Page 4 of This Thing Between Us

I cringed as the audiobook continued to play.

“Find my phone!”

I frantically searched the passenger side and found my purse on the ground, empty of its usual contents.

“Where the fuck is it?” It wasn’t buried in the pile of crap.

Jack snagged something from the floor in the back seat. “Found it.”

“Ahhhh.” I reached for the phone, but Jack pulled it back, just out of my reach. At six foot two inches, he had a whole foot on me.

“Jack, this really isn’t the time to be messing with me. If you want the porn to stop, you gotta give me that.” I lifted onto my toes, stretching my arm as far as it could go. Luckily, most of the busybody townspeople had gotten bored and were no longer paying attention to the crash site.

I had an audience of one and he wouldn’t let me live this down.

“I just want to see if there’s a satisfactory ending,” he mused.

Give it to me harder. Yeah, baby, just like that.

Jack released a deep chuckle, making me all tingly.

Stupid bodily reaction.

I threw my head back and looked towards the sky. “Dear God, just kill me now.”

“So dramatic.” I could see Jack shaking his head in my periphery. “Here you go,” he said, handing me the phone. Within seconds, I found the audiobook app and turned off the narration just as the protagonist Daisy continued to ask for more. I closed my eyes in momentary relief.

It would bereallyconvenient if the ground just opened up and swallowed me whole.

I knew I wouldn’t be so lucky.

Between my drunk mother and my supposed porn obsession, I didn’t even want to know what Jack thought.

“Give me the name of that book. I want to know how it ends.” He chuckled before reaching around my waist. “Come on, Sprinkles. As much as I want to celebrate this unexpected homecoming, I think you’ve had enough excitement for today.”

I pushed out of his grasp. “You don’t have to hold me.” I marched forward, keeping space between us.

It felt too good to be close to him, to feel his heat. It made being mad at him harder when I just wanted to melt into his body.

My body, the traitor.

It was as if it recognized the familiarity of him.

Jack laughed. “I don’t bite.” He had always been so easy-going. It had made him beloved in high school and had made it so easy for me to feel comfortable with him, especially when things went from bad to worse growing up.

Nobody would ever accuse me of being easy going, that’s for sure.

“You have a cruiser,” I said, stating the obvious as we walked up to his car. Only now did I really notice his uniform.

His police uniform.

Hot damn. The last thing I needed was to start drooling over how good he looked in it.

“Hop in. I’ll give you a ride to Savannah’s place. She’s sure going to be happy to see you.” I shot him a look before rounding the corner to the passenger’s side. He followed close behind me, reaching around to open the door. He was so close I could smell the aftershave he put on that morning. The fresh, clean, woodsy scent coming off him made my mouth water. Jack had always smelled amazing, but now, after ten years, he smelled like a man.

A man I needed to stay as far away from as possible.

Chapter 2

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