She raised an eyebrow. “I thought cells didn’t work up here.”
“Spotty reception. They work in some places.” He grinned. “Besides, we’re JaBro. We only pay for the best. Including the best cell phone coverage.”
“Figures.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “Okay, so did you bring me my hamburger and fries?”
“Absolutely. Along with some chicken fingers, a couple hot dogs, home fries, coleslaw and various assorted desserts.” He emptied the bags onto the bed. “Told you they wanted to feed you. Someone said I should have kept you away from there. ‘She’s a pretty woman, shouldn’t be down there digging in the dirt’.”
She rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh, and how old was that guy, a hundred?”
“Might have been.”
He looked intently at her. That same jolt she’d felt at the planting site shot through her. To hide the heat that rose to her face, Cassidy sorted through the food until she found her burger and fries. As she picked them up, Jared reached for another container and their hands touched. She jerked back as if from a static shock. “Sorry.”
“I didn’t mean to make you jump like that.” Jared licked his lips nervously. “Go ahead. You’re probably hungrier than I am.”
Her stomach rumbled, proving his point. She hadn’t eaten anything since the bagel that morning and she was hungry. She took the food and hurried back to the bed, where she sat against the headboard and began to eat.
“Didn’t think a cute little woman like you would eat that fast,” Jared said as she gulped down the burger.
“Stop calling me cute or I’ll stick my high heel up your ass,” she muttered around a mouthful. She hid her smile behind her food. His words warmed her, but she didn’t want to show him how much the compliment pleased her. Not until she figured out what the hell was going on between them.
He appeared to ponder this. “Hmm, kinky. I’ve never had anything in my ass. Sounds fun.”
She choked on a laugh. A tiny part of her mind wandered to how he’d react to having something in his ass while she sucked his cock, and she quickly shoved the image from her mind. She hadn’t come down yet from her dream and definitely didn’t want to rev up her libido again. Especially with him sitting so close his body heat caressed her skin. It would be so easy to reach out and touch his chest, his thigh. His cock.
Taking a deep breath, she shook her head. “You are such a perv.”
“Yeah, I’m a perv who brought you food.” He reached out and touched the side of her head. “Sitting this close to you without my thoughts wandering a certain way isn’t easy, you know.” He stroked her hair. “I promised not to mention it, but you’d better believe I’m thinking about it.”
She shuddered, remembering his fingers twining through the strands, tugging as she gave him head. Her cunt tingled and she quickly looked down at the mattress to hide the arousal she feared showed in her expression. Sitting right here… I could kiss him without even trying. Lick his lips. She grew wet.
Keeping her imagination in line definitely wouldn’t be easy.
He took his hand away. “I think I know a way you can clean this without disturbing the bandage. I’d have to help you, though.”
“You just want to see me naked.” She couldn’t resist the jab. Secretly, she hoped he’d say that was exactly what he wanted. As if anticipating being seen, her nipples stiffened.
His eyes sparkled. “Oh, absolutely. Those juicy tits of yours and your sweet little pussy? Damn straight I want to see them.”
Breathing faster, she closed her eyes against the impulse to strip and let him see her again. Let him run his hands over her, tweaking her nipples, fingering her hardened clit. “Not a chance,” she said, forcing each word out past her desire for exactly that.
“Figured you’d say that. Really, all you’d have to take off is your shirt, unless you don’t mind it becoming a little wet. I’m genuinely trying to help you, Cass, not hit on you.”
Of course that was all he wanted to do. She should have known after what had happened, he would only want to be helpful. Disappointed, she finished off her burger and ate a few fries while she mulled it over. Washing the gunk out of her hair was definitely a priority. She just didn’t know whether she trusted herself to let Jared help her without trying to turn it into something more. Having him so close to her, with those images running through her mind, she didn’t want his assistance to be purely innocent.
She didn’t have much choice, however. She couldn’t just sit here with dirt and blood in her hair all night.
“Okay, what’s your idea?” she asked.
He leaned back on his arms. “When people can’t shower, they take sponge baths, right? If I use a washcloth and some shampoo, I should be able to get your hair at least passably clean. I think it would be easier if I did it, because I’d be able to see where the shampoo is and rinse it out better. If you’d rather try it yourself, go for it.”
His hands would be on her hair. Roaming over her scalp, maybe moving down along her neck. Touching the spot just below her left ear that always made her tremble. And if she had her shirt off, his hand might even slip down to fondle her breasts, to rub his thumb over her hard nipples.
She shuddered at the heat of arousal and forced anger onto her face. “I wouldn’t need to take my shirt off for that,” she argued. “At most, a little water might drip on it.”
“Okay, so maybe that was partly me wanting to see you without a shirt,” he admitted. “Water’s going to drip. Your shirt will probably wind up a bit damp. If you don’t care, I don’t either.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She didn’t plan to take off her shirt in front of him again if she didn’t have to. No matter how much she wanted him to see—and touch—her naked body.
“So do you want my help?” he persisted.
He wanted to make her ask. Figured. “Yes,” she snapped. “Would you please help me wash my hair?”
