by Piper Page
I’m not an ice queen. I’m not an ice queen.
Trails of water ran down my legs and dripped from my toes. Everywhere water touched my skin, Jake’s mouth found it and licked it away until the nerves in my skin were singing with desire. I’d never felt more alive. I yelped out and felt my inner muscles clench when an ice cube slipped beneath the sheer material of my panties and up inside my sex. Jake covered me with his mouth, holding the ice inside me. He held my hands to the edge of the Jacuzzi walls as I squirmed and groaned, tying to move away from the excruciating pleasure. It was a blissful mix of pleasure and dissipating pain. His tongue darted against the fabric and my nails dug into the wood. He lapped and sucked until I could no longer feel the cold, only the heated moisture of my excitement.
I want you.
I was panting, breathing in shallow, raspy breaths. My fingers tangled in his hair and pulled his mouth closer, feeling it harder against my sensitive mound. I heard the loud moan of my own voice and felt my thigh muscles quake as he drew out an oral orgasm from deep inside me.
So this is what it feels like to let go.
When he stood up, my body felt abandoned. “Don’t stop, Jake,” I whispered.
“I don’t intend to.” He pulled off the tee shirt he was wearing, actually tearing it at the seams and tossing it to the floor. I sat there utterly amazed at his chest, so smooth and defined. The inked lines almost seemed alive with the sexual energy between us. He removed the remainder of his clothing. I was in awe; seeing him totally naked for the first time was an overwhelming experience, or maybe it was the alcohol. Either way, I was smitten.
He grabbed me with force, pulling me from the edge of the tub, lifting me in his arms, and carrying me into the bubbling water. “You are not a cold-hearted bitch, Aly. You are a fucking amazingly beautiful woman.” He dropped me into the water, lingerie and all. I tried not to think of all that money that was wasted on the garments, which were certain to be destroyed by the chlorine.
He cupped my face and kissed me with greedy need. “I have wanted to fuck you from the first minute I laid eyes on you in the limousine.”
I whimpered when he bit the flesh of my ear lobe. “Then fuck me, Jake, do it now.”
He growled, low and wanting. His fingers ripped at the delicate and expensive material that barely covered my bottom, tearing it away. I watched the ruined garment float and bob in the bubbles behind us. I scratched at his jaw line and pulled his mouth back to mine, biting the fullness of his bottom lip. He yelped and then laughed. “Needy little wench.”
I gave him a sultry, alluring, daring glare. “What are you going to do about it, Mr. Big Time Boxer Man?”
His eyes accepted my challenge and he swung me around and pushed me so that I was doubled over the edge of the Jacuzzi. My hands balanced my weight as I stood on my tip toes. His fingers were strong yet gentle as he held my hips. I felt the hard pressure and heard our voices join in a sigh of pleasure as he sunk into me from behind, joining us for the first time. He moved at a painfully slow pace and I wanted to beg, yell out for him to move faster. My body ached to feel the strength and force I knew he held behind his façade.
Take me, Jake. I’m yours.
I reached back and tried to pull his hips toward me, indicating non-verbally that I wanted more. He understood and thrust harder into me. The hot water splashed up over me and onto the floor. He did it again and again until I was crying out from the mounting pleasure. “Please, please, don’t stop.”
Jake growled his intention and did not let up the pace. His fingers pulled at my hair. My nails raked across his skin and I could feel him thicken inside me. The sensation sent me over the edge, and I was writhing against the side of the hot tub. He pressed himself deep inside me and let his own pleasure surface and flow out. He held me still, unmoving, until the waves subsided and he could withdraw. We both stood still, gaining our balance and our breaths. Every muscle in my body was trembling and I could not believe what I was feeling.
Jake pulled me from the edge and held me on his lap, the water up to our necks. “I think you are fully melted now,” he whispered.
I actually purred, my body was that relaxed.
Amazing. I want more; melt me again, Jake Von Larsen.
