“Why did you do that?” she whispered.
“I wanted to.”
Her eyes were a darker shade now—from arousal?
No matter, he’d never seen a sexier sight than Livie with her hair in disarray from his hands, her lips swollen from his touch, and her body trembling. Yeah, there would definitely be a next time.
“You can’t—we . . .”
She shook her head and spun around. Jax waited while she gathered herself. Another boost to his ego. She smoothed her hair with her fingers, straightened her tank, and squared her shoulders before turning around. Sure, she could try to get back to that stuffy Livie, but her moist lips puffy from his assault couldn’t be so easily tamed.
“We just did,” he countered with a grin he couldn’t suppress. “And I plan on doing it again.”
One perfectly arched brow lifted. “Is that a threat?”
“More like a promise.”
Livie marched past him. “Take me home.”
Jax turned, reached out, and snaked an arm around her waist, hauling her back against his chest. He must have been a masochist because he should have just let her walk away—but he could still feel her lips, her body, against his.
“Are you offended because I kissed you or because you liked it?” he whispered in her ear.
Her body stiffened against his, but he didn’t turn her loose. “I didn’t like it.”
Jax laughed, brushed her hair off her neck, and replied, “I bet I’ll have bruises on my shoulders that say otherwise.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
He released her long enough to spin her around. “I don’t need to flatter myself. Not when you were arching that sweet body against mine and moaning. I bet those uptight city boys don’t even know how to treat someone like you. I bet they take you to a fancy restaurant, bring you flowers when they pick you up, and give you a polite kiss good night.”
She blinked and tilted her chin in defiance and he knew he’d hit the proverbial nail on the head.
“No wonder you responded so passionately.”
Livie narrowed her gaze. “You’re not my type.”
“I’m not asking for you to walk down the aisle with me. I already did that and it was a disaster.” He leaned in just enough to torment himself with that floral aroma once again. “Although I’m positive you don’t even know your type.”
“It’s not someone too young for me.”
Her weak defense was muttered, which only proved she was losing her grasp on her self-control.
“Baby, I’m not young,” he corrected. “I’ve seen and done things you could never imagine and I assure you, you weren’t thinking of my age when you had your hands all over me.”
He leaned in just a bit closer, pleased when her eyes dropped to his mouth. Jax came within a breath of her lips, she parted . . .
“I better get you back home.” He skirted around her and headed toward the door. “Your roommates will be worried.”
As he stepped out into the night and headed toward his truck, Livie followed behind him, muttering under her breath some extremely unladylike expressions. Jax had a difficult time keeping his laughter under control.
He wanted her to be achy because he was damn uncomfortable. She couldn’t throw their ages in his face and she couldn’t lie, either. She’d been just as invested in that kiss as he had.
Jax would drive her home and he’d lay money on the fact she wouldn’t get any sleep tonight. She’d try to rationalize that kiss, question why she liked it so much, and start formulating some other plan to get what she wanted. She could try, but he planned on kissing her again, he planned on keeping her thrown so far off her game she forgot why she came, and he sure as hell planned on keeping this airport.
* * *
Olivia practically crawled down the stairs the next morning to the blissful aroma of coffee. After being awake nearly all night, she was going to need copious amounts of caffeine today.
She jerked her hair up into a loose knot and wrapped a thick band around her mop to hold it out of her face. She was not in the mood today for hair, for real clothes, for . . . well, anything. Except caffeine, in which case she could use an abundance.
With a yawn, Olivia padded into the kitchen. Her friends’ chatter didn’t even lift her mood. Nothing was helping because for once in her life she was at a complete loss. The kiss was one thing, but it was all those damn emotions that assaulted her after that had her so disoriented.
How could she have enjoyed his touch? Why had her body betrayed her, because she knew full well she’d arched into him and groaned?
Ugh. The groan. That should’ve never slipped out. Now she was working backward because how could he take her seriously when her actions indicated she was easy to manipulate.
“Well, look who’s up,” Jade said around her mug that said THROTTLE IT UP, BABY. Her father always had silly mugs and tees with random sayings. She used to find all of that embarrassing, but now . . . well, she kind of found it humorous.
“No walk of shame this morning?” Jade asked. “I was so hoping you’d take advantage of Jax now that he’s all grown up and looking damn fine. Why didn’t you tell us exactly what you were up against? Did you see that set of shoulders?”
Had she seen them? She’d clung to them while he’d practically made love to her mouth and had her forgetting everything, including her own name for a minute.
“No walk of shame,” she grumbled, sliding onto one of the empty barstools. “I’m not here for booty calls, Jade. I need to wrap this mess up and get back to my life.”
Melanie sat a steaming mug of coffee in front of Olivia. “You look like you need something stronger than this.”
“I need to get my head examined,” she muttered as she took that first sip, which touched her soul. “I mean, he can’t just kiss me and
