Jake shot Roma a look. She looked embarrassed and somewhat uneasy.
‘That’s right.’ He crossed his arms over his chest and watched her unflinchingly. ‘She wants to hear all about what we did together this weekend.’
‘When you stayed with us?’
‘That’s right – when I stayed with you.’ Bless the little pipsqueak. He hadn’t even had to prompt her. ‘I think she’s a little jealous.’
It might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn Roma turned green.
‘Jealous?’ his niece asked. ‘Because she didn’t get to come to my tea party?’
Roma’s gaze flicked towards him, and he shrugged. What could he say? He had a weakness for cute blondes.
‘Tell her about the fort, Marly,’ he encouraged.
Giggles sounded from the other end of the line. ‘Uncle Jake slept on the couch and we built a fort around him. He forgot about it when he got up the next morning, and he stubbed his toe. Mommy pinched his ear because he said some bad words.’
Jake watched as Roma sagged like a puppet just cut loose from its strings. She dipped her head and bit her lower lip. He didn’t need any more proof that he hadn’t lied.
‘Does it feel better now, Uncle Jake?’ his niece asked sweetly.
‘Lots better, peanut. Thanks for asking. I’d better go now.’
‘Me, too. Tommy just ran through the living room with mud on his shoes. I think Mommy’s going to pinch his ear, too.’
‘Be good, kiddo.’
‘OK.’
Click. The line went dead without so much as a goodbye. The dial tone hummed, and Jake reached out to disconnect.
‘In case you hadn’t noticed, my sister’s place is a nut house,’ he said succinctly. ‘That’s why I hadn’t planned on staying there.’
Roma looked thoroughly chastened.
He caught her chin and made her look at him. ‘Nothing happened between Liz and me. I told you before, she’s just a client.’
Unable to stay angry with her, he gently rubbed his thumb across her lips. ‘You’re not,’ he said gruffly. ‘You’re more.’
Her eyes went all watery. ‘Why didn’t you just tell me?’
‘After that swimsuit fiasco? I thought it would be better not to.’ He shrugged. ‘I was wrong.’
She blinked rapidly. ‘So was I.’
Shakily, she backed away until she was standing in front of the filing cabinet. Using that one hand, she wiped her eyes. ‘I’m sorry. I’m such a spaz when I overreact.’
‘I’m sorry, too. I should have been up front with you.’ He cocked his head. ‘Are we OK now?’
She nodded mutely.
He approached her cautiously. ‘What about Hawk? I’m not going find him torn into little pieces somewhere, am I?’
That, finally, got a Roma-like response. She let out a nervous laugh. ‘He is a little the worse for wear.’
Jake felt like he’d been through the wringer, too. Reaching out, he touched her hair. Slowly, he leant forwards. The kiss they shared was gentle, but emotional. He pulled her into his arms and held her close.
She jerked, though, when his hands started to slide down. Trying to cover her reaction, she patted his chest as she stepped away.
He didn’t let her get far.
‘What are you hiding, Goldie?’
Her eyes went wide. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, “What are you hiding?”. You shoved something behind your back the moment I stepped inside the door.’ He’d tried to be subtle, but that had gotten him nowhere. He reached for her hand again, but she twisted away in a move that would have done Chubby Checker proud.
‘It’s nothing,’ she said.
He had a good grip on her wrist, but that was it. With that flexibility of hers, she was able to twist and contort in unimaginable ways to avoid him.
‘Come on. Just show me,’ he coaxed. ‘Did Hawk give you something?’
‘No! Hawk didn’t give me anything. We didn’t do anything.’ She rolled her hand in circles and bent her arm in a way that would have separated his shoulder if he’d tried.
‘Give me a peek.’
‘No. It’s…It’s secret accountant stuff.’
‘I won’t tell.’ He tugged on her arm, setting her off balance. She took an involuntary step forwards and crashed into his chest. Smiling in victory, he wrapped his arms around her and reached for her hands.
