Dirty Sexy Sinner by Carly Phillips & Erika Wilde Page A

wryly.
    “Hank’s a good guy,” she said as she bent down to retrieve her purse from a locked cupboard. “But yeah, he’s loyal, too. He’s former military and he lost his leg and right eye to an IED, which also caused facial nerve damage. Clay hired Hank when no one else would.”
    Jesus, there was no way he could compete with Saint Clay . Not on any level. As much as his twin irked him for being so cool and reserved with Jackson, he had a lot of respect for the man and how he treated people. It said a lot about Clay’s character and the kind man he was. One with integrity, despite his shitty upbringing.
    “Is this donut date going to be an issue with the guys?” he asked, keeping his question light and humorous as he slid off his barstool. Jackson didn’t want to give a fuck what any of his brothers thought about his interest in Tara, but he also didn’t want them to give her flack about him, either.
    She came around the bar, keys in hand as she switched off the lights in the main area. “As much as I love those three guys like they’re my brothers, they don’t have a say in who I see.” Now that she was on the same side of the bar as him, she stopped an arm’s length away and met his gaze. “Are you having second thoughts about me?”
    The unexpected hint of doubt and insecurity swimming in her blue eyes had him instinctively reaching out to touch her, to reassure her that he wasn’t a man easily intimidated when he wanted something. And his desire for Tara was only growing stronger, not lessening in any way, and he wasn’t ready to walk away from whatever was happening between them.
    He brushed his fingers along the soft skin of her jaw, and when her lips parted slightly and her eyes softened, it took every ounce of restraint he had not to slide his hand around the back of her neck and pull her mouth up to his for a hot, deep, claiming kiss. Instead, he settled with the knowledge that she wouldn’t have stopped him if he had followed through with the impulse. Her clear consent would have to be enough for now, because he didn’t think he’d be able to stop with just one taste.
    He gently caressed his thumb along her full bottom lip before dropping his hand back down to his side. “Believe me when I say I’m not even close to changing my mind about you,” he promised her.
    Her tongue skimmed across the place his finger had just touched, and she looked up at him with a smile that was filled with relief and quickly turned to bright-eyed sass. “Good. Now let’s go get donuts.”

Chapter Four

    J ackson glanced in his rearview mirror to make sure Tara was still following his car. The donut shop was only a few blocks away, but she’d insisted on driving herself, which was fine with him. But considering the area, he wanted to keep a close eye on her and her vehicle until they arrived and he had her safely inside the place.
    Which was ridiculous, considering Tara seemed street smart and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She gave him the distinct impression that she could handle all sorts of trouble without the help of a man, but he was quickly discovering that she roused protective instincts in him that he was finding hard to shake. In a short time, she’d gotten under his skin, and it was even more shocking that he’d allowed his fascination with her to evolve into something close to an obsession. And now here he was, taking Tara on a date, of all things, when it was nearly midnight on a work night.
    He grinned and shook his head at the insane situation. He was going to be exhausted tomorrow at the office, but he didn’t really care. For the first time since his divorce three years ago, he actually wanted to get to know a woman better, instead of bypassing any kind of getting-to-know-you conversation and getting down to the basics of sex and physical release.
    His infatuation with Tara was out of character for him, but he wasn’t going to question such a strong, instantaneous connection