Still woozy, Jayne replied, “Huh? Seth? What are you doing here? I was dancing…”
Buck patted the cowboy on the back reassuringly, and he finally shifted Jayne into Seth’s arms. “You take care of yourself, Jayne. Enjoyed dancing with you.” The cowboy glanced at Seth and nodded.
Jayne squinted at him and rubbed her forehead with her palm.
“I’m going to take you home, Jayne.”
“What happened? I was…” She pointed to the dance floor.
“You passed out.”
Jayne focused on his face, and she tightened her arms around him. He was torn between wanting to hug her to him and giving her a good shake. He carried her toward the door after nodding his thanks to his friends. Thank God she’d had men who cared enough to watch out for her. She hadn’t considered how her little adventure could’ve turned into a dangerous mistake. The fact that she’d gone to the club with a purpose heightened his relief that Buck had called him. He’d promised to not lose his temper with her when Buck had sworn to keep her from leaving the club, but he was angry with her. She could’ve been in a world of hurt. What had she been thinking?
Just then, Teresa Martinez hurried up to them with Angel and Joaquin and a beautiful blonde whom Seth didn’t recognize following behind her. “Jayne? Are you all right?”
Jayne looked up at Seth and took her purse from him after he gently set her on her feet, noting that she kept a tight hold on him. “I’m fine. Had a bit too much to drink. Seth’s taking me home.”
“I’m glad you’re not driving yourself.”
Angel and Joaquin turned their eyes to him, and he nodded his reassurance that he’d watch over her. Two blond-headed strangers in cowboy hats, who appeared to be twins, joined their group and murmured to Joaquin before skirting them and joining the cowboy who’d been dancing with Jayne. They glanced back with mild curiosity before heading toward a table.
Jayne sighed and leaned against him, and Seth said, “I’ll take good care of her.”
Teresa said, “I hope you feel better.” She glanced at Seth with concern in her eyes and softly asked, “Will you stay with her?”
Seth nodded and turned to the door with Jayne as Angel and Joaquin drew Teresa into the club with them. Once they were alone, Jayne groaned and put her hand to her head. The late-July heat hit them like a hot blanket and she glanced up at him cautiously when they walked out of the club to his truck.
“Buck and Chad will bring your car to your house.”
“Okay.”
Once she was situated and he had the vehicle started and the AC running, he turned to her. “Let me know if you feel sick.” Jayne nodded and looked down at her hands.
On the drive to her house, Seth tried to calm the rising tide of anger and possessiveness that swelled at the thought of how the night could’ve ended for her. He contemplated all the things he wanted to say and all the questions he needed to ask. Jayne leaned her head back against the seat and stared out the windshield quietly.
Once inside her house, she flicked on a lamp, which bathed the living room in soft light. Her house was decorated with a feminine touch, which suited her personality. He followed her into the kitchen, sat her down, and then found a glass in a cupboard. He filled it with water and placed it in front of her.
“Drink that, baby.”
She glanced at him curiously, and the barest hint of a frown furrowed her brows for a second before she did as he asked. When she sipped from the glass and made a move to put it down, he tipped it back to her lips.
When she was finished, he put the glass in the sink and asked, “What was going through your head tonight, Jayne?”
She rested her head in the palms of both hands and closed her eyes. “It seems like a stupid idea now but I just wanted to get it over with. If I wasn’t a virgin, we—” She seemed so vulnerable, sitting there as she tried to reassure herself and explain to him at the same time, and the anger seeped out of him. They hadn’t really dated yet or made declarations about being exclusive, but that was changing tonight.
“We what, Jayne?”
Jayne shrugged. “We might’ve been intimate by now.”
“Fucking doesn’t always equal intimacy.”
“It wouldn’t have been fucking—”
“That’s what you would’ve gotten tonight, from that cowboy. Whether he’s a good guy or not, you wouldn’t have gotten intimacy from him. Not under those circumstances. Best-case scenario, your first time would’ve been a one-night stand. Worst case…I don’t even want to think about. I wanted more for you than that, Jayne.”
