“How drunk are you?” I asked her as we pulled into my parking lot.
“Not very,” she promised.
“So, you’re of sound mind and body at the moment?”
“Um, mostly?”
Good enough for me.
We were barely through the front door when she jumped into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist and throwing her weight forward so we fell back onto the sofa.
“We have to stop doing this,” I told her as I raised her skirt and ripped the scrap of lace she was apparently calling panties off of her body. “I’m going to start thinking you’re ashamed of me.”
“I am ashamed of you,” she teased. “You’re my dirty little secret.”
“And you’re my dirty little hellhound.” I picked her up and flipped us, so I was lying over her on the couch. “My gorgeous, fucking little demon girl.”
“And you love me,” she said again.
“Never going to happen, sweetheart.” I pulled off my T-shirt then stood so I could kick off my jeans and shorts before jumping on her again.
I thrust forward, pushing completely inside her as she wrapped her thighs around me again. Her nails dug into my shoulder as she rocked with me, her breath coming in hard pants and her body shuddering.
Sliding my hand between us, I found her clit with my finger and pulsed over it while I fucked her, hard and fast. She screamed out my name as she came, her nails digging rivets in my skin, the pleasure-and-pain center of my brain went haywire, and I came so hard I might have blacked out for a second.
I shifted us on the sofa, spooning behind her and pulling a blanket over us.
“So, I’m staying?” she asked through a yawn.
“Where the hell else are you gonna go?” I grumbled against her shoulder. “Good night, Willow.”
“Good night, Jamie.”
* * * *
“Damn it,” Willow muttered from somewhere in the room.
I blinked my eyes open to see her breaking off one of the heels of her shoes.
“Do you want me to have some clothes delivered for you?” I asked, sitting up and adjusting the blanket over my lap.
“No, don’t trouble yourself,” she said.
Great. So, we were starting the morning like this again. Whenever we ended up in bed together, Willow got an attitude about the whole thing.
“What is your problem?” I scrubbed my hand over my face and stared at her, praying that for once in her life she would just be straight with me.
“I’m not your booty call, Jameson Malloy.”
“No,” I agreed. “But apparently, I’m yours. Let’s not forget who called who last night. Or who asked to come back here. I’m so sick of this, Willow. You know, we could have something really special if you’d just let me the fuck in.”
“Let it go, Jameson,” she insisted, sliding her feet into her broken shoes. “Look, we’re not good for each other. And whatever this is…it has to stop.”
“So, I should stop answering when you call me?” I snapped.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said with a sigh. “It won’t happen again.”
“Can I at least take you home?” I pleaded.
“There’s a car coming for me,” she said, shaking her head. She walked over and kissed me softly on the lips. “I’m sorry. This is just never going to work.”
I wanted to argue with her. I wanted to beg her to stay. To ask why she was fighting me so hard. But a horn beeped outside, and she grabbed her bag and left.
Damn it. Why the hell did I have to fall in love with the most complicated woman in all of Nevada?
Chapter One
~ Willow I’m-an-Idiot Tate ~
I closed my eyes, wishing I could make the email from my boss disappear just as easily. When I wearily blinked them back open, it was still there. Get the Malloy permit pulled. He’d attached the location and the necessary reference numbers.
It made no sense to me. The Malloys weren’t even direct competitors to the firm I worked for. Not really. Schultz and Schultz specialized in retail properties, like malls and shopping centers. Malloy Brothers specialized in casinos and hotels.
There could only be one reason. S&S had decided they wanted the land.
I sighed, rubbing two fingers up and down the center of my forehead. I blew out a long breath through my nose. This wouldn’t go well. I’d known the Malloys my entire life, one of them was married to one of my best friends, and another was my mortal frienemy. The last would take this as a personal affront and come after me.
True to my word, I’d stayed away from him since that night almost four months ago. It was killing me. As much as we fought, as much as we played at hating each other, I had deep down forever feelings for the asshole. They were the kind that should lead the way to happily ever after. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Jameson Malloy felt nothing for me, nothing beyond happiness that I was an easy fuck buddy. Well, those days were long over. My hand pressed over my almost flat belly that looked as if I’d had a little too much pasta for lunch. It would get harder and harder to hide. I had to figure it out soon. Vegas might be a big place, but the construction industry sure wasn’t. Jamie would know soon that he’d left a little something behind our last time together. He’d insist on doing the right thing.
Screw that.
After the way I grew up, I wasn’t having some man settle for me. I wouldn’t have some man be with me when he didn’t love me. I’d seen that for sixteen years, my mom loving my father and my father being a self-absorbed island unto himself. He’d provided for us physically, but emotionally, he might as well have been a rock. My mom had faded more and more until finally her devastated heart had just given up on him…and me…and life altogether.
I would
