Page 38 of Stunner (Whiskey Dolls 3)

The energy in the room suddenly shifted as waves of something not at all pleasant fell from Owen and crashed right into me. “Why would you ask about Jackson?”

A shiver worked its way down my spine at the hardness in his voice. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard him take that tone before, even during the year and a half I’d convinced myself he’d hated me.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because he showed up at my place earlier today looking like he’d been on the losing end of a fight with a brick wall?”

I hadn’t thought it possible for the air to grow any thicker than it already had, but it was practically soupy, nearly impossible to inhale, thanks to whatever was vibrating off of Owen. “He showed up at your place today?” he asked on a feral growl.

Well, this certainly wasn’t going how I’d expected it to go. “It’s not a big deal—” I started, only to be cut off when a sound I’d only heard in the wild rumbled up from deep within Owen’s chest.

“The fuck it’s not. That asshole had the nerve to show up at your door after what he did? What did he say to you?”

“He was his usual self, thinking his charm would be enough for me to take him back.”

“He tried to get you back?”

I hadn’t been paying attention until he spoke, his voice so low and thrumming with so much rage it made the air crackle. I held my breath for a few beats, trying to get my bearings before I spoke again. Hell, even Gus, in all his bedazzled glory, read his daddy’s mood and took off for parts unknown in an effort to avoid the eruption of Mt. St. Owen that was about to go off.

“It doesn’t matter—”

“Like hell it doesn’t.” He took another step closer, forcing my head to tilt all the way back in an effort to maintain eye contact. That beautiful green had darkened with emotion, something deep and primal flashing from deep within them and making my heart beat faster. “Are you taking that prick back?”

The way he asked that almost sounded like an accusation, and my chin jerked back in shock.

“No!What? God, no! Are you crazy? How could you even ask me that?”

He crossed his arms over his chest, blanking his expression so I couldn’t get a read on him. “Seems like a perfectly reasonable question to me. You were going to marry him, after all.”

I felt my own anger rising, steam building inside me until it threatened to explode from my ears. Owen wasn’t the only one at risk of erupting, and something told me his cute, cozy apartment wouldn’t withstand it if we both lost our cool. “I can barely stand to look at the man. You know that.”

“I know you loved him once. What’s to say you wouldn’t feel like that again?”

Throwing my arms out, I shouted, “For the love of God, I don’t even like him, you jackass! I like you!”

I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, especially in anger. Hell, I’d barely registered the words that had spilled out of my mouthbefore Owen moved quick as lightning, taking my face in his hands and slamming his lips down on mine.

Well, all right then.

18

OWEN

“For the love of God, I don’t even like him, you jackass! I like you!”

That was all it took for me to snap. When she looked up at me, fire flaring in those whiskey eyes of hers as she announced it was me she liked, I couldn’t hold back. I needed to taste that feisty mouth that had been driving me out of my mind for the past year and a half.

There was nothing slow or savoring about that very first kiss. It was explosive. It took a moment for the shock to wear off, but as soon as her lips parted, I drove my tongue inside, tangling it with hers as I slid my fingers back to wrap into her hair so I could tilt her head back farther to take it even deeper.

A needy moan rumbled up her throat, and I didn’t hesitate to swallow it down while shifting my hold to her hips so I could yank her body closer to mine. She gasped at the feel of my erection pressing into her belly, which only made my rock-hard dick twitch with excitement. She simply needed to exist to make me want her, so actually having her in my arms was enough to make me combust.

As badly as I wanted to drown in that kiss, to see if I could make it last forever, I forced myself to pull back whenthe burning need for oxygen became too much. Every muscle in my body was strung tight. My painfully hard dick was currently trying to bust its way through my fly. Even my skin felt stretched to its breaking point. I couldn’t remember a time in my adult life when I’d been this turned on. It was heady and agonizing at the same time.

Screwing my eyes closed, I exhaled a shaky breath as I lowered my forehead to hers and worked to regain control of my body.

She let out a feminine sigh that had my dick twitching. “That was...wow.”

My blood lit with smugness, a shit-eating grin pulling at my lips. “That’s one word to describe it.”

She pulled back and looked up at me, that band of golden green around her irises having expanded to swallow up more of that tawny color. She was just as affected by that kiss as I was, and knowing that made me feel ten feet tall and bulletproof. At least until she spoke and reminded me of the precarious situation we were in. “Why have you been blowing me off?” she asked in a low, soft voice.

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