by Crowe, Liz
By the time the elevator doors slid open, Jack already stood, a smile on his face, a blindfold dangling from his fingers. He tugged her out of the lift, pulled her close, walking her backwards until she was pressed against the wall outside the condo door, kissing her with a dizzy intensity.
“Dear God, but I have missed you,” he said into her skin. She closed her eyes, determined to be the recipient of this, as Jack moved his body against hers. She put her arms around neck, looking up into his eyes in a way that gave him a moment of pause.
She looked ready for him, physically. He could practically smell the pheromones swirling around them both. But was that all she wanted?
Deciding not to think too hard about it, he grasped her back with both hands and kissed her once more, shutting out his own sudden misgivings. She gasped when he broke away and held her face in his hands. “C’mon in,” he whispered, touching her nose with his lips. “I’ve been waiting weeks for this.”
He reached behind her and turned the knob. Smells and sights assaulted her senses. Flashes of candlelight, a plate piled high with strawberries, a floor covered in rose petals, a bottle of champagne chilling on ice. A fire danced in the grate. Soft music came from somewhere. She could see the bed, a giant four-poster with stark white duvet and sheets—just his style.
Jack’s strong arm circled her waist, his lips tickling her ear. “Welcome.” He pulled her to the giant bed and sat, tugging her onto his lap. She straddled him, her brain on fire and her body not far behind.
“Just this once, Jack.” Her voice broke. “Then we’re done. Do you understand?”
“Hmmm… we’ll see about that.” He pushed her back up, ran his hands down her body, and then stood, burrowing into her psyche with his deep stare. He ran a finger across her lips. “Leave it to me. Deal?” She nodded, not trusting her voice.
He reached over for the champagne but bypassed it, instead taking a cube of ice and putting it against her lips. He smiled, letting it trail a chilly line down her neck. She shivered, loving and hating the pleasure/pain of this, knowing it was only the beginning.
“Hey!” She shuddered and jumped away when he let the cube drop between her breasts. His grin nearly broke her in two.
Dear Lord, she’d missed him, too. Something happened as she took the step between them, closing the chasm she’d created a few short months before. He grabbed her hand, brought it to his lips, sucked each finger into his mouth, then pressed a kiss to her palm.
“Look at me, Sara.” His voice had a low grumble to it she recognized, and if she’d been wearing panties, they’d be damp at the sound of it. “Tonight will be different.”
She swallowed hard and started to speak. He put a finger over her lips. “Different from all the other times. I…I need you to understand how I feel. To really pay attention. Deal?”
He held her close, still whispering in her ear. His hand roamed down her back, cupped her ass. She gasped when he pressed into her, his need obvious, hard and urgent against the clingy, now irritating fabric of her dress.
She nodded and he released her. She ran a nervous hand up her arm, started to unlatch the halter-top. He stopped her then, nearly bringing her to her knees with lust. “No. Let me.” He flipped it open with one movement. The dress dropped to the floor. “Oh yes. So perfect.” He cupped one breast, ran his other hand down her hip and back up. “Leave the shoes on.”
“Jack, I’m… I’m scared.” Her lip trembled. An unwanted tear escaped down her cheek. She jerked her chin at the paraphernalia. “I’m terrified of how I feel about you. That can’t be good, can it?”
He smiled, slipping out of his jacket. Without a word and keeping his gaze locked on hers, he led her to the bed and lay her back against a huge mound of pillows which kept her propped up as he pressed his lips to her neck, shoulders, collarbones, and lower. She shivered as he ran both hands down her arms, moving back to slant his mouth over hers, possessing her with his lips and tongue. Her entire body responded, sending zings of pleasure shooting from her toes to her scalp.
“Oh God,” she gasped when he dropped to his knees in front of her, pulled one of her legs over his shoulder. “I’m—oh Jesus, Jack.” He sucked her clit hard, making her hips buck against him. It hurt, and was, at the same time, the most exquisite feeling on the planet. Just as the room lightened around her, the climax roaring up from her core, he released her. She could hardly catch a breath, watched as he reached for a strawberry, dredged it through the cream and held it to her lips.
