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  She bit the inside of her cheek. “I forgot to do laundry.”

  “You did it yesterday while I was there.”

  “I didn’t pull it out the washer.” Her cheeks flooded bright pink.

  “You’re adorable when you lie. Or, rather, when you try to.” I pulled her closer to me. “I think you wore that skirt on purpose, because otherwise, you wouldn’t have just flashed me your underwear.”

  Jamie wrangled her wrist from my hand and walked backward, only just avoiding tripping over a wire on the floor. “I swear, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “I think you wore it because you’re trying to prove a point, except I don’t know what that point is.” I met her step-for-step, almost stalking her until she almost had her back against the tall toolbox.

  Her tongue darted out over her lips. “You’re losing me, Dex.”

  I closed the distance until she was flat against the front of the box.

  “Watch it. I have a weapon.” She held up the wrench.

  With a smirk, I closed my hand around it and pulled it from her grip. It clattered to the floor, bouncing a few times before settling against a stack of tires.

  “I don’t have a weapon,” she said, looking at her empty hand. “This is workplace harassment.”

  “Your skirt is workplace harassment. Admit you wore it on purpose and I might—might—leave you alone.”

  She swallowed, tilting her head up. “Fine. I admit it. I own about twenty pairs of denim shorts. I wore it on purpose.”

  “Because you’re annoyed that you offered yourself to me on a silver platter and I threw you off the table?”

  She met my eyes, and with more than a hint of amusement in them, said, “No. I thought it would be fun to see how you coped knowing you can look, but you decided not to touch.”

  I gripped the top of the toolbox and dipped my head. “I reserve the right to change my mind at any point.”

  Her tongue flicked out and wet her lips once more. “I don’t think you do.”

  “What would you do if I touched you right now?”

  “Right now? Push you away.”

  “Really? If I tucked your hair behind your ear and kissed your neck? What if I ran my fingertips up your thigh and gripped your ass? Would you push me away then?”

  “I mean…” She paused. “I guess.” She paused again. “Yes.”

  “You don’t sound so certain there, darlin’.”

  “I’m not,” she breathed.

  I took my chance.

  I dipped my head, cupped the back of her neck, and I fucking kissed her.

  She grabbed my shirt, pulling me close into her, and flicked her tongue against my lower lip. A bolt of desire shot through me at that tiny movement, and I flattened my body against hers, pushing her right against the toolbox.

  She squeaked. “Ouch. Drawers!”

  I laughed, pulling her away from it, and swept her around the side of it instead. The metal clanged as her back went into it, and she bit her lip to stop herself grinning as I boxed her against it.

  “Still unsure?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  So I kissed her again.

  Chapter Twenty-One – Jamie

  His thumbs were rough against my cheeks as he cupped my face. I slid my hands up his body between us to do the same to his neck and pushed myself against him.

  I knew this was beyond the line, and I didn’t care. He’d crossed it yesterday when he’d said what he had, and yes, I had worn this skirt deliberately. I didn’t even care.

  I wanted to be friends.

  If he didn’t want that, I’d show him what he did want.

  Me.

  Dex flattened me against the side of the toolbox. His tongue battled against mine as his fingers slid into my ponytail and pulled out the hair tie. It fell somewhere to the floor, and I whimpered at the loss of today’s hair restraint.

  His chuckle against my lips sent shivers over my skin. I gripped him even tighter, and he dropped one hand to my bare thigh. His cock was hard against me, and my heart was beating crazy fast, but that didn’t take away the sensation of his roughened fingertips gliding up my thigh.

  Goosebumps.

  I was covered in goosebumps. They trickled up and down my skin, sending shivers across me as they did so.

  But there was just Dex. His tongue against mine, his fingers probing my skin. My fingers digging into his neck, the feel of his tiny stubble rubbing against my chin.

