Page 48 of Overtime

“I got you, Spitfire. You can keep me safe. That fucking glower of yours is bound to scare everyone off.” He holds an arm out for her, and she gives him a brief once over that finds him lacking.

“If your cologne doesn’t just make them pass out on site,” she mutters. She refuses his arm, but she starts to walk with him all the same.

Joss gives Harper a hug and exchanges a few more words before she joins me again, and we start walking a few paces behind Scarlett and Tobias.

As we get closer to the studio where our cars are parked, she’s unusually quiet and the tension is rolling off both of us in waves. I feel like I’m waiting for something to bubble to the surface. Like we’re about to combust right here on the sidewalk.

“We going to walk in silence the whole way?” She breaks the silence first.

“Seems that way.”

“Are you pissed at me?”

“Should I be?”

“Just say what you want to say.”

I stop dead in my tracks and give her a knowing look.

“Stop fucking touching Westfield. Stop flirting with him. And maybe don’t eye-fuck him every chance you get.”

“Or what?” she taunts me, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

“I’ll fuck you so hard you forget other men exist.”

“Do it.” She grins.

“So youaredoing it on purpose?”

She shrugs, and I can feel her getting under my skin. Pressing all the buttons as she always does.

“If you want to break the agreement, you can admit it instead of trying to torture me. I’m not taking the bait, Joss.”

“Yet.” She flashes a self-satisfied grin and somehow, I manage to resist the urge to fuck her up against a brick alleyway by counting back from ten all the way back to the cars.

TWENTY-FIVE

Joss

Later that weekit’s Colt’s turn at the studio, and after lengthy negotiations with his PR team, I’ve been told that under absolutely no circumstances am I allowed to have him fully naked. That they’d consider underwear, but they want the last say. I’ve been stewing about it all day because while I don’t exactly want all the women of the world seeing him naked either, he is the ultimate bait to get people to buy this book.

Tobias, Alex, and most of the rest of the guys who agreed to be photographed for it have already been in various states of undress for other fashion and ad campaigns. Colt is the one who everyone will want to see. But an idea just hit me, and after a quick text to him, now I’m just hoping he shows up in twenty minutes with what we need to do this justice.

When he walks in there’s a storm cloud over him. He’s irritated, and I don’t know if it’s with me or the world.

“You ready to be a centerfold?” I joke trying to break the tension following him.

He tosses his bag down and his eyes drift over me, a small smile dancing on his lips when he sees I’m wearing a dark jade green skirt for his benefit.

“Still trying to bait me?” he asks in return.

I uncross my legs, spreading them slightly and giving him a devilish grin. “Is it working?”

“Honestly, it might today. It’s been a rough one, and the idea of being buried inside you, listening to you come from how much you like my cock? I’m tempted.”

I cough, sputter, and sit up in my chair. “I’m sorry. Who are you, and where is Colt?”

He leans over and whispers against my ear, “I can play too.” He’s grinning again when he pulls away from me, and it’s unfair how easily that smile melts me every time I see it.