Playing For Keeps (17 page)

He hesitated before answering,
"No."

"Then what do you want?"

"Nothing. I just want to lay
here."

"So, you just want to lay there and
nothing is wrong," she said, summing it up.

"Yeah."

She rolled her eyes. Seemed she didn't
have much choice about getting involved now. It was either that or
get up and leave because she wasn't about to stay here for another
moment of this.

Before he could stop her she was up
and straddling his hips. She made another shocking discovery. Jason
wasn't hard. Jason was always hard when they were in bed, the
shower, or making out on the couch and all those times in between.
She was pretty sure the man would never have to worry about needing
Viagra.

He made no attempts to push her off,
but neither did he look at her.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell
me what's wrong," she said softly.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Don't make me use my fists of fury to
get an answer out of you," she threatened.

His lips twitched, but still he said
nothing.

"Okay, you just lay there and sulk
then. I'm going home," she said, moving to climb off
him.

Jason's hands shot out, stopping her
by gripping her hips.

She raised an expectant
brow.

He sighed heavily. "You pissed me
off."

Well, that was totally
unexpected....sort of.

"Hey, I said I was sorry about hitting
Mitch with that sword. How was I supposed to know the thing would
leave a welt?" she said defensively.

"That's not what I'm talking about.
That didn't bother me."

"Is it because I kicked your ass at
skee ball?"

"No! And that game is rigged anyway so
it doesn't count."

"
Riigghhht
," she said, drawing out the
word. She thought over the rest of the night and couldn't figure
out what she'd done. "Okay, you're gonna have to help me out here
because I'm drawing a blank."

"I'm pissed because all those men hit
on you and not once did you tell any of them to fuck off because
you had a boyfriend!" he yelled.

Her face went expressionless. She
blinked once and then again. Then she burst into uncontrollable
laughter.

***********

"It's not funny," he snapped. That
only seemed to make her laugh harder.

All day at the carnival he'd been
forced to watch men notice Haley. Every time she smiled or laughed
they smiled as if they couldn't help themselves. Every time she
jumped up and down excitedly their eyes zeroed in on her jiggling
assets. He caught them checking her out and sending her
appreciative looks. Mitch, the rat bastard as he was now known,
completely ditched his date and focused entirely on
Haley.

It only got worse when they went to
Joe's Tavern. The place was large, homey and clean and today Joe
put out a huge buffet. So with an all you can eat barbeque and
several flat screens and five pool tables the place had been filled
to the rim with men.

When Haley went up to get food they
crowded her, offered to carry her plate, get her a drink, sit with
her, scoop her food. When she played pool, and she really sucked at
pool, but clearly loved it, they offered to "show" her how to play.
Two guys had the balls to send drinks over to their table while she
was with him. Several actually had the balls to come over and flirt
with her in front of him!

Mitch was no help. When he wasn't
trying to pick up some bar tramp he was watching Haley and hitting
on her like there was no tomorrow. The bastard didn't even try to
hide his leers from Jason. What the hell kind of friendship was
that?

Okay, granted in the past,
before Haley, he'd been a complete jerk. He openly checked out and
hit on his buddies' girlfriends. If he was out and he liked what he
saw he never let a boyfriend worry him. But that was no excuse for
what Mitch was doing. This was Haley!
His
Haley!

"Sweetie, I think you had too much sun
today," Haley said once she calmed down.

"You should have said
something!"

She rolled her eyes. "First off, I
have absolutely no idea what the hell you are talking about. I
don't think anyone was looking my way any differently or flirting.
They were just really friendly."

He snorted.

"Secondly, even if they were, and they
weren't, I don't know why you're complaining. I didn't exactly hear
you tell every woman that was drooling over you today that you had
a girlfriend."

Another snort.

"I don't give a damn about those
women. I've got what I want," he said, gently massaging her
hips.

Haley leaned over and pressed a quick
kiss to his lips before sitting back up. "Exactly. I didn't notice
any other man but you," she said softly as she ran her hands over
his chest and stomach.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you
don't. I'm awesome."

"I'm glad to see you're
humble."

"Hey, I could have said I was the
epitome of manliness, but I didn't." He pursed his lips up
thoughtfully. "Even though we both know that it's true."

"We do?" She arched a brow.

"Yes, I believe we both
do."

"Fine, whatever, as long as you stop
paying attention to your hallucinations then I don't
care."

He watched her for a moment. The
expression on her face was shy and sweet as she traced shapes on
his stomach. She truly did not know how desirable she was. He would
bet money that she didn't think men noticed her and she'd probably
broken a hundred hearts unintentionally up to this point. She was
just so damn sweet and innocent, well except for in bed of course.
There she was eager, insatiable and thrilling. He never thought
foreplay could be so pleasurable before. He had no doubt sex with
her would be life altering.

"You are so beautiful, Haley," he said
softly. He'd said that to other women before, but he'd never meant
it more. She was beautiful inside and out.

Even in the dim light he could see her
blush and shyly avert her eyes. "Thank you," she mumbled, sounding
unsure.

She truly didn't realize how beautiful
she was. That made her even more beautiful to him. He skimmed his
hands over her flat belly and up until he was palming her breasts.
He brushed his thumbs over her nipples, loving the way she licked
her lips and arched her back into his hold.