12
Jake
We lay in the king-sized bed together, tangled in fine, luxuriously soft sheets and fully relaxed. My body had not felt this at ease in… forever. The feel of her hair in between my fingers reminded me of silk and downy feathers. I could not help but touch her cheek, her nose, the line of her collar bones. I think that I was afraid that if I did not keep my hands on some part of her body, she would disappear. She looked so peaceful and content stretched out beside me.
Mine.
Her brow furrowed and my heart sank. “What are you thinking about, Aly?” I suddenly feared she was only playing a game with me, that I was just another client to her. That it had all been an act and we were still at square one. “Are you upset?”
She bit down on her lips, holding back her words. I tried to control my impatience. I was not a man who tolerated silence when asking a direct question. She turned her face away and I thought she might cry.
Don’t cry. I can’t handle that.
I turned her face back so that she had no choice but to look at me. “Aly, I asked you a question. Did you hear me?”
She nodded. “I heard you.”
“Then tell me, what is bothering you? Do you want me to leave? Do you want to go home?”
Her eyes went wide with fear. “No. Do you want me to go home?”
I kissed her lips. “Not at all. I only want to know what you’re thinking.” I smoothed the hard line that creased her forehead with the pad of my thumb “Talk to me.”
“You really don’t think I’m cold?”
It was my brows that knitted together this time. “I don’t understand, Aly. Who told you that you were anything but beautiful and amazing?”
“Stop.” She turned away again. “You’re only saying that because I have sex with you.”
I took in a deep breath and forced it out of my lungs to relax my growing anxiety. “I am not. Aly, I won’t lie to you.”
Not about this.
I watched her facial features, and it was obvious that she was wrestling with something deep seated in her psyche. I took her in my arms and held her close, stroking her hair. I wanted her to talk to me, to feel safe enough to say anything. My head was screaming at her to speak, but I held my tongue and allowed myself to give her time. Maybe I was asking too much of her, too soon. My own inner turmoil was swirling inside me, picking apart my reasoning for wanting to know why she was upset and why I cared so damn much what her answer would be.
She curled her arms up around mine and chewed on her fingertips. A small, timid voice, unlike any tone I had heard come out of her mouth whispered into the soft city lights that leaked in from the open window. “I’ve never felt pretty, let alone beautiful. I try very hard not to appear attractive.”
“Someone has been giving you false fashion tips then, because you have always looked gorgeous to me,” I spoke into the scent of her hair.
She gave a sarcastic laugh. “That’s for men like you.”
“Men like me? What does that mean?” I felt wounded, suddenly defensive.
“Men who only want attractive women, not smart or career oriented women. Men who want girls like those from Love or Lust.”
My heart ached.
You have no idea what I want.
“When I am on my own, I hide behind my clothing and my cold attitude.”
I had the sense that the girl in my arms right now was the real Alyson Gallagher, not the cheeky escort who challenged my every order, and I wanted more of her. I kissed her hair and mentally urged her to continue.
“I was thirteen when my dad remarried for the third time. Up until then, it was just me and him and an occasional wife. I was his angel.” The tone of her voice did not match the words that were
coming out of her mouth. Usually, when someone talked fondly of a parent, you could feel that love in their voice. Aly’s voice held no emotion at all. “When he remarried, his new wife, his third wife, decided she wanted her two sons to move in with us. She wanted them to be raised by a ‘real man,’ she said. So they moved in with us the summer between my eighth grade and freshman year in high school. I didn’t like sharing my dad, but having other teenagers in the house was exciting at first. I’d always wanted a brother or sister growing up, and now I had two.” I felt her shoulders rise and fall as she sighed. My insides were beginning to knot.
I don’t want to know, stop talking, don’t say it.
“I suppose when you look sixteen instead of thirteen, and you’re growing up with boys who aren’t truly your brothers, it can be confusing.”
Oh dear God, she blames herself.
I held her tighter, trying to protect her, trying to keep myself from going into a fit of rage.
