Page 72 of Dirty Dancer

But Jas—we needed Jas to get to this realization on his own. She needed him. Hopefully it wouldn’t involve me having to knock his head in to get some sense in there.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” I confirmed. The brush of her fingers dancing over my tattoos pulled my attention to my chest again. “Do you want me to tell you the stories of these?”

“Yes.” No hesitation.

I grinned. “Before or after, I make you ‘bone’-less once more?”

It was a gamble, but the tension vibrating off of her made the spot between my shoulder blades itch. When I cupped her cheek, she leaned right in and then her mouth was on mine.

Good answer.

INTOXICATED (BONUS POV)

JASPER

Homes didn’t always mean happy.

The sweet length of her back was visible in the firelight. We’d fucked. We’d talked. We’d fucked some more. We drank beer. We fucked. We had a snack and talked. Then we fucked again. My cock was already struggling valiantly to come back to life. I wanted to fuck every inch of her skin. I wanted to feel her come around me again and again.

Twice she’d tried to go down on me with her mouth, but I was in no way prepared to be gentle with her yet. While she kept telling me she didn’t need gentle, I wasn’t going to choke her with my cock because I couldn’t control how badly I wanted her. Fuck, just the image alone had my dick stirring.

I traced my fingers down the smoothness of her shoulder and along the length of her back. She was so deeply asleep, she didn’t even react to my touch. The level of trust alone humbled me. Swan was such a complicated mixture of vulnerable and fierce. Determination filled every inch of her fragile little body and as fragile as she seemed, she wasn’t.

Maybe I hadn’t wanted to see it before, but it was unmistakable now. The world had beaten her over and over. Tried to subdue her. Threatened to break her. But she neverconceded the fight. She kept moving. One foot in front of the other.

Even that bastard Eric. Fuck, if I could kill him all over again, I would. The months of injuries we’d put him through until he was so broken he’d never have recovered would have to suffice. Cutting his dick off and shoving it down his throat after he admitted he’d raped her was the very least we could have done.

It was better than the alternative.

Those words haunted me. That she was safer on the road. So what did that mean at home? That money was useful, but it didn’t make up for time lost with people who really cared.

More—with people you could trust.

That word carried the weight of the world.

The weight closed in on me when she’d said she trusted me. All these months of the ferocious way she fought back against us. Pushed to find a way out. Demanded to know why we’d kidnapped her and all I’d been able to say was we took her to protect her.

“What—what was your plan then?” she’d asked not an hour ago. “You took me because I was hurt. But then what?”

Hating the fact I couldn’t tell her the exact why, I had to admit, “I didn’t have a plan. I just had to protect you. To keep you safe. To heal all those wounds you had.” I brushed the hair from her face as I spoke and the corners of her lips turned up. Her flushed skin looked almost rosy in the firelight and the puffiness of her lips just made me hungry to kiss her again. This was how she should always look and feel. Replete. Happy. Free to ask for whatever she wanted.

And fuck, I’d give her everything.

I’d meant it when I said I hadn’t brought her here for sex. Sure, I’d thought about it. But after she had that moment before, I was determined to take my time.

“That doesn’t seem like you,” she murmured and then tapped my nose. “You like being in charge.”

“No,” I admitted. “I really don’t. I like getting things done. But I’m more of a kick in the door kind of guy. I see the short-term gains, the defenses, the offense. The bigger picture, the long-term? That isn’t my specialty.”

“And yet you are so determined to protect the others. You plan for them.”

“I do my best,” I told her. Even when my best wasn’t enough. I’d pressed my forehead to hers. “Are you still mad at me for taking you?” Because she had every right.

“No.” Her nose brushed mine. “I still don’t understand it fully. Like how you guys were all working the show and how Kestrel was my driver. I know you took me because Eric hurt me.”

Fuck I never wanted that asshole’s name on her lips again and I’d kissed her then. The desire to erase him from her mind and her past was so intense, I didn’t even finish that part of the discussion. When I rolled onto my back and slid her down onto my cock, it was everything.

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