The thought of her waking up vulnerable in a strange bed sent a cold chill racing over his skin.
Never. Mine.
“I know.”
“You have no idea how hard it was to turn you down.” He tried but couldn’t keep the sharpness from his tone.
“Was?” Her stormy eyes met his, and he was surprised by the wave of heat her gaze cast over his skin. “Does that mean you’ve changed your mind?”
Don’t do or say anything you’ll regret later. She’s in no shape for this conversation. “Let’s finish this in the morning.”
Jayne nodded and rose from the chair and walked from the kitchen. He sat there for a moment, contemplating his next action, before following her into the hallway. She was nowhere in sight, but a trail of the clothing she’d had on that evening left a path to follow into her bedroom. He walked past her red high heels and wondered if she’d worn them to embolden herself. He gulped when he saw her red lace bra and a red satin G-string lying in the doorway. He clenched his hands into fists, knowing that she wasn’t in her right mind and might regret this action come morning.
He wanted to do the right thing—needed to do the right thing—but she made that hard. He should go spend the night on her comfy-looking couch and be totally guilt-free in the morning. But he had to make sure she was okay. Worry won out when silence came from the bedroom. He couldn’t let her fall asleep on her back, and she probably wouldn’t even know that was a hazard after a night of heavy drinking.
Seth stepped into the dim comfort of Jayne’s bedroom but didn’t see her. A rhythmic sound drew his attention, and he peered around the corner to what must be her bathroom. Standing nude before her vanity, she was brushing out her long hair, which made faint crackling sounds as she drew the bristles through it. Her pink-tipped breasts swayed gently with her movements, and her eyes were heavy-lidded as she gazed at her reflection.
She set the brush down on the vanity and flicked her hair over her shoulders as she reached behind her to remove the necklace she was wearing. She must’ve noticed his presence because she turned from the mirror and walked nude out of the bathroom to him. She turned her back to him and regarded him with sleepy, seductive eyes in the mirror’s reflection on her closet door nearby.
“I can’t get it off. Will you help me, please?”
When she reached back to lift her hair from her neck, the pose was provocative, and he never would’ve guessed she was innocent. Her beautiful, round breasts lifted with the action, and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, drawing his gaze to the sleek line of her spine and the curve of her lush ass. She was still taking matters into her own tenacious hands. In her lusty, tequila-soaked brain, she was doing her best to tempt him, and it was working.
Her breath left her in light pants as he drew a fingertip up her back until his hand reached hers at the clasp of the necklace. Her delicate scent, a mixture of flowers and woman, soaked into his senses. All the reasons he’d given himself for leaving her untouched went to war with all the reasons he could think of for claiming her. They were both adults, in their midthirties, for crying out loud.
But she’s drunk, and this is not going to happen. Not tonight.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t indulge her a little. He knew it was a slippery slope. He’d thought all bets were off when he found out she was a virgin. He wanted her to have her dream. But she was becoming his drea
m, and despite what he’d been through and seen in the past, maybe he wanted to be the one to give her what she craved.
He removed the necklace and placed it in the palm she held up. She laid the necklace on her dresser as he slid his hands up her rib cage, over the now-healed outlines of the tattoo, and noted that she watched in the mirror as he cupped her breasts. He’d spent three torturous hours with her laid practically bare before him the week before as he’d tattooed her and hadn’t allowed himself to touch. Tonight he touched.
The solid, sensual weight of her breasts overflowed his hands as he squeezed gently and whispered, “Don’t ever do something so dangerous again, Jayne. When I said no, I never imagined that you’d pull such a crazy stunt. Promise me, never again.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re mine.” He didn’t have the right to demand that of her so suddenly. They hadn’t talked of exclusivity to one another, but he damn sure wanted to when she was in her right mind.
