“This isn’t why I brought you here,” I told her. Even though the bulge in my jeans said something entirely different.

She stopped kissing my neck and moved back. “I don’t understand.”

Of course she didn’t. How did I explain that I didn’t want to be one more guy who used her body, without it sounding like I was judging her?

“I thought . . . I mean, from what you said, I thought you were attracted to me,” she said, sitting back and leaving me cold.

We pulled up to the gate outside the house, and it opened when security saw the Hummer. Jess turned her attention toward the house, and I took another deep, calming breath. “There isn’t a heterosexual male alive who wouldn’t be attracted to you. I just don’t want you to think that’s what this is about.”

“Then what is it about?” Her voice was soft. Almost a whisper, as if she was afraid to ask.

The fact that this was all she expected from me made a wide range of mixed emotions hit me at once. It infuriated me, yet it made her seem fragile. She wasn’t what anyone would consider fragile, but seeing this side of her brought a whole new light to things. “I like spending time with you,” I told her honestly.

She didn’t seem convinced. I parked the Hummer and then reached over to touch her hands, which she had tightly clasped in her lap. “Look at me?” I asked.

She lifted her head, and the insecurity in her eyes surprised me. How did someone who looked like Jess have any ounce of insecurity in her bones?

“I liked having you touch me. Hell, I loved it. But you weren’t doing it for the right reasons. You think you owe it to me. But you don’t. I didn’t bring you here with any intentions other than getting to spend more time with you.”

She frowned and a small wrinkle appeared on her forehead. It was cute. “So, you don’t want to have sex with me?” she asked seriously.

I couldn’t keep from grinning. “Jess, I want you naked and straddling me. I’ve fantasized about it more than once from the moment you crawled your sexy ass into my car. But when that happens, I want it to be because you want me, not because you think it’s what’s expected.”

“Oh” was her simple response.

Chapter Eight

JESS

I was out of my element. Sitting on a lounger, I watched as Jason fixed me a drink at the outdoor bar. He picked up a remote and winked at me right before music filled the night air. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Jax Stone’s voice playing over the speakers.

“I don’t have the best bartending abilities, but what I can do should be tolerable,” Jason said, picking up two tumblers I was willing to bet were actually crystal. I had only had alcohol from cheap glasses at Live Bay or from a Dixie cup.

“Maybe I should have made the drinks,” I replied teasingly.

He handed mine to me and sat down across from me. Our knees were almost touching. “You’ve had some time behind the bar?” he asked.

I could lie about my life, but there was no point. It was more than obvious. Besides, just because his pretty-boy smile made my knees weak didn’t mean I would let a guy change me. “I was raised behind the bar of a strip club until I was old enough to stay home by myself at nights. Big Moose used to keep an eye on me while Momma was working. So, yeah, I got bored a lot of the time. Picked up a few things.”

Jason’s glass had stopped halfway to his mouth while he stared at me. I had shocked him. “A strip club?” he asked, then swallowed some of the bourbon that I could smell from where I sat.

I nodded. “Yep.”

Jason leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “I guess I’ll let you make your own drink next time. Or you can teach me.”

That wasn’t the response I had expected.

Jason chuckled and set his glass down on the table separating the two loungers we were sitting on. “Are you done trying to shock me for the evening, or should I assume you’re going to share some more juicy information about Jess? I was looking forward to the swimming, but I don’t want to interrupt this conversation if it’s just going to get better.”

From any other guy that would have sounded obnoxious. From Jason it wasn’t. His grin made up for it. “Let’s swim,” I replied, standing up and handing him my glass. I knew he was trying hard to be a gentleman with me, but allowing him to would only ruin me. When he left, that would be what I wanted. What I expected. What I measured every guy against. It would make future relationships impossible. As tempting as it was to see exactly how that felt, I couldn’t.

Reaching for the hem of my shirt, I pulled it over my head and began taking off my boots and jeans. I could feel Jason’s gaze on me, and it only propelled me on. He was attracted to me. He’d admitted it and even shared exactly what he was fantasizing about. Every good intention of his was about to be shot to hell. Because I was going to send them there.

When I reached up to unhook my bra, I looked directly at Jason, who had discarded his shirt and was working on his jeans. His eyes dropped to my hands, then shot back up to my face. “What are . . . ,” he started to say as I let the bra fall forward and slide down my arms until it hit the cool, smooth stone below.

“You wanted to skinny-dip,” I told him as I slipped my fingers into the sides of my panties and shimmied them down. Jason stood immobile, watching me.

“I didn’t mean naked,” he said in a low whisper.

I smiled at him and stepped out of my panties. “Oops,” I replied.

Jason swallowed hard as his hands began working again on unbuttoning his jeans.

“It’s warm, right?” I asked him as I turned to walk over to the steps.

“Yeah.”

