Be Mine (Jackson Boys 2)

“What are you doing?” she asks in a hushed voice.

Wanting you so bad that it’s keeping me up at night. “Making sure that Cass’s nanny knows that the only woman in this place that I want in my bed is you.”

“Nick, I—”

“Mommy! Unca Nick! I’m ready. Let’s go!” Cass races out of her bedroom.

I bite back my curse and reluctantly release Lainey. “Give me a minute.” I turn around to face the wall. I need to get my raging hard-on under control so I don’t terrify Cass.

“Cass, baby, did you use the potty?” her mom asks.

“No,” comes the pouty reply.

“Then run and use it. When you’re done, we’ll leave,” instructs Lainey. The little girl’s feet patter against the tile. When the door closes, Lainey turns to me. “While you’re recovering, you can give me my phone back.”

Shit. I forgot the whole purpose of my visit. It wasn’t to play with Cass or seduce Lainey. It was to get Charlotte’s deets for my brother.

“Yeah, in a minute.” I fish the phone out and enter Cass’s birthday when the screen asks for the passcode.

“Nick, give me that back.” Slender fingers climb up my arm.

“One more sec.” I stretch it up above my head to read the screen. A quick look at the texts reveals Charlie’s whereabouts. Lainey tries to climb me like a tree which does little to quell my rising lust. “You may want to step back,” I warn, my tongue thick with lust. “I’m about two seconds from stripping you down to your birthday suit and eating you for dinner.”

She halts immediately—much to my dismay.

“Cass is in the next room.”

“I know,” I sigh. “It’s about the only thing that’s keeping me in check at the moment.”

She releases my arm and backs off. “This seems…sudden.”

I turn to face her. My hands are itching to sweep her up again, but I’m afraid that if I do touch her again, I’ll follow through of my promise which would probably scar poor Cass for life. I shove my mitts in my jeans’ pockets. “No, it’s not sudden. It’s been building and we both know it. The only new thing that’s going on is that we’re both finally acknowledging it.”

Lainey purses her pretty lips. “I’m not acknowledging anything. Now give me my phone.”

She rushes me, but I’m used to evading three hundred pound defensive players. With an easy sidestep, I dance out of reach and backpedal only my momentum is halted by a little body at the back of my legs.

“Unca Nick?” The sprite says uncertainly, her small hands warding me off.

I do a one-legged hop, grab the doorframe and let my momentum swing me in the bathroom. Lainey follows me in, desperate to rip the phone from my hands. Either that or she really wants to get her palms on my body. This might be a fun game if we didn’t have a third party watching us intently.

Cassie’s little voice chirps behind me. “Are we playing, Mama?”

Lainey jerks, bumps my arm with her head and the phone goes flying into toilet.

“Oh sh-shugar,” Lainey cries, pushing me out the way. Before I can stop her, she plungers her hand into the toilet water. When she pulls the phone out, the screen is black. The look she sends me is burning hot and not in a good way.

My humor drains. I don’t know Lainey’s financial situation, but before she left, it wasn’t good. “I’ll buy you a new one.”

“You’re a walking, talking penis-head,” she snaps. “Let me use your phone.”

Not before I call Nate. “Let’s go and get you a new phone.” I step out of the bathroom and swing Cass up in my arms. “We’re going to the mall first, princess.”

“Nick!” Lainey yells after me.

“After,” I yell back. I hear the faucet turn on. I guess she’s going to wash her hands. A moment later the hair dryer starts blaring.

I shift Cass to one hip. “I have to call my brother. Can you wait a minute?”

The sprite nods agreeably. Man, the shit I do for Nate. He better work this thing out with Charlie or else I’m kidnapping both of them and locking them in a room.

“I’m hungry, Unca Nick.”

“How about a sandwich?”

She claps her starfish fingers and beams. Jesus, this girl is adorable. I’d do anything for her and her mother.

Chapter Seventeen

Lainey

The blow dryer does not revive my phone and the water splashed on my face does not erase my lust. When Nick said he was seconds away from going down on me, I was thisclose to letting it happen. My entire body is wired and ready but I have a kid. I can’t be jumping into bed with Nick without first figuring out exactly what’s going on between us. It can’t be only sex—not with Cassidy in my life.

I push my palms against the side of the sink and heave a deep sigh. The other night when Charlotte came over, I’d made an internal vow to start being fearless but I’ve done nothing but act like a coward. Frustrated with myself, I stalk out of the bathroom to confront Nick only to find him eating peanut butter sandwiches with Cassidy.