Chapter Seventeen
“You look like shit, Jack.” Dex shook his head as the pair of them worked to straighten up Dex’s back room. The studio was perfect, with the right amount of light and space to have several backdrops for portraits, as well as comfort for staged shoots and costumes.
But the back storage room needed some new shelving, and Jack needed something—anything—to take his mind off Ann. He would talk to her again soon. Just…not until he was ready. He couldn’t figure out how to deal with her yet. But God, he missed her.
“Dude, you stare any harder at the shelf, it won’t need nails. You can hammer it in through thought alone.” Dex brought his hands together and made some weird meditation sound.
“Shut up, Black.”
“It speaks! About time. How’s work?”
“Okay. I enjoy helping the TAs, and I’ve made some great inroads on new research with solar power. I’ve written a syllabus the head guy likes, and I’m rewriting some course work for fun.”
“For fun.” Dex blinked. “You really are a nerd under that muscle, aren’t you?”
“You’d know. Poindexter.”
Dex held his hands over his heart and staggered. “Bastard. Hit me right where it hurts, why don’t you?”
Jack shook his head, chuckling. “Where’s Anson?”
“Where else? Fighting with Riley.”
“He’d do better to leave her alone before she feeds him a poisoned cupcake.”
Dex sighed. “Sad thing is, he’d take it in a heartbeat if she offered. He’s stupid enough to eat it and die to prove a point.”
“What? That he has the hots for Riley?” Jack wasn’t blind. Well, not all the time. When it came to Ann, he couldn’t think straight. With everyone else, he knew just how to handle them. He’d been smart enough to avoid his family with work excuses. None of them knew of his personal troubles, and he wanted to keep it that way.
Anson and Dex did, of course, and they’d been nothing but supportive. Hearing that the girls were out for vengeance put them both on the alert. Jack kept Ann’s miscarriage and his other worries a secret though. Some things even best friends didn’t need to know.
“You ever going to talk to her again?” Dex asked. He’d been a quiet shoulder to lean on, not bugging Jack about details, just listening. Anson had given him several strategies for dealing with her, none of which had any appeal.
“Yeah. I just don’t know what to say. I mean, she had a reason to want my head on a platter.”
“And you can’t trust that she means it when she says she loves you.”
“You know Ann. She’s got a heart. She might have started the relationship with the idea to screw me over, but once she knew the truth, she’d never have gone through with it.”
Dex blinked. “If you know that, then you know she won’t lie about dumping you.”
Jack sighed. “Yeah, but what if she went on dating me just to save me more heartache. God, I said heartache. I’m turning into a woman.” He hated thinking so hard about fucking feelings.
Dex coughed. “Well, um, I don’t think I’d say—”
“I am way over-thinking things. So we didn’t work out once? Doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends, right? She probably feels sorry for me. And damn, but pity will kill a hard-on faster than—”
“Than what, Jack?”
He blinked at the woman who filled the doorway. It couldn’t be.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” It took everything he had in him not to launch himself at Selena Thorpe and demand some serious apologies. He wanted to spank the woman, but not in a good way.
“Oh boy.” Dex angled himself between Jack and the doorway. No doubt he’d seen the murder in Jack’s eyes.
Selena frowned. “Are you mad at me? I came out here because someone told me you were looking for me.” She smiled at him in invitation. “Heard I’m single again? I am. And, honey, you are even better looking than you were in high school. Hel-lo, handsome.” She ignored Dex.
Jack said to Dex, “If she’s not out of here in five seconds, woman or not, I’m going to kick her ass back to Portland.”
Selena gaped like a fish.
Dex quickly walked the woman out of the back room into his studio. Jack swore he heard Maya’s voice along with Dex’s, but then someone else was at the door, and he lost his ability to speak.
Ann closed and locked the door behind her. She wore the blue dress he’d bought her. It clung to her figure, leaving no question to the fact she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her legs looked impossibly long, especially in those heels that added a few inches to her.
Her long wine-red hair curled around her shoulders and kissed her breasts. Jesus, she was breathtaking.
“Hello, Jack.” Her smoky voice matched her smoky eyes. Her makeup was heavier, richer, and made her look like a siren out to tempt a man.
He had to clear his throat to answer her. “Ann.”
She sauntered—no other word for it—toward him. He didn’t know where to look. Her slender thighs, full breasts, that mouth glistening with a slick shine? Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she stalked him like the predator he believed her to be.
“What the fuck. Ann?”
He backed up until she pushed him down into the folding chair behind him.
