Right. Ike wasn’t here with her because he wanted to spend time with her, he was here because she’d asked for his help, because he was a good guy, and because he knew she needed protection.
When Nick’s team finished its investigation and nailed their enemies, she’d go back to her regular life, and she and Ike would go back to being friendly colleagues with tons of sexual tension and flirty innuendo buzzing between them. It was already embarrassing enough that everyone knew she’d unknowingly slept with one of the bad guys. The last thing she needed while they were stuck together here was to make it clear just how much she wanted and cared about Ike—not just as a friend, or even a friend with benefits—which she’d half-jokingly suggested once in a moment of tipsy weakness. No, she wanted Ike much more than any of that. Despite the fact that she had no chance with him whatsoever.
Which meant Jess needed to put her fantasies about Ike Young aside. Once and for all.
Chapter 2
Ike needed to get the hell out of there before he ended up giving Jess a hands-on demonstration of all the ways he could distract her from the shit storm that had become their lives. Because a distraction of the his-skin-on-her-skin variety was the last thing either of them needed.
No matter how hot Jessica Jakes was—and she was like goddamn molten lava with her tight little body, inked porcelain skin, and smart mouth—she was precisely the kind of woman Ike had vowed never to get twisted up with again. A woman in trouble.
Been there, done that, still had the shrapnel lodged in his heart. Fuck you very much.
Even if Jess did have piercings in places Ike would’ve given his left ball to see and tongue and suck. Just once. And even if she looked at him with all kinds of invitation in her eyes. Which she was doing. Right now.
But he couldn’t just drop her there and run without at least showing her around the place. He wanted her to feel comfortable for however long they had to be there.
“So, here’s the dime tour,” Ike said. “TV has cable.” He pointed to the flat-screen that hung over the fireplace, then crossed the room toward the kitchen. He pointed to cabinets and drawers as he spoke. “Cups. Plates and bowls. Silverware. Basically, just feel free to poke around for whatever you need.” One by one, Ike unlocked and lifted the sashes to two windows in the kitchen. “There’s no air conditioning here, but the breeze off the mountain usually keeps it comfortable.”
“No worries,” Jess said, her eyes following him as he moved around the open space of the main floor. “I don’t mind the heat. We didn’t have air conditioning when I was growing up, so I’m kinda used to it.”
Ike nodded. “It’ll be nice in here at night, though.” Next, he opened the window to the left of the fireplace, and the cross-breeze immediately swept through the cabin. Work as the club’s betting officer—the man who took off-site bets on the Ravens’ racing events, and collected debts when owed—originally sent him to Baltimore six years ago, and then his job at Hard Ink made it a permanent move. Right from the start, Ike had been into Jess, but he figured the daughter of a cop, even recently deceased as he’d been then, was the last person he wanted to bring into the Ravens’ fold. They weren’t outlaws, but they weren’t angels, either.
He breathed in the clean air coming through the window. Four years later, the city had become home, but Ike always appreciated any chance to get away from the grind and return to the peace and quiet of the mountains, and to his brothers in the club.
He just wished he was there under better circumstances.
Shoving the thought away, he reached into the small room beside the stairs and flicked on the light switch. “Bathroom. There are some towels under the sink.”
“And the bedrooms are upstairs?” she asked.
“It’s a loft,” Ike said, nodding her toward the steps. The second floor had a pitched ceiling that followed the slope of the roof, and one wall that stood only waist-high, making it so that you could look down onto the living room and kitchen table. A queen-sized bed filled most of the brown-paneled space. A small nightstand and a stuffed brown armchair made up the only other furniture in the room.
Jess’s gaze took in the small room, and Ike could see the question on her face before she gave voice to it.
“This will be yours,” he said. “I’ll sleep on the couch. My clothes are in the closet there, but I’ll pull some things out so you can have privacy.”
Jess’s eyes cut from the bed to him. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Jess—”
“You’re way bigger than me. I’ll be more comfortable there than you will.”
Ike shook his head. The last thing he needed was to be able to see her as she slept. “This is yours for as long as you’re here.”