Page 84 of The Love Wager

Jack’s chest burned as he looked at her fierce, ornery face as she promised to never fall in love with him. He shrugged and said the truth.

“Because it’s too good with us for it not to become a habit.”

She wrinkled her forehead. “I don’t—”

“How much do you remember about that night, Hal? For real.”

Hallie

Shit.

She’d been casual about the hotel night since it’d happened because she’d been mortified by her poor decisions. She’d teasingly acted like she only had fleeting memories because it was easier to blow the whole thing off, but the truth was that she remembered all of it.

Every. Single. Hot. Minute.

She cleared her throat and said, “Um... all of it?”

“Wait.” His eyebrows went straight up. “What?”

She bit down on her lip and nodded.

“You lying little shit,” he said, laughing, tugging on a strand of her hair. “Well, then you have to know what I mean.”

She did. She knew exactly what he meant. But she wanted him so badly that she said, “I don’t, actually.”

His eyes narrowed, calling her bluff without saying a word.

“What?” she said.

“Okay. Y’know what we’re going to do instead of having sex tonight?”

She rolled her eyes. “Sleep, like sex-hating losers?”

He moved his face a little closer and nipped at her chin, then pulled back. “We’re going to talk about that night. In great detail.”

“Why would we do that?” She watched her hand as it reached out, seemingly of its own accord, and wove its way into his hair.

“Because when we’re done, you’ll concede my point that if we sleep together again, we’ll start sleeping together all the time until we die.”

“Cocky much?”

He put a finger over her lips and said, “It all started in the kitchen. You remember? You were sitting on the counter and you said ‘My lips are cold from the Rumple Minze,’ and I said—”

“ ‘Let me warm them up.’ ” She remembered his charming grin. “And then you said, ‘God, please.’ ”

His lips slid into a flirty half smile. “Instead of answering, you climbed onto my lap.”

Hallie’s cheeks warmed as she thought about that moment, about how charmed she’d been by Jack. “I did.”

“Swear to God, I nearly lost it right there,” he said, looking sexy and sweet all at the same time with his head on the fluffy pillow. “You were so fucking hilarious, but then you pulled some wizard shit and turned into a damned seductress.”

“Shut up,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Seriously.” He looked up at the ceiling, like the scene was being replayed for him. “Just like that you were on my lap, in my hands, and my tongue was on your minty lips.”

She felt like closing her eyes and just listening to the sexybedtime story, but instead she added, “Which was great until you tripped over the box of bananas.”

They’d started kissing and he stood, holding her while she wrapped her legs around his waist. He’d started walking, intending on taking them somewhere, but then he tripped.

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