Chapter Three
JANA WAS DOING all she could to hold it together. She hadn’t expected to see Hunter, and she definitely hadn’t expected to flirt with his friend, but what else could she do? She practically lost her mind every time Hunter was near. After finding her panties stuffed in an envelope on her windshield at the gym with a note that said, I don’t like to hold on to evidence, what was she supposed to think? She’d thought he was just as done with her as she was with him. She’d even called Harper to get her take on it. After all, Harper was far more reasonable when it came to men. After giving Jana an earful for sleeping with Hunter again, she’d judged his note as an outsider, with no emotions involved, and she’d come up with the same interpretation. No evidence equated to no further interest.
Apparently they’d both deciphered it wrong.
And why didn’t her body get the message about being over him? Her pulse had been racing from the moment she’d seen the brunette approach him when he’d first arrived. Not only that, but he and his friend had moved to the bar half an hour ago, and they’d been flirting with every woman who walked by. She should be oblivious, not annoyingly hoping for something more.
“You okay, sis?” Colton gently touched her shoulder as he moved behind her to grab a bottle of liquor from the shelf. He was a year older than Jana and quieter than either Harper or Brock, more thoughtful and less opinionated. He and Jana had always been close. She was the first family member he’d trusted when he came out, and he was the first one she’d trusted with her decision to never have another boyfriend.
“Yeah. I just need to hit the ladies’ room.” She whipped around the corner to the narrow hallway and was glad to find the restroom empty. She ran her hands under cold water, fixed her hair, and then leaned against the sink and gave herself a pep talk. Hunter Lacroux was just messing with her head tonight. The same way she was messing with his. They were too alike, and that was what was making her head spin.
She needed to move past him once and for all.
She drew her shoulders back, lifted her chin, then headed back out the bathroom door—and ran directly into Hunter’s incredibly hard chest. His large hands landed on her arms, sending a shock of electricity straight to her toes.
“Whoa. Slow down, beautiful.” He gazed down at her with those smoldering dark eyes of his, and her pulse went crazy again. “Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Some of us are working, not flirting.” Take that.
“Really?” He squeezed her arms a little tighter. “It sure seemed like you were flirting with Clark.” He leaned in closer, his scruff brushed against her cheek as he said in a low, gravelly voice, “Did you get the silk panties I was kind enough to return?”
Why did hearing such a big, strong man say the word panties turn her on?
She pulled her shoulders back and leaned away from the massive dose of masculinity that was slowly stealing her will to remain distant.
“I did. Thank you. The last thing I want is for you to have anything to hold over my head.”
His hand slid to her lower back, and he pressed his hips forward. She stifled an embarrassing whimper of desire.
“Baby, I want to do a lot of things with you, but the only things I’m interested in holding over your head are your wrists. Bound in silk.” He ran his tongue over the shell of her ear and whispered, “And I promise you, when that happens, you’ll be thanking me—and begging for more.”
She had no idea how she managed to remain upright, much less speak, but she pulled a lie right out of thin air and said with a feigned air of confidence, “Been there. Done that.”
“Yeah?” he snapped gruffly. “Well, not with me.”
She scoffed, even though the image of Hunter, naked and holding her bound wrists above her head, was making it hard for her to remember exactly why she shouldn’t partake in him just one more time. But some thread of rationality told her that if she didn’t end this now, she’d never gain control over the rampant lust between them, and she actually liked Hunter as a friend, despite his arrogance. She didn’t need to put him in an uncomfortable situation with her brother, or with Sky and Sawyer. And, if she were honest with herself, she didn’t want to lose his friendship, either.
She clung to those thoughts and managed, “Like that’s anything special?”
He stepped impossibly closer, trapping her against the wall with his powerful thighs. “Have you already forgotten how good it feels when we’re together?”
Oh, no. Not one blessed second of it.
“Women line up to be with me. I’m successful, in great shape, and”—he reached behind her and grabbed her butt—“pretty good at knowing what you like.”
She pushed from his grip, teetering on the edge of sanity. “Don’t forget obstinate as the day is long.” She took a step away, intending to get back to work…just as soon as her body cooled down and her legs worked again.
Hunter lifted his eyes, and she followed his gaze to a couple standing at the edge of the hallway kissing. He lowered his voice and said, “You expect me to believe you don’t want me?” Wrapping his hand gently around her arm, he tugged her in close again. “Because I happen to think you do.”
Geez, why did his confidence turn her on so much? “You know, even if I did want to have sex—”
“Which you do,” he reminded her.
He was too much. “See? That assumption is why I don’t want a relationship with any man. Least of all you!” She spun on her heel, and he pulled her against him again.
“Don’t fool yourself, Jana. You’re just like me. You don’t want a relationship. But you want me.”
“Dream on,” she said with a smirk. “You wouldn’t know how to romance a girl if your life depended on it.”
“Is that what you think?” His eyes bored into her.
She held his stare, hating herself for getting even more turned on by the tightening of his jaw and the determination in his eyes. Knowing he wanted her that badly made her stomach flip and dip like a schoolgirl’s. And darn it, she loved that, too.
She’d let Hunter get to her again, and when he lowered his lips to hers—the arrogant jerk—she got lost in the deliciousness of his savory mouth, and forgetting Hunter Lacroux went out the door. He didn’t just kiss her. He staked claim to every inch of her mouth. When his hands encircled her, holding them so close she could barely breathe, he breathed air into her lungs, never breaking their connection. And when his knee slid between her thighs and he backed her up against the wall, she was powerless to deny herself the pleasures she knew he’d give. Her hands glided up his back, over the hard muscle, as his lips left hers and he kissed the corner of her mouth. He cupped her face between his hands and she had no choice but to look into his hungry eyes.
His lips were pink from the intensity of their kiss, and she knew hers were probably worse. She could feel the abrasions from his whiskers.
“Don’t fool yourself, pretty girl. There’s nothing I can’t do.”
HUNTER NEVER BACKED down from a challenge, and Jana Garner was looking up at him with a combination of lust and anger in her eyes—the biggest challenge of all. She felt so good in his arms, and every single thing she said made his insides simmer. It pissed him off to hear her say she didn’t want him when he knew he was her sexual match in every way. Even if they didn’t want a relationship, what harm was there in hooking up again? Why was she fighting the obvious chemistry between them?
“Neither one of us wants a relationship. I’ll give you that. But you kiss me like you want me.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek, trying not to think about how soft her skin was against his rough hands. “You might not want to admit it, pretty girl, but one day you won’t be able to keep from telling me just how much you want me.”
She opened her mouth to speak and he pressed his finger over her lips, gently shushing her.
“Every word out of your mouth either sets my body on fire or pisses me off. How about we play it safe and you keep whatever it is to yourself?” He paused, giving her body time to stop trembling and for the lust to wash away from those beautiful eyes of hers. She had to get back to work. What felt like an hour had in fact been only a matter of minutes, but he didn’t want to keep her from doing her job.
Okay, maybe he did. He wanted to lift her into his arms and carry her to a bed—any bed—and have his way with her until she was screaming his name in the throes of passion, like she had last night. But since that couldn’t happen, and he had a friend waiting at the bar whom he had to babysit, he lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of her fingers, then said, “Until next time.”
As he passed the kissing couple and reentered the bar, he drew his shoulders back, the Prove Jana Wrong Plan already forming in his mind.