Her smoky eyes flashed to Jesse and then back to Swift.
“And what I mean by deal with your issues is—”
“We get it.” Jesse cut him off. Some things shouldn’t be discussed among friends.
“You don’t have to sound so surly. Far as I’m concerned, I dealt the best news last. If it were me…” He grinned without shame. “I'd have a right good time of it. Wouldn’t get out of bed for three days, at least. Otherwise, the sight of all that decadence, even what doesn’t float your boat, will knock you off your game. Not that it’s unpleasant, but good porn is always distracting.” He hiked up the strap of his messenger bag onto his shoulder. “And I guarantee, you won’t get a second chance against Naamah.”
He swung the front door open and paused. “I know casual sex isn’t what girls like you hope for, Prudence. If for any reason you can’t connect with one special person, I suggest you find someone not so special. This is bigger than us and too critical to fuck up.”
Closing the door softly, he left without another word. Two running footfalls hit the porch steps, and then his car door creaked and slammed, and the engine hummed to life.
Jesse stood stock-still, not chancing a peek at Prudence while he waited for the dark to swallow all sound.
Without a doubt, Swift recognized a problem—a problem that could have been easily resolved with anyone other than his partner. Regrettably, it was only his partner he wanted, though indulging in the throes of intercourse would sustain damage to his favorite body parts.
But if she left his cabin tonight for another man, he’d lose her forever.
He didn’t want to lose her.
He loved her.
Entirely.
Completely.
Unconditionally.
Even if she couldn’t love him back.
And the mere thought of her writhing in ecstasy beneath another man set him on fire hotter than any of her burns. So did the idea of trolling for another woman to warm his bed. No amount of orgasms would protect either of them from the Pit. The Pit would sense his dissatisfaction, his unfulfilled desire. Naamah would turn out his secrets and exploit them.
And they would fail.
He couldn’t and wouldn’t let them fail.
Intercourse was out of the question, but he could suffer the other burns. In time they would heal. She could satisfy him like no one else. And he was willing to do the same for her.
Prudence belonged to him.
The silence shattered on her raspy whisper. “Jesse.” She took a deep breath. “I need to—”
“No.” He couldn't let her finish. Couldn’t let her politely turn him away. With patience and teasing, she could be seduced into saying yes. He bridged the gap between them in two strides.
“Jess, Swift is right. I—”
“No. I mean, he’s right.” He molded both hands around her head and tilted her face up. “But you will not leave this house.”
Her gaze glimmered at him, and her rosy lips parted as if inviting his kiss, but probably intent on a protest. Avoiding her dangerous lips, he distracted her, planting sweet kisses across her forehead, over her cheeks and freckled nose. Hesitant breaths skimmed over his skin, and she fisted the front of his shirt with both hands, rising upon her toes while he nuzzled and kissed around her ear.
Snaking one arm around her bare middle, he crushed her body against his and then skimmed his other hand up under the lacy hem of her shirt until one voluptuous breast filled his palm.
She writhed against his insistent mouth on her throat, wriggling until her lips connected with his unshaven cheek. She kissed and kissed, her lips dragging a slow trail toward his mouth, all the while grinding her pelvis against his. His hard-on wouldn’t last long if she kept that up.
Prudence rotated her hips one last time and then pushed against his chest into the arm supporting her back. Her half-closed eyes looked like she was buzzed. “I think you need—”
“Let it go. Please. Forget I’m marked. For one night.”
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
It sounded too much like a B-movie goodbye. He cinched her tighter with one arm and cupped her chin with his free hand. “I know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry. I can handle the burn. I promise to seduce you, to please you until the Passion Pit holds no temptation.”
The corners of her mouth lifted, and the cute slit of a dimple in her right cheek winked at him. “Would you let me talk? Please?”
Frustration, both sexual and logical, upped his urgency. “Don’t go. We have to do this.”
A petite vertical line furrowed between her brows. “We have to do this? You mean you’re taking one for the team?” She surprised him, pushing until she twisted free of his grasp.
