Read Online Jacked Up (Bowen Boys #4) by Elle Aycart - Free Book Online

with his mouth.
    When he released her, she was dazzled and her lips felt puffy and on fire. He was so close that she could feel his breath on her, cooling her. His ice-blue eyes were ablaze.
    They stayed silent for a long second, their harsh breathing the only thing she could hear even though they were in a packed airport.
    “You drive me insane,” he growled, his voice gravelly, his gaze never leaving hers.
    “Same here, buddy. And so you know, I’m not okay with you kissing me to shut me up.”
    “Tough shit. Try to be less annoying and don’t fight me. Talk less and listen more.”
    Man, he needed manners. If she went on a rant, he would kiss her again, which she wasn’t too much against, but it would defeat the purpose.
    “We need to leave, pet. You’re going into your supervisor’s office and putting in for holiday time. Now.” His tone brooked no argument, yet it wasn’t as cut-and-dried as before.
    “Do you have a clue how notoriously understaffed airlines are? I need to file dozens of forms to ask for personal days, let alone a vacation.”
    “Get family leave. You need a family crisis for that. I say this constitute a crisis.”
    She looked at him. Yes, he did constitute a crisis. A major one. “I can’t leave right now. I need to wait for the asshole who put a restraining order on me.”
    The corner of his mouth tilted in a rare half smile that was gone in an instant. “What did you do? E-mail him to death too? Cyberstalk him with inconsequential e-mails?”
    How sweet. He knew how to crack a joke. “Nope. I reserve that rare honor for you. And those e-mails were not inconsequential,” she found herself blurting out, her voice barely there as she finished the sentence.
    He didn’t answer, his eyes like laser beams going through her.
    “Getting time off is not a good idea. If I drop all the stuff I normally do, people around me will notice there’s something wrong.” Not to mention she would go ballistic if she wasn’t busy. She would never be able to sleep again. “And not only that, but how the hell are we going to explain your presence? What are we going to tell the Bowens?”
    She didn’t want them involved in any manner. James and Max had two small babies. Christy was pregnant. Their hands were full without having to worry about her or babysit her. And they would the instant they found out about the whole Maldonado situation.
    “I’ll tell them we hooked up.”
    The absurdity of that statement made her burst into laughter. “And who would believe that?”
    “Does it look like I can’t play the part?” he asked, pressing her flush against him.
    Well, if that hard thing poking from below his waist was anything to go by, then no, he had no problem playing the part. But that was beside the point.
    She couldn’t deny Jack pushed all her buttons, getting her hot and bothered with just a look. The problem was, whenever she was around him she felt trapped between wanting to kiss him and wanting to beat the shit out of him.
    And she’d given up on bad boys.
    “What about me being repulsive and unbearable? A burden?”
    “’Repulsive and unbearable’ were your words, not mine, pet. And you are a burden, but not in the sense you think.”
    “What do you mean?” A burden was a burden; no two ways about it.
    He shook his head, looking pissed off again, and put space between them. “Forget it.”
    Once she wasn’t in his force field, she regained her bearings and realized Louise was waving at her from behind the check-in counter. Oh crap.
    “I need to go. The passenger I told you about is arriving.”
    “I let you go take care of this, and in exchange you’re putting in for time off. Otherwise you’re going nowhere.”
    She narrowed her eyes. “You’d let me ?”
    He didn’t correct his words, remaining silent, his face inscrutable, his grip on her shoulders unshakable. Yeah, apparently he’d meant exactly what he’d said.
    Damn, Elle wanted to hash this out now, but she