“What happened to coffee and dessert?” I grinned, playing with five o’clock shadow on his jaw.
His heated gaze met mine. “You have me so wired I don’t need the coffee, and as for dessert,” he paused to gently suck on the tip of my finger which had started tracing his lips. “I’m going to have mine as soon as I get you out of that dress.”
He smiled at the nervous and excited expression on my face as he walked into my room and placed me gently onto my feet.
His gaze stayed on me as I shrugged out of the light jacket, he kept in his car and had insisted I wear to keep warm, before draping it over the armchair in my room.
I stared at him and bit my lip, unsure of what to do next. As if sensing my insecurity he pulled me closer to him.
“Slow, baby. We’ll go slow,” he murmured as he brushed my hair back and pressed a kiss to my forehead. As his hand reached for the zipper, my stomach churned.
I reached around my back and stilled his hand. “Wait, please.”
Jake looked at me with concern. “What’s wrong?”
“Could we switch off the lights first?” I asked quietly, staring at the floor.
“Not a chance, gorgeous.” He cupped my jaw and forced me to meet his gaze again.
His hand trailed down my arm and he brought my hand to his mouth. Kissing the back of my hand, he entwined our fingers and placed them over his chest.
“This thing between us is real, Niki. You don’t get to hide any part of yourself from me tonight.”
My heart stuttered at his words, but the doubt and uncertainty voices in my head couldn’t be silenced. They just kept growing. I took a deep breath and tried to recall what Liya had said to me earlier.
“Hm,” Jake said before kissing me chastely. “Looks like I’m going to have to work hard to get you out of your head. It’s a challenge I look forward to.” His hungry grin made me gulp nervously, and I took a step backwards away from him, only to have him move closer to me again.
We walked backwards until the back of my knees hit the edge of the bed. I lost my balance, and landed on the soft mattress with bounce. Looking up at Jake, my mouth dried when his fingers started to undo the buttons on his shirt.
His shirt hit the floor, followed swiftly by his belt and trousers.
As he stood in front of me in just his black boxers, I swallowed the lump in my throat as I took in his broad shoulders and defined arms and chest. Jake held out a hand out his hand to pull me back to my feet.
He placed a kiss on my throat. “Your turn,” he said, his hand reaching for my zipper again.
“Jake-” He cut off my protest with a kiss so intense it made my knees weak. I was so distracted, I didn’t even realise he had managed to unzip the dress until he was pulling the damp material down my arms, and tugging it over my hips.
I felt blood rush to my face as my half-naked body was exposed to him. Unable to meet his gaze, I shut my eyes.
As the silence grew, I opened my eyes to gauge Jake’s reaction. His eyes turned a darker shade of blue, and his breathing grew heavy.
He traced the curve of my breasts with a finger, which slowly made its way down to pull down the cups of my bra, exposing a hard nipple. His warm, rough hand cupped my breast, and his hot mouth closed over a nipple, causing me to moan unexpectedly.
His mouth switched to my other breast as I unhooked and pulled the bra from my body completely. He switched between the sensitive flesh that ached for his touch, and each suck and nibble was like a live wire straight to my pussy.
I cupped the back of his head. “Oh, that feels so good.”
“Fuck.” He broke away from my flesh abruptly. His hands travelled further down my body to cup my bottom and squeezed hard making me gasp. Jake chuckled as he lifted me up, my legs instinctively wrapping around his hips.
He put a knee to the bed and gently lay me down, covering my body with his.
“I need to taste you now.” He started roughly pulling down my panties and I heard them tear as he tugged them off my hips.
All thoughts of what he would think about my thick thighs and wide hips vanished as he pried my legs apart, and his mouth descended upon the parts of me that were throbbing.
My hips bucked wildly as Jake suck my clit into his mouth before running his tongue along my folds.
“Oh, my God. Jake. What are you doing?”
“Having my dessert,” he growled as his mouth attacked my dripping slit again fervently. “And it’s one of the sweetest things I’ve ever had in my mouth.”
