He brushed a wayward strand of hair off her face, his dark gaze lustrous with desire. ‘I’m pretty turned on myself.’
She stroked him again, watching as his breathing rate increased with every glide of her hand. ‘So I can tell.’
He moved her hand so he could access her body, taking his time to caress her until she was swollen and wet. Her need for him was a consuming ache that intensified with every movement of his fingers. She writhed beneath him, restless to feel the ultimate fulfilment, wanting him to possess her so they both experienced the rapture of physical union.
Finally he entered her, but only a short distance, holding back, allowing her to get used to him. His tenderness made her feel strangely emotional. She couldn’t imagine him being so tender with his other lovers. She knew it didn’t necessarily mean he was falling in love with her. She wasn’t that naïve. But it made her feel special all the same. Wasn’t this how her teenaged self had imagined it would be? Jake being so tender and thoughtful as he made beautiful, magical love to her?
He thrust a little deeper, his low, deep groan of pleasure making her skin come up in a spray of goose bumps. He began to move, setting a slow rhythm that sent her senses reeling with delight. Each movement of his body within hers caused a delicious friction that triggered all her nerve endings, making them tingle with feeling. She lifted her hips to meet each downward thrust, aching for the release that was just out of reach. Her body was searching for it, every muscle contracting, straining, swelling and quivering with the need to fly free.
He slipped his hand down between their rocking bodies, giving her that little bit of extra coaxing that sent her flying into blessed oblivion. Her body shook with the power of it as each ripple turned into an earthquake. It was like her body had split into thousands of tiny pieces, each one spinning off into the stratosphere. She lost all sense of thought. Her mind had switched off and allowed her body free rein.
He didn’t take his own pleasure until hers was over. She held him to her as his whole body tensed before he finally let go, but he did so without any increase in pace, without sound. Had he done that for her sake? Held back? Restrained his response so she hadn’t felt overwhelmed or threatened? He hadn’t rushed to the end. He hadn’t breathed heavily or gripped her too hard, as if he had forgotten she was there.
He didn’t roll away but continued to hold her as if he was reluctant to break the intimate union of their bodies.
Or was she deluding herself?
Had he been disappointed? Had she not measured up to his other lovers? She was hardly in the same league. She might have had multiple partners but still nowhere near the number he’d had. Compared to him, she was practically a novice.
One of his hands glided up and down the length of her forearm in a soft caress that made her skin tingle as if champagne bubbles were moving through her blood. ‘You were amazing,’ he said.
Jaz couldn’t ignore the doubts that were winding their way through her mind like a rampant vine. Hadn’t she been exciting enough for him? Hadn’t her body delighted his the way his had delighted hers? Was that why his response had been so toned down? Maybe he hadn’t toned it down. Maybe she hadn’t quite ‘done it’ for him. The chemistry he had talked about hadn’t delivered on its promise.
It was her fault. Of course it was. Wasn’t that why she had been engaged three times and summarily dumped?
She was rubbish at sex.
Jaz eased out of his embrace, reached for one of the hotel bathrobes and slipped it on, tying the waist ties securely. ‘You don’t have to lie to me, Jake,’ she said. ‘I know I’m not crash-hot in bed. There’s no point pretending I am.’
He frowned as if she was speaking Swahili instead of English. ‘Why on earth do you think that?’
She folded her arms, shooting him a flinty look. ‘It’s probably my fault for talking you into it. If you didn’t want to do it then you should’ve said.’
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and came over to stand in front of her. He was still completely naked while Jaz was wrapped as tightly as an Egyptian mummy. He put one of his hands on her shoulder and used the other to edge up her chin so her eyes meshed with his. ‘You didn’t talk me into anything, Jaz,’ he said. ‘I just didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable. Not our first time together.’
She rolled her lips together before releasing a little puff of air. ‘Oh...’
He gently brushed back her hair, his eyes searching hers for a moment or two. ‘Was that night at the party your first experience of kissing and touching?’ he finally asked.
Jaz chewed one corner of her mouth. ‘I wanted it to be you. That was my stupid teenage fantasy—that you would be the first person to make love to me.’
He gave her a pained look, his eyes dark and sombre with regret. ‘I’m sorry.’
She twisted her lips in self-deprecating manner. ‘I guess that’s why sex has always been a bit awkward for me. I never felt comfortable unless I was in a committed relationship. But even then I often felt I wasn’t up to the mark.’
‘You have no need to feel inadequate,’ he said. ‘No need at all.’
She rested her hands on the wall of his naked chest, her lower body gravitating towards his arousal as if of its own volition. ‘You said “our first time together”. Does that mean there’s going to be a second or a third?’
He put a hand in the small of her back and drew her flush against him, his eyes kindling with sensual promise. ‘Start counting,’ he said and lowered his mouth to hers.