He smiled broadly. “Absolutely. I’ll be right back. I’m going to ask the desk clerk if there’s some kind of bucket or basin we can use so we don’t have to cram into the bathroom together. Though it might be fun to be in close quarters with you.”
“Dream on.”
“Oh, I do,” he assured her. “Every night.”
Before she could respond, he left the room. Stunned, she stared at the door. Had he been serious? Obviously he’d fantasized about her when he’d jerked off the night before, though he might have just been pretending. He certainly hadn’t objected to her aggressive seduction. Arrogant or not, he was hot and seemed to have at least a tiny tender side. Still, it surprised her that he would admit to dreaming about her. She would never have expected to hear that from him.
She wanted him. Needed him so much it hurt. Having had him once, her body craved more. His cock had felt so good inside her, filling her, touching her just right. Desire to have that again burned in her, building to a peak so strong she almost opened the door to call him back.
Almost. She didn’t want him to know how much he turned her on. His effect on her still shocked her. She’d spent so much time trying to hate the man that even now she didn’t want to admit the impact just being near him had on her body. The shivers of arousal, the way her skin seemed to anticipate his touch. The tightening in her pussy.
The dream she’d had about him returned to mind. If it had gone on a few moments longer, she might have come in her sleep, it had been that intense. That realistic. Until the knock on the door had interrupted her, she’d believed Jared was there with her, touching her the way she’d imagined so many times. The way she hadn’t allowed him to the night before.
Through her shorts, she pressed the heel of her hand against her slit, hoping to stop the throbbing there. She rocked her hand back and forth, bringing herself further into the arousal, closer to the orgasm she’d almost reached in her dream. If he came back, maybe she would remove her shirt like he wanted.
Maybe she’d remove everything and demand he fuck her again, despi
te her insistence that it wouldn’t be repeated.
Footsteps outside the door startled her. Horny as hell or not, she didn’t dare to hear his snide comments if he walked in on her with her hand between her legs. She slid her hands under herself to prevent temptation as he entered the room.
He set it beside the bed. “It’s a mop bucket,” he informed her. “She said they didn’t have anything else. She seemed a little suspicious of why I wanted it until I told her about your fall. Evidently it’s already on the local news.”
Cassidy blinked, stunned. “Oh my gosh! You have to be kidding.”
She changed the TV to one of the local network channels, which had just finished up its evening newscast. “And to prove that Earth Day isn’t good for everyone,” the anchor said, “one young woman is recovering today after an accident at the site of a JaBro Corporation tree planting. Cassidy Shelton, a consultant to JaBro—”
She shut it off. “Crap.” She flopped onto her stomach on the bed. “Now everyone’s going to know I’m a klutz. Don’t they have anything better to put on the news around here?”
He laughed. “In this neck of the woods? Probably not. Don’t worry about it. You knew the media was out there, and they didn’t see much else to talk about.”
“Yeah, at least this will be more publicity for your daddy’s company,” she grumbled.
“Look, I don’t want that kind of publicity,” Jared snapped. He knelt beside the bed and looked her in the eye, anger and concern filling his gaze. “You might have been seriously hurt and I’m still not convinced they shouldn’t have checked you out better to make sure that head injury isn’t any worse. I’m not even thinking about JaBro in this. I’m worried about you. Don’t you realize that?”
Her heart rose in her chest. He cared about her. The realization scared the hell out of her, after all her denial that she might feel anything for him. She’d been lying to herself, and now she didn’t dare to be honest. So she took refuge in anger. “No, I don’t. Usually you’re all about JaBro, so why would I think you’d care about me for any reason other than what I can do for the company?”
“You really think that’s true?” he asked softly. He sat beside her, close enough she felt his body heat. She trembled and tensed to keep from responding. “I do care about you. Why do you think I agreed to go on these trips with you? If I hated you as much as you seem to hate me, I sure as hell wouldn’t have volunteered to spend days on the road with you.” He paused. “At the risk of bringing up something I promised not to, if I hated you, last night would never have happened.”
No. No way could she handle him telling her he cared. Even though he’d shown it through all his actions today. She’d wanted to hear it, but now that he’d said it she didn’t know what to do. Their entire relationship, right from the day she’d been hired, had been based on mutual dislike and contempt. After the day she’d had, it was completely unfair of him to topple that perception on its proverbial ear.
Especially when his words brought back her fantasies about him.
She tried to steer things back to more comfortable ground. “I thought you did it because it was best for the company and because Daddy told you to.”
“I did it because I think you’d be best for me, and I told myself to get to know you better,” he said quietly.
He had to be kidding. Jared didn’t like her. Otherwise he wouldn’t get such a thrill out of annoying her. As for traveling with her, it was part of his job as the JaBro PR person. He hadn’t had much choice in the matter.
What the hell does he mean, I’d be best for him? Best for what?
“You know, if you keep that mouth open I might have to use it for target practice with some of these french fries,” Jared quipped.
“That’s more like it. Good old Jackass Jared.” She shoved a few fries into her mouth and made a point of chewing with her mouth open.
He didn’t appear amused. “Is that really what you think of me? That I’m a jackass?” he asked.
