Chapter 7
SEVEN
Jake grabbed the brightly wrapped package from the front seat of the car and then handed the valet the keys to his car. He glanced at the large, stone building facade and recalled the awe that had overcome him on his first visit to the Oaks Country Club almost twenty years ago. Tall, ornately carved pillars proudly supported the massive structure that boasted a long, winding balcony. The wide front stair case looked as if it belonged in front of the White House, instead of a California country club. Acres of plush, green grass surrounded the building, and thousands of colorful flowers lined the sidewalks.
Laughter, mingled with the muffled sound of music, echoed around him as he climbed the steps to the front entrance. Small, intimate groups of three or four people gathered on the balcony, and their voices filled the night air. From the distance, only their silhouettes, and none of their faces, were visible to him. He clutched the package tightly in his hand. Somewhere, amongst the many guests attending various events at the country club, was Kimberly.
After he discovered the Urbane party was in the Almond Room, he walked with purposeful strides through one of the country club’s winding hallways. He could not deny why he was back in California so soon, not even to himself. During the entire flight from New York, he had thought of little else but seeing Kimberly this evening, eager to witness the surprise in her exquisite brown eyes when he walked through the banquet room door. He hadn’t planned on attending her brother’s birthday party and had told her this much earlier in the week. He had plans to be in New York for the weekend, and he couldn’t change them. Yet, here he was, at George’s party, back from New York less than thirty-six hours from the time he had left San Francisco.
He had convinced himself that the constant torture of wanting something he couldn’t have was the reason for his reckless actions. He had become a man possessed by an exotic creature who invaded his being so thoroughly that he had been virtually useless over the past two days.
He had packed his apartment’s meager belongings into a half a dozen boxes and a few suitcases and accomplished little else during his trip. For a day and a half, he did little more than mope around his apartment thinking about her; he even missed taking Daisy for walks.
At a local neighborhood bar with friends the night before, he had found himself unable to take an interest in any of the women who made eye contact with him. Each time his friends had commented on a particularly stunning brunette or an attractive blonde, he didn’t even bother to glance in her direction. His thoughts were occupied with Kimberly, his mind lost in visions of her scantily dressed body in a bikini top and jean shorts or in a pair of white jeans that molded themselves to her long legs. Before he could stop himself, he had decided to cut his trip to New York short and return to California .
He had tried to tell himself that he needed to get back to San Francisco for the sake of his grandfather, that the old man would be upset because he missed the visits, but Jake couldn’t even fool himself into believing it. Granted, his grandfather would probably cuss him out for his two-day absence on his next visit, but the truth was, he had returned because he missed Kimberly.
Even though their relationship was on shaky grounds, and they had barely spoken to each other since their late-night encounter in the kitchen almost a week ago, he needed to see her. He needed to smell the heady scent of her perfume lingering in a room that she had just vacated. He needed to hear her soft laughter when she played with Daisy in the backyard. He swam in dangerous waters and would likely drown any minute, but he didn’t care, not right now, not while he still had time before he left on his next assignment. He wouldn’t return to the Middle East until Zane came back, at least for another month, over thirty long days away.
She’s a temporary fascination that I need to get out of my system. That’s all, he reminded himself again. He had spent the return flight working it out in his head. Kimberly would realize it was the same for her, he reasoned. He was a crush from her childhood, and eventually she would figure it out and grow tired of him. They would each go their separate ways, and neither of them would get hurt in the process. No harm, no foul, he rationalized.
He took a deep breath as he spotted the Almond Room off to his right. Linda Urbane stood at the entrance door and was the first to greet him. “Hi Jake.” She cheerfully reached over to place a chaste kiss on his cheek.
“Hi. Sorry I’m late.” He shifted the gift to his opposite arm and ran his hand down the front of his jeans in an effort to calm his nerves. Maybe he should have given into protocol after all and worn a suit, he debated with a grudge. Most comfortable in a sports coat and jeans, he had decided earlier to hell with social etiquette and had gone with the jeans. Of course, he could have chosen to wear something else besides a pair of black, scuffed cowboy boots, but his attire was the last thing on his mind this evening.
“Don’t worry about arriving late, Jake. I was thrilled when I received your text tonight. I hope your grandfather is well?”
Jake nodded absently. “Yes, he’s been doing much better the last few days. I finished my business in New York a little early, that’s all. Thank you for asking,” he answered sincerely. “Quite a turnout this evening.” His eyes darted around the large banquet room for the second time and still hadn’t spotted Kimberly.
