Falling for the Guy Next Door by Claire Robyns Read Free Book Online

strayed to anyway
was Kate, and she’d cornered Harry by the bar counter a while back.
The painful expression on his face suggested Kate had launched a
new campaign to open an investigation into Castle Darrock.
    Her pulse
fluttered with anticipation as she slid her hand up Jack’s leg.
    Thigh muscle
bunched beneath her touch and his hand landed on her shoulder in a
firm grip. His breath tickled her ear. “Don’t start anything you
don’t intend to finish.”
    His head was
still tipped toward her; she felt his warm breaths on her cheek.
His arm around her shoulder had pulled her closer into his side.
The lights were dim, the music loud, and it was just the two of
them in a crowd. The illicit thrill spiralled inside her veins,
scorching her desire with hot cravings.
    “Maybe I’m
finishing what you started,” she murmured, loud enough only for him
to hear. She kept her eyes straight ahead, applied the slightest
pressure and dragged that delicious tension further along, stopping
inches from his groin.
    “Ha, ha, very
funny.” There was no humour in his tone. One hand closed over hers,
limiting the journey up his leg. Skin on skin contact tingled up
her arm.
    His head
tipped even lower, his jaw bristling against her temple. “Payback’s
a bitch and her name is Megan. I get it.”
    She liked that
word. Payback. There were so many ways to put that to work. Most of
them moves she’d learnt in his bed. He’d clamped her hand in place,
but she could still wrap her fingers over his thigh and squeeze.
“Did you just call me a bitch?”
    “What I
meant…” His hand lifted from hers as he shifted in the bunk and
tugged at his jeans, presumably trying to make more space in there.
“I deserve you messing with me after that inappropriate invitation
to a private tour, but hell, Megan, you’ve had your laugh—”
    There was a
hiss and the distinct sound of liquid spluttering as she smoothed
her palm over the base of his erection. Her blood turned molten at
the effect she had on him and set a slow burning fire to her
core.
    The grip on
her shoulder tightened to bruising. He slammed his glass on the
table and reached beneath to grab her hand in his. “I’m taking you
home,” he growled in a husky whisper.
    His hands were
large, slightly rough from the places his photography took him, and
she already knew all the wonders those long fingers were capable
of. “Oh, yes, please,” she murmured just as huskily, then ruined it
with a giggle.
    Amusement
flickered in his eyes before he turned from her to announce their
departure. “Megan needs a lift home and it seems I’m the designated
driver.”
    After a quick
round of goodbyes and signalling Kate that she was tired and going
home, Megan was being guided through the back exit with a propriety
hand on the small of her back. A warm shiver rolled down her spine.
The door swung closed, cutting off the noises from the pub. The
parking area behind Jugs was an open field and as soon as they
stepped further from the pub’s outside lights, they were at the
mercy of the sliver of a new moon and the heavenly cast of distant
stars.
    “Watch your
footing.” Jack’s arm looped around her waist, loosely, ready to
catch her if she fell.
    She was
acutely aware of his body brushing against her side again and again
as they picked their way across the uneven ground. Neither of them
said another word, but the silence was filled with a sense of
anticipation rather than awkward. Her heart hammered ten-to-one at
what she was about to do, and not all those extra beats were
unadulterated lust.
    Could she
really walk away in the morning without a scratch?
    She glanced up
at his profile, a shadowland of ridges and deep hollows. He was a
feast of rugged beauty for her eyes but it was the grin she
couldn’t see now that undid her every time. The very thought of
that lopsided grin scrambling those perfect angles and creasing
softly into his jaw was enough to make her sigh with pure
longing.
    Yes,