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“That better not be my egg roll,” I growled playfully. Her eyes widened with innocent shock as she took another bite.
“You wanted one?” She popped the last of the greasy treat into her mouth and chewed slowly. I rolled my eyes and stood back, allowing her to enter.
“I saved you all of the crab rangoons, though,” she tossed over her shoulder.
I felt my face screw up in a disgusted grimace, I hated seafood. “Hardy har, Ellie. Now, give me my food.”
She set the bags on the table while I grabbed plates and silverware, bringing them over to her. We dished up our food, I grumbled over the vegetable fried rice and lo mein, and then we each grabbed a beer and headed for my theater room, settling on a couch to watch our movie. Ellie finished off two plates of food and I wondered, not for the first time, where she put all of it. She was barely five foot three and no more than one hundred and ten pounds, soaking wet. An image I’ve pictured a million times. I grabbed our plates, taking them to the kitchen and returning to find she’d taken over my couch. As usual.
She was wrapped up in the blanket I’d left for her and I lifted her mummified feet, so I could sit back on my end of the couch and let them drop into my lap. They were dangerously close to my cock and he had definitely taken notice. I focused on the movie, determined to forget about her sexy body and the proximity of her cute little feet to my budding erection. At one point, she ran a toe up her opposite leg, likely scratching it, but it was sexy as hell, and I had to clench my fists in order to keep from following the path of her foot with my hands. Then she shifted and when she brushed against my hard as fuck cock, I almost came in my pants right then and there. If she noticed the bulge in my crotch, she didn’t mention it and I wasn’t going to bring it up. All in all, it was fucking agony.
I managed to get through it, but when the credits started to roll, I jumped up, almost knocking her to the ground.
“Hey!” she yelped as she caught herself.
“Sorry, I need some...um...ice cream!” I hurried to the kitchen and opened the freezer, basking in the cool air. I dished up the bowls and returned to the living room, handing hers over and taking a seat in my black, leather recliner.
“Ready for the sequel?” I asked as I cued up the DVR.
She licked her spoon and let out a tiny little moan of delight. Fuck! Ok, stupid choice of words.
“Sure. Although, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stay for it all.”
I glanced at her in surprise. “You know you can crash here if it gets too late or if you want to have a couple of beers.”
She nodded absentmindedly, continuing to dig into her ice cream, searching out the little peanut butter cups. “Yeah, I know. It’s not that. I have an early date tomorrow.”
Something inside me started to burn, an irrational anger building. Her date was cutting into my time with her, the bastard.
“What kind of a date happens on Saturday morning?” I muttered rhetorically.
“He’s taking me horseback riding and wants to get an early start before it gets really hot.” She didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about the date and it soothed a little of my ire. Why was I mad? What the fuck was wrong with me? I was being ridiculous.
“Sounds like he’s a pretentious snob, showing off.”
Ellison laughed at my comment, giving me a dry look. “Excuse me, but don’t you own horses, Jack?”
“That’s different,” I huffed. “We’re friends. I’d take you riding if you wanted to go. But, taking a woman horseback riding for a first date? What a tool.”
It was Ellison’s turn to roll her eyes and mutter, “What crawled up your ass tonight?”
“Nothing. I just think you shouldn’t waste your time with losers and this guy is obviously trying to get in your pants by throwing his money in your face.”
“What? Jack, seriously, what is wrong with you tonight?” Ellison stood and left the room. I followed at a slow pace, confused by my own behavior and having lost my appetite. I found her in the kitchen, loading all of our dishes into the dishwasher.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “Bad day, I guess.”
She sighed. “Yeah. I’m going to head out.”
I felt something akin to panic creeping into my chest. I couldn’t let her walk out the door, because it would mean she’d be going on a date tomorrow morning. I couldn’t let it happen, I just couldn’t. I was stunned at my reaction and didn’t know what to make of it. Before I was able to form a response, Ellison had left the room. I trotted to the entryway to find her grabbing her keys and cell phone from the glass bowl on the little marble table by the coat closet.
I stood there, watching, my arms hanging at my sides, not knowing what to do or say. She glanced at me with a half-smile as she slipped on her flip-flops and headed to the door.
I joined her and put my hand on it to keep it closed. “I’ll see you Sunday for breakfast?” I asked tentatively.
“Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you, he’s taking me to a cabin by a lake for the night. That’s why we want to get on the trail before the heat is unbearable.”
“Your—um,” I croaked as something began to choke me. “Your date is overnight? As in spending the night with him, in the cabin, alone?”
Ellison looked at me curiously. “Yes.”
No. No fucking way in hell was that happening.
The tightness in my chest and throat snapped and a rush of adrenaline, lust, and uncontrollable need rushed through my body as though a dam had broken. My hand cupped the back of her neck, the other grasping her waist, and pulled her flush against my body, my mouth slamming down over hers.
2
Ellison
I gasped in surprise as Jack’s tongue slid inside my mouth. It tangled with mine as he devoured me, kissing me the way I’d always assumed he would on the rare occasions I allowed my thoughts to wander in that direction. Jack Halston was a sexy devil. I’d known it from the first moment I’d laid eyes on him, just as every woman did. At six foot two, with a toned body that showed he worked out during his off hours, dark hair that looked like he’d just rolled out of bed, and chocolate brown eyes that always seemed to be smiling, he was impossible to miss. At first, I was happy for him to be my work flirt when our paths crossed on a shared case. We didn’t see each other often enough for it to be awkward, and I enjoyed the little thrill I got from the way we bantered back and forth.
Flirting with Jack offered me a naughty distraction, but I knew nothing would ever come of it. Jack had a rule about not sleeping with anyone from the hospital, a fact long bemoaned by the vast majority of the female staff who would have given just about anything to make him break it. There was no way I’d be the one to make him throw his rulebook out the window. When our friendship deepened a few months ago, the slim chance I ever had of seeing Jack naked became even less likely because we went from being work peers to friends. If a guy like Jack didn’t sleep with his co-workers, then he most definitely didn’t screw any of his female friends. A fact I’d reminded myself of each time I’d woken up from dreams about all the things I’d do to him if I ever had the chance.
I wasn’t about to waste an opportunity like this. Shoving away all thoughts of what might happen to our friendship if this went sideways, I dropped my keys and phone back down and reveled in the feel of his lips over mine.
“Fuck it,” he groaned into my mouth. “I’m done playing the nice guy, trying to ignore how hard you make me because you’re my friend and co-worker. How you’ve made it fucking impossible for me to even look at another woman without comparing her to you.”
Wait? Had his recent dry spell been because of me? Because I could definitely lay the blame for mine at his feet. It was hard to find a guy who measured up to my dreams of Jack. I’d finally talked myself into accepting this date with a guy who’d asked me about a dozen times whenever I bumped into him at the gym. The only reason I’d said yes was because I figured that at some point, I’d have to hear about Jack’s dates with another
woman.
“I’m not letting you walk out this door, knowing you’ll be with some douchebag this weekend. He doesn’t get to touch what’s mine,” he growled, making my pussy quiver at the possessiveness in his tone.
“And what exactly do you consider to be yours?” Yeah, that was my raspy voice, taunting him with my question when we both knew what he meant. I couldn’t help myself. He’d started this, and I wanted to make sure he damn well finished it.
He crowded me closer to the door, his hard chest pressed against mine while his big hands held my hips. My heart raced as his lips traced a path along my cheek and up to my ear. His breath was hot as he answered my question, his fingers tightening on me. “You’re mine.”
“Oh, yeah?” I breathed. “Prove it, honey.”
