“If you were a bad enough girl for me, you’d know.”
“So you only like bad girls then?” Jessie swallowed as she met his eyes.
He nodded slightly.
“Well I guess I’m pretty safe around you then.” Jessie looked down at the ground and then back up into his blue eyes. “I’m as good as they come, I think.”
“I bet you are,” Jack murmured, his cock springing to life in his shorts.
What the fuck? Since when was he turned on by the thought of a good girl going bad?
They stood for a moment in front of the tent, just looking at each other.
“Do you want to go in first?” Jessie asked, her voice close to a whisper.
Why did he have to be so hot? She hated the way he made her feel all these butterflies in her stomach, hated the way her heart pounded when he looked at her. He wasn’t interested in her. He had made that pretty clear.
“No, you go on ahead. I’m going to hang out for a while longer. ’Night,” Jack rasped.
He decided he better let her go to sleep before turning in. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep himself away from her otherwise.
An hour later, he slipped quietly into the tent and laid down. Jessie was asleep on her side in his sweatshirt again, her blonde curls spread out on the pillow. Her sweet, coconut scent hung in the air all around him. She smelled so good. Why did she always smell so fucking good?
He wondered what she would do if he laid behind her, swept the hair from her shoulder and kissed the back of her neck. Would she object to his hand slipping under that sweatshirt? Would she tell him to stop if he slid a hand down the front of her pajama pants and touched her between her legs as his cock pressed into that cute ass?
Fuck. Now he was hard again.
He turned off the lamp and lay there for a while, listening to her breathe.
No big deal. Tomorrow night he’d go out and take care of this raging hard-on with some hot piece of ass. He sighed and closed his eyes.
JESSIE RODE HOME WITH CHRIS and Zoey, who seemed closer than ever.
“How about Jack and Brittani?” Zoey smiled, turning to look at Jessie in the backseat. “Think he’ll see her again?”
Jessie shrugged as if she couldn’t care less. “Who knows? He seemed to like her. He doesn’t really talk to me about that kind of thing. All he told me was that they did it. She got kind of nasty with me about spending the night in his tent, but Jack calmed her down, I guess.”
“He’s such a pig!” Zoey said adamantly. “Look how many women he’s hooked up with just since we’ve known him.”
Chris held up a hand to stop her. “Easy now,” he said. “Jack’s like a brother to me. I admit his taste in women isn’t as good as mine, but he’s definitely a guy you want on your side. Who cares who he sleeps with? He’s not hurting anyone. Those girls know what he’s all about.”
“I’m sorry, I guess I’m being judgmental. Has he ever had a real relationship?” Zoey asked, curious.
“Once, a long time ago. He was with a girl for a few years. They even lived together. But it didn’t work out,” Chris confided.
“What happened?” Zoey asked.
Jessie listened attentively, wondering about the girl that Jack had been serious with. She couldn’t imagine him like that.
“She was pushing him to get married and that’s not Jack. Eventually they broke up,” Chris said simply. “Not sure Jack has it in him to do the relationship thing. His Dad was… well, let’s just say that he made Jack look like a damn choir boy by comparison. Jack grew up watching his Dad bring home women half his age all the time. I’m pretty sure his view on sex and women is kind of beyond repair at this point.”
Chapter Nine
JESSIE WALKED INTO THE OFFICE. Jack was already there, working at his computer.
“Morning,” she greeted him, walking passed him a short, pink dress and smiling as she put her purse down on her desk.
She set a bag on his desk. “Here. I made you a breakfast sandwich this morning when I made one for myself. Sausage, egg and cheese on a bagel, right?”
He turned around in his chair to face her. “Hey,” he smiled. “Yeah, thanks.”
He grabbed the bag and opened it, unwrapping the sandwich from the plastic and taking a bite.
“This weekend was fun, wasn’t it?” Jessie rambled, anxious to get rid of the strange feelings that had developed between them on the camping trip. “I think Chris enjoyed his birthday.”
