Rush

special.”
    Something flickered in his eyes. She could tell she surprised him, but oh well. He
     should expect to have it handed back to him when he made outrageous propositions like
     this.
    “Then maybe you’re fucking the wrong men.”
    “Ash.”
    The sound was explosive in the confined area of the kitchen and Bethany jerked her
     head up to see another man standing in the doorway, his brooding, dark gaze scorching
     the flesh right off Ash’s bones. Ash didn’t seem overly bothered that this guy was
     obviously pissed.
    Bethany was.
    This guy was the one she’d caught watching her when she’d ventured out to bus the
     tables. Twice. She’d felt his gaze on her. Burning a path over her skin until she’d
     shivered with the intensity. Where Ash was lighter, carefree, that whole package of
wealthy and I know it
and
I don’t gotta do nothing except what I wanna
, this man was…He was Ash’s polar opposite.
    Intense
wasn’t the right word. It didn’t even come close to describing him. He looked like
     a complete badass, and she knew badasses. She had plenty of experience with men on
     the street and from the streets, and she had the sudden thought that she’d rather
     take her chances with the devil she knew rather than this man staring holes through
     her.
    Dark hair. Dark eyes. Tanned skin. Not the fake tan some of the metrosexual pretty
     boys went for. There was a ruggedness to him even as he screamed wealth and polish,
     like Ash did. It was just a different kind of polish.
    Where Ash wore his wealth like a skin, like he’d always knownit, this other guy looked like he’d accumulated his wealth later in life and wasn’t
     yet as comfortable with it as Ash was.
    It was a ridiculous assessment, but there it was. There was something dangerous about
     this other man. Something that made her stand up and take notice.
    “Jace,” Ash returned mildly. “Meet…” He lifted an eyebrow in question, still waiting
     for her to provide her name.
    “Bethany,” she croaked.
    Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
    This was the threesome guy? Ash’s best friend? A man involved in the outrageous proposition
     Ash had just given her?
    Jace’s lips tightened and he stalked forward. Bethany instinctively backed away.
    “You’re scaring her,” Ash said, a reprimand in his tone.
    To Bethany’s surprise, Jace pulled up short, but he was still glaring holes in Ash.
     At least it wasn’t her.
    “I told you not to do this,” Jace said in a quiet, angry voice.
    “Yeah, well, I didn’t listen.”
    Bethany was utterly confused. But then Jace turned to her and there was something
     in his gaze that caught her breath.
    Interest.
    Not just a look like a man gave a woman when he wanted to fuck her. It was something
     different and she couldn’t put her finger on it. But then he’d watched her all night.
     She knew that because she’d watched him too.
    “I’m sorry,” Jace began.
    “Does this offer come with dinner?” she blurted.
    She was instantly mortified, but she also knew in that one moment when he looked at
     her, that she didn’t want him to walk away. Not tonight. Tonight she wanted one night
     in the sun. Where it was warm and bad things didn’t happen. She wanted one night to
     forget her life, Jack, and all the problems that came with both.
    This man could give her that. She was absolutely positive onthat count. And if he came with Ash, she’d just have to take that too.
    She did not want to walk out of this kitchen into the cold and back to what awaited
     her.
    “What?”
    Jace stared at her like she’d grown two heads. His brows drew together and his gaze
     became even more piercing, like he was peeling her from the inside out.
    She gestured toward Ash. “He said you two wanted a threesome. I’m asking if the offer
     comes with dinner.”
    “Well, yeah,” Ash said, his tone suggesting he was insulted.
    “Okay then,” she said, before she could change her mind.
    She knew it was stupid. She knew it was one of the most stupid things she’d ever done,
     but she wasn’t going back.
    “I have to finish here first,” she said, while Jace just stood there, silent and brooding,
     his gaze never leaving her, not even once. Not to look at Ash. Not to look away. Fixed
     on her.
    “No you don’t,” Ash said. “You can cut out at any time.”
    She shook her head. “I get the second half of my pay when I’m done. I have to finish.”
    “Party’s about to break up. Gabe’s not going to remain