How was it possible for the damn magnetic draw thing she felt toward him to get stronger? Fighting the emotion was like having someone stab at her heart with a dull knife until it bled dry. But she didn’t know whether to believe him or not about the redhead. She didn’t want to risk looking like a fool…again.
“Where are you going?” he asked, seeming helpless, a little panicked.
She looked down to the hand he held and he gave it a squeeze. Something similar to electricity or static shot up her arm, causing a shiver.
“Why do you do this?” he asked.
The question, so simple, ricocheted through her mind until the inner turmoil turned to anger and she jerked her hand from his. She let it all out. A colossal slip of the tongue. She knew even as she spoke but couldn’t stop herself. “Why do I do this? Why do you? Why do you show up out of the blue making my chest get all frantic and needy—”
His mouth, hot and wet with a hint of the sweet tea he’d been drinking, stopped her words, her thoughts. He wrapped a hand around her waist, pulling her closer while his tongue, feverish yet somehow controlled, pursued hers. Currents of energy buzzed under her skin, pricking at every hair on her body. Her heart, the beating, the tugging, it became stronger. Calling. Begging. Pleading to be a part of him. The busy streets, the crowded sidewalk, everything disappeared in a blur and nothing else…no one else existed but them.
He’ll make a fool of you. The words jolted through her brain, snapping her back to reality as if she’d been smacked in the chest with a shovel. Wow, Troy Reins had messed her up more than she realized. It didn’t matter what she did…a helpless feeling of betrayal settled in the back of her mind ready to strike at any given moment. What he’d done influenced her, shaped her thoughts, changed her life, her decisions…haunted her.
Jennica pulled her lips from Scott’s. Ignoring the lack of warmth on her mouth, she put her palms on his chest to extend their separation to an arm’s length. Big mistake. The pounding of his heart under her hands seemed to beg for her closeness, and she felt her body caving to the pleas. She had to say something before all of her surrendered. “I’ve been through a lot.”
His face contorted to some kind of desperate, confused expression as if he were searching for words refusing to surface.
She knew she needed to tell him, give him an explanation, but some part of her…okay…since he’d kissed her a large part of her didn’t want to take the chance of never feeling his lips again. She also knew she needed to remove her hands from his chest, but they were stuck there. Hostages, held against their will.
She moistened her lips and took a calming breath. “I’m messed up, okay?”
He gave her a curious look, a bit sympathetic, then smiled and took her hands in his. “I can deal with messed up, at least long enough to watch the movie you were talking about. Besides, isn’t everyone screwed up in their own way?”
Jennica gave in, knowing he was right. Everyone is screwed up, aren’t they? Besides, there was no harm, no risk, in watching a movie.
Wearing a mini made it a challenge to sit in the grass without flashing everyone her goods, but she managed as they settled under a large oak. The same one she’d been viewing movies from since she’d been a little girl. The grounds were crowded with people, and she was glad the sun had set. It had been a while since she’d faced almost everyone she knew, and being back in town, she worried about the reaction. After all, as far as they were concerned, Jennica Moss was the harlot who busted up the marriage of the town’s most prominent lawyer. How Troy swooped into town and became such an influential member of the community in less than a year was beyond her.
She’d met him a week after he arrived and with his smooth talking he convinced her to help him find a house. Little did she know, the new home was for his family. He’d taken numerous “business” trips during their time together, and Jennica now knew he’d been visiting his wife. The unsuspecting woman had stayed at their home in Alabama until their seven year old, the oldest, finished the school year and the property sold. Troy had come clean the day before his family moved to Pineville.
Jennica shuddered at the thoughts and pushed them away.
Being with Scott gave her a sense of security, and she disregarded the few accusing stares as people walked by. It felt good to not care for once. She took his hand, linking their fingers, and relaxed for the first time in six months, refusing to allow the destructive doubts to surface.
