Free Seduced by Two by Stephanie Julian

to bite you on the ass.
    Faking sleep, he let her dress then sneak out of the room. When he heard her hit the squeaky step at the top of the stairs, he rolled out of bed and pulled on his jeans.
    He followed her downstairs, avoiding all the noisy spots along the way, and caught up with her as she stopped beside the window, as if looking for someone. Or standing guard.
    Why would she feel the need to do that?
    Jensen had opened his mouth to ask when he heard her sniffle. With her back to him, he couldn’t see her face but he was pretty sure she was crying.
    Shit. He didn’t do tears. Tanner always took care of the crying women. Tanner knew how to handle them, how to get them to stop. Jensen thought women used tears like ammunition, just another tool in their infinite box to keep men in line.
    But Nica had waited to cry until she thought neither of them would hear her. She wasn’t using it to manipulate them. Something had made her genuinely sad.
    And his chest tightened as he watched her fumble with her purse as her shoulders shook.
    Fuck it.
    Walking up behind her, he put his arms around her, drawing her back against his chest. She jumped a little in his arms, startled, but didn’t pull away when he put his lips next to her ear.
    “Don’t go.”
    It was the only thing he could think to say that wasn’t a question she probably wouldn’t answer. Or a command she wouldn’t obey.
    She shook her head. “I wasn’t. I only wanted…” She stopped to draw in a shaky breath but didn’t continue.
    “You don’t have to explain anything,” Jensen said. “Just don’t sneak out in the middle of the night. Are you okay? Are you…scared?”
    She laughed, a short, sharp exhalation of air that didn’t sound at all amused. “No, not scared. Not of you or Tanner.”
    Jensen heard a “but” in there and his arms tightened around her. If she was afraid of someone else, he wanted her to tell him who. Did she have a boyfriend who would hurt her if he found out she’d slept with them? He didn’t think she did, but maybe she was afraid of her father or a brother or…
    Hell, just ask her. “Do you have a boyfriend, Nica?”
    She laughed again. “No. There are no men in my life.”
    “Then what are you afraid of?”
    Her sigh shook her entire body and he had the urge to tell her he’d take care of whatever problems she had. He’d never had the desire to say that to a woman. He was no knight in shining armor.
    “Losing my freedom.”
    His frown was immediate. “What the— Nica, are you in some kind of trouble?”
    She sighed again. “No. At least, nothing I can’t handle. And it’s nothing you can help me with.”
    Fine. Everyone was entitled to their secrets. He could respect that. “Stay with us until Monday.”
    He swore he felt her stop breathing. Was she considering his offer? Or was she thinking about how to get out of there before he got down on one knee and proposed? Not that he’d do it. Ever. He wasn’t offering anything more than a couple of nights—
    “I’d like to…”
    Exactly what he wanted to hear. He placed his lips on her neck, just behind her ear. God, she smelled amazing. Sweet and sexy and so damn arousing. After a brief hesitation, she pressed back into him, his hardening cock nestling into her ass.
    “Do you have to work tomorrow?” he asked.
    She shuddered as he licked a path from her ear to her collarbone. “No. But I’m starting a new job Monday.”
    His hands lifted to cup her breasts, thumbs flicking over the tight tips. “Do you have plans for tomorrow?”
    Her hands came up to press against his, forcing him to curl his fingers around her breasts just a little harder. “No. No plans.”
    “Good.”
    He bit her neck, not hard enough to leave a mark but just enough to make her moan. The husky sound touched off a blast of heat in his gut, spreading down into his groin, making his cock pound for her. His arms contracted around her. He wasn’t letting her go without a damn good