“You said you didn’t want me, didn’t want to—”
“I never said I didn’t want you. I wanted you to have your dream, and I don’t think a drunken one-night stand is what you held out for all this time. You know I wanted you.” He wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to him so she’d be able to feel the diamond-hard shaft she’d inspired. “Never again, Jayne.”
“Never again, Seth.” The words were barely a whisper, but the relief was apparent in her eyes when her gaze met his in the mirror.
Her breathing was rapid as he trapped her nipples between his fingers and tugged while stroking her flesh. Her head fell back against his shoulder, in the little dip that her head fit into perfectly, and she stroked his forearms before raising her hands to his shoulders, letting him have his way. He breathed in the scent of her hair and pressed kisses along the column of her throat. A soft growl emitted from his throat when she rubbed her ass against his aching cock.
He released the satiny warmth of her breasts and trailed his hands down her quivering abdomen, making slow, tantalizing progress. The strands covering her mound in a neat, trimmed fashion were pure, silken seduction as his fingertips strayed downward to her cleft. His breath left him in a hiss, and his cock nearly exploded in his jeans as his fingers were bathed in the slippery-hot juices pooling from her cunt. To be able to slide his cock into that wealth of lush, hot flesh was nearly more temptation than he could bear. He slid a finger over her swollen clit, and she tensed suddenly in his arms, gulping in air and sinking her fingernails into his shoulders. Her cunt clenched spasmodically on his fingertip, and he knew she was very close to climax.
“Please don’t stop,” she whimpered softly, moving against his hand.
She turned her face to his, and he laid his lips on hers and stroked the silken recesses of her mouth. His tongue mirrored what his fingers were doing as he slid his other hand to her pussy and then trapped her clit between two fingers and caressed around and around it until she trembled on the verge. His cock burned to be inside her, and he broke out into a sweat as he fought for control. He sank one fingertip in just a tiny bit and pumped in and out as he rubbed up and down on her clit. Triumph filled him when she arched and tilted her head, cries of ecstasy coming from deep inside her as her tight little cunt rippled in orgasm around his stroking fingers, bathing his hand in her hot juices.
* * * *
“Seth!” Jayne panted hard as the orgasm whipped into a whirlwind and exploded deep within her, rendering her incapable of speech beyond wailing his name. His strong arms held her close and kept her from collapsing to the floor at his feet. Every inch of her pulsed with a vibrating sensation and her heart pounded in her chest. Had she really considered being with any other man but Seth?
Gazing at their reflection in the mirror, she thought for a fleeting instant that Seth looked like a strong, dominating sex god, driving her body to the heights of ecstasy with only his fingertips. He made possessive eye contact with her in the reflection and sucked the copious evidence of her orgasm from his fingers as though it was an exotic delicacy. He caressed her abdomen and wrapped her body in his arms, and tears prickled behind her eyelids as she closed them. She felt cherished. Her heart clenched at the thought of her earlier foolishness at The Dancing Pony. No matter how nice or sexy they were, no man but this one would do. That wasn’t her first orgasm, but it was the first involving contact with a man.
And had he just said she was his?
He squeezed her and pressed his warm lips to her shoulder and coaxed her over to her bed. He pulled the covers back and helped her to lie down on her side and then said, “I’m going to get you another glass of water. Stay put.”
Seth returned a couple of minutes later with a full glass of water, and Jayne wondered if she’d even have room for that much more, but she took it from him and drank most of it. He put her bottle of ibuprofen from the kitchen on her bedside table and placed the glass next to it when she handed it back to him. For some reason, he didn’t offer her any of the pain relievers yet.
“Buck and Seth just dropped off your car and your key. I put it and your key ring on the kitchen counter. You look like you feel a little better. But if you drank enough to pass out, you really shouldn’t be alone tonight. I’m staying with you.”
“Okay. I’m sorry. It was an idiotic idea. My mom used to say that once I got a notion in my head I wouldn’t let go, like a bulldog.”
