Her Rogue Alpha (X-Ops Book 5) Read Online Free Page B

hesitation in his stride when he’d walked over to the oven. Which meant he’d either pushed himself too hard at work today or moved the wrong way and made his back flare up again. Either way, he was in pain. That made his obvious good mood all the more surprising.
    She followed him into the kitchen. “No special occasion. Do I need to have a reason to do something nice for you?”
    Jayson floored her yet again by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “No, you don’t need to have a reason. I’m just glad you’re willing to put up with me, considering that I can be such a jackass sometimes.”
    Layla opened her mouth to tell him he was never a jackass, but before she could say anything, Jayson dipped his head and kissed her. Not a little peck on the lips either, but a real, honest-to-goodness kiss. It took her a second to get over the shock, and when she did, she melted against him. It had been so long since he’d kissed her like that, and while she had missed his touch, she hadn’t realized how much until that moment.
    He slid one hand into her long hair, tugging that little bit like she loved as his tongue tangled with hers and made her moan. Heat pooled between her thighs. God, it had been so long.
    She reached down to massage his hard-on through his cargo pants when he suddenly pulled his mouth away from hers. The kiss ended so abruptly that she almost fell over. She caught herself just in time and looked up at him in confusion.
    Jayson didn’t seem to notice. Or if he did, he didn’t let on. “Need some help getting the rest of the dinner made?”
    She’d rather he turn off the oven and take her to the bedroom so they could get to work on dessert, but she didn’t say that. Jayson hadn’t been romantic with her in weeks, and she was never sure if it was because he wasn’t attracted to her anymore or because he felt he wasn’t physically up to the task. The one thing she did know was that the fastest way to upset him was to push too hard.
    So as difficult as it was, she put her arousal on hold and nodded. “Yeah, that’d be great. Can you make the salad while I fix the garlic bread?”
    He flashed her a grin. “Babe, I live to make salad.”
    She couldn’t help laughing at the silly words.
    Within minutes of working side by side in the small kitchen they were laughing and joking like they used to do before their relationship had fallen off the rails for reasons Layla didn’t really understand. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d heard Jayson laugh. Months at least. It wasn’t until now that Layla realized she had missed that as much as she’d missed his touch.
    Not that there wasn’t some touching too. As he stood beside her cutting tomatoes for the salad, their arms and hips would occasionally come into contact, and she could feel the spark that was always there between them. It reminded her of why she fought so hard to stay with him and how good it could be—when it was good.
    Layla was spreading garlic butter on the bread when Jayson leaned over and kissed her neck, then slowly ran his warm mouth up to her ear, making her shiver all over even as he whispered softly to be careful with the knife. She put down the knife and turned her head to capture his mouth in a quick kiss.
    He returned the kiss with a laugh. “We’re going to burn dinner if we’re not careful.”
    She couldn’t care less about the dinner. Man cannot live on lasagna alone, and a woman definitely needed a few good kisses every now and then, she thought as she gazed up into Jayson’s twinkling, blue eyes. This was the guy she had fallen in love with. A part of her wondered why he couldn’t be like this all the time and why he was like this right now.
    She resolutely pushed those thoughts aside. Right now, Jayson was laughing and joking and happy. When he was like that, she couldn’t help but be happy too. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him how she felt about him, but the same thing that