by JAX
“Now, my sweet Evie. Now I’m going to fuck you.”
* * *
4
“Activate your health guard, Evie.” Jace pushed the sweats down to his ankles and kicked them aside. Evie’s gaze was fixed on his cock and her lips parted, forming a small O. For a moment, he considered asking her to go down on him, so he could see her sweet lips closing over the head, feel her wet mouth coating his shaft. He knew he wouldn’t last, though, and he didn’t want to give Evie time to reconsider.
Naked and painfully erect, he stood before her and pressed the small implant inside his elbow to turn on his own germ shield. The familiar hum filled his ears and he ran a hand along her arm, listening as the shield sizzled and removed any traces of her DNA from his skin.
Evie still hadn’t moved. If it were possible, he would have turned her shield on himself, but the damn things were designed to respond only to the user’s touch. “Come on, babe, I’m dying here.”
Her eyes flew to his. “I don’t have any lube.”
Jace swore. That would be a problem. The shields were marvelous inventions, part of the reason he had a job, but penetration didn’t work the same way with them. Anything her body produced would be eradicated instantly. A shielded man needed health guard neutral lubricant to fit his cock inside his lover, regardless of the orifice he intended to fuck.
“I think there’s some in my bag.” He made for the door, then stopped as he considered her expression. Evie had looked like a skittish rabbit at the first glimpse of his shaft. “You aren’t having second thoughts, are you?” It would probably kill him.
“No, well, maybe. This isn’t like me. I don’t even know you.”
Recalling the way her eyes had filled with tears earlier, he moved back toward her. “I want you, Evie, but I need you to be sure you want me too.”
Her chin angled up in a defiant tilt. She rose and activated her shield, then strode toward the bed. His mouth went dry as he watched her hips sway as she climbed onto the mattress and rolled to one side. He’d never seen such perfectly proportioned curves before—sweet, soft, an overabundance of everything he thought a woman should be. He was one lucky son of a bitch.
“Jace?”
“Hmmm?” He was too busy staring at her breasts until she covered them from view.
A small smile curved up her lips. “The lube?”
“Right.” He tore his gaze away from the sassy siren and made for the hall.
His bag sat on the bed, and he unzipped it and started pulling things out. He wouldn’t have packed lube for the trip to visit his family, but maybe there was some left from his vacation last summer.
Jace turned the duffel upside down until everything spilled out onto the bed. Ah, there it was, vanilla scented and unopened. He worked at the seal as he strode back across the hall to Evie. She had dimmed the lights, still body shy. After the way he’d seen her ex talk to her, he knew it would take time to build up her confidence. Time Jace didn’t have, unless …
Would she be willing to do the long-distance thing?
It was crazy to even consider it. Her life was here at the inn, his was in New New York. Even if speed-of-sound technology made the trip a breeze, Jace had no desire to return to life in these mountains. A life that was all Evie knew.
Then there was his job. He hadn’t told her what he did for a living, and somehow he doubted Evie would be okay with him fucking other women on a regular basis, even if it was completely legal.
But maybe when he made management and wasn’t out in the field …
It was crazy. She’d made a valid point earlier. They were essentially strangers. What the hell was the matter with him, building this into a relationship? Too many variables bounced around in his skull and his balls ached too badly to think everything through right now.
The seal finally gave way and he dumped the slippery liquid on his hand and cock. Stroking too lightly to stimulate himself, he coated his shaft and sac thoroughly.
In the position Evie was in, he had to stretch behind her to access her pussy. Leaning onto the bed, he reached around her and spread his hand over her sex, coating it with the slick oil. The shields dulled the sensations slightly, but still, touching her was better than not touching her, especially knowing he was about to have her.
Pulling her to the edge of the bed, he leaned over her, aligning his shaft with her entrance. If he hadn’t spent so much time pleasuring her, he would have worried about the fit, but Evie’s body was primed for intercourse.