“I’ve given you time.” She put her hands on his shoulders and straddled him on the chair. “I’ve given you space.” She squirmed over his erection, so he knew she felt him hard and hot beneath her. “But enough is enough.”
He didn’t understand. A ruckus outside drew his attention, as did the sound of a woman’s scream. “We—”
Ann cut him off with a brutal kiss. She brought his hands up to cup her breasts, and he gave in to his desire. An entire week without her, harder to bear because he couldn’t be sure if he was looking at more than a week, maybe an eternity.
She sucked on his tongue and moaned as she ground over him. He kneaded her breasts, wanting to taste more of her. She ran her lips over his cheek to his ear, kissing along the way. “I’m not wearing any panties,” she whispered.
“My five favorite words.” So naughty, his angel. But she didn’t look all that angelic. Nor did she feel ethereal in his arms.
“Fuck me, Jack. Put that big fat cock inside me.”
Caught in lust and love without reason, he had to obey. She moved back, stood and raised her dress. Nothing but a smooth, bare pussy.
He gripped her hips and shoved his face between her legs. He licked her, loving her with his tongue while he freed himself from his jeans and underwear. Then she was over him, taking him inside her and riding him as if she couldn’t wait.
“Ann. Fuck. Come, baby. All over me.”
“Jack. I love you.” She kissed him and gripped him tight inside her, the pressure too much to bear.
It had been too long and he wanted her too much. He came hard, the jet of ecstasy rushing through him as he spent inside the woman he loved. She moaned his name, planting kisses on his lips, his cheeks, his neck. Trembling over him, she sat in silence and caressed his scalp.
When he could function again, he blew out a breath. “Ann, I—”
She slapped a hand over his mouth. “No more. We love each other. The past is done. Gone. We’re over it. Say it with me.” She lifted her hand.
“Ann, I don’t—”
She muffled him again. The mean glint in her gaze enthralled him, because she looked honestly enraged. His angel was pissed off. “I said it’s over. Deep down it was never about revenge. What I really wanted was closure. I couldn’t have you, so I’d settle for getting you out of my system for good. Except you wouldn’t go. From the first, I was hooked. You blew my mind. You charmed me into forgiving and forgetting. And then to learn you’ve always been the boy I fell in love with…” She pulled her hand away again and kissed him.
Damn if he didn’t start to get hard all over again. He broke the kiss, panting. “Are you sure? Really sure?”
“I love you, you bonehead.” She smacked him in the chest, but when she shifted and felt him inside her, her eyes widened. “Are you still hard?”
“Oh yeah,” he growled and rocked her over him. “Ride me. I need to come again.”
They watched each other as they made love. He was lost to her. He knew it and accepted it. She owned him, body, heart and soul.
When he couldn’t wait any longer, he forced her to move faster. The bumping and grinding grew into moans and a hoarse shout as he came, not caring about the mess.
“Fuck. Oh fuck.” He buried his face between her breasts. Nudging her dress aside, he took a nipple in his mouth and sucked, rolling the bud while he finished inside her.
“Jack. God.” She pulled his mouth away from her to kiss him again. “Quit avoiding me, okay? I love you. I want to marry you and have babies with you. I’ll wait as long as I have to, but you have to forget what was, okay? For me.”
He looking into her eyes and saw his future. “You really mean it?”
“I do.”
A lifetime of arguments, makeup sex and joy were all bundled into his angel, into his heart. “Just promise to say those two little words when it matters and it’s a deal.”
Her eyes brightened. “Sucker. I finally have my revenge, Jack. You’re in my clutches for all eternity.” She gave a dark laugh, and he chuckled with her.
“You make the best witch ever.” He shifted and started to slide out of her. “Or maybe the best devil. I swear, you could tempt me to do just about anything.” He kissed her again, then froze and pulled back. “Hold on. Selena Thorpe? What the hell was that? Why is she here?”
Ann smiled and kissed him until he calmed down, content to hold her. “Maya decided we needed some closure with her too. Selena was in town, believe it or not, visiting family. A phone call about a rich, desperate man—that would be you—asking for her had her hustling down here.”
“Rich? That’s a laugh. But how did you know I’d be here?”
“Dex might have helped a little too. But Selena’s not important anymore. What’s important is right here.”
“Oh yeah. Right here in my arms. You’re my world, angel.”
“And you’re mine. We’ll leave all the scary stuff out there with the mean people.” He didn’t understand her sly grin, but then he didn’t care because she started whispering of all the ways she planned to make up for their lost week.