“They did not turn out to be very good brothers. My stepmother believed everything they said to her; they could do no wrong in her eyes, even when they were misbehaving nearly every night, if not one, then the other, sometimes both, and my dad, well, he was in denial. I think he always will be…” Her voice trailed off and I thought maybe the night had finally got to her and she drifted off. I jumped, startled, when she asked if I wanted her to leave.
“What?” I rolled to my back and threaded my fingers through my hair. My anger was right there at the precipice of my mind. I stared at the ceiling. “No, I don’t want you to leave,” I growled.
Alyson rolled to her back and crossed her arms protectively over her body, tucking the fabric of the sheet around her naked form beneath. “Are you mad at me? I shouldn’t have said anything. I am sorry. I guess I drank too much.”
“What the fuck, Aly?” I flung the covers off my body and paced beside the bed. “Why in the hell would you think I was mad at you or wanted you to leave, or that you did something wrong? What I want are their fucking names so I can go kill them both,” I yelled.
Aly shrank away, and I realized for the first time that she was frightened.
She’s never told anyone. She’s only told me.
“No, Jake, you can’t do anything. It’s over. It was a long time ago.” She stayed still as she spoke.
“Like hell I can’t. Aly. You were fucking thirteen years old.” My fists were balled into solid rock and I needed to punch someone, or something. I didn’t care if she didn’t tell me. I’d find out, and I swore when I did, I would hunt down those two sick bastards and rip them apart.
I heard Aly take in a raspy gulp of air. She was pushing it away again, all those years of squashing it down, hiding, feeling that she was less than, that she wasn’t worthy. How could she have been destroyed like that? I needed to make her feel as beautiful and as desired as she truly was. She deserved that, and I silently promised her that I would be the one to make her feel that way.
“Jake, forget everything I said.” She sat up and watched me pace back and forth.
“How do you propose I do that, Alyson?”
She gave me a meltingly sweet smile. “Just like I do, distract yourself.” I watched her crawl across the width of the bed, her body totally bare and so sexy. Her hips swayed from side to side and she purred, letting her warm breath wash over my abdomen. “I can help you with that.” I followed the direction her eyes had taken. I was rock solid.
I am such an asshole.
I could not believe I was standing here, erect, after what she had just told me. It was my mental unhinged mind. My brain was on autopilot. It knew what worked my body up, rage and frustration. I didn’t need the pent-up aggression right now; my fight was over, and my job was done. My only task right now was to be with and take care of Aly. I shivered as her fingernails dragged down my sternum. I cupped her face. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“There is nothing I want to do more.”
My hands stayed on her face, and my mouth met hers with an eager need. I could put it aside for her, for now. This time, I laid her back on the bed and took my time. She was a beautiful, precious gem to be treasured. I wanted her protected and happy, and I wanted to be the man to do it.
13
Alyson
I tossed my carryon bag inside the door of my bungalow and went straight to the shower. Our departure had been delayed and we flew through the night to make it back into town on time for both of us to meet our Monday morning schedules. Jake insisted on having Angelo take me home instead of letting me catch a cab. I had to hustle; I needed to be at my desk in the next forty-five minutes or Lieu would be calling me. I toweled my hair and pulled on a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. With my hair still damp, I grabbed the two phones I had left at home, tossed them into my bag with a bottle of orange juice, and climbed in my car, headed for the station.
“Cochran, get your ass in here,” my lieutenant’s voice crackled over the intercom speaker of my desk phone, moments after I settled in.
“Shit,” I sighed. He sounded pissed, more than his usual Monday morning misery.
Peters gave me a gawky lopsided grin as I passed, with a shrug of his shoulders, like he had no idea what was going on. My desk was in hearing distance; I knew he’d heard the bear growl. He gave me a thumbs up and I gave him my middle finger.
Why do you have to do that, Aly?
“Close the door behind you.” My superior’s eyes never left the paperwork he was reviewing in front of him.
Oh no, this is bad.
