James stood behind her.
Dropping her fists and straightening, she had no clue what to say. Everything in her mind was blank, scrambled.
He moved close, took her in his arms, and held her face against his chest as he hugged her. Strong fingers cupped the back of her head, massaging her scalp gently.
It was instant comfort she’d never felt before.
They stood like that, both of them silent, for almost a minute. The way her body was pressed to his, she could feel the power he possessed...the inherent strength in him and the skill he probably trained constantly to maintain.
She wanted that power for herself.
Nina often dreamed she was a vampire - sipping from the strength, happiness, and peace of others. Taking a little here and there to sustain her. It might not kill them, but she had the ability to leave a person drained in one way or another.
While the way she was might not be fatal...it was far from harmless.
James hugged her closer and said, “I imagine you deal with shit human beings like Miller a lot in your life.”
“It’s my own…”
“If you say the word fault, I might be forced to spank your ass right here on this trail. Your body is a work of art. The clothes you wear are the frame it’s in, and being displayed to perfection with a spotlight on you doesn’t give anyone the right to think you belong to them.”
Blinking hard, Nina tried to stop the tears that soaked into his expensive suit jacket. She never cried around men. She never let them witness vulnerability.
Particularly a man she intended to fuck.
“I won’t assume anything and I won’t attempt to own you.” Her tears were hot as he bent to kiss the top of her head, tightening his arms. “You’ll benefit from time with me but it won’t be in material things or connections.”
Leaning back, he removed a handkerchief from inside his jacket and wiped her tears with a delicate touch. Returning it to his pocket, he gathered her hair and lifted it off the back of her neck.
His eyes flicked down, up again, and he murmured, “You are the embodiment of temptation, Nina. Did you choose this outfit for me?”
“Yes.”
He winked. “I’ll try not to ruin it.”
In spite of her internal chaos, she laughed. “How are you like this, James? I don’t understand how your mind works.”
“I grew up in foster care. Ran off when I was sixteen and became a petty criminal who got into a lot of skirmishes because I was mouthy. Tried to lift Bennett’s wallet outside the airport and he had his bodyguard shove me into the back of his limo.” One side of his mouth lifted in a smile. “I was given a silver lining young enough to change the entire course of my life. You got one, too. You met Rowan, Miss Jeffries...and Gage.”
She stared at him. “You know...”
“I know every traceable fact about your life from birth, Nina. As I gathered the portfolio for Bennett, I found myself blown away by the woman you became. Your beauty is ethereal but that’s not what draws me to you. Underneath the seductive clothes, the body that represents half the male population’s fantasies, and the take no prisoners sexual attitude is a survivor. The street fighter who lives inside you makes my entire body hum, Nina. You’re a woman who’d rip someone apart with her bare hands if she had to...and no one would ever expect it.”
Reaching out, he wrapped his fingers around the side of her neck and applied subtle pressure.
She didn’t resist.
Lowering to her, he held her gaze. Before their lips touched, he said gruffly, “Take your fill, Nina. Take all you need without regret. I’ll never run out of what you crave. Show me how greedy you can be.”
He licked lightly across her lips and gave a low moan. Then he devoured her and Nina wanted to crawl inside his body with him and never leave.
Picking her up as he ate at her mouth, he carried her off the trail and behind a thick tree. He pressed her against a smooth limestone wall as his palm slipped up the back of her thigh.
Normally the aggressor, Nina felt drunk on how he touched her. His fingers slipped between her legs and under her panties. One long finger swirled around the entrance of her pussy before moving up to circle her clit.
Breaking the kiss, he growled, “As wet as I hoped. Your little clit is throbbing for attention.” She dropped her head against the warm stone and tried to keep her eyes open. “I want you to come all over my fingers so I can taste you, Nina. It will give me so much to look forward to when I’m able to bury my face between your legs.”
She gasped, her body straining.
“The thought of eating your sweet pussy makes my goddamn mouth water.” Then she came and it had never happened so quickly or explosively. “That’s it. Ride it, Nina.”
Her hips worked against his hand as she reached out to drag his mouth to hers. Shuddering, she felt physically weak. He didn’t struggle to hold her up.
James stroked the flat of his fingers through her folds and back to her pussy, pushing two fingers deep. Then he lifted them to his lips and sucked them clean.
“Next time, I’ll lap up every drop with my tongue.”
He kissed her and petted his palms over her body. Tugging down the neckline of her dress, he bent to suck her nipple and she couldn’t control the full body shiver it caused. Moving enough of the fabric to suck the other one, he moaned around her flesh.
His fingers returned beneath her panties to play with her clit again and she was shocked that she was quickly on the verge of another climax. He lifted her dress and tugged down her panties to the tops of her thighs.
“Look how gorgeous you are.” Nina watched him through half-lidded eyes. He rubbed her slowly, enthralled with the way his hand looked on her. “I can’t wait to see what my cock looks like sliding through these soft pussy lips, the head rubbing your aching little clit.” He licked his lips. “I need more time but…”
James crouched in front of her and sucked her clit, released it, sucked it again. She almost fell from the pleasure.
