Slowly, I lifted my fruit punch and took a huge gulp. “I just thought that after . . . um, everything . . .” I trailed off as he lifted me back so that my feet weren’t on the floor.

“You thought what? That I didn’t want you up here with me?” He prowled onto the bed. There was no other word for what he was doing. One leg was on one side of mine, and the other on the other side. His hands were still on my hips. “That I didn’t notice how great you looked today? And not once did you turn your cheek to the left to hide?”

Oh my God.

Fruit punch forgotten.

“You thought I didn’t want to sleep beside you again? You guessed that wrong if that’s the case.” His fingers curled into my hips, sending a rush of warmth through my veins. “I really fucking enjoyed going to sleep next to you and waking up next to you. Which is new to me. I’m not usually a big fan of that, but you . . . yeah, you’re different.”

I never wanted to be more different in my life.

His hands dragged up my sides. “Or you thought I didn’t notice that you were doing good all day, in spite of the shit we dealt with in the morning? We went to a shit hole and we almost got run over, but you still smiled afterward. You handled it, went to work. Then Aimee showed up.”

Jax dipped his head and brushed his lips across mine. “Aimee and I never dated.”

My muscles locked up as my brain called bull crap on that. “I don’t think that’s really any of my business.”

He made a deep sound of disapproval. “You’re in my bed right now, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“And my mouth was just on you, correct?”

I nodded.

“My hand has been between those pretty legs, too?”

Oh wow. That warmth turned to a molten heat that centered between said legs.

His forehead pressed against mine. “And I’m taking you out to dinner later. So tell me, how in the fuck does some chick showing up tonight, hanging all over me, and insinuating that we’ve got a past, have nothing to do with you?”

“Okay,” I whispered. “When you put it that way, I guess it does.”

“Guess?” He drew back, shaking his head. And then he sat back, his legs on either side of mine, his hands resting on my waist. “I get that you haven’t done this before.”

I raised my fruit punch and took another drink while there was a flutter in my stomach.

“But you need to understand where this is heading. I’ve already told you that I like you. I think I’ve made that pretty damn obvious. And when we get done with this conversation, I’m going to make it even more obvious for you.”

Not going to lie. Big parts of me liked the sound of this.