“Do?” he asked while trailing a hand down her spine. “About what?”

Two beats of silence warned him before she said, “Arizona.” And in a rush: “We have to figure out how to help her.”

His blood ran cold. “There is no we.” He turned, putting her under him. “You’ve got nothing to do with it.”

Voice soft, a little wounded, she said, “No?”

“No.” But realizing how that might sound, he clarified, “I’d like you to meet her. I hope that you’ll like her. But she’s into something.”

“How do you know?”

Because she was always into something. He shook his head. “If Arizona needs help, I’ll help her. But you’ll keep your little nose out of it.”

“So I have no part?”

“Not in this.” Not in anything dangerous.

“Then what?” Defiance filled her tone. “Sex?”

“Definitely.” He was sexually satisfied to the point of exhaustion, so they both knew the way he parted her thighs and settled between them was no more than taking a dominant position.

Not that it did him much good.

“You hardly need my input for that.”

“I need your participation.” He bent and kissed her before she could shun him. “And I want you to help me decorate, to pitch in with Grim.”

“Such important jobs.”

He racked his brain. “I like your company. I like talking with you.”

“Well I want more.” Alani shoved against his chest. “I want to help.”

Jackson caught and controlled her hands. Thrusting his face down close to hers, he said, “You can help by not getting in my way.”

That cut her. Though she remained pinned beneath him, he felt her disengage in every other way. “I see.”

He struggled for a breath and put his forehead to hers. “Nah, baby, you don’t.”

“Get off.”

“Already did. How many times?” Teasing wouldn’t win her over, but it’d give him a second to think. “Did you keep count this round?”

“Yes, but it doesn’t matter. So you’re a sexual dynamo or something? So what?” She bucked up against him and almost got away. He quickly resettled her. “I don’t care!”

“Yeah, I think you do.” She’d even bragged about it. When he’d started this erotic campaign to numb her with so much physical gratification that she wouldn’t be able to hold back, he’d expected some excesses, but he’d surprised even himself. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have mentioned it to the wives.”

Breathing hard, she went still. “I didn’t know it was unusual.”

Imagining how Priss and Molly must’ve taken her claims, he had to laugh. He didn’t doubt that Dare and Trace were carnal men, but yeah…he was sort of going for the gold lately. “God, woman, you screw with my composure.”

“Oh, poor you.” She shoved at him again. “Now get off of me.”

Instead Jackson released her hands and slowly, gently, cradled her close. He rolled to put her atop him. “You really want to help, baby?”

As if sensing a trap, she went motionless. He felt her breath, her uncertainty. He felt her body on his, the beating of her heart, the shifting of her thighs. “Yes.”

Sliding his hands down to her adorably rounded ass, he snugged her in close. “Then don’t push me away.” Her skin was so soft, so silky and warm. He closed his eyes against all the ways she affected him. “I can’t sleep. I should be dead to the world, but my brain won’t stop buzzing.”

Her fingertips moved over his shoulder, then up to the side of his throat. “Jackson…”

“Talk to me.”

Voice soft with understanding, she asked, “About what?”

Everything. Hell, he’d brought her to climax over and over again, and while he loved the way she groaned and the sexy sounds she made while tightening all around him, she hadn’t made a single avowal of her feelings. “How about…?” Whether or not you want me for more than sex? That sounded lame even to him.

“What?” Overflowing with empathy, she stroked his jaw. “You can talk to me, Jackson, you know that.”

“Okay.” It seemed like a good idea to start over. “I was wondering, if this all ended tomorrow—” She stiffened. “Us?”

“No!” Jesus, why would she think such a thing? “I’m talking about the danger. Once we get it resolved…then what?”

The silence grew deafening until his heartbeat sounded in his ears and his chest hurt.

“I guess…” Leaving that thought unfinished, she scooted to the side of him and sat up. He heard her sigh, felt her vulnerability. “I guess I wouldn’t need your protection anymore, would I?”

She’d always have it, whether she wanted it or not. Sitting up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her, surrounding her with his determination. “Would you stay anyway?”

“You mean here?” She twisted to see him. “At Dare’s?”

“No.” Damn, but this was tough. He wasn’t used to analyzing his words, to thinking about the ramifications to things he might say. Determined to get it all out, he drew her back down to the bed and loomed over her. “With me.”

Shocked confusion had her breathing faster. “At your house?”