Winning Moves (Stepping Up 3)

His cell phone rang and dang it, he knew who it was, and that he had to take it. He broke their kiss. “I have to answer.”

“No, you don’t,” she said breathlessly, trying to kiss him again.

“I do,” he said, struggling to remember why. “It’s important.”

Her hands were on his face, her lips a hairsbreadth from his. “You do know that you taking a call during my celebration is far worse than me talking about Tabitha while we were making love, don’t you?”

“Oh, no,” he said. “Not even close.” He punched the answer key.

“It’s Daniel,” the man on the other line announced. Daniel worked with Jason’s investment guy, Nick, and specialized in real estate.

“What do you have for me, Daniel?” Jason asked, trying to focus while Kat nibbled at his neck.

“The house has a good hundred-thousand in equity that we can invest smartly and turn into a larger sum. But the housing market is in the ground right now. Selling it will take a good six months to a year.”

“I’ll buy it,” Jason said. “Then I get the tax write-off from two properties while you’re re-selling it.”

Kat drew back and gaped at him. “You took an investment call.” She tried to wiggle off his lap and he laughed and held her, mouthing “I’ll explain.”

“Sure,” Daniel continued, “We can buy it right away. You want me to contact the owner?”

“No,” he said, trying not to laugh again as Kat crossed her arms in front of her, and glared at him. “I know the owners,” Jason continued, “I’ll handle contact. You guys just need to deal with the bank while I’m gone. And I’ll give you the hundred grand in advance to go ahead and start investing.”

Daniel whistled. “Your wish is most definitely my command.”

Jason ended the call and Kat immediately blasted him. “We were…celebrating, and you took an investment call. Seriously, Jason? Maybe I don’t know you because you never would have done that before.”

He laughed hard. She glared harder. “Ask me why that investment was important,” he ordered.

“I don’t care about the investment.”

“Not even if it was to help your parents.”

She deflated instantly and then blushed and buried her face in his shirt. “Oh, no. I’m sorry.”

He ran his hand down her hair. “I’m not.” He pressed her against his lap, showing her what he meant. “You’re sexy when you’re mad.”

She lifted her head. “While I might, ah, appreciate your method of complimenting me,” she said, “I still feel like a jerk.”

“I talked to your dad about selling their house and investing the money.”

She leaned all the way back. “What? Why? You think they’re staying in Thailand? Jason, I grew up in that house. I love that house.”

“I’d pay it off and just give it to them, but they wouldn’t go for that. I had to be a little more creative to make this happen. I told them we weren’t going to need two houses, but I needed a tax write-off so I’d keep my house and just let it sit. I explained that if they take it over, it saves me from paying a property management company to look out for it.”

“And they didn’t ask why you’d need a property management company when you were here in town?”

“Of course they did,” he said. “I told them my schedule was too crazy to think about a second house.”

“You really want to give up your house?”

“I’m home with you, Kat. Right here is fine by me.” He grinned. “I do mean the house, not the car. I like the car, but it’s a bit cramped.”

Her fingers curled in his shirt, her gaze fixing on his chest. “I don’t want a house that’s mine. If we do this, Jason.” Her lashes lifted. “If we really get back together—”

“We’re already back together.”

“I want something that’s ours.”

She couldn’t have said anything that would make him happier. “Then we’ll call my guy back and start looking.”

“Not yet,” she said. “Not until after the auditions, when we have solid time together.”

Translation: not until she was sure he was really coming back to stay. “Kat—”

She kissed him. “I know you’re coming back.” She tugged his shirt upward, and he helped her pull it over his head. Then he watched her remove hers. Next came her bra. She sat there, looking gorgeously naked, with her full, high breasts and her pretty pink nipples begging for his mouth. He wanted her.

When she leaned in and pressed his hands to her breasts and her mouth to his, he wanted her even more. But he couldn’t celebrate. Not until he was home to stay. No. Not until she believed he was home. And somehow he had to make that not about a place, but about them, about their relationship, about being anywhere in the world, and being home because they were together.