“Why are you telling me this Brynn?” Jax asked silkily. He looked relaxed, but she could see anger swirling in his gaze. A man with the moral center that Jax had didn’t make excuses for lowlifes like her ex-husband.
“I don’t know. I suppose I’m trying to explain my rather jaded view of marriage. My parents had such a perfect relationship, but when I looked around at my friends and how our generation went about the whole man woman thing, I didn’t see a snowball’s chance in hell of finding something as special and unique as they had. Most of the people I knew had divorced parents, some with multiple stepparents. I’m not like Rhiann with her strong belief that one day my prince would come. Once the divorce was final, it felt like a huge relief. I’d tried, it didn’t work—end of story. Relationships and romance were for other people not for me.”
Anxiety was bouncing around in her stomach. She hated talking about her mistakes, hated admitting she’d been such an utter failure at anything. This time it was Jax who reached for her shoulder, resting his fingertips on her skin, looking at her with hooded eyes that gave little away. She saw something in his expression but couldn’t quite put her finger on what that was.
“I thought I’d dodged the relationship bullet—the one where your parents and family expect some non-existent happily ever after—until a few weeks ago.”
Brynn fidgeted with the pillow in her arms and shifted her butt on the sofa cushion. How much she should tell him? The answer was painfully obvious. If she hadn’t wanted to confess the whole thing, she wouldn’t have gone down the path of recollection she had.
“Nana Wilde holds the deed on this entire property. Ever since I can remember she’s let me think that I’d inherit it. She and my parents got it into their minds that I couldn’t handle the responsibility of the house, the land, and the business without…well, without a man.” She heard the fierce derision in her voice and tried unsuccessfully to reel it in.
“That’s what we argued about today. She changed the terms of her estate to include a provision that states unless I’m married when she passes, the land and the house will go to my asshole cousin Seth. I get to keep my little business but would be totally under his thumb.”
“I think she knows she went too far.” Jax fed into the ensuing silence.
“Did she tell you that? Do you know about her crazy plan? Oh God. This is so embarrassing.” He rolled a shoulder and focused on where his fingers were lightly stroking her shoulder. When he didn’t look directly at her, she groaned out loud.
“She may have told me a little bit,” he admitted.
Brynn snorted and growled, “Oh I just bet she did. She said all sorts of things about, well…never mind. It doesn’t matter what she said. It just occurred to me that them trying to manipulate my personal life felt like being offered to the highest bidder. I didn’t want to ever get married in the first place. But I did, and it was an epic disaster. What the hell are they thinking?” She was yelling by the end of the tirade.
“I told Nana that she won. When the lease for this place comes up in the next few months, I won’t be renewing. She can give it all to Seth. Showing up here with Roger was no coincidence. Those two always were too close for comfort. I’ve no desire to be humiliated and manipulated by my own family.”
Jax was having a hard time staying calm. And quiet. Hearing Brynn explain away her ex-husband’s tomcat ways made him furious. Fuck. The hook-up culture was a way of life, but it wasn’t an excuse for wagging your dick at every available pussy that walked by. The little douchebag had disrespected her in the worst way possible and then tried to blame her for his behavior. One part of him was glad the dumb shit had lost her but another part wanted to do the fucker serious bodily harm.
“Your grandmother said you considered taking on a beard just to thwart her plans.”
Brynn’s eyes flashed and caught his. “She told you that? Christ.”
“Did you say that Brynn? Had you thought of contracting a husband?” He was having a hard time not exploding.
“Kobayashi Maru,” she muttered.
Holy fuck. Just like that all his anger receded. Laughing wasn’t an option but that was how he felt. Jesus. She was his very own James T. Kirk, only a female version. Change the rules of the game to win? Yep. That was his Brynn. Failure was not an option. Yet, even so—in a moment of anger she’d thrown in the towel. That didn’t seem like her at all. Had his sudden and unexpected appearance in her life shaken her that much? He suspected the answer was a resounding yes.
