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Natalie was going to tell him that wasn’t necessary. In fact, she might have enjoyed making the old codgers squirm a little bit on the ride back up. But the idea that maybe there was a little voyeur down deep inside her, after all, surprised her so much, she missed her chance.
Jake pushed the button on the opposite wall, got them into that elevator and gently backed her to one side. “You stand here.” He moved away, pushed for their floor and stood against the opposite wall. At her questioning look, he grinned and said, “Just ensuring we make it to the room this time.”
She laughed, but as the elevator jolted upward, their smiles slowly faded. They stood on opposite sides of the small car, gazes fixed on each other.
Natalie felt her entire body come alive as he very deliberately let his gaze roam over her. When he met her eyes once again, she found herself slowly, shockingly, running her tongue over her lips. When she saw his throat visibly work, she grew bold enough to slowly allow her own gaze to travel over his wide shoulders, deep chest, narrower waist, down his long legs…and back up again. Stopping very deliberately for one extended moment at the juncture between them. Then she gazed directly at his eyes. And licked her lips again.
This time he was ready. His grin was slow, his eyes hot…and demanding. His hands had been pressed to the wall behind him, but now they slid over his thighs…and rested on the zipper of his pants.
Her eyes widened at the very primal, direct gesture, and her knees went a bit weak. She’d never thought about watching a man stroke himself. Ever. It simply wasn’t part of her sexual experience. But damn if she didn’t want to add it in. Right now.
She looked to his eyes and saw a taunting there. Was he daring her? Did he want her to ask him?
She looked back to his hands, but they just stayed there, resting over the bulge she knew very well was behind them.
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Her breath came out in one long sigh. But there was more frustration in it than relief.
He reached for her hand, she lifted hers to his. She was half wondering if he was going to direct it to his fly, but he folded his fingers between hers and pulled her out of the elevator into the hallway. He checked his room key, then the signs, and headed down the hall with her in tow.
She liked his long-legged stride, liked the way he kept looking down at her with such heat in his eyes.
Suddenly he tugged her against him and ducked into the little vending machine alcove.
“You’re driving me crazy,” he murmured against her mouth just before taking it again.
Natalie thrilled to the way he simply took her. But while his kiss was demanding, it was also generous. He gave…aggressively.
When he pulled back, they were both breathing heavily. “I could climb right out of my skin, I want you so badly.”
The rush of pleasure his roughly spoken words sent through her was so intense, it was all she could do to nod in agreement.
He wrapped her against him, then finally swore and left the alcove. “I’m going to embarrass myself completely if I don’t get you in that room right now.”
Natalie decided right then that groping and tearing had its moments, too. She was itching to pull off every stitch he had on.
He fumbled the key card into the slot, repeating the motion three times before they finally got the door open.
Natalie didn’t even pay attention to the lovely little room or the original antique furnishings. In fact, if he hadn’t been as hot to get to her as she was to get to him, she’d have been appalled at her greedy behavior.
He slid off his jacket, yanking the bag from the drugstore out of the pocket and tossing it on the bed before tossing the jacket in the general vicinity of the closet. But just when Natalie thought—hoped—he’d drag her to him and thoroughly ravish her, he stilled, drew in a deep breath, then laughed lightly, rubbing a hand over his face.
“I wasn’t like this even when I was sixteen.” He looked at her with an adorably wry smile. “I guess my lack of finesse is showing here. Once a cowboy, always a cowboy.”
“I’m not finding anything lacking.” Natalie took a breath herself. “Except that we’re still clothed.”
He grinned. “Where have you been all my life?”
She laughed and let him guide her to the bed. She loved the heady mixture of laughter and passion that accompanied them so easily. Why wasn’t it always this easy?
She knew why. Because there were no expectations here. No public aspect to this. Nothing to worry about beyond right this moment. She could be anyone. Do anything. And it would be just between them. No explanations. No apologies.
If she hadn’t already been intoxicated by the possibilities, looking into his eyes now as he tugged his shirt out of his pants had her almost drunk and reeling with them. No apologies. No regrets.
