Free Nauti Intentions by Lora Leigh Page B

turned back to Alex.
    â€œI know what he doesn’t.†Dawg nodded after Natches.
    â€œAnd that is?â€
    â€œYou want her too fucking bad to walk away.†Dawg turned back to Alex, his gaze steely. “And that’s okay. She’s a damned pretty
    woman .†His voice hardened. “And a damned vulnerable one. Break her heart, Alex, and brother-in-law or not, we’l take you apart.â€
    Alex stared back as Dawg nodded, then moved away. Hel , Mackays were a pain in the ass.
    He looked up at the apartment, and, standing there in the chil morning air, that cat cradled in her arms, was Janey. How much had she seen? Heard?
    From the look on her face, probably al of it. He knew the look of a pissed-off Mackay, and she definitely had that look. The only difference was, on her, it
    looked damn fine.
    He lifted his fingers in a lingering salute and shot her a mocking smile before backing out of the parking space and heading down the street.
    His things were already packed at home. He was prepared. He’d return in a few hours. And then what? He frowned at that question.
    What? Seduce her? Show her how nasty he could get, then walk out on her later?
    Hel . What was in his mind? What made him think Janey was anything like the other women who understood that when morning came, he would be
    gone?
    So why wasn’t his dick listening? Hel , why wasn’t his head listening? He couldn’t stop thinking about her, remembering that kiss. The
    innocence was kil ing him, and God only knew, he thought innocence was a damned fine thing in a woman. So why did he want to destroy Janey’s?
    Because it was his. He wasn’t even going to let himself think she was his, just her innocence. He wasn’t going there, he promised himself. He
    had never let himself get mired in the quicksand of false love, and he wasn’t going to let it happen now.
    Janey was more grounded than her brothers or her cousins thought she was. More mature than any of them believed. He had seen that in her, felt it in
    her. Or he was just fooling himself and creating an excuse to al ow himself into her bed.
    For a second, just a second, he prayed she was strong enough to keep him out of it. Otherwise, he had a feeling he would end up destroying both of
    them.
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    Janey was waiting when Alex arrived that evening. She’d cal ed Rogue and rescheduled their girls’ night out. She hadn’t given the other
    woman an explanation and Rogue hadn’t asked for one. Janey had been torn, though. She wanted that night out. She’d never been dancing. She
    had never gotten tipsy in her life. She wanted to do both.
    She wanted to sway to the music, laugh and have fun. She wanted to be female. Feminine. She wanted to wear makeup and that new skirt Rogue had
    talked her into buying.
    This evening, she wore a pair of cotton running pants and a T-shirt. She hadn’t straightened her hair, so the loose curls feathered around her face,
    almost to her shoulders.
    She’d had it cut immediately after coming out of the hospital months before. The long strands had hung nearly to her waist, and every time she felt
    the weight of it she’d been reminded of how often Dayle and Nadine had used her hair to drag her around.
    Now it was shorter, easier to keep up with, and Janey actual y liked the way it framed the almost narrow lines of her face.
    She was twirling one of those curls around her finger as she sat on the couch going through bil s for the restaurant and waiting on Alex. Yet when his firm
    knock sounded on the door, she jumped, startled.
    She excused the reaction. In the two months she had lived there, she had rarely had anyone knock on her apartment door.
    Standing, she moved to the door and looked out the privacy peephole to see him standing there. As if it would be anyone else. Opening the door, she
    stood aside as he walked in, a duffel on one shoulder, a hard,