“You know what they say the best revenge is?” he asked, feeling lazy, sated, and so in love he wanted to burst.
“Living well?”
“See? Great minds think alike.” He pursed his lips for another kiss, and his angel didn’t disappoint.
…
Maya stepped into Dex’s studio on a mission. Oh, it burned to have to turn to him for help, but she’d seriously stepped in some heavy shit by being such a blabbermouth and needed to make amends. She wanted to smack herself for not being more careful, but with the cat out of the bag, she had no one to blame but Maya Werner, loudmouth extraordinaire.
Watching Selena Thorpe—she’d never changed her name during any of her marriages, go figure—wrap her ringless hand around Dex’s thick biceps as they spoke annoyed the crap out of Maya. She didn’t want Dex, but that didn’t mean she wanted that blonde bitch touching anything in her town. Period.
Since Dex was a friend of Jack’s, and Jack belonged to Ann, that meant by extension Dex was off limits.
Maya smiled, shut the studio door behind her, and walked to the couple now in deep discussion. “Selena, you whore. Great to see you.” Maya had insisted Selena be part of the plan. It was all about wrapping things up, after all. “How’ve you been?”
Selena glanced over, shocked, and then narrowed her eyes. “Speaking of whores… Dexter, you let just anyone in here?”
Dex’s amusement didn’t matter. His studio, his presence, none of it registered as Maya focused on her target. God, she’d been waiting for this.
“Oh shit,” he muttered, realizing too late she had something planned. “Maya, maybe you should—”
“Catch up with an old—and I do mean old—friend? Sure, Dex. Good idea.”
He reached out a hand, to stop her no doubt. She grabbed it and heard him thank the Lord. Then she yanked him off balance. Not an easy feat considering the guy outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds of pure muscle.
Once past him, she didn’t hesitate. She took one good look at the bitch who’d nearly ruined her friend’s life—and punched.
Selena’s cry of pain and the crack that echoed felt so good. Orgasmic-ly good. So she cocked her arm back to let another punch fly when a pair of arms grabbed her and dragged her away.
“Tell me you did not just cold-cock Selena,” said Dex.
She struggled in his arms, trying to ignore how right he felt wrapped around her. When was the last time a guy had been able to lift her up off her feet, anyway? “Get off. I’m not done.”
“Oh, I think you are,” another voice said.
Shit. Anson Black, the big know-it-all, had shown up.
“I’ll sue, you bitch,” Selena screeched. “For everything you’re worth.” She bled like a stuck pig and clutched the handkerchief Anson handed her to her face. Her eyes started to swell too. “I’ll hire so many lawyers your head will spin.” She might have sounded a lot scarier if she hadn’t been muffled behind a bloody hanky.
Maya grinned. “Fuck you. Nice raccoon eyes you got there.”
Selena took a furious step in her direction. Maya tried to jerk free of Dex’s hold, but the bastard couldn’t be budged.
Anson stepped between them. Selena turned to him and cried, “You saw what she did. You’re a witness.”
“Unfortunately, I just got here. I didn’t see a thing. What happened?” he asked.
Maya laughed. “I’ll tell you what happened. I—”
Dex squeezed tight, and she wheezed.
“Poor Selena ran into a door. You okay, sweetheart?” Dex asked.
Anson raised a brow. “A door?”
“With squeaky hinges,” he added and squeezed Maya tighter when she tried to talk.
“Gotcha.”Anson hustled Selena out of the studio with the promise of a hospital visit.
Dex lessened his grip on her but hadn’t set her down yet. Extraordinary strength for a guy she used to tower over.
“Um, she’s gone,” said Maya.
“Yep.”
She wriggled and swallowed hard when she noted the sheer strength in the man’s forearms. And that chest. Every breath he took emphasized the breadth of him. “Dex, you can let me go now.”
“Not yet.” He set her back on her feet but continued to hold her. He leaned in close to whisper in her ear, “Selena’s got you by the balls you surprisingly don’t have.”
She froze. “Huh?”
“As usual, you leapt forward without thinking things through. You don’t get divorced four times without knowing how to play the courts or who the best lawyers are. She sues you—and rightfully she could—or presses charges, and your ass is in jail and you’ll be broke before she can sleep with your attorney. A slam dunk, and you lose big.”
Shit. She hadn’t been thinking about repercussions when she’d busted the bitch’s nose. Maya knew she had anger issues, but this trumped all levels of stupidity. She felt scared for herself in a way she hadn’t been in years.