“Yes, Nina...yes.” He lapped at her lazily, holding her hips in his hands as she rode the second orgasm. She realized she leaned heavily on his shoulders when he moved to stand. “I need to get back but I’ll be thinking about the next chance I’ll get to lick your pretty pussy.”
After a scorching kiss, he removed the handkerchief he’d used to dry her tears and wiped his lips, his fingers, and between her legs. Settling her panties in place, he adjusted her dress and smoothed her hair over her shoulders.
With a shaking hand, she reached out to straighten his tie, his jacket, and the front of his shirt.
James picked her up and carried her back to the trail so she didn’t have trouble in her heels. Placing her gently on her feet, he slipped his palm down her bare arm to her hand.
Tucking it in the bend of his arm, he said, “Miss Adams, if you’ll allow me to escort you back?” She nodded dazedly and he grinned. “Tell me.”
“I-I didn’t get you off…”
Winking, he said, “Don’t keep score because I plan to make you come ten times to every one of mine.”
Her eyes wide, he dropped a kiss on her lips and led her back to the party. Before it came into view, he explained, “It’s inappropriate for me to be too familiar with one of Bennett’s guests but understand that it’s protocol...not preference. Do you understand, Nina?”
“Yes.”
James kissed her hand and backed several paces before turning and jogging up the steps to the courtyard.
She stood where she was for several minutes, processing.
Nina located a guest bath and washed her face and hands. Staring at her reflection, she murmured, “Your arsenal is useless against him. He has all the control.”
Normally, such a thought would fill her with fear.
James made her want. No man had ever made her want beyond the moment they spent together.
He was dangerous...and she didn’t care.
Chapter Six
&
nbsp; Rowan and her husband returned to the festivities in the late afternoon and Bennett looked much improved.
The sun dipped low and Nina held up her portion of the conversation with the couple, Gage, and Miss Jeffries.
Just over Bennett’s shoulder, James stood with his hands crossed in front of him. His expression was blank but each time his eyes landed on Nina, they were filled with information.
It was impossible not to react but easy to hide how wet she was, how rapidly her heartbeat, and how she counted the minutes.
Not counting the minutes of a day that sometimes felt as if it would swallow her alive, but to the moment when James would touch her again.
For the first time, her addiction to the calm following sex was centered on a specific person...something that had never happened to her before.
Usually, when she needed, almost anyone would do.
Now, to her shock - and with more than a small amount of fear involved - she discovered she needed him specifically.
As staff members came and went, Nina contributed to conversation when spoken to, and focused on keeping her hands steady as she reached for her glass or used her silverware.
She was an excellent actress and she used her skills to remain poised in the company of others for hours. The tension of the wait left her shaken and uncertain.
After dinner, there were live performances - like a miniature Cirque de Sole experience in the Jefferson’s backyard. When they were done, Bennett accepted a microphone from the DJ and wished his wife a happy birthday.
They didn’t share a passionate kiss - something Nina could see they wanted to do. They didn’t dance together as they took seats to watch the fireworks beside Miss Jeffries.
From her position across the courtyard, Nina figured out how the Jefferson’s relationship differed from any other she’d ever witnessed.
Bennett’s heart condition meant he couldn’t risk elevating his blood pressure for any reason - not even to make love to the woman he clearly adored...and who loved him back just as much.
Softly, she murmured, “Oh, Rowan...how selfless you are.”
Gage looked at her with a frown and she shook her head slowly, staring at the pavers beneath her feet. She’d never confess such an intimate observation to the man who still loved Rowan to distraction.
The differences between them - the ones that had always existed between Rowan and Nina - were never more glaringly obvious. It made Nina’s heart hurt, her mind blank, and her body shake.
The realization filled her with shame.
As the first fireworks exploded overhead, Nina slipped away.
Finding a bench in deep shadow, she lowered to it and put her face in her hands. The scent of James registered before the warmth of his body settled at her side.
His arm wrapped around her, holding her against him. “It’s alright that you’re not the same, Nina. It’s what made you such good friends. It’s what will make your future friendship so strong.”
Weeping painfully but silently as she’d learned to do when she was a child, she couldn’t look at him. She worried about contaminating him where he touched her.
Her darkness would obliterate his light.
As if he could read her mind, James lifted Nina fully to his lap and held her harder. Flashes of light from the fireworks flickered over the space every few seconds and he forced her face up to look at him.
Wiping her tears with his thumb, he whispered, “Let me help, Nina.”
He didn’t look away from her face as his hand explored her. Lightly skimming his fingertips over her face, he stroked them through her hair. Along the column of her neck to her shoulder, down to cup her breast, his thumb rubbed across her nipple gently. His hand curved along her ribs and down to her waist where he delivered a careful squeeze.
“A lesser woman wouldn’t have come here, wouldn’t have faced the friend she hurt. Rowan needs you in her life and she’ll need you more as time goes on.”
Nina sniffed quietly and couldn’t look away from his face as multi-colored lights gave her glimpses of him.
