by Kadie Scott
The problem was, she found she couldn’t walk away.
“I want you to kiss me,” she whispered.
With a tortured groan, he lowered his lips to hers in a kiss that passed “go” and went straight to “jail.”
Heat scorched through her at his touch, as she responded to the demands of his mouth against hers. She opened to him, reveling in the sensations he built inside her as he pulled her lower lip between his teeth, then soothed the nip with his tongue, which he swept against hers. She shuddered, letting loose a small whimper of need.
Groaning, Jennings gathered her closer, his arms wrapped around her, and fit her perfectly against him like a puzzle piece—soft curves against hard planes. He smoothed his hands down her back over the indent of her waist, bringing her even closer to him, and making her intimately aware of the hard, thick length of him straining against his zipper, pressing into her belly. All the while, he never stopped kissing her, demanding a response, which she was all too eager to give.
Desire spilled through Ashley, stoking her hunger for him and burning away her shock at what they were doing. Maybe she’d even wanted this ever since New Year’s when he’d kissed her. Maybe longer. She wanted his hands, his lips, all over her body. She craved his touch, his taste. Sensation took over from rational thought and, heaven help her, she wanted him. All of him. Now.
She smoothed her hands up the hard expanse of his chest, over his broad shoulders, and tangled her fingers in the silky thickness of his dark hair. Her body scorched, and she wanted to wrap herself around him, but she settled for tugging him even closer.
As he trailed his lips to her neck, then to her ear, his warm breath feathered her hair and sent shivers of awareness through her. She needed more. She needed his skin against hers, to feel his heat against her with nothing between them.
She brought her hands to the bottom of his shirt and slipped them underneath. She snuck her hands higher, needing to explore every inch of his muscled chest, hard and warm against her fingertips.
With a shuddering breath, Jennings closed his hands over her wrists and stepped back. Ashley stared at him in dazed confusion.
“Don’t stop,” she begged.
He shut his eyes, his jaw clenched tightly. “If we don’t put the brakes on now, I won’t be able to stop until I have you in my bed, under my body.”
The image of the two of them together flashed starkly clear in her mind, and Ashley sucked in a gasp. A small part of her marveled at the needy desire wrapped around Jennings Hill. “You’re right. We should stop.”
She should walk away before it got too hard to do the right thing. She wouldn’t mess up this new friendship again. Not when she couldn’t be sure about herself.
He opened his eyes, trailing his gaze over her flushed face and down her body. Ashley felt his gaze like a physical brush against her skin. Her nipples tightened and strained against the material of her bra, tingling for his touch, and her body throbbed.
“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more,” he admitted, his voice harsh with need.
The right thing got fuzzier by the second.
“This is crazy,” he whispered. Even saying the words, he couldn’t keep his gaze from sliding down her body.
Need coiled around her more tightly by the second, fuzzing her thoughts and her good intentions. With a whimper, she stepped closer, pressing against him and relishing the shudder that wracked him. “I want you, Jennings Hill.”
Jennings gripped her shoulders as if to push her back, but his blue eyes, almost navy in the firelight, caught and held hers. He gave his head a shake, as if arguing with himself.
Before he could say no, Ashley framed his face in her hands. “Jennings. Make love to me.” She’d been reduced to begging.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to be who I’ve been for a long time. I want to forget about that Ashley. And I can’t keep wanting you like this without…” She paused and shook her head. How did she explain something she didn’t even understand yourself?
She squeaked in surprise as he swept her up in his arms and strode through the house. “Heaven help me. I can’t say no.”
Delight, triumph, and anticipation burst through her. Never one to wait to open her presents, she took the opportunity to explore his neck, laying nibbling kisses against the taut skin there, inhaling his clean scent, loving the tangy taste of him.
“Woman, you keep that up and we might not make it to the bed.”
As much as the mental image of his taking her up against the wall, hot and sweaty and fast, turned her on, Ashley wanted this moment to last and last.
“Dang.” She pulled back to the sound of his chuckle.
Jennings walked through a doorway into a dimly lit room. She barely had time to notice the heavy, masculine oak furniture and navy comforter and décor before his fevered gaze dropped to her. “Are you sure?”
This fell under the headings of insane and unexpected, but, oddly, she’d never been more sure of anything in her life. She refused to let her own self-doubts ruin this moment. “Yes.”
With care bordering on reverence, he lowered her feet to the ground and took her lips in the sweetest kiss she’d ever known. He sipped at her before brushing her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. The fire that had raged between them, which had turned to smoldering embers for a second, now stoked higher with each touch, each caress.
Slowly, he undressed her, taking his time and paying homage to every newly exposed inch of skin with his hands and lips and tongue until she stood naked before him. Seized with a sudden bout of shyness, she glanced away, only to have him tip her chin up to meet his gaze.
“You’re the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
His hot gaze told her he meant every word, and her shyness melted in the face of his desire.
She grinned. “I would say the same, but one of us is wearing too many clothes.”
