He fisted his hand in her hair, taking her mouth in a possessive kiss before he dragged her toward the bed.
Leah had always loved being handled just a little bit roughly, and he loved the way her eyes lit in arousal as he shoved her back on the bed so that she fell with a slight bounce, her fantastic breasts nearly coming free from their tiny lace confines.
Jason all but threw himself on top of her, sliding three fingers into the fabric of her bra and jerking it downward, his eyes latching on to hers before he slowly extended his tongue and ran it across her nipple in one slow, teasing swipe.
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, her eyes squeezing shut. “Jason—”
His name was a plea on her lips, and he gave her what she wanted, pulling her into his mouth and sucking hard before pulling back and grazing the tip of her breast lightly with his teeth.
She bucked, her knees coming up, and he shifted between them, resting in the perfect notch of her spread legs as he pressed both hands to her shoulders, holding her still so that he could taste everything, not even bothering to remove her bra as he feasted on her.
“Nobody tastes like you,” Jason said with a groan as his tongue circled her. “Nobody’s come close—”
Jason barely had time to register what was happening until she was frantically scooting away from him.
“Whoa, hey,” he said, placing one hand on her knee to keep her from kicking him in the nuts, even as the other hand reached for hers, making a grab for her before she could slide all the way off the bed.
But she dodged his grab, clawing frantically at her bra to put it to rights as she stood and glared at him, eyes blazing. “Get out.”
Jason’s mouth dropped open. Her breasts were still damp from his mouth, his dick was still hard enough to cut glass, and she wanted him to leave?
“What the hell, Red? This hot and cold thing is new. I’ve only ever known hot.”
Her eyes narrowed even further before she pointed to the door. “Out.”
He sat up, running a hand through his hair. “What just happened?”
“Nobody comes close?” she said, echoing his words back to him. “You really think that was the thing to say to me? You really think I’d want the reminder that I’m one of dozens?”
He stared at her. “What? What are you even—”
“You don’t get it!” she shouted. “I don’t want to be one of your many women. I don’t want to be with the type of man who’s comparing the taste of my breasts to all other breasts.”
Jason blinked. “Leah, that’s not—”
“Get out!” To his horror, her eyes filled with tears, and she swore softly before turning away and pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes.
He was off the bed in a heartbeat, his hand resting along her back as he tried to make her understand. “Red, you’ve got it all wrong. It wasn’t—I didn’t mean—”
She pulled away. “I know you never mean, Jason, you just . . . are. And I don’t hate you for it—I really don’t. It’s just . . . my brain knows better. Or at least it’s going to from here on out.”
“What are you trying to say?”
She turned toward him, her eyes still shimmering, but her mouth set in a stubborn resolute line as she crossed her arms over herself. “I’m saying that I don’t want to be with someone who’s been with everyone else. Not even for a one-night fling.”
Jason’s temper snapped, quietly but thoroughly. Once again, she wasn’t going to give him a chance to explain. Once again she was running away from this thing between them without having all the facts.
Could he have told her the facts? Yes.
Should he have?
Absolutely. He should have chased her down, told her that she had it wrong, that he would never cheat on anyone, least of all her, but . . .
In the end, pride had won over common sense.
Back then he’d wanted so badly for her to be different. For her to be the one person in his life who hadn’t thought, Yup, there he goes, fucking it up again.
But in the end, she’d been like everyone else. Assuming the worst without so much as a backward glance. So he hadn’t chased her. He hadn’t insisted she listen to him. Why bother, when she’d already decided? Jason needed someone who believed in him, and he’d thought that person might just be Leah, but she’d proved him wrong.
And she’d very nearly broken him.
Nearly. But not quite. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to let her that close again.
He could tell her now. It was so fucking tempting to throw all of her assumptions and bullshit in her face.
But doing so would admit a hell of a lot more than he was ready to.
One did not lay his heart at a woman’s feet when she was clearly determined to stomp on it.
“Fine,” he snapped, shoving both hands through his hair in irritation. “You want to go ahead thinking of me as a manwhore, have at it. I want more than some hot-tempered redhead who thinks she knows everything about everyone.”