Persuasion Skills

by Laurel Cremant

  “We’re on a romantic getaway, remember? Any husband would expect to have sexy showers with his wife.”

  If only his eyes didn’t twinkle when he smiled and his damn dimple didn’t wink at her, she could muster up the energy for a truly blood-curdling scowl.

  “I think my terms were clearly stated.” He reached around her to the shower sill.

  When he straightened, he held a large bath sponge and a bottle of soap gel.

  “You agreed to stay here with me for a week, to act like a real married couple, with all the petting and touching involved with that.”

  “But…”

  She was distracted from her retort when he began rubbing the now soapy sponge across his chest.

  Long ropes of sudsy bubbles dripped across his hard pecs, and not for the first time did she appreciate the fact that he seemed to always do his best thinking in the gym. God bless push-ups and weight lifting.

  She followed his meandering hand with her gaze, her mouth watering.

  “But what, Pep?”

  His hand moved the sponge down his chest, sliding onto his rigid abs.

  “Hmm?”

  Shiny suds slipped down his stomach to his erect shaft. Lucky bastards.

  He moved his other hand down to his hard length, pumping it once before cupping his balls.

  Her moan mingled with his wicked laughter in the air.

  She flicked her gaze back up to his to see the mischievous glint in his eyes. This is so not right. No way was she going to let him keep sidetracking her.

  Admittedly, his skills of persuasion were inspiring. But if she was going to survive the week with her heart intact and legs closed, she had to stop letting him distract her with sex, or lack thereof.

  Letting a slow smile spread across her face, she stepped forward, stilling his movements with a lingering stroke down the ridges of his belly.

  “Let me help you,” she whispered, tilting her head back to hold his gaze.

  Her fingers tangled with his at the base of his long shaft. His quick intake of breath had her lips twitching in amusement.

  She didn’t bother hiding her own reaction, letting her moan float between them. Their gazes held in a heated lock, which was fine with her. She wanted him to see the passion in her eyes. She wanted him to burn as much as she did.

  Leaning up on the tips of her toes, she began to nip and tease at his lips as she curled her hands around his cock and squeezed gently.

  “Is this what a husband should expect?” she asked softly, her eyes never leaving his.

  “Yeah, somewhere along these lines.”

  His words came out in a low scrape of sound. He leaned his back against the wall, widening his stance and canting his hips up.

  “A real husband would expect some special attention, wouldn’t he?” She moved her other hand up his chest.

  She rubbed at the hardened nipple beneath her palm as she slowly pumped his hard, slippery length with her fist.

  At the quick nod of his head, she smiled. His inability to speak pushed her arousal level even higher.

  She slid her hand from his chest down the bunched muscles of his arm and uncurled his fingers from the tight clench at his side.

  “A real husband would be nice enough to return the favor, right?”

  She guided his hand to her wet center, not denying him the sound of her pleased groan. He rubbed at her clit, matching the tempo she set stroking his cock, creating an erotic rhythm that threatened to push her over the edge.

  The dark look of arousal in his eyes held her captive. He slipped a long finger into her pussy, and she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth.

  Her breaths came out in rough pants as she circled her hips in a slow grind.

  Through it all, she battled with her body for control, when all she wanted to do was wrap her legs around Jax and impale herself on his swollen cock.

  His pulsing member jerked in her hand as if knowing her thoughts.

  She whimpered into his mouth before wrenching her hips back. Her inner walls clenched at the loss, his answering grunt of frustration small consolation for the aching retreat.

  Pulling her lips away from his, she smiled up at him.

  “A real husband would want his shower to end in a happy ending,” she said, taunting softly as she finally broke eye contact and began placing long, unhurried kisses down his chest, making sure to maintain the teasing pace of her pumping hand on his shaft.

  She took a slight step back, giving herself room to bend forward at the waist, never breaking her connection with his pulsing flesh.

  Her kisses turned to leisurely licks down the planes of his stomach. When her tongue reached the base of his cock, she finally flicked her gaze back up to his.

  The desperate look in his eyes had her womb tighten in want.

  She doubted she would ever forget the sight of him, body hard with arousal, nostrils flared and face flushed with need, rivulets of water and bubbles sliding down his skin.

  Switching her focus back to his dick, she let her tongue slide slowly from the base of his long shaft to the large mushroom tip.

  A gruff grunt escaped from his mouth as he jerked his hips forward.

  She let her tongue circle the throbbing head before engulfing it into her mouth, relaxing her lips and letting its tip touch the front of her throat before tightening around him and making a slow and deliberate swallow.

  He let loose a strangled cry, before she drew her tautened mouth up his shaft, releasing him with a low pop.

  A thin trickle of clear liquid leaked from his penis, and she couldn’t resist the urge to smooth the slick pre-cum across the head of his shaft and lick it off.

  The taste of him was as intoxicating as she expected—hot, spicy, and completely addictive.

  Only her need for payback kept her from taking him back into her mouth and sucking him until he spilled down her throat.

  Giving him one last lick, she straightened and drew her hands away from him.