She wasn’t going down without a fight. When his hands ran down, she hopped up on her tiptoes. When his hands ventured upwards, she dropped to a squat. She was basically rubbing herself all over him, and it shot his concentration all to hell. Before he could come to his senses, she bounced on her toes again. Only this time, she headbutted him in the chin.
‘Oops. Sorry,’ she said, still struggling to evade his wandering hands.
Jake saw stars – actually it was more of an explosion of white-hot lights. She’d clipped him in just the right place to weaken his knees. He felt them crumple and, on the way down, he remembered the reason why he hadn’t gone into boxing.
He had no chin.
The two of them went tumbling but, through his hazy senses, he tried to protect Roma. They landed with a whoosh with her right on top of his lungs. He gasped for air.
‘Jake!’ she cried. She planted her hands beside his head and levered herself off of him.
Still disorientated and oxygen-deprived, he was unable to respond.
His eardrums shuddered when she screeched his name again.
‘Jaaaaaaake!’
‘Stop screaming at me,’ he wheezed. ‘I’m right here.’
‘Are you OK?’ She patted her hands down his shoulders and arms. ‘Oh, my gosh! I’ve done it again. I didn’t mean to hurt you.’
‘I’m all right,’ he said, closing his eyes to try to get his equilibrium.
‘No, no! Don’t fall asleep.’ She slapped his cheek. ‘Jake!’
‘Stop hitting me,’ he said grumpily.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that hers had gone wide with regret. In a flash, the slap turned into a caress. Her fingertips glided over his cheekbone and down the line of his jaw. With a touch as light as a feather, she traced the red spot on his chin that marked the place where she’d hit him.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘For everything.’
There was just so much a man could take. Her blonde hair was spilling like a curtain about him. Her eyes were wide and gentle. Most importantly, her body was lying on top of his like a blanket. He reached up, cupped the back of her head, and pulled her down.
‘I deserve that kiss now.’
At the touch of their lips, he knew this wasn’t just going to be a peck. This was one kiss he wanted to savour. She felt too good. She tasted too good. ‘Sweet,’ he murmured.
He adjusted his head for a better angle and found it. With a groan, Roma turned from a soft, well-used comforter to an electric blanket cranked on high. She squirmed on top of him, and his arms tightened around her. Her fingers slid into his hair, and he was suddenly happy that the shades were closed.
With a growl, he grabbed her and rolled. He settled her underneath him and dragged kisses from her lips, to the point of her chin, and down to the soft skin of her throat. Groaning, she wrapped one leg around the back of his thigh. Determinedly, he rocked against her. With them, one kiss always led to two. Two led to fondling. Fondling led to groping…
He found the pulse at the side of her neck and licked. Her neck arched, and her head ground against the floor.
In that moment, though, she froze.
He felt her withdrawal and he froze, too. ‘Roma?’
She didn’t respond. He pulled back quickly to look at her. She had the strangest look on her face – one he couldn’t even begin to interpret. Ever so cautiously, she lifted her hand to feel the back of her head.
Her hand stilled, and she let out a long groan. ‘Oh, nooooo.’
Oh, God. Had she banged her head?
‘Wh
at is it, baby? Are you OK?’ Following her hand, he gently investigated the back of her scalp. His heart lurched when he felt something – only it wasn’t wetness like blood. Confused, he rolled her on her side and looked at the gooey mass. The light quickly dawned.
‘A Snickers bar?’
She gasped dramatically. ‘Chocolate? Here in the gym? No! It couldn’t be.’
His eyes narrowed, and he looked at her accusingly.
‘Who put that there?’ she said with an innocent look plastered on her face.
He settled back onto his haunches. He’d known he’d tasted sweetness in her kiss. ‘My suspicions point to that secret accountant stuff.’
He was off of her and moving towards her briefcase before she could scramble to her knees.
‘No!’ she cried. ‘That’s got…um…confidential information in there. You can’t look.’
‘Huh.’ He flipped back the lid. ‘Maybe you should have locked it then.’
She darted towards him, but he held her away with a straight-arm move from his football days.
