“Yes, I do.”
“Well then, I’m going to take rump as a compliment coming from you. I do believe in your older-man way you just told me I’m a fine piece of ass.”
AJ grinned around his fork as he slid it from his mouth. Sexy. As. Fuck. Jillian’s panties fainted to her ankles.
“Did you hear about Matthew Green?” AJ nodded toward the newspaper.
Jillian froze. “Who?” She cleared her throat to mask the shakiness of her voice.
“Edwin Harvey? He died over a decade ago, but surely you’ve heard the name. He was a serial killer from San Diego. I think he killed over fifteen young women—stalked them on the internet. Anyway, he had an accomplice, Matthew Green, who disappeared. He’s been on the FBI’s most wanted list for years. He was found dead at a rest stop in Wyoming. It was the rest stop we stopped at late Wednesday night. His body was found early Thursday morning.”
“W-what are you saying?” She swallowed hard.
AJ chuckled. “Just that it’s crazy. What are the chances that we were so close to crossing paths?”
Jillian shook her head. “Yeah … crazy.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Day
Luke and Jessica looked at the two queen beds and then each other.
“What’s my safest bet?” Sleeping in the same room with the woman he desired to the point of physical pain was not going to be an easy feat for Luke.
She pursed her lips to the side. “Hmm … I’d say the one closest to the door. If you get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom you won’t accidentally bump my bed and startle me. That might not end well.”
“My prostate’s not sixty years old, but good plan anyway. What about in the morning? I didn’t pack a pool stick.”
She laughed. “I wake fine to alarms, voices, serenading … just don’t touch me.”
“Serenading?”
“Yes.”
“Any requests?”
“Tony Bennett, I Left My Heart in San Francisco will do just fine.” She grabbed her toiletry bag and squeezed past him to the bathroom.
His dick twitched just from the brief brush of her arm against his. He. Was. In. Trouble.
“So if you could live anywhere in the world you’d choose San Francisco?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She mumbled over her toothbrush. “I’ve lived there my whole life and it feels like a physical part of me. If I ever leave it will not be willingly and my heart will seriously be ripped from my chest.”
Luke loved the city by the bay too, but he’d never felt a physical connection to it beyond his address … until he met Jessica.
“What about you, Jones?” She stepped out of the bathroom wearing lacy panties and a pink camisole top that hid absolutely nothing.
Not good.
“If you could live anywhere in the world where would you choose?”
Her bed.
“Uh … it’s hard…” he was hard “…to say. I haven’t traveled the world. I probably haven’t been to paradise yet.”
Her bed.
“Well, let me know if you find it.”
He wouldn’t have to tell her, she would know.
She slipped under the covers. “You’re staring, Jones.”
“You’re half naked, of course I’m staring.” He gripped the back of his neck and groaned while grabbing his bag and escaping to the bathroom.
He prayed for her to fall asleep so he wouldn’t have to deal with an awkward goodnight situation, but … no such luck.
“Pajama pants? Really?” she teased.
“They’re lounge pants and I don’t usually sleep in them, except when I’m traveling.”
“What do you sleep in at home?”
He climbed in bed and shut off the wall light between them. “I don’t wear anything in bed at home.”
A soft whimper came from her side of the room. His heart hammered in his chest but not nearly as hard as it was in another area of his body.
“I can’t get to sleep. I’m too …”
He swallowed. “Too?”
“Turned on, horny, in need of a release.”
“I don’t want to know that.” He gritted his teeth, willing his hand to not slip into his pants.
“Well I didn’t want to know that you normally sleep in the nude.”
“Then you shouldn’t have asked.”
“I need my sleep, Jones, or we’re both out a grand tomorrow.”
He massaged his temples. “Well what do you want me to do about it?”
“Ugh … I don’t know. Let’s just do it. Let’s have sex.”
It was a brilliant idea. She read his mind.
“Good night, Jessica.” His conscience was an evil, blue-balling bastard. “What the hell?”
“I need it, Jones,” she whispered in his ear while climbing on top of him.
His dick was so hard she nearly snapped it clean from his body while grinding her pelvis into his. The situation was volatile and extremely time-sensitive. Four layers: her barely-there lace panties, the cotton sheet, his pants, and his briefs that were wearing thin against his erection and the rowing motion of her hips.
“N-not a good idea,” he lied.
She thrust her tongue into his mouth and clawed at his chest. “Mmm … do you have a better idea?” she murmured against his neck, working her mouth down to his shoulder.