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Tempting Jason: The Jump Zone Series Book 3
Photography by Scott Pennykid
Copyright ã 2004 Lisa Renee Jones
ISBN: 1-55410-093-3
Evan's Eye, model: Evan
Cover design by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by eXtasy Books, a division of Zumaya Publications, 2004
Look for us online at:
www.zumayapublications.com
www.Extasybooks.com
Also By Lisa Renee Jones
The Jump Zone Series
Book One: All The Right Spots
Book Two: Daring Sheila
Chapter One
Lust.
That was what she had felt for Jason Alexander so many years ago. It had been lust, and nothing more.
She refused to believe that it had been something bigger, more meaningful.
Biting her bottom lip, she fought the disbelieving laugh that threatened to erupt, directed at her own stupidity. Why, if it had been nothing more than lust, did hearing he was coming to her brother’s Super Bowl party make her heart race and her palms sweat?
Sitting on her brother’s sofa, Heather Cameron took on the tedious task of peeling the label from her beer bottle. Desperation spurred the need to do something with all the nervous energy pouring through her body. Any minute now, Jason would walk through the front door of her brother’s house.
She would be face to face with the man who had inspired pretty much every nighttime fantasy she had been privy to as a teen. Back then, she had easily conjured hot, wet, steamy images involving her and Jason naked. Compliments of a wild imagination—and good dream recall—she had done things with him she had yet—not then or now—in the flesh.
Reality made her sink her teeth into her bottom lip, almost drawing blood.
Okay, so her little fantasies about Jason had lasted well past her teens. She just didn’t like to admit it, even to herself. Years after he had joined the army, leaving her behind—and angry—she would wake wet with need. The times she had woken up, a near-orgasmic ache between her legs, were too many too count.
Once she had moved away to college, her fantasies grew more explicit. The more she learned, the more she played out sensual, tempting scenarios in her sleep. And sometimes even in the waking hours.
And he, Jason Alexander, her brother’s best friend, the man who was about to be in the same room with her, would be the focus of her arousal.
It had been the move to Manhattan that had seemed to calm her need for him. Her new life had brought with it a refuge of sorts. She had been freed from her 'Jason haunting'. She almost laughed at the thought. That’s how hot she had been for Jason. She had dubbed her obsession a 'haunting'.
She didn’t want it to consume her again.
Shoving the thought away, she reminded herself that things were different now. She was twenty-five and a grown woman with life experiences under her belt.
Now back at home in San Francisco, she was the proud owner of a corporate job with Martin’s department store. Jason would probably be nothing like she remembered. His impact on her would be a big, whopping zero.
She frowned and tossed a piece of label on the coffee table. It was just so damned ironic that Jason had left the army, and returned home only weeks before her. When her brother had told her he had bought a skydiving school with several army buddies, she had been floored.
“Boo!”
Heather jumped so hard, her beer splattered out the top of the bottle. Her brother Matt, now sitting next to her, laughed. “You are too easy to scare, little sis.”
She made a face and wiped at the dampness on her jeans. ”And you are just as childish as I remember, Matt Cameron.”
Matt was linebacker big and teddy-bear cute, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a funny sense of humor. He winked at his sister. “But you love me, and you know it”
That was the truth. She did love him, and had missed him immensely. “Yes, you big lug, I love you.” She shoved him.
He wrapped a big arm around her shoulder. “It wasn’t the same, having football parties without a girl here.”
Heather laughed. “Mom would have filled in for me. She loves football.” They both knew why he didn’t want Mom present.
“Yeah, well, I get all I can take of Mom during the season.” Matt was a high school football coach who often entertained with stories about players and fans. Unfortunately, their mother had created a few of his funnier stories. “It’s no wonder Dad took a dislike to the game. I’ve never seen a woman act like that over football.”
“I remember Dad taking nerve pills before your college games, afraid she would embarrass you.”
Matt grunted. “Me?” he said in disbelief. “He was afraid she would embarrass him.”
The room was already bustling with activity, mostly male in nature. The doorbell rang, and someone yelled for Matt. He kissed Heather’s forehead. “Good to have you home.”
He was up and gone, leaving her with a contented smile on his handsome face. It was good to be home.
Her enjoyment of the moment quickly ended when she heard her name. “Heather?”
She looked up to see the very man she had been fretting over just minutes earlier.
Jason.
He stood before her, looking every bit the sinfully handsome male she had remembered. But better. Experience and age had given him a mature quality that clung to him like a second skin, made him seem like he knew things. She could almost bet he knew plenty about pleasing a woman.
She cringed inwardly. He was already making her have bad thoughts.
“Jason.” She said his name as if confirming he wasn’t a part of one of her dreams.
