Page 11 of Challenging Jayce

How could he be so stupid? He never lost control like that. He neverallowedit. Sex was one of those things that he only had when the circumstances were exactly as he preferred it.

It had to be with a woman he didn't know and would never see again. Kennedy didn't fit either of those requirements, considering she was Michael's aunt and in his life.

It had to be with someone who didn't resemble Jasmine. Fortunately, Kennedy looked nothing like his ex-wife.

Normally, a very direct conversation happened first. He needed to be sure the woman he had sex with understood there would never be anything afterwards. No cuddling, no awkward morning after and definitely no sleepovers. No such conversation ever happened with Kennedy. He had attacked her like his life depended on it.

No, he had screwed everything up.

CHAPTER8

"Where have you been?"Shaun's demand had her nearly jumping out of her skin as she snuck in the back door of his house.

With a hand over her rapidly beating heart, she scowled at her brother and snapped out, "Don't scare me like that!"

He was sitting in the dark, on a stool at the island. The faint glow of the under-cabinet lights barely illuminated his face enough for her to see the concern in his eyes.

"I wouldn't have scared you if you weren't trying to sneak in like a rebellious teenager. Now, care to tell me where you ran off to?"

With both hands on her hips, she was prepared for a fight. After how Jayce ended things, she needed to expel some extra frustration. "I don't think that's any of your business. I didn't move in with you and Michael so you could watch my every move. I did it so you weren't forced to raise your son on your own."

"You went to see him, didn't you?" Shaun was up off the stool and pacing around the semi-large kitchen. "Dammit, Kennedy, you couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Deny. Deny. Deny.

"Bullshit. You were always a shit liar," Shaun spat. "Now, tell me what the hell happened when you confronted Jayce."

Uh, yeah, no. There wasn't a chance in hell she was going to tell her brother what happened between her and Jayce. He would likely storm off and kill the man.

"We talked. That's it."

"About what?"

Well, shit! She walked right into that one.

"I just wanted to form my own opinion about him, and I have. Now if you don't mind, I'm tired and would like to go to bed."

She didn't wait for her brother to respond, or give him the chance to ask any more questions. She hightailed her ass out of the kitchen and straight up the stairs to the guest bedroom she now considered hers.

She’d been the only one to use it since Shaun and Jasmine bought the house in Sammamish, despite her having an apartment further in the city. It was an easy decision to give her place up and move in with her brother when Jasmine took a turn for the worst. There were times Shaun worked late or on the weekends and he didn't want Michael to be left alone for long periods of time.

Now she wished she had kept her apartment. At least she would've had a place to escape to when Shaun took his big-brother role a little too seriously.

Then she walked into the en suite bathroom and remembered why she was so eager to move in. Her apartment didn't come close to having the large bathroom this place did. Nor did it have a luxurious claw-foot tub that she could sink into any time she wanted, and right now, that was exactly what she needed to relax her sore muscles.

Jayce was no small man and she couldn't remember the last time she had sex; before she moved to Seattle, for sure, which, now that she thought about it, was pretty damn pathetic. Then there was the fact that Jayce hadn’t spent time preparing her, so now her vagina and thighs were burning from an exercise she hadn't stretched for.

All in all, bed could wait. A bath couldn't.

Kennedy had just settled back into the hot water when her phone buzzed on the cute bench just to the left of the tub.

Who the hell could possibly be texting me at this hour?

It wasn't like she had many friends in the area. She was a loner by nature. Working from home did that to a person. Besides, she had only been in the Seattle area for two years, not nearly enough time forherto meet people. A normal person yes but she wasn’t normal.

Drying her hands off on the tea towel she’d left near her phone, she picked it up to see who was interrupting her relaxation.

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