Jack nodded. “Yeah, it was fun. Chris had a good time.”
“How come you haven’t accepted my friend request on Facebook?” Jessie asked, smiling. “So rude.”
“When did you send it? I don’t get on Facebook that often,” Jack answered her, keeping his eyes locked with hers.
“A few days ago, I think,” Jessie replied.
“Yeah I haven’t looked at it in a while.”
Jack turned in his chair to face his computer, opened Facebook and logged in. There were numerous friend requests waiting, as well as a few messages. He clicked on the friend requests and skimmed down to “Jessie Sparks” and clicked to accept it. He noticed a request from Brittani, too, but he ignored it.
He clicked on Jessie’s profile picture. In it, Jessie wore Minnie Mouse ears and had her arm around an older, good-looking man who was smiling proudly. Jack smirked when he read the caption under the picture: “Disneyworld with the family! Still Daddy’s little girl!”
He turned to Jessie. “Happy?”
She smiled and nodded. “How come you don’t have a profile picture?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really put anything on there. People tag me in things sometimes but that’s it. I’m going to look through your pictures. Hoping for some bikini shots,” he joked, laughing as he clicked on her profile.
Jessie laughed, blushing. “Jack!” she said reproachfully. “There’s probably more pictures of Libbie than of me.”
But there were definitely some beach shots of her and her girlfriends. She was sure Jack would enjoy checking them out. She rolled her eyes.
When she looked at Jack’s profile, she couldn’t help but notice how many hot girls he had in his friend list. Scrolling down his timeline, she scanned the pictures and posts that Jack had been tagged in by other people. Lots of pictures with Chris, Nick and the other guys, at baseball games, football games, in bars, the beach.
Lots of pictures with different women. Sexy women. Drop-dead gorgeous, some of them. Jessie closed Facebook with a sigh, unable to stomach anymore.
“Russell gave us a case this morning. Rachel Dennison. Her husband died in a boating accident recently. She says some men showed up last week to collect money her husband owed them. Gambling debts. Thing is, the wife says some very large withdrawals were made from her husband’s account in the last couple of months. Like, quadruple the amount he owed. She assumes he paid the debt and these guys are trying to scam more money from her. Apparently she’s rich on her own account. She doesn’t want to call the police because she doesn’t want any scandal. Doesn’t want anyone to know about her husband’s gambling addiction. We’ll head to New York tomorrow to meet with the client.”
“Okay. What can I do?” Jessie asked, excited for what sounded like her first big case.
“You can go talk to Amanda and ask her to book us flights and make us a hotel reservation.” Jack glanced at her, his eyes, as usual, hesitating briefly where her dress ended mid-thigh.
“Any chance we could drive?” Jessie asked. “I mean, it’s not that far, and I don’t really like flying unless I have to.”
Jack shrugged. “I guess so. Doesn’t make a difference to me.”
“How long will we be gone?” Jessie asked.
“Hard to say. Tell her to book the rest of the week. Why don’t you meet me in the morning at my place and we can leave from there? There’s no reason to come here tomorrow,” Jack suggested.
“Okay, what time do you want to leave?” Jessie agreed.
“Let’s plan to leave around ten. I can drive the Escalade home tonight, and we’ll take that.”
“Okay,” Jessie agreed. “I’ll probably have Zoey drop me off at your house tomorrow.”
Jack nodded and turned back to his computer.
Jessie was already thinking about what she should pack for this trip. The rest of the day dragged by and was fairly quiet. They went to lunch together across the street to Castle Pub, as they usually did. Jessie chatted energetically, with Jack quiet, as usual, listening to her ramble on about random things.
After they said good-bye at the end of the day and Jessie was on her way home, she found herself looking forward to going on a trip with Jack to work on a case. She felt a rush of anticipation. She absolutely loved this job.
JACK’S PHONE BUZZED. HE READ a text from Angie.
Angie: Are u busy? Want to come over?
Jack: Can’t. Come to my place.
A minute passed. The phone buzzed again.
Angie: Okay. On my way.
