Explosive (The Black Opals)

by St. Claire, Tori

  “Jayce…I…”

  Slowly, he dragged his gaze back to her face. His heart thumped a heavy beat. “You what?” He took a half-step closer. His hand drifted to her hip.

  Alyssa’s fingertips grazed his cheek. She rose to her toes, moving into him. So close he could feel the heat radiating off her body. Smell the flowery scent of her shampoo. The touch of Italian spices on her breath.

  He held her gaze, unable to look away. Unwilling to break the contact and suffocate the sparks that leapt off her and sank into his bloodstream.

  Her lips touched his, hesitant and questioning. Jayce closed his eyes with a quiet groan. Heaven existed here. The sweetest, softest paradise he had ever known. He clenched his fingers into her hip and parted his lips, inviting the sweep of her tongue.

  When that velvety warmth caressed, and he greedily tangled his tongue with hers, Alyssa’s hesitancy fled. Her body arched into his, molding against the hard, confined length of his cock. A shudder rocked him, the contact excruciating for all its bliss. He released his hold on her hip and tangled both hands in her hair. Goddamn, he ached for her.

  Ached to bend her backward over this countertop, pull apart that robe, and sink home again and again. Ached for the feel of her wet pussy clamping around his cock, drawing him deeper, demanding all he had to give.

  Alyssa’s nails scraped down his back, her fingers gripped his ass. Her hips pressed into his, and Jayce involuntarily bucked forward. He pulled one hand from her hair, dipped it between their bodies, and tucked his fingertips beneath the deep V of her robe. Soft flesh fit perfectly into his palm. He squeezed, and she drew back with a pleasured gasp.

  “To hell with dessert, Alyssa,” he murmured as he bent his mouth to her throat. “I want you.”

  “Jayce.”

  His name was a soft whisper, part protest, part surrender. He untwined his other hand and molded it around the shapely rise of her buttock. Holding her against him, undulating his hips against her clitoris, he nipped at the side of her neck and whispered, “You want it too.”

  The sudden creak of an opening door from behind him sent her scuttling out of his reach. She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. Her breasts heaved as she struggled to regain her breath.

  Biting back an oath, Jayce looked over his shoulder to find McTavish motionless, half inside the house, half still on the back porch. His gaze flicked between Alyssa and Jayce, full of understanding and something else Jayce couldn’t quite define.

  “Pardon me,” he said with a smirk. Pulling the rest of himself inside, he shut the back door and exited the kitchen.

  Heading for the living room, Jayce supposed. Not that he cared. He had Alyssa right where he…

  He looked back at her, only to find her tightening her belt. The stain of passion still lingered on her high cheekbones, but her movements were controlled and deliberate. Just like that, she’d shut him out all over again.

  Son of a bitch!

  “Alyssa—”

  She shook her head. “Go on, I’ll join you both in a second.”

  Gritting his teeth, Jayce stalked out of the room on the same path McTavish had taken. He found McTavish on the couch, the television on, but the volume almost inaudible.

  Ice blue eyes locked onto Jayce.

  Alyssa’s voice rang out, “You two want beers?”

  McTavish raised an eyebrow. “Are you staying or not?”

  Fucking hell! Go, and he’d spend all night jacking off to get the burning need out of his system. Need for her. Not just any random woman. Stay, and be three-kinds of fool.

  An oath hissed through Jayce’s teeth, and he dropped onto the couch. Three-kinds of fool was better than spending the rest of his life never knowing her touch again. At least with company, neither one of them had to worry about the unanswered questions about their past. And frankly, right now, he didn’t give a damn. That kiss had stripped him bare. Left him yearning on so many levels he couldn’t begin to define them all.

  “Bring two,” McTavish called to her. To Jayce, he said, “You’re sure about this?”

  Jayce met McTavish’s heavy stare, resisting the urge to snort. Truth be told, he’d probably done this more times than McTavish could remember.

  The touch of possessiveness that reflected back at Jayce cut off a light-hearted remark. That strange, inappropriate glint flashed for only a mere second, but it stoked something so buried inside Jayce, he hadn’t realized he could be capable of experiencing it. McTavish might share a house with Alyssa, might be privy to her confidences, yet before Jayce left Boulder, he would have Alyssa to himself. He would prove to her he was completely capable of satisfying her needs.

