Page 73 of Behind the Net

She shifts, squeezing her thighs together. “I heard my name coming from your room the other day,” she whispers, cheeks flushing.

I freeze. Yesterday, I let her name slip when I was thinking about her, jerking off. Even remembering it sends blood rushing to my cock. “I didn’t hear you get home.”

We stare at each other for a long moment, and the air between us sparks. She bites her bottom lip and I watch the movement, fascinated. I wonder if she’d do that if I had my fingers buried inside her.

My eyes close. Fuck. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get those ideas out of my head. I feel myself getting hard.

“Jamie,” she breathes, and I look at her.

The look in her eyes tells me something dangerous is about to happen. She’s about to say something that I won’t be able to stop thinking about. I know it.

“What?” My voice is low.

“Why did you buy that toy for me?” Her lashes flutter. “The real answer.”

I take a step toward her. The thread holding my willpower together is close to snapping. “Because I wanted to give you something he couldn’t.”

Her gaze drops to my erection, and more blood rushes there.

“Because,” I continue, because I can’t seem to keep a fucking secret around this girl, “I wanted to make you come harder than ever, and that was the only way. And I don’t want anyone else to do it.”

Her throat works and she’s blushing again, but her eyes are locked on mine. The tension between us is thick and electric as I take another step toward her.

“Did it work?” I ask, because I can’t help myself.

Her breath is ragged as she nods, and my balls ache. I should go to my room. I’m about to snap with her looking at me like that.

My control frays, and I walk forward until her back is pressed against the wall. My chest brushes hers, and I can feel her breath on my neck as she tilts her head up to look into my eyes.

“You need to stop looking at me like that, songbird,” I tell her, leaning my forearm on the wall above her head.

“Or what?” she breathes.

“Or I’m going to lose my mind.” I say it like it hasn’t already happened. “I can’t stop thinking about you using that toy.”

A tiny smile ticks up on her mouth. Coy, teasing, and knowing, like she sees exactly what she’s doing to me.

Keeping my distance, I chant to myself. But the voice is getting quieter, farther away.

“You want to show me?” The words fall out of my mouth before I can catch them. My voice is low and thick.

There’s a beat between us where that fading voice in my head thrashes for attention, and I slam the mental door on it. This isn’t a relationship. Pippa has no experience in bed, and I do. Who better to show her what she’s worth than me, a man who thinks the world of her?

In the dim light of the hallway, her pupils blow. “Okay.”

My control snaps, and my hand wraps around the back of her neck, pulling her mouth to mine.

CHAPTER35

PIPPA

Jamie kisseslike he’s mad at me. His mouth moves with urgency, demanding and rough and desperate, like he’s pouring every ounce of frustration back into me.

I love it.

I sigh into him in relief, because his mouth back on mine is like drinking water after a marathon. So necessary, so needed, so fuckinggood.

He grips my hair, angling my head back and stroking into my mouth. Sparks of pleasure skate over my skin, and his kiss is drugging me. I lightly suck on his tongue, and he groans.

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