Page 145 of Knot That Serious

“Noooo,” Jack warned, drawing out the word.

“Yesss,” Eli returned.

Jack held up the spray nozzle from the sink, and she froze.

“You wouldn’t,” she dared. “Not inside.”

They may have chased each other around with water hoses when they were kids let loose outside, but they were adults now. Who paid bills and owned a business.

“Wouldn’t I?” he challenged.

Eli narrowed her eyes, shifting from Jack’s smirk to the finger he held over the nozzle trigger.

If she surrendered now, he’d probably hold it over her head for a while, and then it’d be forgotten by the time they smoked together again.

But she was having fun with him and she didn’t want it to end, and Jack had to be bluffing.

Maybe it was because of how much silly fun she was having with him, similar to the way they were before they’d shared a heat, reminiscent of growing up together, getting into trouble.

Whatever it was, she pulled each end of the towel taut, and released the tension with one hand in Jack’s direction.

It nailed her target, and Jack jumped, and then a rush of lukewarm water was soaking her, and they were both standing in the kitchen with mouths dropped to the floor.

“Oh, god, my fucking finger slipped, Eli! I swear,” he cried out.

Her hair dripped onto the tile, lost in the noise of the fan and the running water, which Jack smacked at until it turned off.

She reached for the fan and turned that off, too, and then she could hear the plink of the water as it hit the floor, and she burst into giggles.

“You did not just spray me!” she sputtered out between laughter.

Jack was frantic, pulling open drawers for a clean towel before cupping her face and patting at the dripping strands of hair strung across her cheek.

“Stop worrying,” she said, “I’m not mad.”

“I feel bad, I didn’t really wanna spray you,” he said, a whine in his voice. “I was bluffing.”

“I know,” Eli said with a proud grin. “I believe you.” He dragged the towel down her neck, gaze dropping even lower, and she watched his eyes darken as he stared at her throat.

Where Raj had left a mark.

His throat bobbed as he swallowed before jerking his gaze back up.

It skittered over her own, and Eli’s breath caught as it returned. Jack stopped his frantic drying, hands stilling on her shoulder and cheek, and—

And then she was tilting her head up because Jack was lowering his and then—

Their lips met, brushed once, then paused, waiting for the other to say stop, or no. She wondered if his thoughts were a haze of indecision and desire like her own.

But no was the last word on her mind, and she closed the distance between them again.

29. New Times

Jack

It was thundering, huge booms of noise tearing through the silence—

No, wait. That was just Jack’s pulse.

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