He stopped breathing. He wasn’t sure why he’d never thought of that before. Beck loved a fresh conquest more than anything. And what if Brook Lynn was interested in Beck and Jase, as Jessie Kay had been?
Jase thought back. He’d noticed Brook Lynn’s tendency to leave something new at the house every day. A pot holder hanging on a cabinet door. Curtain ties in the living room. A scented candle on the windowsill. He’d never rebuked her, had just assumed she’d hoped to make things more palatable for him, a little at a time. But what if she’d been making things more palatable for Beck? Perhaps gently nudging him into accepting change.
Wouldn’t matter, he decided, eased only slightly. Beck knew Jase had staked a claim. Even if he’d denied it all along, the guy had eyes and half a brain. His friend would never make a move.
“Jase?”
West was here. Right. Jase uncurled his fists and said, “If I’d had a scholarship, you would have done the same for me.”
“Yes, but you also wouldn’t have blown the scholarship.”
“What makes you think so? My stunning success in every area of my life? My Fortune 500 job? My fairy-tale relationship? My brilliant mental health?”
West snorted, some of the darkness at last shaking off him. “Dude, you totally suck. I’m not sure how I’ve remained friends with you so long.”
“You can’t get enough of my sparkling wit.”
“Yeah.” A warm smile from West. “That’s got to be it.”
“Dinner’s ready,” Brook Lynn called.
Jase practically leaped to his feet.
“Uh, a little too eager there, champ?” West asked.
“You have no idea.”
In the kitchen, Brook Lynn wouldn’t look at him. She smoothed a lock of hair from her brow, a rosy blush spreading over her cheeks. Beck didn’t seem to notice, or care, while Jase’s body practically went up in flames.
“Everyone take a place at the table,” she instructed.
Throughout the meal, she shifted in her seat and blushed. She’s thinking of what’s to come... Her reaction fed his, strengthening it. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could last without putting his hands on her.
Beck stuffed his face, still unconcerned, but West glanced between Jase and Brook Lynn countless times, finally arching a brow in question, all I wonder what you two will be doing later.
Jase flipped him off.
Brook Lynn pretended to eat.
“You guys are acting weird,” West said, tone sly. “Are you not hungry, Jase, when just a short while ago you were nothing but a ravenous pig?”
Jase kicked him under the table.
West spilled his water, impact causing his glass to slip from his hand. In an act of revenge, he silkily asked, “Or are you hungry for something other than food?”
“What! No!” Brook Lynn burst out. “Shut up.”
“He’s subtly inquiring whether or not you plan to screw Jase’s brains out,” Beck said, reaching for another scoop of casserole. “I say go for it. If I were a girl, I’d already have tapped that.”
Brook Lynn snatched the ladle out of his hand. “Bad Beck. Bad, bad, bad. I will not reward you for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“But...but...” the guy stuttered. “I’m still hungry.”
Jase tossed down his napkin, saying, “All right. Come on, honey. You and I need to talk. In private.”
“While you’re having your chat,” Beck called, “don’t forget to punish her for speaking to your friend so rudely. And wear a condom.”
* * *
JASE PRESSED HIS back against the closed bedroom door as Brook Lynn sat at the edge of his bed...the very bed in which he’d rolled around with Jessie Kay before he’d acted as her very own orgasmic scratch pad. The urge to throw up battled with the urge to be held, leaving her confused and vulnerable. Was she really going to do this? Give him a chance to compare her to Jessie Kay? To find her, the less experienced one, lacking?
Maybe she should just go home.
Good plan. Did she seriously want a meaningless one-night stand? Simply for the chance to change Jase’s mind about relationships and prove they could have something special? That they could have more?
She stood.
“Leaving already?” He swiped up a remote and switched on the radio. Soft rock poured from the surround sound as he met her gaze.
“Yes. No. Oh, I don’t know.” Even as she spoke, the tension between them expanded, thickening, until it was difficult to breathe, to focus on anything but Jase and what she yearned to do to him...what she yearned to have him do to her.
“Wrong answer.” He crossed his arms, cotton pulling tight over his biceps. “I didn’t want to have to remind you of this, but you signed a legal and binding contract, honey. If you don’t give me the night of sexual bliss you promised me, I’ll be forced to sue you for everything you’ve got. And that would be a shame, because I only want the best for you—and for you to take off all your clothes.”
The teasing helped relax her. “Court, huh? Why don’t you tell me your opening argument?” She returned to the bed and reclined, resting her weight on her elbows. “Convince me you’ve got a case.”
He removed his shirt—as any good attorney would have done—and the absolute maleness of him staggered her. The incomparable ropes of muscles. The glimmer of his bronze skin. The delicious plethora of tattoos.