Page 13 of All Jacked Up

“With that accent? No, I don’t think so,” I told him, then looked back at her. “Besides, I’m sure she can speak for herself.”

Now she was nervous. Her eyes darted from me to Arden and then back, and she licked her bottom lip. I swore to God I’d never seen lips that plump. Was it fucking filler? I didn’t care. I just wanted to see them wrapped around my cock.

“Um, well, I lived in the South when I was younger. My mom and I moved around a bit,” she said hesitantly, as if she wasn’t sure she had or not.

She was lying. Not about living in the South though. She’d lived in the fucking South, so it was the moving around bit she must be lying about.

“What parts?” I asked her, already knowing it was either Alabama, Mississippi, or northern Louisiana. When you lived in the South, not all Southern accents were the same. There was a difference that Northerners didn’t notice.

“Oh, um … well, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.”

Lies. All three were lies. Her voice had even wavered. What was it she was hiding? Was it for publicity? I didn’t get it. Why lie? Unless she was afraid of someone finding her. That thought bugged me. I didn’t like it. Who was it she had to be afraid of?

Why the hell did I care? I wanted to get her panties off andbend her over—because, Jesus, she had an ass—then shove my dick in her. I didn’t give a shit what her story was.

“Your accent doesn’t fit any of those places,” Opal said, calling her out on it when I was going to let it slide.

I’d noticed Opal’s attitude toward her had softened. She hadn’t spoken to her much, but the cold snarkiness she’d started off with was gone. I wondered if it was because Juliette didn’t bite back or if she’d realized the woman wasn’t what she’d been led to believe.

Juliette glanced at Arden again, who was smiling at her, amused.

“You know, I didn’t even know that,” he said. “How did I not know you had lived in the South when you were younger?”

How the fuck could he not know? The moment she opened her mouth, it was obvious.

She shrugged. “I don’t think it ever came up.”

“You sound like I would if I hadn’t spent years learning to speak without my accent,” Opal told her.

There it was again. The flicker of something in her eyes that was bothering me. She was so … so … goddamn timid. How the hell was she timid? She was a successful author who looked like a motherfucking centerfold. Yet she acted like some mousy librarian who had never been noticed in her life and was suddenly getting attention.

“Oh, where are you from?” she asked, not once looking back at me. But it was purposefully. She was having to work at not shifting her eyes back to me.

I almost chuckled but held it back. Her entire body was stiff, and that only made her shoulders straighten and the set of tits she had on her stand out more. My gaze traveled down the cleavage she was showing. They were real and had to be double Ds. Maybe I’d fuck her while she straddled me first so I could watch them bounce. Then I’d flip her over and get handfuls ofher ass.

“Madison, Mississippi,” Opal told her. “My family is all still there. Does your mother still live in the South?”

She licked that bottom lip again, and a pained glint in her eyes caught my attention. “I … yes, I believe so.”

“Juliette and her mother aren’t close,” Arden told Opal.

Juliette was staring down at her lap now. She’d not liked that question.

“If you’ll excuse me,” she said, then looked up. “I’ve missed a call that I need to take.”

She didn’t wait for anyone to respond but slipped out, and I had to bite the inside of my jaw when she walked away, giving me an excellent view of her round ass.

“She doesn’t seem very bitchy or diva-like,” Opal said when she was out of sight.

I smirked. She wasn’t one to let things slide. Arden had lied to the wrong female.

“She’s on her best behavior this evening,” he told her.

I cut my eyes back to the bastard and scowled. “I don’t like liars,” I warned him. “Whatever your angle is, I’ll find out. Be very careful. I also don’t overlook anyone fucking with my sister.”

“Ransom,” Opal hissed and glared at me.

I shrugged and reached for my glass. “He’s been warned.”

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