Misbehaving (Sea Breeze #6)(9)

He stopped and glanced back at me. “You sure?”

Yes! I managed to nod and not act like an idiot.

His grin was back. “I’ll drive.”

Taking a steadying breath, I walked toward him and realized I still had the baseball bat in my hand. “Oh.” I stopped and held it up. “I need to put this away.”

“You can put it in the Hummer until we get back,” he said, walking over to open my door for me.

This was a first. No one had ever opened a car door for me. Ever.

“Thank you,” I said, looking up at him and deciding that I could get used to this.

“For what?” he asked with a confused look on his face.

“For opening my door,” I replied.

His eyes went wide and he stared at me a second, then leaned forward. “Jess, if guys don’t open doors for you, then they aren’t worth your time. No need to thank me.” Then he leaned back and held out his hand to help me up into the Hummer.

I was pretty sure I understood the word “swoon” finally. I slipped my hand into his, and he closed his larger one around mine and then helped me up. It was higher than my truck, but my legs were as long as my momma’s. Still, I liked having him help me.

When I sat down, I noticed his eyes on my legs before he lifted his gaze to meet mine. “Sorry,” he said with a slight blush on his face. Then he closed the door and I had a moment to compose myself.

Had I ever seen a guy blush? Other than my high school history teacher who I’d had a crush on and had made sure to let him know it. I felt very underdressed. My sexy little outfit now seemed . . . kind of cheap. Jason opened the driver’s door and climbed in. His biceps flexed, capturing my complete attention. I wondered what his abs looked like.

“Where are we going?” he asked as he cranked the engine.

“It’s called Live Bay,” I told him. “Ever heard of it?”

Jason smirked. “Of course.”

JASON

This was probably a bad idea. I wasn’t ready to tell Jess who I was. From the stories I had heard about Jess, I knew she was a troublemaker. I had intended to return the bat and leave. Although the things the group had said about her were amusing as hell, I got the impression that once she knew my brother was Jax Stone, that would be the only thing she’d care about. I’d be on her radar but for all the wrong reasons. And I was only here for a month to get some alone time before school started back up.

Seeing her walk out of the house in that tiny skirt that hardly covered her ass and that tight T-shirt had made me forget exactly why I hadn’t been planning to pursue getting to know her better. All those legs had made me weak. Rock had acted so protective of her when everyone was talking about Jess, and I could see the concern in his eyes when he explained her actions. He knew a Jess none of them had been given a chance to get to know.

I wanted to know that Jess. Because the sexy, half-dressed one who liked to use her body to make men buckle at the knees was pretty damn hot. I needed more, though. I was curious. That was it.

“You’ve been to Live Bay before?” she asked.

I glanced over at her. “Yeah, once,” I admitted.

“Surprising. Normally, the island people don’t make it over to our hangouts.”

The way she said “island people” didn’t sound appealing. “You got something against the island?” I asked, amused.

She shrugged. “Not really. Just a fact.”

She was right. Jax, however, had blown that out of the water. He had not only come off the island, he had chased a girl down and made her his. “You ever been on the island?” I asked. I turned into Live Bay, then glanced over at her.

She shook her head. “Nope.” She cut her eyes at me, and her long lashes fanned her high cheekbones. “Guys from the island don’t normally invite girls like me over for dinner.”

That was a shame. Guys from the island didn’t know just how entertaining Jess was. “Their loss,” I said, opening my door. I had to jog around the front of the Hummer to get to Jess before she jumped out all on her own with those boots on.

She raised her eyebrows. “You help girls out of cars too?” she asked.

Damn, what kind of guys had she been dating?

I held out my hand, and she grabbed it before stepping down. Her chest pressed against mine, and I sucked in a breath. Her tits were not only on the generous side, but they were soft.

“Thanks,” she said, smiling up at me with a knowing look in her eyes. I let her have her fun. She knew I liked feeling her chest, and she was keeping it right there for me to look down and see up close and personal.

I wasn’t going to look, though. She expected me to. She had already caught me checking out those legs of hers. I wasn’t going to ogle her tits, too. Instead I winked at her and stepped back.

“Ready?” I asked her.

The flash of disappointment in her eyes made me wish I had taken a look. I didn’t want her to think I wasn’t attracted to her. She may be flirty, but she was a female and she had feelings.

“Sure,” she said, forcing a smile and turning to head inside. I started to grab her arm and assure her that her body was perfect. But I didn’t. I had a feeling she was used to that. I didn’t want to be what she was used to. She viewed me as different, and I wanted to be. I wanted to stand out.