When I Need You

by Lorelei James

  caressing my butt. Squeezing and teasing and rocking my pelvis against his so I could feel how I affected him.

  The heat generated between us sent my nerve endings into overdrive. I tingled from head to toe. My heart raced and I’d never experienced such a sense of urgency. The only thing that would calm the growing wildness inside me was more of his confident caresses, more mouth to skin contact, more . . . everything.

  The stairs creaked, and voices echoed up to us.

  Keeping me sheltered by his body, he spun me around and walked us backward. His eyes held such intensity my belly swooped. “Can we get out of here as soon as I’m done with this?”

  “Please.”

  He parked me at a table and dropped a firm kiss on my lips.

  Ash and Nolan joined us. They trash-talked him until Jensen walked up to the DJ station.

  Simone’s regular customers sat on the far side of the bar.

  Jensen returned after he made his song selection.

  Nolan handed him a bottle of water. “Thought you might need to clear the frog out of your throat, Kermit.”

  “I’d skip trying out for open mike night at the comedy club, Nolan.”

  Ash snickered.

  Jensen held out his hand. “Gimme my damn keys.”

  Simone had the microphone and she said, “JB, come on up. You’re the next contestant on Name That Karaoke Tune. And please, no help from the audience.”

  My stomach knotted when Jensen lumbered up to the front like his feet were encased in concrete. He fussed with the microphone, keeping his head down. I was tempted to race up, snatch the mike from his hands and tell him he had nothing to prove to his cousins.

  As Jensen adjusted his ball cap and waited for the DJ to cue the music, I’d regretted every comment I’d cracked about his lack of experience in the arts.

  There were four beats and the song kicked in.

  At first, I thought the DJ had forgotten to mute the vocals because the sound coming out of the speakers . . . sounded exactly like the recording.

  Exactly.

  My jaw dropped when I realized that was Jensen belting out “Rich Girl” like he was auditioning for Hall and Oates.

  Holy shit.

  Jensen Lund could sing. Really sing. Like a musical-theater-major kind of sing.

  Totally unexpected song choice, but he had the range for it.

  Immediately I jumped to my feet and started whistling and clapping.

  Behind me, Nolan said my name, but I couldn’t tear my eyes off Jensen for a second to turn around to see what he wanted.

  “Red Hot!”

  I spun around. “What?”

  “We know you’re a cheerleader. Park it. And no herkeys, for god’s sake. I can’t see my cousin making an idiot out of me.”

  “Sorry.” I scooted my chair off to the side.

  In my peripheral vision, I saw Nolan peeling bills from his money clip and muttering as he stacked them on the table in front of a smug-looking Ash. I raised an eyebrow at him.

  Ash grinned. “Nolan bet me a lot of money that Jensen wouldn’t take the karaoke challenge, but he did. Then he bet me a lot more money Jens would suck at it. Obviously, Jens doesn’t suck.”

  “Did you know he could sing like this?”

  “No comment.”

  “Come on. You knew. How?”

  “In high school Dallas was having issues with some mean girls calling her a ‘rich bitch.’ Jens got wind of it through Annika and he set up a karaoke machine at my parents’ house. He took Dallas to task, told her to own it and be proud of all our family had done. Then he challenged her to sing ‘Rich Girl’ at the school talent show. So I heard him sing it a few times as he helped her get ready for it.”

  “Then you default, fucker, if you knew he could sing,” Nolan said, trying to take the money back.

  I let them bicker and refocused on Jensen. He was completely into the music, not paying attention to us at all. So when he finished and saw me on my feet cheering for him, he smiled shyly. His face turned a little red when others in the bar started to chant “Encore, encore!”

  Even Simone wolf-whistled.

  He nodded at the DJ, who had the next tune already lined up. I didn’t recognize “Rock Me Gently” but it had a very 1970s, Neil Diamond vibe to it. I wondered how Jens knew the song and remembered him talking about his parents’ eclectic musical tastes. But at that point how he knew it didn’t matter; I was fully under the spell of Jensen Lund’s voice. The smooth style with a rock edge just . . . fit him.

  I cheered louder for the second song than I had the first.

  So did the crowd.

  As awkward as he initially appeared, now the man looked as if he owned that stage.

  He’d suckered me and his cousins big-time.

  I could hardly believe he picked “Gettin’ You Home” by Chris Young as his next song. How had he known it was my favorite?

