God, she was already close. Just a tiny bit more pressure and she’d come apart, so hard she’d probably see stars.

But the pressure didn’t come. AJ withheld it from her, continuing to brush her clit with featherlight caresses.

“And after lunch?” he went on. “I’ll find another reason to get you alone, and I’ll do it again.” He drew a teasing circle around her clit. “By the time this day is over, you’re going to want me so bad you won’t be able to breathe. You won’t be able to walk without feeling that burn between your legs.”

“Neither will you.” Smirking, she cupped his impressive package over his jeans and squeezed hard.

A tormented sound escaped his lips. “Oh, I’ll be feeling the same burn, baby. I’m going to be aching for you.”

“Then why?” she demanded in frustration. “Why are you torturing us?”

“Anticipation,” he said again. “Think about how good it will be when we finally let go. Like a slow burning fuse, getting hotter and hotter…and then”—he brought his mouth to her neck and nipped at her feverish flesh— “when it explodes…”

“Bang,” she whispered.

“Oh yeah. Bang,” he echoed, low and seductive. “You’re gonna come so hard tonight, Brett. So hard you’ll scream.”

He lightly pinched her clit, and her entire body jerked.

In the blink of an eye, his hand disappeared.

“Now let’s go back outside.” He smiled. “My food is getting cold.”

…

Torture.

That was the only word to describe what he was putting his body through. The cuts and bruises and bloody noses he’d endured during his fighting days were nothing compared to the pain AJ was feeling right now. Every muscle was strung tight, every drop of blood pulsing in his groin so that he not only felt horny, but light-headed.

Delaying climax had seemed like a good idea last night. Today, AJ just wanted to punch his own jaw for coming up with such an excruciating plan.

Fortunately, Brett’s family proved to be a good distraction from the dull ache. Her brothers were a laugh riot, regaling him with stories about their lives and their work at the family tattoo parlors, while her father barraged him with questions about his own life. He felt like he was on the witness stand at times, but Jimmy Conlon’s laid-back attitude and contagious sarcasm made the whole interrogation process surprisingly fun.

Eventually, the conversation shifted to sports, which didn’t surprise him, seeing as there was a Patriots banner hanging over the sliding door. The Conlon men were football nuts, and soon they were throwing out statistics and making predictions for the upcoming season like they were ESPN correspondents.

As the sports talk dragged on, AJ noticed that Brett’s expression had completely glazed over. She’d found a pen and sketchpad somewhere, and was in the process of doodling what looked like an elephant wearing ice skates and a teeny crown.

AJ had to chuckle as he glanced over her shoulder at her handiwork. “I think we’re boring Brett,” he announced to the guys.

Rob gave a careless shrug. “Ah, she’s used to it.”

“Doesn’t make it right,” Brett muttered under her breath.

AJ experienced a pang of sympathy as Jimmy and his boys went back to chatting without a single look at Brett. Obviously it was a common occurrence for her, but he still felt bad watching her sit on the sidelines while her family ignored her.

Though it made sense now, her single-minded determination to show her family she’d changed. But he also wondered if her attempts at pleasing them had less to do with the tattoo parlor she wanted to run, and more about wanting her family to pay attention to her. To notice her.

He, on the other hand, found it impossible not to notice her. His gaze tracked her like a missile as she went to the cooler to grab a beer. Dark blue jeans hugged her ass and a loose cardigan covered her arms, which was a damn shame. Her tattoos were too spectacular to hide.

They’d slept together less than forty-eight hours ago, yet it suddenly felt like an eternity since he’d last seen her naked. His cock went semi hard as he imagined stripping her clothes off and licking every inch of her body again.

He gave his growing erection a silent reprimand, then walked over to Brett and rested his hand on the small of her back. “I like your family,” he confessed. “They’re a lot of fun.”

Brett’s gaze shifted across the yard to where Rob and Mike were engaged in a loud argument about the benefits of a nickel defense.

“They’re okay, I guess,” she said grudgingly. Then she smiled. “My brothers can be a pain in the ass, but at least they’ve always got my back. Do you have any siblings?”

His shoulders tensed. “No.”

The second the word left his mouth, guilt exploded in his gut. Fuck. It felt like a betrayal to Joey’s memory to deny his existence.