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Jack raised an eyebrow. “Not what?” he murmured, rocking his hips into her touch.
“You can’t offer sex to everyone who saves you from a sticky situation,” she snapped. She drew her hand away from his crotch. She shouldn’t have touched him. Before she’d felt how much he had to offer beneath his pants, she’d clung to the illusion that the charming SEAL lobbed stupid pick-up lines across her bar night after night to compensate. One touch and that pipedream had vanished.
He tossed his head back and laughed. “Sure as hell would change my relationships with my teammates if I did,” he said. “But to be clear, this thank-you would be designed for you.”
Tell me more.
Her body craved details. The parts of her that knew it had been more than a year since her last hot, heavy, and not entirely satisfying encounter with a man, those parts needed more. Sixteen months was a long time without someone touching her, and the feel of her skin on Jack’s left her wanting more, more, more. Where would he place his hands? Would his mouth live up to its sensual promise?
“This thank-you would be a one-of-a-kind expression of my gratitude that will leave you begging for more,” he added.
“I never beg.” Natalie leaned back against the table. She needed to escape and return to her customers. Details were dangerous, especially when they crossed this man’s lips. Her gaze dropped to his mouth. He flashed his I-want-your-panties smile.
But if she handed over her underwear, she knew he’d ask for more and then walk away when she began to believe they might have a future together.
Rebellious. Stubborn. Her former foster parents’ words echoed in her mind. After watching Jack from the other side of the bar, after tasting his kiss and feeling his hands wrap around her wrists, she had a feeling he’d like to replace defiant with submissive. And when she held her ground, he’d leave.
So that was how she’d get rid of him and save herself. If she was just herself—a challenge for a man like him—he’d give up on his own.
She pressed her hand against his chest, demanding space. For a split second, he leaned into her touch.
“Never say never,” he murmured. And then he obeyed her silent request, stepping back, offering the distance she needed to escape. “Never is a very long time, Natalie.”
She blinked. She was on intimate terms with two things in her life—the vibrator in her nightstand and the word “never.” At eleven, she’d lost her parents to a car crash. She’d been thrust into a world where she would never see them again. A world where she could never rely on anyone but herself as she and her sister moved from one foster family to the next. And she’d learned that she’d never feel entirely in control, not when she was with another person, no matter how hard she fought for it. Opening her heart, letting someone in, that was an invitation for heartbreak.
She moved to the door and stopped. One glance over her shoulder and she saw a glimmer of triumph in his blue eyes. Oh no, she refused to let him have the last word. “Jack?”
“Change your mind?”
She offered him a smile. “Never.”
She pushed through the door and scanned the bar—four flirtatious fools, three tipsy blondes, two drunken sailors, and in the corner, Jack’s brothers. But their party had grown, claiming a second table. Three of Jack’s teammates sat with Colton and crew, including Cade Daniels, the man she’d considered her best friend long before the SEAL had proposed to her little sister.
Standing tall, she headed for the corner tables. She refused to let her customers see her unsettled from her conversation with Jack. And if anyone asked, she’d cling to her modified version of the truth—they’d been talking, end of story.
“Leave my little brother tied up?” Colton Barnes sneered.
Natalie withdrew her notepad and turned to Jack’s teammates. “The usual, boys?”
Dante nodded. The Navy SEAL was a rugged warrior whose coloring spoke of his mother’s Italian heritage while his six-foot-plus frame left no doubt his father’s side descended from Vikings. There was nothing boyish about him or Ronan, the red-haired, blue-eyed teammate sitting beside him.
“Are you okay?” Cade asked. The piercing look in his green eyes screamed I heard you kissed Jack. Did you wake up with an extra dose of crazy this morning?
“Fine.” She stuffed her notepad into her apron.
Her best friend raised an eyebrow. “And Jack?”
“I was in the back, looking for a pen and paper,” Jack said, rejoining the group, his carefree smile in place. “I came up empty.” The man who’d kissed her senseless beside the broken Bottom’s Up sign and popcorn maker turned to her. “Can I borrow yours?”
So he could spell out all of the tempting things she’d never do with him? Not a chance. “No.”
She turned and headed for the bar, determined to do her job. The sooner she brought their drinks, the sooner they would leave her to tend to the mid-afternoon drunks and flirtatious fools. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jack claim a seat beside his teammates. He appeared relaxed, as though their kiss hadn’t infused his body with an undeniable need.
Liar. I felt your cock—every hard, thick inch pressing against the palm of my hand.
She mentally slammed the door on that thought. Maybe she had woken up with an extra dose of crazy this morning. That would explain the impulse to kiss Jack Barnes. But right now, she needed to put her crazy to good use and pretend the charming Navy SEAL didn’t measure up.
Jack forced a smile and pretended to listen as Ronan quizzed his brothers about raising cattle. His teammate’s Irish accent—despite the fact that Ronan was born and raised in New York City—blended genuine interest with humor. And yeah, Colton was dumb enough to believe an officer with the SEAL teams wanted to hear about how to artificially ins