  He grabbed my thighs and lifted me. I gasped, gripping the sides of the toolbox as he hooked my legs over his hips and grabbed my ass. My arms wound around his neck, and the kiss deepened to the point I could barely breathe.

  I felt him everywhere. All over me. He danced across my skin and he pumped through my veins.

  Like a drug, but better.

  Addictive, just as wrong, but still so much righter.

  My hips pushed against his. My clit rubbed his hard cock, and his deft thumbs hiked my skirt up over my hips.

  I didn’t care. The adrenaline that was pounding through me only served to heighten my desire—the lust wound through my body tighter and harder than I’d ever felt it, and I knew, this time, it wouldn’t end at a kiss.

  I’d pushed him far enough.

  I needed this.

  I didn’t know why. It was something—a catalyst, a game-changer, I didn’t know, but it was significant. Having sex with this man would change something about our relationship, and that was all I knew.

  How we felt about each other—hatred, frustration, anger—it would all change after this.

  I was scared, but I wanted him more than I feared what would happen next.

  I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know how I went from hating him to wanting him, but it was what it was.

  It was fucked up, but still.

  Dex gripped my ass tighter and pulled his mouth back from mine, but only by an inch. “Jamie…”

  “Um…Is now where I tell you there’s a condom in my pocket?”

  He froze. “Yes, but I wasn’t expecting that.”

  I smacked my lips together. “There’s a condom in my front left pocket.”

  “You were expecting this, weren’t you?”

  “No?” I offered the answer with a sweet smile.

  Dex stared at me. He didn’t say anything as he kissed me again. His fingers were inside my pocket in a second, and I felt him dig for the condom.

  “Are you sure?” he murmured against my lips.

  “No, I put the condom there to change my mind.”

  “You’re hot when you’re sassy.”

  “You’re annoying when you don’t get the hell on with it.”

  He groaned and unbuttoned his jeans. I watched as he hooked his thumbs under both his jeans and boxers waistband and pushed them down. They only went

  to his knees, but they only needed to go that far.

  He wrapped his hand around his long, hard cock. His eyes were on mine the whole time—all the seconds I wasn’t looking at his cock, that was.

  I peered up. He was smirking, and I couldn’t even be mad. I felt no shame in the fact I was staring at him holding his cock.

  If I felt shame for that, I had to feel it that I had my skirt up over my hips and hadn’t tried to pull it down.

  Dex ripped open the condom packet and pulled it out. I watched as he rolled it on and turned his attention back to me.

  My lips were dry.

  Apprehension tightened my muscles. It wasn’t too late to back out, but was that really what I wanted to do?

  No.

  His eyes bore into mine as he closed the distance between us and picked me up once again. One of my arms wrapped around his neck, and my lips found his as I stretched between us and guided his cock toward my wet pussy.

  He lowered my hips slowly until he was inside me and I was gasping into his mouth. He groaned, gripping my ass tighter as he began to slowly thrust back and forth.

  I grasped at his sho
ulders as he picked up the pace. Our kisses became a mixture of moans and gasps and tongue, and my skin became slick as pleasure snaked its way through my body.

  My muscles tensed. My heart pounded. My adrenaline ran through me until I felt hotter than I’d ever been.

  Dex’s fingers probed my ass cheeks, and he held me against the side of the toolbox so firmly that my skin stuck to the metal.

  I didn’t care.

  I wanted to go over the edge.

  I wanted him to take me there.

  I moaned against his lips, and he smiled, right before he grazed his teeth over my lower lip and kissed me hard.

  He fucked me just as deep as he kissed me.

  Hot and sweaty and crazy, we moved together in sync as my muscles clenched around him. My orgasm shot through me, and I cried out through the shiver that wracked my body.

  I pressed my face against his shoulder. He kept moving until he groaned and stilled, holding my hips right against his. His breath was hot across my skin as we both took deep breaths to calm down.

  “Good thing this box doesn’t have wheels,” Dex murmured against my skin.