My laugh turned into a moan as a long, thick finger replaced the tongue that had been teasing my pussy. The pleasure was coupled with a slight burn as he stretched out the inner walls with two fingers.
His finger stayed in me as I writhed under him.
“Going to make you come on my fingers first, gorgeous. I have to stretch you out a little. I don’t want to hurt you when I finally get my cock inside this tight little pussy.”
I barely managed a nod before the fingers upped their pace, rubbing against a spot inside me that made my toes curl in pleasure. I felt the pressure begin to build and erupt as his mouth enclosed on a sensitive nipple, the combination of sensations pushing me over the edge.
“Beautiful. So fucking beautiful,” Jake muttered in my ear, as I was coming down from the high.
I opened bleary eyes, to find Jake watching me keenly.
Feeling how much Jake wanted me, combined with Liya’s advice from earlier, gave me a boost of confidence. Be brave.
I reached for his cock, stroking firmly and making him hiss in pleasure, but he stopped me. I met his gaze, still slightly dazed from the orgasm he’d just given me. “Why-”
“Baby, it’s been a while. I’ve wanted you for long time, and my body knows it. I want this to be good for you. If you touch me right now, I’m pretty sure I’m going to cum in your hand before we get started.”
“Oh,” I said dumbly as the flush on my cheeks deepened.
Jake chuckled as he leant over me and retrieved something from the pocket of his trousers on the floor. I heard the crinkle of foil and watched with wide eyes as Jake sheathed an impressive erection.
He blanketed my body once again, kissing me softly, and I tensed as I felt the large head of his erection breach my pussy.
He pulled out slowly and pushed in again, sinking deeper with each thrust. I tensed when the head of his cock breached the barrier of my virginity. He pushed forward in one sharp movement.
“Jake!” I cried out softly as a brief, sharp ache tore through me.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, gorgeous,” he said sounding pained, and from his expression, I realised it was at the thought of having hurting me. He stilled the movement of his hips and kissed me slowly, distracting me from the ache by nibbling at the sensitive areas on my neck and my breasts, sending more streaks of pleasure throughout my body.
One hand sneaked between us to play with my clit. The uncomfortable ache slowly turned into a pleasurable ache and a feeling of being impossibly full.
“You can move now, I’m okay,” I told him softly and gasped as his large cock dragged across the tender flesh. He slowly increased his speed, until he found a rhythm that had us both panting for release.
“So tight,” he grunted on a particularly deep thrust which made my toes curl. “So fucking sweet. I can’t begin to tell you how incredible you feel wrapped around me, Niki.”
The speed of his thrusts increased, the repetitive motion rubbed along a sensitive spot inside me. “Please,” I gasped, not entirely sure what I was asking him for.
Resting his weight on both elbows either side of me he whispered harshly in my ear, “Touch yourself, gorgeous. Let me feel you come on my cock.”
My hand started rubbing slow circles on my clit and Jake thrust and ground his hips against mine. It wasn’t long until my back arched in pleasure, my orgasm triggered Jake’s and he kissed me frantically, groaning his release as he did.
His heavy weight on top
of me was comforting, and I tightened my arms around his warm, sweaty body.
“Ruined.” I heard him mutter.
“What?”
“You’ve ruined me. Nothing can ever compare to what we just did. There’s never going to be anyone else for me.” He paused, looking indecisive.
“I love you,” he blurted, and I felt my jaw drop. “It may be too soon to tell you this, but it’s true. I’m so in love with you, Niki.”
I felt a smile spread across my face. I didn’t care if it was too soon. To say I felt anything other than the same way for him would have been a lie.
“I love you too, Jake.”
He froze above me before pressing kisses all over my face. I laughed, cupping his face and rubbing my nose against his. He kissed me softly once more, making me sigh happily.
As Jake strolled to the bathroom to take care of the condom, I crawled under the bedspread and stared at the ceiling. Part of me expected to feel different, but I was surprised when I didn’t.
