9781618857958KissMeLikeYouMeanItLeveyNC (7 page)

“What
are you doing?” Carlie hissed the words thorough chattering teeth. She gave up
attempting to cover her nudity with her hands and wiped her plastered hair away
from her eyes.

“Right
now I’m standing in my shower under freezing water with a smelly girl.” He
reached up and adjusted the blasts to give them warm water. Jackson stepped out
to get a clean cloth and returned to her. Her skin flushed with the steam pouring
through the glass enclosed shower.

“I
mean what are you doing home?”

He
chuckled. “I didn’t know I needed permission to come to my house.” He grabbed
his body wash and lathered up the cloth.

“I
swear I’m going to kill you for tossing me in a cold shower.” Anger blazed in
her flushed face as she stared him down.

“That’s
good then, means you’re no longer cowering in your stupid self-pity party.”

“What,
are you going to do with that?” She eyed him nervously, ignoring his words.

“Well,
I figured your hands must be broken or something so I’d wash you, since you
can’t do so yourself.”

“Uh-uh,
no way. Give me that.” She tugged at the sudsy cloth in his hand, his gaze
dropping to her lush breasts.

“Nice.”
He winked at the way they bounced with her efforts to take the wash rag. He let
her have the wet cloth and watched the recoil, suds covering her chin, dripping
down her neck, between the valley of her tits, and the path downward. Damn she was
in great shape.

“Get.
Out.” She pointed to the door, her face flushing a deep red.

“I
don’t mind helping, not at all.” The sheer stubbornness in her glare told to
him to surrender. With a sigh, he stepped out of the stall. “Get clean. We’ll
talk after you’re done.”

“Fine.
Privacy would be nice. Please close the door behind you.”

“See
you soon.” He stripped off his clothes on the other side, knowing she had a
direct view of him. His dick jerked in the cool air. At her gasp, he noticed
her riveted gaze stayed on his Prince Albert and beads. He quirked a brow at
her, ready to answer any questions she might have. “Done staring at my dick?” The
crass words caused her head to jerk and her gaze to land on his.

“Could
you be more of an asshole?”

He
smirked in response, snagged a towel and walked into his bedroom. Carlie’s continued
rant echoed in his bathroom, the sound carrying into his master bedroom.

“Perfect
princess, you know this is who I am and you still wanted to jump my bones.”

“I
hate that nickname. Whatever. I don’t want to jump anything on you.”

While
she screamed expletives at him from the other side of the door in a righteous
fit of temper, he dried off and put on a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt,
impressed that she knew such a dirty range of swear words, and used them. Ten
minutes later, Carlie emerged with a huge fluffy towel around her lithe body.

“Let’s
get one thing straight. I’m not a new notch for your bedpost, don’t ever strip
me naked again. I made a stupid drunken comment months ago that will not happen
in this lifetime. Got it? Better yet maybe you should move to the other room
while you’re here.”

“Don’t
hole yourself in my bedroom like a hoarder,” he snapped back, grabbed his
trashcan from the bedside and began tossing wrappers and leftover crap inside.
He stopped to gift her with a glare. “This is my room. You don’t dictate where
I will or won’t sleep in my fucking house, princess. Got it?” He resumed his
task and counted backward from twenty to cool his temper. The heady scent of
innocence dripped from her delectable body, driving him mad. He needed his
hands occupied to prevent him from lashing out at her in sexual frustration.

“I’m
sorry. I meant to clean this up. I’ve just, been—this week has been unbearable.
I’m not a slob, or messy. I mean I don’t even normally eat this crap.” She
looked like a moping little kitten
.
Sadness
poured from her.

Jackson
set the container down and put his hands through his hair, anything to keep
from grabbing and comforting her.

“Why
don’t you get dressed while I finish cleaning this up. You can take a walk to
clear your head. Some fresh air will make you feel better.” He moved over to
his bay windows and opened them to let the ocean breeze into the room. Out of
the corner of his eye, he watched her hurry to dress to prevent him from seeing
too much. What was she thinking? He’d seen all of her in the shower as he
undressed her.

“Ouch.”

When
he glanced up at her, he fought from laughing at the comb stuck in her hair and
her efforts in freeing the plastic teeth failing miserably. “
C’mere
.” Jackson sat down on the clean edge of his bed and
moved her between his thighs. “Don’t tell anyone I know how to do this okay,
you’d ruin my reputation.”

“Kay.”
She sat before him.

As
his mom’s health declined, he brushed and plaited her hair for her when she was
too weak to do so herself. During their time, she’d regaled him with memories
of them when he was a toddler, wanting him to remember the important memories
of them to her. All these years later, her death still crushed him, he missed
her smile, her smell and her optimism. Even after she knew she was terminal she
embraced life like death was nothing to worry about, that everything would be
all right. In silence, he worked Carlie’s hair in small sections, untangling
the mane with gentle hands. His palm brushed her neck, at the contact, her pulse
quickened against him.

“I’m
sorry for stinking up your room.”

“Just
don’t do it again.” Jackson worked the last section of her hair and massaged
her scalp, making her moan. Fantasies began to play in his head. Curtailing
them, he worked his fingers one last time through her tresses, and then handed
her the comb. “I think you’re all good now.”

“Thank
you.” She scooted back and turned to face him, tucking her feet in Indian
style. “How do you know how to do this? I can’t imagine with your revolving
door of one night stands you’d have girls waiting around to have their hair
brushed.”

“Women,
not girls, love to be petted.” Jackson stood from the bed and held his hand out
to her. He forgot how quick she flipped from a warm personality to ice cold at
times.

“I
don’t think whores constitute as women.” Carlie brushed off his assistance with
snooty attitude, making being an asshole to her a lot easier.

