Screw Read online

  He lifted his hand, ran it through her hair, and she nearly freaking purred like a damn kitten. “Love the way this sticks out all over in the morning.”

  She narrowed her eyes. Was he mocking her? “Screw—” She tried to take a step back but his fist closed, holding her captive with a firm but gentle hold on her hair.

  “Looks like you spent the night being well fucked. Also love how I can grip all your hair like this. Gives me so many ideas.”

  Jazz shivered and Oh, how she wished she could blame it on the chilly press of his leather jacket against her thin pajamas.

  “Screw,” she said, hoping he caught the weak warning she tried to convey.

  “You fuck him?”

  Her eyes flew wide. “What? Who the hell do you think you are?”

  His eyes shot sparks and her fucked-up, neglected libido soared. “Did. You. Fuck. Him.”

  Jazz seethed. He had some fucking nerve questioning her about her sex life. “Please, you’ve probably fucked a hundred people since you started trying to get in my panties. I don’t owe you a damn thing.”

  The grip he had on her hair tightened. Instead of freaking her out, the sharp tug on her scalp sent need straight to her pussy. “That may be,” he whispered before dragging a thumb across her lips. She had to clench her teeth to keep from licking his finger or worse, sucking it into her mouth. “But I haven’t fucked a single one since I tasted these lips.”

  “Wha—” She stood, mouth agape and mind in compete disbelief.

  Screw took full advantage, crushing his mouth to hers while she tried to process his statement. His hand shifted, releasing her hair, only to cup the back of her head, holding her at his mercy. His tongue invaded her mouth with wet, aggressive, downright dirty kisses. Last time they’d locked lips, almost two weeks ago, she’d been in a vulnerable mood and shocked at the gentle and sweet way he’d manipulated her mouth. This time, well this was exactly what she’d have expected from a man as experienced as Screw.

  He teased her, stroking that clever tongue over hers then retreating the second she followed. Then he’d nip her lip and plunge back in again. She never knew what was coming and it caused a weak-kneed response that had her grabbing the lapels of his jacket to ground herself. It was that or completely melt into the warmth of his body.

  His free arm banded around her back, pressing her against his hard body. And hard it was…everywhere. It amazed her how incredible it felt to be in his arm. His warmth, his strength, his talented mouth had her feeling safe, desired, free. If this went on much longer, she’d give in. She’d break a promise to herself and beg the man to fuck her stupid.

  It’d been so damn long…

  Eventually, he stepped back, capturing her lower lip between his teeth and giving a firm tug as he left her. To her everlasting shame, Jazz stood there for long seconds, eyes closed, mouth parted and waiting for him to return. Only the heavy trod of booted feet on her wood floor had her eyes fluttering open and her hands releasing his jacket.

  Instead of the arrogance of a victory smile, Screw watched her with undisguised lust. The man was more potent than all booze in the world.

  “Guess I got my answer,” he whispered.

  “What?”

  “There’s no way he fucked you. Only a fool would let you out of their bed within hours of getting you there. And I may not like the guy, but if he has your interest, at least we know he’s not a fool. See you later, Jazzy.”

  With that, he stepped around her and opened the front door. Jazz followed him with her gaze. Who was that man?

  “Bye, Gummy Bear,” he called over his shoulder right before pulling the door shut behind him. Ahh, there he was. The Screw she knew. Not the confounding version of Screw who’d seemed to have been replaced by some sincere and genuine body snatcher.

  Turning back around, Jazz met Gumby’s stare. She pushed a hand through her hair, aware once again she wasn’t wearing a bra. And if she thought her hair messy before, it had to be a complete rat’s nest now that’s Screw had run his fingers all through it.

  She shivered at the recent memory.

  “Uhh, sorry about that,” she said, pushing past Gumby into the kitchen. “You sleep okay?”

  When he didn’t speak, she spun to find him in her kitchen holding the coffee Screw had brought her. “You forgot something.”

