by Lori Wilde
He was hooked.
There was something about the way she moved, a determined fluidity that captured his attention. Smooth and steady like the power of water eroding stone.
“Ah,” Talbot said. “I get it now. You never got to finish what you started with Suki’s sister in the coat closet.”
Jake stared as Jodi leaned in to say something to Warwick. Hey, hey, come over here and talk to me.
“Why aren’t you tapping that?” Talbot said. “Because you should be. I’d be tapping that if I wasn’t hooking up with her sister.”
“You and Suki are—”
“Just having fun.”
“You’re pond scum. You know that?”
“Why? Suki doesn’t want anything more and neither do I. And I’d rather be pond scum than moony.”
“I’m not moony.”
“Then why aren’t you banging away?”
“Hush.” Jake glowered and pointed at Talbot as if he was a wayward dog he couldn’t teach how to sit, and swung his gaze back to Jodi, lingered on her full mouth. She flicked out a tongue to moisten her lips, tantalizing him, but he could tell the gesture was unintentional, guileless, and that uncalculated innocence made it ten times more erotic.
Talbot shook his head. “I’ve never seen you so worked up over any woman.”
Not just any woman, but Jodi. “Seriously, Talbot, shut the hell up.”
“Uh-oh.” Talbot raised his palms and his eyes got big. “I get it. She’s not just a base hit. Jodi is a line drive homer with bases loaded.”
“What are you babbling about?”
“You’ve gone and fallen in love.”
“I have not,” Jake denied staunchly, but something ripped in the base of his throat. Two words. Two words wadded there, hard and tough to swallow. You sure?
“You haven’t taken your eyes off her the entire time we’ve been here.”
“So?”
“Just go get her.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Because you’re not ready to settle down again?”
Actually, because she wasn’t. “It’s complicated.”
“No it’s not. Love is simple. You love someone. You want to be with them. You find a way to be with them. End of story.” Talbot waved a hand. “Oh yeah, and that happily-ever-after part at the end.”
If only Talbot were right. If only life—and love—were that simple.
But Talbot was right about going after Jodi. He’d never win her if he didn’t try, so when she disappeared in the direction of the restroom, he followed, throwing “Bathroom,” over his shoulder in case anyone was wondering where he was going.
“TMI, dude.” Talbot waved him out of his field of vision.
Jake glanced over his shoulder, made sure no one followed him, closed the door to the den, and went down the hall. He paused, considered knocking on the bathroom door, but decided that would be too intrusive, and instead pushed his palm against the nape of his neck and practiced what he was going to say.
Jodi opened the bathroom door, jumped back at seeing him there in the hallway.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She ducked her head, stepped aside, the boxcar charms on her bracelet jangling together. “It’s all yours.”
“Wait.” He put a hand to her shoulder.
She stopped.
That was encouraging. Right?
“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he blurted. “I know you told me to back off, but I don’t think you really mean that.”
Jodi darted a nervous glance down the hall. “This isn’t the place for this conversation.”
“All I can think about is touching you, kissing you, being with you.”
She gulped, and goose bumps coated her arms. Momentarily, she closed her eyes, let out a soft sigh. “Me too.”
His heart did a crazy cartwheel. “So what you told me in the B&B parking lot the other day—”
“My attempt at setting boundaries.” She laughed a confused little laugh. “Didn’t work apparently.”
“You’ve changed your mind?” he asked hopefully.
“I might have been hasty before.”
“Yeah?” His pulse skipped a beat, then two, then three.
“You’re sort of hard to resist.”
“So don’t resist,” he coaxed.
“There have to be parameters.”
He had her! High frickin’ five. Don’t blow it. “What are we talking here?”
She darted another quick glance down the hall to make sure no one was there, lowered her voice. “A secret affair.”
“Just sex?” he said, disappointment a rock in his gut.
“Just sex,” she confirmed with a solid shake of her head. “If you can handle that, it’s on.”
CHAPTER 17
Jodi Carlyle’s Wedding Crasher Rules: Do bring a gift. It
makes you look legit.
She’d gone there. Done it. Said it. Suggested it. Her heart pounded, and her mouth was so dry she couldn’t even moisten her lips.
Suddenly, his arms slipped around her waist and Jake was kissing her. Her arms were pulling his head down and kablooey! His lips were pure dynamite, setting off all kinds of terrific explosions inside her.
Shades of Vincente’s coat closet! And, um … oops, somehow her fingers splayed over his gorgeous butt, but seriously, what single woman in her right mind could resist?
With the tattered shreds of what composure she had left, Jodi stepped back into the bathroom, pulling him with her, closed and locked the door behind him.
His breath was hot on her cheek, his eyes feverish.
She held up a shaky finger, dimly aware that she was breathing like a coal engine chugging up a steep grade. “Ground rules.”
“Okay. Whatever you want. Anything. Name it.”
Goodness, he sounded more unraveled than she was. She had him at her mercy. Jodi smiled. She did love being in control. It felt good knowing that a man wanted her so badly he would abide by whatever rules she set down. And not just any man, but Jake freaking Coronado.
