Slumped over the handlebars of Jax’s bike, Cass felt better than she had in months. Possibly years.

Maybe ever.

She shifted to free her trapped breast, rubbing it a little to get the circulation going again. Only when she glanced up did she remember she was outside.

Oh God, she’d experienced the wonders of nature practically in her birthday suit. As it was, her dress served as a rather wide belt.

Jax groaned at her unintended peep show. “Don’t stop, baby.”

She stopped and swallowed hard. Arousal from Jax’s reaction chased her embarrassment, though she couldn’t say for sure if she was embarrassed because she’d forgotten for a second that she was outdoors or because she’d so easily become self-conscious again.

Rather than chastise her, he lightly smacked her butt. “Bad girl.” He pulled her close and nuzzled her neck. “Isn’t that what you want to be?”

“You slapped my—” Astonishment tinged her voice. Chilled her skin. The goose bumps that followed soon turned into prickles of heat. “You’re kinky.”

His mock shudder spurred her to giggle, a sound she did not make freely. “No. This cannot be so.”

“It is so.”

“You know, I think you might be right.” He cupped her hip and made a determined movement inside her, reawakening all the nerve endings that he’d so recently sent into shock. “Mmm, I want to fuck you again.”

“You have to switch condoms.” She turned her head, shut her eyes and grimaced. “I’ll call you kinky, you call me mood killer. ’Kay?”

He just laughed at her, patting the spot he’d slapped. “You know, I find your practical side very arousing. I’m not sure why. That may actually be my biggest kink. Bordering on a fetish.” He nipped the back of her neck and she moaned. “If you ever wear those sunglasses and dark wig for me again while carrying a clipboard, I swear to God I’ll come in my pants.”

“Really? You liked the wig and glasses?”

“Oh yeah. You’re a hot brunette. Hot redhead. Hot all the fucking time.”

The glow from his words spread through her belly. She was still trying to come up with a response when a vibration against the back of her thigh jolted her more upright. “What’s that?”

Jax chuckled, moving behind her. “My phone. Sorry.” She expected him to ignore the call but a moment later, he said, “Yeah, what?” and she realized he obviously had a problem with voicemail.

Why else would he answer a call while his cock was still embedded in her freaking body?

Biting her lip, she inched up on her tiptoes, intending to pull away in a modest manner. His hand came back down on her ass hard enough to leave a five-fingered print behind and he added a swivel of his hips to boot. She swallowed a moan at the flare of heat and shot a glare at him over her shoulder. “Asshole,” she mouthed.

He grinned and adjusted his grip on the phone as he consolingly patted her butt. “I’m kinda busy, Chase, so make it quick, would you?”

As her eyes went wide, he barely suppressed a laugh. Dear God, he was on the phone with her brother while he moved inside her. They weren’t thrusts exactly, closer to…ripples. His breathing increased but he still managed to hold a conversation about ledgers and tax burdens and something about Vance—aka Sterling—being a dick. For them, calling each other a dick was basically a term of endearment.

But it wouldn’t be an endearment when she called Jax that in a minute.

“No, she’s good. Oh, I’ve seen her here and there.” Jax rubbed his thumb up her spine, slipping it into the gap between the fabric and her skin. “She’s working hard.” Hip swivel, thrust. “Really hard. That sister of yours is a trooper.”

Grinning at that particular juncture would only send a bad message. He’d think she condoned such behavior. But she grinned like a loon anyway.

By the time he ended his call, she’d sneakily reclasped her bra and tugged up her bodice. She hadn’t gotten her arms back in the sleeves yet, but at least she wasn’t as indecent. Her butt still being in the air wasn’t cool, but she had to admit she was wondering if he really intended to take care of business in that particular area before they closed up shop. Her between the legs area, not her butt area. They had no business there.

God. She was blushing at the mere thought of anal. And kinky Jax was with her?

No. He wasn’t. They were just fooling around, as oversexed friends and bodyguards-slash-guardees did. Right.

“I saw that.” He tugged the top of her dress up himself before pulling out. They both groaned. “Just FYI, my balls hate me right now. Next time I take you it’s going to be in a bed.”