  Then, he would have his answers. If he had to seduce the truth out of her, he would understand why she walked out on their dream, only to gift it to McTavish.

  T e n

  Alyssa trembled on the inside as she pulled three beers out of the fridge. Jayce was staying, but for how much longer? Had what happened a moment ago been enough to steer him around to her way of thinking? She hadn’t planned on letting things unravel as they had, hadn’t even planned on kissing him, but she couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. If Brice hadn’t walked in on them, no doubt she’d be naked and perched on that counter right now.

  Good thing he had. She couldn’t deal with Jayce on her own. In less than five minutes, he had her aching for release, so wet and wanting it was shameful. And he’d wrenched her own intentions out of her grasp, leaving her completely at his mercy, unable to focus on anything other than the feel of his hand on her breast and how she wanted him to touch her all over. That lack of control was exactly what she feared the most.

  She glanced down at her hands, thought better of the beer, and put it back inside the fridge, exchanging it for a Pepsi. Should Jayce decide to yield to her desires, she didn’t need the added haze of alcohol. Tonight’s rum already spread pleasant warmth through her veins. No sense in defeating the singular reason she insisted Brice join them.

  Steeling her resolve with a sharp breath, she strode into the family room. But the electrified atmosphere was enough to suck that fortifying breath right back out. Both men watched her enter, watched her walk across the room to set their beers on the coffee table. Her skin prickled with awareness of their weighty stares. And in that instant, she knew the rest of the evening hinged on her.

  If she wanted this, Jayce had conceded.

  With the clang of her heart, her breasts felt weighty and full. Heat spread between her thighs, and the ache that had resided in her womb a short while ago returned, now deeper, more acute. Hoping they didn’t notice the way her hands shook, she smoothed her robe and moved around the table to sit beside Jayce, not Brice. Telling him the only way she knew how, that although she would give herself to both of them, she still preferred him.

  His arm looped casually around her shoulder.

  She leaned into the warmth of his side, comforted by the simple embrace. But the less-than-intimate touch told her silently that he wouldn’t make the first move. He intended to leave this to her, force her to take initiative. Very well. She’d find the nerve. Somehow.

  For the moment, she was content to study them as Brice swigged from his drink and gestured at the television. Parker’s face emblazoned across the screen. “I bet that bastard gets off.”

  “Bet he doesn’t,” Jayce murmured. His fingers played at Alyssa’s shoulder, rumpling the satin over her skin. “He’s been lucky one too many times.” His voice soaked into her, spreading that warmth between her legs through her body, until she could swear the air conditioning had failed.

  “Nah, he’s got a swarm of attorneys. Snakes and snake-charmers.”

  “But he still got caught,” Jayce countered.

  Alyssa glanced between the two men as they debated Parker’s future. Brice, with his boyish good looks, cut a striking picture lounging with his feet atop the table. Broad shoulders filled out a tailored shirt he’d opened at the collar. Beneath that fine cot
ton was a body that could make the strongest of women weak, all lean hard muscle. He knew how to use it too. He looked comfortable, and approachable, a wealthy good-guy next door, always ready with a witty remark or a heartwarming smile. The kind of guy a girl could settle down with and never worry about her future, be that financial security or in the bedroom.

  Jayce lacked the lightheartedness that Brice’s expression reflected. The chiseled line of his jaw spoke of danger she’d never been able to resist. In high school, he’d been the bad-boy who skirted the law with each step he took. But beneath all those hard lines and the life-weary tightness was a quiet-natured man who had captivated her heart. He still filled out jeans like a Calvin Klein model, and he still managed to somehow make a T-shirt seem sinful. Unlike Brice, however, his eyes held an awareness beyond his years, as if he’d seen too much of the world. A hardness that knew nothing of submission. The rascal was gone.

  A shiver raced down her spine. Somewhere along the line, the man she’d abandoned with a pitiful apology over an answering machine had become the dangerous man her parents thought he would become. The truth was there in the keen awareness of his stare, the deliberate way he crossed one ankle over his knee. The sharp edge to his voice that she had to strain to recognize.

