Page 27 of Take

I did have to pee—bad. I attempted to walk away, but Jasper snagged my hand and led me up to the front counter. He chin-lifted to the waitress. “Washroom?”

She replied in Spanish and pointed toward the right of the counter. Jasper didn’t say thank you, merely pulled me behind him, slammed the flat of his palm into the door and walked inside. A girl reapplying lipstick balked at him, eyes widening. She dropped the lipstick into the sink and it clanged, swaying back and forth inside the porcelain bowl. I was getting that Jasper had that effect on girls. Whether she was shocked at a man in the ladies room or because he was currently radiating anger was debatable.

“Out,” Jasper ordered.

I was going with the anger.

The girl fumbled with her make-up bag then quickly ran by us. I was about to say something to Jasper about his rudeness but shrugged it off. Like I always said, people rarely listened to what they didn’t want to hear. Jasper certainly didn’t want to hear what I had to say, so it was a waste of breath.

He leaned up against the vanity, hands curled around the lip of the laminate counter. His brows rose as he stared at me by the door. Was he really going to stand there while I peed? This was about dignity and peeing in front of Jasper even with a closed stall door was . . . well, I wasn’t going to do it.

The tap dripped.

The shitty cigarette-stained counter creaked under his grip.

Dishes clanged in the nearby kitchen.

“Sunshine, Jesus. Have a piss.”

Shit. Double shit when he crossed his arms. There was no point asking him to wait outside; his answer would be no.

I went into the stall, slammed the door, slid the latch aside and then undid my jeans, sat and peed. When I came out, he pushed off the counter and walked to the door. I washed my hands then went to push the dryer button when he caught my wet hand with his and pulled me out of the bathroom.

“Hey, I need to dry my hands.”

He kept walking. “Blower that loud when I’m trying to listen for anyone coming . . . common sense.”

“You need lessons in basic human civility,” I muttered.

“Not human, angel.” He touched a waitress’s arm on her way past. “Two café solo’s and two rye toast with butter. To go.”

It was annoying that despite his rudeness, the woman looked at him with a dazed look and a brilliant smile. What was it about hot men getting away with being rude? If I had done that, she’d have called me a bitch and I wouldn’t have been served.

“Sure thing, sweetie,” she said with a heavy accent and a wink.

“Thanks, love.” Jasper cocked a grin.

I rolled my eyes. “How did you know that I took my coffee black?”

Jasper guided me over to a stool and I sat. “I notice things.”

“At the first diner, you told the waitress two black coffees. How did you know?” The shower. The coffee. My nightmares. He knew I ate rye toast with butter in the morning instead of the traditional sugary churros. “Jasper?”

He shrugged. “I told you I was watching Xamien’s place for a few days.”

“You got all that in a few days?” A trickle of unease tap danced across my skin.

“It’s my job, Max.”

Suddenly, everything changed in him and the tension shifted to the easygoing playboy. He had this aura about him, a magnet that awakened the molecules in my blood stream from the slow lazy river to an ocean of tidal waves.

His hand casually swept my hair away from my neck and my breath hitched. I glanced up at him while his finger traced over the nodules at the top of my spine. The butterflies fluttered, panties dampened and my heart tripled its pace.

“We need to play a role here, babe.” I thought he might let me go when his finger stopped caressing me. Instead, he leaned closer and kissed me. It was a soft kiss on the lips, but the moment our lips connected, the sparks ignited.

He deepened the kiss, his hand tightening on the back of my neck. My mouth yielded to his harsh assault of carnal fluidity. Saturated warmth of raw need broke the boundaries of what we were.

I didn’t think either of us expected it. Nothing could have prepared me to be taken by him with a power that didn’t just grab me—it changed me.

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