Haley began squirming on him letting
him know she could feel his body harden. He loved the way she
looked, the way she reacted, he loved everything about her. She was
the most precious thing in the world to him. So beautiful, so
sweet, so giving and too damn good for him, but he was a selfish
bastard and wouldn't let her go.

Ever.

He slowly massaged her breasts while
playing with her nipples, just enjoying the way she licked her
lips, moaned and whimpered. His erection was pressed firmly against
her. Her bottom nestled it very nicely and he loved the way it
caressed him as she squirmed on him. He could feel her getting wet
against his stomach.

"You want to try something different?"
he asked in a husky voice.

She licked her lips slowly, nodding as
she looked down on him with an expression of pure trust. It humbled
him.

"Hold on," he said as he pulled her
down to him, kissing her slowly as he rolled them over until he was
on top of her. He deepened the kiss as he pulled her knees up and
over his shoulders, angling her where he needed her, giving him
better access to her hot wet core.

"Jason....," she said
nervously.

"Shhh, don't worry. No penetration,"
he said against her mouth. "I just want you to feel how much I want
you." He settled himself more firmly between her legs, making sure
his hard shaft was nestled between her warm wet folds.

He deepened the kiss as he pulled back
and then slid forward rubbing the underside of his cock against her
hot wet core and clit. They moaned into each other's mouths as he
continued to grind against her.

Haley's moans echoed off the walls as
Jason fought for control. His body screamed for him to arch back
and slam into her, but Haley wanted to go slow. He would do
anything for her even torture himself with being so close to the
prize and not going for it.

She fisted her hands in his hair as
she licked and sucked his neck. He groaned loudly as he pressed
himself more firmly against her and thrust harder. Haley's grip in
his hair tightened seconds before she started screaming his name.
It triggered his own violent release.

"Haley......oh, Haley.....I..oh god,
Haley!" he yelled while his mind shouted "I love you" over and over
until he released her legs and lay bonelessly on top of
her.

As he was gasping for air he realized
something. He was in deep shit. Haley was his life now. His woman.
His heart.

He was so screwed.

Chapter 16

"Oh my god, stop eating that!" Haley
said, trying not to laugh and failing miserably.

Jason popped the fudge brownie in his
mouth and winked at her. With an exasperated sigh she reached back
into the backseat to fix the plastic wrap on the plates of
brownies, cookies, and cupcakes.

"If you keep stealing food there won't
be any left for your family's cookout," she said, knowing that
wasn't a good enough reason to stop him from eating. She was
willing to bet there wasn't much that would come between him and
food.

He turned his attention from the road
to pout. "But I love your cooking."

She rolled her eyes at his lame
attempt. "Uh huh."

"Well, at least I'm not touching the
potato salad. You really should appreciate the little things in
life, my little grasshopper."

Haley scoffed in disbelief. "The only
reason you're not scoffing that down is because I have that and the
pasta salad in a cooler safely locked away in the
trunk."

His brows shot up. "There's macaroni
salad? Why was I not informed of this?"

"Probably because I wanted it to at
least make it to your parent's house before you devoured
it."

He shook his head sighing, "So little
trust."

"You ate an entire bowl of cookie
dough yesterday when I made the mistake of running out to the
market without hiding it first. Seriously, I thought it would be
safe."

"You were wrong."

"Your obsession with food is starting
to scare me," she said wryly.

"It's not an obsession. I'm a growing
boy, damn it."

She raised one brow in
disbelief.

"Thank god we're here. I'm starving,"
he grumbled as he parked in the only empty spot on the street,
which just happened to be in front of a large white Victorian house
with black trimming where a party was clearing being held, judging
by the amount of people walking around the property.

They loaded their arms up with all the
plates Haley made and headed for the front door. Jason kicked the
door lightly since his hands were full.

The door was opened by an older woman
with pepper hair. She took one look at Jason and smiled.

"It's my baby boy!" she announced
loudly to the crowd in the house as she cupped his face and pulled
him down to give him a sound kiss on the cheek. She stepped back
and noticed Haley. Her expression went from excited to stunned in a
matter of seconds.

Jason smiled sheepishly. "Mom, this is
my girlfriend, Haley Blaine." He gestured with the plate of
brownies. "Haley, this is my mother Megan Bradford."

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs.
Bradford," Haley said, feeling a little awkward with his mother
standing there gaping at her and her hands too full to offer to
shake the woman's hand. Not that his mother seemed to be able to
respond or anything at the moment. Actually, Haley was starting to
become a little worried.

"Girlfriend?" Megan finally choked
out.

"Yeah, why do you sound so-" Jason
started to say only to be cut off by his mother.

His mother turned her head and yelled
into the house. "Jared!"

Haley shot a nervous look at Jason who
was muttering something about putting his mother into a nursing
home that only served green Jell-O. She looked back at the door in
time to see an older man, who was clearly Jason's father by the
almost identically features, step into the doorway. He smiled when
he saw Jason.

"What's going on?"

"Mom's freaking out," Jason said. "Any
chance we can get in there before my girlfriend's arms fall
off?"

The man noticeably started and looked
at Haley and then did a double take.

"Girlfriend?" he asked in clear
disbelief.

"Yes! Girlfriend!" Jason snapped, but
his parents didn't seem to notice because they were staring at her
like they couldn't believe such a person existed. On top of that
her arms were starting to feel like they were about to drop
off.