by Low, Gennita
“Yes, you do, Jaymee. Tell me.” Nick’s thumbs curled under her lacy brassiere and stroked the underside of her suddenly sensitive breasts.
Jaymee grit her teeth. No, she would not. “Yes.”
The admission came out in a moan—helpless and unsure. She didn’t protest when he undid the front clasp of her bra with a practiced ease she took note of before he diverted her attention by possessively cupping her released flesh. Her eyes closed to savor the intimate sensations his touch generated.
Nick couldn’t see her face but her soft moan was sexier than any words. She was softer than the Egyptian cotton of his favorite shirts and utterly enchanting in the way she responded to him. Her breasts eagerly spilled into his hands, heavy and baby smooth, her nipples turning pebble hard as he played with them. Her restless hips were doing wonderful things to his body as she arched and squirmed in his arms.
Jay Barrows had all but disappeared. In her place was Jaymee, a passionate bundle of womanhood, far more exciting than how he’d imagined her at night, and Nick desperately wanted this woman. He wanted to keep her in this state of aroused need, just to see this part of her revealed, and he was glad, possessively, triumphantly glad, she was showing it to him. He knew, bone deep, she didn’t—hadn’t been—out of control in a long, long time.
Jaymee melted into his chest and lifted her chin. He didn’t need a second invitation, placing his lips on hers. His kiss was tender and exploring. Somewhere among the exploding sensations, a part of her felt the restraint he was exercising, as if he didn’t want to frighten her. Hooking an arm around his neck, she pulled him closer, trying to get closer, wanting more, making a sound of protest when he broke off the kiss.
She opened her eyes with great reluctance. The animal heat in his gaze made her heart beat faster. His eyes roved her flushed face with a predatory gleam.
“Kiss me like you mean it,” she recklessly said, ignoring the moment of reprieve he was giving her.
“If I do, Jaymee, it won’t be a simple romp on an office chair. Are you prepared to give me what I want?” His voice was gentle, even though his eyes glittered with suppressed emotion. In a slow caress, his hand moved over her thudding heart. “I want what your heart’s promising me. I want you wild and crazy under me. You’ll have to take off that leash you’ve put on yourself.”
Jaymee couldn’t say a thing. She should be, but she wasn’t at all shocked this stranger understood her so well. He had seen through her enough to know where to pierce her armor, and he was telling her if she let him make love to her, she would lose the thing at which she worked so hard, her control. And she knew, without a doubt, sleeping with him would mean relinquishing a lot. He had already proven it moments ago, and that was with him holding back his own needs. He would be the kind of lover who’d take everything, control everything, and expect total surrender, in the pursuit of mutual pleasure. Nothing less would do. It was there in his eyes, in the quiet expectancy of his strong body so close to hers.
He stared down at her solemnly, as if he could read her racing thoughts. “I want you to think about it, sweet Jaymee,” he continued in that deceptively gentle tone, “because if you let me have you, I won’t allow you to hide anything from me. There’ll be no stopping once I start because I want you very much. I won’t even listen, baby, if you change your mind, because I’ll be unleashed too. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this way too.”
They were quiet words but still caused her to tremble with fear and longing. Unleash the wolf. She understood exactly what he was warning her of. If she said yes, it wouldn’t be the tender controlled kisses and soft caresses. It would be wild. It would be powerful. It would be...heaven.
All that would probably kill her.
She didn’t realize she had spoken aloud. “No, sweet Jaymee,” Nick said, shaking his head as he traced her lips with one long finger. “I’m going to free you. You’ve locked yourself inside that delectable body for too long. It’s nice. It’s safe. I’m neither.”
Oh, she agreed. He was neither nice nor safe. The feral gleam in his slate eyes gave her fair warning. There was a humming heat emanating from his body, like a race engine idling, waiting, and she could feel the power of a waiting predator inside this man. There was nothing safe about him at all, not the hands that continued stroking her, or the hard flesh beneath her nudging intimately.