Out of the kitchen in the beat of a fan blade, she picked up her handbag. How did he fuck up so fast?
He ran shaky fingers through his hair. “What are you doing?” Quick wits put him between her and the door.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” She jingled her car keys. “This was a stupid plan. I should have known this wouldn’t work. Move. Please.”
“No.” Angry with himself, he couldn’t get out more than one syllable. His mind raced, searching for the right words. He spit out more wrong words with too much heat. “I didn’t mean we have to have to. Although we do.”
“Not with you. Not now.” She shoved him with both hands, and he staggered to the side. With lightning fast reflexes, she opened the front door.
Jesse stopped the inward swing with his foot and grabbed the edge. With a short thrust, he slammed it closed so hard the knob tore from her hand, and the front windows shuddered in the old wooden frames. “Do you have any idea how difficult this is for me?”
He’d have to confess his feelings if he wanted to keep her on this side of the door. And he did want to keep her. For tonight. For always.
“Difficult for you?” Heat flashed in her eyes as she enunciated each word with exasperation. “You have no idea how I feel. You have no idea what I’ve done for you. You didn’t have to be so clinical. You didn’t have to let me know I’m your last choice.”
“Last choice?” It would have been laughable if his hard-on didn’t ache and if her chin didn’t quiver with such sincerity. His slow, deliberate steps edged her into the kitchen. “Last choice.” Backed into a corner, Jesse trapped her in place, arms on either side of her waist, hands locked onto the counter. “Babe, you aren’t my last choice. You’re not my first choice.” She cast her eyes down. “You’re my only choice.”
Jesse slipped a hand to the small of her back, and her muscles tensed beneath milk smooth skin. He chucked two fingers under her chin and lifted, lowering his face to inches from hers. “Only choice because that’s the way I want it. No one else. Not since our first night in Hell.”
Her eyes cleared. “If that was true, then why—”
“Why did I sound like a complete ass? Because I couldn’t bear to hear your rejection.”
“Rejection? I wasn’t rejecting you. And I didn’t reject you two weeks ago either.”
“Prudence, I’ve been marked by a demon, not exactly an ideal match for a Hell Runner who sweats demon-burning water. And definitely not prime material for the bravest, truest woman I’ve ever met. You deserve the perfect man.” He swallowed and released her chin. “I want to be that man. But I’m not. And I’m never going to be.”
The hard lines around her mouth and brow disappeared, and her muscles eased beneath his palm.
“How could you think I need or want someone perfect? Nothing is perfect, in fact, anything truly loved is not perfect. Take this old cabin. It’s your home more than any other place on earth. You love it despite the fact it needs tons of repairs, not to mention only one bathroom, the world’s smallest kitchen, and no air conditioning. In the shade of the woods, you have to keep the fans running at tornado speed, yet we’re still sweaty.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Summer’s taken an ea
rly lead. The temperature hit ninety-two today. It’s bad. Look at your hands.”
“What?”
“Your hands.” She nudged him back with a gentle shove and then took each of his hands in her own, turning them palm up.
“What do you see?”
“My arms. What am I supposed to see?”
“My sweat?”
“You can’t see sweat, you…” Jesse’s tongue tied up as a horrible and wondrous realization sank in. “I’m not burned. I’m. Not. Burned?” He staggered back a step and leaned on the ancient refrigerator, the vinyl surface hot on his bare arms, indicating it, too, needed repairs. “How can that be?”
“I traded out Holy Water for sports drinks. Then I’ve hit the gym for four hours every single day since we talked, sweating out the remnants.”
He trapped one of her hands between both of his. Her skin was as warm and velvety as a cup of bedtime buttermilk.
“I wish I’d never confided in you.”
“Don’t you dare say that. Don’t you dare feel that.” Her hand knotted in his grip. “You trusted me with your deepest secret because you know I’ve got your back. No matter what.”
