by E. L Friel
‘You were lucky,’ he said, his fingertips grazing the scar. She shivered beneath his touch and he stroked a palm down her arm watching the goose-bumps rise in its wake.
She glanced up at him, her eyes glowing dangerously. ‘Maybe,’ she whispered, her gaze resting on his lips. ‘I don’t believe in luck though. The guy who fired the gun doesn’t either any more.’ A sly smile tugged at her mouth. He ached to take her bottom lip between his teeth and suck on it.
‘What you do to him?’ he asked.
‘Get on my wrong side and if you’re lucky I might show you.’
He drew in a quiet breath. ‘Your wrong side? Aren’t I there already?’
‘No,’ she answered, locking eyes with him. ‘If you were on my wrong side, you’d know it by now.’
Jax hesitated a beat. He dropped his hand to his side and then kicked off his shoes. She shot him a questioning look but Jax ignored it and started undoing his fly. Her eyebrows shot up. She quickly replaced her surprised expression with one of boredom. ‘Whatever you have in your pants,’ she drawled. ‘I really don’t need to see it.’
His eyes danced. ‘Oh believe me, you wanna see this.’
Ariel sighed loudly but her eyes were glued to his thighs and his boxers as he pulled off his jeans. Heat spread out from her core and she felt her own breathing speed up, her pulse joining it in a frantic gallop. He was packing, not weapons but definitely something else of a high caliber. She could see the size of him through his boxers and her body reacted of its own accord, the muscles of her stomach and core tightening in anticipation. Jax turned around then, and her attention was captured by the expanse of his broad, muscled back. Fuck, he had a body to die for. Well, not to die for, because no man was worth dying for, but damn, she wanted to see the rest of it. More than that, she wanted to trace her fingers over every inch of him, take him in her hand….but most of all she wanted to feel him pressing into her.
She looked up suddenly and saw that his eyes were flashing, smoldering would be the exact word. The temperature seemed to have jumped several degrees. Jax pulled his boxers down over his butt.
‘Ow,’ Ariel said, admiring his ass more than the scar that snaked across it.
‘Saw demon, laid his tail right across my ass.’
Lucky Saw demon Ariel thought to herself, thinking how much she’d like to lay herself naked across his ass and every other part of him. ‘Could have been worse,’ she told him, smiling. ‘Could have laid his tail across your front.’
‘I would have had to have killed him twice if he’d done that,’ Jax laughed, turning around to face her. ‘You?’
‘Me what?’ Ariel asked, her arms still folded over her chest.
‘No more injuries?’ he asked.
Ariel laughed under her breath, seeing exactly where this was going and knowing now was the last chance she had to bow out. She considered him through lowered eyelashes. One night with Jax was certainly an interesting proposition. It would almost certainly be fun. The outline of him through his boxers definitely invited closer inspection. But then what? They had to work together. She was going to have to hand him over to the Brothers one day. Still, she tried to reason, who said emotions had to be involved? And it would be entertaining to see who could win out in the bedroom. At the thought of him begging beneath her, her insides flipped over.
‘No,’ she finally answered, meeting his hungry gaze. ‘I’ve got more.’
Jax raised his eyebrows. His lips were parted slightly, desire darkening his already dark eyes. ‘Not going to show me?’ he asked softly.
Ariel rose to the bait, slowly undoing her jeans, making sure she had his full attention before easing one side down over her hip, exposing the black lace of her underwear. When she glanced up, Jax’s mouth was hanging open and his eyes had become heavy-lidded, almost glassy.
She slid her underwear further down the curve of her hip, showing him even more flesh. ‘Sword,’ she said, exposing the start of the silvery fine scar that cut from her hip all the way to her knee.
Jax stepped nearer and suddenly his thumb was tracing the length of it. Ariel draw in a sharp breath, feeling heat spear through her, her muscles jumping beneath his fingertips. ‘You heal well,’ he said. ‘All things considered.’
Ariel shrugged. She was half Shadow, of course she did. She swallowed, trying to steady her leg, which was jolting beneath his touch.