She opened her mouth, but he kept it out of reach. She could smell it, the heavy richness of white coating the deep red fruit. He grinned, popped it into his own mouth, but before she could whine he had another one pressed to her lips. She bit into it, letting it drench her senses, the cream running down the side of her mouth. He leaned in and licked it from her neck, but forcing her leg down when she tried to wrap it around him.
“No, Sara. Not yet.” He took the champagne bottle and took a drink from it, held it to her lips and smiled as she gulped at it. One more strawberry followed, fat, bloated, and delicious.
Sara had the immediate sensation of drowning, in his eyes, in his voice, wanting more than anything for him to kiss her again. “Kiss me. Please?” she whispered, licking her lips as he released his cufflinks and rolled up his sleeves.
In a blink, he was at her mouth, teasing, licking, tracing the line of it with his tongue but staying out of reach. She whimpered, but he kept at it, teasing, letting his palms flit over her sensitized skin, bringing every nerve ending she had to strict attention.
A blindfold covered her eyes. A rich cinnamon, gingery exotic scent filled her nose. “I know you don’t like this.” His voice hovered at her ear. “The blindfold. But I need you to wear it. Try out your other senses.” She felt his fingertip trace her neck, across her collarbones, to one aching nipple then the other. It reached her stomach, then lower, making her groan when he pressed there, then lower, filling her, stretching her body, making her shudder.
As her groans filled the room, he stopped. No lips, no fingers, nothing. She took a deep breath and let the waxy, sweet, rich combination of smells roll through her brain. Hands gripped her hips and tugged her forward.
The soft music he’d been playing, the trickle of a waterfall installed along one wall, all ceased as if a switch had been flipped. All she needed, all she wanted to hear was his voice. She lifted her hips and gave into his talented lips, tongue and at some point, the gentle nip of his teeth on her most sensitive parts. “Jack, I…Jack…”
“I’m right here, baby.” His lips found hers again, and she tasted herself on them. When his fingers found her sex, giving her pressure then releasing, then he slipped fingers inside her, reaching high, aiming right for her sweet spot she cried out with pleasure.
“Mmm… very nice.” He pulled his fingers out, and she tasted herself when he put them to her lips. She sucked hard, thrilled to hear his breath catch, the soft satisfied sound he made.
Then nothing, again. More silence descended. She knew he’d left the room, could sense his absence as keenly as his presence. Her skin prickled. But she didn’t cry out. She knew she didn’t have to. He’d be back. He’d always be back. That realization took hold, made her suck in a breath.
He would always be back.
The sensation of calm, of ease, of completeness settled around her nerves. When his fingers dug into her hips once more, she whimpered. “I need you,” she whispered, “so much.” Hands fiddled with her hair, pins dropped to the bed cover as he released it, letting it flow around her shoulders and down her back. Fingers threaded through it, pulling a little, then rubbing her scalp and neck
“I know you do. I’m here. I’ll always be here for you, Sara.” He said in between bringing her close to orgasm again without even touching her anywhere but her hair and neck. “Oh please Jack. Please, I need to come.”
“No. Not yet. You have to wait.”
He covered her lips, sweeping into her m
outh with his tongue, tangling both hands in her hair. His kiss spoke to her, reminded her that he’d be here for her. Always. Tears slicked her face and she tasted salt on his lips.
“Ready?” he asked. She nodded, not knowing what came next, only that Jack had her, and he’d never hurt her or let her be hurt. She let out a scream of shock when he pressed ice cubes to her nipples. The intensity of it made stars flash behind her eyes. Pleasure and pain shot through her.
“Holy shit, Jack that’s… ahhh.”
He licked her neck, keeping both hands on her breasts.
“Shhh… relax.” His voice oozed into her psyche. The room got loud again, the music and the waterfall sounds slamming into her brain, making her whimper. A strawberry appeared at her lips and she bit down on it, let the juice drip down her neck, groaning when he licked it away.