CHAPTER NINE
JAKE HAD NEVER made love with such care and concern for a partner. Not that he’d been unduly rough or selfish with any of his past lovers, but being with Jaz made him realise what he had been missing in his other encounters. The level of intimacy was different, more focused, more concentrated. The slow burn of desire intensified and prolonged the pleasure. Each stroke of her soft hands made his blood pound until he could feel it in every cell of his body. Her lips flowered open beneath his, her tongue tangling with his in an erotic duel that sent a current of electricity through his pelvis. He held her to his hardness, delighting in the feel of her lithe body moulded against his.
He slipped a hand through the V-neck of her bathrobe to cup her small but perfect breasts; her skin was as smooth as satin, her nipples pert with arousal. He lowered his mouth to her right breast, teasing her areola with his tongue, skating over her tightly budded nipple, before drawing it into his mouth as she gave a breathless moan of approval. He moved to her left breast, taking his time to explore and caress it with the same attention to detail.
He worked his way up from her breasts to linger over the delicate framework of her collarbone, dipping his tongue into the shallow dish below her neck. Her skin was perfumed with grace notes of honeysuckle and lilac with a base note of vanilla. He spread his fingers through her hair, cradling her head as he kissed her deeply. Her soft little sounds of longing made his heart race and his blood run at fever pitch. Her tongue danced with his in flicks, darts and sweeps that made him draw her even closer to his body.
He eased her bathrobe off her shoulders, letting it fall in a puddle at her feet. He slid his hands down her body to grasp her by the hips, letting her feel the fullness of his erection against her mound. She moved against him, silently urging him on. He left her only long enough to get another condom, quickly applying it before he led her back to the bed. She held her arms out to him as he joined her on the mattress, wrapping them around his neck as he brought his mouth back down to hers.
When he entered her tight, wet heat he felt every ripple of her body welcoming him, massaging him, thrilling him. He began to move in slow thrusts, each one going deeper than the first, letting her catch his rhythm. She whimpered against his mouth, soft little cries of need that made the hairs on his scalp tingle. He continued to rock against her, with her, each movement of their bodies building to a crescendo. He could feel the build-up of tension in her body, the way she strained, gasped a
nd urged him on by gripping his shoulders, as if anchoring herself.
He reached down to touch her intimately, stroking her slick wetness, feeling her swell and bud under his touch, the musky scent of her arousal intermingled with his, intoxicating his senses like the shot of an illicit drug. Her orgasm was so powerful he could feel it contracting against his length, triggering his own release until he was flying as high and free as she.
This time he didn’t hold back. He couldn’t. He gave a deep groan and pumped and spilled. The rush of pleasure swept through him, spinning him away from everything but what was happening in his body.
Jake had never been big on pillow talk or cuddling in the afterglow. He’d never been good at closeness and contact once the deed had been done.
But with Jaz it was different.
He felt different.
He wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because she wasn’t just another girl he had picked up hardly long enough to catch her name. She was someone he knew. Had known for years. She was someone who mattered to him. She was a part of his life—always had been and probably always would be.
He felt protective of her, especially knowing his role in what had happened to her. He wanted her to feel safe and respected. To be an equal partner in sex, not a vessel to be used and cast aside.
But isn’t that what you usually do? Use them and lose them?
The thought came from the back of his conscience like a lone heckler pushing through a crowd.
He used women, yes, but they used him back. They knew the rules and played by them. If he thought a woman wasn’t going to stick to the programme, he wouldn’t allow things to progress past a drink and a flirty chat. He was a dab hand at picking the picket-fence-and-puppies type. But the women that pursued him were mostly out for a good time, not a long time, which suited him perfectly.
He didn’t want the responsibility of a relationship. He found the notion of a committed relationship suffocating. Having to answer to someone, having to take care of their emotional needs, being blamed when things didn’t work out, seemed to him to nothing short of torture. He didn’t need that sort of drama. He had seen enough during his childhood. Watching his parents fight and tear each other down only to make up as if nothing was wrong had deeply unsettled him. He never knew what was real, what was dependable and what wasn’t. Life with his parents had been so unpredictable and tempestuous he had decided the only way he could tolerate a connection with someone would be to keep it focused solely on the physical. Emotion had no place in his flings with women.
But for some reason it felt right to hold Jaz in his arms: to idly stroke his fingers up and down her silky skin, her slender back, her neat bottom, her slim thighs. He liked the feel of her lying up against him, her legs still entangled with his. He liked the soft waft of her breath tickling the skin against his neck where her head was buried against him.
He liked the thought that she trusted him enough to share her body with him without fear or shame.
Or maybe it was a pathetic attempt on his part to right the wrongs of the past. To absolve himself from the yoke of guilt about what had happened to her.
As if that’s ever going to happen.
Jaz lifted her head out from against his neck and shoulder to look at him. ‘Thank you,’ she said softly.
Jake tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear. ‘For what? Giving you a ten on the Richter scale?’
‘It was a twelve,’ she said with a crooked little smile, then added, ‘But no. For being so...considerate.’
