The Ex Factor - Erin McCarthy Page 0,42

have been upset by their breakup and his behavior. He’d been too wrapped up in his own feelings and he’d assumed that mostly she’d been angry. It had been easier to think of her as angry, and not acknowledge that he might have hurt her.

Time to make that right. Both so he and Jolene could work together without tension and because it was the right thing to do.

“Well, you just told me what’s between lonely and nostalgia,” he said, spreading his legs so his knee bumped hers. “Let’s go back on in the house and I can make the lonely go away.”

She shot him an amused look. “Did you learn that line from your father? Good Lord, Rivers.”

She might have a point. “Hey. I’m trying to seduce you here. The least you can do is cooperate.”

Jolene started laughing. “Forget it! You’ll just have to keep trying until you find something that works.”

He knew precisely what would work. That was the beauty of knowing every inch of Jolene and what were her hot buttons, literally. Shifting his fishing pole to his right hand, he used the left to lightly trace a path from her knee up to her inner thigh and back again, coming close to where her shorts gapped, but not sliding under them. At the same time, he tilted his head and pressed his lips on her neck, where she was warm and pulsed with life. Her response was a subtle shiver, rolling through her shoulders.

“Better?”

“I’m not telling. Figure it out yourself.”

Fine then. “I will.” He lifted her hair off her shoulder and kissed her lightly, up and down from ear to shoulder, drawing another little shiver from her. “Does that tickle?”

“Yes.”

He was leaning, pressing against her, pole going slack in his hands. “I can’t reach your lips,” he murmured.

“Not my problem.”

So he set his own pole down between two slats in the decking, then took hers and did the same. She gave him an amused look. “What, are you going to nail me on the dock?”

“Isn’t that how the song goes. Sitting on some dock. Wasting time?”

“I don’t think that was about sex.”

“Everything is about sex.” Okay, so that wasn’t true, but at the moment it was all he could seem to think about.

Jolene leaned back on the palms of her hands and tossed her hair back. It made her breasts jut forward in an incredibly enticing manner. If she wasn’t doing it on purpose, exactly, she sure in the hell knew what it would look like. Jolene was fully aware of the power her breasts had over him. It was definitely a cause and effect. Breasts out equaled Chance hard. Every time. He couldn’t help it. He was a man.

He gave her no warning. He just wrapped one arm around her lower back, the other around her waist and pulled her over to him. As she shrieked, he went down onto his back and settled her flat on his chest. And everywhere else from neck to knee. Now that felt amazing. Her skin was warm, her breasts soft. Her hair tickled his cheek.

“What are you doing?” she asked, staring down at him. But she looked more entertained than pissed.

“Those poles were getting between us.”

“I’m feeling a pole right now.” She rocked her hips forward, bumping his erection.

“Honey, that’s not a pole, that’s a rod. A thick steel rod.”

“Uh huh.”

Chance gripped her ass lightly, enjoying the feel of all her curves. He raised his head and gave her a brief, teasing kiss. There was something really wonderful about just being in the woods with Jolene, lazy and easy. Their relationship had been so go-go-go, in the studio, on the road, tumbling into bed, making hot and sweaty love, then passing out cold for five hours so they could do it again the next day. Maybe that was why he’d never fully felt comfortable in her house either. It hadn’t been much different than the endless hotel rooms they’d shared. Just another blur of expensive furniture and a generic backdrop. Like the house he’d grown up in- not a home, just a showpiece.

Now they had a rare chance to hang out, take it slow, enjoy each other. Settle in. Settle down.

He kissed her again, running the tip of his tongue over her bottom lip. She tasted like coffee. “You feel really good,” he said, running his hands over her backside. “I love your sweet, curvy ass. And your amazing tits. And your hips make me want to just grab