This afterglow was not going to work for her.
5
“LET ME GO,” Mallory said, and if she expected Jake to comply, she’d seriously misjudged this man. He did withdraw his still impressively hard erection, but he most certainly did not let her go.
Dragging her back against him, he lifted her right off the bed before swinging her up into his arms in a move reminiscent of the one he’d used earlier to get her into the bed.
Slipping her arms around his neck, she hung on as he marched toward the bathroom. “Jake, what are you—”
“I’m ready to shower with you now.”
“Like things on your terms, do you?”
He flashed a very roguish grin. “Always.”
“Amazing how much we have in common, don’t you think?” she shot back. “Because I do, too.”
Neither one pointed out the obvious—that two people wanting control in any relationship, whether a work relationship or a personal one, spelled trouble.
On the positive side, Mallory definitely had the upper hand with work. He wanted a service that only she could provide—troubleshooting and training him as an assistant. But she suspected that Jake might have the edge in bed.
Her legs were still trembling from the strength of that orgasm. She felt tender and achy and strangely vulnerable, her emotions wildly on edge. While he, on the other hand, still sported a serene smile and just as much control over his reactions to her as ever.
Not good. She hadn’t counted on this man being the bloody Rock of Gibraltar. He’d thrown her a curve by withstanding her best attempts to make him lose control. He’d completely turned the tables on her, and she needed to reevaluate how best to turn those tables back again.
Unfortunately, thinking clearly was a problem when he lowered her to her feet in a sleek motion that pitted her sensitive body full-length against hard brawny male. His fading erection dragged intimately along her tummy in a reminder of how well their bodies had gotten to know each other.
Without a word, Mallory stepped into the shower and turned the water on, not bothered in the least when the spray shot out icy cold. Icy cold felt good over her flushed skin and with a little luck her head might clear so she could get back on track with this man.
Jake joined her, and she said, more casually than she felt, “Welcome to my shower, Jake Trinity. I was beginning to think I’d never get you in here.”
That smile still quirked around his mouth. “I’m here.”
“Yes, you are.”
And funny how his big tanned body seemed to fill up what had been a spacious shower stall a short time ago. He hadn’t seemed to take up quite so much room when he’d been standing halfway across the bath.
Exhaling a sigh at her breathless reaction to this man, she reached for the shampoo, only to have him pluck the bottle out of her hand.
“I’ve got to shampoo my hair again,” she said. “Or I’ll never get a comb through it.”
“Allow me.”
There was something so gallant in his offer that Mallory just dipped her head beneath the spray, not quite sure how to respond but knowing a refusal would sound childish.
He squeezed a dollop into his palm, returned the bottle to the shelf and proceeded to occupy himself by working up a healthy lather in her long hair.
His hands weren’t the only things he occupied.
Dragging her back against him, he shielded her from the spray with his broad shoulders and back, nestling his softening erection against her backside. His fingers massaged her scalp, then he worked his way down the long strands with a thoroughness that proved he was very comfortable with women’s grooming habits. The impression was reinforced when he directed her under the spray to rinse before he repeated the process with conditioner without her saying a word.
“So why don’t women hang around you for long, Jake Trinity?” she asked, glancing around to catch his expression in her periphery. “Apparently they line up for a piece of the action, but they never seem to make the cut. Is the choice usually yours or theirs? I’m curious.”
Something about that frown drawing his tawny brows together suggested he’d been asked this question before, but the fact he didn’t have a ready answer implied he hadn’t cared enough to figure out the answer.
“You’re so sure they don’t make the cut?”
“I’m a very thorough researcher. No ex-wives, no child-support payments and no former live-in girlfriends. Just a whole bunch of women flitting in and out of your life. Do you have a problem with commitment?”
That frown faded. “No. I just haven’t met the right woman.”
The right woman?
That answer was so prosaic and so completely unexpected that Mallory almost laughed. Almost. There was also something in his expression that suggested he was dead serious, which for some strange reason made her uneasy.
“So you’re looking for Ms. Right?”
“I’ll know her when she shows up.”
Now Mallory did laugh. “So the knight in shining armor is waiting for his fair lady.”
“You don’t believe in soul mates, do you?” he asked.
“Or fairy tales.”
“Why?”
A simple question that Mallory should have had a handy answer for. She didn’t. “I’ve never really thought about it before,” she said honestly. “I guess I’m too entrenched in reality to appreciate all those silly romantic concepts.”
“Tell me about your reality. I researched you before I sent my proposal, but I didn’t find out nearly as much about your personal life as you did about mine.”
“I have really good contacts.”
Now it was Jake’s turn to laugh. “I’ll bet you do.”
After working the conditioner through her hair, he passed the slick length over her shoulders to move it out of the spray. Grabbing a bath sponge, he dispensed liquid soap and worked a lather over her shoulders.
