Natalie could guess where this was headed. “But she wasn’t really thirsty.”
“Guess not.” Looking only slightly chagrined, Jett shook his head. “I busted her trying to go through my computer files, luckily before she was able to find anything. See, she was a hacker hired by the businessman. Her end goal was to corrupt any data I’d already gathered.”
Natalie didn’t want to admit to her own deep jealousy, but it was there, stewing inside her. Her lip curled a little when she said, “Bet that was one heck of a scene.”
He laughed. “You have no idea.”
“Meaning?”
“She was a hellcat who knew how to fight.” His gaze went to her mouth. “Damn near kicked my ass too. I mean, I’d never fought a chick before. I didn’t want to punch her, you know?”
Natalie gave him a sour frown. “How righteous of you.”
He agreed. “Especially since she had no qualms about decking me. Even hit me with the damn keyboard, and broke it.”
Natalie narrowed her eyes. “So what did you do?”
“I finally tackled her and then held her down on the ground until I could get the keyboard cord wrapped around her wrists.”
“Gee, that sounds familiar.”
One side of Jett’s mouth kicked up. “Not even close to the same thing you and I did, so don’t go there.”
She couldn’t help it; her thoughts were all over the visual of Jett stretched out atop a sexy femme fatale, a woman he’d found appealing, a woman with whom he’d just indulged in ambitious sexual participation.
Jett gave her a chiding frown. “I restrained her so she couldn’t bludgeon me to death. It was one hell of a struggle without a single ounce of pleasure involved. By the time I got her immobilized, I had a damned black eye, a cut on the bridge of my nose and a bite on my neck that hurt for a week.” He shook his head in self-disgust. “The guys at the station still give me crap over it.”
“So let me get this straight. You picked up a complete stranger and then…”
“Did the nasty with her.”
She didn’t want or need his clarification. “And you were hurt because it didn’t work out quite as you’d planned?” Natalie tried to muzzle herself, but failed. “Such a tragic story.”
He didn’t take offense. “Not tragic, no, but I felt like a damned fool. She threw out bait and I took it, hook, line and sinker. No one likes to be a dupe, honey.” He simply held her breast now, his big, warm hand inside her shirt, curved around her possessively.
Not stroking, not playing, just…holding.
As if he now had the right—and she supposed he did.
“One point though—the encounter that night was far from intimate. It was sex, and only sex.” He bent to kiss her, deepening the kiss with the lick of his tongue and a hot exploration. He eased back a millimeter. “What you and I do is very intimate. Don’t ever confuse the two, okay?”
It always felt like more to her, but she hadn’t been sure of Jett’s feelings on the matter. “Since you say it was…somehow detached from emotion—”
“Very detached.”
“Then it’s not at all the same as my bad experience.” Dredging up the past always left Natalie hollow. “If you think you felt duped, imagine being in love with someone and thinking he loves you back, only to find out he wants to get in on the inheritance.”
The smile faded off Jett’s mouth. “You were in love with him?”
Probably not, but at the time… “I thought I was.”
Jett’s arm around her back curled her in close to his chest, and near her ear, with complete sincerity, he whispered, “Tell me his name and I’ll gladly kill the bastard for you.”
CHAPTER FOUR
NATALIE BLINKED AT HIM. “I hope you’re kidding.”
“Maybe.” Jett could tell she didn’t take him seriously. True, he wasn’t in the habit of killing for personal reasons, but after seeing the hurt in her eyes, he wouldn’t mind a little physical retribution against the one who’d caused her pain.
But now that she’d admitted she hadn’t loved the ass, maybe he could just beat him up real good. “Want to give me a name?”
“No!” She smacked his shoulder and laughed. “You’re outrageous.”
Some other guy had broken her heart, hurting her enough to make her wary of commitment. That fact gnawed on Jett. Didn’t mean he wanted the bozo to show back up or to make amends. Hell no.
“Pricks like him always have stuff they want to keep hidden.” Kissing her throat, Jett breathed in the scent of her skin, the perfume of sensual female. “What do you say, sweetheart? You want me to dredge up all his dark, dirty secrets? Maybe drag the schmuck’s name through the mud a little?”
Smiling, Natalie put her fingers to his mouth to hush him. “Not necessary. Believe me, Jett, he stopped being important to me long ago.”
If that was true, she wouldn’t still have her barriers up. But he was working on that.
Holding her gaze, Jett opened his mouth enough to draw in one fingertip. Natalie’s eyes flared, her lips parting.
He licked the tip of her finger, drew it deeper into his mouth, curled his tongue around her.
Her eyelids drooped in carnal awareness.
He knew damn good and well the images she’d have, of him at her breast, sucking gently; him between her soft thighs, eating her toward an orgasm.
His breathing deepened; he loved the taste of Natalie, the intensified scent of her body, how wet she got and how quickly she responded to him.
Needing her again, he released her finger and leaned her back on the couch. Her legs naturally parted for him to settle between them.
Already hard, he growled, “Damn, I want you. Again.”
“But…we just—”
In a rush of need, he went to work on the buttons of the flannel. “Doesn’t matter.” The truth caused him no small measure of alarm. It didn’t matter how often or how thoroughly he had her. “I always want you.” He worked his jaw. “Every fucking second of every day.”
His gravelly tone, bordering on resentment, gave her pause. “That’s a…bad thing?”
Forcing himself to stop, to think, Jett closed his eyes and cursed. “No.” Two breaths, a third, and he had a meager grasp on his control. “No, it’s not bad. It’s just…” He didn’t have an appropriate word to define the loss of control and pounding need, so he said,
“Unsettling.”
“You don’t want to want me?”
Wanting her wasn’t the problem, he could deal with that. Hell, he’d wanted plenty of women throughout his lifetime. Then he had them, one time or a dozen times, and that was it. The wanting ended.
With Natalie, everything was different. Exactly how different, he didn’t know. Jett met her gaze.
The pizza guy had impeccable timing.
His knock saved Jett from trying to come up with a plausible reply. “There’s dinner.” He kissed her then sat up, hauling her up with him. “Stay put. I’ll get it.”
Natalie clutched shut the front