His eyes crinkled and his delighted laugh rumbled out of him, melting something in her heart she hadn’t known was frozen. In a frenzy of movement at direct odds with the way he’d taken his time with her seconds before, Jennings yanked off his clothing, discarding it chaotically to mix with hers on the floor.
Ashley hungrily absorbed every exposed inch of him—the ridges of his stomach, the power of his legs and chest, the smattering of hair that led down to his hot length.
She jerked her gaze to his. “You’re too big.”
She wasn’t faking the panic in her voice. Jennings laughed as he yanked her into his arms, and her brain overheated at the sensation of skin against skin, hard against soft.
“We’ll fit. I promise. You were made for me.”
Why his words settled her, she had no idea. He swept them onto the bed, bringing his body down on top of hers. Instead of taking her lips in another series of explosive kisses, he lowered his head and pulled an eager nipple into his mouth. Ashley gasped and arched up into him as he played with her body, every move shooting pleasure straight through her.
At the same time, he trailed his fingers down her abdomen, over her hip, down her thigh, and back up the inside of her thigh straight to the bundle of nerves at her core, which throbbed in anticipation. Ashley couldn’t stop her moan of reaction as he touched her there, brushing against that sensitive spot in the most tantalizing way. She became lost in a haze of desire as he played her body like strumming a guitar, building the ache inside her, stoking the fire.
She undulated her hips, chasing his touch, and he pressed harder, sucked harder at the tip of her breast, not letting up on either, building the pressure inside her. Higher. Higher. Until a tingling gathered deep inside before exploding outward, fizzing through her. Stars burst behind her closed eyes. Ashley whimpered as pleasure crested over her in waves of sensation.
Panting and languorous in the aftermath, she returned his smile when Jennings lifted his head. He shifted off her body, and she reached for him. “Wait.”
“I’ll be
right back.”
As she watched, he hurried to his bedside table and pulled out a condom, which he quickly rolled on before returning to her, settling between her thighs with a crooked grin. He claimed her lips with a kiss both possessive and satisfied in an utterly male way, and she smiled against the kiss, suppressing the strangest urge to giggle. Happiness wanted to burst from her.
He took both her hands in his, threading their fingers together, and raising her arms above her head. He stared into her eyes, and she couldn’t pull her gaze away from the intensity of his. Holding her hands above her head with one hand, he reached his other hand down between them, brushing his fingers across her slick entrance, and she sucked in sharply as pleasure washed through her at his touch. Could she go over that edge again? She never had that quickly.
He aligned to her entrance, pressing into her slowly. Pressure gave way to stretching as he pushed into her body until he filled every inch of her in the most exquisite way. Fully inside her, Jennings let go of a breath she hadn’t realized he’d been holding, the puff feathering against her neck.
Gaze still locked on her, almost as though he worried that if he looked away, she’d disappear, Jennings moved his hips, slowly at first, letting the pleasure build again, before setting a steady rhythm.
She was all set to enjoy the ride, when a familiar, agonizing pressure started to build inside her again, burning at the base of her spine.
“Oh!” She gasped.
He canted his hips to hit a spot inside her, spinning her even more out of control. “Oh!” She moaned now, shocked at what he could make her body do and feel.
Jennings grinned and captured her lips, his pace increasing as they both neared the precipice.
She couldn’t have stopped the moans and gasps coming from her throat as he moved, even if she’d wanted to. “Harder,” she urged.
“Yes.” He hissed. He increased the pace, letting go of the control he’d shown up to this point, and she silently reveled in the fact that she could make him lose it like this.
“You feel so good,” he whispered into her ear. Those simple words had her body clamping down on his as wave after wave of blissful sensation wracked through her.
At the same time, Jennings gave a loud shout, thrusting with long hard strokes as his body shuddered with release. Eventually he slowed, then stopped. He leaned on one arm and smoothed the sweat-soaked hair from her face, a tenderness in his gaze she’d never seen before, making her stomach clench in stark reaction.
“I’ll be damned,” he muttered.
She grinned, replete and satiated. “I hope not, because I’d have to join you there.”
Jennings chuckled as he slipped away. She shivered as cold air brushed over her body as he got up to dispose of the condom.
Shyness overtook her again. She’d only ever been with Eric, and their first time had been a year into dating—a long time ago. What was she supposed to do now? Did Jennings want her to stay? Would they make love again, or were they finished?
Just the thought had her frowning. She didn’t want this to end, but all those doubts she’d held at bay started to nudge their way back in.
“I can see you thinking, Hughes.”
She tipped her head and eyed him. “And what am I thinking?”
He flopped down on the bed beside her, pulled her up against him with an arm around her stomach, spoon fashion, and murmured in her ear. “How have you lasted this long out of my bed? Am I right?”
Ashley did her best not to stiffen in his arms, because he was close to the truth. How could she have missed the attraction between them? More than attraction, there was a connection there that had nothing to do with the physical and everything to do with Jennings. This happy, noncritical Jennings. She’d missed him so damn much without even knowing it, and that scared the hell out of her because it was just one more thing she’d gotten horribly wrong. Besides, where could they go from here?
