Free JAGGED EDGE: A BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE (ALPHA MALE) by Nessa Connor

might not trust Jag, but they didn’t know Jag like she did.
    She’d never stopped trusting him.
    Tonight, she would make it up to him. She didn’t want him to be afraid of making love to her, or think she didn’t want it.
    Because Sammi wanted every part of Jag she could get. With her reservations pushed to the side, she wondered just how long they might stay alone in these woods.

Chapter Eight
    Jag
    Keeping active helped keep his horny demons at bay. Jag remained in control, setting up camp before they searched for firewood. By the time they lugged it all back to camp, violet and red streaked across the sky.
    Night would fall soon. He stacked the firewood, but his attention returned to his backpack, where he had that special gift for Sammi. He’d been worried when they hit choppy waves that they might capsize the raft. If he lost that backpack, he’d really be pissed.
    “I see you finally listened to me.” Sammi pointed to what he held in his hand.
    The Firestarter. For a long time, Jag would try to start fires by hand. It proved difficult and time consuming, and it frustrated her more than it used to frustrate him.
    “I should’ve annoyed you and tried to do it by hand for old time’s sake, but my whole plan for this trip is to try not to piss you off.”
    “You’re a brave man. It’s like trying to walk through a minefield.”
    “Please, Sammi, you’re not half as tough as some of the women I’ve dated. They would’ve been pissed at me if I didn’t take them camping within walking distance of a boutique, or a five-star restaurant. They’d probably want to be helicoptered out for the night.”
    Jag flicked the switch of the starter and it took a minute for the fire to catch. They watched as it swept over the kindling, bursting into a steady flame.
    “I’m sure they weren’t all that bad,” she said while placing her hands out to feel the heat.
    “No, they weren’t all difficult. But none of them were as good as you, rest assured.”
    “What makes me so good?” Fiery shadows danced around her curvy body in the coming dusk.
    The way the light caught her emerald eyes, lighting them, drew a need in him like someone dropping a weight in his gut.
    “I never understood why you always put yourself down like that,” he said.
    “I’m different, Jag. You always understood that. I don’t belong in this century. I like to read and watch boring movies, some of them in black and white and silent. Do you know how odd that makes me nowadays?”
    “There’s plenty of people like you,” he said. If he wasn’t stunned by her beauty right now, he’d have her in his arms. “I wish you could see yourself through my eyes.”
    “I’m standing right by the fire. If you look at me you’ll see me blushing. It’s not fair.” Sammi backed off, but Jag wouldn’t let her.
    She needed to know how beautiful she was.
    “Don’t hide. Come closer.”
    Sammi stepped into the firelight again. His heart swelled as he searched for the right words. Instead, he decided to tell her something that hurt his pride. He’d always tried to hide it from her, as making himself vulnerable wasn’t a ritual he practiced often.
    “This whole time, you had no idea I had a thing for you when we were younger?”
    Sammi burst out laughing. “Now I really know you fell on your head rock climbing.”
    But when she saw his serious expression, she didn’t keep up the nervous laughter. “You’re serious?”
    “All the other girls were boring. You weren’t boring at all. You talked different, dressed different, you actually listened to me and were interested in things other than what was on the surface. You had class. And you had my respect. Even if I did want to do some dirty things to you.
    “You were like this secret that I could never fully figure out, the gift that keeps on giving. And when I first saw you, it was like the first home run I ever hit, a sense of magic that I’d struck gold; that I’d remember this moment