Oh, she was pissed, and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with Brad and everything to do with the fact that he’d kissed her and she’d liked it. At least that’s what he was telling himself. Maybe part of that idea was to feed his ego, but the majority was because he wanted it to be true. He wanted her to like his mouth on hers . . . and he wanted her to crave more.
“No?” he asked, shoving his hand in his pocket to resist reaching for her and finishing what he’d started on the dance floor. “You needed me to pretend to be your lover, so I think you do need me.”
“My boyfriend, not lover,” she corrected, crossing her arms over her chest.
He purposely let his eyes drop to her lips and smiled. “Same thing in this case.”
“Well, the game is up,” she told him, back to that stuffy tone he’d always associated with her. But now he realized that was just a defense tactic.
Without a word, he stepped forward and reached out.
“What . . . what are you doing?” she asked, her eyes wide.
He reached around with both hands and started pulling pins from her hair. So damn many pins.
“What did they do to you?” he asked softly.
Her natural waves tumbled around her shoulders, gliding through his fingers. So silky and soft . . . so the opposite of him.
“Nothing good,” she muttered. “I can take my own hair down.”
“You can do quite a bit on your own.” He dropped a handful of pins onto the table before reaching back up for more. “But I’m still helping.”
Her eyes searched his. “Why?”
“Because I’m trying to get you back to yourself.”
She bit down on her bottom lip and closed her eyes. “Sometimes I don’t know who that is.”
Cash’s fingers stilled in her hair and he clenched his teeth. He hated her family for making her so confused and ashamed of who she truly was.
He also hated her family for putting him in this position. He couldn’t feel, not for Jade or anyone else; he didn’t have it in him anymore.
But he could help her. He saw now that she wasn’t some prima donna with a padded bank account expecting life to hand her everything she wanted. Jade was much more, and he had a feeling he’d barely scratched the surface.
“Sometimes I get tired of being someone else.” She opened her eyes and looked up at him. “I’m tired of being the girl who does everything right, who cares what people think, who spent years trying to be the devoted daughter only to fall short every single time.”
Once the last of the pins were in a pile on the table, he couldn’t resist putting his hands back in her hair and tossing those curls all around her shoulders.
Even when they’d had her hair all slicked back, once it was released, the strands had gone right back to their natural state. Just like the woman. Once she’d been turned loose from the grip of her family, she turned back into the woman he wanted.
“I just don’t want to be me right now,” she whispered.
His gut tightened. “Then don’t.”
Her eyes held his for about a half second before she stepped into him. “Maybe I do need your help.”
Cash’s hands tightened in her hair as he pulled her head back. “I’ll help you get the hell out of this dress.”
“Yes.”
The simple word came out on a sigh, and it took every bit of his willpower not to rip this ugly thing to shreds. As he was contemplating where a zipper would be hidden in a dress like this, Jade gripped his shoulders and pushed him back until his back hit the wall next to the door. Her mouth covered his, and Cash had never been so shocked or turned on in all his life.
A woman who took control was so damn sexy. He’d never imagined Jade in this manner, but he wasn’t about to complain.
His hands went to her ass and he groaned when he fisted layers of silk or whatever the hell this dress was made of.
Jade’s delicate, soft hands framed his face as she plastered herself against him. She wasn’t just kissing him, she was full-on making love to his mouth and driving him out of his ever-loving mind. Just when he thought she couldn’t get any sexier.