He’d told her he was sorry for involving her. That was all well and good, but it didn’t tell her how he felt. That he might want her beyond the present. Beyond the extremity of their current circumstances. And without that knowledge, she was running the risk of injuring her heart. But she already knew she wouldn’t change her mind. She needed to experience taking Jake Dalton. Being taken by Jake Dalton. She’d deal with her emotions later.
Mind made up, she focused on him once more. He looked dazed, though his eyes kept bouncing down to her breasts and then back to her face.
His tongue came out to lick his lips. And then his hands came to rest on her hips. He drew her to him, where she couldn’t mistake what her topless state did to him.
“Shit, Lucy,” he whispered, his warm breath fanning over her like an erotic breeze. She nearly sighed from the feel of him against her, around her. It was like coming home. But he was still talking. “Are you sure? I hope to God you are, but…are you sure this is what you want?”
Taking great care, she looped her arms around his neck as an answer. Squashed her breasts against his chest and, before she changed her mind, rasped, “I want you, Jake. Before you go off to who knows what, I want to be with you. Now. I think I deserve that much.”
His hands left her waist. He wrapped his arms around her, tight, and buried his face in her hair. “I didn’t lie when I said a moment ago that I wish like hell I hadn’t involved you in my mess of a life. That you hadn’t been hurt because of me. But this?” He raked her up and down with hot eyes that left little thrills of anticipation along her skin. “You giving yourself to me? Wanting me? I don’t regret for one minute. Won’t regret.”
She marveled at his declaration. Here she was, thrown together, going on twenty-four hours without sleep, and his words made her feel like Cinderella: beautiful and perfect and just a little sexy. Well, maybe a lot sexy, judging by the evidence of his desire she’d felt when he held her tight against him.
He’d seen her at her worst, she’d definitely seen him at his, and yet this…attraction had grown between them. Maybe she was just a sucker for lost causes, that was her usual MO, after all, but this thing between her and Jake? It was mutual, and she wasn’t about to lose this opportunity to show him exactly how she felt. She’d raised herself, put herself through school, and gotten the job she’d worked for. It was time she got the man she wanted too.
“I won’t regret this, Jake,” she said, dragging him back to her. “I want you, and you want me. Isn’t that enough for now?”
He tilted her chin up, smiled down at her. “I’m going to try like hell to make it never enough, Lucy. And we’re going to love every minute of it. Starting now.” He rocked his hips forward, brushed her with that part of him that corroborated his assertion. Grinned wider as she blinked. And then at last, he lowered his mouth to hers.
It was just like the first time. When Jake’s calloused hands came up to frame her face and held it steady while he plundered her waiting mouth, Lucy lost all ability to think, and just felt.
His lips controlled the kiss, moved over hers with a surety and passion that burned her at their point of contact. She felt so hot she thought she would melt right into his body.
“Christ,” he bleated, stumbling backward. He grabbed her hips and tugged at her jeans. Sensing his urgency, she whipped the offending garment down her legs, kicked it off along with her shoes while leaving on the snippet of purple lace panties.
He groaned aloud, snatched her body close once more. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, wiggled against the straining front of his jeans as she tried to hide her smile of satisfaction. She was driving him crazy. The knowledge armed her with a power she’d never known she possessed.
And then he switched it up.
With his fingers digging into the flesh of her bottom, he lowered his head to her breasts, breathed deep and squeezed her closer against his hardened body. He twirled them both around and she couldn’t help but squeal at the dizziness. Her squeals ended in a squawk of surprise when he fell backward onto the king-size bed, taking her with him.
As soon as the bed stopped bouncing—and damn, he wished it wouldn’t stop bouncing—he rolled Lucy under him and then paused, met her suddenly serious gaze. He realized he needed to lose his Neanderthal tendencies and slow this train down. See where it was going if they made this decision. Of course, she’d given him the go-ahead by taking off her clothes. And he already understood that sex with her would be like the woman herself: complex and unforgettable. But was it the right thing to do?