After the wedding and the holiday, she’d go back to Dallas, and they’d only bump into each other every now and then, when she came home to visit. Maybe a phone call or two about the fraud if the lawyers had any questions. Even a strong friendship seemed out of her grasp. A thought which settled like a rock in the pit of her stomach.
To cover her churning mind, she stifled a yawn with her hand. “Still arrogant, even in bed.”
He chuckled. “Especially in bed.”
She rolled over to face him, pleased he kept her in the circle of his arms. “I can’t stay the night.” Small towns and wagging tongues had already landed them in trouble, and that was when they hadn’t done anything.
He brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. “I know.”
Oh. She’d sort of expected an argument.
“But I hope you’ll stay a little longer.”
He did? God, her emotions were like a frickin’ roller coaster. Up and down and all around. “Yeah?”
He drew a pattern over her belly with the tip of his finger, leaving a trail of buzzing nerves in his wake. “I want to try an experiment.”
She frowned, not following. “What do you mean?”
“I want to see if making love with you is that amazing every time.”
An unaccustomed blush started at her cheeks and flooded every inch of her skin, the heat leaving a trail.
Ashley bit her lip to hold back a giddy grin. “Sounds like an experiment worth repeating a few times.”
*
Jennings woke to a dark room illuminated only by the light from the bathroom to find Ashley dressed and ready to leave. Already, her place in his bed had cooled, and he wanted her back beside him.
“Wait,” he mumbled in a sleep-roughened voice. “I’ll walk you out.” He tossed back the covers and pulled on the pair of jeans he’d discarded earlier. Turning to find her eyeing his body with interest, he couldn’t help his grin and laughed as she rolled her eyes.
At the door, she fished her keys out of her purse. He snuck in closer while she was distracted and snatched her lips in a long, lingering kiss when she glanced up.
Reluctantly, he pulled back to another of her sweet smiles, the one that could bring him to his knees.
“I’ll never forget tonight,” she murmured.
Everything in Jennings froze. Her words sounded ominously like goodbye. “What do you mean by that?”
The smile slipped from her lips, and confusion dimmed the light in her eyes. “Um. Did I say something wrong? I know this was only for tonight.”
“Nope.”
She blinked. “Nope?”
“Nope, as in this was not a one-night stand.”
Another blink and he couldn’t mistake the desire that darkened her eyes. “We can’t,” she said. “I mean, there’s the wedding. Then, after Christmas, I’ll be back in Dallas, and you’ll be here, but I’d like it if we could stay…friends.”
He shook his head. “Friends isn’t good enough for me. Not anymore.”
Ashley inhaled sharply, and, for a split second, he thought he saw hope in her eyes, reflecting his own. But then she shook her head. “I can’t…”
“Right.” Jennings clenched his fists at his side as impotent anger pumped through him—at himself, at her. He’d been a blind fool, believing, even for a second, that he meant something to her. “Of course. Being around Eric and Taylor must be hard. I’m glad I could help…relieve some tension.”
“That is definitely not what happened here.”
“No?”
Ashley blanked her face, every emotion hidden from him just as she used to do. “I can’t talk to you when you get like this. We’ll only end up yelling at each other, and I don’t want to ruin what we shared tonight.”
Too late for that. He crossed his arms. “I think you should go.”
Jennings didn’t follow her out into the cold night air, ignoring the defeated cast to her shoulders. He needed a chance to think and to let his emotions fizzle out before he addressed this. At the same time, he didn’t want to admit th
at driving his fury was a gut-wrenching level of disappointment. Up until the last five minutes tonight, he’d hoped—
Jennings banged a fist against the doorjamb as Ashley’s headlights flashed through the window before she sped away.
“Good going, Hill,” he muttered. “You handled that one great.”
Chapter Ten
After Ashley left, sleep was as elusive as a UFO sighting. Eventually, around three-thirty in the morning, Jennings gave up and started his day, working at a blistering pace trying to outrun his mind. However, that also meant he wrapped up his morning chores earlier than usual. By four-thirty he was at loose ends.
Not particularly keen on rambling around his house alone with his admittedly brooding thoughts, he decided to head into town. He’d get breakfast at Dahlia’s, which opened early, then do some errands.
But instead of town, his truck sort of pointed itself to the Hughes’ ranch.
The trouble with him was he’d never been a quitter. Clearly, or he would’ve booted Ashley out of his heart a long time ago. But the little girl with dark pigtails who’d laughed at his stupid jokes had grown into a woman who’d stolen his heart before he’d even known he was ready to give it away.
Last night, after she’d left and he’d cooled down, he’d had to admit his inappropriate level of anger might have had something to do with a ten-year backlog of unrequited interest and bitterness at losing her friendship so easily.
Finally, he’d gotten honest with himself and admitted he’d loved her this entire time.
Love. Him. Jennings Hill.
Despite the obvious staring him in the face for eons, that revelation had still come as a shock. He wouldn’t have taken her teenage rejection as hard as he had otherwise, or the way last night had ended.
