She tilted her head back. “The stars are pretty tonight.”
“Yeah.” He wasn’t going to push her to talk about Owen. If she wanted to discuss him, he’d be there for her as a sounding board, but he sure as hell didn’t want to talk about her ex-fiancé right now.
She straightened and picked up the glass. “You know he asked me out here. For our first date.”
“Yeah, I know. I was there.”
She turned to him. “You were? I don’t remember that.”
Ouch. “It was you and Brenna and her husband, Honor and some guy she was dating, Clay, Owen and me. We’d just gone to see a movie. I don’t remember which movie. But we all came here after.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, that’s right. Now I remember. We all went to see Captain America: Civil War, then went out to eat and came here for drinking and dancing. We argued about Cap versus Iron Man and who was on whose side.”
“I was team Iron Man and you were team Cap.”
She shook her head. “And you were wrong, as usual.”
“I am never wrong. You were blinded by Captain America’s ass.”
She shrugged. “It’s a very fine ass.”
“You are never going to get me to agree with that.”
She laughed. “Whatever. Owen picked Cap. And then he asked me out.”
“So you went out with him because he agreed with you about Cap’s ass.”
“No, dumbass. Because I liked him. But it didn’t hurt that he was on the side of right.”
Jason rolled his eyes. “So if I’d asked you out first, you would have said no because I chose Iron Man?”
“Of course. Iron Man was wrong.”
He wasn’t sure she was serious or not. He was hoping she was teasing about the Iron Man thing. “Good to know.”
“And because we’ve been friends since we were kids.”
“So were you and Owen.”
“That’s . . . different.”
“I see. But now you want to have sex with me.”
“Also different.”
“How?”
She opened her mouth, then shut it. “I don’t know. It was different then. Owen and I had been circling each other for a while before he asked me out. We were both interested. He knew I wanted to go out with him, so when he asked, I jumped. Obviously it was a bad choice.”
He heard the pain in her voice and wanted to take it away.
He finished off his beer.
“Like you choosing Cap.”
She laughed again. “Asshole. Let’s dance.”
This time he led her inside and they dove right into a hard rocking beat. When the song ended, something smooth and slow played. He looked at Erin and she shrugged and moved into him, so he took her hand, wrapped his arm around her back and tugged her close, feeling the beat of her heart against his chest.
It was just a slow dance, but she laid her head on his shoulder and strands of her hair teased his chin and she was rubbing her hand over his arm and dammit, he’d wanted her for a lifetime. And all she wanted from him was a revenge fuck so when Owen got back she could tell him she’d boned his best friend.
So not only would he lose Erin, he’d lose Owen, too.
He wanted Erin in his bed, but not that way.
ERIN WAS HAVING such a good time. A great time, actually. She’d lost herself in music and dancing and the feel of Jason’s rock-hard body against hers. For a moment, she’d even forgotten about Owen, and that hadn’t happened in . . .
Actually, never. She had Jason to thank for that. Or maybe just the feel of him, the fresh soapy scent of him, the way he smiled at her, the way he made her laugh.
Now, if she played her cards right, maybe he’d ask her to go home with him tonight.
He pulled away. “I need to get home.”
Or maybe not. Now she was confused, because he’d been giving off some definite signals tonight. And the way his body reacted to the two of them dancing close had been “I want you in my bed.” Not “I want to get away from you.”
She shot him a confused look, but nodded. “Okay, sure.”
If there was one thing she realized she did not understand at all, it was men.
They got in his truck and he drove her back to the restaurant. Jason was being uncharacteristically quiet. Was he tired? Probably. Was he mad? Had she said or done something to upset him? Normally he talked to her.
And now she was worried, which was stupid. He was probably tired.
He pulled up next to her car and got out, opened her door and carried the bags from the pet store to her car. After he put the bags in her trunk, she turned to him.
“Are you feeling all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just have a full schedule tomorrow, so I need some sleep.”
She touched his arm. “Thanks for taking me shopping. And dancing.”
She teased her fingers along his skin, surprised at her own sexual reaction to touching him.
Whoa.
Sure, she wanted to have sex with him, but this sudden lightning chemistry between them was new. And very exciting. And something she wanted to explore further. Starting with a hot kiss in the parking lot. She took a step forward.
And he took a step back.
“Jason, what’s wrong?”
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know. I can’t be what you need me to be, Erin.”
She frowned. “And what is it that you think I need you to be?”
“You know what. You want some revenge fling so you can get back at Owen. And that guy isn’t me.”
“Wow. Okay. You do realize I want more from you than just some one-off fuck, right?”
He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what you want.”
She sighed, realizing she might have given him the wrong impression. “I don’t know what I want, either, Jason. Some fun. Kissing. Touching. Maybe some sex. I don’t know. But couldn’t we explore it together?”
He palmed the hood of her car, his body caging hers. The delicious
