Wanna Play (Ghost Unit, Book Three) (9 page)

It occurred to her that there was no trepidation this morning. How could she be comfortable, even relaxed with this stranger? Not really relaxed. There was too much “zippy” sexual tension between them, but there was also calm. Oh hell, calm wasn’t the word but she didn’t want to use the one that fit there. Trust was a huge step for her. A word she wasn’t willing to toss around at this point.

He came out of the little bath and toilet room. Directly beside it was the sink and mirror where shaving things were laid out. Again the tiny motel towel was knotted at one hip. On that side he was bare to the knot and above it, the towel straining to make it. Those muscled legs and firm ass were just too fine not to study as he went about the morning rituals. Not to mention the flex of his back as he reached for the razor. He started shaving.

Jas watched lazily, realizing she’d never seen a man do the whole morning habit. She’d seen parts of it as a guy got it together to leave. Or as she gathered her belongings to get out of his place. In fact, she’d never actually slept the entire night with a man in the room before. There was a stunning realization that should have occurred before.

The shock of that thought made her shut her eyes to concentrate on it. Why the hell was she able to sleep with him in the room? He’d been here what? Two days?

“If you’re pretending to be asleep, frowning gives you away,” Blaster drawled as he rinsed the razor and continued with the job at hand.

Jas’ eyes opened to meet his in the mirror. “I make it a rule not to pretend anything with a man,” she snapped at him before she’d really thought about the response. It was the first thing that popped into her head and she regretted it. Him mostly naked and her lying in bed was not the time to start flirty, sexual banter. “Shit! I shouldn’t have said that. That was not an invitation or suggestion or any other damn thing. It’s too early to watch what I say.”

Blaster continued shaving calmly for a few seconds. “Jas, relax. I already told you we’d wait ’til you fall in love with me. I’m not going to jump you.”

“From a guy I’ve known all of two days, that’s reassuring.”

“You know you can trust me, woman. You already do, so get over it and get outta bed.”

Jas rolled over and sat with her back to him. This time she had on a sports bra and baggy gym shorts. Getting up with him in the room didn’t concern her. Scruffy bed-head, ratty shorts and the utilitarian sports bra did not equal seductive.

She stared at the beige motel room wall for a few minutes. He was right. She had extended trust. But it’d been so natural. It was a weed growing around the sharp comments and laughing. It was woven into the ability to communicate without words that had sprung up between them. It fed the sexual tension in their pretend relationship that wasn’t so pretend when he was touching her. He’d extended respect and even admiration for her abilities, both acting and defensive, and she’d sucked it down like a starving idiot.

She wanted him to respect her. That was the thing that did it. The fact that he was sexy and charming as original sin wouldn’t have made an impression if he hadn’t added the one gift she couldn’t resist. Respect. He’d read her. From their first encounter he’d been learning her and using the information so effectively.

Was it possible he
didn’t
know respect was a tool? A reward that could be held just out of reach? Nope, not a chance. Huckleberry was way too bright not to realize that. Was it possible he was sincere? Unknown. She wanted it to be real but it was wise to doubt it.

Jas let the lovely bubble burst. Their relationship was superficial at best. They were strangers. They might enjoy each other but that was it. His agenda was still an unknown. He and Barry appeared close and natural with each other. It looked as if they were exactly what they said they were and it’d be nice if Barry was the only reason Blaster was here. However hanging on to fairy tales and rosy endings was not Jas’ weakness. She expected the worst. Anything else was a pleasant surprise. This time it made her a little sad. The fairy tale might have been nice. Her fairy tale wouldn’t be all sappy and filled with twittering birds either.

As he finished shaving and rinsed, Jas stepped into the little toilet room beside him. There was no real privacy but she didn’t care. He’d parked himself in her room. He could deal with it. Jas came out and grabbed panties and a bra while he brushed his teeth. Back in the cubicle, she showered quickly. Out to brush her teeth in her underwear, he already had his clothes on. She ignored him.

Blaster was stomping into his boots when she sat on the end of the bed to apply lotion to legs, arms, midriff, neck and chest. He was in the little chair off to the side. She noticed he didn’t seem to be moving.

“Something wrong?” Jas didn’t glance at him as she completed the morning grooming.

“Besides my tongue hanging out? No.” His deep voice was a rumble. “I was considering the danger of offering to help you with that.”

“Deal with it. Was your idea to invade my room.” She got up to do her hair in front of the mirror.

“Can I get you some coffee? Or are you just a cranky bitch in the mornings normally?”

He was amused, she realized. No sharp retort, no snarly comment about her prancing around in underwear and what did she expect? He wasn’t making excuses or defending his right to have the hard-on he was sporting as he leaned back in the chair. Stacking his hands behind his head, the man grinned and watched her.

Jas lifted an eyebrow. “Are you offering to go up to the office and get me a coffee?”

“Yep. Want it?”

“Yes. Make it sweet and white.”

He got up but bypassed the door, coming up behind her as she watched him in the mirror. His head dropped to flick his tongue over her shoulder for a brief lick then whispered in her ear, “I like mine hot and black. I’ll be right back.” Then he was out the door.

Jas frowned into the mirror as she finished fluffing gel through her short curls. Her hair was cropped in a skull-hugging cut. It was saved from being masculine because her hair curled riotously but not tightly.

From anyone else that comment would have been offensive. Between them it wasn’t. Between them it was a compliment and she damn well liked it. He did “tempting” like nothing she’d ever seen before. Sexy bastard! He pushed the edges of their relationship and did it in a way that felt right, natural. Even when she was on guard with him, it didn’t make a difference. How did he manage that?

