I’m more messed up than I realized.
“Do you want to learn to fight or not?” he asked. “Put your hand on my throat.”
“Fine.” She wrapped her fingers gently around him. “Like this?”
The heat of her skin...the softness... “Only use one hand,” he instructed with more force than he’d intended. “It’s merely to hold me back.” Though I only want to be closer to you. “Next you’re going to hook one of your legs behind one of mine.”
She did—and it caused her hips to arch forward, her core pressing against his erection. If she noticed the intensity of his arousal, she gave no— Scratch that. She noticed. Her breath hitched, and her eyelids grew heavy.
“Jase,” she said.
“Apply pressure to my calf, pulling my lower half toward yours, while pushing my upper body back with the hand on my neck.”
Her leg jerked against his.
“Ineffective,” he said. “Do it harder.”
She tried again, and when that failed, she tried a third time, using all of her strength. He finally teetered backward, but he had a grip on her T-shirt and dragged her down with him. They landed on the couch. Jase bounced with Brook Lynn poised over him.
Gasping, she sat up to straddle his waist. “Um, you may not have realized this, but your move comes with a fatal flaw. If you were a real zombie, I’d already be dinner.”
“Well,” he said, running his hands up her sides. “I am hungry...and I definitely think you’d make a tasty snack.”
Her nails dug into his chest. “This is—”
“What we both need? I agree.” He pushed his hands down the back of her shorts, past panty to skin. Goose bumps broke out underneath his palms as he urged her into a slow grind against him...
“Well, what do we have here?” Beck asked.
With a squeal, Brook Lynn leaped to her feet. Jase cursed under his breath and eased to his.
“Um, I’ll get to work now,” Brook Lynn said and rushed into the kitchen.
Jase glared at Beck. “You’re supposed to be gone.”
Beck glared right back. “I planned to leave as soon as I’d eaten the strawberry waffles Brook Lynn promised me. If you’d never had her cook for us, I would have left sooner. This is on you, my friend.”
“Last night you agreed to go before breakfast.”
Beck scratched his chest. “Did I?”
Jackass! “If you want the room the way it was, you’ll have to rearrange the furniture yourself,” he grumbled, then stormed to the gym he’d just finished building at the back of the house. All he had left to do was put the equipment together. But as one hour bled into two, the physical exertion failed to calm him. His body remained revved.
He heard Beck and Brook Lynn...laughing? He tensed. When the suspected laughter turned to definite arguing, he threw down the wrench and stalked down the hall. No way he would allow Beck to intimidate—
“—got to make him beg for it, the way he’s making you beg for it,” Beck was saying. “But you were seconds away from going all-in.”
“Keep your voice down,” Brook Lynn whispered. “And don’t you remember? I do this my way.”
Jase stopped. Do what her way?
Seconds away from going all-in...
Make him beg for it...
Sex?
His heart hammered wildly. He quickened his pace, ready to yell—
But then he paused. If Brook Lynn wanted him enough to work for him, she might want him enough to keep him—despite everything. A heavy burden seemed to lift from his shoulders. He backtracked, returning to the gym. He had to think, make a few decisions. Because once he took the next step—once he went all-in—there would be no going back.
* * *
BROOK LYNN PACED inside her bedroom. She’d turned her implants to silent so she could reflect in peace.
After Zombie Fighting 101, Jase had disappeared into the gym. He’d stayed there for several hours, and when he’d finally emerged, he’d acted weird. Almost...happy. Why?
Because Beck had stopped them from going all the way? Or because Brook Lynn had almost given in to Jase’s advances without insisting on a commitment?
She turned—gasping when she saw that Jessie Kay stood in her doorway.
“You’ve got to tell your man to stop throwing rocks,” her sister said.
“What are you talking about?” Brook Lynn asked, switching the implants on.
Jessie Kay motioned to the window with a tilt of her chin. “See for yourself. Jase has done gone eighties heartthrob on us,” she said and shut the door.
Frowning—even while her heart hammered against her ribs—Brook Lynn padded to the window. Clink. A rock hit the glass as she parted the curtains.
Outside, Jase stepped into a pool of light...and utterly stole her breath. The man who’d turned her world upside down wore a black T-shirt that hugged every one of his muscles and a pair of jeans almost as dark. He’d recently showered, his dark hair damp and plastered around his face.
Her heart pounded a thousand times faster as she lifted the pane. A dog barked in the background. A car’s headlights illuminated the man who’d obsessed her further before fading away.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded in a whisper-yell, praying she wouldn’t wake the neighbors who were an acre away.
“A romantic gesture.” He moved to the sill and crossed his arms over the bottom frame, leaning in.