There were so many things she should say. Like “oh no, sir, we’re not doing this again.” Or “next time, maybe I’ll take you.”

But she didn’t say either of those things. What came out was even worse.

“So about what you said earlier about burying your face…” She glanced back to see him grinning. “Never mind.”

He ran his fingertip over her mouth and instantly she started to suck, like Pavlov’s naughty dog. The expression in his eyes went from amused desire to no holds barred lust in ten seconds flat. “Get off the bike and bend over it. Elbows on the seat.”

She shivered. For someone normally so easygoing, he adopted that dominant tone of voice so naturally. So erotically.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just—”

“Like checking things off your Do Me list. I know. Ass up, sweetheart.” He climbed off the bike, removed the condom and zipped up his jeans.

Some part of her rebelled at being talked to in such graphic terms. Another part loved it. And that part was already throbbing for his mouth.

She swung her leg over the bike, wincing at the sharp jab between her legs. It had been a while for her and even longer since she’d been with someone so well-endowed. The last time had been with her pink bed buddy, and she’d been able to control the depth and speed of those thrusts. Controlling Jax was pretty much impossible.

“Sore?” he asked against her hair as he helped get her into position. “I was rough.”

“So where’s your apology?” For that matter, he didn’t even sound remorseful. At all.

“I’ll whisper it when my tongue’s crammed in your pussy.”

“As long as you apologize with that mouth, you can save the words.” Bracing her elbows on the seat, she tossed back her hair and thrust her butt high. He groaned and spread her thighs, kneeling between them. He didn’t know her belly quaked at the length of his perusal or the fact that she was even more exposed this way than she’d been before. A few cars must’ve gone past in the half hour or so they’d been up there, though she hadn’t seen any. At least he’d parked behind a thicket of high shrubbery, which helped hide them from the road. Thank God it was a relatively low-traffic place until the high schoolers showed up after dark.

As if he could read her mind, he pulled her dress down to hide more of her backside, ducking under it and making her laugh. Then making her moan from the eager press of his tongue against her sensitive folds. If she hadn’t realized how wet she still was, the sound of his mouth moving over her would’ve proved it. He set about making more of that wetness, exploring her in fast, hard flicks and long, slow strokes.

He parted her with his fingers, holding her open so that the warm wildflower-scented breeze fluttered over her exposed flesh. A flicker of his tongue at her opening made her shudder and grind shamelessly onto his face. He growled, sending vibrations through her core, and before she could prepare, she shot right over the peak she normally took forever to climb.

“God, Jax.” She clasped her hands and dropped her damp forehead to her wrists. “You’re magnificent.”

She thought she heard him chuckle, but he wasn’t done yet. He slipped his thumb into her slit, rubbing over her walls even as the spasms continued. Rubbing until the pressure inside her grew again to unbearably heavy levels low in her belly. The noises she made while she brazenly rode his finger would’ve embarrassed her had she not been so consumed with chasing the pleasure.

Never in her life had she managed to have multiple orgasms. Even the other night when he’d gone down on her, she figured that had simply been one really long climax. This seemed different. She was almost sure she could come again.

“It feels so good,” she gasped, biting her lip from saying more. From begging.

She should’ve known he’d never let her off that easy.

“Squeeze your pussy around my thumb. That’s it. Nice and tight.” His grunt of approval sent shockwaves of arousal through her body. “Wish you could see this. Your wetness sliding out around where I’m stuffed inside you, how swollen your clit is.” He sucked on her flesh, egging on her cries with his own sounds of desire. “Come again. I want to see you quiver while my finger’s buried in you.”

“Something…” She couldn’t breathe around the excitement. “Something’s different.”

“Mmm-hmm. You’ll see.” He bit the back of her thigh where it met her ass and she jerked upward, barely clinging to the seat by her nails. All the while his thumb continued to rub in those tight little circles inside her. “Let it take you.”

