on, scared and anxious all at once. “I was the one who was afraid. You handed me your heart and I was
scared to give you mine in return.” He sighed. “I’m sorry for not being as brave as you were.”
“Oh, Jay!” Haley leaped from the stool.
“Oomph.” He caught her, but her momentum knocked him backwards and they both landed on the
floor, Jeremy on the bottom and Haley flush against him. He wrapped his arms around her and felt a
tremble. He was shocked to the core when he learned it was his body that shook with emotion.
Chapter Eleven
“I love you, but I was terrified if I told you that, you’d somehow wake up and see you were only
interested in me for the sex.”
Haley grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him all over. His cheeks, his eyes, then finally his mouth.
At the first feather-light whisper of her lips on his, Jeremy took command. Prying her lips apart, he
sucked her tongue into his mouth and felt her melt against him. His heart jumped. She wasn’t just an
aberration. She was real and she was in his arms and she was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman.
He pulled away from her questing tongue and demanded, “Say it, Haley. Say you love me. I want to
Page 58
hear those words leave your mouth right now with you here on top of me. I want that before I make love
to you, baby. So say it quick.”
She laughed full out. “You are quite demanding aren’t you?”
His brows drew together as he realized she was teasing him. “Say it or I’m liable to spank your sweet
ass for disobeying me.”
She pretended to think about it, then in a husky bedroom voice said, “I don’t know. You’re the one
who tried to convince me you were catching me on the rebound. I think maybe I need to reflect on it
some more.”
Jeremy let a grin appear just a second before his palm came down on her white-cotton shorts. “Bullshit it
was rebound. Now say it, or you’ll get another one.”
Jeremy saw the desire in her eyes as she went submissive in his arms. He glided his hands over her
body, feeling her curves as if it were the first time. He stroked her thighs, then let his hands slip between
them. Jeremy groaned when he felt her heat. Her words, uttered sexy and low, had his cock eager and
aching in his jeans.
“I do love you, Jay. It feels backwards, though, because it’s like we fell in love first and we’re just now