Halfway through the film she yielded to the magnetic pull thing inside and snuggled into his shoulder. The movie may have been scary if she were able to concentrate on it, but the memory of their kiss overpowered her thoughts and the scent of him, a mixture of body wash and sandalwood, had stolen her attention. She thought about how he might look with his shirt off, sweating, pounding the hell out of her with those spellbinding, tawny colored eyes staring deep into hers.
She couldn’t help herself and reached up, resting her hand on his stomach. Firm, as she expected. The heat from his skin, even through his shirt, sent chills ripping down her spine. Scott tensed at her touch and moved his hand under her chin, tilting her face to meet his amber orbs. Neither of them needed to say a word. An unspoken intensity screaming I want you zipped between them. Jennica dropped her gaze to his mouth. Oh, how she wanted it on her skin. She leaned in and brushed his lips with hers.
“I hate to interrupt.” And with those words, the misery she’d tried so hard to overcome swallowed her whole. The words pulled her from Scott, and she stiffened, staring at the ground. “This gives me hope, Jenny. You’re sitting under the tree where we first met.”
“Go away, Troy.” She whispered to avoid drawing awareness…too late.
Troy’s presence alone commanded attention wherever he went. She felt the stares of people around her. Even Scott’s. His questioning gaze stung most of all, stabbing at her soul. She clenched her eyes at the sound of his movement, Scott getting to his feet. Leaving her.
She wanted to fight back, come up with some smart-ass remark to make Troy feel like the huge piece of shit he was but nothing came to mind. Nothing except she’d finally submitted to the possessed pull inside and in an instant Scott was gone. Another reason to hate Troy.
Jennica sat there, the tension of accusing eyes weighing heavy on her skin. She felt as if moving would show desperation, solidifying to everyone around her she was guilty as charged.
Her obvious distress wasn’t enough for her ex-lover. He spat his next words loud and clear as if he were standing in front of a jury, and she were the criminal on trial. “Why would you blame your whorish reputation on me, Jenny? You do such a good job of it all on your own.”
“That’s enough!” Scott came out of nowhere, making her heart twist and flutter. He hadn’t gone. She looked up to see him nose to nose with Troy.
“How chivalrous,” Troy growled, his square jaw tight and eyes hard. “You’re wasting your time with her, punk. But by all means, have at it.” He poked his finger against Scott’s chest. “She’s nothing but my trash anyway.”
Smack!
Before Jennica registered what happened, Troy fell in the grass at her feet with a thump and Scott grabbed her hand, taking off through the gasping crowd.
“Friend of yours?” He cut his eyes at her, a single brow raised as they stepped on the sidewalk in front of the Italian restaurant, heading in the direction of her parents’ house.
She shook her head even though he was a few steps in front of her and wouldn’t see. He walked fast, still hanging on to her hand. He’d punched Troy right in the face. Taken up for her, something no one had ever done. Her heart swelled with appreciation, followed by an anxious panic racing through her veins. In a matter of minutes they would be at her childhood home. There hadn’t been much time with him…not what she needed. “Scott.”
He didn’t respond, just charged ahead. A man on a mission to drop her and her giant baggage off where he’d found them. A massive lump formed in her throat, blocking her wo
rds. She wanted to explain. Tell him about Troy and what he’d done. Let him know why she was so screwed up, but nothing came out.
She glanced at the house with a quick mental note that all the lights were out as he led her by the front walkway and through the manicured grass, not stopping until they were hidden from the streetlights under the carport. Once there, he released her hand and took a few steps, pausing at the edge of the light. The darkness kept her from seeing his expression, but his silhouette against the moonlit night sent thick surges of frenzied tension straight through her, making her chest feel caved.
“You didn’t deserve…” he said, in almost a whisper. An angry one. “Is he the reason you think you’re fucked up?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. He knew. She could tell it in his voice, see it in his stride as he moved toward her. Felt it in his touch as he cupped her face with his hands, lifting it so her tearful sight had no other choice but to look him straight on.
