Game, Set, Match (A Humorous Contemporary Romance) (Love Match) (19 page)

He grinned and stroked again.
Once. Twice. “In the photo—were you wet?”

Tension coiled in her sex. All she wanted to do was continue her hurtling speeds toward climax. “Jason, please.”

He paused his stroking to slip his finger along the edge of her panties. His finger lifted the edge, and slid past springy curls to reach her core. “Shit—Izzy. You’re so soft, ready.” He groaned into her neck.

“I want—” Before she could finish the thought, the crackle of the intercom interrupted her.

“Mom, food’s here. Where’s your wallet?”

Jason ripped his lips from her neck, spouting a litany of four letter words. Spell broken, Izzy dragged in a breath and struggled to unlock her legs from his back. Disengaging from him on shaky legs, she strode to the other side of the studio to reply. “
Uhm, check the big black camera bag. I didn’t take my purse to the shoot.” She prayed the waver in her voice wouldn’t betray what she’d been up to.

With trembling fingers, she rearranged her button down and khaki skirt and patted down her hair in an attempt to pull herself together before she faced Jason. Once she’d readjusted her bra and shirt, she turned, only to find him directly behind her. Alarmed, she attempted to take a step back.
 
Damn he has the feet of a ninja.

“Hey, relax,” he soothed.

Easy for him to say. If the tabloids held any truth, he did this sort of thing all the time. She, on the other hand, did not. “I am relaxed.” Then because she couldn’t think of anything else to say, she added, “Dinner’s here.”

He nodded, his eyes narrowed. “Please don’t do that whole closed up thing on me.” He took her hand inclining his head toward the work table. “I didn’t mean to get carried away. I’m sorry if it was too much.”

Damn
. Did he have to be sweet too? At the risk of sounding like the rank amateur she was, Izzy shook her head. “I’m just not used to—that. Rather, I’m not usually so impulsive.”
Gah, I’m a moron
. “I mean, I don’t run around doing…” 
Gah, shut up! Shut up now
! Her lips slammed shut.

He still held her hand. As he caressed her knuckles, he asked, “Even with Simon?”

Instantly annoyed, she tried to disengage her hand. But he didn’t release her. The last thing she needed was a reminder that she’d just been crawling all over him.

Shame and spite made her lash out. “Are you jealous?”

The smile he gave her teetered on a ledge between predatory and sheepish. “Maybe I am.”

She scoffed.
“Yeah, right.”

He still didn’t let go of her hand as he tugged her toward the door to the backyard. “Is that so farfetched?”

She smirked even as she fell into step with him. “Honestly? A little. Yes. You’re out every night with models and actresses and professional athletes. Not to mention royalty if the tabloids are believable. I doubt I compare.”

He halted as they reached the backdoor to the house. She noticed the harsh set of his mouth and his tightened grasp of her hand, and she wondered what she’d said wrong.

“All of them, Izzy—they never compared to you.”

Izzy stared into liquid pools of amber and knew she was in trouble. She couldn’t flirt with danger and make it out unscathed. He was a professional playboy, and she was nothing but a rank amateur.

His musky scent enveloped her. The tingling in her lower back was strong enough to make her jump. 
This is no good.

She didn’t
 
need
 hot and heavy. She didn’t 
want
 hot and heavy. She was a relationship girl. What if he just wanted sex? Her eyes lowered from his fierce gaze to his lips. It would be so easy to tip her head up and—

No, she resolutely told herself. She would not go down this road. Not with Jason. He was a complication she didn’t need.
Especially not with Sabrina on her way back. Not to mention he had his own complications. She cleared her throat and deftly moved around him.

“I find that hard to believe.”

She twisted the knob but stopped once she heard the chattering voice. Her heart hammered against the walls of her chest and threatened to push through the confines of her chest cavity. She recognized the bubbly voice. Jason must have as well, because he stopped behind her and gripped her hand almost to the point of pain.