She lowered her head, still instinctively fighting it. Too much. Too overwhelming. Heat radiated out from her center through every part of her body and she couldn’t figure out if she wanted to run from it or embrace it. Her legs were shaking so badly she could hardly stand upright. Whimpers were about the extent of her capability for speech.

“Almost there, baby. You’re so swollen for me. I love your taste.” He sounded so husky and hot that she could hardly stand it. “I can’t wait to kiss you when I’m done. You’ll suck on my tongue and know exactly where I’ve been…”

When he drew her painfully budded clit between his teeth, she screamed, vaulting forward with such velocity that she nearly toppled his bike. “God. Jax. Tongue fuck my pussy. Harder.” She gave him a growl of her own. “That’s what you call hard?”

She arched into the movements of his mouth, her whole body clenching so violently that pleasure blurred into pain. Her vision hazed as he milked her orgasm from her, wringing out every drop. Leaving nothing but a husked out, hollow shell behind.

She sprawled over the seat, gasping for air.

“You finally said it.” And Jax, the freaking smug bastard, pressed his face into her side and laughed. “So proud of you, baby.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, she hunched her shoulders. It was hard to get annoyed at the jackass since she would’ve sworn the sun was shining through her, not on her. “I am never giving you a blowjob.” The threat seemed idle at best because she so wanted to. “Ever.”

“Oh, honey. You’re going to be so sorry you made that claim.” Rising, he fisted her hair with a sharp tug on her roots that somehow caused another spasm deep inside her core and pulled her mouth to his. Offering her that hot, forbidden taste of her arousal he’d promised. “Remind me to stock up on arthritis cream on the way home. Your knees are going to be as sore as your sweet pussy tonight.”

“Thanks for stopping here first.” Cass hopped off Jax’s bike and flashed him a smile. “I’ll only be a minute. Dad keeps calling and if I stop in to say hi, that should put him off for a while.”

Jax scrubbed a hand over his windswept hair. “You haven’t seen him yet?”

She frowned. She’d been grinning and laughing pretty much non-stop for the past couple of hours—they both had—and he hated to ruin it. “No.” She tugged on the messy braid she’d fashioned before they climbed on the bike. “I’ve been busy.”

“Okay.”

“I have been.” Her defensive tone might’ve made him smile under other circumstances. “You know I’ve been dealing with a lot.”

“You have,” he agreed. “No arguments there.”

“He’s only been back a few weeks.”

Closer to a month from what Jax could tell, but sure. Whatever. “I hear you.”

She pivoted on her heel and stalked up the walk. “Remember what I said earlier? It’s even truer now,” she called over her shoulder.

“Sure it is.” Grinning, he decided to pop in next door and get some arthritis cream from his ma. That’d make Cass laugh and he’d get to see his mom and Tally too.

Except his ma wasn’t home, despite her car being parked in the drive. Which meant Cass was probably getting an eyeful next door.

He swallowed a sigh. Yeah, he should’ve given her a heads up there. Too late now. They could discuss it later along with the other things he intended to bring up tonight. Such as the fact that Tally would be moving in with them effective immediately. Now that Cass’s physical security had been even more compromised, having a loud dog on the premises could only act as a deterrent.

Then there was the lightning quick decision he’d reached while simultaneously lodged in her body and talking to her brother. It was the right choice. He knew what he wanted. Now he just had to convince her. He might even show her the secret he’d been keeping on the outskirts of town. Surely a two-person hot tub surrounded by natural rocks and mood lighting had to act as additional incentive.

Jax shut his ma’s medicine cabinet and tucked the tube of cream in his pocket. When they’d gotten all that tiresome talk out of the way, maybe they’d get to use that arthritis aid after all.

“See you tomorrow, sweetness.” He kissed Tally on her wet nose and gave her a pat on her chubby flanks. She was such a good dog and he’d missed her over the past couple of weeks. “You’re going to have a new temporary home. I promise you’ll like it. You’ll like Cass too, just as much as I do.” Like really didn’t cut it when it came to his feelings for Cass, but he hadn’t yet reached the desperate straits of having to confide in his dog. “And her snooty little cat. I call her Dingaling instead to piss off Cass.”

