Jill Shalvis - Instant Temptation

“Maybe another time,” he murmured.

“Count on it.”

He knew she was only half kidding.

She shivered, and drew his attention downward. Her nipples were two hard points, pressing against the thin stretchy material of her tank.

“They’re just a regular old pair of breasts,” she said. “Half the population has them.”

Not that perfect, they didn’t.

She crossed her arms over herself. “I’m feeling cold.”

That wasn’t what he was feeling. But he shrugged out of his outer shirt and wrapped it around her, using it to tug her up against his broad chest.

“I’m muddy,” she said in protest.

“Makes two of us.”

She tilted her head up to meet his gaze warily.

“I won,” he reminded her.

“Yeah. So?”

“So now there’s something you can do for me.”

“Let me guess. Something sexual.” Her tone suggested complete disinterest. The pulse fluttering wildly at the base of her throat suggested something else entirely. “God, you are such a guy.”

He held his silence, and finally she sighed. “Okay, what? What could you possibly think would be okay to ask of me?”

“For you to admit Nolan’s not your boyfriend. At least not yet, he isn’t.”

She stared at him, then let out a breath. “Bite me, TJ.”

“With pleasure.”

Instead of looking pissed, she let out a low laugh. “What’s gotten into you today?”

He had no idea, but he knew it was something he wanted to explore. Did she? He figured he had sixty seconds tops before his family made it around the side of the lodge on foot. He wanted those sixty seconds, so he stepped even closer, until their muddy boots were toe-to-toe. Reaching out, he rubbed at a spot of mud on her jaw.

Her breath caught, and unguarded desire crossed her face.

Yeah, they were definitely on the same page. “Nice riding.”

“Hmmm.” As if she needed balance, she set her hand on his chest. He liked the feel of her touch. A lot. She looked at him, her hand lightly dancing back and forth on his pec as if she didn’t even realize it. Leaning in so that their mouths were only a whisper apart, he breathed out a soft, “Harley.”

She looked up and met his gaze. He could see the swirl of desire and hunger, and the air escaped his lungs. “Harley,” he said again, a little hoarsely now.

“I know.” Her eyes drifted closed. Their thighs bumped. Heat and affection and need warred for space in his head as he laughed softly and pressed his mouth against her ear. “How about now? Are you really, really hot? ’Cause I sure am.”

Her eyes flew open and she stepped back, spell broken just as Cam and Nick came around the corner.

“Who won?” Cam called out.

TJ didn’t take his eyes off Harley. “She did.”

Harley blinked, then shot him a look filled with an intoxicating mixture of confusion and desire.

Yep. Definitely on the same page.

“And that’s how I ended up making a fool of myself,” Harley said to Skye after recounting the events of the quad race the night before.

Her sister had come by to bum breakfast before heading to class. Breakfast, and cash. She needed books for the new quarter.

“So let me get this straight,” Skye said with a smile, eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes. She was the same five foot five that Harley was, but unlike Harley, she was willowy and dainty and model pretty. “You, Queen of Need No One, begged him to kiss you.”

Harley sighed. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. You have a big mouth.”

“I do not!”

“You told everyone when I locked myself out last week. I fielded calls on that one all day long.”

“Yes, well, that’s because you were wearing only your towel, which you dropped when you climbed in the window, mooning Mr. Kletzy across the street. Word is he hadn’t seen a naked woman in fifty years. He’s now requesting that next time you lose your towel at high noon because the light is better.”

“It wasn’t a complete flash, I caught the towel before it hit the ground, and I was just trying to get the damn newspaper.”

“Focus, Harley. The begging.”

Harley pictured herself leaning into TJ, all muddy and turned on, staring at his mouth as she touched his chest…“It’s embarrassing.”

“Walk me through it. You begged him to kiss you. And he didn’t.”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

Skye looked at her for a moment. “Harl, you don’t ever ask for help on anything. I just don’t see this happening.”

“This was more of the silent type of begging.” And worse, it hadn’t been the first time. She flashed back to all those years ago, to that one night she and TJ had shared.

The one he didn’t remember, the ass.

She could still feel his warm hands on her back, the pleasure those hands had brought her, how she’d been reduced to begging then, too.

Damn it. Damn him. She sighed. “Okay, so the begging was mostly done with my eyes. I might have leaned into him. And set my hand on his…chest.”

Skye’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “In the center of his chest, or did you touch nipple?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“A lot.”

Harley blushed beet red. “Maybe I got nipple. But I didn’t mean to.”

“Doesn’t matter. You took the casual touch to the next level.”

“Involuntarily!”

“You put up a red flag. You might as well have announced you weren’t wearing any underwear.”

Harley groaned and covered her face. “Nothing happened!”

“Which reminds me-how does anyone resist any of the Wilders? They’re all so hot. TJ especially. He’s the biggest and the baddest, and when those sharp green eyes land on you…” Skye sighed. “He’s something.”

He was something, all right. “I’m dating someone else.”

“Oh, for God’s sake. Stop saying that. It’s not even true.”

“Yes, it is. Nolan and I have gone out twice.”

“But one of those times was an accident!” Skye sighed. “Look, Nolan’s great. Okay? He is. He’s just not great for you. I mean, he’s cute and smart and has a job, the major three requisites, but…”

“But…?”

“The two of you are too much alike. Sweet, kind…”

Harley narrowed her eyes. “Beta?”

“Well not alpha, that’s for sure. Get back to the begging.”

“Hellooooo, didn’t you hear my story? He leaned in, and I…touched him and closed my eyes and begged for the kiss.”

“Silently.”

“Yes, but he knew. He even laughed.”

“Laughed-or chuckled?”

“What’s the difference?”

“Laughing would imply he was a tease and an asshole. Chuckling softly would imply that he was as thrown as you, and is possibly just proceeding with caution since you’re not exactly an easy woman to deal with.”

Harley blew out a breath. Hard to dispute the truth. “Okay, maybe it was just a chuckle.”

Skye gave her a smug smirk.

“We’re so done talking about this.”

“Look, if you wanted a kiss, why didn’t you just grab his ears and make him kiss you, mud and all? You could have hosed each other off, and then moved to his shower, and then let the real begging begin.”

Harley, who’d just taken an unfortunate scoop of cereal, choked on it.

Skye smiled. “Look at you, all aflutter. Who’d have thought, you and badass TJ, circling each other.”

“See you’re not listening at all. We don’t even like each other.”

“Oh, I’ve been listening. But I don’t think you are. You like your comfort zone, I get it. We all get it. You’re a creature of habit, and keep your own counsel. Well, guess what? In that single thing, you and TJ are two linked souls.”