The Billionaire Op - Lori Ryan Page 0,2

her body refused to listen to her when it came to Chad. It ran amuck, responding to every look, every whisper, and every grumble that came from those sexy lips in that low, controlled tone of his. Oh, what she wouldn’t do to see him lose that control.

No! I don’t want that. It’s only my stupid, traitorous body that wants that.

“Hey, Tiny,” she said. “I’d offer to buy you breakfast, but with no shoes, I’m afraid we couldn’t get in anywhere respectable.”

She put on her best cheeky grin and hoped he would ignore the embarrassing state of her clothing. Or, lack thereof.

Chad was apparently of a different mind and let his eyes roam from her face, down her body and back up again. Of course, his gaze felt like hands grazing her body and that lit her up from the inside. Somehow, she knew his hands would feel even more amazing on her. Caressing, roaming freely, they would set her ablaze.

Stupid body.

He kept his eyes on hers as he reached over and turned off the ignition with a short, economic movement. Then, he sat. Waited.

Great. He’s in interrogation mode.

She rolled her eyes. “Really?”

“Really.” His was a statement not a question and she realized that, yes, he really was going to wait until she spilled the story. She sighed heavily, hoping he would give up.

Damn. The man’s got military training and I’ve got diddly.

“You realize I’m an adult, right? I don’t actually need to tell you what I was doing. You get that, right?”

Jennie could have sworn she saw the side of his mouth twitch and wondered for a split second if he was tempted to smile. No. Not Chad.

“I can always let you out and just go home, Jennie. I’m an adult. I don’t actually need to drive you home. You get that, right?” he mimicked her words.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You wouldn’t…”

Chad shrugged as if he really might consider leaving Jennie there. They both knew he wouldn’t.

“I was jogging. All right? I jog out here every morning.” She laid her hands in her lap as if that answered everything and looked back at Chad with what she hoped was her best wide-eyed and innocent gaze. Oh, why did her belly feel like a hundred can-can girls were practicing in there with their puffy can-can skirts whipping around?

One tanned, muscled arm rested on the steering wheel of the truck, the other lay between him and Jennie on the seat. She tried not to notice the muscles rippling under his T-shirt or how good he smelled.

He’d clearly been sleeping when she called him. He probably just rolled out of bed, threw on sweats – and he somehow managed to look like walking sex and smell spicy and woodsy… She licked her lips.

Chad, who’d been studying her face, looked pointedly down at her bare feet, then flicked his eyes back up to hers and waited. That earned him another eye roll and a huff of frustration.

“Fine. I jog out here every morning. There’s a house on Prospect Court that has a pool. The guy is never home. He travels a lot,” Jennie explained in clipped tones.

“You know this, how?” Chad asked, but made no move to start the truck.

She could see the small tick in his jaw that struck when she was really needling him. Sometimes, she could turn the tick into a smile, if she worked hard at it. She wondered if she’d be able to do that now, but wasn’t sure she could risk it. If she pushed too hard at the wrong time, things might go in the other direction and she’d be in for a lecture.

Not that a lecture from him was all that bad. She could zone out and stare at the way his shirt stretched across the hard planes of his chest or the evidence of a six pack she could see just below it. But, she would like to shower sooner rather than later. She was starting to feel really grimy.

“My friend dated him for a while,” Jennie shrugged. “Can we go now?”

Chad raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

A frustrated sigh burst past Jennie’s lips, as she shook her head at him. “Fine, I jog here, let myself in through the back gate, go for a swim, and then jog home. It’s my morning routine. I always peek to see if his car’s in the garage. If it is, I skip my swim. He must have realized someone’s been in his yard. I