toy to his blanket and Jason went to the kitchen and poured a glass of wine for Erin.
She came out and met him in the kitchen.
“Your wine,” he said, handing over the glass.
“Thanks.” She took a sip, closing her eyes as she savored the taste. “Mmm. Red Moss Vineyards’ sauvignon blanc vintage. That was a good harvest.”
“It’s one of my favorites.”
She opened her eyes to look down at his hand wrapped around a bottle of beer. “And yet you’re drinking a beer.”
He shrugged. “I decided not to mix beer and wine tonight. I have an early surgery tomorrow.”
“Okay. I’ll give you a pass. Especially since I know how well stocked you are on our wines.”
She took a sip and sighed. He could see her body relaxing with each swallow. He was glad to see the tension easing in her now.
She took another sip, rolling the wine around in her glass. “Oh, by the way, I have kind of a weird request.”
“Yeah? Hit me.”
“We’re having a wedding this weekend and I need people to play paparazzi to the bride, per her rather odd request. I’d like to enlist you and Clay and Finn, along with our friends from last weekend.”
He cocked his head to the side. “You ask anyone else yet?”
“Finn is in. So are Alice and Clay. And I thought if you agreed, we could see if maybe Mike and Daria and Vince and Summer want to do it, too.”
He lifted his shoulders. “Sounds like fun. I’m game.”
She smiled at him over her glass. “You’re easy.”
“I’m so insulted.”
She laughed. “No, you’re not.”
He laid his beer down on the counter and walked over, laying his hands on either side of her hips. “And what will my payment be for this task?”
She put her wineglass down on the island. “You think I would trade sexual favors for your participation in this task?”
“Nah. I think you’ll fuck me because you can’t keep your hands off me.”
She palmed his chest, digging her fingers in. “That sure of yourself, are you?”
“That I can make you come—several times? Yeah, I’m sure.”
Erin had tried so hard to play it cool, to hold back her feelings for Jason. But one look at him earlier tonight and she could tell right away something was off.
She knew Jason well, knew he felt things deeply. He tried to downplay his emotions, but she knew him better than he thought she did, and the man had a huge heart, especially for people he held close, and for the animals in his care. It was one of the things she admired most about him. She knew that he was one of the people—outside of her family—that she could call on if she needed him, and he would be there for her no matter what.
So the idea of taking a step away from him, especially when he needed her comfort, was ludicrous. Not when they’d grown closer these past few weeks, when she was so emotionally drawn to him.
What she felt for Jason went beyond physical. It was like the two of them had become even further connected because of her breakup with Owen.
And now, as they stood there together, their bodies touching in such an intimate way, she wanted him more than she’d ever wanted another man. She swept her hands over his shoulders, then wrapped one hand around the nape of his neck, teasing her fingers into the softness of his hair. The physical contact made her senses swirl, exponentially heightening her desire to get naked with him.
“If you’re going to make me come several times, don’t you think you should get started?”
Thunder boomed so loud she felt the shock of it in her heart. Jason brought his mouth to hers and kissed her, bringing another jolt, an electrical pulse zinging through her. She melted against him, absorbing the full force of his hard body pressed against hers.
He lifted her and placed her on the kitchen island and she wrapped her legs around him, bringing his body even closer. She wanted that contact, needing to feel him close. And when he kissed her jaw, then started raining kisses along the column of her throat, she tilted her head back, giving him access to her neck, delighted by the goose bumps he raised along her skin.
With the storm going strong outside and the one brewing inside of her, she’d never felt more alive, more tuned in to all of her senses. Jason’s muscles rolled underneath her hands as she explored his body, and