Her stomach threatened to spill out bile and partially digested Hershey’s
Kisses. She was glad Jason was there, because she never would have been able to open the door.

When they entered, a nauseous-looking Nick stood near the island, lean
, tanned fingers held by a smiling brunette. Without releasing Nick, the pretty brunette with cat-like eyes, turned and smiled at them. “Well, well, the gang’s all here.”

Chapter
Fourteen

Sabrina? 
Seeing her again, feelings of insecurity overwhelmed Izzy. Would Jason respond to Sabrina’s beauty as he always had? Would Nick beg to live with his mother? 
Stop it.
She chastised herself. It did her no good to worry about the future.

She plastered what she hoped was a cool and collected smiled on her face. “You should have called, Sabrina. We could have picked you up from the airport.”
 
And had some freaking warning
, she added silently.

Sabrina’s cat-like eyes tipped up as she gave them all a beatific smile. “What and ruin the surprise? You know how I love surprises.
”

Noting Nick’s hand clutched in Sabrina’s, Izzy swallowed the acrid taste of jealous bile. She forced herself to remember Sabrina was his mother. She had a right to touch him. Izzy shouldn’t be jealous. Oh what the hell. If she wanted to picture herself using a camera strap to strangle her beautiful, perfect, ex-best friend, then she’d go right ahead and do so. Though, she felt a moment’s satisfaction as she noticed Nick try to disengage his hand from his mother’s.

Sabrina looked from Jason to Izzy and back again. No doubt she wondered how Jason fit into the equation. Given what Jason had told her in the car, Sabrina had deliberately kept them apart.

Izzy gulped in a breath and held onto it until it burned. Sneaking a sidelong glance at Jason, Izzy braced herself for the inevitable lust she’d see there. Once, she’d watched those eyes fill with lust and craving for Sabrina. Now, his eyes gave Sabrina a cursory once over, a cool appraisal. She saw disgust, mistrust, and worse, apathy. Maybe he was over her after all.

Sabrina let out a breath, but she did not release Nick, even though he struggled against her grasp. “Izzy, you look great.”

Izzy wondered if she had that thoroughly kissed look about her.
Or worse, a look of guilt. She couldn’t help it. Jason had always been forbidden to her for some reason or another. He’d always been Sabrina’s. Old feelings were hard to bury.

“Jason, I’m surprised to see you here.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed, and he showed even white teeth, which the uninitiated could mistakenly perceive for a smile. He shoved his hands in his pockets, inclined his head and gave her a smile that was mostly malice. “Sabrina.”

Sabrina arched a delicate eyebrow at the both of them and stilted her head. “You two seem cozy.”

Izzy felt an emotion close enough to guilt flit across her face. But as quickly as it appeared, she hid it. No use letting the devil know he owned her soul.

Beside Sabrina, Nick finally managed to free his hand. Her smile, a usual radiant glow, went brittle and sharp, and Izzy couldn’t help the jolt of elation.

“My baby and I were just getting reacquainted.”

Izzy’s eyes widened, but she remained silent. The four of them stood around like rookie bomb techs afraid to make the first move toward a bucket full of napalm. Nick scowled, and Jason shifted his weight. None of them spoke.

After several tense moments, Nick broke formation without a word. His gangly form disappeared into the living room. The slamming of the front door a clear signal of his thoughts about her visit.

Sabrina drew her brows together, whirling to glare at Izzy. “You know, I’m getting the impression none of you are happy to see me.”

Jason’s lips tightened. “What do you expect, Sabrina?” He turned his attention to Izzy and asked softly, “Where does he go when he’s upset?”

Her stomach curled in on itself, desperate to go after Nick, but knowing she had to stay and deal with Sabrina. “If he’s not in the studio, there’s a basketball court about three blocks over. You might find him there.”

Jason nodded and headed out after Nick. But not before giving her a meaningful look. “You okay here?”

