New York Crime Kings Box Set: Books 1-4 by Skyla Madi Page B

humiliating.”
    Jai laughs once. “Don’t be embarrassed. You were perfect.”
    Perfect? I peer through my fingers. There’s no humor to his look. Whatever is happening in the depths of his ocean-like eyes makes me feel sixteen all over again.
    Virginal.
    Curious.
    Shameless.
    It’s an art, saying the right words to make a girl feel like a puddle of jelly, an art I suspect Jai has mastered.
    Dropping my hands from my face, I sigh. “Can we talk about something else?”
    He studies me while I rake my teeth over my bottom lip. “We could, but I think I prefer making you blush.”
    I roll my eyes. Of course he does. “Please? I find this topic of conversation uncomfortable—even in normal circumstances.”
    He exhales and slumps into his chair. “Fine. We can change the topic, but I’m revisiting it once you’ve had a few drinks. I want to know where your panties have disappeared to.”
    It takes me a few long seconds to process what he’s said. When I do, my cheeks burn unlike anything I’ve experienced before. How can he tell? He’s looking at me, his eyes dancing while his mouth taunts me with a lopsided smirk.
    “I’m wearing them,” I tell him, but the certainty I hoped for doesn’t reach my voice.
    He leans closer and I focus on his lip as he drags his tongue along the bottom one. To tease me or moisten it, I have no idea.
    “I know you’re not.” His voice is unbearably intimate and I squeeze my thighs together. “And it’s making it really hard for me to stay on this side of the table.”
    I swallow hard, my attention flicking to his lips. “This isn’t the place.”
    My attempt at protesting is lame. My drama teacher always said that if you can’t convince yourself, you’re not going to convince anybody, and it’s true. Jai doesn’t look the sold, not in the slightest.
    His irises dance with indecent excitement as he taps the side of his cup. “There’s never a good place, Kitten, but you’re right. After last night. I’ve decided I don’t like the idea of someone else hearing your husky voice as I make you come.”
    I inhale and hold until my lungs burn. How does he say those things? How do they just tumble from his mouth and make my pussy swell? I pull my cup to my mouth and take one large mouthful, then another. I swallow it and grit my teeth before pushing my cup across the crate. He gets the hint and with a sexy half-smile, he grabs the cup, pushes out of his seat and saunters across the room.
    Fucking hell.
    I bunch my hair up in one hand to expose my neck while I fan my face with the other. How am I going to make it through the rest of the day without having Jai take me against a tunnel wall? Using only his words, he has all of my nerves heightened. If we were elsewhere, and alone, I’d have made him tear my leggings with his teeth already. I can tell he wants to.
    I want it too.
    More than anything.
     
    ***
     
    When Jai returns with full cups, conversation lightens up. I’m grateful. My nipples were beginning to sting they were rubbing that hard against the fabric of my halter.
    “I really am sorry for breaking your tablet,” he admits after I tell him about my studies and how long I’ve been doing them for.
    His eyes are no longer wide and alert. The whiskey has slackened them, turning them into tired slits. My eyes feel the same—tired and heavy with impure thoughts. I stopped at three cups, deciding here wasn’t the place I should completely lose my mind.
    “Thank you. Although, if you had come clean in the first place, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”
    Jai shuffles his small crate chair closer to me and when he rests his arms on the makeshift table, his arm brushes against mine. Hyperawareness of his warm skin sizzles through me.
    “If you can tell me with absolute honesty that you actually enjoyed your life before you came here, I’ll apologize for that too.”
    My brows furrow. I certainly didn’t hate my previous life, but it did lack the excitement every