Waiting for a response to that death-trap statement, she watched him.

What the hell had he said to her last night?

He chewed the side of his mouth but gave up with a shrug. “Sometimes, yeah, maybe.”

She looked down at her hands. “When they think sex is of utmost importance.”

“That covers every minute that I’m around you, because when I see you, I want to be inside you.”

“Jackson…”

“I’m obsessed,” he admitted and meant it. If he just wanted sex, he could have it. He hadn’t lacked for female attention since his late teens. Hell, if he wanted an orgy he could have it.

But he wanted Alani.

“Don’t you see?” Not giving him a chance to muck it up with more drama, she went on. “Maybe if you knew the things you’d said, if you…remembered everything we’d done, you wouldn’t even care about…”

“Having you again?” He tunneled his fingers into her baby fine hair, curving his hands around her head, lifting her face so he could see into her eyes. “Not a chance in hell, honey. Having you a dozen times wouldn’t put a dent in my appetite. Not for you.”

The corners of her mouth quivered into an uncertain show of amusement. “Well, you sound confident enough about that, but I’m not.” She licked the smile away from her lips. “So… I think we should start over.”

The groan was there, fighting to come out, but Jackson swallowed it back and tried not to look predatory. “Start over…where?” If she meant all the way back to square one, he’d get her alone ASAP and show her that once wasn’t enough, not for either of them, and to hell with what her brother and Dare thought about it.

She toyed with the front of his shirt, smoothing it and stroking him again in the bargain. His muscles twitched.

So did his cock.

His heart followed suit when she looked up at him with her big golden eyes. “I’m sorry, Jackson, but I can’t jump back into bed with you.”

That did it. He groaned.

“I can’t.” In a rush, she explained, “Not when you don’t remember how we got there.”

But he wanted to know. He wanted the memory of how she looked, the sounds she made at every small surrender, he wanted to watch her get hotter and hotter until she lost it, until she screamed out a climax. So… “We have to get there again? That’s what you’re saying?”

“Yes.”

Huh. Well, that might be fun. He loved a challenge, and knowing he’d already won her over would make it easier. As long as she gave him an opportunity, as long as Tobin remained out of the picture, he didn’t mind charming her anew.

Needing clarification, he held her face tipped up to his. “I need to make up one day, not the past months, right?”

Nodding, she looked at his throat, his chin, and her other hand lifted to touch him, too. “I woke up this morning already wanting you, and I haven’t stopped wanting you since.”

A full-blown boner made idle conversation tough. Trying to relieve the pressure in his jeans, he shifted, but nothing short of touching her would help. He leaned into her, letting her feel his erection and affording himself a modicum of relief against her soft body.

He growled low and kissed her throat. “I can work with that.”

“It’s not too much to ask?”

“Nah.” To stay on course, he’d have to take the edge off, and soon. Tricky, given that he had no intentions of leaving her side. But he’d figure it out. “Be warned, woman, I’m going to enjoy getting you there again.”

From the other room, Trace said, “Jackson, I will kill you.”

Alani flushed. “Ohmigod.” And in a panicked whisper, “Has he been listening to us?”

By the minute, Jackson felt more like himself, so he couldn’t help but grin, especially with Alani turning so pink. “He can’t hear anything.” He smoothed her hair, touched her warm cheek. “He’s just guessing at what’s going on.”

She groaned. “That’s worse.”

Maybe. Since Trace knew Jackson, he probably had a good idea of things. A little louder, so Trace was sure to hear, he said, “It’s none of his damned business.”

She surprised Jackson by smothering a laugh. “Surely you don’t think that will stop him?”

“Probably not.” He knew what he was in for. But what she apparently didn’t know was that, because Trace was overprotective, he would never be satisfied seeing his sister with a man who wasn’t his equal.

Jackson fit the bill.

And despite all the bluster, Trace wasn’t blind; he knew Alani was a grown woman, able to make her own decisions.

Right now, she was safer with Jackson than without him.

“Now that we’ve got that settled, what else?”

She bit her lip, and shook her head.

“You said there were other things bothering you.”

“I know.” She slipped her arms around him in a brief hug that he felt clean to his soul. “But we’ve been in here too long already. We’ll talk about the rest later, when we don’t have an interested audience waiting on us.”

As if on cue, Trace said, “I’m counting to ten.”

Enjoying the contact of their mingling heartbeats, how right and natural it seemed, Jackson said, “Ignore him.”

“You’re not worried about his reaction to all this?”