“You can’t believe him. You’re no one’s trash.” His eyes seemed to grow darker, pained, fixated on hers. Lost in them, she couldn’t look away. Couldn’t speak. “You are beautiful…so beautiful it hurts.” He bent down, resting his forehead on hers. “I would do anything to have you.”
She swallowed hard at the way he’d spoken, slow and determined, as if those words were a concentrated version of everything he’d ever wanted to say. And she understood why. Through all the confusion in her mind, the war with the tug in her chest, the burning need to touch him, she realized, she felt the same way. “Then have me.”
Scott drew his head back, pausing. His eyes strained with a combination of passion and chaos as they searched hers. When it seemed he’d found what he was looking for, he smiled and lunged forward, planting his mouth on hers. His tongue, hot and wet, danced against hers with fury. His hands knotted in her hair, tugging her closer as he moved in, steering her so her back pressed against her car. Heat vibrated off of him in charged waves as he tilted her head, exposing her neck, and ravished her flesh with delicious licks and kisses, which sent a rush of tremors straight to her core.
A searing need to feel his skin swept over her and she skimmed her fingers under his shirt, searching his toned stomach and chest before dipping down to the bulge in his pants. He gasped then paused with his lips on her neck. When he raised his head, his eyes had ignited with raw desire. His wavering breaths steamed against her lips as she stroked over the thick material of his jeans. A barrier keeping her from what she craved. He was hard. So damn hard, and she wanted all of him.
“Have me,” she murmured, only to be answered with his mouth seizing hers, rough, desperate, uncontained. Devouring her. He slipped his hands from her hair, dragging them down her neck, and anchored his thumbs under her chin, holding her head in place. Right where he wanted it.
The bit of control awakened a storm of urgency to radiate from the pulsing walls of her sex. It claimed her emotions, turning her into a woman maddened with desire. She grabbed the button of his jeans, popped it loose, and pulled the zipper down. Sliding her hands under the fabric, she pushed it over his hips until she exposed his length. The second his shaft broke free, Scott jerked the hem of her mini to her waist and clenched her ass, lifting her so she straddled him, her back pressing against the car.
With his hands under her, he hooked his fingers around the laced edges of her panties and pulled the material to the side, groaning from deep within as he did. A man possessed. The tip of his erection nudged at her dripping slit. His mouth ravaged hers. A million pistons fired off in her chest with anticipation. Her loins thumped, aching for him. Then he slammed into her, sending a burst of pleasure and pain to ripple from her very core. She yelped, clasping the back of his head, wanting his face against hers as she held on for the ride.
He didn’t slow his thrusts. They became harder, faster, filling her again and again, nailing her to the side of the BMW. He slipped a hand between them, pressing and rolling his thumb against her clit as he pounded away, causing a new rush of delight unrivaled by anything she’d ever experienced. Her breaths became shorter. Her limbs trembled.
“That’s it, Jen. Let it go, baby. Let it go.” His encouragement, thick and hungered, sent her over the edge.
Everything inside—anger, dejection, panic, hate, lust, love—it all converged at once, erupting from deep within her loins, sending near violent tremors through to explode in a quivering scream. He covered her mouth with his, taking it in, absorbing it all. His body vibrated against hers, and she felt him pulsing inside, milking into her with a cavernous groan.
Jennica let her head fall to his shoulder and nuzzled into the moistened skin on his neck. His rapid pulse thumped against the bridge of her nose. His chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath. Inside her still, he ran his hand up her back and buried it in the depths of her hair.
She’d never felt so safe with anyone.
Chapter 5
For the first time in Scott’s life, everything felt perfect. He sat kicked back on Jennica’s sofa with her head resting on his chest, her legs draped across his. The sweet smell of her apple shampoo lingered under his nose. He bent down, kissing the top of her head, and let his lips bury in the tresses, not understanding how someone could screw her over the way her ex had.