She had been to his house once before and spent the night. Of course after she fell asleep, Jack had left her in his room and slept on the couch. Usually he preferred to avoid the overnight, and rarely did a woman spend the night at his place, but Angie was wild as fuck.
He had met her at Whiskey Rocks a few weeks ago and gone home with her. Her roommate, a cute blonde named Dawn, had appeared in the doorway of the bedroom as Angie was blowing him, wearing a little pair of shorts and a tight t-shirt.
She had poked her head in the room and said, “I’m bored. Mind if I join you guys?”
Angie had looked up at Jack and smiled. “Is that okay?” she’d asked, in her low, gravelly voice.
Jack had nodded, unable to believe his luck. Dawn had joined Angie on her knees, finishing him together.
For round two, Jack had watched Angie bury her face between Dawn’s legs while he fucked her from behind, giving him quite a visual as he pulled the condom off and came all over Angie’s incredible ass. Just the memory of that night was starting to get him hard.
Angie arrived about an hour later. He opened the door and she came in, wearing a short, tight skirt, low-cut top and hooker heels. As she walked inside he noticed Dawn walking in behind her.
“Surprise,” Angie said, smiling salaciously.
Angie reached for him, pushing him gently backward toward his bedroom. She was the perfect girl. No conversation, just straight to the point. She even brought a friend.
Chapter Ten
ZOEY AND JESSIE PULLED UP in front of Jack’s house the next morning at ten-fifteen.
They were surprised to see that Jack’s place was a rather impressive-looking post and beam-style home that backed to the water of the Chesapeake Bay.
“Nice,” Zoey observed. “Not what I was expecting.”
“Me either,” Jessie agreed.
She got out of Zoey’s car and opened the door to the backseat to grab her suitcase.
The Escalade owned by Drake & Associates was parked out front, along with a red sports car she didn’t recognize. She didn’t see Jack’s Jeep or motorcycle, but assumed they were in the huge, detached garage about twenty-five yards from the house.
“Thanks, Zoey,” Jessie said. “I’ll text you or call you later”
“Good luck! Hope it goes okay… be careful,” Zoey called as she pulled away.
Jessie left her suitcase next to the SUV and walked to the front porch. She lifted her hand to knock, but at that moment the solid wood front door flung open. A tall, attractive girl stood in the doorway, her long black hair still damp from a recent shower.
“Hi,” Jessie said, surprised.
The girl looked at her blankly. “Hi,” she said.
“Is Jack here?” Jessie asked hesitantly, feeling awkward, as if she was interrupting something.
“Yeah, come on in,” the girl opened the door all the way and stepped aside, flinging her purse over her shoulder. “Jack’s in the shower.”
At that moment Jessie noticed another pretty girl, also with damp hair, walking out of what she assumed was Jack’s bedroom.
Jessie stepped inside as both girls, who had obviously spent the night with Jack, left and headed toward the red sports car.
Jessie turned to close the door behind them, as Jack appeared from the back of the house. He was shirtless, but wearing jeans. He had a towel in his hand, his hair still damp. A few beads of water glistened on his unbelievably sexy chest.
Jessie couldn’t force her eyes away from that inked masterpiece of a body.
Jack smiled at her as he walked in the room.
“Sorry. I’m running a few minutes late,” he apologized. “Lost track of time.”
He glanced at the open door, wondering if Angie and Dawn had left before Jessie arrived.
Jessie closed the door. “Your friends let me in.”
She blushed and looked away from him, embarrassed.
“Okay.” He shrugged and flashed his usual smirky smile. He wiped the towel over the back of his neck and over his head. “Just give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”
Jack laughed as he went back into his room. Jessie’s face had turned bright red as she realized what had taken place. He had no doubt that little-miss-innocent would have had a heart attack if she’d witnessed the porn-worthy three-way that had kept him up most of the night.
“Sure, take your time.” Her face burned, acknowledgement of the threesome that had taken place between Jack and the two girls in the air between them. She didn’t think of herself as a prude, but she did find it rather shocking.