  I laughed as he gently pulled out of me and eased my legs down until my toes touched the garage floor. My legs were shaky, but being back against the toolbox helped me stay steady.

  “There goes the friendship thing.” Dex laughed to himself as he rolled off the condom.

  “You’re the one who put that off the table,” I reminded him, shimmying my skirt down over my hips.

  Ugh. Now it was gross there.

  I pushed off the toolbox and on shaky legs, ran toward the bathroom.

  “What are you doing?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at a smirking Dex. “Have you ever had cum drip down your leg?”

  He opened his mouth then closed it again. “Nope. Can’t say I ever have.”

  I shot him a pointed look and slammed the door behind me. I put the toilet seat down and sat down, pulling a bunch of tissue from the holder.

  Then, I just sat there.

  Sat and stared at the door.

  I’d just had sex with Dex.

  Jesus, it rhymed.

  Why was that my first thought? That sex rhymed with Dex?

  What was wrong with me?

  Oh, God.

  I’d just had sex with Dex.

  Against a goddamn toolbox.

  That was a new one…

  Chapter Twenty-Two – Dex

  I closed the drawer of the standing toolbox and leaned against it. I could hear Jamie laughing in reception with another woman, yet back here, I felt like I was burning up.

  I rested my forehead against the cool metal of the box and let out a long sigh. I couldn’t believe I’d given into her games. I couldn’t believe I’d not been able to resist her. That I hadn’t been strong enough to keep myself to myself.

  That I’d crossed the fucking line. Crossed it into fucking torture, because now I knew what it was like. What it was like to have her nails digging into my skin and feel the vibrating of her moans against my lips.

  What it was like to hear her as she let go of everything and was fully in the moment.

  Fucking hell. How were we supposed to work together now? I knew I’d fucked up the moment I’d told her how bad I wanted her, but I never thought she’d actually push my buttons and do something about me turning her down.

  This was why I’d turned her down.

  Because I knew once wouldn’t be enough.

  I knew I’d want her again.

  Gripping hold of her ass while I fucked her had been like a drug. I wanted the hit again. I wanted to feel the way I had when she’d gripped me as if her life depended on it.

  I’d never be able to look at her the same way ever again. She was no longer the sarcastic, over-confident woman who’d walked into the garage and challenged me to prove me wrong.

  She was something more—something wilder. Something more intriguing.

  The door to reception opened, and the sound of Jamie humming filled the air. I didn’t recognize the tune, and I didn’t know what to say to her.

  We’d barely spoken since she’d run off to the bathroom and did some so-called cleaning up. Cleaning up that had taken her twenty minutes.

  I came hard, but not that fucking hard.

  I glanced at her over my shoulder. She bounced happily through the workshop, still humming, and tugged on her ponytail as she went.

  Her hips swayed side to side, and she skipped through the door to the staff room.

  I dropped my head and sighed again. I had no idea what to do.

  “Okay.” She stopped, hugging her purse to her body. She’d put the sweatshirt on, covering the hem of her skirt. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  Tomorrow.

  Right.

  “Yeah. Sure.” I smiled.

  She smiled.

  She walked off.

  Something grabbed hold of me.

  “Jamie!” I stepped over a couple things on the floor and caught her just outside the doors.

  “Did I forget something?” She turned around, those bright blue eyes catching mine.

  “No. I just…” Fuck me, why couldn’t I get my words out. “Never mind. I forgot.”

  She paused, her lips twitching for a second. “Uh…Okay. See you tomorrow.”

  “See you tomorrow.” I started back inside, but stopped. “Dinner!”

  Shit.

  “What?”

  Shit.

  I turned with an awkward grimace. “Dinner. That’s what I forgot. Dinner.”

  She dumped her purse in her car and looked at me over the top of the door. “What about dinner?”

  Of course she wouldn’t make this easy for me.

  “I’m hungry,” I said stupidly.

  Jesus, apparently sex rendered me unable to string a sentence together. Was I twenty-seven or seventeen?

