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“You trying to make sure I don’t get hurt?” I watched him shake his head slowly. “Don’t remember asking you for that.”

“So what?” As I stood taller, he was forced to give ground, lest our bodies collide. “You want me to come out on dates with you, with beard rash.” I ran my fingers across the tender skin on my chin. “That I got from kissing your brother? What if when Hunter took me out for ice cream, I decided to lick his dick rather than the Cornetto he bought me?”

This was the point where he should have shrank back, got angry, and started raising his voice. I was convinced I had Hayden on the rails, but instead, he just smiled slowly. That lazy, sun-drenched smile that had sold a million surfboards, it was weird to see it in my kitchen.

“Was I jealous, seeing you walk into work looking freshly fucked?” The smile faltered for just a second but then was back twice as bright. “Hell yeah I was. I’ve never wanted to be my brother before, but I did that day. Thing is…”

The kettle was starting to whistle, demanding I attend to it, but Hayden was moving back in.

“You’re not mine, so I can’t tell you to keep away from Hunter’s dick or Brock’s, but…” It all came back to me now, the feel of him moving in for a kiss last night. That moment of hesitation, then a need to push past that rode me now as his mouth came to a stop just above mine. “If you gimme a chance, maybe I can persuade you that you only need mine.”

It wouldn’t take much. In my mind, the guys were picked up and placed in the no-go basket due to the fact they were Millie’s brothers, so it was all look and don’t touch, but what if…? What if they weren’t? My hands were rising, wanting to test that, and his eyes followed that, turning molten as they got closer, but a shrill screech had me snatching them back. I blinked and saw that the kettle was boiling. I was forced to pull away and turn it off, just sucking in breaths for a second as I focussed on pouring the coffees.

“Jamie…”

Hayden had to step back as I thrust a coffee cup his way, the hot liquid splashing on the floor. I cursed and then went to grab a cloth from the sink, but he was already there. The coffee was put down as he grabbed a cloth and I grabbed a sponge at the same time, dropping down to wipe up the drips when we stopped. I was dimly aware that his hand was moving as he stared into my eyes.

“I’m not gonna ask for anything else today,” he said, “but I’d give good money to know what you were thinking.”

“I think you know,” I rasped out.

This was insane. I’d only just gotten back from a date with his bloody brother, but my eyes dropped down, taking in those full lips and remembering exactly how they felt. I wanted to take him at his word, that he was cool, that everything would be cool, if I just leaned forward and?—

He read my mind, it felt, moving in closer, slowly enough that I could pull away, but I didn’t. My hand went to the back of his neck, pulling him in closer, and that’s when it happened. My thighs tensed, my entire weight resting on the balls of my feet, but that didn’t matter. Just this. Salty kisses that stung my lips, growing harder, faster. His tongue thrusting into my mouth as he let out a little growl. Then my yelp as he grabbed me, picking me up and setting me on the edge of the counter before stepping between my legs.

“I’m a big boy.” Another one of those crooked smiles at the unintended innuendo, his eyes dropping down as if to confirm just that, mine following. “I can look after myself.” A finger redirected my attention away from that hard body and back to his eyes. “And you, if you let me.”

“If things go to shit,” I told him, feeling like I was howling into a hurricane. “If this causes issues with Millie or the guys, or even your parents, I’m out. Everything will go back to the way it was, yeah?”

He shook his head, ready to deny that, then pursed his lips and nodded.

“Then…” Touching forbidden fruit had a strange kind of thrill to it, and that’s what I felt right now, my finger tracing a line down his chest. His body was just as perfect, just as impervious, as I’d suspected. “I might have something you can look after.”

He stood perfectly still as I mapped the slope of his shoulder and the swell of his biceps before letting my fingertips trail down his stomach. The muscles flexed under my touch, then hardened when I reached the waistband of his board shorts. I tugged at the ties, but his hand covered mine and for a second, I thought I’d done the wrong thing.

“I said I’d look after you,” he said, placing my hand firmly on the counter and then moving forward.

I believed him. That first kiss on my neck, the burning trail he created, leading down to the first button of my shirt. When his fingers popped it open to free his path, it became clear. Millie, Brock, my parents, whatever, I didn’t care about any of them right now. Just this.

“Yes…” I hissed as his fingers opened another button and another. “Yes.”

Chapter 30

Hayden

This was not how I thought today was going to go, but right now I was thanking a wide range of divine beings for their grace, because I was kissing Jamie.

My heart was in my throat, my hands cramping because I wanted to grab her hard and never let her go, but I couldn’t. Instead, I endured the sweet torture of placing kiss after kiss across a body I’d spent way too long fantasising about. When she reached down to touch my dick, I’d felt it lurch like a dog on a chain, forcing me to knock her hand away because this was too bloody much. The smell of her perfume and her natural scent filled my nose, but it was the feel of her that had me moving faster. I popped every button of the damn shirt she was wearing, the thin fabric hinting at the body hidden within it, ready to reveal every curve.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Boys followed Jamie down the school hall with their eyes because my girl had developed early and had curves for days, and that had had me and Hunter stepping in. We made clear to every guy we had any sort of influence with that they needed to keep their damn eyes to themselves, but right now I felt some sympathy with them, because as I pushed the shirt off Jamie’s shoulders, I stopped and stared.

“Why am I wishing I wore a better bra today?” she said in a strangled voice, reaching for her shirt, ready to pull it back over her body.

“Don’t like this bra?” I reached behind her and undid it with a flick. “Then you really shouldn’t wear it.”

Her eyes narrowed as I eased it off.