offense to Caleb, but I was already involved with someone else.
Finally.
Jared stared at me. “What?”
“He asked me the other night when I was working before you called and wanted me to come over. Why I asked if you had spies in the diner. You always seem to know if a guy’s showing me some interest, even when you’re not there.”
Jared tightened his fingers around the steering wheel. “Yeah, and that isn’t fair.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s not even a real date. I just knew playing house was dangerous, and he asked when I thought a little distance would be better for us both. We were crossing lines, and I didn’t know if you really wanted to cross them, or just wanted a babysitter. And hey, I look decent in a tight T-shirt, so bonus.”
“While I’m not disputing that at all,” his heated gaze lowered to my top, hidden mostly by the lapels of his coat, “I wouldn’t do that to you. Having you there has always felt good. Right. I wanted to tell you that after you decorated the house, but you insisted we needed distance.”
“I thought it was best.”
“It’s not best.” His hand coasted up my bare thigh, his blunt-tipped fingers slipping under the hem of my skirt so seductively I shuddered. “I like having you with me, Bee. But I have no right to beat my chest where you’re concerned. As much as you’ve always felt like mine, I have no hold on you that way.”
“You don’t?” My voice came out much softer than I intended.
It wasn’t as if I wanted him to rage. But I didn’t know what to make of this new calmer, gentler Jared. Some twisted part of my brain had enjoyed when he went all caveman, even as the rest of me protested.
“Don’t get me wrong. I want to. I want so much.” He glanced at me as I unclicked my seatbelt and let his coat drop. “But I have no right to demand it or to—oof.”
I clambered over the console into his lap and slid my hands into his hair. “Tight squeeze in here, but sometimes it comes in handy being small. I have some demands of my own.” I scraped my teeth over his lower lip as his gaze roamed my face. “They start with you getting this Jeep on the road, so I don’t unzip your pants and find out what you’re working with in my parents’ driveway.”
His laughter rumbled into my mouth as his wide hands skimmed up the backs of my thighs. “What the fuck?” He glanced down between us as if he couldn’t believe what he was feeling. “You’re not wearing underwear?”
Innocently, I lifted my brows.
“At Thanksgiving dinner?” His tone was incredulous.
“I started out with them, but they weren’t good enough for our first naked adventure. You stole my thongs, damn you. They were my best pair.”
He chuckled. “You’re not getting them back either.”
“Afraid you’ll be doing more sneezing?”
He squeezed my ass, nice and hard. “I sneezed a lot that night when you were in my guest bed down the hall. Imagining what you were wearing while you were rolling around in my sheets.” He licked his lips. “Or not wearing.”
Damn. I pictured Jared with his long, hard cock in his hand, my panties wrapped around his fist, and I rocked against him to try to quell the ache in my core. “You can touch me now.”
“Driveway,” he managed, shifting his hands down until he was dangerously close to my pussy. “Fuck, you’re wet.”
His mouth claimed mine, his tongue delving deep at the same moment his fingers found me. The sound I made wasn’t human. After this long, the rough drag of his calloused skin over my clit—and yes, he knew where it was, freaking hallelujah—felt like a benediction.
With one touch, I was shaking. He drew on my tongue while he picked up the pace, his pressure just right against the swollen bundle of nerves. I rolled my hips upward to give him more access, and his cock nudged against me, full and hard and capable of making all my horniest dreams come true.
“Yes, yes. Please.”
I was ready to go, here and now. I didn’t care if my mom might be standing at the window. I didn’t care if my sisters—or worse, my nosy brother—might wander by.
One way or another, I was getting some tonight.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” He slid his mouth along my jaw to my ear, his voice an urgent whisper. “Rock against me. Bear