  And damned if he wasn’t three times as compelling as he had been when she was seventeen.

  “You know how it works, Jayce. Hire a team of attorneys, pay out the nose, and somewhere, someone, finds something to flip a jury. C’mon, it’s on the news all the time.”

  “Yeah,” Jayce answered quietly. “I know how it works.”

  Strangely, Alyssa sensed his remark held a vastly different meaning.

  The pair were as different as night and day, and yet she cared for them both. An image flashed in her mind of their mutual hands on her body, their lips on her skin. She allowed the fantasy to take life, to picture herself touching each of them in turn, relearning Jayce all over again as she explored the masculine playground she already knew by heart.

  Her breath caught, and her belly quivered. Beneath the thin drape of her robe, her nipples tightened. She shifted position to alleviate the discomfort between her legs and curled into the heat of Jayce’s body, resting her palm on the center of his chest. His dark gaze dropped to her. Desire flashed before he glanced, uncertainly, back at Brice.

  Now or never.

  Alyssa curled her fingers into Jayce’s T-shirt and gave a gentle tug. From the corner of her eye, she caught the permissive dip of Brice’s head. Hesitantly, Jayce turned into her. She tightened her fingers, drawing him down until the whisper of his breath danced across her cheeks. With that unsteady exhale, Jayce closed his eyes. Alyssa dusted her mouth across his.

  His lips played an intoxicating game of catch and release. Latching on long enough to give her the impression he would yield fully, letting go at the last moment to remind her he was the one who held control. Tempting, taunting, making her want to beg for the feel of his tongue sliding against hers.

  As if he could hear her silent desperation, he flicked the tip of his tongue out and touched it to hers. Fire arced through her, and she leaned closer to prevent his retreat. But Jayce denied her the satisfaction and withdrew to suckle at her lower lip. Alyssa managed to silence a frustrated whimper a nanosecond before it broke free.

  He was playing at her game, and if she wasn’t careful, he’d win.

  She grabbed at her fragmented thoughts, shoved them back in line. She would not get caught up in a firestorm of desire and forget her own rules. Though, oh, it was so tempting.

  Instead, she shifted position so she straddled his thigh. Leaning half-over him, she bent forward until her breasts grazed his chest. She forced herself to think about Brice’s reaction, not the satisfied groan that rumbled in Jayce’s throat as he finally surrendered his mouth. Brice’s blue eyes would be narrowed, his mouth not quite pursed, definitely not relaxed. From his vantage he had a clear view of her exposed thigh, and his gaze would lock onto the way Jayce’s fingers inched slowly up the back.

  A shiver rolled through her as Jayce’s hand nudged the satin higher, creeping closer to the curve of her buttock. His palm was delightfully warm, the scrape of rough calluses intolerably pleasant. It took sheer will-power not to drop her hips and arch them backward, into his hand’s enchanting path, until his fingertips met the swollen flesh between her legs.

  At the mere thought of doing so, her pussy pulsed. Another rush of moisture soaked her.

  Distantly, she recognized the sound of Brice clearing his throat. Thank the saints above—the sound pulled her back from the edge of abandon and centered her thoughts once more. She eased out of the kiss and grazed her teeth over Jayce’s upper lip, returning his own earlier teasing. Against the back of her thigh, his fingertips tightened. His free hand fastened at her waist and an instant of pressure urged her to shimmy sideways so she would be completely in his lap. She swayed, all too willing to comply. But then, as if he remembered himself, his hand eased, and he held her loosely in place.

  Another reminder of how easily he could bend her to his wishes.

  Damn him.

  Alyssa terminated the kiss and eased herself out of Jayce’s hold, to her feet. His gaze locked with hers. Desire turned those dark depths into shards of onyx, but the surprise she’d hoped for wasn’t present. He merely arched an eyebrow. She couldn’t decipher whether it was inquisitive or mocking.

  She didn’t care.

  With a soft smile, Alyssa extended her hand. “I know a more comfortable place.”