“What are you thinking?” she asked in a small voice that astonished him. So, his little spitfire wasn’t all that sure of herself. Interesting.
“What am I thinking?” he said back to her. “In all honesty babe, what I’m thinking is I wish we’d met two months ago. I’ve learned the hard way that regrets and wishing things were different only leads to bigger problems, but even so, in this situation I can’t help it.”
“Nothing would be different,” she smirked.
He grinned at her cheeky response. She was referring to how quickly they lost their clothes once they had met. Considering the strength of the lightning bolt of white-hot lust that hit him the moment she opened her mouth to speak, he couldn’t disagree.
“No. You’re right but that wasn’t what I was referring to.”
She looked at him puzzled, so he stopped fingering her shoulder and laid his big palm on the side of her neck. To him the gesture was possessive and reassuring at the same time. He hoped she read it that way.
“I just mean that if we’d met two months ago, before you had all this shit hanging over your head, I’d have a better chance of you believing me when I tell you that I’d marry you in a New York minute.”
There. He’d said it. The countdown to her inevitable knee jerk explosive reaction had begun. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…
She was nothing if not totally predictable. “Oh fuck. Look! You do not want a piece of this. For real. I don’t know why you’d even suggest it.”
The expression of undiluted panic on her face wasn’t any different from what he expected. Jumping up from the sofa she started to retreat, her feet hammering on the hardwood floor. Jax sighed.
She didn’t exactly run. It was more like power walking with precise deliberation. Watching the back of her move away from him when they were at such a critical moment drove home at least a dozen points. The demons in her past had left damage. But all that shit also made her stronger and wiser in ways he was saddened to realize that she didn’t see. It only made him want her more.
“That’s not how this is going to go,” he called after her. “You don’t get to run, Brynn. Come back and face me.”
There was a moment in almost every cartoon when the animators drew a character’s feet hastily running, doddering slightly, almost tangling, until the retreat slowed and came to a halt. Miraculously, that was exactly what happened here. She stumbled so slightly he might have missed it if he wasn’t watching her with such intensity.
Turning on him with flashing eyes, he watched her mind search for a response. “I don’t want to talk about his,” she snapped. When she crossed her arms defensively across her chest but didn’t keep moving away, he knew he had her. That didn’t mean, however, that she was going to come back and be docile or meek. No. Not his Brynn. There were still a few more caustic, foolish remarks she’d feel compelled to get in. He wasn’t wrong.
“You’re only saying this because of the …well, you know. The unprotected sex thing.” She said it like them fucking each other silly was some sort of a state secret.
He crooked his finger at her, but she stomped her foot and looked away. Shit. She was fucking cute when she was rattled. He’d never known a woman to run so hot and cold. Jax liked that he got to her that way. Told him he wasn’t alone with the way his feelings were unfolding. But he’d said his peace ~ so much for words. Now it was time to make an end run around all the noise in her busy little head. He knew what to do to get a reaction from her an
d almost laughed at how easy she was making this.
Crooking his finger again he growled, “Come here right now—or that gorgeous ass of yours is in for one hell of a spanking.” She hesitated, but he caught the flare of response in her eyes. Control? Yeah, fuck that. “I mean it Brynn. Get your ass over here right fucking now.”
“Jax,” she whined. “Don’t do this.”
“Do what?” he leered. “Tame some of that fire and remind you what’s really going on? Fuck your grandmother and her crazy plans. This is about you and me. I told you last night how I felt.” He saw her suck in a breath at the reminder. That’s right my sexy lover. Before knowing any of this bullshit I said I was falling in love with you. Yep. That got her feet moving.
She stopped just out of his reach about a foot away from his knees, then jammed her hands into the pockets of her jeans and cocked a hip at him with as much bratty insolence as she could muster. Absolutely priceless. His dick was instantly hard as a rock.
“Okay. I’m here,” she grumbled. “Now what?”