  So much for ignoring the elephant in the room. “Thanks.” Had he seen Screw kiss her stupid? If so, what the hell was he thinking? His expression didn’t reveal much.

  Gumby crossed his arms over his chest and propped his hip against the door frame. The position had his black T-shirt riding up, revealing a strip of chiseled abs and of course, that goddamned V all women went bananas over. Arousal sparked by Screw’s mouth and hands reignited at the sight of Gumby looking all delicious and…hungry.

  Holy crap, did she need to get laid. Aside from the few times Screw had touched her in the past few weeks, it’d been close to two years since any man had his hands on her body. Clearly, she was having some kind of adverse reaction to strictly self-induced orgasms if two different men in the span of five minutes had her fired up.

  “I’m gonna, uh, take a shower,” she said, jerking her thumb in the direction of her bedroom. “I can make some breakfast when I get out, or you can just help yourself to whatever if you don’t want to wait.”

  Gumby walked toward her, stalked was more like it, stopping when he was close enough to touch. Jazz had to tip her head back to meet his gaze. “Not your ol’ man, huh?” he asked, smoothing his thumb over her swollen lips.

  Shit, he had seen them.

  “No,” she whispered, fighting the desire to close her eyes and lean into the caress.

  “Missed you, Jazzy.” No one in Crystal Rock had ever called her that, but the moment Screw added that y to the end of her name, it’d taken off here. She had to admit she liked it. The little nickname made her feel like family.

  Guilt swirled through her, settling in her core. How did she tell him she hadn’t missed him? First because of misplaced anger and then because she hadn’t allowed herself to think of him and the feelings he’d evoked for so long.

  Self-preservation.

  But now that he was here, standing in her kitchen, his thumb stroking the fluttering pulses at the base of her throat, a longing she’d buried came rushing back to the surface with surprising ferocity.

  She swallowed hard, feeling his hand stroking her sensitive skin. God, how would those hands feel coasting all over her? It’d been so long since she’d been touched on the skin she hid beneath her clothes. And it would continue that way, so she needed to get out of her head and stop these ridiculous musings.

  “Go shower. Then how about we take a drive through the mountains and find a place for breakfast.”

  “Uh, sure,” she said with a nod. Going to the diner was out of the question. She wanted to be alone with him when they continued their talk. If they went to her place of business, the curious stares and nosy questions from her friends would make her nuts. At this point, she wasn’t ready or willing to talk about many of the things they’d want to know.

  Gumby released her then stepped back, keeping his gaze locked with hers. It smoldered, hot and needy, causing a ripple of excitement to run down her spine. Everything she’d felt for him, everything she’d wanted from him came rushing back, including the physical desire.

  The same physical desire she’d had for Screw not five minutes ago.

  Shit.

  As if life wasn’t complicated enough.

  “I’ll be fifteen minutes tops,” she said then did the only thing she could think to keep her sanity.

  She fled into the bathroom.

  A cold shower would do her well, but with forecast in the low forties again, burning hot was what she’d be choosing. After flipping the shower on, she stripped out of her clothes, averting her gaze from the mirror in a dance she’d perfected over the last year and a half. As the steam of the warm water wafted from behind the cu
rtain, fogging the mirror, she relaxed in the knowledge she didn’t have to stress about where to focus her gaze.

  In the span of a few hours, the stable life she’d created for herself seemed to have flipped upside down and been given a vigorous shake.

  Screw was wearing her down. She hated to admit it, but his constant attention and efforts combined with his irresistible freaking sex appeal, and he was well and truly getting under her skin. Or he had been until Gumby walked back into her life reminding her of all she’d wanted and been so close to having.

  A man who wanted her for more than just a few hours with her body.

  Not that any of it mattered. No matter how weak Screw made her or how many old desires Gumby stirred, neither would get a shot at her body.

  She glanced at her blurry form in the hazy mirror.

  No man would.

