Page 48

Interesting choice of words. And he’d learned yesterday that where Sam was concerned, there really was no getting off easy . Well, it was easy to get off. It was the after stuff that was hard.

But it was an important lesson learned.

“Great. I’ll be down in a few.”

“Great.”

Yeah, things were normal now. And he was glad.

Sam was happily surprised at how easy dinner had been.

And they were on to cake and a movie, and things were still easy.

She’d picked a rom com because that was what she liked, and since she humored Jace’s need for car chases and explosions on a regular basis, he had to deal with her love of slapstick and happy endings.

They were keeping a healthy distance between them on the couch, and yeah, it was a little healthier than normal, but that was probably good. Because clearly, things were a little more combustible between them than they’d realized. So taking precaution was a good idea, really.

The popcorn bowl sat in the yawning blank cushion space between them—not in anyone’s lap.

It was just smart to do it that way. As conscious as she’d been about what was beneath the bowl that last time it had ended up in his lap, she would be a million times more conscious of it now that she’d felt every hard delicious perfect inch between her thighs, taking her to heaven faster and better than any other man ever.

He’d had clothes on, and still, comparing the quality of the orgasm she’d received to what she’d experienced with her exes had been like comparing first class to economy. A superior ride in all senses of the word.

But she wasn’t thinking about that. She was watching a movie and not thinking about it. Because she should be good. She should be satisfied and stuff because they’d gotten all the tension dealt with, so to speak, and now they were being normal.

She took a deep breath and reached for the popcorn bowl, and her fingers brushed against his. She jerked back like she’d been burned, turning to face him, her eyes wide .

Jace was staring straight ahead, his posture rigid, his eyes focused on the TV. He didn’t look like he’d just been zapped by a rush of electricity.

And she immediately felt stupid because when did she react like that to him touching her hand? Never. So why start now? Because she knew how good that hand felt against her bare skin? Because she wanted to feel that hand on her bare breast, and her butt and...and...other places?

No. Surely not. So inappropriate. And she wasn’t being inappropriate. She was being normal. She checked this time to see if his hand was in the bowl before she reached in and took another handful. She was taking no more chances.

The electricity between them was just hazardous. And she hated it. Because she couldn’t deal with it. At least, she couldn’t deal with it in a healthy, mature way that didn’t involve throwing herself on his body and breathing heavy.

It was the proximity—it had to be. It was like cranking up the heat on something that had been on a low simmer for a lot longer than she would like to admit.

And last night it had boiled over.

She turned her attention back to the movie and tried to focus except...oh, that kiss on screen was getting very passionate. And...how had she forgotten this part? How? How had she forgotten there was a shower scene? Of all things.

It was so very bad. She and Jace had just had their own, less awesomely choreographed scene in a shower, and now this was just making her think of that. Well, she was already thinking of it so it was making her think of it more.

She didn’t want to look at Jace. It would be awkward. But the more she didn’t look at him the more awkward it got because she was so purposefully not looking at it him that it was getting painful .

Oh, geez. How had this happened? How had they gone from best friends to this?

To her sitting frozen on the couch afraid to move and break the band of electricity stretching around them?

Because if she did, she would either snap it and things would just fizzle all to hell with the uncomfortable tension, and he wouldn’t want to sit next to her ever again ever .

Or worse, she would set off a spark that would ignite them both and she’d find herself flat on her back again, riding the ridge of his arousal.

But she looked at him anyway, in spite of the inner voice screaming at her not to. She couldn’t do anything else.

He was looking at the TV, his jaw tight, his hands clenched into fists. She looked back at the screen and her skin prickled. Some serious action was happening there, and she was feeling envious and edgy.

“It’s going to get better, right?” she said.

She wasn’t going to pretend everything was fine—not when it wasn’t. She’d tried that earlier and the attempt had been laughable. He knew her too well. And she respected him too much to lie to him. She respected their friendship too much.

“This?” he asked, and she knew he knew she was talking about that invisible crackle of electricity, the one you couldn’t see. But damn, you could feel it. “I don’t know, Sam.”