“She’ll cling to you as the worldly older sister who never pulls her punches. Right now, you’re off-balance, feeling shame for a mistake made so long ago, and comparing yourself to a person whose life was not the same, Nina. Rowan’s life was not like yours...and she knows that. It’s why she felt more hurt than anger when everything happened between you. Let her forgive you. Let her lean on you, and along the way, maybe you can forgive yourself.”
His palm slipped over her hip to her upper thigh. Nina held her breath. James cradled Nina against him, held her in the bend of his arm, and delivered a kiss that was as powerful as it was delicate.
“One touch at a time. One word at a time. That’s what it will take to close the wounds that have bled inside you all your life. First, we close them,” he kissed her again, “then we let them scar over,” another kiss, “then we work on getting you accustomed to less pain.”
“That...could take years,” she whispered.
“I’m a patient man, Nina.” Devouring her lips, he slipped his hand beneath her dress and into her panties.
She moaned into his mouth and he drank down the sound. Fondling her gently, he let his fingertips coast over flesh still hypersensitive from his earlier attention.
Panting, she accepted the pleasure he offered and let her mind blank. Dropping one of her feet to the pavement beneath the bench, she opened her body more fully and worked herself against his hand.
Breaking the kiss, he stared into her eyes as she chased what she needed. “Take it, sweetheart. Take what you need.”
The climax exploded and her body arched in his arms. He never stopped moving over the tight bundle of nerves as the orgasm rippled over her skin and dug deep.
As it let her go a minute later, she went limp against him breathing heavily.
“I could become addicted to watching you come,” he told her softly, his palm cupping her folds.
Raising her again, he made love to her mouth and it was the first time Nina understood the expression.
Soaking up the warmth, strength, and stillness of a man she never expected to touch someone like her, Nina sipped, sipped, sipped from him.
Taking as she always took.
The realization made her release a soft cry against his mouth. He pulled back to look at her.
“One touch at a time. One word at a time, Nina. I won’t stop until you understand your value.” Removing his hand from her clothes, he rubbed his fingers across her lips. “I don’t know how you don’t see it but it’s clear that you don’t.”
Licking the flavor of her body away, he showed her a glimpse of the animal who paced inside him.
Sitting her up, he fisted his fingers in her hair to brace her for a different sort of kiss. The kind that instantly made her womb clench, her nipples tighten, and her toes curl.
He held her immobile and showed no mercy as he ate at her mouth. Dragging his lips along her jaw, his teeth grazed her neck. At the bend of her shoulder, he set them over the muscle and stayed for several beats of her heart.
It was primal, animalistic, and nothing had ever turned Nina on as much.
Then he was standing, walking rapidly from the small seating area. Arms and legs wrapped around his body, Nina didn’t know where they were going and didn’t ask because it didn’t matter.
He held her head against his shoulder, shielding her face as they went through a small entrance on the side of the Jefferson’s house and up a flight of stairs.
There was the sound of a door opening, then closing, and he placed her on her feet.
Pale light told her she was in a bedroom. Through a large window, fireworks were visible above the man-made lake behind the house.
Dropping to one knee, James removed her sandals and slipped the scrap of panties from beneath her dress, down her legs, and off her feet. Hands on her hips, he nudged her back and she sat on the bed she hadn’t realized was behind her.
Gliding his palms up her side, he removed her dress and paused for a moment to take her in.
Releasing a low growl, he lifted one of her feet and set it on the edge of the mattress. She dropped her hands behind her to hold herself up.
Fully dressed, he dragged the flat of his tongue from her pussy to her clit and suckled it for a moment before repeating the lick. He pressed his tongue as deep inside her as he could get it and Nina started to shake.
The only sound in the room was his tongue lapping at her wet flesh. Pulling back, he watched two of his fingers disappear inside her, the pads rubbing a place behind her clit.
Nina’s head dropped back on her shoulders. “James…”
“Mm hmm.”
He didn’t say anything more as he returned to sucking her clit as he massaged a place inside her few men had ever bothered to search for. Her nipples poked the air above her, harder than they’d ever been.
“I’m coming, James.”
“That was my plan.” His lips moved against her clit as he spoke and she thought her eyes might have rolled back in her head. “Give it to me, Nina. Show me what your body can do.”
“Oh, God, I…”
As something different slammed into her, she dropped to the bed, confused at the way she came. For a moment, she worried she’d wet herself and then she realized he’d pulled a level of pleasure from her that no man ever had. Something she hadn’t even known her body was capable of doing.
It was so good there was an edge of pain to it.
She couldn’t speak because her jaw was clenched tight along with every muscle in her body. Her torso arched from the bed and her thighs locked against the sides of his head.
Babbling nonsense she wouldn’t remember later, she realized James continued eating her pussy as he played over the spot just behind her clit she didn’t know could evoke such a reaction.
Gripping the bedding beneath her, she tried to keep from screaming and failed. His name echoed in the quiet room as dozens of fireworks exploded simultaneously beyond the window while her body did the same.
She was physically incapable of moving. Shaking, beads of sweat slipping over her skin, she tried to speak and realized she couldn’t do that either.
Run To You: The Damaged Series - Book Four Page 5
