Dead Pretty - Samantha Towle Page 0,66

his eyes that I can’t quite decipher and a little line between his brows.

I know that happens when he’s thinking intently about something. Which is why I ask, “You’re frowning. Why?”

“I’m not.”

I press my finger against the little crease, rubbing it out.

“That’s just called old age.”

I laugh. “You are older than me, so it makes sense you’d wrinkle first.”

He rests his head back against the sofa, eyes still on me. “Does it bother you that I’m older?”

I shake my head. “Does it bother you?”

“No.” He’s still watching me.

I know there’s more he wants to say, and the anticipation jangles my nerves.

“So, you have a brother …”

And there it is.

Jack lets the words hang in the air.

“Yes.”

“Does he live close by?”

“No.”

He nods in response to my answer. “Any other siblings?”

“No. Why all the questions?” My voice is a little sharper than I intended. But I don’t want to have this conversation about my brother. Because it will lead to my adoptive parents and their deaths, possibly even my biological parents, and I really don’t want to talk about any of them right now. I don’t want to talk with Jack about my past, period.

“Just wondering if I need to look out for more than one brother who will want to kick my ass for screwing his sister.” His eyes are smiling, but the lines around his mouth are tight.

I’ve upset him with my harsh tone. I hate that I have.

I don’t like that I’m so messed up. I wish I were different for him.

Jack and I are in this pseudo relationship, where neither of us really knows the other.

All I know about Jack is that he was in the military, he’s an author, and he fucks like a god.

And all he knows about me is that I have a brother.

We know so very little about each other.

How can we have a real relationship when we don’t know anything about each other?

And is a real relationship what I want with Jack?

I’m happy with the way things are right now.

“Sorry,” I say, laying my head back on the sofa, looking at him in the eyes.

“What for?”

“Because …” I let the word drift off because, really, what do I say? Sorry that I’m shut up like a locked box? That I’m a bitch? That I’m a crap girlfriend? Take your pick.

He reaches a hand over and brushes my hair behind my ear. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Audrey.” He smiles at me.

I know he’s letting me off, and I love him for it.

And I do.

Love him.

Completely and madly.

I don’t need to know this man’s past to love him. Only the him in the now.

And maybe he doesn’t need to know mine to care for me.

This here is who we are. Together. And that is all that matters.

“Well, except for …”

I tense at his words.

“The fact that you’re sitting all the way over there.”

I immediately relax. “I’m sitting right next to you.”

“Like I said … too far.” He pats his lap with his hand.

Fighting a smile, I get up and straddle his lap, my legs going on either side of his. “Happy?” I ask him.

He tips his head back, staring up at me. “Hang on.”

His hands grab hold of both my ass cheeks, and he shifts me forward, putting me right against his hardening dick. My hands land on his chest as that zip of energy that I always feel with him makes its way through my body.

“Now, I am.” His eyes grin up at me.

“Are you ever not horny?” I can hear how breathless I already sound.

How can I go from worried to horny in a few moments?

Him.

Jack is the reason.

“Around you?” He smirks. “Nope.”

I slide my hands up his chest, putting my arms around the back of his neck, bringing our faces close together.

I stare into his eyes, wanting to tell him everything that I feel for him.

The one thing I hadn’t felt until he walked into my life.

Happy.

Such a singular word. A small word. But it means so much to me.

He means so much to me.

“You make me happy,” I tell him, hoping that I make the importance of these words known.

He likes that. I see the way his face changes into a smile.

“You make me happy too. And … you’ll make me even happier right now if you slip out of those sleep shorts”—he tugs on the fabric of them—“and then climb back up here on my lap and sit yourself down on my dick.”

He winks, and I