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I nodded and told myself my disappointment was irrational.
Then his eyes opened, and the piercing intensity of his blue gaze froze me in place. “So when?”
“P-pardon?” I squeaked.
“Not now, so when?” He stepped toward me again, and his hand cupped the back of my neck. “I’m not gonna wait around while you overthink things anymore. Especially since you tend to overthink thingswrong.”
I scowled. “I do not!” I paused. “What’s that even supposed to mean?”
“It means earlier, back there—” He gestured toward the clearing by the lake where my family congregated. “—I was hoping you’d come talk to me, but you didn’t.”
“That’s because I… I…”Fuck. Ihadbeen overthinking. “I was busy.”
“So I decided… I was done waiting for you to come to me.” His hands smoothed up my hips and settled just above my waistband. The heat of his skin against mine felt incredible. And incredibly distracting.
“Oh. Well. Yes. That’s… good.”
“Mmhmm. And I’m done waiting for you to accept the offer Fortress sent me here to make,” he whispered, leaning in to nuzzle at the curve of my neck.
“Y-you are?” I narrowed my eyes. “Wait, so… you’re not gonna try offering me three billion percent profits? You’re not even going to throw in your Porsche? Dan says it’s a sweet ride.”
His laughter coasted over my skin like warm honey. “It definitely is. Would that have worked?” Then he answered his own question before I could. “I know you better than that, Firecracker. It might work if your cousin Brittany was in charge, but you have standards you won’t compromise. I respect that. I promise I do.”
“Oh. Yes. Well. Good.” I tamped down another flare of that same irrational disappointment that he’d given up already.
JT was doing precisely what I wanted by backing off.Obviously. It would be ridiculous to be unhappy that the man respected my standards.
And this made things much, much simpler. No conflict of interest. No worrying about what he really wanted from me.
It was all for the best. Definitely.
“I mean, you laid out your terms for me on the first day, and shredding the contract was kind of a clue that you weren’t happy with the offer.”
I huffed. He made me sound unreasonable and cranky when I hadn’t been. Had I?
“You were so upset you even shredded thefolder.” JT’s voice caught with amusement. “And returned it to me as confetti.”
Great. I officially sounded like a serial killer. Just what every boy longs to hear. “Yes, I know. I was there. And I’m the one with the ruined paper shredder. Can we not talk about this anymore?” I demanded.
I made a half-hearted attempt to get away, but JT tightened his hold on my waist and sank his teeth into the tendon at the join of my shoulder, holding me in place.
Shit, that felt good.
“Stay,” he muttered after a long, teasing moment, and to my chagrin, my body locked in place like a dog following a command.
He inhaled deeply and groaned, as though the scent and flavor of my skin was getting him off, and I suddenly stopped worrying about how embarrassing I was being. Was there anything more arousing than having the sexiest man in the world want you as badly as you wanted him? I was pretty sure I’d reached some kind of personal lust pinnacle right there against that tree.
“I’m for sure not going to wait,” JT growled in my ear, “for you to decide whether last night was explosive enough for us to repeat it. Because it was.” He sucked lightly on my neck, and I gasped as my dick started to get very, extremely excited again. “Itwillbe.”
So arrogant. So bossy. I was going to tell him so. Any minute now.
“O-okay,” I breathed shakily instead. I cleared my throat and tried to redeem myself. “I mean, I suppose there are worse ways to spend an evening.”
JT chuckled. “You just keep tempting me to remind you, huh?” With gentle force, he backed me up a pace, and then another, and another, until my shoulders knocked against a tree trunk. His grin was feral… and gorgeous. “Being inside you was one of my top five ways to spend an evening.”
“Topfive?” I gasped, torn between outrage and laughter.
Damn but I liked sparring with him.