“Yes, it is. I think there’s nearly a hundred people tonight and all for George’s thirty-fifth birthday. Imagine the party I’ll have to throw him when he turns forty. We’ll probably have to rent the entire club out for a week.” She laughed and smiled back at him. “Kimberly took some wonderful shots of George and his shock when he walked into the party tonight,” she added.
“I’m sure,” he responded, with what he hoped was a note of indifference. He searched the room again. “Kimberly’s a great photographer. I’m not surprised that they turned out well.”
Linda tilted her head, and her eyes sparkled when she looked at him. “George is over by the bar, if that’s who you’re looking for?
Jake glanced back at her. If she knew he had been searching for Kimberly, she had the grace to keep it to herself.
“Of course, it’s the birthday boy... who else would it be?” He looked across the room. “I think I will wish him a happy birthday now,” he answered before he excused himself and walked away .
“Jake. Glad you could make it.” George reached behind him and a grabbed a drink off the bar. “Beer okay? Or should I order you something else?”
“Beer’s fine. I heard you were rather surprised.” Jake laughed at the look of embarrassment on his friend’s face.
“Hell, yes. Although, I’m still trying to figure out why Linda decided on a surprise party for my thirty-fifth. I’ve narrowed it down to either she thinks I won’t make it to my fortieth, or she’s expecting me to throw her a surprise party for her birthday next year.”
“Let’s hope it’s because she wants a surprise party.” Jake reached out and patted George on the back. He took a drink of beer as he glanced over George’s shoulder to a group of people standing behind him.
“Linda tells me you have been staying with Kimberly since you’ve been in town? Funny, neither of you mentioned it until recently.” George turned around and grabbed a beer for himself off of the bar.
Am I that easy to read? Jake thought crossly, even as he caught himself taking another quick sweep of the room in search of Kimberly. He needed to seriously question how it was that he made a living as an investigative reporter, if he was as open of a book as the Urbanes made him feel like tonight.
“Ah, yeah, I am. Probably for another month. It’s close to my grandfather’s rehab center, and I had been having a difficult time finding an apartment that I liked.” He swiftly drained his glass and placed it on the bar. The bartender caught his eye, and Jake declined the offer with a shake of his head.
“That’s what Carly’s been telling me. So, what house repairs has Kimberly conned you into doing?” George chuckled in response to Jake’s startled expression.
“Come on, Jake, tell me. Have you replaced the deck off of the kitchen? Or how about repairing the crack in her dining room ceiling? I know there has to be something that she hasn’t swindled Dad or me into doing yet, especially since I haven’t heard from her in over a month. I should have known something was up, just by that alone.”
Jake mumbled the list of repairs he willingly volunteered to do around the house and admitted that half of the time, he had had to argue with the little con artist to convince her to let him do them. He accepted that he had been duped and joined George in a good laugh at his own expense. Kimberly, he learned, was excellent at twisting the men in her life around her little finger. When George finally steered the subject away from his sister to something else a few minutes later, Jake was grateful. George could have delivered the “I’m her big brother/she’s my little sister, and I’ll kill you if you hurt her” speech to him, and it would have been deserved, especially after their encounter in the kitchen last week.
“That gift wouldn’t be for me, would it?” George asked with a wide grin and a nod to the package Jake had placed on top of the bar.
“As a matter of fact, it is.” Jake nodded and handed him the gift.
“Jake, this is great.” He set the discarded wrapping paper on the bar. “I don’t know what to say. How did you get your hands on this?” He asked with a tinge of awe in his voice, his eyes glued to the autographed baseball.
“A couple of New York Yankees live in my apartment building. I explained your lasting devotion to their team, and they happily obliged me with some signatures.”
“I can’t wait to show this to Bob Carlson. He’s always bragging to everyone about his baseball collection. Excuse me Jake, while I run over to Bob and do a little boasting. Thanks again!”
Jake smiled at George’s eager departure, pleased that he appreciated the gift as much as he did. Jake laughed to himself. His doubts about giving a grown man an autographed baseball were all for nothing. He decided to walk the room when he spotted her.
His eyes nearly doubled in size when he saw her walk across the room, deep in conversation with an older woman whom he didn’t recognize. He smoothed a trembling hand across his jaw line. Kim took away his breath. Her hair was pulled into a loose chignon at the back of her head. Several long, curly strands of hair escaped the upsweep and cascaded down her back.
He had thought nothing could be more enticing than seeing her poured into a pair of tight jeans and a snug fitting shirt. He now knew that he had been wrong. Dead wrong. He reached for his beer before he realized he had put the empty glass down and hadn’t ordered another one.