  “A real husband,” she said, breathing heavily, “would know to expect a serious case of blue balls if he pissed off his wife.”

  She watched as a look of horrified comprehension dawned on him, and then grudging respect spread across his face.

  Somehow, neither seemed worth it as she turned her aching body away from his, grabbed a towel, and left him standing within the rapidly cooling water.

  Stupid, stupid feminists.

  Chapter Ten

  Sitting under the blankets on the lush four-poster bed with her back propped up against the head board, Pepper waited for Jax to emerge from the bathroom. It had been a while since she left him alone and in serious need of release, and with every minute that ticked by, her imagination grew more and more lurid.

  What was taking him so long?

  Several guesses floated through her mind in vivid detail, each one keeping her in a heightened state of arousal. She wanted to jump up and pace across the room to disperse some of her nervous energy, but didn’t want to leave the protection of the bed.

  She’d already dressed for sleep, refusing to wear any of the lingerie Jax purchased for her. She rolled her eyes at the thought. The man really was thorough. Scarily so. It had taken her several moments of rummaging around in the large closet chest to realize he’d omitted underwear from his shopping spree, and her one piece of luggage was mysteriously missing.

  She ended up settling on one of his shirts in lieu of a nightgown. The garment hung to almost her knees, and for the first time, she was glad of her short stature. With the multiple layers of blankets and long shirt, she needed as much fabric between herself and Jax as she could manage.

  Taking a moment to plait her damp hair into two long braids on either side of her head, she tried to distract herself from the image of Jax hard and straining under the falling spray of water. Was he touching himself even now? The idea of him masturbating, finishing off the arousal she’d left behind, was an intoxicating thought.

  Shifting uncomforta
bly on the bed, she tried to ignore the bare dampness between her legs.

  It wasn’t as if he hadn’t deserved to be teased. She’d spent most of the day in a sensual haze of his making, and the sexy bastard knew it. He wasn’t even trying to hide this knowledge.

  She shook her head. To be fair, he had been rather to the point when she agreed to his wild request to stay with him for the week. But since, she wasn’t particularly in the mood to give him any brownie points at the moment, she refused to dwell on that truth.

  In the end, his honesty wouldn’t change anything. She was still determined to resist him at every turn.

  What other choice did she have? If she went along with his plans, there was no way she would be able to marry him and not keep her love a secret. She had no doubt he would repeat words of love back to her, but she would know that while she loved him soul deep, he would never love her more than with just strong affection. The thought of it caused her stomach to clench with unease.

  She wished her heart hadn’t made the ludicrous decision to fall in love with him. She rubbed her hand on her chest, massaging the foolish organ.

  Eventually, her heart would forget that Jax always made her smile. It would forget how much his brain turned her on and how his drive for success never outweighed his honor, integrity, or compassion. How his touch made her soul sigh. The fact that he was the only man who ever made her yearn for an always and forever would become a distant memory. She swallowed down the sob trembling up her throat.

  People had been falling in and out of love since the beginning of time. With the exception of a few dramatic examples, most people survived it. They had to, right? Despite the sharp pain in her heart, she tried to convince herself that she would be one of the survivors.

  No matter how she felt, or as she was quickly realizing, perhaps because of it, she wanted Jax to be happy, and if that meant humoring his fancy for the week then that was what she would do. She sincerely hoped that it was only a matter of time before he came to his senses.

  Besides, according to some of her married friends, what she had done would pale in comparison to some of the “lessons” they had taught their husbands. She grinned weakly into the empty room. He had definitely gotten off easy—or not depending on how you looked at it.

  Her grin turned into a full-blown giggle. She seriously doubted Jax thought any of that was easy.

  She sobered quickly as silence abruptly blanketed the room. The white noise of water sprinkling on marble had finally stopped. Her shoulders tensed, waiting for the door to open.

  It wasn’t long before Jax strolled into the room wearing a sly smile and nothing else. He held a towel to his head, rubbing absently at his damp hair.

  She bit back a groan. His long shaft was still erect and proud, bobbing against his lower stomach as he approached her.

  He paused at the foot of the bed, draping the towel around his neck and leaning his shoulder onto the tall wooden bed post.

  Not bothering to hide the direction of her gaze, she pointed her finger at his straining length.

  “Shouldn’t you have poured cold water on that?”

  “There isn’t enough ice in Antarctica to get rid of my need for you, Pep. I thought that was already established.”

  His chuckle softly flowed through the room, yet she still couldn’t take her eyes away from the pulsing center of conversation. She crossed her arms at her chest and licked her suddenly dry lips.

  “I’m not going to apologize, you know. You deserved every second of that cold shower,” she said. “It could have been much worse.”

  “Of that, I have absolutely no doubt.”

  “So, what are the odds that you plan on putting on some PJs?”

  “Hmm, I’d say about slim to none.”

  His body shifted as he bent his knee and climbed onto the mattress.

  “Yeah. I’d thought that’d be your answer.” She sighed heavily.

  Of course not, that would be too easy.

  She wasn’t sure if the prickle down her back was relief or dread at his confirmation.