Jax moved his hands to her hips, holding them gently, his thumbs caressing the shallow dips, setting her nerve endings alight. ‘So,’ he said, his voice a low growl in his throat, ‘now we’re done comparing war wounds, what should we do for the rest of the night?’
Her breath caught, the heat from his body radiating against her chest. He was staring at her with a daring look on his face, his lips turned up in that infuriating smirk.
‘I have a few ideas,’ she told him, sliding her arms around his neck. She couldn’t wait to transform his daring smirk into a begging pout.
Even as she stared into Jax’s eyes she remembered her promise to herself that one day she’d hand him over to the Brothers. Think of the money, a voice in her head yelled. The problem was, with him standing half-naked in front of her it was hard to think of anything else but seeing the rest of him naked.
Chapter 7
Jax couldn’t resist any longer. He swept Ariel into his arms, crushing her against his chest. His lips found hers, and finally he was kissing her. Those lips he’d dreamed of tasting were his, were soft and pliant and inviting beneath his, and she was kissing him with as much passion and urgency as he was kissing her. As if she couldn’t get enough of him. He sucked on her full bottom lip and her mouth opened, her tongue coming to twine with his own. Fuck, he wanted her. He didn’t know what power she had over him but he had never known desire overwhelm him like this. More than desire. It felt like a need to own her, unravel her, possess her completely. She pressed the lean curves of her body against his, and his hands hungrily wandered the length of her, wanting to learn every curve, every dip, to feel her skin, to touch and taste her.
He heard her groan as his hands cupped her ass and tugged her closer. She could feel his hardness, could sense his desire, and when he pushed against her it made her moan with pleasure. She was knotting her hands in his hair, pulling his head down to deepen the kiss, pressing her breasts against his chest. He wanted her so badly he thought he might burst, but he wasn’t going to take her like that, roughly and quickly against the wall. He wanted her in his bed. He wanted her all night. He wanted to hear her scream his name and beg for more.
With that in mind he looped his arm beneath her knees, bent and swept her up into his arms. Before she could protest he started carrying her up the stairs. She felt limp and warm, buried against his chest, her arms flung around his neck. He loved her like this, loved the feeling of her surrender.
He kicked open the door to his bedroom and set her down. Her arms were still around his neck and he pushed her backwards against the wall. His hands roamed her body, feeling her breasts swelling beneath his touch, the little murmurs of pleasure as he squeezed softly. He squeezed harder and she threw her head back gasping.
He dipped his head and pulling her breast free from its lace barrier he took a nipple between his teeth and started to suck. She hardened beautifully against his lips, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, and he started to suck harder, his tongue tracing quick circles. She let out a cry.
Reaching between her shoulder blades, he undid her bra, continuing to suck on her deliciously hard nipples, curving his tongue around them and nipping with his teeth. He tossed the bra to the floor and cupped her breasts with his hands instead, enjoying their fullness. Ariel fisted his hair and held him in place as he caressed every inch of her body, kissing her navel and her ribs, wanting to taste every part of her. Her breathing was coming in gasps and he couldn’t wait to get his tongue between her legs and taste her there, hear her cries when he sucked on her clitoris.
Jax glanced up and s
aw her, leaning against the wall, her head flung back in abandon, her eyes half-closed and her teeth biting on that full bottom lip and the thought crossed his mind that he had never been with a woman as beautiful in his life.
Ariel wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of crying out again. But it was hard as he seemed to know instinctively how to touch her, how hard to bite and where to stroke until her knees felt like they were going to give way.
It was her turn to do the same to him, to have him turn to putty in her hands. Despite how good it felt to have him sucking on her nipples and caressing her breasts, she pulled him off her. He made a grunt of protest but she pushed him until the backs of his knees bashed the bed and then she shoved him down hard onto the mattress. He landed with a thunk and her eyes fell to his erection, pressing insistently against his boxers. ‘Take them off,’ she told him.
‘You first,’ he said, a line of irritation creasing between his eyes.
