The Christmas He Loved Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 2)

“What’s it to you? Who invited you anyway? I know you’re, like, the tagalong orphan or whatever, but seriously, Raine, aren’t you a little young to be out here at a kegger?”

Raine ignored Rebecca. Instead her eyes were on him.

“I can’t believe you,” she said as if he’d just committed some god-awful crime. Jesus, he was seventeen. What the hell did she expect him to do when someone like Rebecca Stringer practically forced herself on him? Push her away and say “No, Rebecca, this would be wrong, so let’s just hold hands and we won’t move past heavy petting, okay?”

“Did you hear me, Jake Edwards?”

Embarrassed, he glanced at Rebecca, though he didn’t much care for the way she was looking at Raine.

“Jake!”

Shit, was that hurt in her eyes? What the hell?

“Oh my God. Drama much?” Rebecca continued. “You weren’t invited, so go back to wherever you came from and leave us alone.” Rebecca glanced back at him, her lips wet and inviting. “I don’t think Jake and I are done yet.”

Raine’s hair hung down to her waist and most of it was a wild, tumbled mess. Her eyes, huge and wide-open with disbelief, stared at him for so long and hard that he had to look away. What. The. Fuck.

Who was she to look at him as if he owed her something?

She was Raine Delgotto.

His heart pounded and blood rushed through him.

She was a buddy. The female guy in their group. Almost like a sister.

Shit, anyone would take a piece of Rebecca Stringer. The girl had sprouted tits in eighth grade and had been torturing every guy in Crystal Lake ever since. Cain already had had a piece, and probably Mackenzie too. Of course Jesse was too much of a pussy. Too fucking morally confused.

Jake glared at Raine, pissed and maybe a little confused at the differing emotions running through him. He noticed her T-shirt—the tight T-shirt that clung to her small, high breasts. U2 splayed across the front, and as she crossed her arms underneath her chest, it only served to push her breasts up. They were small, but hell, they were out there.

Something curled in him, something hot and fierce.

Raine was looking at him as if he were some kind of sleazy guy, when she stood there in a T-shirt that, in his opinion, was way too tight and a pair of shorts that barely covered her ass. The kegger was in full swing, and there were a shit ton of guys out there who would be more than willing to take a peek at what she had. Did she have any idea how dangerous it was for her here? What if some drunken asshole decided he wanted her? She was small, and there was no way she could defend herself.

He glanced around wildly. Where the hell were Jesse, Cain, and Mac?

She wasn’t ready for that kind of shit.

His gaze slid down her body, pausing briefly at the soft skin visible above the waistband of her jean shorts, down to toned, tanned legs, and delicate feet shoved into pink flip-flops.

Holy hell. She wasn’t even sixteen yet. When the heck had she…when had she started looking like this?

“Are you hard of hearing, Raine?” Rebecca spat.

Suddenly he was really pissed off and close to losing it big-time.

“Get the hell out of here, Rebecca,” he said roughly.

“What?” The blonde whirled around, face wrinkled in anger. “You’re kicking me out because of her?”

He didn’t have time for this shit, and hell, it wasn’t as if he was the one who had invited Rebecca up to the loft. This whole thing had been her idea. “Just leave, all right? We’re done.”

Rebecca gazed at him in disbelief, her eyes narrowed, her chest heaving. “Unbelievable.” She shoved past Raine, muttered “Bitch,” and then disappeared down the stairs.

“Rebecca Stringer, really?” Raine strode toward him, her eyes flashing in what little light there was from the lamp beside the bed. “You guys are just so stupid.” She flung her hands out and shook her head. “All of you. Cain, Mac…” She bit her lip, eyes lowered, and he thought that maybe her bottom lip trembled a bit. “Why is sex so important to you?”

Jake didn’t know what to say, so he stood there with his hands loose at his sides and said nothing.

“I mean, that’s what this was all about, right? Sex?”