“Watch your language,” he replied. “Your cursingoffendsme.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Jayce’s rumbling laughter filled the jail.
4
Jayce
Charlotte was a hot little thing. Twenty pounds of attitude in a ten-pound bag. She marched into her cell in heels and a skirt like she owned the place, raven hair plastered wetly to her head and her chin held high. My cock stood up and started paying attention the moment I laid eyes on her.
If she were in a bar, I’d pick a fight with the biggest asshole in the joint just to get her attention. Something told me she wouldn’t be impressed by that, though. But that just made me wonder whatwouldimpress her.
Stop it.
The voice was soft in the back of my head, but it was firm. I couldn’t start thinking about this girl, because then I wouldn’t be able tostopthinking about her. And that would give Sid something to use against me.
Still, as I closed my eyes I couldn’t help but imagine the way this girl looked before getting dragged in the rain by the sheriff. Deep-black hair cascading down her shoulders like flawless silk. Thick eyelashes above those round, innocent eyes. She was probably going out on a date with some preppy dude in a button-down. Someone who didn’t appreciate her the way she deserved.
The pain in my ribs made my mind wander, and I fantasized about what I would do if the doors to our cells were open. I’d cup her neck with one hand and her ass with the other, pulling her in to crush my lips against hers, a rough kiss that would make her toes curl inside those pretty red heels. I pictured the way her ass would look as I slid her skirt up, a thong hidden in the depths of those round orbs. I’d lower her to the edge of the jail bench and bury my face between those gorgeous thighs. Get her nice and wet, making her buck and thrust against my tongue, before Ireallygave her what I wanted.
I would make her mine.
Enough of that. Forget about her.
There was that voice again. The voice of reason. It didn’t matter what I wanted, because the sheriff was right: I was a dead man.
But even dead men could dream a little.
She sighed over in her cell. I thought about sitting up and talking to her some more. She looked like she needed to get some shit off her chest.
That would be a bad idea, though. Talking led to flirting. Flirting led to other stuff. Other stuff led tootherstuff, which couldn’t be undone.
It’s a good thing she’s not sticking around, I thought while closing my eyes.She’ll be out of this town the moment the sun comes up, and then I’ll never see her again.
As disappointing as that seemed, it was probably for the best.
Boy, was I wrong.
5
Charlotte
My dreams were rapid and restless.
I was back at the restaurant with Scott and the food magazine guy, except in the blink of an eye he was ashe, Tammy from Scott’s phone, and they began flirting as if I wasn’t even there. I ran from the restaurant to the car, but it was our food truck in the parking lot instead of my car, and somehow Tammy and Scott were inside before I could reach it and they drove away. And then my parents were there, hugging me while insisting everything would be okay.
Then I had a different kind of dream. One where I was in a black hole with nothing all around but thick darkness. I waited for my eyes to adjust but they never did, and although I could see nothing, I couldfeelsomething dangerous closing in, surrounding me on all sides and cutting off my escape. And then the man in the cell next to mine, Jayce, wrapped me in a protecting blanket, something like Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, and suddenly I was safe.
I woke shivering on the bench in the jail cell. I started to sit up and something slid off my chest, something that had been covering me. A leather biker jacket.
Jayce’s jacket, I thought.
Even with the jacket draped over me, I’d been freezing. I doubted I would have gottenanysleep without it. Instinctively I pulled it to my nose and inhaled. It smelled like oil and smoke, and something sweet like peppermint. Arousal at his scent stirred within me.
I glanced to my right to thank him, but his cell was empty. I was alone now.
Boots stomped down the hall and the sheriff’s face appeared on the other side of the iron bars. “Mornin’, sunshine,” he said in that thick accent that reminded me where I was. He wrestled with a ring of keys and then unlocked my cell.