Jessie looked around his place. She was not sure what she had expected, but she was surprised that his place was so inviting and attractive. For some reason she had pictured him in a messy apartment with mismatched furniture and junk everywhere. Crushed-in beer cans and liquor bottles next to empty pizza boxes. Instead, it was very neat and clean.
Wide plank, dark wood floors throughout, with furniture that looked comfortable and masculine. It suited him.
There was a large cozy-looking sofa in the living room and a huge flat screen television mounted on the wall. The vaulted ceiling made the room seem huge. A stone fireplace dominated one side of the room. The furthest wall was floor-to-ceiling windows with an amazing view of the Bay. French doors opened to a large deck.
There weren’t many personal touches in the room that could tell her much about him, except for the fuzzy Carolina Panthers blanket folded and draped over the back of the couch. It could have been a room inside a model home. It didn’t really look like anyone lived here.
She had grown up in a wealthy family, and nice homes were nothing new to her. As she looked around she found herself very interested in this house in particular, and what it might tell her about Jack.
There were stairs on the other side of the room. She looked up and saw a loft on the left and a hallway and a closed door to the right.
On the far side of the living room was a doorway that Jessie peered into. This room was much more personal, decked out in Carolina Panthers swag. It was clearly Jack’s man cave and he had certainly thought of everything, including a pool table, a wet bar, a poker table and an even larger flat screen television than the one he had in the main living room. As in the living room, one wall was floor to ceiling windows, overlooking the bay. There was a huge grill on the deck outside.
“You’ve got a great place,” she called to him through the open door which she assumed was his bedroom. She had the strangest urge to peek inside and see what it looked like. “Did you decorate it yourself?”
He came back into the living room pulling a t-shirt over his head. Her eyes were drawn to him, unable to resist a last look at that powerful chest and those amazing abs. There was no way he got that body without going to the gym. A lot.
“Nah,” he answered her.
“A girl?” she asked lightly.
He nodded and hesitated. “Yeah, my sister.”
“You have
a sister?”
Jack nodded.
“What’s her name? Is she older or younger?”
“Sarah. We’re twins, but technically I’m six minutes older.”
“Oh that’s so fun!” Jessie said enthusiastically. “Where does she live?”
“Florida, for now. She’s moving here soon, though. She’s getting a divorce. No surprise there,” Jack scoffed.
“What do you mean?” Jessie asked.
“Isn’t that how most marriages end?” Jack asked cynically.
“My parents are still together. And happily, I might add.”
“As far as you know.” Jack smirked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jessie asked defensively.
Jack ignored her last question.
He gave her his usual once-over. She was wearing a little blue summer dress with small white polka dots all over it, and white sandals. White-framed sunglasses rested on top of her head. Her skin was darkening to a golden bronze as the summer wore on.
She tilted her pretty face toward him. As usual, he felt momentarily hypnotized by those unbelievable blue eyes. He tore his gaze away and lowered his eyes to her tantalizing pink lips. He wondered if he’d ever get used to how startlingly pretty she was.
“Your place is spotless, but I can’t picture you cleaning.” Jessie laughed a little at the image.
He gazed at her. “I have someone who comes a couple of times a week to do that.”
Her name was Gwen. She had cleaned his house and done his laundry every week for the past five years. She was a super sweet lady. On Fridays, she usually left a plate of homemade cookies on the kitchen counter, or something else she had baked. Jack didn’t usually eat a lot of junk food or sweets, but he did happily indulge in Gwen’s delicious home baked gifts.
“Oh,” Jessie said, nodding.
She followed Jack into the kitchen.
“Do you want a drink?” he offered, as he poured orange juice in a glass and added a splash of vodka to it.
“No thanks,” Jessie replied. “Isn’t it a bit early for that?” she laughed.
“I’m a little hungover. It’ll help. Where’s your stuff?” he asked, taking a drink.
Lit (Wrecked Hearts Series Book 1) Page 11