“Determined to pamper me, are you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Her turn for a simple question. She’d tested this man, led their business consultation straight past business and into personal, despite the fact that he hadn’t fallen into bed as easily as she’d expected. That he seemed so determined to see to her needs now…she needed to understand his reasoning, try to determine his agenda.
“You pleased me.” An equally simple answer.
He worked that bath sponge over her shoulders in slow spirals, lathered the soap over her skin, each stroke contributing to the lazy pleasure snaking its way through her senses. His every slow stroke drew attention to her achy bottom and the memory of the way his body had filled her so completely.
“You pleased me, too.”
She glanced over her shoulder again and found him watching her with a golden brow arched dubiously. Clearly he’d already known and hadn’t needed her to tell him.
“So tell me about your reality, Mallory. I do know you’ve never been married, and since I don’t see any evidence of toys or babysitters around, I assume you don’t have any children. Am I intruding on another man’s turf?”
“Worried he might show up at an inopportune moment?”
Something about the way he shrugged those broad shoulders suggested he’d be up to handling another man if one did show up. But he seemed to think she entertained more than one man in her bed at a time. This annoyed her for some reason, which wasn’t entirely rational since she’d gone out of her way to foster exactly that impression with her drawer filled with condoms.
“I don’t like to share,” he said. “So as long as we—”
“There is no we.” The words popped out of her mouth without warning, suggesting a defensiveness she was unfamiliar with.
“So you’ve said.”
There was no missing his amusement, and surprised, Mallory glanced back over her shoulder. His warm gaze was there to catch hers, and damned if a tingle didn’t shoot right down to the tips of her toes.
He must have recognized how flu
stered she was, because he pressed his advantage, leaning close to work that sponge between her thighs. Her fluttery reaction to each intimate stroke contradicted her denial.
“Since there’s no we happening here,” she said firmly, “why don’t we establish exactly what is happening so we’re both clear on the details?”
“You want to delineate the terms for our relationship?”
“Makes sense to me. We’re combining business with pleasure here and throwing in some unfinished business into the mix.”
“Unfinished business?”
“The kiss.” She arched back against him, was rewarded when his soft erection swelled to life. “I’d say we finally got around to finishing that particular business, wouldn’t you?”
The sponge hit the shower floor with a wet plop. Reaching around her, he caught her breasts in his soapy hands. “So you’re all done with me? Does this mean I can go home now?”
Her breasts grew heavy. Her nipples tightened. “Are you telling me you want to go home, Jake?”
“Not by a long shot.” He tugged at her nipples, a lingering pull that made her sex give a low squeeze of anticipation.
He tugged again.
Another squeeze.
Suddenly he was bending low, his chin resting in the crook of her neck and shoulder. “Why don’t we forget all about me going home?” Each word gusted against her ear and arrowed along every nerve ending from her head to her toes. “I’d planned to clear my schedule so I’m at your disposal.”
“How…considerate.”
“What does your schedule look like?”
“I’m all yours.”
He ran his tongue over her ear, such a sexy move that she shivered. “Is that a promise?”
Mallory had certainly meant it as one, but something about his tone made her question whether he wanted more than she’d offered. “Yes.”
“Good.” Straightening up, he slinked those soapy hands down her middle. “You’ve assured me that mixing business with pleasure won’t adversely impact your job performance, and I’m willing to take your word. So when and where and how will the work fit in?”
“The when is now—twenty-four seven.”
He simply bent down to retrieve the bath sponge, poured out more soap and then went to work on her again, his expression suddenly all business. “The where?”
“In my workshop for the most part.”
He snaked that sponge between her thighs, so she splayed her hands on the tile, leaned forward and provided him easier access to her backside.
If her pose was reminiscent of their bout in front of her mirror, well…she wouldn’t mind roughing up his composure just a little.
Nothing.
“How about the sex?” he asked.
“We can fit that in anytime and anywhere.”
Jake only inclined his head in agreement of her terms and Mallory found herself strangely disappointed that he hadn’t responded to the innuendo in her challenge at all.
He knelt down before her, working that sponge down one leg and back up the other, his strokes so attentive and gentle. It struck her as a very intentional gesture, and one she could have been way off base about.
Admittedly, she didn’t have a lot of experience with men who possessed noble streaks. And that’s exactly what this was. Her gut was telling her, and her gut didn’t lie.
Jake Trinity did things by the book.
He’d encountered a thief breaking into his employer’s warehouse so he’d sounded the alarm.
He’d made love to a woman, so he made sure she knew he appreciated the favor.
It was really so knight in shining armor.
She had a fleeting thought to steer out of these uncharted waters. She wasn’t recovering from their sex nearly as fast as she should have, and with all this delicious attention…she was feeling dreamy and sated. She would have liked nothing better than to curl up in bed beside him and lounge the afternoon away getting to know each other.
This man was distracting her from her purpose, and Mallory didn’t like being distracted.
But she should have expected as much. Jake Trinity had been having this effect on her since their accidental meeting long ago. He’d preoccupied her with a curious blend of self-righteous anger and hurt betrayal. Although why she should feel hurt and betrayed was a mystery, because one chance meeting with the man didn’t obligate him to her.