He did a lot of things to piss her off, when he stopped to think about it. Demanded her underwear, smacked her ass, laughed at her dirty talk. Or she probably saw his actions that way. The truth was she made him so hot and hard all the time that he was in a constant state of want. If he didn’t keep the jokes coming, she’d perpetually be on her back with her legs up. Finally getting inside her had merely sharpened the need.

“She’s probably going to eviscerate me when I tell her how I feel, Tal. But I’m a man. I can take it.” He tipped his head against his dog’s soft head and smiled at her consoling lick. “Besides, I still have her panties.”

He was back on the bike when Cass emerged from her dad’s house. Other than the unnatural paleness of her cheeks in contrast to how flushed they’d been from the wind a few minutes earlier, she seemed okay. She smiled at him and answered each of his questions.

Dad’s fine.

Yes, he had dinner.

No, he doesn’t need us to pick him up anything. I think he has all he needs tonight.

Yep, she’d seen their parents cuddling. Or playing tonsil hockey.

Jax shuddered as he kicked the bike into gear. Better her than me. He’d gladly jump in front of a bullet for that woman, but he’d pass on seeing anything that involved his mom and a man. Particularly Cass’s dad, who was almost like his dad.

And Cass is practically your sister…

Another shudder overtook him. No, she certainly was not. Tonight had proved that.

A few minutes later, he pulled into the lot at Triple Scoop. Cass hopped off the bike and tossed back a goodbye. So much for giving him a quick kiss while there was a lull in foot traffic. But he understood. She’d had a jolt. That same jolt hadn’t kept him from wanting to fuck her three ways from Sunday and eight on Tuesday, but she was a bit more uptight on that score.

A grin snuck out as he watched her ass wiggle away from him. No complaints there, since he’d made solid progress on his quest to dirty her up.

“If you need me, I’ll be right upstairs,” he called. She’d refused his offer to come in and hang out for the last hour before closing, but he’d already begun to devise a plan that would help him feel better about her being in the store without him.

She waved him off and kept walking.

Still grinning, he parked the bike and headed upstairs to her apartment. A long shower later, he realized he was hungry again, so he rooted through her freezer until he found something that looked like a microwavable quiche and heated it up. The cat stared at him the entire time from her perch on the windowsill, so he gave her half of his snack to make her go away.

That cat stared way too much.

Cass came upstairs at a little after ten and found him not on the couch as had been their recent routine, but somewhere a bit more appropriate in light of their newly enhanced relationship.

Sprawled out naked on top of her bed, half asleep.

“Uh uh. Get your clothes on, pal,” she said, tossing them at him. At least he thought they were his clothes until he realized that she’d plucked up his damp towel off the bathroom floor and pitched that instead.

He’d kicked it aside neatly. What more did she want?

“Why? I’m so warm and comfy right here.” He rolled on his side and patted the spot beside him with what he hoped was an entreating smile. “I’d like to make you warm too. The comfy we’ll save for post-coital bliss.”

“Your coital has been posted enough.” She turned her back on him and started taking off her jewelry, setting down each earring and her watch with exaggerated care. “I have a headache. I’m going right to bed, so if you don’t mind…”

“Everything okay downstairs?”

“Fine.”

He shifted onto his back and tried to fight the tension creeping into his shoulders. He’d expected this after the visit to her dad’s house, but sometimes he wished she weren’t quite so predictable. He probably should’ve been grateful that she hadn’t frozen up completely before now.

For Chrissakes, he’d smacked her ass and she’d laughed. He still couldn’t get over that one. The fact they’d become lovers—and oh fuck, were they—had probably screwed her up big time.

The poor girl had to be at her limit for shocking new developments for one week already. Seeing their parents together must’ve tipped her over the edge.

If he were an odds man, he’d say his best bet would be to say something sweet to soften her up. But he didn’t roll that way, so he swiftly decided on his offense as she turned to face him, frown firmly in place.

“I’m ready for that blowjob now.”

“Oh my freaking God!” He had one second to cup his most sensitive area before she flung the first thing that came to hand—the stuffed elephant that Chase had won for her at the county fair when she was in ninth grade. And holy fuck, did that trunk hurt.

