Beyond Jealousy by Kit Rocha Read Free Book Online Page B

it in a move so effortless, he had his hands on her before her brain caught up to what was happening. He gripped her hips and hoisted her with the same ease, depositing her on the bar with his body wedged between her knees.
    "Tell me what you want," he whispered, cupping her cheeks. "Don't think about what's easy, or even what's possible. Tell me what you'd want if you could have anything in the damn world."
    She was the embodiment of greed, grasping and hungry. Covetous and insatiable. She would have been ashamed of herself, except that there was no room for that. Not here, and not now. "I want you and Ace," she whispered. "It's not fair. Other women have had you both for sex. Why can't I have you to love?"
    Cruz smiled, his thumb smoothing back and forth across her cheek. "Ask me what I want."
    He wasn't angry or sorrowful, and Rachel caught her breath. Only one reason for him to smile at her words, and his answer had the potential to change everything. "What do you want?"
    "To have both of you to protect."
    Her stomach fluttered. "What the hell did you see last night? I mean, I know what happened, and that you must have been there, but...what did it look like to you?"
    His thumb shifted course, the rough pad dragging across her skin in slow motion before rasping over her lower lip. "Like getting left behind."
    "Hardly." Her mouth moved beneath his thumb like a kiss. "Haven't you figured it out? Neither one of us can stop thinking about you."
    "Even with his tongue in your mouth?"
    Not an accusation--arousal. The way his voice heated as it wrapped around the words kindled an ache between her thighs, and Rachel moaned. "Even with his tongue in my mouth." She reached for his hands and guided them back to her hips. "With his lips on my skin. His fingers under my clothes."
    His hands tightened, and he swayed forward, his lips so close to hers. "If I put my tongue in your mouth, will you think of him?"
    Nothing short of a challenge, and Rachel felt herself responding to it, melting closer to him. "Every. Damn. Second."
    "Maybe only half of them." He murmured the words against her mouth, and if Ace's kiss had started slow, Cruz's was the opposite. Fast and hot, lips parting over hers, his tongue slick and commanding, thrusting in search of hers with no mercy and no restraint.
    Oh God.
    He blocked out the world, but he sent her spinning so wildly that clinging to him would provide no purchase. So she wrapped her hands around the edge of the bar and held on.
    When he bit her lip and growled-- growled --even that wasn't enough. She whimpered, and he eased back, dragging his teeth along her lip until it popped free. He soothed the spot with one last lick before straightening.
    That got her moving. She reached for him, but her fingers slipped across the sweat-slicked skin of his abdomen, and she swallowed. Hard. "You do this on purpose. Walk around half-naked."
    His lips twitched. "Maybe."
    "Definitely." She leaned in and teased her tongue over the muscled line of his chest. Salt, heat, and lust roared up, almost drowning out his groan as he sank his fingers into her hair.
    Rachel choked on a moan and wiggled, trying to ease the tense ache. The only thing better would be Ace's fingers bumping his, tangling tight as he urged her to lick lower.
    Cruz shuddered and pulled her away. "Not yet. Christ, this is hot, but I need you to trust me. I know what to do."
    She trusted him more than herself and Ace put together, more than anyone. Cruz would always do the right thing, no matter what. "Okay."
    He tilted her head back, and at least she wasn't the only one breathless and flushed. "Soon. I promise."
    Oddly, it soothed her trembling. He'd never lie, never make a promise if he didn't know he could deliver. "I trust you, Cruz. With my life."
    "Good." He brushed a final kiss against her forehead, carefully unwound his fingers from her hair, and took a step back. "Are you working tonight?"
    "Taking the stage at ten." Her cheeks heated. "You