Taking the Heat (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 3)

“Shut up,” he growled. “This is your fault.”

“Good.”

He laughed despite the ache in his cock, but his laughter ended when her hand slid onto his thigh.

“Don’t,” he groaned.

“Don’t what?” she asked as her fingers slipped up to stroke over the bulge in his shorts.

He didn’t have the heart to tell her to stop.

“I’ve written plenty of times that women shouldn’t feel flattered about this kind of thing, but...I love how hard you get for me. It thrills me. Don’t tell anyone I said that.” Her hand pressed harder against his cock, the pleasure both a relief and a torment.

“I won’

t,” he promised.

“I love it,” she whispered. He slid a little farther down in his seat and her fingers tightened around him as much as they could through the shorts.

“Me, too,” he moaned.

She laughed and let him go, and he desperately wanted to pull over and make her do it some more. He wanted to tell her to take it out and stroke it, right there in the car. Wanted to watch her bright eyes spark with wickedness as she told him they shouldn’t and then she did it, anyway.

But now they were at the outskirts of town, and she probably didn’t want her name in the paper quite like that. Local Advice Columnist Arrested for Public Indecency. Though it would destroy any doubts about her sexual experience.

Gabe concentrated on navigating through town. Veronica smiled out at the streets. It was a close call, but by the time he pulled into his parking space, he was calm enough to get out of the car and unload the gear.

She stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Thank you. For today.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I was really scared, but I wanted to do it, anyway.”

He set down the bag he’d picked up and turned to give her a hug. “It’s supposed to be scary,” he said. “That’s why climbers do harder and harder climbs. To feel that adrenaline again. To push past their fear and instincts.”

“Really?” she breathed against his chest.

“Really.”

She nodded and he let her go, but she still looked uncertain. “I got a letter yesterday that scared me.”

Gabe’s hackles rose. “Threatening?”

“No, not like that. It was from a high school kid who felt like he didn’t want to live anymore.”

“Jesus,” Gabe breathed, alarm spiking through his body. “What did you do?”

She shrugged. “The only thing I could do. He’d used a temporary email address, so I consulted with a therapist and then posted an answer on my site. I hope he sees it.”

“He’ll see it. He wrote to you because he wanted help.”

“Do you think so?” she whispered.

He touched her face, but she didn’t look up at him. “I told you about yesterday. My first rescue situation.”

“Yeah.”

“I was fine until I got down there and saw how scared those people were. In pain and freezing and terrified. That was when it hit me that I could really help them, and that if I screwed up, I’d make everything so much worse.”