She unhooked the neck of her tunic, let it fall to her waist and stood bare-breasted before him. She was not particularly well endowed, but she’d always thought that what she had measured up all right. The leap of desire she caught in his eyes erased any other concerns she might have had. The fact that she willingly stood there boldly before him was as arousing to her as it apparently was to him.
He removed his shirt, and she forgot all about her own nudity. Dear Lord, he was even more impressive than she’d imagined. His chest was broad and well muscled with a light swirl of hair across his pecs. His stomach was flat, his waist lean. She wanted to slide her hands in the waistband of his pants and shove them down. Her fingers curled inward against the need to follow through on that desire.
“What do you want?” He looked from her closed fists to her eyes.
He never missed anything. “I want to see the rest of you. You’re truly beautiful.”
Surprisingly, a little heat bloomed in his cheeks. She laughed. “Surely I’m not the first to tell you that. You do own a mirror or two.”
He smiled and gave a disarming little shrug. “It wasn’t what you said, it was how you said it.” He lifted one of those fists, opened it and kissed her palm. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, very unsteadily. He was simply too perfect. And he was hers. At least for the next couple of hours.
The grin was back, along with a wink as he placed her hand on his waistband. “You strike me as a woman who has no problem going after what she wants. So go ahead. Take what you want.”
She looked into his eyes, saw that he was serious and said, “I think I just might do that.”
“Please.”
She grinned and flicked open the silver button of his jeans, then tugged down his zipper. It was a bit challenging as it was currently being stretched rather beyond its intended usage. She paused halfway down. “I don’t want to— I’m afraid I’ll—” She stopped, then laughed lightly when his hands covered hers. “So much for being the bold, daring, take-what-she-wants type.”
“I thought you were doing just fine.” His voice was hoarse and a little strained. Natalie looked up into his eyes and found such dark desire there, her smile faded away. He tugged on her hand, and she looked back down as he finished unzipping. He moved her hands to his hips, urging her to shove his pants down. She did. He kicked out of his shoes and socks, sending the pants after them.
“Briefs,” she murmured. Black ones. Bikini style. She gulped as he took her hands again. She wasn’t ready, not yet. Well, she was, she was all but salivating. But not yet. Instead she moved his hands to her hips.
It wasn’t until he began peeling the skin-like pants off her that she remembered she had nothing on beneath. He didn’t seem to mind. Neither did she, as it turned out.
She went to step out of her heels, but he said, “Leave them on.”
She darted a look to his eyes, but complied. As it was, he was about four inches taller. Without the heels, it would be about half a foot difference. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to minimize the difference, at least while they were standing.
Then he said, “Walk over to that chair.” It wasn’t a command, more a request.
Still, she was surprised by it. “Why?”
He smiled. “Because I asked nicely?”
Her thighs trembled a bit. Hadn’t she fantasized about him calling the shots? The very idea made her even wetter. If possible. She felt her inner muscles clench hard as she turned and walked away from him across the room to a high-backed, Victorian-looking chair.
“Turn around.”
She did. Very slowly. She didn’t smile, nor did she look cool. She simply did as he asked until she faced him again. Then she waited.
“You are stunning.”
Now she smiled. Felt her skin heat.
“Don’t believe me? Turn to your right.”
She did, and gasped. There was a full-length oval mirror tucked in the corner between the dresser and the chair.
“Look at yourself, Natalie.”
She couldn’t not. She looked…ripe. And those black, razor-sharp heels were downright sex on stilts. She’d always thought herself passably attractive, basic beauty but no frills. Only, right now…dear God.
“Know what I see?” He moved behind her, so she could see him in the mirror. His body was wider than hers, taller than hers. He framed her entirely. His skin was darker, his look wilder, rougher. He made her look all the more refined, yet she didn’t feel fragile.
He reached through her arms and gently cupped her breasts. She exhaled on a sharp gasp of pleasure, her knees giving slightly at the hot rush his touch set off.
“I see nipples that stand out for my attention.” He slowly rubbed his thumbs over them, eliciting a moan from her she couldn’t contain. She whimpered when his hands slid away, but moaned again as his flat palms smoothed over her abdomen, then spread downward.