“Hey. Watch the precious jewels.”

“You are such a disgusting, crude posterior of a man.” She shoved both hands through her hair, messing up her already untidy braid. “I can’t believe I ever—”

“Let me lick your pussy until you moaned in ecstasy? Yeah. It was pretty awesome.” He snapped his fingers near his temple. “Mental camera, clicked.”

“I have never hated you more than this moment. And that’s saying a lot, since I’ve spent most of the years since my youth wishing you were dead.”

“That was after I fucked you doggy style over the handlebars of my bike—” he continued as if she’d never spoken, “—taking you so vigorously that you grew addicted to my virile style of lovemaking and begged me to make a woman out of you. I tried my best, I swear. If only you’d give a guy a little more raw material to work with…”

“Die in a fire. Die with fire. I’ll make it happen, I swear.”

She was so cute when she was seething. “Then, of course, I gave you what must have been your first vaginal orgasm. I suspect as much because at the pinnacle of passion, you began spewing vulgarities and screaming at the same time.”

“If you don’t be quiet, I’m going to—” She stopped and cocked her head. “Was that what that was?”

“Yes indeedy.” He flexed his fingers and earned another seething glance. “You can thank my intimate knowledge of the G-spot for those stolen moments of bliss.”

As her eyes narrowed, his brain strained against the edges of his cranium. And that, dumbass, was when you finally went too far.

“You’ve been with so many women that you instantly know how to find hidden recesses of their body to make them come faster?”

How best to answer this one? “Uh, it’s well-known information. It’s not specialized or anything.”

“Oh, really? I don’t know where to find my G-spot and I actually have one.”

“Let me get my laptop.” He started to swing his legs over the side of the bed. “I have a few sites bookmarked.”

“Jax, keep your damn sex research to yourself. We have much bigger problems.” She crossed her arms and lifted her gaze to the ceiling. “I don’t know how to tell you this.”

“What happened? I knew I should’ve stayed downstairs with you.” He bent to look for his boxers. He’d been wearing them all night and had only tossed them off when he heard her sneak stealthily into the apartment.

Probably hoping he was asleep. Or dead. Which she evidently had an unhealthy fixation on.

“It’s not that. Closing went fine tonight. Nothing unusual happened and none of the customers even seemed to know about the break-in this morning.” She rubbed the heel of her hand between her breasts. “A few of them asked about you, however.”

“What about me?” In response to her rubbing her chest, his own started to twinge. Damn, that was some powerful sympathy.

A smile flitted around her mouth. “People think you’re my handyman.”

“What? Why do they think that?”

“Because I told them you were.”

Okay, now he was pissed. He pulled his boxers over his already waking dick. It really didn’t care if she’d offended him. All his cock knew was that she was still wearing the dress that he’d fucked her in. The one with all the buttons. And oh yeah, she wasn’t wearing any frigging panties. “Why would you tell them that, Cassidy?”

She arched a brow. “Cassidy, hmm? Bringing out the big guns, Pee Wee?” He did not appreciate the look she directed at his newly covered cock while she voiced that question. “What would you rather I tell them? That we’d just screwed like ferrets out on the bluffs?”

“It’s fucked like bunnies. Get your damn animal banging metaphors right.” She smirked at him and he was almost ashamed at the telltale twitch in his boxers. Almost. “You could’ve told them we were seeing each other.”

Her smirk deepened. “Right.”

“Why not?”

“Who would believe it? I’m not exactly your type. And you’re definitely not mine.”

“I’ll remember that when I’m stroking my dick to the memory of your moans tonight.”

“At least you’re finally acknowledging that I won’t be stroking it with my tongue.” Her smug smile lasted for a fraction of a moment before her face crumpled. “Jax, I saw your mom naked.”

“Oh. Ouch.” His cock wilted. “On the positive side, she works out. She has a gym membership now and everything.”

“You’re not going to ask how I saw her that way? Just remark on her lack of saddlebags?”

He debated how to handle it. Lie? Admit he knew already? Stay silent and nod a lot?

