She couldn’t hold it in anymore. Her laughter rang throughout the room and Jamie joined in. When she could speak again her amusement still sounded in her voice.
“Three days and you know what he’s going to do?”
Jamie pulled his wallet from his pocket and drew out a twenty. He slapped it on the coffee table. “If he deviates from the norm, you win the twenty.”
Chelsea smiled. “I’m not betting against you. That’s exactly what he’s going to do.”
“So the question remains, what’s up?”
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Immaculately dressed in dark slacks and a crisp cotton shirt, he looked like he should be in a New York office, not digging through fishing nets and seashells. He was night and day to Braden’s casual jeans or sweats when out of uniform. Damn if she didn’t find them both attractive.
“Braden thinks I need to find a boyfriend.”
Jamie slapped his hands together and pointed at her excitedly. “So that’s what those cryptic comments he made back in his apartment were about.”
His gaze darted over her, the admiration in his eyes clear. This time he wasn’t analyzing what kind of dancer she was. Heat spread over her skin, her heartbeat picking up.
“What comments? What did he say to you?”
“He let me know that when my girlfriend joined me she was welcome to stay in the apartment with me. When I told him I was currently unattached, the grunting began.”
“Oh Lord, not the grunting.”
“Yeah, the grunting and the questions. ‘You think Chelsea is good-looking?’ he asked.” Jamie rolled his eyes and gestured at her, his hand sweeping the length of her frame as if he were at a carnival, gesturing in the main attraction. “I asked if he’d been diagnosed with a brain condition.”
“You didn’t!”
“Chelsea, I’m missing a piece of the puzzle. I think you like Braden, and the man is obviously head over heels attracted to you—”
“Really?”
“Really. So why does it seem like he’s trying to hook us up? At least for the duration of the time I’m working this job?”
Chelsea flopped back in the loveseat, her head resting on the opposite arm from where he sat. How much could she say so the lines of privacy for the shifters of Jaffrey’s Cove remained uncrossed? She sniffed. How could she explain when she wasn’t sure herself why Braden was acting so strange?
She kept it simple.
“The only thing I can come up with is that he thinks we’re not right for each other. For some misguided reason he’s being noble and refusing to get involved with me. I guess he’s approved you as a backup boyfriend, so he’s pushing us together.”
“Backup boyfriend. Hell, I feel like we’re back in eighth grade. But he actually wants you for himself, so he’s still checking in the hopes nothing happens. Got it. No wonder he’s pissed at me.”
Chelsea sat up and touched his leg. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but while I like you a lot, I really want Braden. I have forever.”
Jamie frowned. “Right back at you. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not looking to hook up with anyone right now. While you’re very attractive, I don’t need a girlfriend.” He tapped his fingers on his thigh, brushing her hand accidentally, and Chelsea sucked in a breath. She might know what she wanted, he might know what he wanted, but their chemistry was potentially explosive. She tried to pull her hand away but he grabbed her wrist, held her still.
“I have an idea if you’re game.”
“Involving Braden?”
He gave her a mischievous grin. “He’s on the edge. I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to convince him that his idea isn’t what you two really need. So as long as I’m not in danger of losing any teeth, how about we do a little playacting?”
“To try and make him jealous?”
Jamie nodded.
Chelsea thought fast. Maybe that was what Braden needed to nudge him over and finally not only admit he wanted her but act on it.
The idea held possible dangers though. She’d been without a lover for a long time, and Jamie was damn attractive in his own way. She bit her lower lip. The sexual fever burning in her veins was difficult enough to control at the best of times. If they pretended to get intimate, she might not be able to hold back.
She lifted her chin. If Braden didn’t react, then…to hell with him. Getting involved with Jamie for a bit of fun would hurt no one. Neither of them was looking for forever, and she really needed to gain back some control of her life.
“What are you thinking?”
Jamie pointed to the twenty. “Let’s start by making him mess up his routine. Give him a little something to look at. Just talk quiet to me, like you’re sharing secrets and stand close. Start pushing a few buttons. See what happens.”
“What if he doesn’t respond?”
“Then I get to spend the twenty and buy you dinner. That should go along with the goal of making him jealous.”
Chelsea grinned at him. “How about if he doesn’t react then we bump it up another notch. I’ll take you to the Grotto where I dance and you can spend the twenty on the floor. Deal?”
“Deal.”
They shook hands, the mischief in his eyes shifting to something that made her sex tingle. Tension floated in the air.
“Maybe we should do a test run before he gets here.” His voice had dropped a notch and a shiver raced over her skin as he tugged on her fingers, drawing them closer until her body was flush with his. “Just to make sure it’s going to look believable.”
He lowered his head and brushed their lips together.
Chapter Three
Jamie intended to keep in control this time. The kiss four days earlier had surprised him, but the way the memory of it kept returning again and again was more disturbing. Even as friendship bloomed between them, there was a simmering undertone of desire he wasn’t sure how to deal with. Solving puzzles was what he did best—and this should be no exception.
Especially when the investigating was so pleasurable. He reveled in her sweet taste. Chelsea softened in his arms, wrapping her hands around his torso until her fingers splayed across his back. He felt her nails like a kitten’s claws against his skin as her hands traveled in slow sensual circles.
Their kiss stayed gentle even as the heat between their bodies grew. An experiment or not, the tension between them was enough to make his cock rise with interest. He breathed in deeply through his nose to take in as much of her as possible at one time. Her taste, her scent, the touch of her skin under his hands. He tugged her blouse loose from her jeans, skimming his palms over the warm flesh at her waist, and she purred into his mouth.
The sound sent a shiver down his spine.
The unemotional aspect of doing constant analysis made it possible to retreat a moment later instead of sweeping her up and carrying her to her bedroom. They both sucked in deep breaths as he attempted to pull enough oxygen into his lungs to let his mind start to fully function again. He might not want a relationship right now, but damn, some out-and-out pounding sex sounded better by the second. She was an attractive woman, he was a man—the chemistry between them was more than logical.
Her disheveled appearance made him break into a grin. Her lips were swollen, her eyes dark with desire. She seemed to have had the same physical response to him, whether she would admit it or not, but that was beside the point. She was emotionally attached to Braden, and he was going to help her get her man. It was the right thing to do.