He picked up one of her hands and kissed the ends of her fingers. ‘I’m not sure anyone I know would ever describe me as considerate.’
‘You like people to think you’re selfish and shallow but deep down I know you’re not. You’re actually really sensitive. The rest is all an act. A ruse. A defence mechanism.’
He released her hand as he moved away to get off the bed. He shrugged on the other fluffy bathrobe, watching as her teeth started pulling at her lower lip as if she sensed what was coming. Good, he thought. Because I’m not going to pull any punches. There was no way he was going to play at happy families. No way. Sure, the sex was good. Better than good, when it came to that. But that was all it was: sex. If she was starting to envisage him dressed in a tux standing at the end of the aisle then she had better think again. Freaking hell. Next she would be talking about kids and kindergarten bookings.
‘Here’s what a selfish bastard I am, Jasmine,’ he said. ‘If you don’t stop doing that doe-eyed thing to me, I’m going to head back to London and leave you to face that bunch of wedding-obsessed wackos downstairs all on your own.’
She sat up and pulled the sheet up, hugging her knees close to her chest, her misty eyes entreating. ‘Please don’t leave... This weekend is important to me. I have everything riding on it. I don’t want anything to go wrong.’
He wanted to leave. Bolting when things got serious was his way of dealing with things. But there was young Emma Madden to consider. If Jaz took it upon herself to let that particular cat out of the bag as payback if he left then he could say goodbye to his business deal. Bruce Parnell would withdraw from the contract for sure. That sort of mud had a habit of sticking and making a hell of a mess while it did. Jake’s reputation would be shot. He wouldn’t be seen in the public eye as just a fun-loving playboy. He would be seen as a lecherous cradle snatcher with all its ghastly connotations.
‘I signed up for two weeks.’ He held up two fingers for emphasis. ‘That’s all. After that, we go our separate ways. Those are the rules.’
‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Two weeks is all I want from you.’
He sent her a narrow look. ‘Is it?’
Her expression was cool and composed but he noticed how her teeth kept pulling at her lip. ‘I’m not falling in love with you, Jake. I was merely making an observation about your character. Your prickliness proves my point. You don’t like people seeing your softer, more sensitive side.’
What softer side? She had romantic goggles on. A couple of good orgasms and she was seeing him as some sort of white knight. ‘Don’t confuse good physical chemistry with anything else, okay? I’m not interested in anything else. And nor should you be until you’ve sorted out why you keep attracting the sort of guys who won’t stick around long enough to put a ring on your finger and keep it there.’
She gave him a pert look. ‘Maybe you could tell me what I’m doing wrong, since you’re the big relationships expert.’
Jake watched as she took her sweet ass time getting off the bed to slip on a bathrobe. She didn’t bother doing up the waist ties but left the sides hanging open, leaving her beautiful body partially on show. For some reason it was more titillating than if she had been standing there stark naked. His blood headed south until he was painfully erect.
Everything about her turned him on. The way she moved like a sleek and graceful cat. The way she tossed her hair back behind her shoulders like some haughty aristocrat. The way she looked at him with artic eyes while her body radiated such sensual heat. It was good to see her act more confident sexually but he couldn’t help feeling she was driving home a point. But he was beyond fighting her over it. He wanted her and he only had two weeks to make the most of it. ‘What time do you have to be downstairs?’ he asked.
She pushed back her left sleeve to check the watch on her slender wrist. It was one his parents had bought for her for her twenty-first birthday. Another reminder of how entwined with his life she was and always would be. ‘An hour,’ she said. ‘I have to check my dress is properly steamed and pressed for the fashion parade tomorrow.’
He held out his hand. ‘Have a shower with me.’
She looked at his hand. Returned her gaze to his with a little flicker of defiance in hers. ‘Won’t you be quicker on your own?’
‘Yeah, but it won’t be half as much fun.’
CHAPTER TEN
JAZ’S BODY WAS still tingling when she went downstairs with Jake for the welcome-to-the-e
xpo drinks party. He kept giving her smouldering glances as they mingled amongst the other designers and expo staff. She wondered if people knew what they had been up to in the shower only minutes earlier. She had hardly had time to get her hair dry and put on some make-up after he had pleasured every inch of her body.
Of course people knew. He was Jake Ravensdale. What he didn’t know about sex wasn’t worth knowing. Wasn’t her thrumming body proof of that? He only had to look at her with that dark-as-midnight gaze and her inner core would leap in excitement. She saw the effect he had on every woman in the room. Hers wasn’t the only pulse racing, the only breath catching in her throat, the only mind conjuring up what she would like to do with him when she got him alone.
Congratulations came thick and fast from the people Jaz knew, as well as many she didn’t. It made her feel a little less conflicted about continuing the charade. It was only for two weeks. Two weeks to enjoy the sensual magnificence of a man she had hated for years.
Just shows how easy it is to separate emotion from sex.
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