I felt ridiculous congratulating myself, but I felt pride in myself from having taken a step that terrified me. I had revealed my body to another person, and it hadn’t been the awful experience I thought it would be. I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect night.
As Jake returned and slid under the blanket, I snuggled into him. “Thank you,” I said quietly.
He snorted. “Only you would thank me when you’ve given me the best gift of all.”
“Hm?” I asked, feeling exhausted as the long day caught up with me.
“You gave me you tonight, and trusted me completely. You wanted me to be the first man between those tempting legs of yours. This was one of the best nights of my life.”
He ran his thumb along my jaw, tipping my face up towards his for a kiss. “My beautiful little baker, it’s going to be my mission to make you see yourself how I see you.”
At my blank expression he continued, “Perfect, Simply perfect.”
CHAPTER 27
Jacob
“What time have we got to be at your aunt’s house tonight?”
I had told Aunt Deb that I needed to talk to her about something, so she’d asked Niki and me to come over for dinner.
The rest of my siblings had heard about this and knew that I wanted to talk to Aunt Deb privately, so naturally they had all invited themselves to dinner.
“Seven.” I poured more pancake batter on the griddle. “Want me to pick you up at the bakery on my way there from the restaurant?”
From what Martina had told me, there hadn’t been much physical damage done to the property apart from some broken glass and graffiti on the walls.
As we hadn’t started decorating yet, the vandalism was more of a nuisance than a major setback.
I was meeting Sherriff Turner in a couple of hours to go through the damage and to tell him who I suspected was behind it, but considering where I was at that moment, I found it hard to concentrate on anything else.
Pancakes, coffee and Niki half-naked was my new perfect way to start to the day. She had fought me on it, but I had negotiated her into wearing my shirt and nothing else as we cooked breakfast together.
Being able to sneak kisses and subtle gropes whenever she walked past me had me one happy man.
“Sure. Will you taste this for me?” Niki held a spoon out with an orange liquid on it. Leaning down I tasted the tart and sweet syrup.
I licked my lips appreciatively “Mmm. That’s good, baby. Orange and lemons?”
“A mixed citrus syrup for the pancakes.” She tasted her own delicious concoction. “Makes a nice change from the usual maple syrup, right?”
She squealed as I switched of the stove and pulled her to me, kissing the remaining sugary liquid from her lips.
“Hell yes.” The length of my shirt, allowed my hands to easily wander along her naked flesh.
I was about to pick Niki up and place her on the counter when the cat strolled into the kitchen and started hacking violently, interrupting us yet again.
Niki pulled away and crouched down to pet Shadow.
“I’m worried about him, Jake. He keeps coughing like this, and I don’t think it’s normal. I’m going to call his vet and see if they can tell me what’s wrong.”
“Okay, gorgeous. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
As soon as she was out of the room, the hacking stopped.
“Cats like you are the reason I’m a dog person,” I hissed at the demon-cat.
I walked over to the cupboard, and took out a small bag of treats I had picked up at the pet store.
“We’re going to have to come to some sort of understanding. What’s it going to take for you to disappear when Niki and I get busy? One treat?” The cat stared at me blankly, swishing its long tail as I waved the bag in its direction.
Sad, man. You’re losing in negotiations with a cat.
“Two treats?” Shadow still didn’t look impressed with my offer.
“Come on, Cat. Be reasonable. I know Niki is your owner, but she’s my girl.” The demon cat continued to stare at me silently with creepy green eyes.
“Okay, three treats and that is my final offer.” He meowed once and stalked towards me slowly when I held out three fish shaped treats from the small bag.
“Looks like we have ourselves a deal, you possessive little psycho.”
I nervously patted his head as he ate the treats from my hand, turned and walked out the cat flap in the back door.
Well, at least that’s the feline problem solved. Next step, making my gorgeous girlfriend believe that she’s the most beautiful thing in the world to me.