“You can’t put yourself in danger. I only wanted you to know why I didn’t act on…” He hesitated. “My greater impulses. Your Holy Water trick is one of your best defenses against the demons.”
“There aren’t many demons I can’t outrun. I sense them better with each mission, to the point I can locate them without needing your eyes to guide me. And I think much faster on my feet. I plan at least three moves ahead, as well as recognizing alternative routes. I out-sneak them all.” She withdrew her hand from his and then stroked his face with a tender touch. “At least I can when I’m with you. When I’m with you, I know we can do anything together. I don’t want to consider what it would be like with another partner.” Her lashes lowered, and she gripped the edge of the kitchen counter with both hands. “Not even in bed.”
Her sweet smile didn’t quite bloom, and her gaze regarded him with a little wariness. It never occurred to him she could be scared of rejection, too. Shit. He never thought she could be afraid of anything.
Hoisting up on the kitchen counter, she grabbed a hunk of his shirt and pulled him between her knees. “You’ve spent far too much of your life suffering. You’ve been abandoned by a mother, shot by your father, hosted by a demon, and then spent the rest of your life fighting to save the unfortunate from Hell. You are, by far, the most courageous, self-sacrificing…” Leaning her face in close enough to kiss, she lowered her voice to the sexy rasp that drove him crazy with lust. “And sexiest man I’ve ever met. I want to be free to touch you, any way I want. Any way you want.”
Slow and deliberate, she spread her hands and caressed his chest muscles through his T-shirt, but he stiffened. Something she’d said in passing nagged him. It would have been smarter to deal with it later. But he hadn’t been smart in more than a week. Heck, longer. He craved honesty more than relieving his raging blue balls.
He grabbed her wrists and tore her hands away and then bore his gaze into her wide eyes.
“Before we can continue, I have to clarify one more thing.”
She nodded. “What?”
“You said anything that’s truly loved is not perfect. Did you mean it?”
“Seriously? Sorry you took it so hard, but yes. Jesse, you are not perfect.”
He leaned in, not so close their noses touched, but close enough she couldn’t avoid his gaze. “Does that mean I’m truly loved?”
Her eyes shot up then, smoky, alluring, and full of questions he wouldn’t force her to ask.
Releasing her wrists, he framed her valentine of a face with his hands. “I love you. And I pretty much knew you loved me when you said you’d stopped drinking the Holy Water. But I need to hear you say it. I want to hear what no one else has ever said to me. From you. Only you.”
Prudence didn’t hesitate a single second. “I love you, Jess.” She kissed him lightly on one warm cheek. “I love you,” she whispered again. Another blissfully slow kiss on the other cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you more,” he replied and then crushed his mouth onto hers.
Eager to share in the communion of love and lust, he thrust his tongue against her lips. Her mouth, sweetened with tea, parted and met his passion with her own feverish rhythm. He slipped his hands all the way up her thighs while she crooned encouragement into his mouth. Her short-shorts left little in his way. Shoving his fingers beyond the minuscule patch of fabric, he palmed her behind with both hands and scooted her almost off the edge of the counter.
He used both of his middle fingers to skim the damp line of her thong.
“Jesse.” She moaned his name. He loved her whiskey rasp and the vibration of her voice in his mouth.
The slightest flex stroked smooth, damp skin and she squirmed against him. He angled his hand around her thigh, working one finger under the thin patch of the short’s crotch and her thong. With slow, deliberate circles, he fondled and teased.
She broke their kiss. Her staccato pants, a great source of pride, pushed her tits into his chest. “Bedroom,” she ordered, pushing his hand aside and wrapping her legs around his waist.
Palming both of her ass cheeks, he raised her off the counter and carried her to the back of the house. She kissed along his jaw, delicate breaths teasing him, as her tongue and teeth toyed with his earlobe, sending shivers directly to his groin. But he missed the pressure of her mouth. The sensual glide of her tongue circling with his.
Jesse kicked at the glass doorknob, putting enough English on it to spin and release. It swung wide on the old hinges, revealing the king-sized bed that dominated the room.
