“But why?” She released her bottom lip into a pouty frown.
“Well, what a pleasant surprise.” Jillian stepped around the corner.
Carin froze.
“Carin with a C, don’t you look irresistible tonight.” Jillian wedged herself between AJ and Carin.
“I told you to wait in the kitchen,” AJ gritted.
“Victoria’s Secret?” Jillian asked as she ran her finger along Carin’s satin bra strap.
Carin shivered, eyes wide.
“How do you feel about being on the bottom?” Jillian sucked in her bottom lip.
Carin’s gaze shot to AJ.
“Because Sarge thinks he’s going to have me beneath him … but I’m never on the bottom.” Jillian turned to face a disgruntled AJ. “Will this be your first threesome, Senior … Master … Sergeant?” Jillian traced her fingertips along his firm abs.
“Are—are you with her, AJ?” Although weak, Carin found her voice.
When AJ and Jillian looked at each other, a half-naked Carin ceased to exist. Carin was the innocent party, and Jillian would have felt bad, but the truth was … Carin was normal and deserved better.
“I’m his mistake,” Jillian teased her fingers below his navel, keeping her eyes locked to his.
“An epic mistake,” AJ whispered.
“Well … I-I can’t do this. I’m not that type of girl.” Carin slipped on her coat and cinched the tie. Without another word she scurried down the drive to her car.
AJ kicked the door shut and had Jillian lifted with her back pressed against it before a coherent thought could form in her head or an audible word could escape her lips. Her hands slid up his neck and her fingers curled craving a fist full of hair, but his buzz cut denied her every attempt. He kissed her neck while an uncontrolled groan rumbled from his chest. Hugging her to him, he carried her to his bedroom. Before he set her down, she placed her palms on his cheeks until he looked at her.
“I will not be beneath you.” She swallowed a lump of anxiety. How could one person be so messed-up? She knew he wasn’t going to hurt her, but for some reason what she knew, what she felt, and what she feared were all at war.
His eyes searched hers. “I don’t give a fuck about gravity when I’m inside you.” He kissed her, drowning all her senses with his lingering words, his intoxicating taste, his powerful body flesh to hers. He sat on the bed and leaned back with Jillian straddling him.
*
AJ slept. Jillian did not, although exhaustion fought to pull her under. The more the voice in her head tried to convince her to close her eyes, the crazier she began to feel. She slid off his chest.
“Where are you going?” he mumbled with his eyes shut. Jillian questioned if he was really awake.
“Bathroom,” she whispered, grabbing her clothes off the floor. The reflection in the bathroom mirror still looked like a stranger. Dark roots pushed past the platinum blond, a reminder that she needed to schedule a hair appointment. Her tan line reflected the short denim shorts she wore while mowing instead of the bikini bottom lines Jessica Day used to have.
AJ’s chest rose and fell with deep even breaths as she peeked around the corner. Jillian didn’t want to leave. She wanted to feel his naked body next to hers in the morning. She wanted to share coffee and discover the labyrinth of detail that made him the man he’d become, but she was too tired and too weak to crawl back into his bed.
Tiptoeing up the stairs, she pushed open the door on her right. It was Cage’s room. Behind the locked door, she slid between his sheets, then she set her phone’s alarm to five a.m. and fell asleep.
Her body clock protested when the alert chimed at the break of dawn. She shut it off and made her way back down to AJ’s room.
“Should I be worried that you’d rather sleep in my son’s bed than mine?”
Jillian jumped as she reached the bottom of the stairs, wearing only her bra and panties. AJ sat at the table sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. He was showered and dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.
“Oh! Hi,” she breathed out in surprise. Honesty wasn’t a luxury Jillian had been granted. Deceit wasn’t a lie; it was survival. She became an expert at revealing the truth cloaked in a lie. “You’re up early.”
AJ twisted the newspaper, glancing at his watch. “So are you.”
Jillian took tentative steps toward him. AJ was far from an open book. His emotions were as subtle as the turn of the earth. She eased the newspaper from his grasp. He sipped his coffee as she straddled his lap, wrapping her hand around his to bring the cup to her lips. “Mmm … hazelnut.”
AJ nodded once as he set the mug on the table. He had yet to share even a faint smile, but his eyes gleamed with pleasure as they perused her body.