“Where did Shadow go?” Niki asked looking around.
“He must have been feeling better. He stopped hacking and went outside.”
“Oh.” She looked puzzled. “Okay then. Maybe I should go check-”
Pulling her to me again, I placed a scorching kiss on her. “Trust me, he’ll be fine.”
In one swift motion, I ripped the shirt off her, and buttons went flying everywhere.
You do realise that was your shirt that you destroyed?
The look of shock on her face was priceless. “Now, where were we?”
* * * * *
Dinner had finished, and with everyone’s eyes on me, I cleared my throat nervously.
Niki gave me an encouraging nod and squeezed my hand as she left the table to go get dessert. I took her hand and tugged her back to me for a deep kiss that was deemed inappropriate, judging by the noises of disapproval from my siblings.
Reluctantly, I let her pull away when she swatted at me lightly. Niki smiled shyly and made her escape as I turned to watch the sway of her hips as she walked away.
I grinned happily, remembering what had been one of the best nights of my life with her.
When I turned back, Aunt Deb was watching me with a blissful expression, sighing happily over her glass of wine. “You and Niki look so good together,” she whispered loudly.
“Thanks, Aunt Deb. I think so too.” I recognised the familiar glint in her eyes, and cleared my throat again before she could begin interrogating me about plans for rings or babies. “So, I wanted to ask you something.”
All the assholes around the table in dining room fell silent, and settled in for the show.
She tutted at me. “Sure, I see how it is. You only have time for your old Aunt when you want something.”
“Aunt Deb...”
“I’m just messing with you, Jake. What is it?”
“Well, you remember the manager from Marco’s, Martina?” I waited for a nod from Aunt Deb before continuing. “Well, she’s pregnant, and her husband got offered a job on the other side of country. So she’s quitting.”
She reached out to stroke my hand. “Oh, pumpkin. I’m sorry. I know you always liked working with her.”
“Yes, I did,” I agreed. “It’s going to take someone pretty special to replace her.”
Aunt Deb nodded taking another sip of her tea. “You better start
interviewing people quick. Did you want me to help you sift through applications?”
“No. That’s not it. Like I said, it’s going to take someone amazing to replace her. I want someone organised, friendly, and smart. But I also need a person who isn’t afraid to be firm and kick ass when it needs to be done.” I paused to take a deep breath.
“So, I was just wondering, and you can totally say no, but would you like to come work with me? As my staff manager? We can tweak the hours to suit you. I don’t want you working full time or anything.
“This was actually Niki’s idea, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised, there’s no one else I’d rather work with. You’ve always inspired and supported me. Without you there’s no way I would have got this far.”
Aunt Deb’s jaw dropped, and tears filled her eyes.
Oh my God. Not again. You seem to have developed a habit of making women cry.
“Aunt Deb, I don’t know if those are happy tears or not?”
“Of course they’re happy tears, pumpkin.” She got out of her chair and rushed around the table to hug me.
I returned the hug. “Is that a yes?”
“Of course it’s a yes, you silly goose,” she laughed happily.
Silly goose? That’s a new one. She really must be excited.
Niki returned to table with a Tiramisu, smiling widely, I winked at her in response, making a mental note of the different ways I could thank her for the idea later.
Scanning the other faces at the table I noticed that everyone, apart from Liya and Uncle Jeremy, was looking at me like I’d lost my mind.
Josh shook his head behind Aunt Deb’s back and mouthed, “What is wrong with you?”
I frowned at them as Aunt Deb released me from her hug. I refused to believe that working with Aunt Deb could be as bad as they were making out. People in Starling Falls loved her, and I was sure they would love seeing her around the restaurant.
“Truth is I’ve been bored out of my mind since retiring.” She clapped her hands. “So, when do we start?”
“How ‘bout Monday? We’ll get Martina to show you the ropes. There’s a ton of stuff I need to get done, and a designer is coming to look at the bar too.”
Falling Sweetly: Starling Falls II Page 22