“It has to. How else are we going to...live together for the next month? How else are we going to be friends?”

“It’ll get better.”

“But you just said you didn’t know it would get better!”

“I lied one of the times. Pick which one disturbs you less and call it the truth.”

“It will get better.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it will. ”

“Or we just have sex and get it over with.”

Jace did a literal spit take with his beer, a fine sheen of moisture coating the TV screen. “What?”

“I don’t know what I just said. I think I’m crazy. Don’t listen to me.”

“You said we should have sex and you think I’m going to just...not listen to that?”

“Well, I hope you’ll write it off as temporary insanity.”

“Like last night?”

“Yes.”

“If we’re still having insanity from last night, is it really all that temporary?”

“We’re within a forty-eight-hour window. I think it is.”

Jace looked at Sam, who was looking back at him with huge eyes, chewing on her thumbnail. A gentleman might let her take back what she’d said. A gentleman might get up and go to his room instead, take the offer off the table completely by removing himself from the situation.

But he’d proved yesterday that he wasn’t a gentleman, and she was offering sex so he sure as hell wasn’t about to start pretending he was one.

“It’s not temporary for me, Sam. I wanted you before last night. I want you now. I don’t know what that tells you, except maybe that, for me at least, it’s not just going to go away.”

“But what does that mean?” she asked. “Does it change things?”

He closed the distance between them and wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, drawing her to him and kissing her hard on the mouth. She was even sweeter than he remembered. “I don’t know,” he whispered, his voice husky. “Does it?”

She bit her lip, looking at him, so close it would be easy to taste her again. “I don’t...I can’t think when you do things like that but I...I thought...I mean, wouldn’t it be better to let things go back to normal? I thought we were being normal.”

“Closing the gate when the horse already got out?” he asked.

“Maybe that’s what it is,” she said, looking down at his lips. Then she leaned in and kissed him, lightly at first, then deepening it, slowly, thoroughly. She slid her tongue against his. Her mouth fit perfectly against his, the rhythm and flow seamless.

It was nothing like other kisses he’d had. Nothing like kissing a woman he picked up in a bar who didn’t know him. Who didn’t know the steps to what he liked or the shape of his mouth. Nothing, even, like kissing a woman he was in a relationship with.

This was different. This was Samantha, and he was so acutely aware of that fact.

Because she poured her into her kisses, and he knew her better than he knew anyone else on the planet.

Her kisses were sweet, sensual, with bright spots and little points of quirkiness.

Nips, licks, the way she sucked his lip between her teeth, things no one else would do.

Nobody kissed like Sam. Because no one else was Sam.

And it was Sam he craved. Had craved since he was sixteen years old and learning just how strong physical desire could be. Had wanted her every day, every hour, every moment since then, no matter how hard he’d tried to pretend he hadn’t.

The freedom now, to kiss her, just kiss her, was like balm on a wound he hadn’t known he’d had.

When she pulled away they were both breathing hard and her eyes were glistening, the confusion in her expression causing a wrenching his stomach. “I...Jace.” She closed her eyes and leaned in, kissing him again. “I need you to promise me something,” she said when she pulled away.

“What?”

“This won’t ruin us.”

“How could it?” he asked, even as he thought of a million different ways.

But for him, their relationship was already changed.

Because when her lips had touched his a moment ago he’d realized how much feeling he’d been holding back.

And now that he’d seen it, now that he felt it, he couldn’t go back to pretending it wasn’t there.

It was too late for things to be unspoiled for him. And maybe it was selfish of him to want to push on through the feelings. If their friendship wasn’t changed forever for her, then maybe he should keep it that way.

But he felt selfish. Completely and totally ungentlemanly. And he was okay with that. Right now, he was very okay with it.

“Sam,” he said, “I care for you. I’m attracted to you. We’ll follow through and see what happens. It can’t ruin things. What we have is too strong.”

“Just sex?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. And he hated the answer. Because he wished he could give her more. He wished he could have more. But he couldn’t make those promises. And he knew Sam didn’t want them.