She trembled hard as his fingertips brushed at the dark, downy curls at the apex of her thighs.
“I want to see what you have waiting for me here, Natalie,” he said, his lips against the side of her neck.
It was impossibly arousing. She wanted to move his fingers lower, push them inside her. She stepped back, needing to feel his body touching hers, needing more than just his palms on her stomach, his fingers brushing her.
But he stepped back, then moved in front of her. He turned to face the mirror, almost entirely blocking her from view. “Turnabout is fair play, right?”
The muscles between her legs were tied in a knot of pleasure so tight she wanted to scream with the need to untie it. But she looked at him in the mirror and knew she wanted this even more.
She stood just to the side of him and pressed her hands to his hips, then slid his briefs all the way down his legs to the floor. She was almost kneeling. She placed her hands just above his knees, then slowly dragged them upward as she stood again. He gasped this time as she slid her fingers around his pelvis, almost brushing against his jutting erection…but not quite.
“Do you know what I see?”
“What?” The word sounded as if it had been ripped from him.
She looked to his face, which stood in chiseled relief as he clenched his jaw, straining for control.
“I see a man who can fill me like I’ve never been filled before.”
He groaned but kept his hands at his side.
She remembered that moment in the elevator, when she’d fantasized about him stroking himself. She wanted to ask him to do it, even just once. She wanted to see his strong hand circle himself. He was so thick and rigid, and there was something so primal— But she couldn’t.
“What is it, Natalie?”
Damn the man for being so focused. “Nothing. I—”
“Tell me.” This time it was a command.
“I—I wondered what it would look like if you—” She darted her gaze from his in the mirror, downward…then back up again. She couldn’t say it, so she showed him. She took his hand. Hers was shaking. And she moved it across his thigh…and upward. “I’ve never— I wanted to see what—”
And then he wrapped his big, wide hand around himself and stroked all the way to the tip and back again. “Is that what you wanted to see?”
She was panting. “Yes,” she gasped. “God.”
“Would you like to?”
She shook her head, but what she said was “Yes.”
He took her hand and wrapped it around him. Again her knees buckled. He felt so intensely hard, and yet his skin was like velvet. Tightly ridged with veins that twitched beneath her touch. He groaned deep and long, as she slowly moved her hand down the full length of him.
Dear Lord, how she wanted to take him!
“Stop.” The command was harsh and hoarsely spoken.
She dropped her hand. “I’m sorry.”
He turned to her. “We were both going to be really sorry there in a second.”
Amazingly, she smiled, even laughed. “Then, thank you for stopping me.”
“I didn’t want to.” His gaze darkened. “Damn but you feel good on me, Natalie.”
She swallowed. He was truly overwhelming to her in every way. It was a very heady thing to know she could affect him like this, too. It was that realization that gave her the boldness to look up at him and say, “I want to know how good you’ll feel in me, Jake.” She turned fully toward him so the tip of his erection brushed her belly. “Right now.”
4
JAKE HAD NO IDEA what he’d done to deserve this day, but he damn well wanted to find out so he could do it again.
Natalie was like no other woman he’d ever met. She was intelligent, witty, sharp and absolutely sexy. But she was also somewhat shy, or at least private. Definitely reserved when it came to sex. And yet she wanted so badly not to be. He was more than glad to help her out. In fact, it stunned him just what emotions and urges she brought out in him.
He had always firmly believed in seeing to his partner’s pleasure as well as to his own. But something about Natalie brought out twin urges to protect…and to dominate. He wasn’t all that surprised at the former. But the latter shocked him. He was definitely not that guy. And yet he’d never felt more natural than when he told her to walk across that room. Yes, he’d sensed she wanted direction, wanted to be absolved, at least a tiny bit, of the pressure of being in control.
But nothing had prepared him for the rush it had given him when she’d complied. Maybe it was because she’d done so with her head high. No meekness, definitely no submissiveness. It hadn’t been about domination or even control. It had been…primal. Visceral. This need to push her. Push her toward discovering her own pleasure…and toward discovering his. Maybe it was because he knew she’d push back.
