The Guy Next Door. Victoria Dahl

made a rude sound. “I bet it’s usually the women who are trying to finagle more time with you.”

      Jett smiled. He got his fair share of play, but other women had rejected him. It had never bothered him that much, because none of them mattered the way Natalie did.

      “There, you see? That proves my point of you being different, because you wanted to go off without me.” After a soft, deep kiss, he released her and started them both toward the kitchen.

      “I didn’t,” she admitted. “Not really.”

      His guts clenched, but he kept things light. “Could have fooled me.” Hell, she’d fought him tooth and nail at first.

      “Truth is, I didn’t think you’d be interested.”

      Jett shook his head. Yeah, his family would love her. “Lady, you don’t know your own appeal.”

      Licking her lips, she measured her words carefully. “I do in bed.” Her cheeks reddened and she stammered, “I mean, we seem to really click there.”

      “Click?” His mouth twisted. “That’s such a cold, unemotional word for how we burn up the sheets.”

      Her chin lifted. “Well, I’m not as good at verbal sparring as you are. But you know what I mean.”

      “Yeah, I do. You thought I wanted the convenience of regular sex with no other attachments.” Only on rare occasions had he ever had the urge to introduce a woman to his family. It usually involved unavoidable social functions like the marriage of a relative or a holiday party. He always kept things simple, and his family knew not to make too much of it. But a vacation?

      Jett had a feeling that his siblings would take one look at Natalie and know she had thrown him for a loop.

      “Does your family know…” She gestured lamely. “You know, that we…how we…”

      “That you use me for booty calls?”

      Her face flamed. “Have you felt used?”

      “Wonderfully so, yeah.” Trying to hide his smile, Jett held out her chair, but she glared at him, making him laugh. “Come on, Natalie, do you really think I’d deliberately do or say anything to make you uncomfortable?”

      Grudgingly, she conceded the point. “I guess not.”

      “Your vote of confidence warms my heart.” After she’d taken her seat, he went to his own. The dog went under the table and rested across his foot.

      It occurred to him that Natalie might not know how family stuff worked. “My sisters and I are close, but my private life is off-limits. All joking aside, what you and I share is definitely private.”

      Avoiding what he’d said, Natalie picked up her pizza and asked, “Will you tell me about them?”

      “Sure.” Maybe because her own family was so broken, she couldn’t quite conceive of his. He was proud of them all and didn’t mind sharing. “Connie’s thirty, married, with a four-year-old daughter. Heidi’s twenty-eight, a legal secretary, married with two daughters, a one-year-old and a three-year-old. And Betts, only a year younger than you, is a nurse, still single and no kids yet. The brothers-in-law are nice, hard-working guys, and they love my sisters.” He shrugged. “Everyone has their differences on occasion, but never anything major.”

      “There are a lot of girls in your family.”

      “There’s an understatement.” It accounted for part of the reason that they all doted on him so much. “The four-year-old is really prissy, and the three-year-old is a tomboy. As Uncle Jett, I get a free pass to spoil them.” Soon, he’d introduce Natalie to his boisterous clan. They’d love her and, he hoped, vice versa.

      The dog let out a lusty sigh.

      Natalie bent to look under the table. “The poor baby is worn out.”

      Jett peered under the table too, but he paid more attention to Natalie’s small feet. They were soft and delicate and very female. She had her toenails painted a funky powder blue. Demure on the outside, a little risqué underneath—that was Natalie.

      He thought of how she wrapped her legs around him, how sometimes her heels pressed into the small of his back, urging him to go deeper, harder…

      “Jett?”

      God, he was obsessed. “Buddy will get plenty of sleep tonight at Connie’s office. She has pens for the dogs.”

      “He’d be caged up?”

      Jett caught her pained expression. “For his own safety, yeah.”

      Natalie fidgeted for a moment then asked, “Couldn’t you take him to see your sister in the morning instead?”

      “I could,” he told her slowly, wondering if she was again trying to put him off from the vacation. “But I’m going with you.”

      For only a heartbeat, Natalie thought about what he said. “How early could your sister see him? I don’t mind if we leave a little later than I’d first planned. We could even leave the next day if we had to.”

      Jett sat back in his seat. Natalie would change her vacation plans for an abandoned pup? That told him volumes about her caring nature.

      He’d wanted to spend more time with her, but with every minute that passed, he had to wonder how much time would be enough.

      Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, “That’s okay by me, if you’re sure.”

      “We just got him. If we turn right around and leave him again, he might feel abandoned.”

      Better odds were that the dog would get attached to his sister while they were away. Jett shrugged. “Possibly.”

      She again peeked under the table at Buddy. Looking wistful, she said, “I’m sure your sister would be wonderful to him, but…maybe we could just take him with us?”

      Hell, they’d be just like a happy little family. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “The place you’re renting, it allows pets?”

      “For a fee. I don’t mind paying the extra. It’ll be fine.”

      Looking at her face, Jett didn’t have the heart to disappoint her. He finished off another slice of pizza and collected his cell phone. “I’ll call Connie right now. We’ll see what we can work out.”