  CHAPTER NINE

  GUMBY PULLED INTO the parking lot of the cabin Jazz assured him was actually a hole in the wall restaurant about forty-five minutes from where she lived. The place was apparently owned by a James Beard-winning chef who’d grown tired of life in busy city restaurants and moved to the mountains of Tennessee. He now owned a cozy but eclectic restaurant in the Smoky Mountains.

  “It’s really beautiful here,” he said as he stepped out of her SUV. Had it been summer, he would have seriously considered taking his sweet time and riding his bike across the country, but he’d known crossing the US in January would have been a miserable and sometimes dangerous endeavor.

  “It is. I never realized how much I would love the mountains.” She reached for her door handle, but he’d jogged around the vehicle, then pulled it open before she had the chance to do it for herself.

  “Thank you,” she said, cheeks pink.

  He extended a hand, holding it still. Would she take it?

  After hesitating a second, she placed her gloved hand in his. Gumby drew her up from the car. Without releasing her small hand, he started for the restaurant. Surprisingly, she didn’t try to free herself from his hold. Instead, she curled her fingers around his.

  The scene he’d walked in on, Screw practically devouring her, had been on his mind all morning as they’d driven through the gorgeous snowy scenes of the Tennessee mountains.

  Jazz had clearly been into it. Her glossy eyes, swollen lips, and pointed little nipples didn’t lie. Then there was Screw. He hadn’t so much as glanced Gumby’s way, but the raspy, lust-laden voice he’d whispered to Jazz in might as well have been a tight fist around Gumby’s cock. In that moment, he couldn’t have said who he was more jealous of. He’d wanted to be the man who’d kissed Jazz stupid, but he’d also have killed for Screw to whisper to him with that fucking sex voice.

  When they reached the door, Gumby held it open for Jazz who shot him a small grin as she slipped inside the door.

  “Welcome!” a middle-aged woman with a tight bun of silvery hair and snowflake apron greeted them. “Cold one today, huh?”

  Gumby chuckled. “Yes, ma’am, it is.”

  “Well, come on in. We’re not busy right now so I have an open table right by the fireplace. Sound good to you two?”

  “Sounds perfect,” Jazz answered as she pulled off her gloves then hat.

  Gumby trailed Jazz who followed the woman to a wooden table directly in front of a roaring fireplace surrounded floor to ceiling by stone. Heat immediately permeated his chilled skin. Jazz let out a little moan of pleasure as she held her hands open in front of the flames.

  “That feels amazing.”

  Jesus, was she trying to kill him? All he could think of were those words falling off her lips as he pleasured her with his tongue.

  After being seated, a menu was placed in front of each of them and they fell into silence as they scanned their options. “What are you thinking?” Gumby finally asked. They needed a way to break free of this disconnect. Despite chatting at the diner, sleeping in her home, and spending the morning together, they hadn’t begun to slide into a comfortable place, and it sucked.

  “Their Crab Eggs Benedict is to die for. I’ll probably get that.” She kept her gaze fixed on her menu.

  “Sounds good to me. Let’s make it two.”

  A minute later the waitress appeared and took their orders. Once she’d left, quiet ensued yet again.

  Enough was enough.

  “Jazmine?”

  “Yeah?” She asked, attention on the crackling fire.

  “Look at me. Please.”

  With a sigh, she turned her head. The profound sadness in her pretty eyes had him reeling back.

  “Make me understand,” he said.

  Further clarification wasn’t necessary. Jazz wasn’t the type to play games and pretend she didn’t understand what he meant.

  After a nod and a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she reached across the table and placed her hand over his. Without giving it any thought, he flipped his palm, interlacing their fingers.

  “Something…uh, something happened that night. The night we were supposed to go out.”

  “Okay…” His forehead scrunched. What could have happened? As far as he’d known she hung out at home after he’d canceled their date.

  She blew out a breath fiddling with a button on her blue cardigan. “It was something that wouldn’t have happened if I’d been out that night.” She shook her head, looking again at the fire. “Or maybe it still would have. I don’t know. But it made me realize I needed to leave Arizona. To start fresh. To cut ties,” she whispered.