And the idea of that happening rocked him even harder.
“Now?” he answered her command. And yes, it had been a command. He had never been one for that, either, never desired women who almost liked to punish men for giving them pleasure. But this command, it was about mutual pleasure. He could definitely identify with that.
And maybe that was the real thrill here. That they would push and shove, command and demand the absolute greatest degree of pleasure from one another.
He grinned down at her, hoping they both survived the onslaught. She squealed when he suddenly stooped and scooped her into his arms, holding her tight against his chest. “Bed or wall?”
Her eyes popped wide. He loved that.
“I beg your pardon?”
“No begging. I’m too far gone. I promise to make you beg next time, however. If that’s what you want.”
Her eyebrows narrowed. He loved that, too.
Then the most devilish smile curved her lips. “We’ll see who begs.”
He swore his knees went a bit woozy. Certainly his heart skipped one or two beats.
“Bed,” she said decisively. “Wall next time. If you’re lucky.”
“We’ll see who feels lucky when I’m done with you.”
He felt her squirm in his arms and knew he’d been right about the control issues. They would each test the other’s limits. And have the best damn time of their lives doing it. He wondered how long he could keep her here in this room where they could do anything and everything. No strings attached.
He carried her to the bed, aching just to slide her body down and onto his. But the brown paper bag on the bed stopped him. Her gaze fell on it at the same time. “Do you want to do the honors? Or would you rather me?”
He could see her getting ready to say she’d rather let him, but after the slightest pause, she said, “I’ll do it.”
She truly intrigued him. He realized he was like some bold adventure to her, that it wasn’t about him personally, but this secret thrill he’d come to represent to her. But rather than be insulted or offended by that, he had this undeniable urge simply to be the best damn adventure of her life. After all, it wasn’t like he wouldn’t be having a damn fine time, as well.
“I got several kinds.”
She smiled. “I know.”
“So just reach in and pick one. Unless you’ve decided you have a preference.”
He let her slide to a stand, then turned to yank the covers off the bed, while she dumped the bag out on the sheets. He sprawled across the bed, then smiled and beckoned to her with a crooked finger. “And the lucky winner is?”
Me, he answered himself, as she crawled across the bed, purple foil packet in hand.
She was comfortable in her own skin, he noticed, but mostly when she wasn’t thinking about the fact that she was naked in front of him. Part of him wanted to keep her distracted so she’d stay more at ease…and an equal part wanted to nudge her to confront it, to deal with it—and his part in it.
He rolled to his side, facing her. She didn’t look at him as she struggled to tear the package open.
“You want help?” His offer only made her more determined. He’d remember that.
She finally looked right at him…and tore it open with her sharp white teeth.
He’d do well to remember that, too.
“Okay,” she said, looking from the silky latex in her hand, to him. “Are you sure we got the right size?”
He couldn’t help it. He laughed. “Yeah,” he finally managed to say. “Here—” He held out his hand, but instead of taking the condom, he took her wrist and guided her hand to him. “Just put it like this.” He showed her. “Then roll it down. It stretches.”
He had planned on watching, but as soon as her slender fingers moved over him, pushing the latex down over his pulsing skin, he rolled to his back and groaned. He closed his eyes as she tugged and snugged it all the way to the base. He decided right then and there, he was never putting on his own condom again.
“Okay,” she finally said.
He forced his eyes open. “Maybe you need more practice.”
Her mouth dropped open, then snapped shut as she realized he was teasing. “You do have a whole bag full of them.” She was taunting. Daring.
He reached out and tugged her across his body. She yelped as he rolled her swiftly under him, pinning her arms gently but very firmly over her head. His legs held hers to the bed with no room for movement. He’d meant to taunt her back, make some smart-ass comment about seeing how many they could use in the next couple of hours.
But everything had changed the moment he had her helpless. There was not a shred of fear in her eyes. No. Exactly the opposite. Excitement, anticipation and…outright need shone from her dark eyes.
She wasn’t helpless, after all. She had him right where she wanted him.
