“Well, Ms. Sanford, it’s like this. Your bag is packed. It’s Friday night and your daughter is away for the weekend. And you don’t have a husband. You can forget your girlfriend tonight, you’re coming to my house.” His words were final.
“I am not. I c-can’t believe you just said th-that.” Her voice was shaking.
“Well, I can arrest you for having an open container-”
She cut him off. “I can’t get arrested. I’m a teacher!”
“I don’t want to arrest you. I want you to follow me to my house and we can decide what the penalty is going to be for letting me believe you had a husband all this time.” He reached through the open window and touched her for the first time. His big, rough hand slid to her ear, and his thumb rubbed across her top lip. Lightning speared through her.
“That’s blackmail.” It was whispered. The movement of her mouth brushed her lips against his thumb. She stared up into his eyes.
“Semantics. I’ve wanted you for a long time. You knew I thought you were married. That bullshit lie won’t work anymore. Follow me home. Now.” He turned and walked away.
Chapter Two
Amy parked her car in his double driveway next to his pick-up. The drive to his house had been accomplished in under five minutes. The whole way, she tried to contain the hysteria so close to the surface. She didn’t really think he would arrest her. But she didn’t know for sure. Was that just her excuse to come here, to be alone with him?
She turned the key off and pulled it out of the ignition. She sat in shock while he came around and opened her door. Her hand trembled as he picked it up and helped her out. She stood next to him. She couldn’t remember ever standing this close to him before. He was always so intimidating with his height and build. She tended to stay across the room when he and his partner had control of her kids. Before tonight, she had never touched him. Not even a handshake. When they were introduced, she had been standing in front of her students, and never came close. She remembered smiling at him, but she was too nervous to get close. Even in a classroom setting, he always looked ready to pounce.
“Okay Amy, inside.” He reached across her seat and grabbed her bags. The car door slammed with a final click. He took her hand again and started dragging her to the back door. She looked around in a daze as he unlocked the door and stepped back to let her enter. She hesitated, then crossed the threshold into the kitchen. The door slammed shut. She turned to face him, like she was facing her executioner. Trepidation colored her eyes.
He lounged indolently against the door. “I’ve got you now.”
Fear and excitement slid through her. Her fantasies had never been this bold, this tangible. Her heartbeat slammed into her lungs making breathing difficult.
She watched him leaning there, his posture oozing satisfaction. She knew. She always knew he wanted her.
He was so tall. He was at least a couple of inches over six feet. And she was—well, she was very puny. His shoulders were wide. His biceps bulging through the sleeves of his tee shirt. The holster wrapped around his shoulders, the gun clinging to him, part of him. His jeans molded lovingly to his thighs, his booted feet were crossed casually at the ankles.
“I don’t remember telling you my first name. How did you know?” She tried to make her voice sound casual. She was a mess inside.
“I ran your plates.” His voice was clipped.
“Oh. I see. And do I get to know your name, Lieutenant?” She would be just as cool as he was. She could do this. Even if her thoughts were racing and her nerves were screaming.
“Jake.” His short, concise answers were starting to make her tension escalate. She wanted to demand an explanation for his actions, but was afraid to. One wrong word from her might provoke him.
Jake watched the gorgeous woman in front of him. He had wanted her from the first moment he saw her. She was maybe medium height, fine-boned, and delicate. He knew he could pick her up with one hand. Her hair was dark, almost black, like his. It was long, and fell in soft waves around her face and shoulders. Her eyebrows were delicate slashes emphasizing those cat shaped eyes. She was so fucking hot. He felt another rush of blood to his groin and tension started to grip him. Shit, when she had said she wasn’t married, he felt like he had hit the jackpot. Never before in his life had he even been tempted to commit adultery. She was a temptation that had fucked with him for ten weeks.
He stared at the curves of her body.
She wasn’t dressed like a teacher tonight. No, she was dressed like she was going out with her friends. Her single friends. Good thing he had stopped that. If she ran around Baton Rouge looking like that, some asshole would snatch her up before he even got a chance at her. It was a good thing she fell into his hands tonight.
