Page 61 of Deception and New Direction

“Not a problem, man,”Andretold him with a small grin on his face, and then he turned to me. “Ifyou don’t mind,I’lltake these home and bring them back tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,”Jackresponded, sliding to my side and unlatching himself from me, though he stayed close. “I’llletDiegoknow you stopped by.I’mJack, by the way—nice to meet you.”

Jack stuck his hand out forAndreand he shook it.

I felt bad and didn’t wantAndreto be put off byJack’salpha-possessive moves. “Youdon’t need to if you’d rather stay here and fill them out.”

“It’s all good.I’llbring these back tomorrow.Thankyou,”Andresaid as he walked out the door.

I turned to faceJackand give him a piece of my mind. “Areyou done being a jerk?”Ibarked out.

“How wasIa jerk?”

“Don’t play stupid,”Ichastised him. “Youcame in here, grabbed me, all macho-I’m-gonna-pee-all-over-my-territory-and-mark-it-so-you-know-she-belongs-to-me, like a jerk.I’mnot a piece of meat,Jack.”

“You do belong to me,”Jackbegan.

I started to get pissed, but he held up his hand at me and spoke again beforeIcould get a word in.

“Not in some chauvinist kind of way, but in anI’myours and you’re minekind of way.Thatman was too close to you, andIhave no problem letting him know you’re taken.”

“He has a girlfriend!Agirlfriend who trains service dogs!Hewas literally showing me photos of puppies because he sawDash.Soyou got territorial for nothing.”

“It’s never for nothing,” he said before pulling me into him and kissing me hard.

His hands, which had previously been moving down my back, now glided over my butt and squeezed.

“I don’t feel any panty lines,” he whispered against my ear. “Willyou tell me what color thong you’re wearing,Ruthie?”

“I can’t sinceI’mnot wearing one,”Imuttered back.

His hands froze.Iwasn’t sure if he hadn’t heard me or if he was confused.

“What?Pantiesleave lines, and thongs get all twisted, andIhate that feeling,”Iexplained. “It’sjust easier to go without sometimes.”

“Please tell me you haven’t sat around in that tight skirt in front of me all day with nothing underneath?”Hisvoice sounded strained as he spoke. “Areyou trying to kill me?”

It made me feel sexy when he talked about me like that.Abouthow he lusted over me.Itmade me feel powerful thatIcould derail his thoughts and his priorities.

He kissed me again, and it felt very possessive.Italso turned into a kiss with tongue.Hetilted my head with the hand on my neck and effectively took over not only that kiss, but also my thoughts.

“Get into a room,”Axelyelled teasingly from behindJack, startling me and causing me to pull back.

I snorted.RecentlyAxelhad informed me that the hardest thing for him to learn after moving to theUSwas all the common phrases and sayings.Hehad asked me to tell him when he got one wrong.Iwas happy to have something else to focus on, soIlet him know.

“Umm,Axel.Thecorrect phrase isget a room,”Iinformed him.

“Good to know,”Axelreplied. “Justdropping these files off, and then you two can get back to your makeover session.”

I smiled and corrected him. “It’scalled make-outsession.”

“Got it,” he said with a smile then turned to go back up the stairwell.

I felt light shaking in front of me and looked to seeJacksmiling big and doing a poor job of containing his laughter.

“What?”Iasked, not sure if he was laughing atAxelor me.

“Nothin’, sweetheart,”Jacksaid as he leaned in to give me a quick peck on the lips and walked away.

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