Free Breaking Bad by Karin Tabke Page B

is how Stevie would describe the expression on Jack’s face.
    “If there was anyone I could settle down with, it would be you, sweetheart,” he quietly said.
    His words startled her into silence. She wanted to believe him. But this was Hit-and-Run Jack she was talking to. “Yeah, well, that ship has sailed.”
    “I meant it when I told you earlier today I was sorry.”
    “And I meant it when I agreed that you were.” She exhaled and pulled the hairband from her long braid. Digging her fingers into the thick strands, she shook her head. When she looked up and caught Jack’s hot gaze on her, she lost some of her steam. She would try to forgive him, but it would take time. In that time, he could suffer a little. “Look all you want, but don’t touch me again.” She strode past him and as she opened the door to the house, she said over her shoulder, “The pizza menus are in the drawer by the phone in the kitchen. Best pizza in the county is Gay Nineties on Angela and they deliver. I’m taking a shower.”

CHAPTER NINE
     
     
     
     
    F rom her blow-dried hair that hung in a soft heavy mass past her shoulders, to her shaved legs, coconut-scented body lotion, and flirty little white romper, Stevie looked far from innocent after her shower. In fact, she looked, smelled, and felt, highly fuckable.
    That’s exactly what she’d intended.
    She wanted Jack panting at her feet. She needed to prove to them both that despite her body’s weakness for his;
she
was in control, not her body and certainly not Jack. Because as much as she didn’t want to accept his excuse for running out on her, she got it. She
had
been thinking of them as a happy forever couple.
    Embarrassment fizzed through her as she remembered the way she’d followed his every move, waiting breathlessly for those amazing jade-colored eyes to settle on her, if only for a moment. She’d lived and died for his acknowledgment.
    She would have settled down in a heartbeat.
    Not Jack. He’d been, and still was, the proverbial rolling stone. Even if she’d somehow managed to get him to stay for a while, he would have moved on.
    It was just who he was.
    If she didn’t forgive him now, she never would because Jack Thornton was not going to change. So the question was: Could she accept him the way he was? The answer, surprisingly enough was, yes. She could. But in that, she made this promise to herself: She would never again allow her fantasies about Jack to control her reality. She was not going to settle for anything less than a man willing to meet her halfway. Hell, she didn’t even want a man in her life. She was too busy with her caseload and could not give him what she demanded in a relationship, so there was no point.
    She shivered as she remembered Jack’s hands and lips on her body. How good it felt when he entered her. Dear Lord, it was the best feeling in the world.
    She gave herself one more glance in the mirror before she headed back to the only man who knew just what to do to make her fall apart.
    Damn him anyway.
Why couldn’t he be more manageable?
    Because if he was, you’d lose interest.
    True that.
    As Stevie entered the small family room of her little house, Jack looked up from his cell phone and audibly hissed in a sharp breath.
    Stevie smirked and strode past him as she grabbed her laptop off her desk, then began to hook it up to her flat screen TV. Without looking his way, she said, “Better close your mouth, Jack, or you’ll catch a fly.”
    “Really, Stevie?” he drawled.
    Continuing to focus on booting up her laptop, she asked, “Really Stevie, what?”
    “You’re just asking for it.” His husky voice left no room for misunderstanding. She was a prick tease and his prick was interested. Now if only she could turn her body’s reaction to
his
reaction off, she’d be good to go. But alas . . .
    She turned her gaze to his and smiled as her desktop flashed up on the TV. “Asking for what?”
    “Me inside of you all over