He was hot for her bombshell body. That was a given. Had been since he’d met her. But beyond the physical, he was attracted to her mind, to her sense of humor. To her independence. To her insecurities. She was unlike any woman he’d ever been with before and he didn’t want to screw up what they had, what they’d started.
And it was that last part that really worried him. It meant that he was getting in over his head, and Jake didn’t do that. He was a cop first, a man second. Until he turned in his badge, his life didn’t have room in it for a long-haired, glasses-wearing accountant who made him think beyond the present. At least, that’s what he’d figured up to now. Shit, he felt like a contestant on Let’s Make a Deal, facing three doors he didn’t know how to choose between.
“This is it, sweetheart,” he said, searching her face. “There’s no turning back. So speak now, or prepare for the ride of your life. I’m not bragging, either. It’s a statement of fact.” He owed her one last chance to change her mind, though he hoped like hell she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
While he lay atop her as still as a wax statue, she smiled at him with sooty eyes. “I’m not changing my mind. Ride me.”
Well damn him to hell. He’d never had a woman tell him to “ride me.” Never. Here he’d been worrying so much about her lack of self-confidence, and then she said something like that. He felt himself stiffen even more and decided he’d seesawed long enough. Lucy was a big girl and knew what she wanted. And it was the same thing he wanted.
He stood and shucked his underwear, then joined her amongst the scattered pillows. Centered himself between her upright knees and looked down into her bespectacled, flushed-with-passion face. Gently, for now he had all the time in the world, he reached up and carefully removed her glasses and placed them on the bedside table.
“You won’t need to see very far, sweetheart. All our work is gonna be done up close,” he whispered. As he gazed down at her, he saw desire, yes, and also trust. Trust that, as she gave herself to him, he would do right by her. And he vowed then and there to be all he could be for her today. Today and forever, for as long as they had. He lowered his mouth to hers to make good on that silent promise.
Tamping down his eagerness, he gently pulled her lower lip into his mouth, sucked on it with a grazing of teeth, and was rewarded with a purely Lucy whimper and sexy squirm. Pleased with her reaction, he repeated the act. Her unique fragrance and softness enveloped him.
He nibbled down her throat, goaded on by her legs wrapping around his hips and pinning him to her body. Oh, yeah, it was about to speed up now. She didn’t want to take it slow any more than he did. She was his perfect match, in tune with his thoughts and his needs.
Using his tongue, he cruised down between those lace-covered mounds she seemed self-conscious of and, for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine why. She was a walking fantasy. Everything he’d imagined wrapped up in the perfect woman.
With two fingers, he expertly flicked open the purple clasp, and freed her magnificent breasts. He rocked against her, watched her eyes widen at the feel of his arousal. “I’ve been hard like that for as long as I’ve been around you. I can’t remember wanting a woman as much as I want you right now. So give me the real Lucy Parker. Don’t hold anything back.”
She started to demur. “What are you talking ab—ahh,” she interrupted herself as he ignored her objection and lowered his mouth to one of her breasts, took the nipple
between his lips and sucked deeply. She gasped and arched into the caress, hands leaving his hair to fist the bedspread as he explored what made her sigh, what made her wriggle. What made her lose her inhibitions.
Moving his mouth to the other breast, he repeated his ministrations, while one hand plucked and rolled the opposite peak. She bucked again, nearly unseating him, and he chuckled against her skin. He let one hand trail down her body, slip into those panties, and tug on them until she helped him pull them off. And then he drifted away from her breast, kissed at her stomach and lower.
“Please,” she begged, rolling her head on the pillow, but he just shook his head, while his tongue continued its track down her body. He explored her belly button for precious seconds while sliding his hands under her bottom and squeezing. He wanted to prolong this adventure of discovery, feel her unravel for him.
Once more he was on the move, licking along one leg, nibbling behind a knee, repeating his seductive journey up the other appendage, and making leisurely stops along the way.