Sara knew she hovered at a precipice. She could make a choice. At that moment, her body craved release but her brain had settled. Her nerves no longer jangled as they had been doing for weeks. The rough sound of his voice, the touch of his hand, just the looks he’d been shooting her all night had brought her to that moment. She took a breath and let it take her, let her body fully relax for the first time in months.
He tugged her up gently and turned her around, stroking her shoulders and hips. He must have shed his shirt at some point and the delicious sensation of his flesh against her back made her sigh and arch her back.
Panic shot through her and she tried to get the blindfold off. The moment she’d been attacked last year came swirling through her lust-addled mind. But her brain kept pouring some kind of calming elixir over her nerves. It had to be the strangest sensation in the world. Abject terror, frustrated anger at the way he was toying with her, and a clean, pure jolt of desire warred in her. Then, suddenly crystal clear calm made all the turbulence, all the chaos of her last year fade into nothingness, like it had never happened.
She burst into tears, could hear herself sobbing, could taste the tears slip out from under the blindfold.
“Give it to me, Sara. Let me have it.” He bit her neck, ran a hand across her ass. “It’s mine. All of it. Your fear, hate, anger, love— it’s mine. Come, baby. Show me how much you want it.” Her body obeyed even as the astonishing tranquility poured through her psyche. Fluid coated her thighs as she moaned, cried his name, but couldn’t hear herself. Her words slurred and her vision darkened behind the blindfold. The orgasm plowed her under, made her entire body release energy from the tip of her tingling scalp to her shaking toes. She dropped forward onto her hands and knees on the bed.
“Jack, please, I need… you.” Those were the words she tried to say, but they made no sense, garbled with some strange intense emotion she had no name for, as her entire universe narrowed to a pinprick of light, then winked out. At the center of the dark hallway he stood, arms out.
“I’ve got you, baby. I will always have you.” He pulled her up and into his arms.
Jack couldn’t breathe. But although his chest ached and his eyes burned, the intensity of renewed purpose made him feel better than he had in years—hell, his entire life. His woman needed him. He knew her best and her worst, and wanted it all. Her moan, cries, and bone-deep orgasm nearly brought him to his knees. When she fell into his arms he caught her, holding her close as they dropped to the floor together.
The beast in him roared, beat its chest, dimmed his vision, and heightened his other senses. He could smell her lust release from every pore. He felt her skin, wet, hot all over as he kissed her. Primal need flared. Even though he’d already come and had to leave the room to wipe himself off his dick was still so hard it made his teeth ache.
Sweet Jesus, what a fucking buzz.
“Jack,” she muttered against his neck as he smoothed her hair back, letting her presence, this moment, infuse his soul. “I…love you.”
“I know, baby.” He smiled, picked her up and laid her on the bed. Starting at her feet he found every inch of her flesh with his lips and tongue, working his way up from her luscious sex, dipping into her belly button, lapping the sweat from between her luscious breasts, then finally up the long line of her neck to her lips once again.
He allowed himself a moment to feel her sex pulse against him before he entered her body with one firm thrust, unable to hold back, groaning as she enveloped him, gripped his cock. “Fuck me hard, Jack. I need it.” She gasped but he slowed, wanting to relish it, take his time. Her body spread, taking his girth, pulsing, tugging him straight over the cliff.
“Sara, I won’t last long, baby.”
“Fill me, Jack. Please, give me what I gave you.” Her eyes were bright. As he lowered his lips to hers, she brought both legs up, giving him a better angle. He pounded into her, groaning into her mouth, their bodies dancing toward release together. The orgasm flashed bright behind his eyes and his hips thrust hard again and again, the smell of their combined lust swirling around him.
“Ah God!” He grunted, and his body tensed before releasing. A glorious shaft of pure pleasure ripped him in two. The gut-deep climax gripped him, his hips kept pumping, filling her body, fulfilling a primal function as old as time.
“I love you, Sara. So much. I—I need you in my life. Please. Please stay with me.”
