Page 25 of All Jacked Up

He studied me. “Why do I get the feeling you’re thinking about throwing a blunt object at my head?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you might have forgotten that my size is something that plagued me in my youth, andthat sticks to a person. Having someone point out that I’m not actually considered thin makes me a touch defensive.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, and we just stared at each other. Then he uncrossed his legs and pulled them back before resting his arms on them as he leaned forward. “Yeah, we need to clear something up. Then … then we need to set some boundaries. But first, let me say this one time, and then I won’t mention it again,” he told me as he looked straight ahead. His head turned then, and his expression was serious, to the point that it verged on severe.

“Your body is fucking perfect. I struggled to keep my eyes off your tits throughout dinner the other night, and when you got up and walked off, the sight of your ass had my dick so damn hard that it was painful,” he said with a raspiness in his voice that sent chill bumps down my arms and caused my nipples to pebble.

“Now, I hadn’t planned on telling you that because I want to keep the friendship we’ve held over the past ten years. But it seems you’ve got some shit in your head about your body that needs to go. Yeah, I was looking at it, but not in the way you seem to think.”

A soundless chuckle left his lips, and he shook his head as he looked at the ground between his legs, hanging his head slightly.

“You turned into a successful, extremely fuckable, smoking hot babe.”

When he cut his eyes back up at me, there was a crooked grin on his face. “Now, there is my honesty. That’s what I was thinking. But if we are gonna keep this friendship, that will be the only time you hear me say it. In fact, I plan on imagining the cat lady you described from now on when you text me.”

A laugh bubbled out of me. More from my disbelief at what I had just heard Ransom Carver say about me—ME—Noa Raines. Never had I imagined that in the many scenarios I’d come up with. But if he thought I was going to forget he’d said it, then hewas very wrong. I might replay that in my head several times a day until I died.

“Good. I prefer you laughing. I’m not a fan of having you scowl at me. Now, why don’t you go make your ugly ass presentable and let me take you to lunch? I’m starving.”

Eight

Ransom

I was going to have to handle Arden Neilson. Opal would eventually forgive me. He’d called Noa two times in a row, then texting alerts began when she finally silenced her phone and shoved it in her purse after we placed our drink order. She hadn’t told me it was him, but I could tell. Her expressions didn’t hide much. That was what had been familiar last weekend. Even with her transformation, I’d seen the girl she had once been, but I couldn’t place it. That made sense now.

I’d thought of little else since that background check had landed on my desk two days ago. I also had a list of questions I wanted answered, and that was what had pushed me to buy a plane ticket and head to the airport this morning before the sun came up. Asking Linc for use of the family jet would have caused questions to arise, and I wasn’t ready to talk to anyone about Noa. I might never be. I liked that she was mine alone. No oneelse knew about her role in my life.

Although whatever that role was now, I couldn’t be sure.

Especially since I was going to be picturing her when I got off next time. That was going to be an issue I didn’t think I could control. I hadn’t been kidding about picturing her as the cat lady.

Once we finished eating, I needed to get my ass on a plane back home. Being around her would not help me keep her in the place she belonged in my life. As my friend.

But I wouldn’t leave until I had Neilson out of her life and that fucking ring she had sitting on her bar in the cheap-ass box exchanged for some cash. She could buy something she really wanted with the money. Like books.

I watched her throat work as she took a long drink after swallowing her food, and my head went back to the no-go zone as I imagined my cock in her mouth and her throat working as I slammed it as far as she could take it. Jerking my gaze off her neck, I glared down at the last of my burger like it had offended me.

“Are you going to tell me how you found out about me or where I lived?” she asked finally.

I knew she’d been wanting to ask, but she’d not brought it up again after I ignored it at her apartment.

“I have sources,” I replied vaguely.

She sighed as she leaned back on the booth seat.

Don’t look at her tits. Do NOT look at her tits. Eyes above the neck, Ransom.

“Friends tell friends things like that.”

I cocked a brow. “Friends also tell friends when they publish a best-selling book and get engaged,” I countered, wishing I hadn’t brought up the last part. The sour taste in my mouth from just saying it took away the rest of my appetite.

“I didn’t know how to tell you about that.” Her gaze dropped to her glass.

“You type it out and press Send.”

That got her eyes back on me. She narrowed them. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then please, elaborate,” I said, giving up on eating any more and settling back to listen.

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