She studied him. She couldn’t possibly have hurt his feelings. Again. Like she’d done at dinner the night before. He should have been over that by now. Insulting and jabbing each other was just part of their interaction.
The dejected look on his face said otherwise, though. To quell her guilt, she replied, “You sure act like one a lot of the time. No, I don’t think you are one. You’re just a good actor.”
“Thanks. That makes me feel infinitely better. You really can’t stand me, can you?” He stood and walked to the door. “Which leads me to wonder why you agreed to do these trips with me, and why you wanted me to stay with you in the hospital. If you hate me so much, why would you want anything to do with me? Why did you come to my room last night?”
She had hurt him. Damn it. I want a lot to do with you because I do care about you, damn it! I want you. Get into this bed and touch me, and I’ll show you just what I think of you. But she refused to allow herself to say any of that. “The company hired me for these trips, and who says I can’t stand you?” For the moment, she chose to avoid his question about the night before.
“You sure as hell act like it,” he said angrily. “Always making these snippy little comments to me. What am I supposed to think? You obviously don’t like me a bit. You’re sure not attracted to me, or you wouldn’t say stuff like that.”
She couldn’t even begin to figure out how the subject of attraction had been dragged into this. “I work with you. I’m not supposed to be attracted to you,” she pointed out. “And you make the same kind of comments to me.”
“Nope, I make sexually suggestive comments.” He leaned against the door, arms folded, and stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. “And you shoot me down every time. I thought maybe it was your way of playing along. Maybe not. It might just be a hint that I should give up and get a life.” He walked back to the bed and picked up the bucket. “I’ll bring the water and stuff so I can wash your hair. I assume you can stand me long enough to let me do that.” He went into the bathroom and shut the door.
Sexually suggestive. Yes, his comments were definitely that. She’d thought he only said them to piss her off. From what he’d just said, he’d meant them. Apparently, he hadn’t intended to bother her, despite how crude and lewd his words were. He’d meant to mask stronger feelings for her. Which gave her pause. Maybe he really did like her. Maybe even more than liked.
Cared for her. He’d said that. And caring for someone was only a step or two away from loving them. No way did Jared Jackson love her.
No way would she let him. Despite her heart jumping at the idea.
She’d misjudged him. All this time, she’d thought he disliked her as much as she did him. That was the only logical explanation for his teasing and sniping at her. His sniping hadn’t been like hers, though. Thinking about it, she realized he had mostly teased her sexually, making comments that had both annoyed and aroused her.
His extremely awkward way of telling her he wanted her without actually admitting it, perhaps. She closed her eyes for a moment. He wanted her, she wanted him. If they could just get the hell out of their own ways and speak to each other honestly for once, this might work out.
If she managed to apologize to him for being a bitch. Which she definitely had been. She hated hurting people but hadn’t even thought about how her words struck him. Jackass Jared didn’t deserve that much consideration.
But if he wasn’t really a jackass…
Chapter Seven
He returned carrying the bucket, a pair of washcloths, a towel and a small bottle of motel shampoo. “Have a seat in the chair,” he mumbled. “I wouldn’t want you to have to sleep in the wet spot.” He paused and looked at her with pain-filled eyes. “Oops, that’s suggestive, isn’t it?”
“Jared…” She had to say something. She refused to let it go at this. Even if it made her some kind of sap, she hated seeing him hurt like this, especially when she’d been the cause. “Look, I’m sorry. I thought…” She trailed off,
unwilling to finish the sentence. “I don’t know what I thought. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
He shrugged. “No harm, no foul. You aren’t into me except as a verbal sparring partner. And occasionally a masturbation tool. It’s all good.” He dunked one of the washcloths into the water. “Are you going to move, or do you want a wet bed?”
“I want to make up for making you feel like shit.” She went to the chair, where she sat staring at the wall to avoid looking at him. “I don’t hate you, Jared, and I don’t think of you as nothing more than a sparring partner and masturbation tool.” The words rankled, but after the way she’d acted, she deserved them. She swallowed her anger and went on, “I wanted you last night, not a sex toy. Masturbation, I can do on my own. And I—I never thought about being into you as anything, because I thought you didn’t like me.”
He ran the washcloth over her hair. Water trickled down her neck, but she didn’t mind it.
“Guess maybe we have a failure to communicate here,” he said, sounding less angry. “I thought you despised the ground I walked on, even if I tried to avoid environmental impact.”
She laughed. “You didn’t impact the environment. You definitely impacted me.” More than she wanted to admit. He’d bugged the hell out of her, made her feel as if she was some tree-hugger he only tolerated because he had to. Because of him, she’d believed she had something to prove, even though she shouldn’t have had to prove anything.
Oh, hell yeah, he’d impacted her.
She swallowed the many possible comments that came to her lips and instead said, “The way you acted around me, I thought you didn’t have such a great opinion of me. I was just some tree-hugger your boss stuck you with.”
“Like I said, a failure to communicate.” He gently ran the washcloth over the area around her cut, avoiding the stitches. “Do you remember the day you came in to talk to my dad and uncle?”
Seeds of Desire Page 6