Two thin straps held up a black dress that clung to her. The dress’ tight bodice accentuated her full, ripe breasts, before it narrowed to emphasize her slim waist. The silky material ended at the middle of her thighs to reveal much of her long slender legs. Her only jewelry was a pair of earrings, dozens of tiny freshwater pearls that sparkled against her golden skin and black hair.
Jake swallowed uneasily as he followed her progress. His pulse raced as he watched the older woman leave Kimberly’s side to be replaced by a man he didn’t recognize. He clenched his fists at his sides as he witnessed the stranger remove the champagne glass from her hand and escort her onto the dance floor. Disgusted by the tender smile she provided her dance partner as he whirled her around the room, Jake decided to take a walk out onto the terrace to grab some fresh air.
“You’ve been here less than half of an hour, and already you're hiding out on the balcony?” a familiar voice asked him.
“I’ve never been one for crowds.” Jake turned his head to the side to look at Carly. Dressed in black also, it was obvious why she had been a successful model for so long, before she gave it all up for motherhood. Her wholesome, Christie Brinkley looks contrasted perfectly with her floor-length gown. Stunningly beautiful, she was simply Carly in his eyes, the little sister he never had.
“I saw the autographed baseball you gave George. He’s running around the party like a little kid showing it off to everyone.”
“Good, I’m glad he liked it.” He turned to lean on the balcony railing and inhaled a deep breath of air.
“Jake, I saw you watching Kimberly on the dance floor.”
He kept his gaze locked on her. Her blue eyes stared directly back at him, her brows furrowed with concern. “And?”
“And, she snapped at me when I asked about you tonight. Jake, I… I don’t want her to get hurt,” she added with a hint of apprehension in her voice. She stared at the small tick in his cheek, and he lifted his hand to the spot to try and stop it.
“I know it’s a little late to be thinking about that, particularly after I’m the one who thought up the whole scheme of renting a room from her,” she rushed on.
His eyebrows arched high on his forehead. A little late? he wanted to sarcastically retort, but held his tongue.
“I realize now that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. I mean you two aren’t serious, are you?” She chewed nervously on her lower lip, and he turned his back on her.
The moonlight glistened on the perfectly manicured lawn in front of them, and the beauty was lost on him. He laughed harshly and shook his head in a slow, purposeful response. “Nope.” Carly leaned against the railing only a few inches away from him, and his gaze remained unwavering.
“Carly,” he said, his voice distant and cool, “I’m an international journalist, traveling all over the world for months at a time. I don’t have time for serious relationships.” Especially not with a raven-haired beauty that causes my heart to stop and makes it difficult to breathe without concentrating. “Besides,” he replied in hardly more than a whisper and turned his head to look at her, “You know better than anyone that I’ll never remarry. I almost ruined one woman’s life and nearly killed myself with guilt in the process. I won’t let history repeat itself, and please don’t pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about. I know you eavesdropped on our conversation, the night George and I got drunk at Erica and Cody’s wedding, and I poured my guts out to him about my divorce.”
Carly stared into her water glass. She absently swirled the glass around in her hand.
“Carly, look at me. Look at me, and tell me straight to my face that your sister could live her life without children. Do it, Carly.”
Carly lifted her head. Tears pooled in the corner of her eyes. “I, ah, you know I can’t, Jake.” Her eyes darted to the space around his head until they finally landed on his face again. “But I’m not the one you should be asking. If you really care about Kimberly, you should be having this discussion with her, not me.” She reached out and placed her hand on his upper arm. “She might surprise you.”
Jake’s laughter was filled with bitterness. He realized now that coming here this evening was a mistake. Carly was right in her concerns for her sister. He would hurt her in the end, once he walked away from her for good. “Look, Carly. I do care about your sister, and she’s a wonderful person. But that’s it. I like my life the way it is, and Kimberly is not part of it, not beyond that of a friend and a landlord,” he bit out harder than he intended. Feeling guilty for his harsh response, he leaned over to ruffle the top of her hair, as he had often done when she was a child, but patted her on the shoulder instead because she would likely swat his hand away from her perfectly coiffed hair. “Come on, Carly. Let’s go back inside and join the party.”
Carly searched his eyes for several moments and finally nodded before she followed him back into the large banquet room.
Jake spent the next thirty minutes mingling with party guests. His mood temporarily lifted after his conversation with Carly. He needed to hear that a relationship with Kimberly was impossible, even if the words had to come from his own mouth.