Perhaps the memory of their kiss had only muddied up the way she felt, which was also totally ridiculous because it had only been one kiss.
But the only thing clear right now was that what she felt for him wasn’t rational. She needed to let him play his game, because resisting him would only reveal that he was getting to her.
The absolute last thing she needed was to give Jake Trinity more ammunition to use against her. They had an intense few weeks ahead. She intended to get him out of her system once and for all—her fascination with him and her need to pay him back for all the trouble he’d caused.
If he threw her a curve along the way, well…she liked challenges.
JAKE STEPPED OUT of the shower and exhaled in relief to put some distance between him and Mallory. She might be convinced there was no us, but he wasn’t so sure. What was happening between them felt like a lot more than unfinished business. He’d barely managed to escape his second orgasm of the day despite her best efforts. And her efforts had been the best.
She’d insisted on scrubbing him with the same attentiveness he’d shown her, and she’d tried every trick in the book from shimmying her luscious body all over his to giving him an impromptu hand job that had nearly pitched him over the edge.
He’d only managed not to lose it because he realized that survival with this woman depended solely on his ability not to show weakness. Letting her assume control would be perceived as a weakness. He needed to survive until he understood exactly what game she was playing with him.
So far he was holding his own, a fact for which he was incredibly grateful when he heard a male voice call from the foyer, “Hey babe, you upstairs or down?”
One glimpse at Mallory’s face, and Jake knew this guest was unexpected. Had she lied about being involved? As he raked his gaze up her wet curves, he had to ask himself honestly if he cared. Maybe he wouldn’t find sharing so offensive if it meant being with this woman.
But the flash of surprise in Mallory’s expression made him wary. She shot her gaze his way, exhaled a heavy breath and handed him a bath towel.
“Upstairs,” she called out and there was no missing the resignation in her voice.
“Who’s with you?” the voice asked.
“Jake Trinity.”
There was a beat of silence before, “Great. I want to meet him. You kids decent?”
“Yeah.”
“Mallory,” Jake said. “Who’s—”
“Please don’t mention the Innovative job,” she whispered, hastily dragging a towel over her curves. “He doesn’t know you were the one there, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Turning away, she grabbed a robe from the back of the bathroom door and shrugged it on.
The Innovative job?
Jake stared at the back of her retreating form before his sex-dulled wits put two and two together.
Surely she couldn’t be talking about—
“Hi, Dad,” he heard her say. “What brings you by?”
“I wanted to see if you’d decided to take the job for TSS. Where’s Jake?”
“In the bathroom.”
Several thoughts struck Jake simultaneously.
The first was that the man currently standing inside Mallory’s bedroom was a convicted felon who’d done hard time.
The second was that Jake’s clothes were in that bedroom, in a conspicuous pile on the floor, which meant his new status as Mallory’s lover wouldn’t go unnoticed.
The third was that the convicted felon father of the woman he’d just made love to obviously knew his name but not that he’d been a part of the
break-in resulting in his incarceration.
All of which left Jake facing an interesting dilemma.
Concealing that he’d been a rogue factor on the Innovative job didn’t sit right. Mallory’s request to keep that information a secret made him feel as if he was hiding something when he didn’t have anything to hide.
While Jake hadn’t tripped the alarm, the fact remained that this man had gone to prison that night, and Jake didn’t have any prior experience with convicted felons to know if simply being on the property during a burglary invited retribution.
Kissing the man’s underage daughter likely would.
In all fairness, Mallory had initiated that kiss, and while Jake had known she’d been young, he couldn’t have known that she’d been only sixteen. Not with her ski mask on.
But according to Mallory, her father didn’t know Jake had kissed her, which seemed like the lesser of two evils when his clothes currently resided on her bedroom floor.
He decided to honor Mallory’s request until she had a chance to explain her reasons for wanting secrecy. He had enough to deal with at the moment—specifically, his lack of clothing.
Of course, she wouldn’t bring his clothes into the bathroom so he could dress for this meeting. No, he had a clear enough sense of her game by now—if not the reasons behind it—to recognize another opportunity to test his mettle.
Jake could only inhale deeply while wrapping a towel around his waist. Then he headed out the door to meet his fate.
Through the years, when he’d envisioned what a man who burglarized businesses for a living might look like, he’d always imagined the hard-core, burnt-out type of criminal featured on crime shows. But Duke Hunt, just like his daughter, wasn’t what Jake had expected.
The man was aggressively physical despite middle age, and Mallory resembled him a great deal. She possessed the same shiny dark hair, sans the silver streaks, the same confident demeanor, the same athletic mannerisms and poise.
Her striking eyes and delicate size must be gifts from her mother, he decided, because her father had an inky-black gaze that met Jake’s levelly, and he stood six feet in his bare feet. They were bare right now.
Over the Edge Page 7
