My breath whooshed from my lungs, and I struggled to replace it for a long moment, until Jace realized the problem. He propped himself up with one elbow, giving me just enough room to breathe. Irritation blossomed, and I opened my mouth to demand that he get up. But my words were forgotten at the first tentative brush of his fingers against my bare skin.

Jace and I had always enjoyed a very casual physical relationship, trading chaste smooches and the occasional rump pinch with no more significance than a hug from a brother, which he practical y was. However, this was a new kind of touch, different even than his boldly seductive greeting in Daddy’s office. Before, he’d acted with confidence, almost arrogant in his certainty that I enjoyed his attention. But now he was hesitant, his touch featherlight and slow, as if he expected me to stop him at any moment.

I probably should have.

“No head start for you,” he whispered, running one hand over my hip and up my side. His fingers tickled, sending promising shivers al over me. I squirmed beneath him and heard his breath catch.

“I don’t need a head start,” I breathed, my cheek pressed into the floor. His stomach was warm against the curve of my lower back, bare between the seam of my shirt and the low waist of my jeans. On the radio, a new tune played, intense, and heavy on guitar and drums. My heart raced along with its rhythm, and my legs ached to run. But instead of glorying in the freedom of speed, I was trapped, immobile. “I’ve always been faster than you, and a few years with limited practice time isn’t enough to give you an advantage.” I twisted my neck, trying to see him.

“Besides, you can’t run while you’re holding me down.”

His fingers eased beneath the edge of my top, brushing the sensitive skin over my ribs and beneath my breast. I gasped, fascinated by the curiously delicate sensation and my own conflicting impulses. One was to fight, to claw at the carpet in a bid for freedom. But the other was to lie stil in anticipation of what might come next. Because whatever it was, knowing Jace, it would be good.

Okay, maybe today was a little different after all, I thought, more puzzled by my body’s reaction to him than by anything he’d done.

“I’m just slowing you down to give the guys a chance,” he whispered into my ear. I froze, listening, and heard laughter and footsteps coming from the backyard.

They were already heading for the trees.

Damn it! How could I have forgotten? As teenagers, Ethan and Owen had taken turns “delaying” me by tripping me or distracting me through even less honorable means. Apparently they’d now recruited Jace to do their dirty work. If I couldn’t get out from under him, they would start the hunt without me.

Fueled by impatience and mounting aggravation, I bucked, trying to throw him off, but he rode me with ease. I couldn’t help being a little impressed, in spite of my frustration. I hadn’t been near another cat in ages and had forgotten how good our balance real y was. “Whatever liberties you take now, you’l pay for outside,” I panted, winded by my own struggle.

“Oooh,” he purred, his nose skimming the surface of my skin. “Say that again.”

His fingers brushed the wire edge of my bra cup, but went no farther.

“You’re al talk,” I said, trying not to squirm. But my voice was throatier than I’d intended, and the hitch in his breath told me he’d noticed.

“Is that a challenge?”

“It’s a fact.” I threw his own words back at him, and he laughed, his body shaking against me.

“How ’bout a bet?”

“You’l lose,” I warned, stil listening for the others. I could barely hear them now; they’d already disappeared into the trees, their laughter blending into the chorus of sounds that defined the night. And as interesting as Jace’s distraction was proving to be, I was eager to join the hunt.

“Maybe,” he said. “But if I don’t, you owe me.”

“Owe you what?”

His voice deepened, and he grew stil against me. “The chance to prove I’m not al talk.”

Five

My heart thumped in surprise, accompanied by a tiny, treacherous spark of curiosity. I’d expected him to ask for something typical y lecherous—like me washing his car in a tiny bikini—but I was completely unprepared for his actual request. I was tempted to laugh it off as a joke.

But Jace wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t even breathing. He lay on top of me, heavy and completely motionless, his pulse racing as he waited for my answer.

I strained again to look at him over my shoulder, trying to see if he was serious. Surely he was only teasing. But no matter how I twisted, I couldn’t see his face. I saw dust bunnies under my desk and the edge of a long-lost CD case jutting out from beneath my dresser. But al I could see of Jace was his shadow, stretching in front of me and into the hal through the open doorway.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, soft lips brushing my ear again. “Afraid you’re going to lose?”

Was I? I’d never lost a race to him, but I’d never bet on one either. And my body was a high price to pay for a stumble at the wrong time. But if I won…My reward would have to be huge to match the one he’d named. I could ask for practical y anything.

Did he have anything I wanted?

An inkling of an idea formed in my head. I smiled, my decision made. Jace didn’t know it, but he’d just given me an opportunity I couldn’t pass up—assuming I won. And if I lost? I’d worry about that when and if the time came.