“But I can make that all go away.”
“How?” Was he going to offer to kill the woman? She’d asked around. Dex had been in the military. Maybe special forces. “Do you have a gun? A knife, maybe? Her brake lines could use some tampering.”
“Have a— Brake lines? Are you fucking nuts?”
So not offering to kill Selena then. “Bummer.”
“You are one scary woman.” He chuckled. “No, I’m not going to kill her. Though I understand the impulse. That is one unpleasant woman.”
“You think? Hey, can you let me go now?”
“Not yet.” He rubbed his cheek against hers, and the scent of pine and man made her lightheaded. When the hell had Dex started to smell good?
“Dex…”
“See, here’s the thing. Selena has her version of events, and we have ours.”
“Ours?”
“You saw her bump into a door, didn’t you? Because that’s what I’ll say if I have to.”
She let that sink in. “You’d lie for me?”
“Maybe.” Pause. “For a price.”
“Damn it.” She tried to escape him and found herself spun and pressed none too gently against the wall. The breath knocked out of her, she blinked into Dex’s smoky gray eyes. “Nice way to treat a woman.”
“More like a wildcat.” He grinned. “Oh come on. You hit Selena a hell of a lot harder than I set you against this bulkhead.”
“The what?”
“The wall, Little Miss Civilian.” He winked, and she started to smile. Then, remembering exactly who was holding her prisoner, she scowled again.
He sighed. “Even sexier when you turn all mean. Okay. Let’s put our cards on the table.”
“Let’s, you bully. What do you want?”
His grin unnerved her, because there was something wild, sexy, and a bit cruel about it. “What did I want twelve years ago? A date, Maya.”
“What?”
“Yeah. You want to avoid jail time. I want you. You owe me…hmm…let’s say ten dates. Ten romantic evenings, and we’re even.”
“I’m not sleeping with you to avoid going to jail!” Kinky, but even for Maya that was taking things a little too far.
He tsked. “Who said anything about sleeping? Or sex,” he tacked on before she could argue semantics. “You agree to go out with me. We have fun, enjoy each other’s company, but nothing you couldn’t share with friends. Dinner, a movie, a walk in the park. My choice. But you have to try to have fun.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Looking like Dex did, he couldn’t have been hard up for women. He was crazy hot. Then again, if he got his dates this way, perhaps the crazy was literal.
“As a heart attack.” He smiled at her, and her heart started racing away.
“So you want to go out with me. Ten times. No sex.”
“Well, I won’t say no to sex if you ask nicely.”
She glared at him, and he laughed again.
“Ten dates and you don’t rat me out for belting Selena,” she said slowly. “Is that right?”
“Yes, it is,” he responded just as slowly. “Has anyone ever told you that you have the most beautiful face? I mean, I could drown in your eyes.”
She blushed, not sure how to handle him. Back in high school, she’d been confident. He’d been nerdy but cute. A really nice kid, except for him blackmailing her with an incriminating photograph. At the prom he’d forced her to go to, he’d surprised her by being fun too. Cute and fun. Not sexy. Not seriously hot. Not ripped like a motherfucker.
She swallowed hard and stared at the muscles of his chest, visible through his tight T-shirt.
“Well?” He moved closer, his breath whispering over her lips.
The word “Fine,” whooshed out of her just as he kissed her.
And holy mother of God, but she forgot how to breathe while he seduced her into giving some tongue before he ended the kiss.
Masterful, effortless and he had her panting and leaning in for more.
It didn’t help that his smirk turned her on, or that his gray eyes now seemed ink-black.
Danger stared at her from a face too captivating to belong to the old geeky Dexter Black.
“Who are you?”
His grin made her feel hunted. “Me? I’m your boyfriend for the foreseeable future, sweetheart. Now let’s go find Anson to witness our deal, hmm?”
“Th-the kiss wasn’t enough?” She needed to wash her panties, stat.
“Good, hmm?” He laughed and dragged her with him out the front door. “Don’t worry about Jack and Ann. They’ll be fine. You need to start worrying about yourself, princess.” He had to adjust himself as he walked, and of course she noticed that he was huge all over. A walking billboard for sex, and she was starving for him—it. Hell.
Not good. Not good at all if she wanted to get out of this stupid deal without jumping the man. Her enemy. The only person who’d ever managed to best her. She had to hold onto her mad, her passion, her—
He nipped her ear and startled a small shriek out of her. “You’re not the only one who’s out for revenge.”
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