Pepper was dancing in my living room to the beat of some music playing through her earbuds, so she didn’t hear me come in. I took a moment to soak up how fucking adorable she was in her barely there striped shorts and lavender tank top that left little to the imagination. No bra, since I’d be able to see the straps if she had one on. She must have already changed for bed, and I didn’t mind in the least.
She shimmied a couple more times and then did a twirl. That was when she saw me and almost fell over in her haste to stop.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” I said, doing my best not to laugh.
She tugged the earbuds free and tossed her phone on the cushion of the nearest chair. “Didn’t hear you come in.”
“Clearly.”
“You could have done something to get my attention.” She planted her hands on her hips in an effort at indignant annoyance.
“Could have. But I was having too much fun watching you.”
She scowled, but there was still a hint of a pout on her lips, ruining the effect. She was always too cute for me to take her annoyance seriously, unless she was putting me in a headlock.
“Mainly I was watching your ass,” I added.
“Watch it, or I’ll throw things at you.”
“Knowing your aim, I think I’ll risk it. Besides, like I said…I was watching it.” And enjoying the hell out of it.
She scrunched up her nose in what was possibly her most adorable expression ever. “I’d likely end up tearing a rotator cuff or something.”
“Probably.” I stripped off my suit jacket and tie, tossing them over the arm of a chair. I should probably have hung them up right away, but seeing her dancing like that had shifted my thoughts to focusing solely on Pepper for the time being. I crossed over and took a seat on the couch, patting the spot beside me.
“Damn it,” she said, but she came over and curled up beside me, tucking her feet underneath her.
“You’re adorable as hell. You know that, right?”
She rolled her eyes. They appeared to be almost as lavender as her shirt instead of their usual blue. Must be a trick of the lighting or something. She tilted her head until it was resting against the back of the sofa, leaving me tempted to touch the length of her neck. “And you’re a big, scary badass,” she said. She reached for my hand and examined my knuckles. “Tell me you didn’t hurt yourself.”
I winked, avoiding answering her question. “That’s why they call me Mad Dog.” My hand and face both hurt like crazy, but that was normal after a fight. Went with the territory.
“Good thing I know the truth.”
“And what’s that?”
“You’re much more puppy than pit bull.”
“At least you’re not calling me a teddy bear again. Don’t do that in front of the guys, okay?”
“No promises.”
“I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t force me to go to another party so soon, then…” There was some laughter in her tone, though, so she had to be coming to grips with it. She was still holding on to my hand, running her fingers over my swollen knuckles.
I took it back from her before she got any bright ideas about forcing me to put ice on it. I had other plans for tonight, and they didn’t have anything to do with her babying me. They had everything to do with finishing what we started last night. “I guess your hangover’s gone?”
“Gone enough.”
“And you haven’t been drinking tonight?”
She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “No…”
“Good. Because I want to go back to what we started last night.”
“So I can relive my embarrassment in all its drunken glory?” She reached for a throw pillow and held it against her belly like armor.
“I don’t want to embarrass you.”
“No, you just want to tease me to death, or at least until I start praying for death, one of the two. You might as well be torturing me.”
“If I’m torturing you, I’m torturing myself, too.” And then some. The restraint I’d taken to not toss her over my shoulder, caveman-like, and carry her to my bed last night had nearly done me in. I’d barely gotten any sleep, lying awake all night and jerking off, thinking about how sweet she’d tasted when I’d kissed her.
She let out a huff, and her long bangs went flying. “I’ll remind you that I have to go meet with Alex Dare tomorrow, and then you’re dragging me to another party on Wednesday night. Isn’t that enough for now?”
It wouldn’t be enough until I got her to understand I was just as into her as she was into me. And got her into my bed. And convinced her to stay there. “So me telling you I love you is torture? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I know you love me,” she said, exasperated. “Like a sister or something. It’s how I love you, too.”
“Not unless it’s some weird incestuous sort of relationship, and I’ll be damned if you could kiss me like that if you thought of me as a brother.”
“Fine. Maybe I don’t think of you that way, but that doesn’t mean you have to go and humor me. We’ve never been more than friends. There’s no reason that has to change now.”
“Bullshit. And I’m not humoring you. If that was how I felt, none of that would have ever happened. I wouldn’t have been lying awake in bed all night trying to convince myself to stay where I was instead of getting you all hot and bothered so I could hear the sounds you make when you come.”
Pepper turned bright red, and she shook her head. “I—”
“Just stop fighting it, Pepper. This probably should’ve happened years ago, but we were too scared to do anything about it.”
“Maybe we were smart to be scared.”
“Or maybe we wasted all sorts of time.”
She gave me a sulky look that I wanted to kiss right off her face.
“Are you scared of me?”
“I can still put you in a headlock,” she scoffed.
“Maybe.”
“Wanna find out?”