In the end, he went with the truth. He wouldn’t risk what they could be over a stupid fib. “I’m guessing she was in your dad’s house and they were having…relations.”

“Relations? Try eating naked at the dining room table.” Cass propped her hands on her hips. “Why aren’t you surprised by this?”

He toyed with a loose thread on his boxers. “I may have already known something was up. No one told me anything,” he added at her hiss. “I stopped by home the day I moved in here and your dad was playing with her bush—”

“Oh my God. Stop it. Please.” Cass slapped her hands over her face and rocked.

“Not like that. Jesus.” He had to laugh. “Honey, it happens. People have sex.” Like we did, he nearly continued before sense prevailed. “They’ve been next door neighbors for years. I guess they were pen pals or whatever when he was in rehab. She sent him care packages.”

“And you kept this from me because?” she asked, dropping her hands to her sides.

“I intended to tell you. Eventually. This may surprise you, but I was more interested in my sex life than theirs.”

She groaned and kicked him before plopping down next to him on the bed. Not too close, but close enough. He considered it progress.

“You do realize that if they get married we’ll be brother and sister?”

He snorted, choosing not to share that he’d had the same disturbing thought before deciding it was illogical. “Besides, who says they’re going to get married? It could be a fling.”

She slanted him a glance. “You are the expert on those.”

“Absolutely.” Chuckling, he wiggled his fingers again and she elbowed him, which gave him the perfect opportunity to pull her into his arms. “Shh. Don’t fight me. I might like it.”

“You’re a dirty bird.”

“Mmm-hmm.” He kissed the top of her head, trying not to be obvious about the fact he was sniffing her hair. Now she smelled like the outdoors along with the mother of all oatmeal toppings. “Think of it this way. We know they can’t give us half-siblings.”

“Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.” But she was laughing by the time she stopped groaning.

“You’re welcome.”

“This doesn’t freak you out?”

“It did at first. I’m trying to be philosophical about it.” He shrugged. “My mom deserves a shot at happiness. She’s been alone a long time.”

“I wish I could say the same about my dad.”

“He told me he’s been single since before rehab.”

She shifted to look at him, her mouth pursed. “You believed him?”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because men lie.” She said it quietly, as if she knew she wasn’t being fair. Or maybe because her personal reality had colored her vision to the point that she couldn’t see past it anymore.

Jax fingered the end of her braid. “Some men don’t, baby.”

She swallowed audibly, then she turned her summer green eyes on him. From now on, he’d never look into those gorgeous eyes and not remember when they’d been blind with passion. “Tell me the truth about why you walked out the other night. When we were on the verge of being…intimate the first time.”

“Because I felt guilty.” His heart started thundering as he watched her shut down, so fast that he didn’t have a chance to explain. But he tried just the same. “Cass, listen to me. I didn’t want to take advantage of you. You were scared and you’d just had an episode and you don’t even like me that much most days.” He barked out a laugh, shaking his head. “Hell, you’ve been plotting my death.”

“I didn’t say I was plotting it. I said I fantasized about it now and then, usually when you were being infuriating. Like you’ve been since I walked in this bedroom.” She muttered something about blowjobs and turned her face away.

He cupped her chin and drew her right back. “You’re my best friend’s sister, and what we do together matters. There are certain responsibilities involved. I can’t just treat you like some other chick I won’t call after. Who won’t expect me to.”

“How do you know I expect you to? Don’t see things that aren’t there.” She pushed at the hand holding her jaw, but he wouldn’t be dislodged. Not when she’d given him the perfect opening to what he’d wanted for longer than he could admit.

“What I see is you. Us.” He rubbed his thumb over her cheek and absorbed her tremble, pressing closer in reflex. “This can be a beginning.”

Her lips opened. Closed. Opened again. “What are you saying?”

It was his turn to try to figure out how to work his mouth. He was breathing too fast and his grip on her face tensed until he had to loosen it finger by finger. If he messed this up, he’d never forgive himself.

“After what’s happened between us, I intend to commit to you, Cass. For real.”