I felt my blood go cold and my stomach do flip flops. Something was wrong.
“How was your weekend?” he asked nonchalantly.
I had the feeling I was standing in front of my high school principal after skipping fourth period to go smoke in the parking lot. My feet fidgeted against the carpeted floor of his office and when he told me to take a seat, I yelped from the static electricity that shot between the metal of the chair and my fingertips. My lieutenant glanced up over the rim of his glasses with no expression, and I felt my face fill with the color of embarrassment. I dropped my eyes to my lap, declaring my guilt without using any words.
“I hear Vegas is great this time of year.”
I didn’t say anything.
He stood up and looked out the window behind his desk. “You leave your personal phone, you leave your work phone, and you didn’t say a word to anyone. Cochran, are you having a lapse in judgment here, or are you outright defying me and your team?”
My mouth dropped open and I lifted my head with a sudden snap to look at his back. “My team? You mean the team that has given me nothing but YouTube videos and bought me sleazy clothing to wear on dates set up by a computer service? That team?
He turned around and crossed his arms over his chest, giving me a look of disbelief. “Alyson, that team is connected to you by many means, ensuring your safety, and when you leave them standing on a sidewalk, fully rebelling against protocol, I have to wonder again where your head is in this. I hope it’s not in his bed, Alyson.”
I shut my mouth and returned my eyes to my hands in my lap. “It’s not, sir.”
“Where’s my report?”
“On my desk.” I got up to retrieve it, even though I knew it was only half-typed.
“Sit,” he barked. “We’re not finished.”
What now?
“Yes, sir.” My body folded back up and I sat on the edge of the chair, fighting the desire to blow out of the room in frustration.
“I know you spent that time in Vegas with Von Larsen. I want every ounce of information you took from that “personal” outing. All of it. Where you stayed, who accompanied you, who you made contact with, what occurred. All of it, Cochran.”
I shook my head. “Lieu, there isn’t anything. We don’t have anything on them. I didn’t find out anything.” My voice sounded whiny, even to my own ears. Why was I fighting this?
“You may not have anything, which, by the way, I will de
cide when I see your report, but we do.”
I gulped.
Damn it, Jake, be careful.
“And Alyson, let me make this crystal clear for you. I know when one of my own is holding out on me.”
“I’m not ho…”
His hand rose to stop me from finishing my rebuttal, and he sat back down, folding his hands in front of him and leaning in close across his desk. “Alyson, keeping intel from your superiors is a serious offense. I could suspend you. Consorting with criminals like the Von Larsens knowingly as a detective and not reporting it to your superiors can mean prison time. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes, sir. I understand, and I am doing my best to crack this case open for you.” That lie came out with more confidence than I felt inside.
Walking back to my desk, I passed by Peters. He’d ratted me out. Typical male, couldn’t trust them. His mind was on his own ass. Of course he’d opened his big fat mouth. God forbid he got a slap on the wrist. That was fine. I was done with him and I was done with the whole damned team. They weren’t doing a damn thing for me but making me look like a weak player. It was me that got into the playroom, without a blindfold, mind you. It was me that flew to Vegas on Jake’s private jet with his men. It was me that now had a connection with Jake’s right hand man, Angelo, and it was me that was going to dinner with the whole Von Larsen clan tonight. Fuck my team.
Assholes.
I failed to mention the after Vegas dinner party Jake was taking me to. If Lieu thought he knew more than I did, he had his sources, let them work for that information. I was done handing them anything on a silver platter. Let them pull their own damned weight. I was shedding the mill stone from around my neck.
The rest of my day went by in silence. I typed up my report and tossed it on the lieutenant’s desk before I left. Jake had called my secret Vegas phone and told me he’d pick me up at seven. The butterflies in my stomach danced, and then one by one, they died as I realized how badly I was jeopardizing my career. Lieu was right; I could be in a shit ton of trouble if I wasn’t careful. I would have to bring my work phone with me and gather what notes I could use to feed the team without giving away more than necessary.