Seth smirked. “Tenacious. I like that about you. But I’m glad Buck called me.”
“He called you! Why that—” Ratfink! Seth smirked at her again and raised an eyebrow. “Sweetheart of a guy.”
“He may have foiled your plan, baby, but he was looking out for your safety and your best interests. Turns out the cowboy you were dancing with…”
“Julián?”
“Yes. Turns out he’s a decent guy. He asked Buck to make sure you were okay. I told him you were fine.”
Heat filled her cheeks as she thought back to what had happened just a few minutes before. She gave him a crooked grin and giggled. “Yup. I was doing just fine.”
Seth chuckled as he tucked the covers around her. “Feel better?”
“Not so loopy. Those margaritas packed a punch.”
She reclined against the pillows and closed her eyes as her body throbbed and quivered with remembrance of all the sensations she’d experienced. She felt floaty and smiled when the room spun just a bit. “Will you stay with me, in my bed, tonight?”
“You don’t make it easy, do you?”
She sat up and looked at him. “I didn’t do anything for you. I can, if you’d—”
Seth laid his hand on her shoulder and directed her back down onto her side on the mattress. “Not on your life, baby. I’d love it, but I don’t take advantage of women under the influence. It’s against my rules.”
“Rules?”
“Yes, rules. It’s a long story. I’ll tell it to you when you’re sober.”
“But I know it hurts if you don’t get relief.”
“It does. But not near as much as guilt for taking advantage of an inebriated woman. Lie down and we’ll iron all this out later.”
She smiled when she felt him press a kiss against her spine, between her shoulder blades.
“You scared me tonight, Jayne.”
“Why?”
“When I think of how things could’ve turned out if Buck hadn’t called me. I’ve seen things while traveling that would curl your hair.”
She lay there with her eyes closed and was about to ask him what he meant when the room began to spin above her and around her. She opened her eyes to steady herself, but it did no good. She took a deep breath, hoping the spinning would slow down, but it only got worse. She wasn’t even sure she could stand on her own.
“Um, Seth?”
“Yeah?”
She reached out and gripped the edge of the bed, willing her brain to stop spinning. “Seth?” The bed jostled, and her stomach lurched wildly. “I don’t feel so good.”
<
br /> Seth grabbed her and practically carried her into the bathroom as nausea sank its claws deep in her gut. She’d thought that she’d already lived through her most embarrassing moment with Seth when that sex toy purchase receipt had fallen from her notebook and she’d realized that he knew what was in her “toy box.”
This moment far surpassed that one as he gathered her long hair back from her face and directed her so that she could throw up in the toilet. She kneeled there naked as wave after wave of nausea had its wicked way with her, and all he did was whisper encouragement and comfort to her as she wept and apologized.
Just when she thought there was no way it could continue, the nausea renewed itself and her body purged so violently she felt sure that she’d suffer permanent injury because of it. He stroked her hair and held her steady as weakness overcame her and even wiped her face with a cool washcloth when it was over.
She rested her forehead against a solid, warm surface as the toilet flushed and realized when muscles flexed under her cheek that it was Seth’s chest.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. As much as you had to drink, Jayne, I’m glad I was here to look after you. The thought of you going through that alone, or worse, passing out and never waking up again…it’s just not something I want to think about. I take it that’s never happened to you before. Getting sick after drinking?”
“Never.” And never again.
Seth helped her back to the bed and piled the pillows behind her so she was partially reclined and refilled the glass of water for her. He encouraged her to sip it slowly to replace the fluids she’d lost. When her stomach had settled sufficiently he coaxed her to take two ibuprofens and tucked her back into the bed. That must’ve been why he’d waited to give them to her.
Jayne felt as weak as a kitten, and when he climbed into the bed and pulled her to him so that she was snuggled back to his chest, she felt disgusted with herself.
Heather Rainier Page 7
