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And me?I wanted to ask but couldn’t.Did you think about me?
“What about, um, squash? Do you still play?” I asked instead. He’d been an avid sportsman growing up: golfing, swimming, and sailing in the summer, playing squash and basketball, and skiing in the winter.
“Yeah, actually,” he said brightly. “The building I live in has squash courts. That’s one of the reasons I chose it. I have a few folks I play with from time to time. I ski, too, when I can manage a few days off. And run, obviously. Sometimes on the High Line.”
I nodded. I hated that he knew everything about me—every street in my town, the bakery I frequented, which freakinghandmy brother whittled with—but I couldn’t picture anything about his real life with his high-rise apartment building and his fancy corporate job.
“Well. If you’re up for a swimming competition, I could probably make that happen,” I offered.
He laughed and let his shoulder knock into mine. “And that wouldn’t be because you’re an amazing swimmer and I’m terrible in comparison, would it?”
“You’re not…terrible,” I argued.
JT grabbed at his chest and turned toward me, sending a lock of his perfect hair into his eyes. “Oh my god,” he gasped. “Oh,shit. Was that… was that a compliment? Coming from you? Warn a guy before you rock his foundations to the core like that,Honeycutt.”
I knocked my shoulder into his, harder this time. “I take it back. You’re an asshole and a terrible swimmer. In fact, you have no redeeming qualities whatsoever.”
JT hooked his finger into my pocket, tugging me to a stop. “Interesting.” His voice dropped an octave to something huskier and far more promising. “You seemed pretty convinced I had some redeeming qualities last night when I had my—”
I turned to face him fully and clapped a hand over his mouth. “I don’t recall any such thing.”
I felt JT’s smile beneath my palm, and his expression was warm and affectionate. But the look in his eyes…Hoo, boy. The naked longing there hit my bloodstream harder than Castor’s punch drink.
I had the sudden realization, standing there in the fading summer sunshine, that Jonathan Turner Wellbridge III wasflirting with me. How unbelievable was that?
More unbelievable still, I was… enjoying it.
JT grabbed my wrist to hold my hand more firmly against his lips. Then he opened his mouth and ran his tongue along my palm.
It was a little-kid maneuver, but there was nothing childish about the way I reacted. I sucked in a stuttering, shocked breath as my dick went from interested to seriously fucking aroused. When had my palm become an erogenous zone? How did JT know this about me when I didn’t?
Without taking his eyes off mine, JT turned my hand and took the tip of my index finger between his plush lips, sucking slightly. “I could remind you, Firecracker. I’d really like to remind you.”
What the fuck were we talking about? What was my name? All the oxygen in my lungs deserted me at once. My knees trembled, and my cock pulsed against my fly.
“I…” I licked my lips and tried again. “I…”
“Yes?”
“No.” I shook my head instinctively, forcing my mind out of my pants and back to the conversation. “You could’ve reminded me this morning,” I shot back, though the words came out way breathier than I’d hoped. “But you were too busy sneaking out.”
JT bit lightly at my fingertip. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Oh, yeah?” I swallowed. “You knew I was at the Tavern all day. But this was theoneday you never came by to claim a barstool.”
“You knew I was there all those days last week.” He grinned, satisfied. “You noticed me.”
Noticedhim? Was he insane? That would be like not noticing a tornado carrying your house to Oz. Or not noticing that time had stopped. It was amazing I’d managed to get any work done at all.
JT sucked my finger into the wet heat of his mouth just long enough for me to forget what gravity was, then pulled off with a pop and a cocky little smirk that should have been off-putting.Wasoff-putting. Definitely did not make me want to throw him down on the ground right here at my—
Fuck.
I took a step back and stared at him, panting. “Well, you picked the wrong time to remind me because now we’re at my parents’ house, surrounded by my family.”
JT made a show of glancing around us at the empty woods, but I shook my head firmly. “I can’t, Frog. Really. Not now. Any of the guests from the cottages could walk this way. And Alden’s drunk off his ass, and he’ll need me to drive him and Pop home. And then I have to close up the Tavern since Dan pulled a double today.”
“Okay.” JT ran a hand through his hair. He squeezed his eyes shut and blew out a long breath. “No, you’re right. Not now.”