Her body undulated, tightening like a bow against that growing demand for completion. Her hands reached blindly for any part of him, urged him to put out the fire he was building within her. His own body ached to claim her, demanded he take her long and hard, but still he teased with lips and tongue and fingers, prolonging the moment. Taunting himself as much as he tormented her.
Finally, because he feared he might not outlast her if he prolonged this sensual assault any longer, he acquiesced to her pleas, placed his mouth where she begged for him to go.
She shattered as soon as he settled in, the second his mouth met her core. As the echoes of her sighs faded in the room, a strange contentment flowed through him though he hadn’t yet found his own release. He fought back an idiotic smile, wondered if he could be drunk on her taste. He already wanted to drink his fill again.
He sat back and regarded her from his current position. His response to her climax left him shaken, even as he admired her in this sated state, with limbs all akimbo, like a doll dropped from a child’s careless hand. Every once in a while he’d see a finger twitch, a foot jerk.
Not ready to face the ramifications of why he felt so satisfied watching Lucy climax, he crawled up her body. “That hit the spot, I take it?”
Her heavy-lidded gaze and tremulous smile caused a wave of tenderness to wash over him. He had to touch her to reassure both of them that this was real.
With a gentle hand he smoothed her long, damp hair away from her neck and smiled when her lashes fluttered at his delicate touch.
“Are you game for round two?”
She nodded, still drifting along on the current of a well-loved afterglow.
“Then hold that thought, darling, while I go get my limited supply of—”
“I’m on the pill.”
In the midst of leaving he froze, brows rising.
“And you brought them?” He wondered at the implication. “I’m clean, just so you know. They test you for all sorts of things in prison. Can’t have the scum of the earth catching any nasty diseases, now, can they?” His voice dripped with sudden sarcasm. “But, I can whip one on,” he suggested, “if it’ll give you peace of mind.” Her outstretched arms had him returning to his former position between her legs, face suspended only inches above hers.
“I’m clean, too. And I’m tired of talking.” She reached and buried her fingers in his hair.
“Hmm, a woman of action. I like that.” He kneed her legs wider apart, settled in. It didn’t take a second invitation to have him sliding into her, filling her. But then he froze, stunned at the sensations, by the effect of their joining.
This was Lucy, his Lucy, shy and ferocious at times, seductive but reserved, cautious and curious. And they were…one. The thought overwhelmed him. He had never viewed sex this way before.
He’d always considered sex to be a mutually gratifying activity between two like-minded people. A “you scratch my itch and I’ll scratch yours” affair. Granted, he’d wanted to nail this particular girl for days. But now that he was about to seal the deal, it didn’t feel like “nailing.” It felt deeper. Almost spiritual. A returning home to what was right. He shied away from the implications of that thought.
He rocked forward and backward, slowly, reverently. He wanted to savor the experience of her surrounding him, overpowering him. Drown in her very presence.
But his body had other ideas. Already he could feel the tingle of his climax pulsing at the base of his spine. With each thrust into her tight heat, he inched closer to the edge. He’d lusted after her for far too long, and now she was going to pay the price. Sonofabitch. He hadn’t had such lack of control since his teenage years. But then, he couldn’t remember ever wanting a girl, a woman, as much as he wanted Lucy.
Her hands dove into his hair and she cried out, giving him hope that he wasn’t going to leave her in the dust. He dug deep and found the strength, the self-discipline, to back off his own selfish mission, to slow down the force of his thrusts that were inelegantly scooting them across the bed. His heartbeat buzzed in his ears, and he lowered his mouth to hers, took a frantic kiss before reaching between their joined bodies. He stroked her, teased her with nimble fingers until his name flowed off her lips in a breathless keen.
Only then, when he knew she pulsed and shuddered, could he let himself go. With one last powerful thrust, the orgasm plowed over him, thundered through his body. Jake shouted his release, collapsing on top of Lucy after he’d spent himself completely within her.
