and the confusion was the mind-boggling fact that he had Alani Rivers in his bed.
Naked.
Affectionate.
Replete.
And he didn’t know how any of it had happened.
Acid crawled around his guts and squirreled up his throat, making his stomach pitch. Groaning, he threw back the covers.
Didn’t matter if his head fell off, he would not puke in front of her.
In only a few long strides, he made it to the connecting bathroom where he dropped to his knees in front of the john in just the nick of time.
He felt vile. Worse than that even.
What the hell had happened?
“Jackson?”
He looked up to see Alani in the doorway. Naked.
He groaned again. “Go away.”
“But…can I get you—”
“Out!” He kicked at the door. It hit so hard that it bounced open again. He saw her shock and hurt, but damn it, no way in hell did he want her to see him like this.
Luckily for them both, she turned and strode away.
When the nausea finally subsided, he flushed the toilet and, feeling weaker than a newborn, used the edge of the sink to haul himself to his feet. His legs shook. His head thundered.
He turned on cold water, splashed his face, rinsed his mouth, and after a few seconds of mental searching that left him blank, he turned to stagger out.
Alani stood there yet again.
Still naked.
Jackson swayed. He tried, but he couldn’t take it in. For a hell of a long time, he’d wanted her. Now she was here, but…how? Why?
His burning gaze zeroed in on her neat triangle of golden brown pubic hair. Another question answered—but it had nada to do with his current predicament.
She folded her arms under her breasts, which had the effect of getting his riveted attention off her lower body and up a little—as far as her chest anyway.
Ah, damn, so pretty. Had he touched her breasts? Kissed her nipples?
Dizziness assailed him. The possibility of passing out or puking more loomed near.
But God Almighty, she looked fine. Better than fine.
She looked like his.
Face red, voice high, she snapped, “Real nice, Jackson.”
Picking up on the acrimony, he managed to meet her gaze through a fog of emotions. Uh-oh. She looked both hurt and pissed.
Her lips tightened. She gave one fleeting glance at his body, but when he remained mute, her eyes narrowed and she tossed her head, sending back her long fair hair. Like pale liquid, it poured over her smooth skin, mostly behind her shoulders, though one long strand trailed over her breast.
Mesmerized, he took a moment to realize she was talking to him. “I told you this wasn’t a good idea,” she said. “I told you it would never work.”
Looked to him like it had worked just fine.
But to make sure they were on the same page, he rasped, “It?” Bracing one hand on the door frame, the other squeezing the bridge of his nose, he started on a great admission. “Thing is, I don’t remember—”
“Talking about it?”
Anything. “Uh…”
“Big surprise there, right?” Her attention tracked down over him, then jumped back to his face. “You were too busy getting me naked to listen to reason.”
Sounded like him, he had to admit.
“Too busy racing for the bed,” she complained, “to even think about my concerns, about what I said.”
The words resonated over and over. He’d gotten her naked and in bed.
And then what?
Nothing rational came to his spinning brain, so Jackson just shook his head while again looking at her body. If it wasn’t for the door frame supporting him, he’d be on his face on the floor, but he couldn’t not look at her.
Wounded, disgusted, Alani turned on her heel and stalked back to his bed. Seeing the bounce of her rounded backside gave him a whole new reason to wish his vision wasn’t so blurry.
“Alani…” With no idea what to say, Jackson started to follow her. One jarring step was enough to warn him not to leave the dubious convenience of the bathroom.
His stomach did jumping jacks. In the nick of time he dropped back down in front of the toilet again.
This time when he finished, his stomach muscles ached but his guts felt a little quieter, as if he’d gotten some foul poison out of his system.
Unfortunately, Alani was now fully dressed and marching toward the front door.
Feeling like a weak, mewling pup, he stumbled behind her. “Wait.”
Pausing, she looked back at him—and all over him.
It suddenly dawned on Jackson that he was completely naked, too. He held on to the wall and willed away the pulsing agony in his noggin. “Let’s…talk.”
“So you can get sick again with…regret? No thank you.”
Regret? There was more to regret beyond the fact that he couldn’t remember shitola?
She jerked his front door open but didn’t storm away. With her back to him, her voice quavering, she said, “Don’t worry about it, Jackson. I’m naive, I know, but I’m not dumb. I understand what happened.”
“What?”
“I won’t say a word to anyone and since this will never happen again, you can just forget all about it.”
The slamming of the door almost took out his knees. Slowly, he sank down to the cool hardwood floor in his hallway. His eyes closed, but he could still see Alani naked.
He didn’t want to forget a damn thing.
He wanted to remember.
ALANI STAYED BUSY as long as she could. She’d shopped, cleaned her car, had a light breakfast, seen an early matinee…but no amount of distraction had helped. Her chest still hurt with the weight of thick emotion.
Humiliation vied with regret.
Why had she believed him?
Why had she allowed herself to be so easily swayed?
Fool!
What could have been the most amazing night of her life now felt like the most degrading. Not that she could blame Jackson for everything. She’d been so infatuated with him for so long, it had required very little from him to win her over. A few small words and…
The groan vibrated out, heartfelt, sad and angry.
She’d done things with Jackson that she’d never before considered. He’d encouraged her to speak her mind, to be totally open and honest about what she wanted, what she enjoyed—and he’d done the same. With him, she’d reveled in her sexuality.
And then, with the morning light, he’d taken one look at her and rushed off to be ill.
Her face flamed.
All along, from the very first day she’d met Jackson Savor, she’d known he was trouble. Over and over again she’d resisted him because an involvement with any man who worked with her brother, especially a man too much like her brother, seemed impossible.
Her cell phone rang, and she glanced at the caller ID. Speak of the devil… Her brother had already called several times, but she wasn’t