‘What have we here?’ he said. He plucked an incriminating wrapper out of the inside of her briefcase. ‘And you thought I was cheating.’
Her eyes sprang open wide. ‘I didn’t cheat!’
He waved the wrapper in front of her.
‘Oh, you mean that. It’s not mine,’ she said quickly. ‘I was just holding it for somebody.’
‘Sure. That’s what they all say.’
He felt around the inside of the briefcase and triggered open a secret panel. Inside he found two more wrappers both containing illegal candy bars. He shook his head and made a tsking sound. ‘Roma, Roma, Roma. Refined sugar. You know this isn’t on your diet.’
‘I was upset,’ she said, taking a new tactic. ‘I couldn’t help myself.’
His head swivelled towards her. ‘So this is my fault?’
‘No, no. It was just…I’m a chocolate addict,’ she admitted, throwing herself at his mercy. ‘I need rehabilitation. Yeah, that’s it.’
‘Rehabilitation?’ He let out a snort. ‘What you need is a spanking.’
The one, simple word brought her head up. Their gazes connected, and the air snapped.
‘You wouldn’t dare,’ she said in a scandalised voice.
Normally, he wouldn’t. But with her…
‘You think not?’ Moving slowly behind her, he gave her bottom a swift tap. ‘You deserve twenty lashes. At least.’
His touch lingered. Those lunges had done wonders for her gluteus maximus.
She let out a shriek of laughter and spun around, holding her bottom. Her eyes were dancing as she looked at him. ‘You’re not going to spank me.’
‘After all the grief you’ve given to me today? Damn straight I am.’ He’d gladly spend some one-on-one time with her tight little ass. She’d given up all her ‘behind-the-desk’ power when he’d discovered that candy bar.
She giggled uncontrollably. She blinked, though, when he moved to lock the door. At the sound of the click, the look on her face was absolutely priceless. There was shock, curiosity and excitement all at once.
He folded his arms over his chest and waited. The next call was hers.
Her gaze went from him to the locked door and back to him again.
‘OK,’ she said finally, taking him up on his dare. She bent over the desk and wiggled her hips at him saucily. ‘Never let it be said that I didn’t take the punishment I deserved.’
The pose stopped Jake dead in his tracks. The teasing had all been in fun, but seeing her splayed out like that…thrusting her tush at him…ready for him to spank her…Holy shit.
He swallowed hard. It was suddenly getting very hot in here.
Roma wiggled her butt, watching his reaction closely. ‘Come on, big boy, make me pay.’
His hard-on nearly jumped out of his pants.
She was challenging him. It was one of the things about her that turned him on the most. Over the past couple of months, her muscles weren’t the only things that had been honed into shape. Her confidence had grown by leaps and bounds. She’d always been a hottie. The difference now was that she knew it.
And she liked to test her new-found sensuality out on him.
How lucky could one man get?
‘Oh, you’re going to pay,’ he growled as he stepped up behind her. Before she could brace herself, he gave each of her rounded cheeks a sharp rap.
She flinched, but started giggling again. ‘That tickles.’
The next one didn’t.
Roma’s fit of giggles turned into a surprised gasp when Jake’s flat palm connected just a bit harder. Even through the denim of her jeans, she could feel the hot imprint of his hand. It burnt and pulsed, drawing all her attention down to that one spot.
‘Three down,’ he said sternly. ‘Seventeen to go.’
‘Seventeen?’ She shifted, suddenly a bit uncertain. That last one was smarting a bit more than she’d expected.
He waited, giving her the opportunity to call the whole thing to a stop. She didn’t. Her curiosity was too strong. She’d heard of people who did this sort of thing. She’d certainly never tried, but with Jake…She trusted him, and the sting was turning into a peculiar warmth.
She stayed put and was rewarded with three rapid-fire smacks on the butt. The sensation was startling. Groaning, she leant more heavily onto her forearms.
‘Are you still willing to pay?’ he asked, leaning over her.
He gave her another quick spank, and she jolted.
‘Oh!’ The heat was spreading across her bottom, into her crevice, and down between her legs. She pressed her thighs together. ‘Oh, damn.’