  Of course. Calder.

  As I watched him moving side to side, giving his performance his all, the words he sang to me hit me hard. The longing in that sexy growl promising the ultimate sexual satisfaction. I nearly had a mini-O right there, with Jensen’s mesmerizing eyes staring into mine as if I were the only woman in the room. Heck, as if I were the only woman in the world.

  After he finished the song, he took a half-assed bow and started toward the table. Slowly. Never taking his eyes off mine.

  I couldn’t wait for him to act on that wicked, sexy, dirty aura vibrating off him.

  When Jensen reached us, Ash said, “Quite a performance there, cuz.”

  “Thanks.” Still keeping his gaze locked onto me, he dug his hand into his front pocket, pulled out some folded bills and tossed them on the table. “Great hanging out with you guys, but we’ve gotta go.”

  I didn’t question him—neither did his cousins. He held out his hand to me and I took it.

  Then we were booking it out of the bar at breakneck speed.

  Once we reached his car, Jensen slowed down. He turned and gifted me with a sweet kiss. A brush of lips, a soft flick of his tongue. Not the openmouthed hunger he’d shown me in the bar.

  “Rowan,” he murmured against the corner of my mouth. “Need you naked in my bed. All night.”

  “You can have me naked on the couch, against the wall and in the kitchen too.”

  He devoured me.

  Hands on my ass. The lower half of his body grinding against mine in the way that broadcast he’d rock my world when we were finally skin to skin.

  When we paused to catch our breath, he said, “Let’s go before I lose what little willpower I have left and get even more reckless.”

  I’d forgotten I was playing grab-ass in public with The Rocket and it’d be newsworthy if the press caught us lip-locked and dry-humping in the parking lot of a dive bar. He’d already dodged one bullet tonight. “Sorry.”

  He tipped my head back to stare into my eyes. “What?”

  “I forgot.” I ran my fingers down that infamous chiseled jawline. “In the weeks we’ve spent together I’ve forgotten you’re this super athlete with celebrity status and a major media presence. Now I think of you as just a normal guy who lives across the hall from me.” I think of you as mine.

  “Saying sweet shit like that will get you fucked right where you stand.”

  I blinked at him. “You’re not mad?”

  “I’m relieved.” He moved his lips to my ear and whispered, “Get. In.”

  On the car ride home, Jensen’s hand rested on my thigh when it wasn’t on the stick shift. Every time I took a breath inside the tightly enclosed space, the scent of his cologne filled my lungs. At every stoplight he curled his hand around the side of my face, bringing my mouth to his for another hot and hungry kiss.

  At every stoplight.

  Jensen didn’t talk. In another circumstance I might’ve been worried I’d said or done something wrong. But his silence indicated he was as focused on what came next as I was.

  The comple
x gate came into view. Jensen paused long enough for the digital reader to register the bar code in his window, and the gate opened.

  Immediately after he helped me out of the car, he framed my face in his hands. He wore the oddest look.

  “What?”

  “Have you changed your mind about tonight?”

  “No. Why? Have you?”

  “No.” He traced my bottom lip with his thumb. “We’ve lost some momentum.”

  “How do you plan to get it back?”

  “I’m more of a ‘show’ guy than a ‘tell’ guy.”

  “So show me.”

  Jensen probably would’ve forced me to sprint if I hadn’t been wearing heels. The man was too damn impatient to wait for the elevator, so we raced up the stairs.

  I experienced a surreal moment as we started down the hallway . . . as if the length had expanded, like looking into an infinity mirror until you couldn’t see the end. So it seemed to take an eternity before we reached Jensen’s apartment.

  Guilt pricked my conscience when I glanced at my apartment door. I hadn’t thought about Calder much at all in the past few hours. What kind of mother did that make me?

  “Stop,” Jensen said directly into my ear. “You’re allowed a night of fun. You’re a great mom, but that’s not all you are. You are crazy, sexy hot, baby.”

  He crowded me against the door. As he kissed the side of my neck, his left hand followed the contour of my body from the outside of my thigh, to my hip, up to my ribs and over to my breast.

  “I need you,” he growled in my ear, sending goose bumps cascading across every inch of my skin. His keys jangled as he opened the door and we nearly fell inside.

  Then we were all over each other.

  We kissed crazily as he walked us backward out of the entryway.

  He didn’t even release my mouth when I kicked off my high heels.