“So, if I say no, you’re going to let me go,” she stated, her breath catching when his thumb scraped a sensitive nipple.
“For now,” he agreed. “I’ll give you a little time to get used to me.”
“Get used to you?” Jaymee frowned. “What about get to know you?” But she already knew the answer. He didn’t stop her when she sat back up, adjusted her blouse, and added, “You aren’t staying long, are you?”
Nick gave her a considering look. “No.”
At least he was honest. Not like.... She clamped down on her past with the usual iron determination. She hated to be reminded—yet, of course, while she continued to pay for that mistake, she was reminded—of it every day. One was supposed to learn from one’s mistakes, unless there was some sort of mental retardation, which, she told herself with wry amusement, was probably what was wrong with her. She was actually going to repeat history and fall into the arms of the wrong type of guy. Time to change the subject.
“In that case, I’d better get your tax records updated all the time,” she said in a calm, logical voice. “That way, I won’t be caught without records of labor hours if I ever get audited.” She leaned forward, still sitting on his lap, and punched in a command. “I’ll fiddle with the program later. Let me make some notes and then I’ll pay you so you can go enjoy your weekend.” She reached for a legal pad lying a few feet away.
Despite his discomfort, Nick had to smile. If he ever needed a partner during a mission, he would surely take Jaymee Barrows. She was one cool customer, able to adapt to situations with an innate perception that had caught him off-guard several times already, and nothing—nothing—escaped those bright eyes. When she’d looked at him, he’d noticed they were no longer green, but an unrevealing mix of flecked brown and gold. He was learning to read her moods and found how subtly manipulative those colors were as he caught himself adjusting his behavior and reaction whenever he saw a change. Right now, the dark flat look managed to prick his conscience about taking her while offering nothing in return. Now that, he acknowledged with a certain awe, was power. No one, male or female, had ever managed to do that to him in all his years in covert work. The trained part of him was already preparing for battle, even with a woman who hadn’t any idea of her power over him, and he decided to make a quick retreat, so he could analyze the situation.
Besides, there was something else on which he had to get his hands, besides Jaymee’s irresistible body. He looked at the computer over her shoulder as she made notes on her writing pad. When she tried to get off his lap again, he held her still, his hands returning to her waist.
“No. Not yet.”
“You’re being presumptuous. I don’t play games.”
Nick nuzzled her neck and rested his chin on her shoulder, looking at the computer screen. “Games can be fun, Jaymee. You get to know how the other person thinks, see what they do. Like right now, I keep wondering what you’d do if I pulled that barrette off your hair and ran my fingers through that thick mane. Why do you keep it tied up all the time, anyway?”
“I don’t feel like being mistaken for a broom,” she muttered, “and if I cut it, I look like Shirley Temple on speed.” She sighed. “I’ve got work to do.”
“Computer stuff?”
“That, and other things.”
“Why do you have two computers?”
“One of them is brand new,” Jaymee said, pointing to the other computer on the desk, “and it’s a piece of crap.”
“What do you mean?”
She liked the way his chin rested on her shoulder. He smelled of soap and clean male scent, his thick black hair
tickling her ear. “I bought it off the Internet so I could transfer my files to a computer with more memory and then I wasted a whole day on the damn thing because the files won’t open! Some stupid message kept appearing, saying some program is running that I’ve to close, but there wasn’t any program on! Anyway, the screen would then freeze up. I almost pushed the stupid thing off the table after five hours of playing with it.”
“Why didn’t you call up the company that sold it to you?”
The look she gave him told him she didn’t appreciate him thinking her so dumb. “Of course I did. Some technical support line. I don’t have the time during their hours to sit here and talk mumbo-jumbo with some expert. It’s a lost cause.” She clicked the icon to close the program. “As long as this works, I’ll just make do till I have time to fix the other one.”
“Maybe I can help.”
That got Jaymee’s attention. She tried to twist around to look at him.