He pushed off the door and straightened to his full height. Amy took a step back in alarm. It was one thing to innocently dream about this. It was another thing, in reality. He started walking toward her, his intention obvious. She backed up and looked around in agitation.
“Stop.” She held her hand up to ward him off. “Wait.” She sucked in a breath as he stopped. He looked at her and waited.
“What?” His one syllable answers were going to be the death of her. “Why do you want me to stop? You want it just as much as I do.” She shook her head in denial. He started toward her again. “Don’t lie to me. It’s why you tried so hard to ignore me for ten weeks.”
She backed up until she hit the wall. He followed.
He reached out and took her chin in his hand and lifted her face up to his. His eyes tangled with hers. “You know I want you bad. You knew it the day we met. Why would you deny this?” His finger ran down one smooth cheek. He lifted her hair away from her face and gripped her scalp. “All that time. All those weeks. I could tell I did it for you. I thought you were just trying to be a good little wife, and stay the hell away from me.” He pushed his pelvis into her stomach. She gasped and closed her eyes. “So why have you been running scared?” He ran his hand from her scalp down to her neck. He encircled it with one big hand. Her eyes flew open. His eyes blazed into hers. Their inhalations became audible. He moved to caress her face again. He put his other hand on her waist and gripped her.
A fine tremor gripped her body as she turned her face away from him to look at the wall. She shook her head in denial. “I don’t have to answer you. I don’t want this.” Her eyes slowly turned back to his. “And you’re scaring me.” She turned her face away from him again.
Jake let out a hiss of frustration. He moved back from her body and lifted his hands in the air in slow exaggeration. “I’m not going to rape you, babe. Believe it or not, I’ve never had to force a woman to have sex with me. You’re safe.” His eyes roved over her body, held so stiffly away from him. “As safe as you want to be.”
Silence met his words. He could feel the apprehension gripping her. This wasn’t going to get him what he wanted. “I swear, sweetheart. I’m not going to hurt you.” He tried to inject a teasing tone. “In fact, you’ll have to beg me to so much as kiss you.” Her breath came out in a sigh at his words. She turned to face him and slowly looked up. “You believe me, don’t you?”
“Not really.”
“Not really? Are you serious? You think I’m desperate?” he teased her.
He saw her mouth curve into a slight smile. Some of the tension ran from her body. It was all the opening he needed.
He reached out and gently put his hands on her waist. He was careful to keep some space between them as he ran his hands up and down the curves of her waist. Her breath splintered as she felt him caress her. His hands ran from her waist to her shoulders and back again. Back down to her waist and slowly over the sides of her hips to her upper thighs. There he stopped and momentarily gripped her. Her legs trembled and the inside of her thighs flooded with a wet heat.
He slowly pulled her body into his as he felt the sexual tension grip her.
“You’re sweet. You smell sweet, babe.” He leaned into her
hair and breathed in her scent. “Say my name.” He held her waist in an uncompromising grip. “Say it.”
She trembled in his arms. “J-Jake.” Her voice was wobbly. His lips moved to her ear.
His mouth spoke into her ear. “Ask me to kiss you.” His arm moved around her waist and lifted her pelvis into him. She gasped and hung in his arms. “Ask me, Amy.”
“Pl-Please.” Hunger attacked her senses. She pressed her body more fully into his.
He lifted her and pushed one strong thigh into the vee of her legs. He slowly let gravity ease her down until she was caught, straddling his leg. Lightning speared through her. He pushed his chest into hers and caged her within his arms. “Please what, babe?”
“Kiss me, Jake. Kiss m-“He slammed his mouth down on hers. He pushed his tongue in and attacked her mouth like he had been waiting forever. Their tongues and teeth dueled. His body pushed against her. She felt his gun biting into her shoulder. She whimpered. His hand moved to her hair and pulled her face up so he could have her mouth more fully.
She whimpered again and pushed against him. She broke her mouth free. “Stop.”
