Yeah, it was dark, and taken from a distance, but he had damn good eyesight, and there was Erin, on top of the bar, her arms over her head, and damn she had beautiful breasts and dark nipples and goddamn he wanted to see her naked more than he wanted to breathe.
He also wanted to punch Owen more than he wanted anything else in his life. Owen could be having his wedding night with this funny, smart, beautiful and sexy woman right now. Instead, he was . . .
Stupid. Boneheaded. An utter dumbass.
Jason looked up at Erin, who was staring at him in a guileless, innocent way.
He handed the phone back to her. “Nice pic.”
She laughed. “Right. I don’t know why I haven’t deleted it, other than it was a fun night.”
“Save the pic. When you’re eighty years old and wrinkly and your boobs are hanging to your belly, you can look at that picture and say, ‘Hey, look at me. I was hot as fuck.’ ”
She stared at him. “Is that what I am?”
“Hell yeah you are.”
She got up and came over to him, nudged him away from the table, and straddled his lap.
He’d like to think of himself as the kind of guy who’d never take advantage of a woman in a vulnerable state. And Erin was about as vulnerable as anyone right now. She needed validation, to know that she was desirable, that Owen had made a huge mistake. She should already know that, but he understood where her head was right now. And just because she was beautiful and smelled like lemons and she felt perfect sitting on his lap and he’d wanted her since high school didn’t mean he was going to do anything about it.
Not tonight, anyway.
“So if I’m so hot, why aren’t we having sex?”
He grasped her hips—gently, because what he really wanted to do was dig his fingers into the denim of her jeans and rock her against what was fast becoming a hard anatomical problem for him.
“Because you’re hurting, and this isn’t what you want.”
She arched a brow. “How do you know what I want?”
“I don’t. Not really. But tonight, your heart hurts, doesn’t it?”
“My heart doesn’t even figure into this equation.” She pushed off of him and wandered into the living room and plopped down on his sofa. Puddy jumped up next to her and she absently stroked his back.
He took a minute to catch his breath and clean the remnants of their dinner from the table. He put the leftovers in the fridge, then wet a towel to wipe down the table and counter. When he made his way back to the living room, Erin was lying on the sofa. He got closer and realized she was asleep, Puddy curled up against her.
Probably for the best. He had planned to talk to her, try to reason with her and make her see that sex wasn’t what she needed tonight.
He pulled her shoes off and she curled her knees up. He took a blanket off the back of the sofa and covered her.
“You keep watch over her, Puds. Come get me if she needs anything.”
His dog would cuddle her all night.
He turned off the light and headed down the hall to his bedroom.
CHAPTER
five
WHEN ERIN WOKE, she realized three things.
One, she smelled coffee, and she needed a cup desperately.
Two, she was not in her own bed.
And, three, she was nestled up against someone very warm. She peeked one eye open to see Jason’s dog Puddy snuggling against her chest.
Okay, that part was forgivable. She hadn’t forced herself on Jason. Not that she could remember, anyway. And if she had, she would hope that she’d be naked in Jason’s bed and not fully clothed on his sofa.
She sat up and Puddy jumped off the sofa. And then she caught sight of Jason in the kitchen. She rolled her legs over and stood, realizing her mouth tasted like a dry desert and she had the worst headache of her life.
Jason smiled. “There’s two acetaminophen on the table and a glass of water. I put an extra toothbrush and some toothpaste in the guest bathroom.”
“Bless you,” she said, making her way to the table to down the water and the tablets. After downing those, she headed into the bathroom next to take care of business and brush the aftereffects of the overabundance of last night’s champagne from her teeth. She felt much better, other than her hair looking like an absolute train wreck. At least she had a ponytail holder, so she finger-combed her hair into some semblance of order and wound it into a messy bun. Her shirt was wrinkled and she’d really like a shower, but this would have to do for now. The most important thing at the moment was coffee.
She headed out toward the kitchen, where Puddy was busily shoving his face into a bowl of food.
“He stayed on the sofa with you all night,” Jason said.
“No wonder I slept like the dead. He’s very cuddly.”
“Yeah. Even in my huge bed he thinks he owns seventy-five percent of it.”
She smiled and looked down at the pup. “But he’s so cute.”
“Which is why I let him get away with it sometimes. How do you take your coffee?”
“Just a touch of cream, if you have it.”
“I do.” He’d already brewed her a cup, so he pushed the cream toward her. She put a dollop in and lifted the mug to her lips for a sip, followed by another, then leaned against the kitchen island in utter bliss.
“Mmm. I needed this. Thank you. And sorry for passing out in your living room.”
“Not a problem. You were tired.”
“I don’t even remember falling asleep. Or much of anything last night, really. I must have been blitzed.”
“You did have a lot of champagne.”
“Hmm. What else did I do?”
“No naked table dancing, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
Bits and pieces of last night came floating back to her, kind of like puzzle pieces that didn’t quite fit yet. “Naked . . . Oh, God, I told you about that, didn’t I?”
“Yup. And showed me the picture.”
She wished a black hole would swallow her up right at this moment. “That’s just awesome. Remind me to never have champagne again. What else did I do?”
He leaned against the counter and sipped his coffee, a perfect specimen of the male species with his low-slung relaxed jeans and a T-shirt that hugged his nicely sculpted chest and shoulders.
“You also propositioned me for sex. Twice. Maybe three times?”
She winced. “I did?”
“Yeah.”
“And you turned me down?” Hopefully.
“I did.”
“I don’t know whether to be grateful or insulted.”
“Trust me, I didn’t want to turn you down.”
“You didn’t?”
“Come on, Erin. I’m an average guy and you’re a beautiful woman. Hell no I didn’t want to turn you down. But you were drunk and vulnerable. And I don’t take advantage.”
Jason was anything but average. “Thank you. I appreciate that. I would have felt awful if we had sex.”
“Uh, thanks?”
She laughed. “Not that way. I mean, if we’re going to do it, I want to be fully aware so I can enjoy every second of it.”
“Good to know.”
She could not believe she was having this conversation with a guy she’d known her whole life. She and Jason had been friends for as long as she could remember. She’d punched him in the face when they were kids. He was her buddy, her confidant. Owen’s best friend. To think of him in that way was . . .