Page 58 of Booked on a Feeling

She climbed over the center console and straddled Jack’s lap, not once breaking their kiss. He groaned against her lips and buried a hand in her hair. She sucked in a sharp breath when his hand fisted and tugged her head back, and shuddered as his open mouth trailed down her exposed neck. His hands grasped her shoulders and pushed her away from him. Before she could protest, his lips found the soft mounds of her breasts, spilling above the low neckline. She whimpered and shifted on his lap. With a low growl, his tongue dipped below her dress and bra, and brushed against the top of her hardened nipples.

“Jack,” she gasped as she brazenly thrust her chest into his face.

With rough, impatient hands, he unzipped her dress and pulled down her bodice and bra, and took her fully into his mouth. Her head rolled back, and her hips gyrated on his lap, desperately seeking friction. He pushed her back and sucked in her other nipple when the car horn blared into the quiet night.

They both froze to the spot, and the sound of their harsh breathing filled the car. Jack released her nipple from his mouth, and she shivered when the cool night air brushed against the sensitive tip. His hands were gentle as he restored her clothes to their rightful places, but she didn’t like the grim set of his lips.

Desire still pulsed between her thighs, and she didn’t wantthe night to end like this. She wanted to finish what they had started. “Come home with me.”

His hands stilled for a moment, then he zipped up her dress with swift finality. “Let’s skip our run tomorrow. I don’t want to be a walking zombie for the rest of the day.”

She scrambled over the center console and crawled back to the passenger seat with as much dignity as she could muster—which wasn’t much considering she was jutting her scantily clad ass into Jack’s face. Once she was seated, she adjusted her dress to cover as much of herself as possible and smoothed a hand over her hair.

“You can’t keep doing this,” she said, nervous but resolute.

“I’m not going to make a habit out of skipping our morning runs—”

“Just shut up,” she snapped, but her anger died as quickly as it had flared. They needed to talk this out once and for all. “I really want this to work, Jack.”

“I do, too,” he said with a fleeting glance her way.

“Then why do you keep pulling back?”

“Things got out of hand just now. I didn’t mean for things to go so far.” He massaged the back of his neck.

“You know I’m not just talking about tonight.” She was getting tired of speaking to his profile.

He blew out a long breath and met her eyes at last. “I just want us to be certain that this is going to work out before we go too far.”

“How would we know that if we don’t give this a real try?” She gently unfurled his hand from the steering wheel and held it in her own. “I’m not just talking about sex. I understand that you want to take things slowly. But I feel like I cannonballed myself into this thing while you’re just dipping your toes.”

He chuckled under his breath. “If you only knew…”

“Then tell me. I want to know. I’m trying to understand.”

Jack stared at her with an unreadable expression, then he looked away. “Our friendship means more to me than you can imagine. If we go too far, too fast, we won’t be able to return to being friends if we realize this isn’t going to work.”

“How can we make this work when you’re already preparing to fail?” Her whispered words were hardly audible. “We might as well not try.”

She waited for him to contradict her—to tell her that he wanted this enough to risk everything. But he said nothing. Her heart cracked and splintered. She understood his silence only too well. He was trying to protect them from getting hurt before it was too late. Little did he know that she’d already come too far.

Jack had let her drive away without trying to stop her—without begging her not to give up on them. Then he’d spent half the night second-guessing himself. But it was for the best. No matter how hard he tried to hold back—to take things slowly—he couldn’t stop himself from racing toward her. If things went any further, he would have risked everything to have all of her. He would have risked losing all of her.

It was better this way. Maybe if he repeated that enough times, he would believe it, and the hollow ache in his chest would go away. He had thrown away the brilliant vibrancy of the last few days—the alluring hope of something more, something wonderful. This morning, he had to look at Lizzy and only see his best friend—someone he loved in secret, someone he would never truly have.

He turned the doorknob to Sparrow and found it locked. His brows drew together as panic attempted to erupt inside him.Just to make sure, he tried the door again. Locked. Maybe Lizzy forgot to leave the door unlocked for him. It wasn’t store hours yet. So he knocked.

Shannon hurried to the door and opened it wide. “Good morning, Jack.”

“Hey, Shannon.” He peeked over her shoulder into the bookstore. “Is Lizzy in the back room?”

“Actually, she hasn’t come down yet.” She glanced at her watch and pursed her lips. “That’s pretty unusual for her.”

“It’s probably because she got in late last night. We went out for drinks after I got off from work.”

“Oh.” Her smile turned wily. “Maybe you tired her out.”

He cleared his throat loudly. “We did sing a lot of karaoke.”

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