Jax stiffens. I feel myself break inside for him. Does he really think he’s that worthless?
I put my hand on his muscled forearm. His eyes widen, and he draws back. “Oh? You don’t like me touching you?” I ask. I wonder if he feels the same electricity I do. My heart races.
“Not used to it,” Jax says.
“You didn’t have a problem when I wrapped my arms around you last week on the bike,” I point out.
“That was different,” he says. “We had to do that.”
A surge of adrenaline courses through me, and I feel my usual shyness fade away as my pulse goes a thousand beats a minute.
Jax stares at me with his deep brown eyes. I have no idea why I feel so comfortable around him—more so than with anyone in a long time.
He oozes lust, sex, and masculinity, but there’s something about him that makes me feel like he won’t judge me for anything I do. Maybe because it seems like he’s been through the wringer himself.
I realize we’ve been staring into each other’s eyes for several moments, and I try to remember what he last said.
“Oh. So we had to do this on the bike?”
Putting my hand on the lower crease of his abs, right where the muscles meet the hips, I swing around behind him. Pushing my hips into his butt from behind, I press myself against his back, just like I did on the bike.
Except this time, he’s shirtless.
And this time, I have no butterflies of fear about where he’s taking me.
Those have been replaced by pangs of desire. He’s taller than me, so my head lands around his upper back as I push into him. He lets out a heavy breath as I slip my hands down his stomach, dragging them across the flat muscles.
Getting on my tippy-toes, I whisper into his ear, “Like this? Is this how we were on your bike last week? Is this what you’re so afraid of? A woman’s touch?”
Finishing the last of his drink, he throws the glass into the now mostly empty pool and reaches both of his hands back around my hips.
“You better be careful, Harmony. Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
6
Jax
“And just what exactly do you think I’m starting?” Harmony intones in an almost singsong fashion, her lips close against my skin.
Her hands still on my hips, she’s sending goosebumps everywhere on my body. Her soft hands slide down my obliques until her thumbs hook into my jeans.
Normally, if a woman came onto me like this, I’d tell them to have some damn manners with a man they’d spent less than a few hours with.
But in Harmony’s case, I’ve got to remember we’re in a public place with lots of eyes on us.
I spin around and grab her by the waist, backing her into the brick wall I was just sitting on.
The way she arches her neck, she may as well be giving me a target to land my lips. Her eyes sparkle more than the stars in the sky.
I clench my jaw as the electricity from her energy pumps through my entire body.
“What’s the matter, Jax?” she whispers, getting on her tippy-toes and brushing her chin up against my shoulder. “Nothing to say? Maybe you’re the one writing checks your mouth can’t cash.”
I cup her cheek and stare at her.
Women are normally so intimidated by me that they can’t look me in the eye from ten feet away, let alone run their mouth like she’s doing right now.
As I examine her face, I notice she’s got that same confident gleam she had when she was on stage.
“Come on,” I growl, taking her hand and leading her away from the pool.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
Without breaking stride, I turn around and wink. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay,” she says as we enter the house. “I trust you.”
Chills rock through me as she says those three words. But I just huff and show little emotion.
I can’t let on that I haven’t heard those words from anyone in too long, and I can feel she really means it.
Navigating through the crowd partying it up inside Malek’s, I’m still holding on to Harmony’s hand as we reach the stairs.
We head up and keep going until we get to the third floor.
I’ve been friends with the Maleks for as long as I can remember. One of the perks of being friends with Blackwell’s local party host is that I know where all of the rooms are.
I open the door to his parents’ master and close it behind us.
“Welcome to the master bedroom,” I say with a smile, turning around.
No sooner do I turn than Harmony jumps me.
She literally jumps off the ground, wraps her arms around my neck, and drowns me in wet kisses.
I respond by grabbing her hips and holding her up. Our breathy moans escape between kisses, and I walk forward a few steps, pressing her into the wall, pinning her hips while she wraps her legs around my waist.
Threading her fingers through my hair, she forcefully pulls my mouth away from her neck.
“Jax,” she breathes, making me stare into her eyes. “Is this okay?”
I swallow and squint. “Is what okay?”
“That I’m making out with you like this.”
I blink a few times and let my jaw hang open.
“I don’t know . . .” she continues. “I just got this feeling down by the pool that you were . . . hesitant. And then I jumped you.”
Taking a deep breath. I close my eyes and inhale her scent. Even with my eyes closed, it smells like the color cherry red mixed with hot desire.
“I’m really good with energies,” she goes on.
I open my eyes and breathe out. “Let’s sit down for a minute. There’s something I should probably tell you.”
Her eyes turn down, and she nods. I lower her hips gently down the wall, and she walks over and sits on the bed.
Walking over to the Maleks’ mini fridge, I grab two bottles of beer and twist them open.
“Let’s sit on the balcony,” I say.
She scrunches up her face. “There’s a balcony? How do you know your way so well around this house?”
I shrug. “Let’s just say it sometimes pays to be friends with partiers. They’ll get you into trouble sometimes, but they’re also good fun.”