Try as she might, her eyes wouldn’t stay fixed on his face. They traveled the length of what had become a delicious display of pure male power.
Jason had always looked good, but now…now he was like a work of art.
His powerful legs rippled with muscles beneath his faded Levis. And then there was the snug, black T-shirt. She had a new appreciation for T-shirts as of now. At least this particular one. It did a mighty fine job of hugging a chest so broad and hard it made her mouth water.
On his six-foot-two frame, his physical presence could easily be considered intimidating. To Heather, it was like being injected with an instant dose of desire. With lightning speed, she became aware of the prickling in her nipples.
Her arms crossed in front of her body, reacting to the tiny ache. She prayed he couldn’t tell her nipples were hard through her thin, pink tee.
Forcing herself to meet his gaze, she found his blue eyes darker, and far more intense than she remembered. Then in that deep, baritone voice of his that she had always loved so much, he said, “It’s been a long time, Heather.”
Simple words, but they evoked much more than a simple response.
Her body quaked with the potency of her attraction to him; so long in the making, so alive desp
ite the darkness of time apart. All the while, her heart raced with the emotional intensity seeing him once again evoked.
She sat her beer on the coffee table, forcing herself to unlock her arms from their defensive posture, and praying her hands didn’t shake. “Yes, yes, it has.”
He was staring at her with an indiscernible look in his eyes. She resisted the urge to shuffle in her seat, feeling self-conscious under his scrutiny. What did he see?
Little girl...or woman?
“You’ve changed,” he finally said in a hushed tone.
Her knees were pressed primly together, a reflex reaction to the dull ache that had traveled with excruciating accuracy from her breasts straight to her core.
She barely found her voice. “Have I?”
A slight smile played on his lips as he stepped forward. Anticipation rushed across her nerve endings. Would he hug her?
“Yes,” he said as he sat down next to her. Close. He sat really, really close. She could smell him. She’d always found his scent to be arousing. To touch him would take nothing more than a raised hand.
It was tempting. Her fingers twitched with the need.
Instead, he reached for her.
Her breath caught in her throat as his hand gently touched her hair. Basking in the moment, her lashes fluttered shut as his fingers traced a long strand of red. “You changed your hair.”
Nervously, she forced her eyes open and a smile to her lips.
He had only seen her hair short. In her youth, she had wanted to fit in with everyone else. The bright auburn color had seemed too bold, so she had kept it short to downplay its existence. Her mother wouldn’t let her color it, so she had cut it.
Now, as a grown woman, she felt the freedom of being unique and loved it. Her hair was long, below her shoulders, and she liked it that way.
Her voice was soft as she replied, remembering his old comments about her fire-red temper to match her hair. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing. “It’s been like this a long time.”
His eyes seemed to go to her lips. It took effort to resist the urge to wet them. ”I can’t believe how grown up you are.”
She wet her lips. She couldn’t help it. His eyes followed the action, lingering and then lifting to hers. What passed between them in that moment made her breath catch in her throat. It was like something out of one of her fantasies. Hot, primal passion burned in their eyes, blocking out their surroundings.
It couldn’t be real. Could it?
“Jason.” His name was a question. Did he want her like she always had him?
Memories seemed to walk from her mind to his, and his to hers. All the times they had spent together over the years…
Late night talks when her brother was asleep on the couch...those had been her favorite times. She and Jason would sit on the floor talking for hours. Then there were the nights when she, Jason, and Matt would make popcorn and watch scary movies.
Sometimes Jason would force her to watch the same old movies over and over. Her brother would bail time after time, saying he couldn’t watch the same movie again.
But even then Heather had loved Jason. They had been friends, and so much more.
Watching a movie ten times with him was fun.
Yes, there had always been something between them. They simply hadn’t allowed it to bloom.
No. He hadn’t let it.
Suddenly, she understood why she had never been able to dismiss Jason as a crush. He had been so much more. But he hadn’t let it evolve, holding her at arms' length. She had been forbidden, and he had known it.
She had been his best friend’s sister. That made her untouchable.
But that was then, and this was now.
And there was no question they wanted each other. It was like a low, hot simmer that threatened to go up in flames.
“Hey, Jason, Heather, come check out the pre-show. That damn quarterback from Utah is in a monkey suit, acting like he knows football when he can’t even complete a pass.”
Matt as usual had crummy timing, appearing beside them. He had successfully ruined the moment. Jason looked away. Heather scowled Matt’s direction, fighting the urge to throw her beer on him.
Matt looked at Heather, and then at Jason. “I can’t believe you’re both here. It’s just like old times. Us guys can cut up, drink beer, and listen to my kid sister tell us we don’t know what we’re talking about.” He made a cheering motion with his beer bottle. “Life is good.”