He pushed harder and tried to take her mouth back. She struggled against him. “Stop.”
His breathing was labored. “Why?”
She was dazed at the speed of his actions. She put her hands on his chest and tried to push. She had no strength. “I don’t like the gun. Please, I-”
He cut off her words. “Okay, babe.” He moved his thigh from between her legs and lowered her to the floor. Her legs shook. He steadied her, then stepped back. She leaned against the wall for support while he unbuckled the harness and took the weapon off his shoulder. His eyes never left hers. He moved across the room and opened a cabinet and put the gun inside. He snapped it shut. He started coming back to her.
She looked around and moved away from the wall. She couldn’t let him corner her there again. She walked into a living area that was connected to the kitchen. He followed her.
Amy thought desperately of something to say or do to slow him down. “Nice house.” She looked away from his piercing eyes and focused on the room. A big coffee table in front of a large couch dominated the center of the room. She reached down and absently straightened the pile of magazines scattered on it. She mindlessly fluffed a pillow on the couch. Her eyes found his and then darted away again.
Jake saw her discomfort as she awkwardly moved around the room. He tried to give her a moment to adjust. He savored the pleasure of finally having her to himself. In his home. In his power.
“Okay. No gun.” He held up his hands to show he was no threat. “Come here.”
“Um, no J-Jake-,” she began.
“Um, yes Amy,” he returned, coming toward her.
She held up one slim hand and gave him her best teacher face. “No. This is going too fast. I think we should slow down.”
“Too fast? Are you fucking kidding me?” She cringed at his crudity. “You’ve had my guts tied up for ten weeks. You’re lucky you’re not naked right now. I don’t even remember what a hot shower feels like anymore. All I get are cold ones. Because of you. I thought that I would never get to have you. And now I find out you don’t have a Goddamn husband.” He shouted the last five words.
She stood looking at him in shock and horror. He raked his hand through his hair and turned away from her. He took a sharp breath and looked back. She was standing there, petrified. Petrified because of him. Shit.
“I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated as hell by this whole situation. I don’t understand why you let me think for ten weeks that you were married. What the hell are you so scared of?”
He looked her over while he waited for her answer. She was dressed in skin tight, low-rise capri length jeans. Her shoes were nude colored, three inch platform sandals. Her top was sleeveless and clung to her breasts. He’d never seen her in anything remotely like that before.
She was an itch he needed to scratch.
“I’m not scared of anything. I didn’t know you thought I was married-”
“That’s bullshit. Why the hell wouldn’t I? You have pictures of your daughter on your desk. Everyone at that school calls you ‘Mrs. Sanford.’ “He glared at her.
“What was I supposed to say? ‘Oh, by the way, Lieutenant Hottie, I’m not married?’ Besides, I didn’t think you noticed me anyway.” That part wasn’t true. She knew he had been aware of her every time he was in her classroom. But no matter how deep the attraction, she wouldn’t let herself get involved with him. Her past made it impossible for her to consider it.
She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at him.
“So, you think I’m hot?” He started in her direction again.
“Stop. We haven’t resolved anything. Quit stalking me.” Her voice was shrill. She scooted around to the other side of the coffee table.
“Okay, babe. You win. I’m going to walk back in the kitchen, and get you a glass of wine. Then we’ll sit and talk.” He turned to leave the room.
“Oh my God! Renee and Jenny. I forgot Renee and Jenny. The wine reminded me. I’m supposed to meet them. I need to go-”
“You’re not going anywhere.” He reached over and grabbed his cell phone off the counter. “Call them. Cancel.”
“I can’t just cancel.” He put the phone in her hand.
“Even if I wanted to let you go, you can’t. Your car will stall again. You’re staying here. We’ll get it worked on tomorrow.” Indecision was etched on her features.
She opened the phone and looked at it. She slowly keyed in Renee’s number. Jake walked around behind her and threaded his arms around her waist while she waited for Renee to pick up.
“Hello?” Amy could tell her friend didn’t recognize the number.
“Renee, it’s me, Amy.” Jake moved his hand and palmed her breast. She jumped.