“I suggest you don’t, ah, move your cute little ass so much, sweetheart,” he drawled, “or that little time I promised you will be withdrawn sooner than expected.”
Jaymee felt the warmth rushing to her cheeks, but she was secretly pleased with his masculine reaction. She was so out of practice, she’d forgotten how heady feminine power could be. Without considering the consequences, she moved her bottom experimentally and smiled with wonder at the hard nudge that answered back. She repeated it, too totally immersed in her delight to notice the man holding her was looking down at her with exasperation mingled with lust.
Nick wanted to focus on the computer, but damn, the woman was downright irresistible. It was obvious she hadn’t allowed herself so close to a man for a long time. She seemed to have no idea that doing what she was doing was courting danger, that she couldn’t expect a red-blooded man not to throw her onto the sofa behind them and have his way with that sweet body. But something held him back, even as his body painfully requested release. He wanted her to get used to him, didn’t he? Maybe he’d spoken too soon because she certainly was taking him at his word. He growled in agonized pleasure as one particular squirm rubbed him the right way.
The little moan startled Jaymee back into reality. Oh my God, what had come over her? Her face flushed even redder. “I….” She licked her lips, not knowing quite how to explain her outrageous behavior.
“It feels good, babe,” he said, although he sounded a trifle tortured.
“I’m sorry, I don’t...” She shrugged helplessly, then looked around for an excuse. Better change the subject. “The computer. Yes, you did say you know computers. Do you mean you can fix it?”
There was a short pause. Jaymee made sure she sat very still.
“Would you like me to check it out?” He was laughing at her; she could hear it in his voice. “I can probably find out whether it’s a hardware or software problem. It would narrow down the possibilities.”
“Right. Of course,” she said. “Will you let me get off now? Then you can look at the computer a lot better. I’ll turn it on for you.”
He gave a sexy soft laugh. “You turn on everything, Jaymee.” Pushing back the chair, he watched her make her escape. “Sorry, couldn’t resist that.”
Jaymee didn’t want to play word games or any other type of games with him. His double entendres were too clever by far, and his behavior was making it difficult for her to think straight. Already, her out-of-control imagination was playing games in her head, as she saw herself dressed in red and saying, “What sexy hands you have, Nick Langley,” to which the big bad wolf replied, “The better to seduce you with, dear Jaymee.”
“Turn it on, Jaymee.” She looked down at him. “I mean the new computer.”
The laughter in his voice sent her scurrying to find the master switch of the surge protector connected to the second computer. She could feel sweat forming at the back of her neck as she snapped the switch on. She couldn’t believe she’d stared at the bulge in his pants, that she had come this close to actually smirking out loud, “What a big...” What was wrong with her? She had to get away from him for a few minutes, to gather herself again.
“Excuse me for a bit,” she said, trying not to sound flustered. “I’ll be right back. Want a drink? Beer? Soda?”
“A beer sounds great,” answered Nick agreeably, half-regretting he had to let her go. He was very close to finding the trigger to this mysterious woman, but the answer to his prayers was sitting on the desk in front of him. Seducing Jaymee would have to wait. As soon as she closed the door behind her, he drew the chair close to the table and got to work.
*
In the restroom, Jaymee rubbed her heated face with a damp cloth. She’d gone insane. Somehow eight years without a man had built into a pressure cooker of crazed lust without her knowledge, and a man with hungry eyes and incredible hands had, wittingly or unwittingly, taken off the tight cover.
She stared into the mirror, seeing the strange wild glitter in her own eyes, the unnatural rosiness of her cheeks. Lust. She lusted after this new man in her life and his hot tough body. And he wanted her just as badly. His body told her so, and his words were just as brutally honest. It’d be a simple affair and no more, something to which she’d never agree. Never. She bit down on her lower lip. She wouldn’t, right?
She groaned aloud in the little room and rewetted the cloth to wipe her face again. She couldn’t hide the truth any longer. She would. She would settle for an affair if that was what Nick wanted. Or she could try to fight it. It’d be, she decided with firm grimness, just a matter of determination. She refused to be Red Riding Hood, being seduced by his eyes and hands and...and...other big parts.
