I’m scared to imagine what our customers must think of us. They’ll probably never return. And strangely enough, it’s probably not entirely my fault.
Look at our boss, for chrissakes. Now she’s cackling out loud and rocking in her chair.
Jethro at least has put his phone away, but his gaze is curiously empty as he leans against the shelf, arms crossed over his chest. Blank. Not what I’d expect after the manic energy that had vibrated through him during the call.
I don’t like this. At all.
“Hey, Jet.” I keep my voice soft, because he looks like he could be easily startled. “Is everything okay? Who was that on the phone?”
He blinks slowly as if noticing me for the first time. “My cousin,” he rasps, his voice scratchy.
“Is he okay?”
He shakes his head, and you know what? Screw this. I slide beside him and put an arm around his lean hips. “Tell me how to help him. Help you.”
He’s rigid against me, an unfinished statue of a man. “You can’t, girl. I’ve got a fucked-up family. Hell, I’m fucked-up, too. Nothing anyone can do.”
He’s not going to talk. I can feel it in his stance, his voice. Something really bad is lurking there, in his past, in his family, and he’s not ready to tell me about it.
I slip my hand up his back, rub it in circles, and try for something light. “I have a brother. We don’t get al
ong so well. I’m into literature, and he’s an idiot.”
Jet sighs, but his mouth twists just a little.
“My mom thinks I fart rainbows,” I go on, encouraged, “and that it’s cool to ask me for advice on her sex life with my dad. My dad thinks I’m a magical virgin. Neither of them know I’m a unicorn in disguise.”
“A unicorn.” He turns toward me, grinning now, his arms sliding around my waist. “I thought I was the one with the magical horn here.”
I give him that, because of that happy, sexy grin that’s melting my panties as we speak. “Okay, you can be the unicorn. Which makes me…”
“…a girl?”
Suddenly his gaze is so dark I lose myself in it. “A girl,” I repeat dazed. One hundred percent girl, one hundred percent aroused and wanting.
His hands travel up my body to hold my cheeks, and his mouth brushes mine, scorching hot. “Come home with me,” he whispers.
“And Joel?”
“He finishes work later today and won’t be home. Do you want him to be? Want him to join us?” He licks at my mouth and my legs tremble. My thoughts unravel. The heat shooting straight to my core brings a moan to my lips, and I do my best to swallow it. “Say yes.”
“Yes,” I breathe, wondering what I’ve just agreed to.
***
Jet drags me inside their apartment, pushing me against the wall to kiss me thoroughly the moment the door closes behind us. His mouth moves over mine, his tongue explores every inch of my mouth until I’m a shuddering mess, held up only by his strong hands on my waist.
As he hauls me to the couch, though, I struggle to get myself under some semblance of control. “Jet, wait.”
“It’s okay. Just kissing.” He tugs me to the sofa, pushes me down and leans over me and his mouth covers mine, a groan vibrating between us. His hands brush over my cheeks, remove my glasses, dig into my hair, haul me against him. “We can stop when Joel arrives. We don’t have to do anything else. What I said, about me and Joel doing stuff together… Just forget it.”
But that’s the thing: I don’t want to. He doesn’t know, and I need to tell him.
Before I find my courage, though, he rolls us sideways until I find myself sprawled on top of him. His head is thrown back on the backrest, and he drags me up his body with startling strength so he can kiss me again.
“Jet, we need to talk.”
“Screw talking.” He moans in my mouth, the vibrations traveling from his broad chest to my body, making me clench with need.