I slide up a curtain and open the door to the balcony. It looks out on the pool party, and we can see people in the pool again, splashing around despite how late it is.
I sit in a beanbag chair and pat the seat next to me. Harmony sits and cuddles into my shoulder. We clink glasses and sip our beer.
“So what is it you’ve got to tell me?” she asks.
My chest tightens, and I take a deep breath.
She runs her hand back and forth across my chest.
“Whatever it is, just tell me,” she goes on. “I hate secrets. I’ll tell you anything you want to know too.”
I smile a little. “Thanks, Harmony. So I’ll just come out with it. I haven’t been with a woman since, well, since before I got out. Haven’t even touched one, actually. And when you were touching my hips back there . . . I did clam up. I’m weird about that, though. So that’s probably—”
“The hesitation I was noticing.” Harmony finishes my sentence and looks me up and down. “How long has it been?”
“About three years,” I say, and take a long swallow of my beer.
“Three years! And you’re . . . twenty-five?”
“Twenty-four, actually.”
She tilts her head up at me. “So you haven’t done anything with a woman for three years? I don’t know if I believe that.”
“Believe it,” I mutter.
She turns her head and runs her hand over my arm. Squinting up at me, she licks her lips. “Are you sure that’s what you were going to tell me?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“It doesn’t seem that embarrassing.”
I run my hand through her hair. “What, did you think I was going to tell you that I was actually a sociop
ath and a serial killer?”
She rolls her eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t really get you yet. And that’s one of the things that attracts me to you so much. I mean, who just goes to a random show at LaRisa’s in the middle of nowhere on a Thursday?”
“Good point.”
She continues. “So why is that embarrassing, though, seriously? No offense, but you’re like . . . incredibly attractive. I’m sure you wouldn’t have to try too hard if you wanted to be with a girl.”
“I have trust issues,” I say. “All I need you to know is, I’d rather take it slow. I know it’s weird to hear a guy say that. We’re supposed to want to jump your bones the first night and all that. But it will be better this way.”
She recoils. “Did you think . . . that was going to happen?”
“I didn’t think anything. Like I said, it’s been three years. I’d barely know how to do the damn thing anymore at this point.”
She lets out a loud laugh that reverberates into the hot midnight air. Even her laugh sounds like a song. I make a mental note to do everything I can to hear that laugh more often.
“So let’s change the subject. What’s your secret?”
She leans her head on my chest, and I wrap my arm around her. The noise from below fades away, and it’s just us up on the balcony, looking at the stars.
“Hmm. My secret. I have a lot of them. What kind do you want?”
“Hit me with something big, Harm.”
“Hmm. You like big, eh?” She winks.
“I do. Although sometimes it’s the little packages that end up being big,” I say, and squeeze her body tighter against me.
“So you know that song you like?”
“‘Tomorrow Never Comes.’ Of course.”
I can feel her whole body clenching up. She sits up and takes a long pull of her beer.
“Well, my secret is, I did write that song. I used to live in Nashville and I wrote it and then my boyfriend at the time and that girl started singing it.”
My jaw drops.
“Are you fucking serious? Harmony, that was like the number one song in the US when it came out!”
“Don’t believe me? It’s fine. No one does. That’s why I never tell people,” she adds dismissively. Her eyes gloss over, and she looks away from me.
“Harmony,” I growl. Knotting some of her hair with my hand, I force her to look back at me.
“What?!” she says, anger in her voice.
“One, I do believe you. I even said the other night you sing it better than I’ve ever heard. Two, don’t you dare dismiss me like that again. Why wouldn’t I believe you?”
“No one does, though,” she croaks. She raises an eyebrow at me. “And three?”
“Three,” I say in a low voice, and bring my lips to hers.
Our mouths erupt in a fiery kiss, and I run my hand down her hips and onto her bare leg.
“Oh yes, Jax,” she whispers in my ear as I pepper kisses on her collarbone. “You know, it’s been a while for me too,” she adds.
My stomach clenches in the best way, and I kneel between her legs as she lies back on the beanbag chair.
I trail kisses down her chest, and she arches her back, pushing her body into my lips. I help her get her T-shirt off and fling it into the room.
“Finally,” she says. “I was wondering when you were going to even the score, Mr. I Walk Around Shirtless at Parties.’”
I smirk. “Score’s not even yet.”
“It’s not?”
She squeals as I pick her up and carry her into the bedroom, tossing her onto the covers and pouncing onto her.
She wraps her legs around me and we make out in a tangle of hot limbs and greedy hands, our hot skin pressed up against each other.
“God, I want you so bad, Jax,” she mewls as our hips jockey for position.
“So sexy,” I return breathlessly, not wanting to take time out from kissing her to say a full sentence.
“Oh my,” she says as she lowers her hand to my thighs, feeling my hard length pressing up against my jeans. “And you’re the one saying we should wait?” she whispers.
I let out a chuckle. “You expect me to make out with you and not be as hard as a brick?”
Her eyes widen. “Oh. Is that how it is with you?”
