine the way the curve of her hip would feel under the palm of my hand.

The longer I watch Nathan attack Raegan with his mouth, the madder I get, so I drop Walker’s leash. He runs straight toward them, as if he can sense exactly where I want him to go.

Walker jumps into the back of the truck, bouncing all over Raegan and licking her face.

Nathan grimaces at my dog and shouts, “Get off!”

I run over to make sure he won’t push Walker off the bed of his truck.

Raegan’s laugh rings through the air, meeting my ears. It’s one of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard, sweet and innocent, and I would do anything to make her laugh again.

“Walker, down,” I command, grabbing his leash, as Raegan’s laughter dies down.

“Andrews,” Nathan grinds out, “why can’t you control your dog?”

I shrug, not intimidated by him. “His leash slipped.”

“Like I believe that,” he grumbles under his breath.

I turn my attention to Raegan. She’s a gorgeous mess, covered in mud, with her blonde hair in a disarray from the pillow her head was on. I wonder if that’s what she looks like first thing in the morning.

“Sorry about that,” I apologize to her, watching her eyes shine as she ruffles Walker’s fur.

Somehow, Nathan got by unscathed from Walker’s attack and doesn’t have a drop of dirt on him.

“It’s fine.” She beams, wiping at her muddy clothes.

“Walker, down.” I snap my fingers, and he hops out of the truck. I pat his side, silently thanking him.

Nathan cringes, taking in Raegan’s appearance. I clench my fist at my side, keeping myself from landing a punch to his face. How he could see her as anything other than beautiful is beyond me.

“This isn’t my truck,” he mutters, scooting away from her.

It takes her a minute before she understands what he said.

“It’s, uh, no problem. I can walk home.” She scoots away from the back of the truck until her legs hang off the edge of the tailgate. “I should go. I’m not going to be very good company once this dries.”

Nathan eyes her up and down. “I’m sorry.”

She hops off, landing in the grass with a slight wobble. I grab her elbow, steadying her until she finds her balance. There’s no way she can walk home in those shoes.

“I’ll see you later,” she says to Nathan as she turns away from him.

I follow behind her, ignoring the string of curse words coming out of Nathan’s mouth, only loud enough for me to hear.

The guy is a complete asshole. I wouldn’t care if I were in a priceless antique car. I would never strand a woman…ever.

I run, catching up with Raegan. “Let me drive you.”

She shakes her head. “It’s fine. I’m only twenty minutes from here.”

“By car or foot?” I ask, knowing the answer.

She winces as she glances down at her shoes. “I can walk.”

“If you won’t let me drive you, I’m going to walk with you. It’s dark, and you shouldn’t be out here by yourself.”

“I can take care of myself,” she assures me, her eyes narrowing.

“I want to.”

She halts, and I have to turn around to face her.

“Why? You’ve spent all this time avoiding me when I wanted to work together. Now, you suddenly want to be the good guy?”

I run my free hand through my brown hair, nervously scratching the back of my head. “I told you I was going to make it up to you. This is me keeping my word.”

She studies me like she’s unsure if she believes me. Her shoulders sag as she blows out a breath. “Okay. Let’s get going.” She takes one step before she stops again. “Fair warning, I smell awful.”

I’d stand next to her even if she smelled like rotting chicken.

I snap my fingers, remembering the lake that’s on the other side of the drive-in. During the day, kids usually swim in it while their parents watch them from the shore, but with it being dark, I bet there isn’t a soul around.

“Follow me.”

I don’t wait for her to say anything as I head off in the direction of a clearing of trees.

I weave through the trees, the pine straw on the ground crunching under my feet. I glance over my shoulder, relieved to see Raegan following behind me.

As we near the end of the trees, I see the lake. I lean down and unhook Walker’s leash, and he runs to the lake, splashing in the water.

When we’re closer, I shrug my sweatshirt and shirt off, throwing them on the ground as I slip out of my shoes. I take my phone and wallet out of my pocket and send Graham a quick text, telling him I’ll need him to pick me up from Raegan’s house.

Before I walked off earlier, I threw him the keys to my truck, so he could park it somewhere else since he was complaining I parked in a sea of couples. He’s lucky I drove him and Luke in the first place.

Graham: Dude, you’re the worst wingman.

Me: Shouldn’t have invited me.

I’m grateful he did, but I’ll never tell him that. If I hadn’t come tonight, I wouldn’t be standing next to Raegan.

I throw my phone and wallet on the ground, not bothering to wait for him to respond.

“What are we doing?” Raegan asks, biting her bottom lip.

I want nothing more than to pop it free and capture it with my mouth.

What the fuck am I doing? I’m in so much trouble with this girl.

I clear my throat. “You can rinse off.” I step toward the lake. “Or not, but I wanted to at least let Walker wash off.”

She throws her short blonde hair into a ponytail and then bends down to take her shoes off. “I’m coming. I wasn’t looking forward to smelling like poop.”

I laugh, throwing my head back. “You would have been the most attractive piece of poop I’d ever seen.”

