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she’d rarely been on the wrong side of his temper. She couldn’t say she liked it. “What gives you, or anyone else, the right to judge me? I’m a grown woman for Christ’s sake! If I want to take pole dancing lessons and compete in that contest at Dixie’s, I will, and there’s not a damn thing you, or Tucker, or Daddy can do about it!” Letting off a little steam always made her feel better and today was no exception.
    “What the fuck are you talking about? What contest?”
    Uh oh. Obviously, he hadn’t heard about it. It was too late to back down now. Besides, he’d hear about it sooner or later. Brant was a small town. “Dixie is having a pole dancing contest every Friday night for the next six weeks. Patrons will vote, and the winner gets an all-expenses paid trip.” She looked up at him, scared spitless by his barely suppressed rage.
    “You can put that idiotic idea right out of your head. If you think we’re gonna let you get up on that stage and act like some goddamn stripper just to win a contest…”
    Tempted to throw the contents of her glass in his handsome face, she threw it back in one deep swallow. “I didn’t ask for your permission, McCoy. I’m doing it whether you like it or not.”
    He shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts as he wandered around the stone patio. “You told Merle and Tucker about this? How about your Mama? Does she know what you plan to do?”
    “No, I haven’t told them because I knew they’d overreact, just like you are.” She got up and bridged the gap between them. When they were toe-to-toe, she looked way, way up. Without the benefit of her strappy heels, he towered over her. “I can dance naked in front of a group of drunken cowboys or fuck Noah, or any other man I choose, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” She pointed a finger into his solid chest. “You’re not my boyfriend… you’re not my husband… you’re not even my lover. So that gives you zero say in what I do or who I do it with, understand?”
    He grabbed her by the shoulders as he glowered down at her. “You should know me better than to think you can put me in my place with a few choice words, baby.”
    She swallowed, feeling much like she did the time her brother tempted her to poke a big snake with a stick. “Let me go. I’m going to check on Noah.”
    “Like hell you are.” His eyes drifted to her lips. “You’re not going anywhere until you promise me you’re gonna send that horny little prick home in a cab right now and — ”
    “I don’t take orders from you.”
    “Stop it!” He grabbed her face, holding her firmly between his hands. “Just stop trying to get to me. It’s working, okay? I’m pissed, I’m jealous, I’m…”
    She licked her lips. “You’re what?”
    “Hotter than hell right now.”
    Oh, wow.
    Jake was a hairsbreadth away from stripping that bikini cover-up off and fucking her under the shade of her Mama’s oak tree, in plain view of seventy of Brant County’s most conservative citizens.
    “Are you saying you want me?”
    He closed his eyes. Jessica was his best friend’s little sister. How the hell had he let this happen? When did he start developing these feelings for her, and what was Tucker going to say when he found out? No doubt the whole Carlton clan would want to stand in line to horse-whip him.
    He couldn’t just take Jess home and fuck her like she was some cheap tramp he picked up in a bar; she deserved so much better than that. She deserved a man who had the self-restraint to put a ring on her finger before taking her to bed, but his bitter divorce was still too fresh in his mind to even think about making that mistake again. Maybe someday… but he knew a woman like Jess wouldn’t be satisfied to wait around until he was ready. Hell, the poor girl had already been waiting for him forever. He could hardly blame her for wanting to look elsewhere, but that didn’t mean he had to make it easy for