  “Fuck, Jazz, were you…” He couldn’t even say the word rape. And how would it have happened? Did someone break into her house?

  Thankfully, she put him out of his misery quickly. “No,” she said, squeezing his hand. “It wasn’t that. I’m not…I don’t really want to talk about it, but I’m fine. Now. I’m okay and I’m happy here, Gumby. But afterward, I was angry. Furious, really, with the club…with you.” She met his gaze and he didn’t see any anger, but regret was written all across her somber face.

  Gumby tried to mask his mounting frustration. They were supposed to be clearing the air. She was supposed to be explaining, and instead of clarity, he was more confused than ever. “So angry that you didn’t tell anyone where you were going? So angry that you completely cut us out of your life? So angry that you gave up on us having a chance at something?”

  “Yes.” Her small whisper cut him to the core.

  The waitress returned with two mugs and a pot of coffee. With her cheerful smile and sunny delivery of their beverage, she seemed oblivious to the tension at the table. It was Gumby’s turn to stare at the fire.

  When Jazz squeezed his hand again, he turned back. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was in a dark place and needed to leave Crystal Rock for my own reasons. After a few months, when I had some distance and perspective, I realized my anger was misplaced and entirely unfair. By then, I’d been gone so long without speaking to anyone I thought you’d have all forgotten about me. I thought it was better to just continue on as things were.” She cast her gaze downward, staring at their joined hands.

  “You thought wrong.”

  Her eyes widened. Sitting near the heat of the fire had an adorable flush warming her skin. He could see the flickering flames dancing in her dark eyes. “What is it that you want? Why did you come here?”

  Gumby sipped his coffee, giving himself a minute to formulate his thoughts as he enjoyed the strong brew. “It’s been bothering me the entire time you were gone. Lila told us you were safe, but I couldn’t help but feel your leaving was somehow connected to me. Jester told me I was just an arrogant asshole, but I couldn’t shake it. The feeling of being responsible.”

  “So you tracked me down.”

  He nodded. “So I had Acer track you down. Took this whole time since you led us to believe you landed in the north. Gotta say, Jazz, you haven’t cleared up too much.”

  “I know.” She added a generous amount of cream to her coffee.

  “I think
I feel more responsible now, knowing you held me accountable in the beginning. It’s like I owe you an apology, but I don’t know what for.”

  She shook her head. “No. Please don’t think that way. I promise you, you were not the cause of anything. You owe me nothing. If anything, I’m the one who owes you. I’m truly sorry to have made you worry and doubt yourself.” Her gaze met his. “So, now that you’ve found me, what do you plan to do? Are you heading right back?”

  He held her stare and gave a slow shake of his head. “I’d like to stick around for a bit.”

  Her throat moved as she swallowed. “Why?” The squeaked word had him chuckling.

  “You know Marcie had a baby? And Lila’s knocked up?”

  The way her mouth popped open told him she’d had no idea.

  “Wow,” she breathed with the first full smile he’d seen from her. “That’s incredible.”

  As he nodded, Gumby said. “Over the past few years, I’ve watched them all find it. That thing we’re all searching for. The person that just fits. I’ve tried.” He shrugged. “Tried to find it. I want it. And every time I think about it, your face is there.”

  “Gumby…”

  He held up a hand. “Look, I’m not here to profess my love like some psycho stalker. I know we hadn’t even been on one date, and know we haven’t seen each other in ages, but I feel like we were robbed of a chance. And after all this time, your face is still the one I see when I think about a future. I’m here for a chance to…well, I’m here for a chance.”

  Jazz blinked rapidly as though chasing tears from her eyes. “I don’t know what I have to give you, Gumby. I wanted it, wanted you so bad before I left, but there are things…” She got a faraway look in her eyes.

  “Baby, I have things too, trust me.” The main thing being his attraction to men. And how it’d always been far stronger than his attraction to women, until Jazz. Was it unfair of him to ask her for more? Could he do it? Commit to a life where he’d never feel another man beneath his fingers?