More than she could ever know, but I’d rather she do it with her thighs holding my head in place while I ate her out. We’d get there, though. Eventually. “What I want to find out is how many licks it takes to get your clit to come out to play. I want to know how sensitive your tits are. I want to know if you come harder from your G-spot or your clit. I want to see what kind of kinky shit you’re into. I want to watch you get yourself off and see if you do it with a vibrator or just your hands. And once I’ve learned all that, I want to get you to try things you never imagined you’d like.”
The whole time I talked, her eyes were on me, but she never stopped blushing even if her breathing got erratic. I couldn’t get over how sweetly shy she could be. It was like the absolute opposite of the Pepper-Pot she usually was around me. Fiery. Feisty. Sassy.
“I’m not going to let you spank me,” she said. “Not in public. Not in private. Nowhere. So don’t even think about it.”
If that was what she was worried about saying no to, and not all the rest of it, I figured that meant we were making progress. “No spanking. Got it.”
“I’m not really all that kinky. I mean, yeah, I had a threesome once, but…” She let her thoughts trail off and shook her head. “All that whips-and-chains stuff? Not my idea of a good time.”
“Kinky doesn’t have to mean whips and chains. It can mean fuzzy pink handcuffs or a silk blindfold. It can mean remote-controlled vibrators.” I didn’t mention that I had one, brand new and ready to be used. “It can even just be trying something you’ve never tried before,” I added.
She licked her lips, and I had a hard time not concentrating on the path of her tongue with laser-like focus. Pepper might not want to be turned on from this conversation, but there wasn’t a doubt in my mind she was just as hot and bothered as I was.
“Okay,” she said finally, “but do we have to jump straight into the kinky stuff? Can’t we start with just plain old sex?”
“With me, there�
�s no such thing as plain old sex.” As soon as I said it, I wished I’d kept my cocky asshole side in check. “I just mean that it’s not going to be forgettable. I won’t let it be.” But now I was rambling, which wasn’t something I normally did. That was Pepper’s typical MO, a point further emphasized by the way she was looking at me with raised eyebrows and a goofy expression. “But more importantly, does that mean you’re ready? I mean—”
“For sex?” she cut in.
“No, for underwater basket weaving. Yes, for sex. With me,” I added, probably unnecessarily. And only me. If things went according to my plan, she wouldn’t ever go to bed with another man again.
But she didn’t answer me right away. In fact, she delayed so long I started to rethink everything.
“I know this isn’t exactly the most romantic—”
“Yes,” she said, stopping me in my tracks.
“Yes?” I studied her eyes, her face, searching for any hint of the hesitance that had caused her to take so long in answering me. There wasn’t anything to be found. “You’re sure? Because there’s definitely no way we can un-fuck once we’ve fucked.”
“I’m sure,” she said. As if to prove her point, she reached for the hem of her tank top and lifted it over her head.
My mouth went dry. This was really happening.
Holy shit.
Eight
Pepper
My breaths came sharp and fast, like we’d already finished, but we hadn’t touched each other yet. Not even so much as a kiss. The anticipation was apparently more than enough to get me all hot and bothered.
I tossed my tank top on the floor so I wouldn’t lose all my courage, cover myself up again, and run off to hide in my bedroom.
Jackson’s eyes were focused on my breasts so intensely I was tempted to pick the shirt up again. Or cross my arms in front of me. Anything I could do to protect myself from his penetrating gaze.
I’d always been self-conscious about my body.
I was built like a boy. An extremely short, skinny, muscular boy. Tiny boobs, almost no difference between my waist and hips, thick thighs and calves, defined abs.
Mom always told me I was built like a gymnast, but it didn’t matter how many times she said it. The words never sunk in and translated to anything in my mind other than You look like a boy. And even if boy wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when someone saw me, I definitely didn’t look like the leggy, busty, curvy model types Jackson almost always dated.
He was sure to change his mind and try to back out of this at any moment. I did my best to brace myself for the rejection, which was bound to hurt worse because I’d allowed myself to believe, at least for a moment, that he might truly mean what he said.
An eternity passed, or at least it felt that way to me. With every second that ticked by, my need to escape climbed, moving upward from my gut until it was clawing at my lungs. Just as I made up my mind to grab my shirt off the floor, run into the guest room, and slam the door closed behind me, Jackson covered my breast with his palm, gentle but demanding at once. Maybe even possessive, although it was entirely possible that part was only in my head.
I fought the urge to arch into him. Every nerve ending in me screamed for more, but all the fears and doubts were still surging at the back of my mind, reminding me that what we were doing would prove to be the end of our friendship. Somehow. In some way. As of right now, for better or worse, everything between us had to change.
We could never go back to what we had before.
Maybe it was grief for what we were losing that kept me chained in place, unable to move a muscle, even as my anticipation for what might be ahead of us urged me on.
He shifted his hand slightly, his palm rough against my sensitive skin. I shivered, goose bumps popping up all along my arms and legs.
He grinned. “Cold?”
I shook my head. “Not even close.”
“Because I can warm you up.”