Bracing his weight on one arm and a hip, Jace curled Evie’s legs up until her body formed an S-shape. Her brows drew together and she pushed her back off the mattress. His free hand caught the nape of her neck and pulled her forward until her forehead rested against his and he could stare deeply into her eyes.
Because his cock was so hard, he didn’t need to hold it as he entered her, slowly, letting her body anticipate his. Evie’s eyes went wide and she squeezed down on him. It was the only move she could make.
The position took stamina on his part, but he knew she’d enjoy lying side by side, their bodies merging, staring into his eyes. He watched her lips part as he rocked deeper. Her gaze was filled with passion and wonder, an innocent joy that he found addicting.
Jace found something to love in every woman he pleasured, but with Evie he loved it all. Her innate passion and hesitant lusts grew stronger the further they explored. He’d startled her a few times, but she hadn’t protested anything. In fact, she seemed to love everything he did to her, accepted his needs as well as her own. Her dormant lusts were waking up, and though they may frighten her, Evie refused to hide from them.
Sweat trickled down his back and on both of their foreheads, but he refused to stop. She could come this way, with the head of his cock angled to work her G-spot on every stroke. He wanted to see it, see the surprise as orgasm swept over her and made her his.
Her eyes searched his and her hot breath fell against his cheeks. When his shaft was buried to the hilt the next time, he swiveled his hips, stirring her well with his thick club. Their shields snapped and sizzled, gobbling up foreign matter, but he barely heard it over the frantic beating of his heart.
“Jace.” Her eyes were heavy lidded, her expression almost drugged. “I’m so close.”
“Then come for me, Evie.” He sawed his cock in and out of her as fast as he could. Gripping her hair in a fist, he tugged her head back and sank his teeth into the tendon along her neck.
She screamed and her channel clenched around him, pulling him deeper into her body. His own release was close. Jace let go of her hair and waited for her to look at him. His balls drew up tight and his spine tingled, but he fought it until she opened her eyes.
“Come now,” she urged. With a shuddering groan, he did, emptying his load into her. Her shield crackled as it eradicated his seed.
On and on it went, all the while her pleasure-filled gaze encouraged him to soar. His heart pounded against his ribs, and every muscle clenched and released. “Evie,” he gasped, his world tunneling until he saw only her.
She kissed him lightly and his eyes finally slid shut, savoring the hard-won bliss, so unlike his normal postcoital experiences.
Evie’s arms gave out and she flopped back onto the bed. His cock slid from her body, and he deactivated his shield before curling up next to her.
“I’m too old to be a contortionist,” she groused. But the satisfied smile on her lips gave her away. Jace pushed strands of hair back from her face.
“Can I stay with you tonight?” he asked. He’d never spent the night with a woman before. Even his lovers had asked for space when the afterglow had faded, and he’d quietly gone back to his cold, empty bed, satiated but somehow unsatisfied.
“Sure,” Evie said blithely, unaware of just how momentous this was for him. “I should clean up first.” Deactivating her health guard, she moved to get up, but Jace pushed her back down.
“Let me.” He went to her private bathroom and
ran water in the sink until it was warm. Cleaning his face, hands, and cock, he wet a washcloth and brought it back with a hand towel. Wiping the sweat from her face, her breasts, and belly first, he then used the wet cloth between her legs. She purred like a contented cat as he rubbed her sensitive flesh, then patted it dry.
Tossing the towel aside, he lifted the puffy blue cover and she climbed beneath. He followed, already wondering how to get her to snuggle up against him; but as soon as his back hit the mattress, she spooned up alongside him, throwing one leg over him in a possessive gesture.
He loved it and his heart ached with want.
“Lights off,” she called out, and the room dimmed to just a few smoldering embers in the fire.
“Thank you, Jace. This was one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time.”
His throat closed up, but he managed to croak, “Anytime, Evie.”