She squared her shoulders and nodded giving Sabrina a level look. “Yeah, I’ve got this. Just see if he’s okay.” It wasn’t like Sabrina hadn’t been here many times before. But this time Izzy wasn’t the same old Izzy. Jessica’s
Krav Maga classes notwithstanding, Izzy was stronger than before. She could handle Sabrina.

When they were alone, she didn’t speak as the two of them stood in the kitchen squared off, tension sparking, ready for battle.

At last Sabrina broke the silence, indicating her bags. “Is the room on the right still mine to use?”

Izzy’s eyes
tightened, and she shook her head. “No.”

Confusion made Sabrina wrinkle her nose and put on her persuasive voice.
“Oh c’mon Izzy. I need a place to crash. You wouldn’t toss me out on the street, would you?”

When she took too long to ponder that question, Sabrina grabbed her small
bag and headed toward the bedrooms.

She startled when Izzy spoke. “Sabrina, you know I won’t put you out because I think it’s important that Nick see you. I know you’re manipulating the situation. For now, I’ll let it go. But I’ll be damned if I give up my bedroom. You can use the spare bedroom at the end of the hall.”

Sabrina straightened her back and turned to give Izzy a long look. “You can’t mean to put me in the small bedroom? That bedroom is no bigger than a closet. I need space, not to mention my own bathroom. I can’t share a bathroom with Nick. Teenage boys are filthy.”

Izzy smirked. “It’s too bad you feel that way. I’m sure you’ll be more comfortable at a hotel, because that’s what I have to offer.” The muscles in her jaw clenched and unclenched several times as she bit back words with physical force. “That’s the way it goes, Sabrina. I won’t have you disrupt our lives. You’ll be sharing the bathroom with Nick.”

“Why can’t I have Nick’s room?”

Izzy stared, mouth agog. “It’s Nick’s room. You came uninvited after not telling us when you’d arrive. You’ll take what I offer, not dictate the rules.”

Sabrina nodded slowly. “Yeah, okay, fine.”

Sabrina started dragging the suitcase when Izzy stopped her again. “And Sabrina, I want you gone in a week.”

****

On shaky legs, Jason marched out into the darkness like the hounds of hell wanted a piece of his ass.
 
Sabrina, shit.
 She was the last person he’d thought he’d see again. When Izzy said she was coming back, his brain didn’t compute the fact he might see her.

Unfortunately, that fact was now as painfully clear as a sledgehammer to the head. The last thing he’d wanted to do was leave Izzy with her, but he needed to find
Nick. So instead of ushering Sabrina out on the same broom she’d flown in on, he chased after a boy he wouldn’t know how to comfort.

Jason felt the barbed wire tighten around his gut as he hung a right at the end of the driveway. He realized he neared a jog, so he slowed his pace. He didn’t need to rush. He knew exactly where to find Nick. When he’d come in with Izzy, there’d been a basketball by the door. He hadn’t seen it on the way out, so it was a safe bet Nick had opted for physical exertion to forget his woes. A method Jason understood.

His slowed pace also had to do with the problem of not knowing what to say to the kid. Somehow, “I’m sorry your mom is a drug addicted lunatic,” didn’t seem appropriate. How the hell was he supposed to know what to say? Kids had never been his strong suit. Mostly because they scared the shit out of him. He knew how easy it was for an adult to mess with a child’s psyche and do permanent damage.

Nick was lucky. At least he had Izzy. Jason didn’t have an Izzy when he was a kid. He’d had absent parents and a string of nannies he couldn’t remember now. The few times his parents had paid him attention, he’d immediately wished they hadn’t.

The hollow 
thud thud thud
 sound of a basketball against pavement met Jason long before the sight of Nick attempting three pointers did. Not sure of what to say, Jason took a seat at one of the courtside benches and watched.

Nick handled the ball with the practiced ease of a natural born athlete, and Jason had a feeling Nick could play any sport he wanted to. But he’d chosen tennis just like his mother.
Both of his mothers.

After five minutes, Nick called out, “I’m not going home, you know.”

Jason wondered at what age running away lost its shine and gloss. “I don’t blame you.”