Where he would dominate her.
Until her first orgasm.
After that…
Equal time. Equal pleasure.
And in every moment, equal love.
∙•∙
Countless nights, she’d lain awake imaging sex for first time with her partner. The breath-stopping moment of their first kiss that would gradually morph into passion. A passion so intense, they wouldn’t bother to return to her apartment. They’d lay under the stars in some secluded glade until the sun forced them home.
But in all her pretend bliss, she’d never imagined her partner saying those words. Even in a daydream, she’d avoided the one thing she’d desired most.
Jesse loved her.
Really loved her. And she was finally free to love him back.
Her heart soared, and she felt more powerful in his arms than she ever had wielding her special gifts. Without question, he felt the same freedom, the same empowerment.
Not wanting to slip a fraction away from his tantalizing fingers, she pressed her forearms into his shoulders and dug her knees into his hips. He closed the bedroom door, using her back, while she nibbled at his earlobe. Suspended above the floor, she delighted in his slow exploration of her thong and what little it didn’t cover. One direct stroke swept across her alert nerves, shooting fire deep into her abdomen.
She bit off a scream and writhed, her body craving more than his teasing.
His strong, masculine mouth devoured hers, moist and demanding. His tongue passed between her lips, while so many fingers breached the triangle covering the heat of her desire. She trembled, swallowing a cry of delight around his demanding tongue.
Plunging his tongue deeper like he wanted her to release that cry, she moaned soft and low, twirling her tongue around his. She craved more touching. Direct contact. She arched her hips forward, grinding against the protrusion in his jeans.
Jesse slipped his hand down her thighs, and she whimpered into their kiss.
“You’re too aroused,” he whispered. “Too soon.”
He gripped her firmly, stepping away from the door and turning into the shadowed room. Tree-filtered moonlight from the bare windows striped the pine plank floor silver and the sheets on the huge bed pure white.
“Too a
roused?” Her body trembled. “There’s no such thing.”
He kneeled onto the bed, tipping them back in a controlled fall. They bounced on the new mattress. His erection poked her in the stomach.
“I could say the same about you, ya know,” she pointed out, slipping one hand down the front of his soft jeans.
“I won’t deny it.”
“Then don’t deny us anything. I’m on the pill.” She slid both hands around his muscled neck, disposing of his ponytail holder. A veil of deep brown fell forward, shading his face. “And off Holy Water. So…no condom?” She laced her fingers into the rich mass and then tilted her face back, gaze flitting to his.
“Well, since you insist.” He plucked at her bottom lip, and a light-speed shiver rocketed into her damp panties.
She reached between them and unbuttoned her shorts. One-handed, he snagged her by both wrists.
“But I will deny you one thing.” Supporting his weight on his elbows, he straddled her body. “Expediency.” Once again, he captured her mouth, but tenderly. The tip of his tongue circled the outline of her lips in a lustful tease but refused to thrust inside when she parted her lips to accept more.
Instead, he pulled back and kissed, sweet as honeysuckle nectar, over her cheeks and down her neck.
“This isn’t fair. You set me on fire then expect me to cool my jets?”
“It’s what The Pit would do to you.”
“This isn’t the Pit. The Pit is designed for torture. We don’t need to torture each other.”
“Yes we do. But unlike The Pit, I guarantee a huge payoff.” He raised her cuffed wrists above her head, flattening his body onto hers. “Trust me. Let me be your guide.” He rocked back on his knees, and then ripped off his shirt, dropping it onto the bed.
Tanned and toned from shoulders to abs, she couldn’t resist touching him. She’d been denied the privilege for so long. She sat up on one arm and coursed a hand over his tight abs, delighting in the soft dark hairs that started at his belly button and disappeared into his jeans. Latching both hands onto his denim waistband, her fingertips grazed the side of his erection, imprisoned sideways by the elastic band of his underwear.
Rule Breakers, Soul Takers (Hell Runners Book 1) Page 28
