CARLI
“It’s my turn to choose where we eat,” Jamieson growls out as the doors open.
“And if you want me to come with you, there’ll be more than dead animal available, Crown.”
“Fine.” He smirks and wraps his arm around my shoulders, tucking me into his side. It’s warm, inviting, and I like it more than I should.
“I’ll make sure there’s at least one vegetable.” Pulling out his phone, tapping away one handed, we direct ourselves toward the carpark.
“I’m gonna need to be drunk to get through this, Jamieson.”
Laughing, his chest shifts against me. It’s nice. “I didn’t think you knew how to laugh.”
“Not been much to laugh about, but you make me lighter than most.”
Can’t disagree. There haven’t been many chances to laugh when there’s more funerals than fun. Approaching his SUV and unlocking the doors, I notice a lovely scrape across the back bumper. Hopping in the passenger’s seat and belting myself in, I’m itching to rib him for it. The need explodes from me. “Why don’t you race cars?”
Starting the overheated car, he cranks the air conditioning. “What?”
“Why don’t you race bikes or cars like the rest of the family?” Looking more confused, I decide to save him the brain embolism. “By the shape of your bumper, you have the rub’n is racin’ bug.”
“Har, har, Carli. Not my driving skills. Someone else scarred the rental. I drive quite well.” He grips the shifter and smiles. I know his intention wasn’t to express his car skills, it’s about his other skills.
Leaving the US. Leaving the US, I recite to myself. Shit. Leaving before I find out his skills will be a travesty. Honestly, how are little Japanese men supposed to even compare to a man like Jamieson Crown? Yep. It’ll be hard, long, dangerous, and definitely worth the memory. Jamieson freakin’ Crown. Even saying it makes me want to memorize his features for future Jai escapades.
Looking at him as he drives down the road to whatever place he’s chosen, I catalogue him. Today he’s wearing a short black T-shirt. The cuffs are slightly rolled up, showing off his colorful tattoos that flex as he steers, bending and blending like waves in the ocean. Small nicks dot the surface of his arm, his neck, and through his rough stubble in varying degrees of repair. Some are at least decades old, where others are as recent as months ago. The thicker beard and mustache around his mouth is trimmed, lush, and soft. I’ve wanted to feel that bush between my legs, to chafe the skin so I remember it indefinitely. Even thinking on it, goosebumps rise and my core squeezes.
Rubbing my arm to remove the evidence of how he affects me, Jamieson asks sweetly, smiling that enigmatic grin. “Is the AC too low? Are you cold?”
Ha-ha. “No, not at all. I had a chill is all. I’m fine, thanks.”
Checking his phone as a text comes in, Jamieson smiles. I love how the corners of his mouth turn up when he grins. It’s scrumptious.
“What?” I ask. “Did the restaurant have a fresh kill they’re gutting?”
“No. I just made sure you’ll have things to choose from. We’re good.” He’s sweet and gleeful, thinking he’s found something I’ll be happy with. How nice is it that he thought to call ahead?
I could find myself...
No, Carli.
Shake it off. You can’t fall for Crown because he does sweet things like making sure there’s something for you to eat. Because he’s adorably gorgeous in a rough, rugged way. You can’t fall for Jamieson. There’s no way around it, you have to leave. He’s what would keep you here and your sisters in trouble. They don’t deserve awful, old, ugly Japanese trouble. I’m the only one who can save them that fate. No one else will worry about them, no one else will make sure they’re not turned into slaves.
But…
It can’t hurt to taste the goods and take that fantasy with me. Jai will need his name changed. I can’t very well continue to use my tool and two-time his name. That’s not a very nice thing to do to a man as sexy as Jai Courtney, or Jamieson Crown.
Ugh! What am I even worrying about? It’s a vibrator! A shock pink vibrator I named after my favorite sex on a stick actor.
With my mind wandering off, thinking of sex, cocks, and sinful men, I don’t notice that we’ve parked. “What are we doing here, Jamieson?” It’s not a restaurant, it’s a Malibu beachfront hotel. An expensive beachfront hotel.
“This is where I’ve been staying. I figured in a restaurant, you’d be surrounded by hundreds of people you may not want hearing your sordid tale. I thought a private place to eat would be better. Am I wrong?”
Shit. There’s that sweet shit again.
“No, you weren’t wrong. But to take me to your hotel, isn’t it a bit presumptuous? What if I don’t like you that way, Crown?”
Showcasing that wide smile again, the ice I’ve caged my heart inside melts a bit. “Oh, I can change your mind, Katana. That’s a challenge I’d take all day long and every day of the week.”
“Fuck,” I mutter to myself.
“If you insist. But let me feed you first.”