She subsided against him, panting, arms loosely twined around his neck. His whole being shook. He was stunned at his reaction. It went beyond anything he’d ever experienced and he found he didn’t want to break their physical connection. He floated down from that glorious, sensual high with a curious sense of loss, a sadness that he couldn’t keep giving her, them, that excruciating pleasure, forever.
Although she hadn’t complained about his deadweight, he rolled to his side. Pulled her against him snugly while his chest heaved like a bellows in the aftermath. With eyes tightly clenched, he ran trembling fingers through her hair.
Holy, holy shit. He’d known sex would be good with Lucy. Their mutual attraction had been the guarantee. But hell, it hadn’t been good. It hadn’t even been great. Having sex with Lucy, making love to her, had been mind-altering. Mind-blowing. He hadn’t expected quite that intense an outcome.
So when one of her hands found its way to his chest and rested over his heart, he clasped it with his free hand, brought it to his lips. She sighed, long and deep while burrowing into his body.
He’d seriously underestimated the power of their union. He didn’t think he’d ever be the same again.
So, Nicky Costas, aka Jake Dalton, had headed for Vegas in a fancy sports car with the plus-size babe from the apartment riding shotgun. Now what did they plan to do there? Michael thought as he disconnected the call from the tail he’d put on the undercover cop.
He’d been surprised, no, stunned, when he’d found out Costas was really Dalton’s undercover persona. He could even admit his hands had been shaking on the keyboard as he’d stared at the proof. It had taken him a while to ferret out the information, given the back door avenues he’d had to travel. But he was certainly glad he’d persevered.
And then there was Tommy, also known as Jerry Litton, another freaking cop. Hell, there were more badges in the Farelli organization than drug dealers. And here he sat, perched on the edge of disaster, his own lucrative side business in danger of exposure.
As much as he hated to admit it, Michael knew when it was time to fold. Now that Farelli realized he’d been ripped off, he would be more vigilant. No, this gig had definitely run its course.
Moving to his laptop, he keyed in his offshore account, checked its balance. Satisfied that all was as it should be, he logged off and stared into space. Why was Dalton going to Vegas? It couldn’t be for any good reason. That’s why he’d told his man to keep tailing the un
dercover cop and his bimbo. Michael guessed it had something to do with him, even though he was always careful to cover his tracks. Something had caught Dalton’s interest and he wouldn’t rest until he was satisfied.
Well, Michael would just have to go and find out what Dalton thought he’d found. Waking up the computer, he bought an airline ticket to Vegas. Jake Dalton had become a problem that needed to be silenced once and for all.
Too bad he hadn’t been able to kidnap the girl back at her apartment. No, scratch that. Too bad he hadn’t known Nicky was really a cop until now. He’d broken into the bitch’s apartment to use her as leverage, to get Nicky to tell him where the hidden money was.
If he’d known Nicky was Dalton he would have gone about it all differently. Chosen a more lawful route, though he probably still would have taken the girl. Letting Jake know what was going to happen to her while he was arrested for being a dirty cop would have been sweet retribution.
Ah, well, now that he had found out Jake’s little secret, he had to follow the next logical path. Which was to tie up loose ends. And once that was done, he’d cut his losses and get the hell out of the country. He had a safe place already waiting.
The last thing he did was shut down his computer before packing it in his bag. He didn’t even blink as the official US government login screen flashed off. He’d been looking at it for too many years.
Chapter Twelve
Jake woke abruptly, the daylight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows too bright for his sleep-heavy eyes. Turning his head to the side, he took in the rumpled, unfamiliar comforter, pillows tossed negligently to the floor, and his own nudity.
At the sound of running water in the adjacent bathroom, he sat up. The morning and previous night all came crashing back to him. Mainly this morning, when he’d finally gotten Lucy naked and screaming under him. Oh, yeah, there was the reason for the torn up bed and the new erection. Damn, but she had been hot. Everything he’d imagined and more.
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