I watched him walk across the room, a nude marble statue come to life, every nook and cranny of his body chiseled by an artist. The sight of him was enough to reignite my passions deep within my chest. I pulled the sheets over my own nude body and rested my head on my hand. “Work?”
“Fixing the Carl mess,” he said, retrieving his phone and staring at the screen. “It’s all your fault, you know.”
“My fault?” I said. I couldn’t tell if he was being serious, or joking.
He glanced over at me, stone-faced. “If you weren’t so sexy, Carl wouldn’t have tried to extort you.”
I grinned in spite of myself. “That just means he would’ve gone straight to Sid instead.”
Jayce raised his arms over his head, flexing his butt muscles as he stretched. The dimples in his hips caved, then flexed back out. “Yeah, but if you were ugly I wouldn’t have flirted so much with you, and then you wouldn’t have followed me to the cemetery. So we wouldn’t be in this mess at all.”
I made an offended sound and grabbed my shoe off the ground, then hurled it in his direction. It missed by several feet and bounced across the hardwood floors of the barn.
“But youaresexy,” he said, coming back to kiss me on the forehead. “So we have to deal with Carl now.”
“Sorry for being such an inconvenience.” I hesitated, then asked, “What are you going to do to him?” I didn’t want to know the answer, but I was compelled to ask.
“Send him on a trip.”
“Is that a euphemism? Like how my dog was sent to a farm upstate?”
Jayce smiled wolfishly at me, and shook his head. “It’s a literal trip, I promise.”
He walked around the room nude while talking on the phone, giving me a nice show while I relaxed in bed. The first phone call was about transporting a package down to Jacksonville. Then he called someone named Brick and asked about Copperhead movements tonight. He mentioned Carl’s name, asking if he was on the schedule. Then Jayce nodded with what looked like relief.
“Things are looking good so far,” he told me when he was done. He pulled his boxer-briefs on, then his jeans. While buckling his belt he added, “We may get out of this mess, Peaches.”
“Don’t jinx it!”
He put on his shirt, then went into the closet. I heard him rummaging around, and then he emerged with a duffel bag and a rain jacket.
I patted the bed. “You don’t have to leave so soon, do you? Come back to bed. I’m not done with you yet.”
“If wearegonna get out of this mess, I have to clean things up at Flop’s.”
I knew he was right, but I was having fun tempting him. I gave him a lusty look and said, “I’ll make it worth your while.”
A pained look came to his handsome face. “You’re killin’ me, Peaches.” He bent down to give me a long, passionate kiss. It went on so long that I thought hemightstay, but then he finally pulled away.
“Hold down the fort while I’m gone.” He caressed my cheek with his thumb. “Don’t get into any trouble.”
“I promise only to snoop around a little bit.”
He gave me a warning glare, which turned into a silly grin, then went out into the stormy night.
29
Jayce
Leaving a beautiful woman in bed felt like leaving a full glass of whiskey at the bar. It was a terrible thing to waste.
I would’ve given anything to stay with her a little longer. To feel the smoothness of her skin against mine, the curve of her hip like a rolling hill underneath my palm. I desperately wanted to stay in bed and roll her over, taking her from behind and burying my face in her long black hair. Breathing her in while we surrendered to torrid waves of arousal.
But there was too much to do before I was safe. And more importantly, beforeCharlottewas safe.
I flipped the hood of my jacket up and hurried through the torrential rain to my truck. I would have rather had the speed and maneuverability of my bike tonight, in case I had to pull into the forest to hide at a moment’s notice, but the rain made that too dangerous. The truck would have to do.
Plus, the bag of supplies would’ve been a pain in the ass to haul on my bike. Trash bags and duct tape, two pistols, an extra shotgun, a box of flashbang grenades I’d stolen when I was a Copperhead, and enough ammunition to fight off an army.