He relaxed against the sofa and spread his arms wide across the back. Knowing she was watching his every move, he subjected her to a lazy visual inspection that began at her feet and moved slowly upward, stopping at all the appropriately sexy spots along the way until he arrived at her tousled head of hair. Her cheeks were beautifully flushed and her breathing was way more rapid than it had been just moments ago. Of course the puckered nipples visible beneath the simple white t-shirt gave everything away.
“Take your jeans off,” he growled.
“No,” she bit back.
Oh man, he thought. This is going to be fun. “Are you sure you want to do this the hard way?” he taunted. For good measure he took one of his hands and rubbed it on his visible erection, leaving it in place to cup the hardness as he shot her a lecherous look that left absolutely nothing to the imagination, licking his lips and staring at her crotch imagining all the things he wanted to do to that small piece of real estate.
It took her a good minute, but she capitulated with a grunt. Kicking off her house shoes, she yanked at the snap on her jeans, practically ripping it open. Her face suggested he was on thin ice, but Jax knew better. She wanted him to assert his dominance. Brynn liked thinking she was in control. And she was—most of the time. But not when she was with him. When he spoke and the sexual electricity between them started flashing, her command over what was happening got circumvented awfully fast.
He felt sorry for the zipper of those well-worn jeans when she tugged it down without mercy and spread the two sides open. Shoving her hands inside the waistband Brynn vigorously pushed the denim down, wiggling her sexy ass as she did. Once she stepped out of the pants her hands flew to her waist. Everything about her body language screamed ‘Fuck You’ so he gave her a cocky shrug and a confident smile that answered her taunt.
Jax wasn’t exactly in any kind of a hurry. Making her wait, stretching the anticipation out was worth every second of the long, drawn-out way he stared at the flesh she’d uncovered. Beneath the jeans she’s worn a scrap of hot pink silk that looked utterly divine against her pale skin. He’d never given much thought to panties before he met Brynn but now, they were on his mind quite a lot. Like the other night when he’d found out that she’d gone out in public bare-assed and hardly covered.
Right now however he was considering the little white bow that rested just above the blond curls covering her mound. She looked delectable standing there in a t-shirt that barely covered her belly button and the pink silk his fingers were itching to touch. He squeezed his hard-on and groaned at the picture she made.
“Turn around.” His voice came out husky and raw with the desire chugging through his senses.
Her hands dropped away from her waist as she pirouetted like a prima ballerina and moved to smooth the elastic at the leg openings on her butt cheeks. Not quite a thong, the silk framed her perfect heart shaped ass. She reached up, gathered her hair into a messy tail, and twirled it several times until it laid against her back in a long swirl.
“Back it up, baby,” he demanded roughly. “I want you on my lap, legs on either side of mine. You know what to do.”
Brynn’s response to this position on another night had blown Jax’s mind. He liked focusing on her desires, ramping up her arousal until she fell apart. It was part torture for him with a heady dose of carnality that appealed to both of them. He also knew that by limiting her senses, she couldn’t see him, could only feel and hear—he’d have a better chance of cutting through the barriers in her mind that were choking off the promise of a future.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, maybe seeking his eyes for reassurance, but he kept his gaze fixed on her glorious ass. He moved his hand from his cock and stretched it against the back of the sofa again and waited. Waited for her to do as she was told.
WHEN BRYNN SAW THE WAY Jax was staring at her ass, she started to tremble uncontrollably. What had they been arguing about? She couldn’t remember. Had they even been arguing? She couldn’t remember that either. Somehow her brain emptied every time he took charge—each time the air around them became heavy with desire. Even if she tried to resist, in the end she crumbled almost immediately.
In three steps she was straddling his legs and lowering onto his lap with her back to his chest. It was a little disconcerting that he seemed so relaxed, with his arms spread wide against the back of the couch instead of on her body. The moment she settled on him she felt his hard-on pressing between her spread thighs and whimpered softly. Almost immediately he moved his legs further apart which in turn opened her wider.