The dreaded morning after. Evie awoke with a man in her bed for the first time in two years and a feeling of deep unease. She’d never had a one-night stand before. Well, scratch that, she’d tried, but Yon was like a boomerang; no matter how many times she tossed him out her front door, he kept coming back. Until finally he wore her down, convinced her to marry him.
And look how well that had turned out.
Turning to her side, she took a minute to study her new bed warmer. Jace’s arm was flung over his eyes, his gorgeous lips parted as he slept. His stubble seemed even more roguish in the predawn hours, and she wanted to rub herself over his face like a cat would use a corner to scratch an itch.
But what really made her heart pound was that she knew nothing about him. Sure, she knew his father by reputation, but he’d never mentioned Jace. He lived in New New York City like her daughter, and probably led a life she couldn’t even imagine. Partly because he’d said nothing about it, she realized. What did he do for a living? She could picture him as a pilot or maybe a construction worker. Somehow the idea of a desk job didn’t suit his rugged appearance. What was his life like? Did he work hard and play harder? Despite his intensity, she’d sensed a playfulness within him. She could easily picture him out at the clubs every night, dancing until the early-morning hours before selecting a random woman as a bed partner.
Not that she’d ever been to a night club. It was just her imagination filling in the blanks. Deep down she realized she didn’t know Jace at all, other than in the biblical sense. Hell, for all she knew, he might be married.
The thought left her shivering.
Scooting out of bed, she grabbed her robe and headed for the shower. Not the one off her bathroom either, the main one out in the hall. Heaven forbid Jace decide to join her in the shower, all her concerns would evaporate with the steam.
As she lathered her hair with honeysuckle shampoo, Evie gave herself a pep talk. No regrets about last night. Jace had given her a gift of pleasure and she would accept it as such with no expectations of anything else. He’d made his disdain for country living clear, and she had no desire to repeal her single status. Marriage was for other people, younger people like Constance.
Like Jace.
Toweling herself dry, she fought the urge to take extra time with her hair or fuss with makeup. He was welcome to look at the crow’s feet and laugh lines embedded on her skin, lines even the deepest after-amazing-sex-induced coma couldn’t erase. Maybe he’d already hit the road.
The scent of freshly brewed hydro bean coffee put that to rest. She expected Yon to still be passed out on the great room floor, drooling on her hardwood, but both his body and his truck were gone. She doubted he’d even know where she kept the coffee since she didn’t recall him ever brewing a pot.
Jace was dressed in jeans and another black T-shirt, though his feet were bare. God, that was so intimate, him parading around her kitchen barefoot, making her coffee. She swallowed, recalling what other intimacies they’d shared, both here and in her bedroom, and moved to the percolator.
“Morning.” He held a coffee cup to his lips, those gray-green eyes studying her over the rim.
She shifted her gaze away and retrieved her favorite mug. “What time is your flight?” Cripes, that could have been subtler.
Jace set down his mug. “Not ‘til four, but I can catch an earlier flight out of Charlotte Douglas if you want me to go.”
She didn’t, but neither could she ask him to stay, to spend the next several hours reliving the magic of last night. It was too pathetic.
Moving closer until he invaded her personal space, Jace tilted her chin up. “Evie, I want to see you again.”
Closing her eyes against the temptation he presented, Evie shook her head. “Last night was wonderful, a memory I’ll always treasure.” She paused, letting her sincerity sink in.
“But you don’t want to be with me again.” He withdrew his hand.
Not looking him in the eye was cowardly. Lifting her lids, she stared at him and uttered the lie she needed to keep herself safe. “No.”
Jace stepped back. “All right. I’ll comm the rental car company.” Leaning down, he brushed her cheek with his lips. “Thank you, Evie. For everything.”
When the door to his room closed, she sagged against the counter. Part of her wanted to go after him, to offer the explanations her brain had been kicking around since she woke up. No matter how well their bodies had fit together, their lives couldn’t be more mismatched. Age difference aside, he was clearly at home in the big city, and everything she was resided at the inn.
