Misbehaving(62)

On my way out I called out a bye to everyone in the living room. I didn’t make eye contact with Jeff. It hadn’t been a real date, and I had no desire to get to know him more.

Driving home, I tried not to dwell on the fact that Jason still hadn’t called me. He did say he would be busy this week. The fear that he’d gotten back to Harvard and forgotten about me was nagging at me. I hated feeling this way.

Tonight had been a mistake. That wasn’t my crowd. I loved Rock and Trisha, but his friends weren’t my friends. I didn’t really have friends. Hank’s friends had been mine for so long that when it was over I had pushed everyone else away.

Hank hadn’t been back to my house since he’d had to get married to keep his kid. It was a relief not to have to worry about him beating on my door in the middle of the night. Talking him down from being an angry drunk was tiring. I knew this wouldn’t last—he would get tired of doing what Carrie said, and he’d be back. I was enjoying the break while I could.

The knocking on the door started just after midnight, and I stared at the ceiling in my bedroom, thinking this couldn’t be happening. I had just been thinking about how great it was not having to deal with Hank.

He wasn’t banging on the door, so there was a good chance he wasn’t drunk. That could be even worse. At least when he was drunk I could calm him. Sober, he was dangerous. When my phone started ringing, I reached over and picked it up. Jason’s name was on the screen. Sitting up in bed, I cleared the sleep from my voice and took a deep breath before answering. I had been waiting on this call all week.

“Hello,” I said, a little too anxiously, into the phone.

“Are you gonna make me stand out here all night?” he asked.

It took me a moment to understand what he was saying.

“Is that you knocking?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I jumped up and ran to the door. When I jerked it open, Jason stood outside with his phone still at his ear, but he wasn’t smiling. He stuck his phone in his pocket and stepped inside before putting his hand on my hip and backing me against the wall. My heart had just enough time to flutter before his lips touched mine.

This made up for no calls all week. It more than made up for it. I opened my mouth when his tongue slid across my bottom lip. The pleased growl that came from his chest made my entire body feel hot and flushed. I slipped my hands into his hair and leaned into him as his minty taste invaded me. He always tasted so clean. I loved that. It made me want to crawl into his arms and never leave. There was a security with it that didn’t make sense. Just because he tasted good did not make him less dangerous to my heart than anyone else.

“You had a date tonight,” he said against my lips as his hand tightened on my waist.

I started to shake my head and stopped. He meant Jeff. Jax had called him and told him. Was that why he was here? Could he get here that quickly? I grabbed his shoulders and broke the kiss enough to catch my breath.

“Did you come because I was at Amanda’s with Jeff?” I asked. I was torn on how I wanted him to answer this. He had said he wanted to keep this casual. We were doing that. Me dating someone else was okay, but if he had come all this way because he was jealous, then I liked that. I liked it a lot. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted him here because he missed me or if I wanted him jealous.

“Yes,” he replied. I could hear the frustration in his voice. He didn’t want to care. But he did. He cared enough to come all the way here unplanned.

“You said . . . ,” I started to say, but he cut me off when his mouth covered mine again.

I had to hold tight to him because his hungry, aggressive kissing was making my knees weak. He took from me like he couldn’t get enough. I tilted my head back and let him. I wanted this. I wanted him to desire me, but I also wanted him to claim me. We had been down this road before, and when he had gotten jealous it had ended. I didn’t want to lose him again.

“I don’t like it,” he said as his mouth left mine and started moving down my neck, kissing and tasting my skin. “Did he kiss you?”

I shook my head, unable to speak from my need to breathe.

“I don’t like it,” he repeated as he stopped his delicious onslaught at the curve of my neck and shoulder. He kept his lips brushing against the sensitive skin there. “I can’t share,” he said.

“We just ate together. Everyone had a date. She needed someone for Jeff to make it an even number,” I explained.

Jason moved closer to me and slowly lifted his head. Dark blue eyes stared down at me. “Don’t do that again,” he said, then brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “They’re always so damn plump. Like they’re swollen from kisses,” he murmured as he continued to touch my lip.