Chapter Eighteen
Sara had never in her nearly thirty years of life felt so content. So utterly sated and happy. How he had done it, she had no idea. One thing was certain, all the signs and signals, conversations and long nights awake, wishing to be in his arms again, led her to this exact moment. She’d found her man and she’d do anything to keep him. He sighed, slipped out of her, and collapsed down on the bed.
She stretched, went up on an elbow and watched him, saw the familiar signs of his body easing out of one mode and into another. She ran a finger down his stubbled jaw. “Wow.” She smiled when he raised an eyebrow at her.
“Master of the understatement, aren’t you?”
“Don’t laugh, Jack. That was… just… wow. Can we do it again?”
He tugged her to his chest, pressed kisses against her hair. “Sure, baby. Any time you want.” She got up and wandered into the fully stocked bathroom.
She stared at herself a minute.
Sara, you’ve done the exact opposite of what you told yourself. You let him do this, manipulate you, control you.
She shook her head, shutting down the negative noises inside it.
It’s what I want. No, it’s what I need.
She washed her hands, passed them down her body. She felt full, complete, and ripe. A stab of fear iced its way into her consciousness, thoughts of bad timing and a distinct lack of condoms making her suddenly dizzy.
She held back the panic fluttering on the edges of her horizon. No, she was safe with him. She knew it now. Still… letting herself go like that had been terrifying, exhilarating, and now made her heart pound with residual anxiety. She needed him again, badly. But she forced herself to stay alone another minute to gather her wits.
Biting her lip, she decided to keep that detail about bad timing and no condoms out of the pillow talk for now. When she walked back to into the room, she found the bed rumpled and empty. Following the sound of his voice she discovered him in the kitchen, naked, drinking from the champagne bottle again, his phone to his ear. He handed the bottle to her and finished talking to Jason, giving him final orders about wrapping up the party. Unable to resist, she palmed his cock, grinning when he pulled the phone from his ear and groaned.
“Okay, I’ll be back down in a few. Buy you a nightcap.” He dropped the phone on the counter, and lowered his lips to hers, kissing her with passion, intensity, and emotion, leaving her breathless and wanting more. “Baby, keep that up and poor Jason will be stuck waiting for me another hour at least.” He cupped her breast. “But if I’m not mistaken, I think I forgot to give you something.” She frowned when he moved back into the bedroom, returning with what was unmistakably another jeweler’s box.
The ring was lov
ely, not as flashy as before but no less impressive, and it fit her like a charm. She swallowed, nodded, and wrapped herself around him. “Mine.” She heard him mutter into her neck. He released her, ran a finger down her cheek. “No more blonde boy toy? I win this round?”
She shrugged out of his arms. Alarm bells rang loud in her clearing head. A sudden tightening in her chest made her gasp. She tried to keep her voice light, but felt herself shutting down, letting go of the exquisite clarity he’d brought her earlier. “What did you say?”
He tried to pull her back but anger deafened her, made her dizzy, breathless. She ran back into the bedroom and pulled her dress on. She’d done it again. She’d let herself go. This time farther than she ever had. She’d let him release all her fears and… and… dear God.
She sank to the floor, covered her eyes. He tugged her to her feet, but she pulled away, ring in hand already.
“Nice try, Jack, really. A solid ‘A’ for fucking effort. You don’t win me. I—”
His eyes darkened. “God damn it to hell and back, woman, did you not hear anything I said? Did I not give you what you needed? Christ almighty!” He ran a hand through his hair. “I love you. Can’t you believe that? I don’t think you’re a prize to win. I’m—oh hell.” He stepped into his pants, found his shirt, and shoved his arms into the sleeves. “You’re impossible.”
Sara thought she could actually hear the last bit of her heart cracking into a million pieces. His eyes snapped with fury. He dropped to the bed, his head in his hands.
“Come home with me tonight. I need to wrap this place up first, then we could get some real food, talk.”
She allowed him to hold her hand in his, but shook her head no. He stood and pulled her to him, crushed her up against his chest, leaned down to kiss her but she turned away. Her mind literally spun, coming down off an amazing high of the long, sexy buildup to their connection; but she was starting to panic at the thought of Craig, her brother, her friends.
