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 of the flannel. “Jett! You have…” When he looked back at her, she nodded at his lap.
“A boner, I know. Trust me, the pizza guy won’t mention it.” Jett felt her watching his every move as he got his wallet and went to the door. Always cautious, he looked out the peephole before turning the locks.
The delivery guy wasn’t alone. Hunkered down on the floor a few feet behind him sat a very cute, very dirty little gray dog with white markings and anxious eyes.
Jett frowned at the unkempt condition of the animal. With accusation, he sized up the delivery kid. “Your dog looks hungry.”
“He’s not mine.” The young man glanced back at the animal with a worried frown. “He was out front and followed me in.” Then hopefully, “I thought maybe he belonged to someone in here.”
That got Natalie’s attention. Shirt now decently fastened around her voluptuous breasts, she came to the door and leaned around Jett to look out at the cowering dog.
Immediately she said, “Ohhhhh….” in the softest tone Jett had ever heard from her.
Both he and the delivery boy looked at her with male awareness.
When Jett realized that, he scowled at the kid. “He’s not our dog.”
The pizza guy started stammering. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to let in a stray. I thought…you know…maybe he was…”
Seeing the guy go all tongue-tied over Natalie spiked Jett’s discontent even more. “Here.” He shoved a few bills at him.
The young man looked at the money and started to fumble for change.
Jett shook his head. “Keep it.”
“But…” Going agog at the hefty tip, he said, “That’s twice what you owed.”
Reluctantly, because he did want the guy gone, Jett said, “You did good letting the dog in. I appreciate it.”
Struggling to keep his gaze off Natalie, the guy swallowed. “You’ll take care of him?”
Jett nodded and saw the pizza guy let out a long breath of relief. The young man’s concern was enough that Jett felt like giving him another
