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I nodded. “But after that? This whole…” I waved my hand. “Summer fling? And the texts? And being here with you now?” I shook my head confidently. “No. It would be a huge conflict of interest for both of us.”
“Would it?” JT ran a hand over his mouth.
“Heck yeah. If you hadn’t told me in the woods the other day that you’d given up on trying to convince me to take Fortress’s offer, I’d probably always wonder if this whole thing wasn’t just part of some kind of giant sales pitch.”
His eyes widened.
I winked. “You might not know this about me, butsomepeople have suggested that I’m an overthinker.”
“You? Never,” he joked, but his smile seemed a little forced… and no wonder, really.
I winced internally. I hated that I’d nearly ruined our date earlier. The last thing I wanted was for him to dwell on it.
“That would be a real shame, too,” I purred. I pushed back my plate and locked eyes with him across the table. “Because I have big plans for you tonight.”
He let out a strange chuckle—not at all what I’d been expecting.
“Flynn,” he began. “The thing is…” He glanced away and faltered.
Oh. Oh, shit.
“I mean, unless you changed your mind.” I made myself laugh lightly. “No, that’s… it’s… whatever. Tonight’s been a lot.”I’dbeen a lot. “Not exactly restful. It’s probably not too late for you to un-cancel your squash date.” I tore my napkin off my lap and set it on the table. “I can get a ride back to—”
“No!” he blurted. “Fuck no. You’re… that’s not…” He blew out a breath, and when his blue eyes met mine, the panicked longing in them froze me in place. “Flynn Honeycutt, I have never wanted any man as much as I want you,” he said baldly. “Not ever.”
“Oh.” I blinked, trying to summon the ability to speak clearly, though his words had tilted my world on its axis. “I see. So…”
“So I’m good with your big plans,” he said hoarsely. “I’m good with you being naked in any scenario.”
“Right. Okay. Then…” I swallowed. “I guess we should pay the check.”
I told myself to let the strange moment go. Maybe JT was low-key upset about the loss of his promotion, especially since I was the cause of it. Maybe it had nothing to do with me at all. Hadn’t Ijustpromised myself that I was going to stop holding JT at arm’s length and enjoy this while I could?
JT was here with me tonight. Wanting me. For now, nothing else mattered.
After he paid the bill and pulled me by the hand toward the car, I decided to tease him, hoping to reset the mood between us. To make things light and casual.
I waited until he pulled the car out of the well-lit parking lot and onto the dark road before I reached over and ran my hand across his dick and down between his legs. He made a sound of surprise and quickly tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“You’re going to get us killed,” JT hissed, as if anyone could hear us on the quiet road.
“You’ll keep us safe,” I whispered. He hardened quickly under my hand, and I continued to stroke him lazily through the fabric of his trousers. “Besides, I want you to be desperate by the time I take your ass.”
This time, the sound was a choking cough. “You want me to bottom for you this time, huh?”
I watched his reaction. “Problem?”
JT glanced at me before looking back at the road, but when his dick jerked in my hand, I could tell what his response would be before he said it. “Hell no, it’s not a problem. I’m up for pretty much anything that will make you feel good.”
His words made my stomach pitch and roll in the best way.
He’s not an asshole,I realized.
The fact that these thoughts kept coming to me like revelations was a sign of just how effectively I’d built my walls up against JT over the years, only letting in the facts that confirmed my opinion of him.
JT had always been a giver, from the time he’d passed over his favorite pudding cup to Samuel Horner at lunch after some asshole kid had tripped Samuel on the playground, to the time he’d raced out of our biology final early to take Krissy Tan to her swim meet championship when her car wouldn’t start.
It had hurt that he’d always been destined for bigger and better things than Honeybridge. It had hurt that he’d always been one more thing I couldn’t have. But that was no excuse for the way I’d deliberately, repeatedly misjudged him.
