The Ex Factor - Erin McCarthy Page 0,7

going to say anything about how he could have driven. He wasn’t going to say anything at all. Just a very polite greeting.

“Hey.”

Not exactly an award winning greeting, but it was progress.

She smiled at him, looking sleepy and rumpled, her blonde hair in a messy ponytail. She was gripping a coffee travel mug like her life depended on it. Jolene wasn’t a morning person. They’d spent a lot of mornings in bed where he had attempted to get up and start his day, and she had lured him back with lazy kisses and well placed strokes.

Damn it. Why was he thinking about that? Not a good start to the trip.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” she told him, putting her mug down and shifting into reverse. “I see you’re as cheerful as always.”

He wasn’t going to pick up what she was throwing down. He just wasn’t. He was going to be professional and get the job done. They weren’t going to spend the next two weeks at each others’ throats. He couldn’t deal with it. He had enough issues with Dixie basically stalking him and his career on the verge of total destruction.

“I’m at my best in the mornings,” he said casually.

She raised an eyebrow at him, obviously surprised that he hadn’t gotten snarky with her. Ha. That felt good. He liked keeping her off balance. She didn’t know all his buttons to push. Well, she might, but he just wasn’t going to react.

“Hmm,” was her non-committal response.

Jolene wasn’t wearing makeup and he liked her like this best--not all glitzy for the stage, but her fresh out of bed, natural. She had on a loose sundress that was struggling to contain her breasts. Every time she shifted in her seat or took a turn they fought to escape and he had to admit, he was mesmerized. Something was definitely different there. Had she gotten a boob job? Those babies were bigger than he remembered and it had him both curious and aroused.

Yeah. Great start.

They were going to some bare bones cabin Ginny had found for them an hour out of the city and he was fixating on Jolene’s tits like a teenage boy.

Then it occurred to him someone was missing. “Wait. Where is Dolly?”

Jolene glanced at him. “With Elle.”

“You were supposed to bring her,” he pointed out. He’d been looking forward to seeing his dog.

“Oh.” She blinked. “I didn’t realize you meant you wanted her on the trip. I thought you wanted to take custody of her when we got back to town.”

“I want her now.” He knew he sounded stubborn, but hell, a man and his dog had a bond. “I miss my number one girl. I think she’d love being in the woods with us.”

She would also be a buffer and a distraction from his incessant urge to get Jolene naked and explore that luscious body of hers. That damn dress had slipped even further. It was like the cotton was taunting him. Now you see it. Now you don’t.

“You seriously want me to go get her?” Jolene asked, looking annoyed. “Your number one girl?”

“Yes.” Though she sounded pissed off now. Even more so.

“Fine.” Without warning she hooked a U-turn and sent him crashing into the window.

“Damn, Jolene, slow down!”

“Don’t be a backseat driver.” She shifted and her irritation was clear in the way she grinded her gears. “I’m just doing what you asked.”

Well, this was going well. “I didn’t ask you to kill us.”

“I swear to God,” she muttered under her breath.

Before he could comment she grabbed her cell phone off the dash and pushed it. “Text Elle,” she commanded it. Then she said, “Picking up Dolly. Be there in ten.”

They drove in silence and Chance concentrated on keeping his body loose, looking at the window as they moved into the exclusive neighborhood Jolene’s mansion was in. He had hated living in her house. Not because he hadn’t wanted to live with her--he had definitely appreciated waking up next to her every morning and they’d spent many nights just cuddled up watching TV. But it had never sat right with him to be in her space. Nothing about that house had represented him. Maybe that was why he’d taken the Grammy on his way out when their six months co-habitation stint had ended in the screaming match to end all screaming matches.

He wasn’t proud of his behavior. But he didn’t know how to be comfortable as Mr. Jolene Hart. Maybe his ego was too large. Maybe he was just a