Free JACKED by Sasha Gold

with a link.”
    “All right. Good. Thanks.”
    “Just a wedding present for the happy couple.”
    “Asshole.”
    “Listen, Jack. You had to know shit was going to hit the fan. Give everything a little time. Don’t show her that unless you have to.”
    “Right.”
    “Another thing.”
    “What?”
    “I’m happy for you, Jack. Congratulations.”
    Theo’s words sent a wave of surprise through him. His cynical friend was the last person in the world he thought would offer congratulations. Jack’s cellphone, sitting on his desk, dinged with an email notice.
    Well, maybe not the last person in the world.

Chapter 9
    The cottage door burst open and Jack filled the doorway. When they got home, his expression had been somber, pensive, now his eyes glittered with satisfaction. He stalked into her den. She’d lived there for months and he’d never come to her home although she’d always hoped he might. He was respectful and distant. Now he stood in the middle of the den like some sort of feudal lord come to collect rent. Or something.
    “Don’t get too cozy,” he said. “You don’t live here anymore.”
    She folded her arms over her chest. “Backstabber.”
    He strode into the room and she retreated. Lust lit his eyes, his lips curved into a sexy smile.
    “I didn’t stab you in the back, sweetheart. You needed help. I parachuted in. I came when no one else did and I offered you this.” He held his arms wide. “This cottage. What I really wanted was to take you to bed right then, but I was trying to talk myself out of what I felt for you.”
    That was new. She hadn’t remembered seeing any signs of his interest. Why would he try to talk himself out of anything?
    “Why was that? Because our parents are married?”
    “That. But mostly because you’re just a kid. I’m ten years older. I wanted you in my house. I wanted you there because I knew you’d make it a home. I wanted to have babies with you because I think you’re sweet and kind and loving and perfect.”
    “Why didn’t you just ask me out? I…I had a crush on you. You probably knew that.”
    He took a few more steps, closing in on her, deliberately crowding her. He smirked. “A crush?”
    She retreated and bumped against the wall. “Yes. Didn’t you have one on me?”
    “I’m thirty years old. The last time I had a crush I was in eighth grade. What I had for you was no crush. I wanted to strip you down, tie you to my bed and keep you there. Do dirty things to you. That’s what I wanted. But somewhere along the way it changed.”
    His words sent a jolt of awareness down her spine. She hated that the mere mention of sex made her body respond to him. Her breasts tightened.
    “You don’t want to do those things anymore?” she asked, her tone almost petulant. He was making her crazy. She wanted to push him away, to punish him and she wanted him to lean in closer, to whisper things to her. She wanted to hear what sorts of dirty things he wanted from her.
    He set a hand on either side of her, caging her. “I still want to do those things. But now I want more. I want to come home and find you in my house, making supper, or maybe we go out to eat or I cook for you. I want you pregnant. I want six kids with you. I want you to get the degree you choose. Maybe a masters. I want to go to sleep next to you and wake up and see you first thing. I want more than just a chance to do dirty things to you, Savannah. I want it all.”
    She searched his eyes. “I was so close to finishing on my own. And you had to take that from me.”
    Something behind his eyes shifted, hardened. “You’re going to blame me for that? Your father goes ape-shit because his youngest isn’t going to…what? Join the Happy Family Law Firm?”
    “He could have died. What if his chest pains hadn’t been a false alarm?”
    His lips thinned and he stared at her for a long moment. Slowly he lowered to whisper in her ear. “Walk or carry.”
    His breath on her neck sent shivers