“Okay then.” I crack open a bottle of water, unzipping my sweater to cool down. Sadly, I still live with my mom about two miles away. I thought it would be a great night to go for a run, and if I swung by here, maybe I could kill two birds with one stone.
“Was Lucy here?” I ask, leaning against the counter.
“Yeah, she ran off with the rest of them.”
“Ran off? Was there a fire?” I chuckle. I’m surprised the party is over. Usually the Greenes never cut things short.
“In a way.” He takes a swig from the whiskey bottle.
“Okay, what gives? Want to fill me in?” I’m done trying to figure out this situation.
He picks up a picture and tosses it to the edge of the table. I step over and pick it up. It’s a picture of a gorgeous woman with a little girl. They’re staring at the camera with huge smiles outside what appears to be a park.
“Cute. Who are they?” I place it back down on the table.
“I guess I fucked that woman and the little girl is apparently my daughter.”
His tone is so matter of fact that it takes a second for the words to make sense in my head. By the time he takes another sip from the bottle, my eyes are wide and my heart rate has sped up.
I pick the picture back up. Sure enough, I see the resemblance to Jed in the little girl. “Are you surprised?”
His laser-focused eyes lock on mine. “What?”
“You’re not celibate by a long shot. I mean… Jed.” I tilt my head.
He looks insulted. “I use protection.”
I sip my water. “I’m sure you do, but I’m also sure there are times when you might’ve forgotten or trusted a woman when she said she was on the pill.”
He can’t be this naive. The man has had his fair share of women, and eventually that kind of thing catches up with you. Although I’ve crushed on this man most of my life, I’m well aware of his reputation.
“I just told you, I use protection. There’s never been a time I didn’t.”
I hold up the picture. “Well, it looks like it failed.” I wave the picture in the air before placing it back down.
“I’m going for a paternity test. She’s not mine.”
I inhale, because he’s crazy if he thinks that little girl isn’t his. “Sounds like a plan.”
I finish off my water bottle. Tipping the water bottle down, I find Jed’s gaze on me. On my breasts specifically. Whatever this is right now, I need to stay clear.
“Well, I’m going to get going.” I thumb toward the door.
“Why the rush?” His voice falls to his seductive octave. I’ve witnessed Jed’s game in adolescence and now into adulthood. He hasn’t changed up his moves very much.
“What are you going to do? Fuck me to forget her?” I nod toward the picture.
His tongue slips out across his bottom lip. “For old times’ sake?”
I shake my head. “That was a long time ago, and you know as well as I do that it was a bad idea then and it would be an even worse one now.”
Even I’m surprised at how mature I sound.
He slides back his chair and rises from the table, his eyes never straying from mine.
“What are you doing?” I ask as he steps right in front of me.
He towers over me, having to bend his neck to look directly at me. His arms stretch out and he presses his palms on the edge of the table, caging me in.
“Bad idea, Greene,” I say, clenching my thighs together in an attempt to not be turned on.
My mind floods with memories of the time we crossed the line with a quick kiss. It was ages ago and Nikki never did find out, but I didn’t know then what I do now. Back then, he was just the hot new guy in school.
“You know as well as I do that we’d rock that bed,” he says softly, inching closer. Although I smell the whiskey on his breath, I also smell the cologne on his skin and it’s intoxicating.
“You mean I’d rock the bed.” I smile and chuckle, but there’s nothing on his lips.
“Remember that time you walked in on me at the brewery?” he asks.
“Yes.” I swallow hard because that vision has been seared into my memory ever since.
“You ever wonder what could’ve happened if you’d have come in and locked the door?”
“Listen.” I place my hands on his muscled shoulders and nudge him to try to gain some space to think, but he doesn’t move. “That might be a wet dream for you, but not for me.”
The right side of his lips tips up. He knows I’m lying. This man has filled my dreams for what seems like forever. “I’m not going to touch you until you tell me to.”
I draw back. “But you’ll lock me to the table?” I quirk an eyebrow.
“It’s thrown me, you know. Like someone stuck me in a rocket and flew me to another planet. I mean, me? A dad? What a joke.”
My tense shoulders relax at his confession. Jed’s not one to show a vulnerable side, but I hear it in his tone. “What exactly are you asking of me?”
I get lost in the golden specks of his green-brown eyes. But he doesn’t have to answer for me to know what he wants. It’s the same thing most guys come to me for. To lose themselves in me. To escape reality. I know that’s what Jed wants right now. The question is, can I be his distraction without being hurt in the end?
He inhales and his gaze skates across my body with fire in his eyes. I won’t and can’t deny it’s a nice feeling to be wanted by Jed Greene.
“We could have some fun.” He shrugs. “I’m not sure why we’ve never fully crossed that line.”
“Nikki,” I say curtly. “She’s the reason.”
He breaks the last of the distance between us. Close enough to unnerve me, but still not laying a finger on me. “She doesn’t have to know.”
Point taken. She’s so engrossed in her own world with a new marriage and a baby on the way that her investigative gossip skills have been fuzzy at best.
“Jed.” I shake my head. “I’m not who you think I am.”
His eyebrows crinkle. “Are you an alien sent here to earth to find our weaknesses?”
I chuckle and roll my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“I’m not sure I do.” He steps back and removes his hands from beside my hips, locking them over his chest. It makes his biceps bulge and stretches the ink on some of his tattoos.
“My reputation. I don’t do that anymore. In fact, it’s been a while since I did.” I shake my head, hating that I have to even engage in this conversation. But if Jed thinks I’m the easy lay he can treat however he wants, he’s wrong.
He laughs. “Are you serious? You think that’s why I’m coming on to you right now? Because some asshole in high school said you sucked his dick?” He grabs the bottle of whiskey, and I’m filled with surprise when he grabs the cap and secures it to the bottle instead of drinking out of it.
“I’m just suggesting that you might think you can use me.”
“Looking for a husband, are you?”
“No.” I practically stomp my foot.
“You’re way overthinking this.” He opens the fridge and grabs a bottle of water.