Jason looked at Matt, then eyed Heather with a cool look, several notches below his prior one. “Yeah,” he said. “I guess it is just like old times.” His gaze switched back to Matt, then with finality to the action. Heather was shut out. “I need a beer.”
As Jason walked away, Heather tried to calm the explosion of thoughts erupting in her brain. He had just dismissed her like a bad habit.
No matter what had just passed between them, she was Matt’s kid sister. Always was, and always would be.
But Jason was wrong. Everything wasn’t just like old times. She was older and wiser. In the past, she had dismissed their attraction as schoolgirl fantasies. Not anymore.
She saw what was in his eyes. He wanted her. And damn it, she had wanted him a long time.
All she had to do was prove just how womanly she was, and the kid sister would be forgotten. And why wait? She’d start today.
Chapter Two
The main group of Super Bowl watchers had gathered in Matt’s living room. Among the group there were seven rowdy guys, all with beers in their hands, eyes on the television, and smart-ass comments blurting from their mouths. Heather sat amongst them, shocked that she wasn’t the only female for once. One of Jason’s partners, Bobby, had brought his wife, Jennifer.
“We need a beer run,” Matt yelled from the kitchen.
Heather had almost forgotten. “I have a couple cases in my car.”
“Way to go, Heather,” Joey, another guest said, and then winked. He pushed to his feet. “I’ll carry it in for you.”
To Heather's surprise, Jason stood. “That’s okay, I got it, man.” He exchanged a look with Joey, who quickly sat back down, bowing out of his offer to help.
Her eyes narrowed as they met Jason’s, noting his silent intimidation of the other man. But she didn’t say anything. Interesting. She wanted to see where this was going. Turning on her heels, she let Jason follow her outside. With every step she took, she felt him behind her, watching her, moving with her.
She hit the clicker to her car, and popped the trunk. When they were both standing behind the raised hood, he turned and faced her.
He fixed her in a stare, but his expression was unreadable. Damn him for having a good poker face. His tone was equally hard to read. “Joey’s a dog. Stay away from him.”
She laughed. He had to be kidding. “I’m a grown woman, Jason. I hardly need you to tell me who I should stay away from. Besides,” she added, purposely dismissing his warning, “he seems nice enough to me.”
His hand came out and touched her shoulder. She looked down at it, and then up at him. “He’s not just a dog, he’s a junkyard dog.”
She let out a breath. “How do you suppose I survived all those years while you were gone without your warnings?” She screwed up her face. “I can decide who I date—or don’t date, for that matter—very well on my own, thank you.”
She started to turn, but his hand gently closed around her arm. “You’re considering dating him?”
She wasn’t. “Maybe.”
His eyes darkened. “That’s crazy. Matt will have a fit.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Matt, huh? So you are doing this for Matt?”
“Not for Matt.” He spoke the words softly with a hint of discomfort ringing in his tone. “You’re like a sister to me as well, and you know it.”
That made her angry. No way was she letting him get away with this. “Funny,” Heather challenged. “That look you gave me in the living room didn’t look too brotherly.” br />
She stepped forward, bringing them so close their thighs were almost touching. Her hand flattened on his chest. She was so nervous her insides were shaking, but Jason had avoided what was between them far too long.
Her voice was a soft, seductive purr, and she inwardly complimented herself on her exterior façade of composure. “You looked at me like a man looks at a woman, Jason.”
His eyes were half-veiled as he looked down at her hand on his chest. For long moments he stared before once again making eye contact. She could smell his spicy cologne, like a temptation to bury her nose in his neck.
He didn’t move nor did he deny her words. “Your brother is my best friend.”
She ignored his words. “Does that mean you know how you looked at a me?” The muscles in his chest flexed under her fingers.
His voice was low. “Seeing you again took me off guard.”
She took his words as a small admission. “You took me off guard, too.”
“Meaning?”
She had to go for it. “Meaning I had hoped my schoolgirl crush was gone.”
His eyes flashed with surprise. “What crush?”
“We both know there has always been something between us.”
“We were kids.”
“We’re not anymore.”
His hand went to her hair as it had earlier. “I love your hair like this.”
The touch of his hand made her insides flip-flop. “I want you to like it.”
His eyes went to hers. “Your brother...“
She finished his sentence for him. “Knows I’m a grown woman.”
“Would kill me.”
“No,” she insisted, and if he did she’d kill him. ”He won’t.”
“He will.”
“Kiss me.”
He stared down at her, and then to her complete, utter shock, he did as she asked. Not only was he kissing her, his arms had slid around her waist. He pulled her tight against that hard body of his, and she got a taste of heaven on earth.