She scowls. “You might think that’s a compliment, but it’s not.”

She stands up when her shoes are off and takes her purse off her shoulder, discarding it on the ground, before she lifts the cream sweater over her head.

My breath catches in my throat as I stare at her taut form. She’s wearing a tank top under her sweater, but it hugs every curve from her breasts down to her hips. My eyes travel the length of her slender frame, and I feel my jeans tightening.

I divert my gaze and walk into the water to fix the problem in my pants.

Cold water rushes around me, and I move faster until I’m able to swim without my feet hitting the ground. The fabric of my jeans weighs me down, but there was no way I was going to forego my pants while already sporting a woody. I’ll suffer as I walk her home, braving the chilly breeze and chafing instead of embarrassing myself.

Raegan swims up next to me as Walker paddles around us, happy as can be.

Thank God I can only see her shoulders.

“So, Nathan, huh?” I ask her as I tread backward to put space between us.

She shrugs. “He seems nice.”

“If you can call a rattlesnake nice, yeah, he’s nice.”

She splashes water in my face. “He’s not that bad.”

Her face sours like she’s deep in thought, and I don’t like that I took the carefree look off her face. I slap the water, splashing her.

“Hey!” she yells.

“Payback.” I smile.

She lunges at me, dunking me under the water, and my hands wrap around her waist, bringing her under with me. Her smooth skin meets the palm of my hand.

Dear God, she took her tank top off.

If I had grazed her skin when my head was above the surface, she would have seen my eyes roll to the back of my head.

My thumb sweeps across the skin on her stomach, and I remove my hands from her like she’s on fire.

I swim to the surface and take in a breath of air as I shake my head, water flying from my short hair, and at the same time, Raegan’s head pops up from underwater.

“You’re not a dog, Jax,” she complains, shielding her eyes. “Stop—unless you want me to dunk you again.” She wipes a hand down her face.

The last thing I need is for her to touch me, but I play it off. “You’re just mad I took you with me.”

She sticks out her tongue, and I chuckle.

“Are you five?” I ask.

“No, but you make me act like it.”

“Aw, I bring out the kid in you?” I place my hand over my heart. “I’m touched you have fun when you’re with me.”

“More like, you drive me crazy.” She rolls her eyes, swimming away from me. “Why was Walker covered in mud anyway?”

“He decided to sit in a puddle of it.”

She laughs, and I savor the sound, letting it wash over me.

“How did he get away from you…twice?” she asks, suspicion covering her beautiful face.

I recoil but decide to give her the truth. “I let him go…on purpose.”

“You let him go?” she balks. “You mean, I was attacked twice because of you?”

“Yeah.” I pause, trying to think of what to tell her, but she beats me to it.

“First, you run off with two girls, and then you let poor Walker get muddy.” She tsks.

I don’t correct her about the two girls. I know exactly what she’s thinking—that I screwed both of them—and I’ll let her believe exactly that.

“Walker is fine. It’s just mud.”

“I feel bad for him,” she says, swimming past me.

“Why is that?” I laugh.

“He has to deal with you as an owner.”

“I’m not that bad,” I defend.

“He did attack me twice today,” she states, holding up two fingers.

“He likes you. It’s not my fault. He sensed Nathan was a huge dick.” I tug my jeans up, feeling them fall from the weight of the water.

“You don’t know that,” she argues, treading water in front of me.

Moving closer, I study the planes of her face. Her crystal-blue eyes shine even in the dark, only the moon and stars casting light on us. All the makeup on her face has washed away, except for her red lipstick.

“I do,” I whisper, lost in her orbit.

She chews on her bottom lip, and my hand moves to her face, popping it free. My thumb runs over her bottom lip, and her chest rises and falls faster than it was before.

Walker hits me in the back of the head with his tail, and I drop my hand from her face, scowling at my dog.

Cockblocker.

She swims away, heading to shore. I watch her retreat, knowing it’s for the best. I can’t afford to lose myself in her when I already have so much going on.

I stifle a groan when the water reaches her waist. Her creamy skin glows in the moonlight, and I have a hard time tearing my eyes away from her bare back.

I close my eyes and count to twenty. When I open them, she’s out of the water with her tank top in place.

I swim to the shore and whistle for Walker to do the same. He bounds out of the water ahead of me, shaking his fur out in front of Raegan.

She bends down, rubbing him behind the ear. I can tell Walker loves her as much as she loves him. She might have more of a soft spot for animals than I do.

I pick up my shirt from the ground and throw it on, but instead of yanking my sweatshirt over my head, I hand it to Raegan.

“What’s this for?” she asks, holding it in her hand.

I nod to her sweater still on the ground. “Yours is dirty. You can wear mine.”

Her eyebrows wrinkle. “You’ll be cold.”

“I’ll be fine,” I assure her as I pick up her sweater and hook Walker back to his leash.

Hesitantly, she slips it on. I press my lips together to keep the satisfaction off my face because she’s wearing something of mine when she was on a date with another guy.

Yep, I’m so screwed.