Page 67 of Gather the Storm

Daisy

Otis pulled away reluctantly, like he wasn’t at all in a hurry, but I scrambled to cover my chest.

“Don’t be a dick just because you feel left out,” Otis said.

Now that Otis had shifted, I had a clearer view of Jace, looking unfairly hot in loose jeans and a ripped T-shirt, his fists clenched at his side, his chiseled jaw smudged with dirt.

“Why would I feel left out?” Jace asked. “Seems like the princess here will let just about anybody do just about anything to her. Maybe she’s not a virgin after all.”

“What are you talking about?” I tried to sound strong, tried to hang on to whatever dignity a girl had left when one guy stumbled on another guy sucking her tit and getting her off, but I wasn’t sure I succeeded. I sounded small and defensive.

Dammit.

Jace came closer, his footsteps slow, the gravel crunching under his big black boots. “You must have forgotten I saw Wolf eating your pussy last night.”

I looked at Otis, expecting him to be hurt, or at least surprised, but he just shrugged.

“That’s none of your business.” I slid off the hood of the Mustang because I was definitely at a disadvantage now that Jace was looming over me. Standing didn’t help a ton since I was so short, but I needed all the help I could get.

“It’s my business when Otis is supposed to be working and he’s out here sucking your tits instead,” Jace snarled.

“No reason to be jealous,” Otis said. “Daisy would probably consider letting you suck her tits if you weren’t such an asshole.”

He said it the way he said everything — straight up and without any real emotion, like he was trying to make Jace feel better — but Jace’s face turned red and his right eye started twitching like his head was about to explode.

Had Otis hit a nerve?

It seemed impossible — Jace hated me as much as I hated him — but I decided to run with it because basically I was willing to do anything to get out of the situation, which had gone from hot to mortifying in seconds.

“Aw, are you feeling left out?” I asked, tipping my head in mock sympathy. “Well, maybe if you’re a good boy and you stop being an absolute dick I’ll let you play sometime too.”

His eyes widened in surprise, and for a split second I thought I’d done it: I’d finally shut him up.

Then he stalked toward me like an advancing general about to take control of a battlefield.

Oh shit.

He slammed into me with the force of a freight train. I could feel his body heat like an out-of-control furnace, could feel his hard dick through his jeans and his muscular chest as he loomed over me.

I had to bend backward over the Mustang’s hood just to look up at him, and for one crazy second, I thought he was going tokiss me. The air was still and charged between us, the way it was right before a bolt of summer lightning tore through the sky.

Then he spoke, his voice low and threatening. “I don’t play,princess. I demolish. You’d be in pieces by the time I was done with you, so you should probably be careful about who you invite to the party.”

I swallowed hard, not because I was scared but because of the torrent of hunger that tore through my body with his words.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t scared of Jace Kane. I was fucking terrified.

But standing there with his body against mine, Jace making all kinds of dark promises that set my body on fire, I was a lot more scared of myself.

Of who I really was. Of what I really wanted.

Chapter 34

Daisy

Iwas almost relieved to go to work the next morning. I’d avoided Jace as much as possible after our altercation outside, but that wasn’t saying much. We spent the rest of the day passing each other in the house as we worked, and then I’d made spaghetti carbonara and garlic bread for dinner.

I’d considered taking my food to my room just to avoid having to look at Jace’s annoying hot face, but it didn’t seem right after all the work the guys had done on the house.

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