Page 54 of Twisted Hearts

He held me tight to him for a few more seconds, the phone going silent and then vibrating almost immediately after, and then he looked up.

Kissing me gently, he rolled on top of me to grab his phone, and his expression went from lustful to alert with a glance.

“Talk to me,” he snapped into the phone. He shoved his arm under me, pulling us both to sitting, and somehow, he was able to sit on the couch, knees spread, the bulge in his jeans an obvious display of how much he wanted me as desire vanished from his face.

“Yeah. I’m with her.”

He went silent, and I stood from the couch.

The reminder of why he was here was a bucket of ice water dumped straight onto my head.

He wanted me. I turned him on. Hell, he might even like me, but in the end…I was still a job.

Without looking back, trying not to care at all that he was talking about me and myissues, I used the bathroom, turned on the water in my shower, and, while it heated, brushed my teeth. My hair was a mess, and my skin felt dry and cakey from sleeping in my makeup.

I continued forcing myself not to think about what the day would bring, what the phone call was about, Daniel, my dad, or anything other than the way Shawn’s hands had felt on my body as I climbed into the shower and put my back to the spray to wet my hair.

It wasn’t possible I’d ever been that turned on, and while his desire might have been pushed to the curb, mine was still a living, breathing distraction. While the conditioner set in my hair and I scrubbed my face, I turned back to face the spray and settled a foot at the edge of the tub. My fingers drifted down, past where Shawn’s explorations had been forced to end and right to my clit where I was still swollen, still wet. I bit my lip and closed my eyes, kept the memory of him on the couch, the feel of him, the way my body tingled and ignited for him at the forefront of my mind as I rubbed, pressed two fingers into me, and rested my thumb at my clit.

It was only seconds, not long at all before my thighs shook and all that desire came rushing forth. With my eyes squeezed closed and my teeth embedded in my bottom lip, I came, thinking of Shawn and what it would be like when he was finally able to do all the touching he wanted.

“Shit.” I gasped and splashed my face with water once I was done. My eyes bounced to the shower curtain, and I imagined the closed door behind it and Shawn still sitting on my couch, scowling at whoever was on the phone.

Then I laughed.

Holy hot shit.I had just masturbated when the guy I wanted was fifteen feet away from me.

What in the hell was wrong with me…and why did I like it so much?

17

Shawn

“You there?”

Jaxon’s voice in the phone jerked me back to the present. I was still thinking about Addi, the way her body moved and the way she had pleaded for me to touch her.

Hell yes I wanted that.

My gaze stayed on where she’d slid into the bathroom, and I blinked and refocused.

“I’m here.”

“Good, ’cause I don’t know you well enough to know why you sound like how you sound right now, but I can imagine, and I gotta tell you it’s not something I need in my brain this early in the morning.”

I shook my head, stared at the coffee table. Funny because it wasexactlythe image I wanted seared into my brain this morning. Jaxon was also right—I didn’t need him imagining Addi like that either.

“What do you need, Jaxon?”

I pushed off the couch and headed toward the kitchen, powering on the coffee pot and grabbing two coffee pods and coffee mugs.

“Called to tell you I’m on my way back.”

“Already?” He’d just left the day before, and it took four hours to get to Charleston.

“Yeah.” His voice dropped an octave. “We’ll talk when I get back, but I found a money trail I plan on putting Charlie on. She’ll follow it. I gotta get back anyway, got a call from a friend who might need me. I plan on sending Briggs down here to keep an eye on them. There’s something seriously dark going on.”

My hand gripping the coffee mug I was setting to fill went as tight as my jaw and the granite countertop. “What do you mean by dark?”

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