She liked it.
‘Roma?’ he asked, waiting for her response.
She dropped her head in submission. ‘Yes.’
He exhaled shakily. Reaching out, he ran his hands down her hips, tracing her shapely new curves. Even that gentle touch drove her crazy. The spankings had left her bottom hot and overly sensitive.
‘God, these new jeans show off your ass to perfection.’
He caught her square on her right cheek, and she bucked. Her groan of pleasure filled the office.
‘Why would you think that I’d cheat on you?’ he asked. ‘Look at you.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Her old hang-ups had gotten in the way. ‘It won’t happen again.’
She panted for air as he spanked her again.
‘It better not,’ he said. ‘And no more cheating for you, either.’
She nearly panicked before she realised he was talking about the Snickers bar, not Hawk.
‘It just happened,’ she said. Both the chocolate and the kiss.
‘Naughty girl.’
The words made her wiggle before him. She’d always wanted to be a bad girl – within reason, of course. Before she’d met him, the angel on her other shoulder had won too often. The priss. She should have experimented with her more adventurous side a long time ago.
I told you so, her devilish side said gleefully.
I am not a priss, her angel side huffed.
Roma’s hips shifted left and right, trying to avoid the inevitable sting. He caught her at three different angles in quick succession, and she grabbed for the sides of the desk. ‘What if I told you I’ve been smuggling those candy bars in for the last two-and-a-half months?’
He laughed. ‘Greedy little thing, aren’t you?’
She thrust her bottom up towards him, practically begging for the next lashing. Instead, he peeled her off the desk. Her knees were weak, so she leant back into him and gripped his thighs for support. He wasn’t quite steady, either. He pulled her top off her and tossed it aside. He wrangled with her bra next. Like a slingshot, it flew towards the corner of the room.
Roma moaned when he reached around and thumbed her nipples. They were already hard.
‘Back down in position,’ he whispered into her ear. ‘That confession just upped your punishment.’
She shivered in d
elight.
Compliant, she went down. She jerked up, though, when he reached around her for the tab of her zipper. Whoa! She rather liked that layer protecting her bare skin. It wasn’t doing that good a job, but flesh on flesh might be a bit too brisk.
‘Down,’ he said calmly.
With a hand between her shoulder blades, he gently pushed her back into position. She lay still as he unzipped her jeans. He pulled off her boots and worked the denim down over her hips. She gasped as the rough fabric abraded her sensitive skin.
He stopped and cupped her. ‘The pink,’ he said appreciatively.
She was wearing the pink panties she’d worn the first day she’d come to the gym. She still didn’t know how he’d seen them, but they’d become somewhat of an obsession for him. He took a shaky breath and fingered them delicately.
‘Can I keep them on?’ she asked.
‘No.’
She hissed as his fingers spread wide over her curves. His hand fisted in the material, and he pulled them off her. At last, she lay bent over before him with nothing on but a pretty pink blush.
‘Ready?’ he asked softly.
‘Yes.’
She trusted him completely.
She had seven to go, and he didn’t cheat her out of one. With nothing between them, the contact was shocking and so much more intimate. By sixteen, Roma was moaning and shifting. Papers from the files were crumpling under her feet, but she didn’t care. Pencils and the stapler had been knocked off the desk. Neither of them stopped to pick them up.
‘Eighteen,’ Jake said, his breath coming hard and fast.
He stopped, but her bottom still pulsed. The heat now felt like fire; she couldn’t think of anything else. She didn’t even notice his fingers venturing elsewhere. When they dipped between her legs, she let out a moan that echoed off the walls of the small room.
She was wet.
He couldn’t wait any longer. He gave her the last two swats with one hand as he pulled down his pants and drawers with the other. The sting was still vibrating through her red cheeks as he thrust into her.
‘Oh! Oh!’ she cried, coming right off the desk.
He rocked backwards a step and wrapped his arm about her, low on her hips. He was already pumping fast and hard. Their bodies were slapping together as he went deep with every thrust.
High School Reunion Page 18