“Good. I’m cold, and after that talk in the Hummer I’m not sure yet if you’re going to warm me up or if I’m going to have to let the pool do all the work.”

Jason muttered a curse, and I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from smiling as I lowered myself into the water. He was right. It was nice and warm.

I swam over to a seating ledge in the deeper end of the pool and sat down, before turning around to see Jason right behind me. I dropped my gaze to the water lit by the color-changing pool lights. He was naked.

I lifted my gaze to meet his just as he got to the ledge I was sitting on. As he stood in front of me the water ran down his well-defined body. “You got naked too,” I said, relieved that I wasn’t going to have to work as hard as I had feared.

“You started it,” he said, taking one more step toward me.

“Yes, but in the Hummer you weren’t as accommodating,” I replied.

Jason didn’t smile. His hand touched my right knee, causing a jolt of pleasure to run up my thigh. I held my breath, unsure what he was going to do next, and then his other hand covered my left knee. Without a pause, he pushed my legs open and stepped up between them.

“That was before you got naked,” he said simply as his mouth lowered to cover mine. The soft pressure was intoxicating. I opened my mouth and inhaled his minty taste mixed with the bourbon he’d drunk. It was so different from the cigarettes and cheap beer that I always tasted when I kissed Hank. There was a safety in it.

Jason’s hands cupped my face while he continued to nibble my bottom lip, and then he plunged his tongue into my mouth again and slid it seductively against mine. I had been kissed many times over the years, but not like this. There was a strength to Jason’s gentle touch. It also had me panting for breath and needing to squeeze my legs together for some relief from the throbbing need he was causing.

When he pulled back, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Damn,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “That . . . that was . . . Damn.” The excitement from seeing him so affected only made the ache worse. I reached up and ran my hands through his hair and pulled his face back down to mine. I wasn’t ready to stop this.

A low groan broke free from Jason’s chest as his hands grabbed my waist and pulled me up against him until my chest brushed against his, causing me to gasp from the intensity and Jason to break the kiss again.

“Jess,” he said, in what sounded almost like a growl.

“Hmmm,” I replied, lifting my knees to wrap my legs around his waist. The movement caused his erection to press against me, and we both froze.

“I can’t . . . ,” he said as if he were in pain. “I can’t stop this. Is this what you want?”

The fact that he was still trying to be noble made me even more crazy. I had never wanted anyone as much as I wanted Jason Stone at this moment. “Yes,” I replied, trying not to beg as I moved against him. The friction made us both snap. Our kisses went from sweet and sexy to hot and wild. Jason grabbed my face again, but this time he kissed me like I was his oxygen supply.

He rocked his hips against me, rubbing his hard length directly over my swollen clit, and I broke the kiss to cry out from the pleasure. Jason’s hands tightened on my waist right before he picked me up and sat me down on the edge of the pool. The cool air against my wet skin was the only thing keeping me from voicing my disappointment. I didn’t want to stop this. He felt so good.

“I don’t have a condom in here,” he said with a predatory gleam in his eyes as he pulled himself out of the water and reached down to grab my hands. I let him help me up, and then his arms were wrapped around me again as he began kissing my neck and across my jawline before claiming my mouth again. His kisses were addictive. I had never wanted to curl up and kiss a man for hours, but this man . . . I could do that. I wanted to do that.

“My wallet,” he said against my mouth, and picked me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he made a pleased sound as he walked over to the loungers we had left earlier. He sat me down, then bent over me to kiss me again with a hard promise of what was to come and reached for his jeans.

My wet skin and the cool night air were forgotten while I watched him find a condom in his wallet and put it on. When he came back down to me, I opened my legs so he could lie down on top of me.

“You’re so damn sexy,” he whispered in my ear as he pulled my earlobe into his mouth and biting it just hard enough to make me whimper.

I had been told that before, but it was different coming from Jason. Whereas I had wanted to roll my eyes at it in the past, hearing Jason say it made me curl closer against him. I wanted him to think I was sexy.

The way he held me and touched me made me feel special. Like I was some treasure he was getting to unwrap. It was the best high I’d ever been on. Jason Stone was going to be addictive.

Oh God.

This wasn’t doing what I had meant for it to do. I thought getting him to have sex with me would make him just like the others—easy to walk away from. But he was setting a bar no one would ever be able to reach. Why was he so damn perfect?

“Your skin smells like honeysuckle. It drives me crazy. So soft.” His words were even addictive. The deep, turned-on sound of his voice was too much. I wouldn’t be able to stop this now. I needed it.

I lifted my hips, forcing his erection to slip between my legs. He inhaled a sharp breath and moved against me. “You’re so wet,” he murmured, and shifted his hips so that he was ready to slide inside me. It had been a while for me, but that wasn’t the reason I was clinging to him, pulling him closer.