Page 5 of The Last Second Chance
“Joey.” There it was. Her name on his lips. A prayer and a curse.
She was saved from responding by the crowd in the tent.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven …”
She tried to step back and get an inch of space to breathe, but Jax wasn’t having it. One hand trailed up her back to cup her neck, the other slid dangerously low on her hip.
“Six, five, four …”
Her heart was pounding out of her chest now. She could still win, just needed to keep her head.
“Three, two, one!”
She didn’t hear the roar of the crowd. She didn’t see the fireworks display happening at the front of the tent. The only thing that existed to her at midnight was Jax’s mouth. There was nothing soft or sweet about the kiss. There was a repressed violence about the way his lips moved over hers, crushing, bruising.
The years apart had mellowed nothing. Joey dug her fingers into his shoulders, holding on for dear life as her mouth voluntarily opened to him. His tongue breached her lips and invaded with aggression.
He was using the kiss as a brand, reminding her who she belonged to. But Joey Greer belonged to no man. She stole back the lead, only partially aware of what she was doing. She pushed them away from the white walls of the tent, the only thing separating them from the merriment of a few hundred people, until his back met a tree.
Joey shoved her knee between his legs and felt him tense. She smiled against his lips when he flinched.
His hands were roaming now. One slid around to cup her breast through the fabric of her dress. She purred and he growled.
“Be with me tonight.” She bit his lower lip and sucked it into her mouth. He wasn’t the only one who could make demands.
“How much have you had to drink?” he groaned out the words as she pressed her hips into him. She felt him flex into her, grinding his erection against her lower belly.
“What?”
He pulled back from the kiss, fisted his hand in her hair.
“How much have you had to drink?” he repeated.
“What are you, my mother?” she asked, trying to get her body under control. She shoved against his chest, but he didn’t loosen his hold on her.
“You’re drunk.” He sounded out of breath and accusatory.
“I’m not drunk. I have a nice little buzz going. I know what I’m doing,” she told him.
“We can’t do this, Joey,” he was pulling her hands away from him. “You’ve had too much to drink.”
“I’m giving you permission.”
“Not like this.” Jax’s tone left no room for argument and it pushed her over the edge.
All of the heat from their kiss evaporated into the bitterest of anger.
She bit her tongue and spun around, intending to march off, leaving him and his spectacular hard-on alone. But his hand snaked out and grabbed her by the elbow. “Joey, I’m trying to be the good guy here.”
“Have fun with that,” she bit off the words. “You don’t want me, I’m sure there’s someone else inside who won’t have any problems going home with me tonight.”
She’d gone too far, hadn’t actually meant it. But before she could take the words back, which she wouldn’t have anyway, he was whirling her around. Now it was Joey who had her back to the tree. Jax stepped in on her, robbing her of her personal space. His hands gripped her arms hard.
“Don’t ever say that again.” The tic in his jaw, once only visible on the lacrosse field, flared to life. He gave her one good shake. Rather than fear, Joey felt fury race through her system.
“You have no say in what I do with my life. You lost that privilege a long time ago.”
“I’m back, Joey,” he gritted it out. “And Iwillfix this.”