  Jayce slid his hand into hers and rose to his feet. Alyssa turned, tucked his hand at the small of her back, and guided him around the table toward the door at the end of the hall. There was no reason to extend an invitation to Brice; he would join when he’d given her time to enjoy her playmate a little.

  And enjoy Jayce she would. He might believe he could sway her without effort. Might even be right in that thought. But there was one thing she could use to her advantage—she knew this man. Knew his hot spots, his weak spots, the spots that drove him out of his mind. And she intended to take advantage of them all.

  She led him up the stairs, into her darkened bedroom, and eased the door partly shut. Moonlight seeped in through her open blinds, providing just enough light she could make out the hungry look in his eyes. Stepping closer, Alyssa tucked her fingertips beneath the hem of his shirt and smiled again. Her nails danced across his abdomen. “You were right about one thing.”

  “Which one was that?” His low whisper rasped through the room, sliding another layer of chills down Alyssa’s skin.

  She dipped her fingers inside his waistband, brushing the thick head of his cock. Jayce let out a sharp hiss. His eyes closed, and his body tightened.

  “I do want you.” Slowly, she released the button on his jeans and lowered the zipper. His cock jutted forth from a nest of dark hair, thick and eager. “I want you hard as hell and aching for more.” She wrapped his hand around his shaft and gave him a firm squeeze. Just the way he liked. Hard enough to make him wince, then sliding slower, more softly to the tip. Jayce rose to his toes, fighting the shudder that vibrated against her palm.

  Alyssa met his stare, thrilled by the raging desire she saw there. “Like that, baby?” she whispered.

  * * *

  Like it? Hell, she knew he did. And that was one fact Jayce hadn’t considered when he’d conceded to this little tryst. She knew how to manipulate him beyond reason. How one stroke of her thumb over the tip of his swollen head would have him sucking in air, swearing he’d never breathe right again, like he was doing now. Fighting back the deep, dark need she awakened.

  But the endearment that tumbled off her lips dealt him a double-whammy. He spiraled back in time, back to when making love to Alyssa was far more than just fucking. Back to when he belonged to her, she to him, and McTavish was just the friend who covered for the both of them. Not the man who’d looked uncomfortable when Alyssa led Jayce out of the room.
r />   Damn, he had no business being the interloper here. “Alyssa.”

  Alyssa eased to her knees. “Yes?” Her breath whispered over his engorged erection. He tensed, knowing when those soft lips encircled him he’d lose all hope of walking out of this room and sparing McTavish the displeasure of having to share her. But oh, how he wanted to feel the warmth of her mouth, the flex of her tongue as she swallowed down his release.

  “What is it, Jayce?” Alyssa asked, her lips feathering against his ready shaft. She slid her tongue from base to tip, and lifted her gaze to his.

  Even in the dim light, he could see the bright glitter of desire behind her lowered lashes. Her parted lips hovered at the tip of his cock. His balls pulled in tight to his body, anticipation launching through him. “Take it,” he rasped as he pressed his hips forward. “Take me deep.”

  The hint of a smile touched the corners of her eyes as she leaned forward and closed her mouth over him. But instead of letting him slide in to the back of her throat, she sucked at the tip. Not just any pressure, but the kind designed to turn a man inside out. Jayce’s vision blurred. He stumbled against the ecstasy and dropped one hand to her head, tangling his fingers through her soft hair, balancing even as his knees threatened to give.

  “Christ,” he gritted out through clenched teeth.

  As release threatened to explode through his system, she lessened the pressure of her mouth, opened a little wider, and took him inside. The velvety heat of her tongue sliding against his shaft as she drew him deeper threatened far more than his control. It filled him with the dangerous need to possess her. To fuck her beautiful mouth until she trembled with so much need she couldn’t ever think of McTavish pleasuring her again.

  Jayce bit down the nonsensical urge and chewed on the inside of his cheek. This wasn’t about forever. Just sex. He wouldn’t let it be more.

  Sliding his hand to the nape of her neck, he eased himself deeper into the moist sweet haven of her mouth. She suckled as he glided between her lips, her tongue guiding him along, her eyes never looking away from his. Permissive. Encouraging.