Tumbling over so I’m on top of her, I brush her hair out of her face. “Yeah. That’s how it is with me. Isn’t it with all guys?”
I kiss her again and slip my hand around to the back of her denim shorts, pulling her into me.
“Oh God, Jax. I could seriously do this all night.”
I shrug. “I mean, I don’t have anywhere to be.”
I dive back onto her lips, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like everything is right in my world.
Just then, there’s a rapid knocking on the door.
“Just ignore it,” I say. “I locked it.”
We go back to kissing.
The knock happens again.
“Open up!”
It’s a man’s voice, someone I don’t recognize. A partygoer?
“Last warning!” the voice says. “You’ve got ten seconds.”
7
Harmony
“Open the damn door!”
I dig my fingers into Jax’s neck as the voice yells again.
The hot skin of Jax’s midsection presses against me, filling me with desire.
I pinch my eyebrows together.
“Not now,” I whisper.
Jax’s gaze falls to me.
“You know who it is?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes. It’s one of my friends’ boyfriends who thinks you’re bad news.”
Jax wiggles his eyebrows. “Am I?”
I slide my hand away from his cock and rest it on his hip.
“You could be.”
“Open the damn door,” Cole repeats. “Harmony, we know you’re in there.”
“I’ll deal with this,” Jax growls, and my stomach coils as he gets up.
“No, just let them go away!” I protest.
The last thing I need is to get my friends riled up about me being in here with him. Jax swings the door open before I can even get out of bed. I use one of the pillows to cover my midsection even though I still have my bra on.
“Can I help you gentlemen?” Jax says calmly.
Cole, as well as his friend Mason, stand outside the door.
“Yeah,” Mason says, tipping his forehead toward me. “We heard you were in here with Harmony.”
I see them both thinking about trying to head inside the room, but Jax is a solid brick wall between us, and he doesn’t waver at all.
“I’m here!” I wave, my heart pounding. I get that they want to look after me, but this is overkill. “Having a great time!”
Cole and Mason don’t look amused, both standing with their arms crossed.
“Look, it doesn’t really matter if you’re having a great time,” Cole adds. “Come with us.”
Jax scrunches up his brow like they’ve just asked him to solve a complicated math problem. “Seriously, Mason? Why are you acting like this tonight?”
He shrugs. “We’re just protecting our friend. That’s all.”
Jumping to my feet, I hold the pillow in front of me. I ease Jax aside so I can stand directly in front of them.
“You two are being real buzzkills tonight!” I seethe. “What gives?!”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mason says. “Let’s just go.”
“Hell no,” I spit, clenching my jaw. “I’m having the best night I’ve had in a while. So why don’t you two just leave me alone. I don’t get why you’re so up in my business tonight!”
They glance at each other.
“Just, let’s go now,” Cole urges, tipping his head toward the downstairs. “It’s getting late anyway. How are you getting home?”
“I can give her a ride home,” Jax booms.
I smile and wrap my hands around Jax’s thick bicep, leaning my head into h
im.
“See? Problem solved. Now shouldn’t you two get back to your gir—”
Just then, a ruckus comes from downstairs and a stoner guy I recognize from Blackwell University comes flying up the stairs.
“Cops! Cops! Run!”
Mason grunts. “Dammit. Really?”
Cole shrugs. “Come on, Harmony. We need to go. Your dad—”
I squint. “My dad?! Why are you bringing my dad into this?”
“He’s going to be pissed if he knows you’re here. What if we get a drinking ticket or something?”
“Guys, I love you, but please, get the hell out of here,” I say, shaking my head.
Reluctantly, they head down the stairs, but not before shooting Jax dirty looks.
“So,” I say, turning back to Jax. “You think it would be hot if we’re making out when the cops bust in here?”
Jax clenches his fists, unsmiling.
“This is not good,” he says. “If the cops come and find me . . . if they even give me any sort of ticket, I could end up back in . . .”
My jaw drops. “Oh shit. You’re serious?!”
He nods. “If they scan my ID, that would be very bad.”
We hear footsteps stomping up the stairs. I assume Mason and Cole barely made it out of the house using the back stairwell.
My stomach coils and I turn to Jax with wide eyes. “Well. What should we do?!”
He shifts his gaze left, then right. We can both hear the loud steps of what must be a cop coming up the stairs.
“Forget it,” Jax says. “I’ll just stand and take it. You run that way.” He points down the hall. “I’ll distract him so you don’t get a stupid ticket.”
I furrow my brow. “What do I care about a stupid drinking ticket?! Besides, are they really going to give us a drinking ticket? I’m over twenty-one!”
“They would give you one for aiding teens in drinking. Those high schoolers who were out front.”
I feel my insides flip, but a weird calm comes over me at the same time. As the footsteps come closer, my world unfolds in slow motion.
I look at Jax, this mysterious man I know very little about. His stare is intense, and his jaw is clenched.
“Go, get in the closet or something,” he says. “Now. Once they find out who I am, they won’t look any further.”
Biker with Benefits Page 4