Had she pushed him too far?
CHAPTER 21
Jannie
Jannie pursed her lips as she looked down at her phone, annoyed, again, by her brother’s persistence.
Ian: Call me. I need to talk to you.
She grimaced. She’d known it was only a matter of time before her family got fed up with her radio silence. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nick approach, his damp hair spiked, chest glistening with water droplets, a towel around his narrow hips.
Her eyes drank him in even as his words echoed in her mind, just as they had every damned day since returning from New York.
But I’ll be him for you.
His sex club.
He’d never mentioned it again after that one time. Curiosity had always been her strength but also her weakness, and with every charged smile he gave her, she wondered what he did in that environment.
A tiny thought came out of nowhere, taking unsettling shape in the back of her mind.
Maybe when he has an overnight flight, he goes to a place like that.
Her stomach twisted. Did he? Because in her experience, leopards didn’t change their spots.
He might be craving … whatever the hell he did there.
What exactly was he into? A few times, he seemed on the verge of bringing it up, and Jannie feared he’d once again offer to show her.
Deep down, she was unwilling to find out. She didn’t want to face it, preferring to stay in the safety of this artificial bubble.
It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. She didn’t want to make these last days feel awkward or ruin what they had right now. This was a temporary break from her real life.
Get over it. You knew this couldn’t last.
She shoved the thought away as tingles racked her body when his heated gaze connected with hers.
He glanced down at the phone she held. “Bad news?”
“Not exactly.”
She indulged herself, looking him up and down, sorely tempted to yank off that towel, frustrated that he had to work this morning. Still, it was tempting. And by the looks of him growing under that terry cloth, he, too, was tempted.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning my family has had enough of my avoidance crap and wants to hear from me.”
“And that’s bad?”
She shrugged. “No. I’m beginning to sort of miss them.”
“Sort of?”
She wanted to bite those lips of his. He’d kept his face clean-shaven, and if she had been ensnared by him before, the attraction had increased a thousandfold. Every time she looked at him, she got distracted. “Well. Between the flying lessons and …” She tossed the phone onto the bed. “I’d rather talk to you.”
Eyes never leaving his, she met him halfway and halted right in front of him, her body reacting simply because of his nearness. One flick of her wrist, and that impeding towel could hit the floor.
His gaze dipped to her T-shirt and visibly pebbling nipples, and his mouth curved into a smile that bordered on cocky. “What’s on your mind?”
