Shame the Devil (Portland Devils #3) - Rosalind James Page 0,135

above your garage.” She had her arms crossed now, which wasn’t a good sign. “Sure those aren’t the maid’s quarters?”

“Fine. Then how about this? I move you in all the way. You can have your own bedroom, or even better, I move you into mine. I see what you need, and I give it to you. Every single day.”

“Uh-huh.” She was looking at him narrow-eyed. “Like … clothes?”

“Well, hell, yeah, clothes. And anything else you need.”

“Like, for instance … an orgasm?”

“Aw, baby.” He got hold of her hand and pulled her into him where he sat on the bed. Slowly, because she wasn’t exactly resisting. He got her between his knees, put his hands on either side of her waist, and asked, “You only want one? You need to learn how to be a little more demanding. How to ask for what you want. I could help with that, too.” He leaned forward and kissed her through her pretty dress. Right there where his baby was growing.

“Yeah,” she said, but she sounded a little breathless. “That’s not happening.”

“Which is the reason for the guest quarters. Annabelle needs more than I can give her. A friend, at least. You and Dyma need a place to stay until Dyma starts at Washington. You’re going to be working in Portland, and I’m not going to have you living in some crappy, moldy, dangerous place.”

“Moldy?”

“It’s Portland. It’s wet. I need to know you’re safe and fed and happy, and that you’re not getting worn out.”

“You make me sound like a puppy.”

He had to smile, and he had to kiss her belly again, because it was right there, and pull her in a little closer, too. “No. Not a puppy. A woman.”

“How about if you want to date somebody else? How about if I do?”

He froze.

“Yeah,” she said. Still sounding breathless, and she wasn’t moving away—in fact, somehow, she had her hands on his shoulders now, and she was hanging on like she wanted to be there. “That’s a tricky one, huh? What if I invite my big, strong new boyfriend over, while I’m living in your maid’s quarters?”

He thought, I’ll have to hurt him, that’s what. Clearly the wrong answer. He said, “Where’s Dyma while this is happening?” A pretty good save, in his opinion.

“Dyma,” Jennifer said sweetly, “is hanging out with Annabelle, the same way she is right … now.” She’d lost her train of thought a little there, maybe, because his hand had drifted down the back of her leg and found its way under her skirt. And that was nice. Smooth skin, and those round thighs. He was a fan.

Focus.

He was focused.

Focus on the other part.

He didn’t say that she couldn’t find somebody new, not while she was pregnant. She was pregnant right now, and she’d look good to just about any guy, ripe and juicy and luscious as a peach straight off the tree. Blake had some ex-players working for him, and Harlan could think of two or three of them right now that he didn’t want anywhere near Jennifer.

She said, “That’s got you, huh.”

“Nope,” he said. “I just can’t manage to say anything that’s acceptable. I know the right thing to say. I just can’t say it.”

She didn’t want to say this, either.

She needed to say it anyway.

She said, “Yeah. You know? I realize … that’s not going to work for me.”

His hand stopped moving on her thigh, which was good. Well, not good, since it had made it most of the way up, his fingers brushing against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, and that felt … Well, anyway. That was the exact reason this wouldn’t work.

She took a step away, looked at him sitting there in faded Levi’s and a Devils T-shirt, the extensions gone and his hair cut short again, making him tougher and harder, the way he’d been when she’d met him. The way that made her knees go weak. The way that felt like the real man.

Oh. He was waiting for her to say something.

She heard her mom’s voice. Tell the truth, and shame the devil.

“I can’t do that,” she said. “I had casual sex with you already. Once, because the second time wasn’t casual. I told myself it was, and I knew even while I did it that I was lying. The first time wasn’t, either, not really. Not for me. I had casual sex with you zero times, and that’s the truth. My heart can’t do casual, or it can’t do