He leaned closer, watching intently as I opened a browser and typed into the search bar. “This,” I said, gesturing at the screen as the page loaded, “is the internet. You can look up anything you want.”
His eyes widened slightly, genuine curiosity sparking to life. “Anything?”
“Anything.” I regretted confirming that when I saw the mischief in his expression.
He carefully took the laptop, his large hands dwarfing the device as he tilted the screen toward himself. He hesitated, fingers hovering over the keyboard before he began typing slowly. When he hit “Enter,” the results loaded, and my stomach dropped as I caught sight of the search bar.
“Tits?” I exclaimed, my cheeks instantly heating. “Damn it, Jareth!”
His grin was impossibly smug as he scrolled through the results. “People actually post this stuff online?”
“Yes,” I hissed, lunging for the laptop, but he shifted it out of my reach.
“Wait, wait,” he said, holding me off with one hand. “This is fascinating.”
“Fascinating?” I sputtered, mortified. “This is not what I meant by learning how to use the internet! You can watch porn on your own time.”
“You’re blushing, Delgado.”
“I’m not blushing,” I snapped, though my face betrayed me, burning hot enough to rival the midday sun.
“You are,” he said, his voice dipping lower. “Didn’t realize you were so easily scandalized.”
“I’m not scandalized,” I snapped. It wasn’t just the ridiculousness of his search that threw me—it was the way Jareth’s teasing gaze lingered on me, as though he could see right through my flustered exterior to the chaos underneath. My pulse quickened, my breath hitching in my throat, and I hated how much he noticed.
“You sure?” His voice dipped lower, a suggestive edge curling around the words. He leaned forward slightly, his broad shoulders crowding my space just enough to make me feel trapped—but not in a way that made me want to escape. “Because from where I’m sitting, you’re squirming like?—”
“Jareth,” I cut in sharply. My heart hammered as I glared at him, desperate to regain the upper hand, though the heat spreading across my cheeks was impossible to ignore.
He smiled that infuriatingly smug smile as he leaned even closer, his face hovering mere inches from mine. His golden-brown eyes sparkled with mischief and desire.
“You’re fun to mess with, Delgado,” he murmured, his voice dropping to a near whisper that sent a shiver down my spine. The intimacy of his tone was almost unbearable. “Didn’t think you’d get all flustered over a little search.”
I swallowed hard, my throat dry. The teasing edge in his voice wasn’t just playful anymore—it was charged, deliberate,like he was testing the waters to see how far he could push me. I tried to level him with a glare, though my traitorous pulse thudded so loudly in my ears I doubted it looked as intimidating as I hoped.
“Mess with me all you want,” I said, my voice strained but steady enough to stand on. “But don’t forget who’s teaching who here.”
Jareth grinned, leaning back in his chair as though I’d just handed him a victory. “Oh, I’m learning plenty, sweetheart.”
39
EVA
Isat with my hands clasped tightly in my lap, trying—and failing—to maintain some semblance of composure. Jareth occupied the chair beside me, just an arm’s length away. Though I couldn’t see what he was looking at, I could see the grin widening on his face as he clicked, scrolled, and clicked again on my laptop. A swirl of heat coiled low in my belly simply from being so near him and knowing what he was doing.
“I can’t believe people actually post this,” Jareth murmured, his tone almost casual despite the flicker of something darker that lit his eyes.
“You’ve said that three times now.” My palms were clammy, and I had to fight the urge to wipe them on my jeans. I tried to focus on the smaller monitor in front of me, a second monitor from work, but no matter how determined I was, the images Jareth was looking at seemed to burn themselves into my mind. The flush creeping up my neck wasn’t entirely from embarrassment.
Jareth shifted in his seat, angling the screen just enough so that I could see a man having sex with two women. “What’s the matter, Delgado? You’re squirming again.”
Heat rose in my cheeks. “I’m not squirming,” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest in a vain attempt at looking self-assured. But my body betrayed me by shifting in the chair, the mounting tension impossible to ignore. It started as a subtle flutter but grew every time he gave a low, rumbling chuckle or scrolled to whatever new content was on that screen.
“You’re terrible at lying,” Jareth said, arching an eyebrow. “Want me to stop?”
A dozen retorts fought their way up my throat, but none made it out. Of course I should tell him to shut it down, to stop with this teasing. The rational part of my brain screamed that this was a terrible idea. Jareth looking at porn while I sat next to him? How had it even come to this? All I’d wanted to do was show him how to use the internet, not look at massive dicks being sucked and nipples being flicked. And a woman being taken from behind while she deep-throated another cock.
And yet, the rest of me kept silent. I couldn’t bring myself to stop him. My entire body felt alive, and on edge in a way that made me crave more, not less.