I had no doubt about that, but I was already so hot I doubted that would be necessary.
He reached up and stroked my cheek, his fingers delving into my hair as he drew me toward him. When our lips met, it wasn’t just warm; it was scorching, so hot it was liable to burn me alive. He tilted my head at an angle and plunged his tongue between my lips, his other hand slipping under my shorts to grab hold of my ass and lift me up to my knees, and I forgot all about my boyish body. All I could think about was the way every part of me came alive when he’d barely touched me at all.
I lost my balance and fell toward him, bracing myself with both hands on the hard planes of his chest. My forehead bumped against his, and I bit down on his lip in shock. No blood, thank goodness. At least we’d already been close, so our collision didn’t hurt as much as it might have otherwise.
“Still clumsy,” he murmured against my lips, laughing.
“Always.” I couldn’t help but laugh, too. I pecked his lip again, as if that was enough to make up for biting him.
“Maybe we should get you on your back, then. So you don’t hurt yourself. Or me.”
“Probably not a bad idea.”
Just like that, he had me in his arms, my legs wrapped around his waist as he carried me to his bedroom, where the cats had been waiting for him already for hours.
In a single move, he lay me on my back and stripped off my shorts and panties, tossing them to the floor. The cats took off at our intrusion, one of them hissing as they headed out of the bedroom. I couldn’t worry about them, though, because Jackson had started kissing my inner thighs and was making his way closer and closer to my sex—a part of my body that all my attention seemed to be hyper-focused on.
His, too.
He kneeled on the floor beside the bed, put his arms beneath my thighs, spread me wide, and dragged me to the edge of the mattress. Then his lips and tongue were on me. His hands found my breasts while he drove me to the brink of madness with his tongue. He swirled it in a circle around my clit before sucking it between his lips, and I bucked my hips. I felt him smile against me. Cocky, but with good reason, apparently. The man more than knew how to use his tongue. I certainly had no complaints.
At least not until he stopped too soon and walked away from the bed. Still fully clothed, too, other than the jacket and tie he’d stripped off as soon as he’d come through the door. That was going to have to change, and fast.
“Take your clothes off,” I said. “Or better yet, let me.”
He winked at me and closed the door. Probably to keep the cats from coming back and joining us. That was fine by me. I wasn’t so sure I wanted them sniffing around while we were doing the dirty.
But instead of doing what I’d demanded, he crossed over to his dresser and opened a drawer, taking out a black-and-gold silicone thing that could only be a vibrator, although it was shaped differently than any vibrator I’d ever used—curved in a sharp C, with a long, thin end that was somewhat straight, and a shorter, thicker end that looked like a very small egg-like thing. He slipped something else into his pocket before I could get a good look at it, then grabbed a condom and a tube of lube.
Jackson came back to sit next to me on the bed and held out the vibe for me to touch. I slid one finger along the black parts. It was smooth as silk. I bit down on my lower lip, nerves warring with desire for prominence.
“Brand new,” he said before I could ask. “Just opened the package and got it charged last night.”
“Don’t tell me you went out after I went to bed and bought it.”
He shook his head. “Already had it. I bought it back when Elle and I were still together, but we never got around to playing with it before…” He cut himself off and shook his head. “Before. Anyway, last night after you went to bed, I took it out of the packaging and charged it. Made sure I knew how it worked. Just in case. I didn’t think things would progress between us so fast, but I hoped they might. Besides, it’s always a good idea to be prepared for the unexpected, since you never know what life might decid
e to throw at you.”
“Like some crazy-looking vibrator,” I said.
“Not crazy. It’s a couple’s vibe. You can wear it while we’re together.” He pointed at the long, straight side. “This part slips inside you. The other end holds it in place and stimulates your clit. Both ends vibrate, so we can both feel it.”
Now that he’d explained it, I could see how it would work. The long end was small and thin enough that he’d be able to fit alongside it.
“And you want to use this now?” I said. Cautiously. My voice definitely came out more tentative than I wished I sounded.
“I do. I want to make you come harder than you ever have before. I want to feel you squeezing the hell out of my cock while I’m inside you because you just can’t take it anymore.”
When he said it like that, I wanted it, too. My body clenched in response, almost as if he were already there.
“You all right with that?” he asked.
“Yes.” I surprised myself with the surety of my response.
He opened the lube and squeezed some on the vibrator, spreading it around with his fingers until it covered every blessed inch. Before he slipped it inside me, his eyes met mine and held. It went in so easily and felt so small I wondered if I’d even be able to feel it at all. Then he pressed a button, and it started buzzing.
I jumped at first. The vibrations were almost silent but startling in their intensity.
“Powerful, hmm?” Jackson said, his lips curling upward. “It’ll last for a couple of hours, too. Probably longer than we will.”
There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d last ten minutes, let alone a couple of hours at this rate. I was already bearing down, so close to orgasm that I’d get there within seconds if something didn’t happen to change it.
Dare To Love Series: Dreaming Up a Dare (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 6