  She finally moved her gaze away from the distraction of his swollen cock and took in every sinew of his flesh as he crawled toward her.

  Danger! Danger, Will Robin—uh, Pepper Holts!

  The mental warning came just as he whipped the blankets from her lap and straddled her hips.

  He placed his palms on her cheeks and tilted her head up to meet his gaze. The heat and determination in his expression didn’t scare her half as much as the calm sincerity in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I didn’t mean to make you feel like some plaything. You mean so much more to me than just some physical satisfaction. You know that, right?”

  She didn’t know what to say. All she could do was nod and stare at him, afraid of what his words meant.

  “This,” he said as he rubbed his cock slowly against her stomach, “isn’t going anywhere. I doubt I’ll ever stop wanting to get inside you. But I don’t want you to ever think that I don’t respect you, Pep. You’re my best friend, and I’d never do that to you. Am I forgiven?”

  She had to gulp past the affection clogging her throat. Falling out of love with him was going to be damn near impossible.

  “I know that, Jax. You’re forgiven, but I reserve the right to kick your ass the next time you get out of line.”

  A smile bloomed across his face. She wanted to squeeze her eyes shut against the warmth of it. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. As long as you know I may spank your ass in turn. Are we square?”

  “Yeah, He-Man. We’re square.”

  “Good.”

  He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose, before rolling away.

  She barely had a chance to blink before he reached over, turned off the bedside lamp, and settled beside her.

  The room was plunged into a soft darkness, the hearth’s fire across the room chasing shadows along the walls.

  He pulled her down to him, snuggling his front to her back.

  “Jax?”

  “Hmm?”

  She wiggled against him as he snaked a hand up to palm one of her breasts and the other down to cup her pussy.

  “Exactly how short is your memory?” she asked, trying to hold back a smile.

  She felt more than heard his rumble of laughter against her back.

  “Like an elephant’s. This isn’t man-handling. It’s spooning.”

  “And you just have to do it with your hand on my crotch?”

  He pressed his hard length against her ass.

  “Most definitely.”

  The man was incorrigible.

  “You’re impossible.”

  “And you’re keeping me from my beauty rest. Besides, a wife set on punishing her husband should expect a hard set of blue balls rubbing against her at night.”

  She couldn’t hold back her bubble of laughter as she snuggled against him and rested her hand on his strong arm.

  Surprisingly, her body relaxed into his as if they were unlikely perfect puzzle pieces. It wasn’t long before her eyes drooped to sleep, letting her greedy heart bask in the feel of his arms holding her tight.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jax was ripped from a sound sleep, a guttural growl erupting from his throat into the soft morning light.

  Blinking into consciousness in the warm cocoon of the bed, his mind was fuzzy with sleep, but his body burned hot and tight with need. It took him several moments to orient himself.

  He remembered falling asleep with Pepper in his arms and was about to attribute his arousal to heightened morning wood in her presence when he felt her hand tighten around his length.

  Another moan was pulled from his lips as his hips arched up, and sudden realization hit him.

  How long had she been stroking him? Looking down, he saw her snuggled to his side, head resting on his chest, her face turned up to his, and her eyes … closed and fluttering in sleep.

  On
e of her legs was draped across his hips, and she was slowly rubbing the wet heat of her pussy against him. No wonder he felt ready to burst. The little brat was driving him to the edge while she slept.

  He leaned his head back onto the pillow and struggled to take a few calming breaths. He had to put a stop to her ministrations and soon. Because of her, he’d been in varying states of arousal since she arrived yesterday, and at the moment, he was seriously wondering how much longer his internal organs could stay operational with all of his blood firmly lodged in his cock.

  If your erection lasts longer than four hours, you should seek immediate medical assistance.

  The coolly delivered medical warning fluttered through his mind as he struggled for control of his baser instincts. He used to laugh at all of the little blue pill commercials on television, but as he gritted his teeth against the soft, mind-bendingly erotic strokes of Pepper’s hand, he found himself sympathizing. The only good news was that he was sure that as long as she was in his life, he’d never worry about his dick being ready.

  After a few more moments of delicious torture, he pulled her hand gently from his shaft and held her slender fingers to his chest.

  Her forehead spiked down in a slight frown before it smoothed out. She let out a small sigh and snuggled more firmly against him, her warm breasts and wet sex searing an imprint on his side.

  Gliding a hand up her thigh, he admired the velvety soft feel of her skin and bit back a sigh of his own. There was no way that he would ever tire of having her in his arms, but if he didn’t get out of the bed soon, he’d do something really stupid. Like roll her over and bury himself to the hilt in her succulent cunt.

  Clenching his hand on her thigh, it took him a few more moments to convince his cock that the time had come to leave the temptation of Pepper’s warmth.

  He finally released her, extricated himself from her sexy clutches, and slowly rolled off the mattress as quietly as he could, trying not to wake her. He quickly made his way to the closet and pulled on a pair of jeans before stopping in the bathroom to brush his teeth. Fortunately, by the time he made his way to the kitchen, he had his body somewhat under control.