“Amy, are you all right? Where are you?” Amy held the phone away from her ear in a daze. That hand felt so good.
Jake whispered in her ear. “Tell her you’re okay, but had car trouble.” He tugged on her nipple.
“I-I’m okay. I had c-car trouble.” Her voice was soft, quiet. She could feel the wetness between her thighs.
“Oh my gosh! Do you need me? I’ll be right there.” Renee’s voice was shrill, concerned.
Amy hung like a puppet in Jake’s grasp. “Tell her not to come. Tell her you’re fine. Tell her you’re with the police.” His whispered instructions tickled her ear. His hand moved down to cup her heat. She sucked in her breath.
“I-I’m fine. You don’t need to come. I’m w-with the police. Bye.” She closed the phone and it dropped to the floor.
Jake slid his hand up her shirt and cupped a silk covered breast. He rubbed the liquid heat between her legs. “You did real good, babe. Real good.”
She sagged in his arms. “W-well.” Her voice was a shaken whisper.
He sucked her earlobe into his mouth. “What?”
“I did real well. Not good. Well.” Her hips moved against his hand.
He chuckled. “Oh yes, ma’am, Ms. Sanford. You did real well.” He turned her in his hold. One brawny arm slid around her waist and the other reached to caress her breast under her shirt. “Is there anything else you want me to learn tonight, teacher girl?” His thumb stroked back and forth across her nipple.
She moaned. She clung to his biceps and lifted her lips. “I d-don’t think-”
He took her lips with his and rubbed them slowly across hers. He took her bottom lip in his mouth and gently sucked. His teeth raked across it. His tongue reached out and took licks where his teeth had abraded only a moment before. “That’s okay, sweetheart, you don’t need to think. I’ve got you.”
He took her hand and led her to the couch. She mindlessly followed him. Once she was sitting, he knelt in front of her and put his hands on her thighs. He slowly pushed them apart and moved his torso between her knees. His hands made a swirling pattern on the top of her legs and his eyes held he
rs. “You are the prettiest little thing I’ve ever seen.” He slid his hands to the inside of her thighs. “So sweet. So damn pretty. It’s hard to believe you’re thirty-seven. You look about twenty-five.” He swirled one hand up and over her feminine mound and away again.
Amy squirmed at the enticement. Her breath was coming quickly. “How d-did you know that?” He raised one dark eyebrow and stared into her eyes. “My plates?” He nodded his head and looked down at his hands grasping her legs. He reached for her liquid heat again. She started panting. “H-how old are you?”
“Thirty-nine.” He reached down and slid off one of her sandals, then the other. He picked up one delicate little foot and held it in the palm of his hand. “What size are these?” He ran his index finger over the dark pink paint on her toes.
“F-five” She watched, enthralled by his gentleness. “Have you ever been married? Do you have any kids?”
“No, and no.” His hands kept running back and forth, up and down her legs, all the way to her feet. The sweep of his hands was smooth, firm. “What else do you want to know? I have two sisters, both in New Orleans. My parents are retired and living in Florida. I was raised Catholic, but I don’t go to church. I’m heterosexual and don’t have any STD’s. Does that about cover it?”
Amy nodded her head. She couldn’t get any words to form. His hands were petting her. Moving from the inside of her thighs to the feminine heat between and then back down again.
“You are so beautiful. Do you know how beautiful you are?” His words were enticing. Magical. She shook her head, denying his words. “You’re gorgeous. Do you know how long I’ve wanted your gorgeous little body?”
“I’m not little.” Her words were soft, subdued.
“Not little?” He ran his hands down the outside of each leg until he reached her calves. He wrapped each hand around an ankle and lifted her legs slightly. “Look.” Her heart started pounding when she saw his big hands around her ankles. His fingers completely wrapped around her and still overlapped. Excitement gripped her. That was so sexy. He was so sexy. He moved closer to her and wrapped her legs around his waist. She sucked in a breath.
The Louisiana Liaisons Series Box Set Page 9