  “Okay?” Jamie’s lips pulled up at the corners, and her eyes sparkled a little too brightly.

  She was doing this deliberately, and I was still too dumb to talk properly.

  “Are you hungry?” Fuck, that was lame.

  “Yes,” she replied slowly. “Where are you going with this?”

  “Nowhere fast, apparently.”

  She folded her arms and leaned against her car. “Dexter Ryne, are you asking me out?”

  “No.” I shook my head emphatically. “I’m asking if you’re hungry.”

  “Of all the things I know about you, this awkwardness is a new one.” Her eyes glittered even more. She was laughing at me silently.

  Jesus, damn it.

  “Do you want to get dinner with me tonight?” I spat it out before I changed my mind. Hell, I’d gone through enough awkward non-sentences to get to this point.

  “Amazing.” She was grinning. “You can tell me you want to fuck me without blinking an eyelid, yet asking me out for dinner takes you ten minutes to get to.”

  I stared at her. “I can take it back, you know.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “All right.”

  “All right?”

  “I’ll have dinner with you.” Her smile turned a little shy. “As long as it’s pizza and you bring it to my place, because I’m too tired to get dressed up.”

  I laughed. “You got a deal.”

  ***

  “You’re having dinner with her?” Roxy blinked at me. “That’s the least Dex thing to ever happen.” She paused, then gasped and pointed at me. “You had sex with her!”

  I threw my arms out. “Why the hell does me having dinner with her have to mean I had sex with her?”

  “Well, did you?”

  “That’s not the point. Why are you even in my bedroom?” I grabbed a pair of jeans out of my dresser and threw them on my bed.

  Why the hell was I still living with my family?

  “What are you, twelve?” Roxy sat on the edge of my bed.

  “Don’t you have a child to look after?”

  She waved her ha
nd. “She’s helping Greta make Bolognese. She’s all good. I want to know about you and Jamie.”

  “I’m your brother. This is sick.”

  “You like her.” She grinned, putting her elbows on her knees and propping her head up on her hands. “You like her, and that’s why you don’t want to talk about it.”

  I sighed and took off my shirt. “No, I just don’t want to talk about it with you.”

  “You totally had sex with her.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Oh, did a car put those scratches at the very top of your back?”

  I froze.

  Aw, shit. Jamie’s nails weren’t long, but they were long enough to leave a mark. And since she’d been digging them into me only a few hours ago, I knew my sister wasn’t bluffing.

  I grabbed a clean t-shirt and threw it over my head with a glare her way.

  She grinned.

  “What does it matter?” I asked, pulling off my dirty socks. I threw them in the laundry basket. “It’s just food.”

  “Food with a girl you had sex with. In the middle of the day. You don’t even call girls you sleep with, never mind take them for dinner after.”

  “Okay, for a start, I’m not taking her for dinner. I’m taking dinner to her.” I paused. “And I don’t need to take girls I’ve had sex with for dinner after, because the food generally comes first. That’s how I get them into bed.”

  Roxy raised an eyebrow. “Then how did you convince Jamie to have sex with you?”

  “My stunning personality, clearly.”

  “You have a personality?”

  “Get out of my room,” I deadpanned. “Now.”

  She got up and left, laughing her ass off as she went.

  I hated my sister sometimes. I couldn’t believe she was fucking thirty next month.

  I swung my door shut and finished getting changed. It was a miracle I’d managed a shower before Roxy had come in and started bugging me, all because I’d told Pops I didn’t need dinner tonight because I had plans.

  My sister had, obviously, jumped to all the right conclusions.

  I finished getting ready and went downstairs. I managed to get out unscathed and into my car where I was able to run and get pizza.

  Half an hour later, I pulled up outside Jamie’s house and got out of the car, pizza boxes in hand. The rich smell of melted cheese and hot bread emanated from the boxes, and my stomach rumbled before I could knock on the door.