Jersey Six - Jewel E Ann Page 0,50

set his neatly folded dirty clothes on the right side of his suitcase.

“Did your mom bake cookies? I had a foster mom who baked cookies, but they were a sugar-free kind … well, sweetened with dates and bananas. I didn’t complain because it was food. Ya know?” She didn’t say Dena’s name, but she wanted to say it, see how he might react.

Ian stood at the end of the bed with his arms folded over his chest. Jersey tried to ignore her attraction to him. It had no place in her plan.

“Yeah. I know.” He pulled his phone from his pocket.

“No.” She grunted a laugh, tearing open a box of fancy chocolates. “You don’t know.”

Ian gave her the hairy eyeball for a few seconds before returning his attention to his phone. “Let’s go.”

“Can I go with you today?”

Ask you a million more questions that you refuse to answer?

“You have a job to do and so do I.” He headed to the door.

Jersey hopped off the bed and chased after him. “Coop, if I don’t go with you, how will I even the score?”

Ian stopped with his hand on the doorknob, his back to Jersey. He glanced at her over his shoulder. “You have chocolate on your face.”

She wiped both sides of her face with the back of her hand.

He turned around and shook his head. “It’s still there.”

A frown pulled at her lips as she scrubbed both cheeks with the palms of her hands.

Ian chuckled. “Why would it be on your cheeks? Did you roll in my chocolate?”

Jersey started to narrow her eyes, ready to punch his pretty little face.

“Stop giving me that scowl.” He grabbed her face and leaned down, stopping a breath away from her mouth.

She grabbed his wrists without pulling him away as she held her breath. He licked the corner of her mouth like an overly friendly dog.

Jersey’s nose wrinkled. “Yuck!” She tried to shove him, but he tightened his grip on her face and kissed her, fusing his mouth to hers like they were stuck together. Tasting the inside of her mouth like his tongue was on a treasure hunt.

“Time to go!” Max called, knocking three times on the door.

Again, Jersey tried to push him away with her hands even though her mouth fully participated in the kiss.

“I don’t like this silence!” She pounded on the door again. “Is Jersey in there with you? Please … pretty, pretty please don’t let her mark you today. You have a photoshoot.” Max’s voice simmered into a painful plea.

Ian released Jersey’s mouth, rubbing his lips together and wiping the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand like Jersey had done.

She lifted her shirt and wiped her entire face as if she had actually been attacked by a slobbery pet.

Ian rolled his eyes. “You liked it.”

She swallowed the lie because she did like it. “You’re taking me with you.” She squared her shoulders and tipped her chin up.

He opened the door. Max deflated with relief.

“Jersey’s hanging with us today.” Ian strutted down the hallway toward Shane.

“Oh good. I like it when you’re thoroughly distracted,” Max mumbled to Ian while pointing two fingers at her own eyes, and then pointing them at Jersey.

Jersey whipped her head around to glance behind one shoulder then the other before gesturing to herself while mouthing, “Who? Me?”

“I’ll give you fifty bucks if you’re good today,” Max murmured, giving her attention to her phone as they followed Ian and Shane.

“Define good.” Jersey adjusted the knife shoved into the back of her jeans.

“Do I really have to?”

“If Ian is in a good mood, does that mean I’m being good?”

“No. If he’s sexually frustrated and not bruised or bleeding, then I know you’re being good.”

The doors to the elevator opened, and the two men stepped into it followed by Jersey and Max. Everyone faced the doors except Jersey. She faced Ian, hands in her pockets, glancing up at him with all kinds of mischief—hidden revenge—in her eyes. Chin tipped down, Ian kept his gaze on her, eyes slightly narrowed and his lips in a firm line. Distrust bled through his expression. Jersey liked that about him even if it made her job a little more challenging.

“Max offered me fifty bucks to be good today.”

Ian’s brows inched up his forehead. “Is that so?”

Max didn’t budge, not a single flinch as Jersey called her out on her bribe. “Yup. Fifty bucks for you too, Ian, if you behave today.” She swiped along her phone screen like