“Anything.” He was almost whimpering, she could see his pulse thundering at his neck.
Ah, this was the way to keep her heart from getting broken. Control. Something she hadn’t had at Vincente’s.
“Just sex,” she repeated. “This is a rebound relationship for both of us and those rarely work out.”
His mouth turned down like he was going to argue, but then he pressed his lips together and nodded.
Jodi took a deep, steadying breath and prayed he wouldn’t guess how nervous this rule made her. She wasn’t sure she could keep things strictly physical, was absolutely terrified she was going to end up with a broken heart, but she wanted him so badly, she was willing to take that risk.
His eyes roved over her, settled on her heaving breasts.
“Listen to me,” she said, and his gaze snapped back to her face. “If either one of us starts to feel things are going beyond the boundaries of just sex, then we end the relationship.”
“What about other parameters?” he asked. “Are we supposed to see other people? Do you intend to see other men while we’re …” He swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed.
The thought of him seeing other women at the same time he was having sex with her raised the hairs on her arms. “We’ll be exclusive.”
His eyebrows dipped in relief and he smiled. That made her smile too. “Good idea.”
“Two, you can’t give me any more gifts.” She fingered the charm bracelet. “I love the bracelet, but gifts are too romantic.”
“So ‘just sex’ means I can’t romance you?”
She nodded. “Exactly. No flowers. No candy. No cute cards.”
“Where’s the dividing line?”
“I’m not sure. But if something starts feeling too romantic to either one of us, we talk about it.”
“I’ll try.” His jaw tensed. “What else?”
“We have to take our affair outside of Stardust. You know how small towns are. I don’t want people gossiping about us. I don’t want my family to find out.”
“Anything else?”
“That’s all for now.”
“Not quite,” he said, his voice going low and gruff.
The sound of that voice, so confident and masculine, sent a spike of longing straight through her soul and even though she didn’t mean to do it, not in the close confines of the bathroom, she took a step toward him, tipped her chin up to meet his gaze head-on.
“You have some ground rules of your own?” she asked.
Instead of answering, his big, calloused hands cupped her cheeks, holding her tenderly as if she belonged to him. His eyes searched her face for a moment and she slid her arms around his neck at the same moment he lowered his mouth to hers. She opened her mouth. Let him in again. Just for a heartbeat. Just for a taste to tide her over.
He bent her backward slightly, holding her safe in his arms, burning her with his kiss, ravishing her hard and sweet until she felt utterly branded. Then he pulled his mouth from hers, stepped back leaving her dazed and stunned and amazed. The man kissed like it was the end of the world.
“This is going to be a grand adventure,” he said.
“A wild, sexy adventure.”
“Oh yeah.” He breathed and she thought—prayed, actually—that he’d kiss her again, but he didn’t.
Jake wanted to disagree to Jodi’s “just sex” rules, but he hadn’t because it was the only way to get her into his arms. She was skittish. He understood that. It would take some coaxing, some tender loving care, some slow, sweet moves, but he was utterly confident he could win her over. Just as she’d already won him.
The key with Jodi was to let her feel like she was in control. He didn’t know for sure why she needed it so strongly, but he realized letting her think she was in control was the only way to get her to open up and let down her guard to give him a chance to change her mind about him. About them.
Because he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life, and that included his baseball career. Which, frankly, scared the living hell out of him.
Not just wanted her.
He wanted to be with her. He wanted to wake up in the morning and see that sweet smile. He wanted to go to bed at night and hold her close after making love to her. He wanted to travel with her and have adventures and build a future together.
Yes, maybe it was underhanded pretending to go along with her rules, and yes, he might upset her when she figured out he wasn’t sticking to the bargain, but in the end she would forgive him. He’d make sure of it.
Ham normally had Mondays and Tuesdays off, so Jodi wasn’t able to slip away to meet Jake and she wondered if it was possible to literally die from sexual need. On Wednesday morning, she drove to Tyler to buy sexy lingerie. She couldn’t shop in Stardust and have word getting out that she had plans for sexing someone up.
When she arrived at Jake’s house just before noon, she was wearing the silky lace things under jeans and a T-shirt. The contrast in the material—girl-next-door on the outside, sexy temptress underneath—stoked her desires to fever pitch, and by the time she reached his cute little cottage, she was so desperate for him that the second he opened the door, she flung herself into his arms, knocking him backward.
Jake took her down with him to the freshly laminated floor that smelled of wood and glue, his mouth gobbling her up as quickly as she gobbled him.
“Get me naked!” she exclaimed, shocking herself and kicking off her sneakers without bothering to untie them.
“Bossy,” he said, and attacked her with glee, stripping off her jeans, yanking her T-shirt over her head, laughing out loud when he saw the G-string and pasties she wore. “Damn but you are one sexy woman!” he declared, and used his teeth to remove her G-string.
She giggled, and then giggled at the sound that was so unlike her. She sounded light, carefree. But ever since meeting Jake, she seemed to giggle a lot.
Heck, she would have had casual flings years and years ago if she’d known it would make her feel this good.