There were other fairy tales which had big bad wolves in them. “I’ll be the third little pig instead,” she told her image in the mirror. “I’ll be the smart little pig that built the house of stone.”
She nodded, as if her solution was some brilliant strategy of war. The wolf couldn’t get the little pig in that story. Then she grinned at the ridiculousness of her thoughts.
Feeling a modicum of control returning, she turned off the lights and reentered the kitchen. She eyed the closed door to her study, then went to get some beer from the refrigerator. An electronic background, she noted, meant someone with training, maybe even a degree. What was he doing laboring as a roofer in a town in the boondocks? It just didn’t add up. What was it he had to straighten out, and why was he in hiding? She really didn’t want to help him, if he had done anything illegal. The less she knew the better. Let him leave soon. He was far too threatening to her world.
Nick didn’t look up when the door opened, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he played with the computer’s operating system program. He could detect her floral scent as she came closer, and nodded his thanks when a bottle of beer appeared in front of him. Taking a swig, he sank deeper into the chair and scanned the screen. He was beginning to like the chair a lot.
Jaymee looked at the screen. Those lines looked like nonsense to her, but Nick appeared to know what they meant as he grunted and typed something, then moved the cursor around.
“What’s the problem, do you know?” she questioned, pulling up a chair alongside his. “What are these things?”
“I’m just directing some basic self-testing programs,” he explained. “The computer can zero in on where the problem is. It looks promising. If it’s software, it’s fixable without anything being taken apart.”
“Oh.” Whatever. If he fixed it, she would be eternally grateful. She had cried at the possibility of spending more money to replace whatever was wrong with it. “Can you really fix it?”
Of course he could. The Programmer ate computer chips for breakfast, and, he added after giving his companion a brief glance, sexy roofers for dinner. “It might take a while. I’ve nothing to do this weekend, so if you want, I can come back and play with it.” And get to his connections.
“You’ll have to tell me when. I won’t be home much.”
“Going somewh
ere for the weekend?” He wondered what she did for fun.
“No, I’ll be in and out, but if you tell me when it’s convenient for you, I’ll be here.”
“How about eleven in the morning? Then you can feed me lunch.”
Jaymee nodded. “Fine. How much are you charging me to fix it?”
Nick shrugged. “Let me work on it first.” He eyed her with outrageous wickedness, and added, “I’m very negotiable about payments.”
She was determined to stick to business. “Cash, then,” she said, gulping down her milk. “If I’m not home when you arrive, just wait in the back porch.”
Turning off the computer, Nick stood up, stretching his back. His knees creaked and popped in protest. Hearing it, Jaymee tried to hide a grin. Week one for Roofer Wannabes was always a painful experience.
“You think it’s funny, don’t you?” He made a threatening step toward her and she quickly pulled the two kitchen chairs between them. “You like seeing me in pain.”
Jaymee tugged the chairs behind her as she went back into the kitchen. “Is the big construction man in pain?” she mocked back, feeling safe with the chairs as protection. “Come, come. What about those tough muscles?”
Nick finished his drink and put the empty bottle in the sink. He watched her arrange the chairs at the small table before walking to the counter. Pulling out the top drawer, she withdrew some cash.
“Come on,” she said, “I’ll help you to your Jeep, poor limping thing.”
“It is getting dark and scary outside,” he agreed. “Hold my hand?”
Her voice was Southern sweet in the semi-darkness. “I hope the mosquitoes eat you up, Langley.
Chapter Four
Nick showed up at the little house early on purpose. Jaymee’s truck was where she’d parked it the night before, so she was either home or hadn’t used it to go wherever she had to be. Walking down the path, he admired the clumps of hibiscus bushes in full bloom. He didn’t really look last evening, but the property was quite picturesque, especially in the backyard with the view of the lake.