“Lay back against me, baby,” he murmured. She eased back until her head fell on his shoulder. Not knowing what to do with her hands, she gripped his jean-covered hips and concentrated on the steady rise and fall of his massive chest. Her position was open, vulnerable and very provocative but still he didn’t touch her.
Turning his head toward hers where she rested on his shoulder he latched onto her earlobe with a subtle sucking that made her shiver. The last thing she expected, or wanted, was for Jax to start talking. Her body needed action, not words, as her senses flooded with frustration.
“Do you believe in love at first sight?” Fuck, Brynn thought. She’d believe in mystical unicorns if it meant he’d put his hands on her.
“I…I don’t know,” she murmured even though she knew the answer. The lust clouding her brain was taking control. “Is that what this is Jax? I’m so confused,” she groaned.
“It’s never been like this for me ever, Brynn. I mean, look at you. Half naked, squirming on my lap, and I haven’t even touched you. I’m not saying that sex and love are the same thing. They aren’t. But they’re connected and you know it. Would you ever respond like you do for me with any other man? Be honest.”
She didn’t have to think about it at all. “No,” she choked out. “But that’s part of what confuses me. We’ve only just met but every time I see you, I can’t think straight. Is it you? Me? Us together? I just don’t know.”
He sighed heavily. “Tell me this sweetheart. If I told you right now to get up and put your clothes back on, would you?”
Brynn’s hands gripped harder. She didn’t want to, but if that was what he wanted—well, yeah. She’d do as he asked. The thought was more than a little eye-opening.
“I don’t want to Jax. Please don’t make me beg.”
“I’m not asking you to beg, but if I did, believe me—you would. What I asked was, would you do what you were told? If that’s what I wanted.”
There was only one answer she could give. “Yes.”
“Okay,” he murmured so close to her ear that his breath felt hot and dangerously sexy. “So I say again. Is that just sex or is there something more that makes you do as you’re told? Please me as I’ve asked.”
Her heart was beating so fast that she was starting to pant. God. She was confused. Was it normal to be so totally overwhelmed by someone else’s desires? Ther
e was no denying she wanted him to touch her with those magic hands of his, but at the same time she was driven by his pleasure more than she needed her own. “I like making you happy. It…well, it makes me feel things I didn’t know existed.”
He bit her ear and growled. “You’re already in love with me, baby. This is powerful shit happening between us. Don’t try and deny me by refusing to say the words.” One of his hands landed on her waist, surprising her. She jumped, then immediately writhed trying to get as much from that slight touch as she could.
“You’re just making my point Brynn with the way you move and tremble. Can’t you admit, even a little, that you feel something for me?”
Her mind was careening all over the place. He wanted the words, but she was so scared of what saying them would mean. He’d leave eventually. She just knew he would and then what became of her? The intoxicating pull he had on her emotions was changing her life. It would kill her when he was gone.
“I’m afraid.”
“I know.” She whimpered when his hand crept slowly toward the top of her panties. “You have to trust me, baby. We can make this work. Are you mine, Brynn? Just answer me that.”
“Yes,” she sobbed as his hand slipped beneath the silk and moved on her skin.
“Then say it,” he husked on a groan when his fingers tangled in her curls and encountered the wet proof of her arousal. “Say it dammit.”
“Oh God, Jax. I’m yours. I’m yours.”
Brynn loved the earthy grunt that hit her ear when his fingers slid along the unfurling seam of her pussy. She answered with a feral moan as he spread the nectar dripping from her center. By the time she felt him circle the hardened nub of her throbbing clit, she was almost blind with need.
Jax latched his teeth onto her neck and bit down hard in unison with two of his sturdy fingers thrusting up inside her. She had a death grip on his hips. Bucking into his hand she tried desperately to take as much as he would give. Brynn whimpered and shook all over as he worked at her neck with greedy lips and pumped his fingers in and out of her.
Wilde Forever (Wilde Women Book 1) Page 31