She dismantled his clothes as swiftly as he’d dismantled hers, and within a minute of stepping over the threshold, they were both on their knees facing each other in the entryway, naked and breathing hard.
He sat back and reached for her, pulled her into his lap, his erection hard against her bottom. She folded her knees around his waist, and he did the same. They sat gazing into each other’s eyes, enjoying the thrill of their rapidly pounding hearts.
Grinning, he leaned his head down to nibble the tasseled pasties from her nipples. She squirmed. He locked his legs around her tightly, holding her firmly in place. “Who’s in charge now?”
Trapped.
Jodi stilled, felt a flash of momentarily panic.
He must have seen the fear in her eyes, because immediately he released her. “I was teasing,” he said. “I would never hold you against your will.”
“I know,” she said, but she heard the hesitancy in her voice.
The urgency had discharged, and the atmosphere changed into a slower, gentler rhythm. He cupped the back of her head in his palm, tenderly kissed her.
Softly, she kissed him back, tracing a finger over his face. They both kept their eyes open, watching each other with wonder.
He shifted her around until she was astride him. He leaned up to take one of her puckered nipples into his mouth, drawing a low moan from her throat.
She twitched her hips against his pelvis, clenched her inner thigh muscles against his belly. He rested his head all the way to the floor, reached for her breasts, but she grabbed his wrists and pinned them over his head.
“No hands,” she said.
He made a guttural sound, a mix of despair and delight. “What are you up to?”
“Just wait and see.” Honestly, she had no idea, she was just making this up as she went along, but he seemed to be enjoying the mystery.
Jake said a colorful word.
“Go ahead. Talk dirty to me. It turns me on,” she teased.
She reached down and touched his erection and his entire body jerked. Still pinning his arms over his head with one hand—she was under no illusion that she could keep him there if he didn’t want to play the no-hands game—she lowered her head and gently bit one of his nipples.
He chuffed out a groan and swore again.
Jodi licked her way up his body, to his neck, his chin, his jaw, and his earlobe. When she raised her head, he was staring at her with a look so blazingly hot she felt singed.
The pulse in his wrist leaped hard and fast and the pulse at her throat picked up the same tempo.
“Jake.” She whispered his name like a prayer. “Jake.”
“Jodi.” He smiled soft, but his eyes held a wild gleam. Not tamed. No way. He was simply letting her take the lead in this game.
He would always be in charge. She knew that, even as the scared part of her bristled a little. It was okay.
She wasn’t sure why, but she knew she could trust him. Maybe because he’d sensed her panic when he trapped her and instantly let her go. Maybe because he’d given her the charm bracelet that so matched who she was. Maybe because he’d been so patient with her while she’d flip-flopped about going to bed with him again. But most of all, because he could smell her perfume when no one else in the world could.
Maybe they were fated.
That scared her. But she trusted him, and that was big. And she was going to reward him for giving her this beautiful gift of trust.
She reached for the purse she’d dropped in the foyer when she tackled him, searched for a condom, found it. Using her teeth, she tore the foil packet open, extracted the rubber, and then shifted so she could roll it onto him.
“You are the most beautiful woman,” he said.
She wasn’t beautiful. She was average girl-next-door pretty and she wasn’t just being modest. Okay, so maybe the red hair
was striking, but she wasn’t the kind of woman who drove men to their knees.
Ordinarily.
This man, however, seemed to feel otherwise. Oh damn. This was getting too romantic. Sex. This was supposed to be about sex.
“Still hands off?” he asked. “I want to touch you so bad, I can’t stand it.”
“Smell me instead,” she said, and lowered her neck to his nose.
“God, you smell beautiful too.” He worshipped each part of her body, kissing her as if she was a priceless treasure, stroking her skin and looking awed, whispering how much he loved her ears, her feet, her throat, her hair, her chin, her cheeks, her nose, her knees. She opened like a lotus flower to his touch, his words.
She was so wet for him, so ready. He was ready too, his erection so hard it was sticking straight up behind her. Sighing softly, she eased herself down on his shaft. He let out his breath long and slow. Whispered her name on a sigh. Jodi.
He was inside her and it felt like they were both in a great mysterious cave. “Ride me hard,” he begged. “Give me everything, Jodi. Don’t hold anything back.”
She galloped, spurring herself on a wave of delight, taking him with her higher and higher, scaling the sweet mountain. She was giddy with passion. Filled with him.
They floated together in a vastness of sensation that rolled into infinity, and every blissful inch felt right and good and true. Jodi didn’t know who was inside whom. They were both inside. There was no outside. They occupied the universe and spun in it together.
The delicious expanse of their joining spread and grew and swelled. A brilliant supernova twirling faster than the speed of light. They bathed in the white heat of their union until the last bit of energy drained from their bodies and they collapsed wide-eyed and panting back on earth.
They had gone so far together, had shared so much intimacy that when they came back into their separate selves, a soft melancholy sadness stole over her. The experience had been so ethereal that Jodi did not know where to go from here. From the look on his face, she could tell he felt just as befuddled as she.