Ariel was still wearing her jeans. She took a step backwards and considered him; the hunger in his eyes, the rigid, inviting length of him outlined against the white of his boxers. His gaze skirted over her body, every bit as warm as his touch, and she saw the flaming desire in them. She had him just where she wanted him. He had thought he was the one in control but he wasn’t.
Keeping her eyes on him the whole time, watching his reaction, she kicked off her shoes and then slid her jeans off. He was holding his breath, biting down on his lip. His erection swelled against his boxers. She was wearing black lace underwear. As his eyes took her in, running the length of her, she felt a rush of wetness between her legs and a sweet ache starting to build inside her. She frowned at herself. Too fast. She was going to make Jax Sayer beg for her first.
He stood then, towering over her, and took off his boxers. Ariel stared at his manhood, standing glistening and proud and felt lost for words. He was huge. Her stomach flipped in anticipation and her muscles contracted tight at the thought of him pushing into her, coming inside her. Blood pulsed hot, her breasts felt heavy and aching, and she could feel herself becoming wetter.
She stepped closer, her breasts rubbing against his chest, her nipples so hard they were starting to hurt. His hand came possessively around her waist, pulling her closer against the rock hardness of his chest. His cock rubbed against her stomach. She lifted her thigh and he cupped her knee and drew her leg around his hip. He dipped his head then and kissed the length of her collarbone, stopping to nip and suck at her nipples and breasts, making her gasp again. With every lap of his tongue his cock swelled against her stomach. Ariel eased her leg free, sliding it behind him, and then, without warning, she shoved hard against his chest, tripping him so he went tumbling backwards onto the bed.
She pounced on top of him in the next second, straddling him, her thighs squeezing his waist. His cock rubbed against her clit through the fabric of her underwear, and as he felt how wet she was, his eyes become hooded, his pupils glazed.
Ariel pinned his arms above his head. He didn’t fight and when she leaned down and started kissing his neck, the tendons of his arms and shoulders became taut. Ariel ran her fingers over the smooth planes of his stomach, feeling him start to roll and groan beneath her, his hips jerking as he tried to push against her.
When she reached his waist she let go of his arms. Straightaway Jax’s hands grabbed for her, one arm enfolding her waist, the other reaching between her legs, but she slapped him away. ‘No,’ she told him fiercely. ‘No touching.’
Jax could feel the growl building in his chest. She wasn’t surrendering. Instead she was trying to control the situation, to get the upper hand. He didn’t know why but he wanted more than just to sleep with Ariel. He didn’t just want to fuck her. He wanted to dominate her, and the thought confused him. He’d never felt the need to dominate anyone. It wasn’t aggressive though. He would never hurt her (as if, he was fairly sure she could beat him in a fight anyway), he just wanted her to submit to his caresses. He didn’t care if she touched him or not, he just wanted to give her pleasure, to see her writhe and moan and make her come. Maybe there was a part of him that wanted to know that this beautiful, wild stubborn woman was completely his, was at his mercy. But before he could analyze his thoughts further she had pushed him back on the bed again and was straddling him.
He tried to rise up but she was lowering herself down his body, her breasts trailing over his chest and suddenly he was incapable of anything because her tongue had darted out and was swirling around the tip of his manhood. The bolt of pleasure that rocked through him took his breath away. He threw his head back and fisted his hands in the bed sheets, not wanting to force her head down, not wanting to do anything but stay exactly as he was, feeling her hot tongue tracing the length of his shaft. He opened his eyes and stared down at her. She was watching him with those cat-like eyes through the curtain of her hair.
She grazed her lips across the head of his cock, teasing him and taunting him with her tongue, her hands caressing his stomach at the same time. He drew in a half breath, feeling his muscles contract. Had he ever felt such pleasure? He couldn’t remember. As he let out a groan Ariel suddenly took all of him in her mouth. He let out a louder moan as her tongue continued to swirl and suck and her lips rolled over the sensitive ridges of his shaft, teasing him. She eased her mouth up and down, each time she sucked on him bringing him closer and closer to the point of no return.