  Still kissing as my back met the wall in the living room and my purse hit the floor.

  I’d never known what it was like to be wanted—or to want—this desperately.

  His kisses sizzled on my skin like drops of water on a woodstove.

  I hissed, “Yes,” as if I were literally letting off steam from the heat building between us.

  His foray into licking, sucking and nibbling on my neck didn’t last long. He returned to my mouth, teasing me with a feathery brush of his damp lips over every line, divot and curve of my lips. He systematically destroyed everything I’ve ever known about kissing.

  There were kisses.

  And there was the way Jensen Lund kissed.

  I reached for him blindly, desperate to touch any part of him.

  Next thing I knew, he held both my wrists together in one hand, behind my back.

  His mouth was on my ear. “Am I doing something you don’t like?”

  “No!”

  “Then keep your hands out of my way.”

  “But—”

  He shut me up with another brain-scrambling kiss as he unhooked the halter straps of my dress, letting the silky material brush over every inch of my skin. His callused fingers followed the satin edges of my strapless bra to the back and he undid the clasp.

  My bra fell away.

  Big, hot hard palms covered my chest. His rough skin stroked the softness of mine as he cupped one breast in each hand, letting his thumbs sweep across my nipples as lightly as a whisper. Over and over until I moaned with frustration and broke the kiss.

  His masculine, slightly mean chuckle vibrated against my throat.

  I whispered his name and a soft please.

  Jensen’s thin thread of control wavered. Groaning, he hoisted me higher against the wall, kissing my breasts as thoroughly as he had my mouth. Muttering unintelligible things into my cleavage.

  I squirmed and arched and went a little wild.

  That turned him wild.

  He quickly yanked the bottom of my dress up to my waist. When his fingers connected with my bare backside, he froze. Another growling groan. His breath came hard and fast against my swollen nipples. “If I’d known you were wearing a thong under this dress we never would’ve gone to that damn bar.”

  “Then I wouldn’t know how well you can sing.”

  I felt him smile against my breast and then his mouth meandered back up, zigzagging sideways to scatter hot, wet kisses from the ball of my shoulder up to the hollow of my ear. “I wanna make you sing.” He traced the outer shell of my ear with the very tip of his tongue. “Actually, I want to make you scream.”

  Oh god. I’d never survive this. Jensen Lund was way too much man for me to handle. I was already quaking like a damn leaf in a windstorm and we weren’t even fully naked yet.

  “Rowan,” he said sharply.

  “You give me chills when you say my name all growly like that.”

  He curled his left hand around my hip and trailed the tips of his fingers up the inside of my thigh as he continued to kiss and nuzzle my neck.

  My knees literally started to knock.

  Jensen chuckled. “You know what’ll stop that?”

  “I don’t want anything to stop it, Jensen. I want more.”

  “Spread. Your. Legs.”

  I had no idea that a steely command delivered in a whisper could be so sexy.

  I had no idea I’d just . . . obey.

  I had no idea he’d lose his cool when he felt how hot and wet I was between my legs.

  Jensen took my mouth in a fierce kiss. As ruthless as his mouth was, his fingers were gentle as he started to stroke me, right over the lace of my thong.

  With his determination and skill it’d take very little to finish me off. But no way was I stopping this crazy rocket ride and asking him to slow down. I’d enjoy every blasted second of it.

  When the fuse inside me finally blew, I had to rip my mouth away from his so I could breathe through the pulsating vibrations that had me shuddering in his arms.

  Jensen kissed my neck, maintaining the perfect rhythm until I recovered.

  I swallowed hard—evidently gasping from an incredible climax left your mouth dry. Who knew? Not me, as I’d never experienced that before.

  I shook my head to clear the fuzz and buzz.

  Then Jensen’s cocky smile landed on my lips. He was back to rebuilding the momentum and that buzz of awareness between us.

  I felt the power of him all the way to the soles of my feet. A persistent vibration.

  Wait a second. That buzzing wasn’t just my body’s reaction to him. My phone was in my purse. Buzzing on the floor by my feet.

  I had to tear my mouth away from his again. “Jensen.”

  “Bring those lips back here. I’m not even close to done with them,” he said on a husky whisper.

  “Hold on for a second. My phone is buzzing.”

  Jensen immediately released me to the floor.

  I pulled my cell out and my heart jumped into my throat. The