He came back with two cups of coffee just as she was strapping on holsters. They drank and finished dressing. For both of them that involved weapons.

There was no rehearsal today and they went straight up to the site and grabbed a bagel from the crew tent for breakfast. Jas was tense. The intimate casualness of him nearby felt way too comfortable. She was beginning to feel defensive because it felt so comfortable. Okay, she knew that was a female contradiction, but there it was. Touching him was natural and sexy and dangerous and she liked it too much. Who wouldn’t get irritated with that?

It was midway through the morning when the script called for an intense kiss. Hero and heroine were in the middle of a battle and uncertain if they’d survive. The kiss was supposed to convey an emotional commitment regardless of what was to follow. They were on the seventeenth take when right after Barry called “cut”, Blaster politely asked the actor to move aside and stood in front of her.

“Quit sticking your tongue in his mouth and kiss him, damn it!” Blaster’s face was a tightly drawn mask.

“I am kissing him. What are you doing here?” She was more than irritated and the criticism of her kissing wasn’t helping. She knew it sucked. There were seventeen takes to prove it.

“I’m doing what it takes to get you through this scene.” There was nothing civilized in his face, the mask was gone. In its place was a primal snarl. “I want you, Jas. I want you so bad my balls ache every time I move. Do not mistake patience for disinterest. Every male on this set wants you. That one gets to lay lips on you one more time, woman. Kiss him as if his life depends on this last taste of paradise because it does.”

Then he swooped down and took her mouth. Rough and demanding, he forced her lips open and speared his tongue into her. Eating her with a rumbling growl vibrating up his chest, he jerked her against him. It was hot and fast, a carnal face-fuck that flashed her right into intense heat as her body exploded in response to the base demands his body was making. Abruptly he let her go and stepped back a pace. “Do it right.”

Blaster turned and walked away.

Barry immediately yelled, “Places!” The scene rolled.

Her eyes barely focused and they were in the middle of action. By the time the kiss came, she was mad as hell at Blaster’s arrogant ass. The kiss she gave her costar embodied every bit of her anger and frustration as she took it out on the man in her arms. The intensity of her mood was what the camera saw. The take was good.

Looking up, she found Blaster at the far edge of the set, way behind the equipment. He was standing with his back to the set, hands on hips, gazing off. He wasn’t relaxed, smug or anything else she expected from the guy who’d drawn that much emotion out of her. He was mad. There was no outward sign except he didn’t move.

Eventually he turned around to watch them finish the morning’s scenes but he didn’t return to the set. At lunch he was roaming the surrounding undergrowth. Jas realized she knew exactly where he was, what he was doing. Something connecting them had shifted. Awareness was snapping between them that rippled with tension.

At lunch it came to her. First, she missed him not being there as he had been yesterday and second, he sucked as an actor. What he gave her was the real thing. He was staying away because it wasn’t finished between them. He’d meant every word and all the things that’d swirled between them in that kiss. Looking around, she spotted him on the far side of the clearing, leaning against a tree, one knee cocked as his foot rested on the trunk. His arms were crossed.

At least a football field away, their eyes met. Neither smiled. Distance didn’t matter, she could feel the coiled tension radiating off him. He wasn’t over it. She wasn’t exactly sure what “it” was, but the man needed something he wasn’t getting. It was more than sexual friction that zipped back and forth. He was vibrating with something much more basic. Jas sat back and consciously relaxed her body as her head tilted slightly. Her look softened into a feminine question. What did he need?

Blaster’s cheek jerked as his eyes locked with hers. He nodded curtly at her and disappeared into the forest.

For once, Jas was at a loss as to what had passed between them. The nod seemed totally unconnected to the exchange. His disappearing left her feeling a little abandoned. As if he’d agreed to take care of the problem without her.

Then it dawned on her…
Without her? What! Oh no he didn’t! That damn bastard was doing just that! Here she was hot and frustrated while he took care of his balls’ problem.
Jas abruptly found she was done with lunch.

Ohhh the boy was gonna learn that had been a mistake. If she had to suffer lust-induced wanting, he had no right to go get all “relaxed”! He was gonna supply some satisfaction on her terms before she was done with him today. But she could wait. No need to warn him she was pissed.

She knew being pissed was totally illogical. She had no rights to what he did when he needed to relax. Knowing she was being unreasonable didn’t matter apparently. He brought out the primitive woman in her and that bitch did not appreciate his going off at all.

Filming was going extraordinarily well and the day passed without an incident that could be blamed on an outside influence. At four they’d completed all the outside shots and Barry called the day done.

Jas was in a hurry to get off the mountain. Ignoring the costume change since all the scenes in this sequence were completed, she threw on her weapons and silk jacket and headed straight for Blaster. His eyes ate her as she approached.

“Damn good thing no bad guys were around today, Huck,” Jas murmured as she grabbed his hand, turning him with the momentum of her stride and dragging him to the truck. “If it wasn’t printed on my ass, you didn’t see it. Come on, we’re in a hurry.”

“What’s your rush?” They slid into the pickup’s cab and Blaster glanced at the unbelievable creature lounging beside him as they pulled away from the set. “I did recon and no one was up there with us. My reward for being such a scary guy and driving them off was ogling you all day. Where are we going?”

Jas snorted at that. “Not your only reward, I’m thinking. We need to get to Whyrl and Wash. It closes at five-thirty. I have to do some laundry and this is the first time we’ve finished early when I could get to it this week. If we don’t hurry, the rest of the crew will be there and it’ll be too late. Does this thing go any faster? You’re driving like an old lady.”