But that’s not the real reason, her conscience nagged. If you can’t be honest with him, be honest with yourself.
The real reason was probably pulling in to the local watering hole, looking for the hair of the dog that bit him and turned him rabid on her the night before. Just remembering the scalding humiliation of Yon’s insults hardened her heart and stiffened her backbone.
Never again would she let a man tear down her carefully constructed walls. No amount of phenomenal sex was worth being exposed as a quivering bundle of raw nerves bracing for the next hit.
Evie went to her room, ignoring the scent of sex still heavily perfuming the air, and exchanged her bathrobe for clean jeans and a denim shirt. After braiding her hair, she pulled a ball cap on and headed to the pantry for her cleaning supplies. Guests or no, the rainstorm left streaks on her windows and solar panels, and she would wash them until they gleamed in the early-morning sun.
Propping the ladder against the porch, she started from the widow’s walk off the honeymoon suite. She’d offered a free stay to Constance and her fiancé for their honeymoon, but her daughter had laughed the offer away.
Honeymoon at Mom’s place, was that really so wrong?
A car pulled up and Jace strode down the porch steps.
“Safe trip,” Evie called out to him, like he was any other guest getting back to his real life.
He turned and looked up at her, that same smoldering look that he’d given her last night when his head was buried between her thighs. That look that said, You can’t hide from me, I see everything.
Last night she’d wanted him to see, but now, in broad daylight …
Evie turned back to wiping down her window and ignored the slamming of the car door, the crunch of gravel under tires. When she did finally look back, there was no trace of him at her inn or on her heart.
* * *
5
“Hey, Jace, thought you were heading out for the weekend?” Reginald Duchamp placed the weight bar he’d been lifting back into its slot. His spotter wandered off toward the cardio machines.
“Short trip.” Jace nodded at the bar. “Mind spotting me a set?”
Reg slid off the bench, which cleaned itself of his sweat, immediately preparing for the next patron. “Go for it. What are you pushing these days?”
Jace lay down on the bench and positioned his hands. “About two eighty-five.”
The weight bar worked better than the clunky old disks Jace had grown up using. The bar itself cost more than he
made in a year, but it was designed to reduce its pull toward the center of the earth, thereby making its weight adjustable to the lifter with the input of a code. Illustra encouraged its employees to take advantage of their health maintenance facilities as part of their job and didn’t skimp on amenities.
Reg stayed silent through the first few reps, and Jace worked his body hard. He’d been too restless to go back to his apartment and had headed here instead. At Illustra, time of day or day of the week was irrelevant; there were always people hustling back and forth, always other pleasure companions either gearing up for work or relaxing after. Hopefully he could spend a few hours down here feeling the burn and exhausting himself so he’d quit thinking about Evie.
“So, how’s the family?” Reg’s white teeth flashed against his ebony skin.
“The same.” Jace grunted as his muscles twitched and he put the bar back, taking a breather.
“Hence the short trip. That sucks.” Reg had gone through the initial training program at the same time as Jace and they’d been friends for years.
Jace didn’t want to talk about his trip. “So what about you, Reg? Hot date last night?” Reg held up three digits as he drank from his water bottle. Jace gave a low whistle. “You are a machine.”
Reg managed to do what Jace didn’t, which was to have a life outside of Illustra. He had four younger sisters who lived with him, the oldest a sophomore in high school. Reg worked and dated and still made time for his family.
“What’s your secret, man? How do you manage to have it all?”
Reg shrugged. “I’m not here for life the way you are. I’m whoring for my sisters, and as soon as they are out on their own, I plan to lay off this job, settle down, and have a family. Just doing what I gotta do in the meantime.”
Jace nodded thoughtfully and reached for his water bottle. “You got it all figured out, then?”
Reg snorted, his face the picture of derision. “No, haven’t met the right woman yet. So I figure I’ll just keep trying them on until I find one that fits.”