A classic black-and-white movie, the same one they’d started watching three weeks ago on the courthouse lawn in Hays, played on the television. He cringed on the inside at how the asshole had disrespected her in front of everyone. He remembered all too well how defeated she’d looked, sitting on the ground with her head down as the people around her stared and judged. In that moment Scott had decided to do anything he could to keep her from ever feeling humiliated like that again. He was glad he’d punched Troy Reins in the face and would be more than happy to repeat it. No charges had been pressed, of course, because the man did put his hands…um, finger on him first, and there were plenty of witnesses to confirm it.
“Are you okay?” she asked, obviously sensing something, turning those huge baby blues he loved up to meet his gaze. They were so easy to get lost in, so telling, and he didn’t want to dim their sparkle by mentioning what not too long ago had come so close to breaking her.
Scott smiled, hoping the gesture reached his eyes, and kissed the tip of her nose. “Just thinking about getting a beer.”
Jennica sat up, grabbed the remote, and hit the pause button, questioning him with her expression. At first he thought she was on to his tiny, albeit protective, lie but she asked if he wanted her to get the beer for him. He declined and made his way to the kitchen. “Do you want anything?”
“How about we share a bag of popcorn?” she requested from the living room.
He took a bag out of the cabinet and tossed it in the microwave, then grabbed a beer from the fridge. Leaning against the counter, he couldn’t help but think how comfortable they’d both become in one another’s homes. Aside from work, they’d spent every minute together. He wouldn’t have had it any other way. He didn’t want it to be any other way. Ever.
Being with her was the best thing he’d had in his life. Something about her made him feel whole. The way she looked at him, her smile, it somehow healed every cracked and broken piece in his soul. Then there was her laugh…he could sit back and listen to her laugh for hours. And her skin, so soft and perfect. He wanted his hands on her every second, sketching every inch of her to memory, afraid she may soon come to her senses and realize she was too good for him.
Which she is.
He wasn’t an idiot. He’d known the second he saw her she was way beyond his league, but he’d always liked a challenge and besides, it wasn’t as if the magnetic pull in his chest would’ve let him give up. And now there he was, in her house, in her kitchen, knowing where she kept her popcorn.
The microwave went off with a buzz and pulled him out of his trance. He jerked his head up, feeling a tad exposed by the silent revelations despite being alone in the room. He took a deep breath t
o collect himself and grabbed the still popping bag. Giving it a few shakes, he headed back to the living room. Chugging his beer as he came around the corner, he almost choked when he saw her standing stark ass naked at the edge of the hallway.
The soft curves and planes of her body called to him the same way his lungs called for air. A tug in his chest begged to be near her and in no way would he deny the request. Looking at her standing there, his cock went hard as stone. She licked her lips, grinning with a playful, naughty edge he would never tire of, and turned, sauntering into the darkness toward the bedroom. He sat the beer and popcorn down on the coffee table and followed the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen.
Stopping short in the doorway, he took in the sight. She sat on her knees at the edge of the bed, her satin skin glowing from the light of the night by a single beam sneaking in through a chink in the curtains—a flawless beacon leading him to what he wanted for the rest of his life. He swallowed hard, considering maybe he’d been living in some alternate universe for the last month and any sudden movement might jerk him back to the real world, without her.
“Could you do me a favor?” she asked with hesitation, though he didn’t know where the uncertainty came from, because he’d do anything she wanted.
“Of course.” He padded across the room, stopping to wrap his hands around her waist.
She deflected them by grabbing the hem of his shirt and sliding it over his head, tossing it on the floor. She gripped his forearms, holding them to his sides, and her mouth found his neck, trailing up to his ear. The feel of her tongue flicking, caressing the earring as she gently sucked on his lobe, seized his loins. He moaned, running his hands over her ass, and pressed her closer.
She gasped, drawing her head back to meet his eyes. A smile played on her lips. “I’m thinking again about starting up the bondage bouquet business, and I need help.”
Give in to Me Page 5
