This time, it was her turn to be hurt by his acidic tone, and as always, her temper exploded, and Keanne found herself throwing caution to the wind. In a move that was so unexpected Jason was unable to stop her until it was too late, Keanne took her top off and unclipped her bra, letting it fall down to her waist.
Jason’s jaw slackened.
“Do you still think of me as your little sister now?”
Sexual tension thickened the air as Jason’s gaze went to her breasts…and stayed there. For a long time, he didn’t say a word, and the silence made Keanne breathless with a mixture of fear and excitement.
Jason could not stop staring.
Keanne’s breasts were small but perfectly shaped, pert and proud, her rosy nipples begging for a man’s lips. He had never imagined her this way. Keanne had always been his little doe, a treasure to be protected, a protégé to train. But now Jason knew for sure he would never stop seeing her this way.
When Keanne saw Jason’s jaw harden, a look of resolve on his face, she knew it was time to take things to the next level. Oh Lord, forgive me for doing this, but I’m desperate.
Taking Jason by surprise once more, she thrust forward in his lap, locking her legs around his waist as her arms encircled his neck. At the brush of her nipples against his chest, the two of them reacted at the same time, Jason inhaling sharply and Keanne letting out a strangled gasp, the zing of pleasure that shot through her body hitting her like a lightning bolt.
Keanne was half-naked in his arms. The thought repeated itself over and over in his brain, which still hadn’t recovered from the sensual shock of his little spitfire’s actions. She felt so goddamn good in his arms that he wasn’t surprised at how big and hard his cock had gotten.
Their eyes locked, and he watched with fascination as Keanne blinked at him, her lips parting in a silent moan as a look of dazed pleasure formed on her face. She looked so fucking desirable at that moment that it was all he could do not to give Keanne what her eyes were begging him for.
With a curse, Jason mentally castigated himself for being so weak. This was Keanne, dammit, not some slut he could lose himself in on a rebound.
“Keanne---”
Jason’s growl triggered her panic. This had been her last card. At the back of her mind, she had always known that the only way to make Jason realize she was a woman – that she was the woman for him – was if she seduced him.
And the time to seduce him had come.
Not letting him say anything more, not wanting him to think more about what was happening, Keanne thrust herself harder against Jason as she pressed her lips to his. She shuddered as their lips met.
She was kissing Jason Christakos.
Jason gasped against her mouth and her tongue slipped in. His cock rose in reaction, but instead of making him drown in his desire for Keanne, it worked like a fucking alarm in his head.
THIS. WAS. KEANNE.
He tore himself away from Keanne with supreme effort.
Keanne suddenly found herself dumped on the bed with Jason halfway across the room. He stood against the door, breathing hard, a look of pent-up desire blazing in his eyes.
When she started to speak, he shook his head, a sharp cutting negation that had her swallowing. A second ago, she felt like she had gone to heaven. Now, she was in purgatory, damned by Jason’s rejection.
She looked crushed, and that in return crushed his own heart, too. Never had he wanted to cause Keanne pain, but all this time he had indeed caused her such pain, Jason thought savagely.
All the time he had been in love with Lilac, he had not known he was hurting Keanne because of it, and self-hatred poured into him like acid in his veins. He spun away, unable to bear looking at her.
A silent gasp of pain was wrenched out of Keanne.
“Dress yourself,” she heard him bite out before leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.
One thought hammered inside her brain.
She had gambled…and she had lost.
Chapter Three
“Rehabilitation has been slow, but it’s unsurprising, considering how often she throws tantrums.” Reid Chalkias, the so-called Prince of Darkness of Christopoulos University and one of the few childhood friends that Jason had, spoke in a bland voice as he described the current condition of the middle-aged woman Jason had entrusted to his care.
Reid was seated on the leather couch in his patio facing the vast garden of his home while Jason was seated adjacent to him. A shy-looking girl hovered in the background, her eyes darting every so often to Reid in seeming concern. Jason couldn’t help noticing the girl – she looked very much at odds in a place that was notorious for being a hedonist’s paradise.
“Don’t mind her,” Reid said in Greek. Like Jason, Reid was half-Greek, and it had been the common denominator that bound Reid, Jason, Nick, and their other friends together during their boarding school days. His Mediterranean heritage was evident in his dark hair and skin, but instead of blue eyes, Reid’s were the shade of emeralds, and the expression in it was as hard as the gemstone it appeared like.