Looking for Trouble (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 1)

“Around the corner.”

“Let’s go out the back.” She led him through the house and out the back door. “This feels like high school. Except I was never bad in high school. Were you?”

He grinned and said nothing. Sophie took in the rough stubble on his head and the wide shoulders and leather jacket and big hands and shook her head. “Yeah, you were really bad.”

“Come on. I wouldn’t say bad. I’d just say that I took smart advantage of the benefits of living in a ski town.”

“Spring break?” she asked wryly.

“Man. I had a great affection for college girls at that age.”

“Player,” she tossed out, feeling a little jealous. Not that he’d had his fill but that she hadn’t.

“I’m not surprised you were a good girl in high school,” he said as they sneaked through her neighbor’s bushes to the sidewalk beyond. “So when did you get so naughty?”

Now she flashed her own grin. “A girl doesn’t kiss and tell.”

“No? Does she fuck and tell?”

“No.” She stopped next to the bike and waited while he got out the helmets. Glancing around to be sure they were alone, she leaned close to his ear to purr, “And she doesn’t say things like ‘fuck’ either.”

She loved the way his eyes immediately went dark. “God, I love the way you say that word. Your mouth makes it sound like a whip.”

“A whip, huh?”

One big shoulder rose in a shrug. “If that’s what you want, bring it on.”

“I’ll try anything once,” she said, her heart speeding a little at the idea of hurting him. Not because she wanted to, but because it would piss him off. She wanted to see him pissed off. He’d be fucking magnificent.

“All right, my little dominatrix. On the bike.”

She mounted up behind him and slid her arms around his waist. He smelled good. And felt even better.

“Do you want me to teach you how to ride?” he asked over his shoulder.

Yes! her brain shouted. Yes, she wanted to learn how to ride. But... She shook her head. “There won’t be time. You can’t teach me in just a few days.”

He was still for a moment before he nodded. “You’re right.” He flashed a smile. “Next time?”

“Next time,” she said, both of them in on the joke. There’d be no next time.

As he urged the engine into a roar, she closed her eyes and felt the rumble of power around her. Under her ass, between her thighs, shivering up into her whole body through his back. He pulled onto the street and sped toward the highway.

It was strangely soothing to her, the danger of this man she barely knew flying her through the world. It felt like she was real.

That was what sex was like for her, too. The good kind anyway. The brutal, messy, dirty kind. It felt real. No pretenses or pretending. Just taking and giving pleasure. Just losing your thoughts and fears and feeling.

That was where Alex took her every time. They wanted the same things. They needed those feelings. They were animals together. In bed, yes. Or against a wall, or on the couch. But here, too. Running, flying, feeling the wind tearing at your body, trying to slow you down. But they didn’t slow down. They reached the highway and Alex hit the throttle and they were gone.

Sophie opened her eyes to a sky on fire. The sun burned behind high clouds above the Tetons. The mountains were dark, jagged spears stabbing into that orange sky, sending out flames of red and pink and silver.

Tears pricked her eyes. She pretended they were from the wind and held tighter to Alex’s body.

“Where do you want to go?” he shouted over his shoulder.

She pressed her cheek tighter to his back. “Anywhere,” she answered, and meant it to her very soul. Anywhere. Just away.

The sun dropped as they drove, sliding down until it touched the peaks of the mountains before it began to disappear behind them. The oranges and pinks blazed even brighter for a moment, then deepened to fiery red. Alex slowed just as the fire darkened to purple.