Page 102 of Hot for the Jerk

“As long as you’re with them, I’m sure it’s fine,” I said.“I don’t want to scare Marco, or keep him hostage up here.He’s done nothing wrong.”

All the kids glanced at the grown-ups with curious concern.

“What’s she talking about?”Griffin asked.“Who’s a hostage?”

“Never mind, Griff,” Jagger said with an amused headshake.

“Well then, maybe we’ll go explore the tidepools for a bit,” Bennett said, clearly defeated by all the children, but not exactly upset about it.

I stood at the door and watched my son run off with the other kids, a big smile on his face, before they turned the corner to go through the man door at the security gate.

Jagger’s hands landed on my shoulders, and I spun to face him.“The terrified part of me just wants to handcuff us together and lock us away in the house until I know he’s safe.But he’s done nothing wrong.I need to let him have fun and be free.Be a kid.That’s why we moved here.”

“Bennett’s a former marine.All my brothers are.Even if by some fluke your brothers find out he’s here and try to get him, they won’t get anywhere near Marco—or any of the children.”I stepped inside and he closed the door behind me, his face soft, eyes slightly hooded.“What can I do?”

“You’ve already done so much.”

“I can do more, you know.I don’t mind.”A small, playful smile tugged at his mouth.“Do you want me to go pick up some of your plants?”

That made me laugh a little.“You could use a little greenery in here,” I said, glancing around his plantless living room.“The air in here must be filthy.”

“I’ll show you filthy,” he said, a growl to his voice as he ducked low and scooped me up once again, caveman style, and ran up the stairs, tossing me onto his bed.“You want to forget all the shit that’s going on outside this bedroom right now?”he asked, ripping his shirt off over his head and causing my core to clench in the process.He went over to his bedroom door, closed it, and locked it.

“Yes, please,” I whispered, taking in just how beautiful he was, and not just on the outside.

Flames of desire flickered in his eyes as he sauntered back to the bed.“Ditch the pants then, woman.’Cause this man’s hungry.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Jagger

Mybodywasconditionedto wake up early every morning because I usually woke up at five, then crashed on Bennett’s couch so he and Justine could go out for a run.But since I didn’t need to go over to their place due to the crappy weather, I just went to my home gym and did my own workout for an hour.I still liked to run outside when the weather was nice, but I had weights, a rowing machine, and a multi-purpose weight machine in the gym.

After giving Raina a few orgasms yesterday afternoon, then having pizza and playing video games with Marco that evening, I spent the rest of the night buried inside Raina, helping her forget all about the assholes on the outside who wanted to disrupt her peace.She fell asleep beside me in my bed and fucking hell, did she ever look good there.

I carried her back to her own bed before I headed down to the gym, because we weren’t ready for Marco to find out his mom and I were doing more than just kissing.

Halfway through my super-sets, alternating between bicep curls and deadlifts, I paused mid-curl when a soft knock at the mostly-closed door interrupted the music in my ears.

Marco appeared a moment later, and I set the weights down on the bench.“Hey, bud.Can’t sleep?”

He shook his head, his sleepy gaze sweeping around the room.

I pulled out my earbuds and turned the music off on my phone.“Wanna talk about what’s bugging you?”

He shook his head again.“What are you doing?”

“Working out.Trying to stay strong and healthy.”

“You do this every day?”

I nodded.“I try to.”

“Can you … can you teach me?”

“Totally.”I jerked my chin at the rack of weights along the wall.“Go grab a pair of whatever weight is not too light, but you think you could lift several times and it would get harder.Maybe the eights or tens.”

He did as I instructed him, and I disconnected my phone from my earbuds, then connected it to the small, portable speaker I used when I was by myself in the house.AC/DC’s “Thunder” started to play just as Marco, with his wild coppery bedhead, returned to stand beside me facing the mirror.He went with eights.

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