“I’m going to take you, Natalie.” He knew it was the right thing to say when her pupils all but exploded in their rush to expand. “I’m going to fill you, every inch of you.” He nudged himself between her legs. “One…inch…at…a…time.” With each word he nudged a little more deeply. “I’m going to make you scream, Natalie,” he promised. She moaned softly, her hips pushing off the bed. He levered his body closer to hers, putting his mouth beside her ear. “With pleasure.”
He pushed slowly into her, keeping her legs pressed to the bed so she could barely arch into him. It was excruciating torture for them both…and unbelievably arousing. She was so wet for him, his control slipped—and slipped badly.
“Scream for me, Natalie,” he said hoarsely, and pushed all the way in, his hips coming down hard on hers.
She did scream, and bucked hard against him. He stilled, but only for a second.
“Again!” she rasped. “God, Jake. Do it again.”
“Yeah.” It was all he was capable of, and even that came out like a grunt. She was sweet and tight and goddamn if she didn’t take all of him and beg for more.
He pushed into her, making the bed jerk against the wall. Again. And again. And if he slowed down even slightly, she demanded it from him.
“Faster,” she gasped.
He kept her pinned. She writhed beneath him like a fury, but kept him locked so tightly inside her lean, little body, it might as well have been he who was pinned.
“Again, Jake. Deeper.”
He growled, unable to stop now. His hips moved like pistons, plunging and withdrawing, only to plunge again. Again and again she took him, kept him, released him only to clutch at him again. He’d never been driven like this, mindless like this.
Then she turned her head and whispered, “Come for me, Jake. Come for me.” And now he screamed. His climax was instantaneous and all but ripped out of him. It kept rolling over him and through him for what seemed like an eternity. Afterward, he barely sustained his upper-body weight on his elbows to keep from crushing her altogether. He was still shuddering, and he felt so completely drained that he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to move again.
He pressed his face to the side of her neck. “You tricked me,” he murmured.
“Tricked you?”
He finally managed to release her arms and roll to his side, pulling her with him. “I was going to take you to the very limits…and then you tricked me into coming.”
“I didn’t think of it that way. Are you complaining?”
No way was he that good an actor. “Dear God, no.” He laughed when she grinned. “But I was sort of focused on doing that for you.” At the desire that spiked in her drowsy, sexy eyes, he pushed her to her back. “Not that I can’t take care of that now.”
She opened her mouth, then shut it again.
“You’re not going to argue, huh?”
She shook her head, laughter and need mingling in her dark brown eyes.
“Smart girl.” He leaned down and kissed her. “I’ll be right back.”
She half sat up as he left the bed, but he waved her back. “Clean-up duty.” While in the bathroom, he also turned on the warm water and soaked a washcloth with it. Making sure it wasn’t too hot, he wrung out the excess water and returned to the bedroom.
She looked quizzically at the little white towel, but said nothing. He slid onto the queen-size bed and urged her to the middle. “Prop your head on the pillows.” She tugged several beneath her head. “And hand me the other one.” She looked at him, but said nothing and pushed the last one toward him.
He shifted between her legs, then began to tuck the pillow beneath her hips. Her eyes widened in that way they did, and he smiled. “Trust me.”
She shot him a look, but relaxed back on the pillows again. He wondered that she’d never played around like this before. Her previous partners must have been lawyers, too, he surmised with a private smile.
Once her hips were gently lifted, he spread her legs more widely. “Keep them here.” Before she could reply, he unfolded the warm towel and laid it right between her legs. She gasped and started to sit up, but before he could even say anything, she sighed and laid right back down.
“God, that feels really good.”
“Close your eyes and just relax. And enjoy.”
Even as she nodded, her eyes were drifting shut.
He let the warmth of the towel soak into her, soothing her where he’d so recently been roughly moving against that soft skin. She moaned softly as he gently pressed the heel of his hand down against the warm towel.
He maintained the pressure, then slowly moved his palm down, until one finger dragged slowly and gently in the crease between her legs. She gasped again, this time her hips moving up to push against his finger.