Ariel eased her mouth up and down, tasting his pre-come, using her tongue to elicit more groans. The head of his cock swelled sweetly between her lips. This is how she’d wanted Jax Sayer, moaning beneath her, totally at her mercy. After a few minutes, when he was breathing hard and fast, she stopped. His hips jerked as though thrusting for the feel of her mouth and she smiled smugly. Moving to straddle his waist, she brushed her hair out of her face and let him take his fill of her body. His hands gripped her hips, swept the curve of her ass, ran up her back.
Suddenly she heard a rip. He had torn her underwear. Pulling them off, he tossed the scrap of lace to the ground. Ariel’s breath quickened as his gaze dipped to her sex. His expression turned fierce, even more wolfish than before.
Automatically, Ariel lifted her hips. She was still straddling him and slowly he slid his palms down her thighs and then between her legs. She was so wet, so swollen with desire, that his fingers parted her folds easily. She had to bite down on her lip to stop from crying out as he started to slowly circle her clitoris, gently, almost tauntingly, brushing it with his thumb. With an effort she pulled away, shaking her head at him, and sat up on her knees. She didn’t want him touching her. She was in control of this, not him.
She pinned his arms to his sides again, and then sat astride him, his marble-hard cock brushing her slick, wet lips. God, she wanted him. Just feeling him there, feeling how hard he was, feeling him rub against her, was taking her close to the edge. If he took her nipple in his mouth and sucked she thought she would probably come instantly. But she knew she wanted him inside her when she did finally surrender.
His eyes found hers in the low light of the room and she was pleasantly surprised to see he looked almost to be pleading with her. He was straining beneath her, she could feel it. He wanted to press into her but was holding back. Ariel taunted him a little, leaning forwards and brushing her nipples across his lips. He tried to suck on one but she pulled away again. He lifted his hips to press against her pulsing clit but she rose up. This was going to be in her time. When she was ready to take him inside her she would, but no sooner. First she wanted him to beg.
‘I want you,’ he growled at her, frustration in his voice.
‘You can’t have me yet,’ Ariel answered.
His eyes rolled back in his head but then without warning he tore his arms free, wrapped them around her waist and spun her over, flat on her back. She pushed against him but he was twice her weight and size and it was like trying to free herself from beneath a boulder. She stiffened beneath him, pressing her thighs together. He wasn�
��t going to have her this way.
Jax smiled at her as though to say game on and before she could protest his lips were on his, his tongue was in her mouth and her head was swirling as thoughts evaporated.
Breathless from his kiss, black dots started to dance in front of Ariel’s eyes. She tried to reach for his cock, wanting to feel the thick hotness of it in her hand, even more feel it inside her, but he took her wrists in one hand and pinned them firmly above her head, then slowly he kissed a trail all the way down to her stomach. As much as she tried not to, Ariel started to wriggle beneath him, her hips rising up to meet him.
His tongue was suddenly there, on that secret spot between her legs, starting to lap and circle. She knew she was crying out but the sounds she was making seemed far away and distant. A part of her was desperate to pull away, to regain the upper hand, to pin him to the bed and tease him the way he was teasing her, but she couldn’t. His tongue felt so good, especially when he pushed it inside her as far as it would go, and she heard him groaning as he tasted her. He circled her clit, sucking and lapping at it until little pulses of ecstasy started to build inside her. Oh holy shit. Jax Sayer knew exactly what he was doing. Ariel tried to jerk her hips away. She didn’t want him to make her come with his tongue. She wanted him to make her come with his cock. But Jax held her firmly, refusing to release her, his tongue working furiously to bring her to orgasm.
Eventually, just as she was on the verge of an orgasm, he pulled away and moved to lie above her, looking down on her. His arms rested on either side of her head. ‘How much do you want me inside you?’ he asked.
Ariel was panting, her pussy aching so much it felt like pain; a sweet, delicious pain that only one thing could possibly extinguish. She needed him inside her. But damned if she was going to admit that. Her eyes flashed open. She saw the need in his too. The game wasn’t over yet. Ariel shrugged at him, parting her lips.
