What do you want, Jackson?
“I will protect you from whoever I feel is not worthy of you, Em.”
I think you are worthy of me.
But I wasn’t a little girl, especially as I could now feel my body ache with need.
“I’m not a little girl anymore, Jackson. You’re no better than the rest of them!” I said.
He had a sneer that made me want to kiss him and I struggled to find my composure. “I’m a big girl now. A woman. I can sleep with anyone I want. I can sleep with the whole team if I choose to…”
Jackson’s eyebrow rose at the comment, but I was getting annoyed. Anger and lust was a bad combination.
“Hell, I even can sleep with you. Nobody can tell me otherwise,” I started to cross my arms over my chest before he grabbed them and pressed me against the wall in the dark.
“Is that what you want, Emma? Do you want to sleep with me?” he asked in a rough voice. His face was very close to mine. I dropped my head back and stared into his eyes. They were dark with lust as he searched my face.
He parted his full lips. Oh, God. He moved closer, and I felt his hot breath on my face. It smelled like mint and I slowly blinked.
“Do you want me to kiss you right now?” His voice was softer, and I licked my suddenly dry lips and he watched me closely.
I couldn’t speak because I might say yes, and we could never reverse a kiss, or a touch. We couldn’t take it back.
“I’ll bet your lips taste great, Em. I’m sure you taste great,” he said in a low voice that made my insides throb with want. His words made my eyelids flutter closed as I imagined his lips on my body, his tongue on my skin, his hands on my hips. I sighed a little, saving the moment in my head for the next time that I got myself off.
“Tell me, Emma. I won’t do anything to you until you tell me to.”
His face was even closer, and I felt the heat from his breath.
I couldn’t speak. Once we got started, I knew that it would be too hard to stop, and he ran his nose along my neck.
“Stop,” I said.
He chuckled and pulled away. “You don’t want me to stop, Em,” Jackson said, but he didn’t touch me again. Instead he stared at me for a long moment with a tortured look. “I know you don’t, but you need to say something.”
I didn’t. I stared back, not saying a word as the tension between us continued, both scaring and exciting me. I didn’t know what to do with my conflicted emotions. I swallowed, not wanting to end the moment.
“Goddamn it, Emma. You make me fucking insane,” Jackson said as a roar sounded above us. He looked up and took a deep breath.
“Stay away from the team. Don’t think about any of them, Emma. You’re here to work and I’m going to keep a close eye on you.”
Jackson turned and walked away.
He left me standing there as I gaped at him.
“I don’t want anyone else. I want you,” I whispered. I stood there for a few moments, trying to control my emotions. Once I felt I could walk steadily, I made my way back inside to clean up for the game. I headed to the smaller locker room’s bathroom and Bella poked her head around the wall.
“Are you okay? You look flushed. What happened?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes. “I just told Jackson to stop acting like my brother. I already have one,” I forced a smile, not wanting to admit the truth. “He thinks because he watched me grow up that I shouldn’t flirt.”
“You do have to be careful around them,” Bella said as I looked at her in the mirror. She was gorgeous, and I wondered how many of the guys she been with.
“I know. I’d just rather do it on my own than to be treated like a five-year-old.” I forced a laugh and shook my head, masking the pain that I was in.
“Let’s go get to the stands. We have to work the crowd up!” Bella beamed and grabbed my hand, pulling me to the rest of the group.
We were going to alternate with the cheerleaders in getting the crowd going and I just wanted to go home and cry. I knew that things were different between Jackson and me now. I knew that everything might be ruined.
I heard the cheers of the fans and watched as the cheerleaders did their routine before Bella led me out. We moved in front of the crowd and got them to interact with us.
Screw Jackson for treating me like that. I could flirt with whoever I wanted to, and I smiled brightly as I danced around, following Bella’s lead. We moved back when the game started, and I watched it as much as I could without looking too much at Jackson. I hated our fight, but it was in the past and I had to leave it there.