He
leaned into her personal space, their noses almost touching. “How much did you
make on that shoot? What was your price? Girls, women of legal age throw
themselves at me. I give them what they want free of charge.” Her sudden
indrawn breath and crushed expression tugged at his heart. He pushed down the
useless emotions, backed off and began picking up the rest of the trash in his
room.

“God,
Jackson, what a low blow. I can’t believe you went to that level.” Her temper
flared as she climbed off the bed and stomped out, slamming the door for good
measure.

Good.
With her gone, he could concentrate on getting her scent and haunting sadness
out of his mind. Though the thick tension in the air left with her, he hadn’t
meant to go that far goading her, she just made doing it so much fun and he’d
wanted to get her mind off her issues. Well, until that uppity snotty attitude
came barreling out of her mouth. Not to mention, knocking her down a peg gave
him pleasure. He succeeded but wondered at what price.

She
crossed his line of vision, heading down toward the water, the fresh breeze
fanning her hair out around her. The sun gleamed, kissing her sweet skin. Fuck,
he wanted her in a bad way, gut deep. Being around her, verbally sparring or
otherwise, left him feeling off balance. Just as he tossed the rest of the
garbage out, his cell rang.

“What?”
he barked. His father’s voice snapped at him from the other side. Jackson
clenched the phone in his ear wanting nothing more than to throw it against the
wall.

“I
heard you’re home. I hope this means you’re done playing around with your
friends and are ready to be a responsible man.”

“I
don’t consider what I love doing, playing around, Dad. I earn more income
sleeping than you do in a twenty-four hour period. We’re on the top of the
charts. When are you going to understand this is my life?”

“When
you grasp that you have a future and quit throwing away your inheritance. I
could use you on the board for the resorts and your aunt could use you in New
York running the restaurant instead of delegating and outsourcing. It’s bad
enough you quit classical piano and threw away your chance at Julliard.”

“Mom
died. What did you expect? That I’d have come back here after living with you?
Why would I attend a top notch school of arts when I was already on my way to
being a rock star?”

“Julliard
would’ve given you a respectable career, not made you this womanizing, whoring,
boozing man you’ve become.”

“That’s
rich, Dad, coming from you. No disrespect, but you taught me how to whore
around. I have company, I don’t have time for this, Senior.”

“This
conversation isn’t over, son.” His father disconnected and he tossed his phone
on the bed. Why did they have the same conversation every time? His dad thought
he’d budge. Not likely. Playing with his friends was his only way out of hell
on earth. The only joy he found after losing his mom and being forced to move
across the country to a man who only blessed him with his presence when it was
beneficial for him. His dad never took the time to see what work he did at the
New York restaurant. He ran it from his cell phone and laptop, with quick
flights home when the need arose. When you owned a business delegating was a
must. He couldn’t play and run the place his mom left him at the same time.
What the fuck did everyone expect of him?

What
a joke. So what if the public saw him as a womanizing playboy? Their ignorance
was his mask. No one ever looked deep enough to see he ran another business and
did philanthropic work. He let out a derisive snort and took a calming breath.
With amends to make, the last thing he needed was to let his father ruin his
day. In silence, he finished picking up his bedroom, stripped his bed down to
the mattress, then trekked across the house to the laundry room and placed them
in the front loading washer. The walk back gave him more time to cool off and
compartmentalize.

Jackson
glanced out the back window to where Carlie stood facing the ocean. He wondered
if she was lost in thought or crying, the later brought back feelings of
remorse for unleashing his temper at her. With a sigh, he rubbed his nape and
let himself out the back door.

Seaweed
and salty air washed over him, enveloping him in peace. Tucking his hands in
his pockets, he strode toward her and stopped behind her.

“Princess.”

“Leave
me alone, Jackson.” Her stance didn’t change, she just stared out at the choppy
waters.

“I’m
sorry, princess. Truly.”

“With
anyone else I’d have laughed that insult off, but you…” She turned to face him
giving him full view of her puffy eyes. He wanted to pull her in his arms and
soothe the hurt he’d caused.

“You
know me,
Carlie
. All we do is argue, and we both know
why. You push all of my buttons on purpose. There’s always been this war
brewing between us whenever we’re in each other’s space for too long.”

“I
know. You were nice enough to help me with my hair and I went off the deep end.
You make me crazy too. I wish I knew why.”

Attraction, magnetizing attraction
.
In her innocence, she didn’t know what it was, but he did. “How about we call a
truce while you’re here. I’ll try to be better if you will do the same.” He
reached out and tugged her hand into his. “Come on, it’ll be like old times at
your parents’ house. We can go into town and go bowling or do something just as
horrible so you have payback for what I said. Anything you want to do.”

“Miniature
golf?”

Jackson
groaned. “Bowling?”

“Bowling
and karaoke and you have to sing whatever song I pick off key, rock star.”

“Okay.”
What possessed him to say yes to bowling and karaoke?
To see the flash of happiness, the smile come back to her face.
“I’ll
make plans for dinner first.”

“Why,
Jackson, are you taking me out on a date?”

The
laughter in her voice gave him joy. He grinned. “I only wine and dine those who
are important.” He wouldn’t add he’d use the opportunity to observe his staff
while he was in the area. Jackson withdrew his phone and scrolled the speed
dial list, then hit option two.

“Chez
Debuque
. This is Chantal, how may I help you today?”

“Good
evening, Chantal. This is Jackson
Laurant
. I’ll be
bringing a guest to the restaurant in a short while, please have my private
dining area ready for my arrival.”

“Yes,
sir, it will be a pleasure to see you again. Will there be anything special we
need to order for you and your date?”