The Ex Factor - Erin McCarthy Page 0,23

countertop and plugged it in. “And I don’t know if females can claim blue balls but I don’t need you coming on to me then leaving me high and dry.”

No one was going to be high and dry. If she could be bold enough to invite him into her shower, he would have to be an idiot not to accept what that offer had implied. He’d done idiotic things many, many times in his life, but despite his stupid reactions and confused feelings, this was not going to be one of them. Not if they were both on the same page, which they clearly were. “I’m not going to do that.”

He realized he couldn’t kid himself and he couldn’t give her mixed messages. He was about to get totally shit-faced drunk on Jolene and accept the hangover tomorrow. This might be his only chance to be alone with her for the rest of forever. After the album dropped they’d be thrust into another whirlwind tour and promo spots and it would never be just the two of them again. Making music. Making love.

This was their time. Their last time together and he wanted to make it count.

“Don’t worry, sugar. We’re just getting started. If you’re on board with it, I’ll be here for two weeks and you’ve got two thousand body parts. I can explore them all.” To lend credence to his words, he leaned in and kissed her dewy shoulder, teasing his tongue along her warm flesh.

She turned the hair-dryer on, hitting him in the face with a blast of hot air. “I guess you can start with the back of my head,” she yelled over the hum.

That made him laugh. “I’m surprised you gave in so easily after all that protesting in Ginny’s office.”

“I didn’t give in. I demanded sex and you didn’t deliver.”

He looked at her in the mirror. “Oh, that wasn’t an orgasm then?”

Jolene stood up. “It was. So why do I need more then? You said that yourself. We should hit the pause button.”

He couldn’t really argue with his own words but he was going to. “You know better than anyone I’m never right.”

She gave him a smirk in the mirror and moved out of his touch. Plucking her panties off the floor she opened the bathroom door. “Truer words were never spoken. Yet…I’m not so sure I want your rusted truck crashing into my Cadillac right now.”

That amused him. He ditched his towel. “Since when can you ever stop a wreck?”

“Sometimes you turn the wheel at just the right moment.” She left the room.

Five

Jolene wasn’t as unaffected as she wanted Chance to think. Which was why she left the room, before she admitted that under the right circumstances she might be amenable to anything he proposed. And by right circumstances she meant at any point in which he was touching her with his tongue or his fingers or both.

She got stupid around Chance.

If he suggested they run away to join the circus she’d probably pack a bag and buy a trapeze.

She wasn’t sure why he’d walked away from the shower, but he had made an attempt at an apology, which was more than he’d ever done before. It seemed like he was trying to figure out their past conflicts. She didn’t want to revisit the past. Not the bad stuff anyway.

Maybe this was a fresh start, where they could figure out how to work together, but not be in a personal relationship. Except, whoops. She’d just been naked in front of him.

So feeling uncertain with herself, with him, and with the situation in general she’d gone for her phone as a distraction after step-walking into her panties, but when she entered her password, she saw she had notifications blowing her phone up. With a sinking feeling, she ignored all the texts and went straight for the voicemail from Ginny.

“Call me. Media is on to you and we should probably change locations.”

That wasn’t anything she didn’t know. But she had the sinking feeling that despite the shirt over her head, someone had posted pictures of her in the bra and panties. With wet hair. Fabulous. She couldn’t wait to see those. But when she did a search what she found wasn't pictures but the media declaring she and Chance were back together.

“What’s going on?” Chance asked. “Your brow is so furrowed I could plant a row of potatoes in that trench.”

“You flatterer.” Jolene handed him her phone and went for her suitcase. She needed a