Whether he was purposely avoiding Kimberly, or she was avoiding him, he still hadn’t figured out nearly an hour later. Finally, unable to watch her attention monopolized for another minute by Conner, the identity of her constant companion he learned from another guest, he decided it was time for them to acknowledge each other. After all, they lived together, something Conner surely didn’t know, Jake thought with a smile to himself. His grin was still in place when he approached the pair of them minutes later.
“Hello, Kimberly.” His gaze traveled over her creamy skin and then to the black dress that molded itself to her lean curves. He found it hard to believe that she could be even more beautiful up close than she was from across the room. She was, and he was having a hard time trying to ignore the fact.
“Jake.” Her dark eyes lit up in surprise. “I, ah, thought you were in New York until Monday?”
Jake swore swiftly under his breath. Incredible. She hadn’t even known that he was at the party until now, and he had been in attendance for over an hour. He could tell by the slur in her voice that she had had far too much to drink, and he blamed it on the Nordic giant who stood at her side and had plied her with drinks all night. Conner, even his name irritated Jake. He hated Conner on sight.
He stared back at her without blinking an eye. “I came back early. I knew how much you wanted me to come with you tonight, and I was determined not to disappoint you.”
He returned her smile with one of his own, although his lacked the drunken twist at its corners that hers had, while irritation emanated from every one of his pores. The confused look occupying her face confirmed that she had had more to drink than he first guessed. He inwardly groaned when she covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a hiccup.
“I apologize.” Jake smiled mockingly at Conner. “I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Jake Taylor. I live with Kimberly.” He held his hand out to the other man, while he ignored Kimberly’s swift intake of breath followed by another hiccup.
“Conner Douglas.” The tall, well-dressed investment banker extended his hand out to Jake, while he inched away from Kimberly.
“Pleasure to meet you. I hope you don’t mind if I excuse myself and get another drink?” Conner turned to walk away, but not before he gave Kimberly a distinctive snort of disgust. Jake hid his laughter behind a fake cough.
“How dare you, Jake!” Kimberly hissed under her breath. “I can’t believe you said that to him. No, I can’t believe the way you said that to him. I’m sure Conner thinks that we’re, you know, living together, living together.” She exhaled deeply in an attempt to blow at a large curly lock of hair that had escaped her chignon and now fell softly against her cheek. Jake reached up and pushed the strand of hair to behind her ear.
“You’re not making any sense, Kimberly.” He cocked his head and intentionally gave her a blank stare. “We are living together.”
“Ugh,” she growled in frustration. “You know perfectly well what I mean, and you did that on purpose. Conner has been a gentleman all evening, and you’ve gone and scared him away.” She reached for a champagne glass from a passing waiter, and he brushed her hand away.
“You’ve had too much to drink already, and Conner is not a gentleman.” His eyes narrowed over his brows, and he moved closer to her side. His voice was hard and exact when he spoke again. “From what little I’ve learned about the guy this evening, he goes through women like they are different courses of a meal. Tonight, he chose you as his main entrée.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Jake Taylor! Conner is a business associate of George’s and also a friend of his,” she tartly informed him with a tilt of her chin.
“Who do you think I got my information from?” He sneered at her with a sardonic grin. “You can be so na?ve.”
“What did you say?” she practically screeched and placed a hand on each of her slender hips. Her black eyes blazed back at him.
“You obviously heard me, Kimberly. Don’t give me that look. I said you can be na?ve, and it’s the truth. You’re dressed in a slinky black slip that exposes more than it covers, and you’ve drunk a gallon of champagne tonight. What do you think Conner had in mind this evening, a chaste kiss at your doorstep after driving you home? Give me a break.”
“How do you know that I didn’t want to spend the night with Conner? Maybe I wanted more than just a chaste kiss at my doorstep?”
Jakes eyes narrowed. “Of that, I have no doubt. You have clung to him for the past hour like you couldn’t wait for him to take you home. Be grateful that I saved you from embarrassing your family any further by interfering when I did.”
“I have not embarrassed my family this evening,” she snapped. “You don’t know what you’re talking about?—"
“Really?” he interrupted. “Why don’t you take a look around you. More than a few people are staring at us right now.” He nodded to several groups of people in various places around the room.
“If anyone is causing a scene, it’s you, and I refuse to let anyone think I’m to blame for your rude behavior.”
Jake’s eyes narrowed into mere slits as he enunciated each word in a deadly calm voice, “You’re damn right you’re not, because I’m not giving you the chance. We’re leaving. I’m telling Carly that I’m taking you home. She’ll understand that you have had far too much to drink and will be grateful to me. Don’t even try to argue with me.” Jake clenched his hands into tight fists at his sides.
Kimberly opened her mouth to protest and then snapped it shut. “Fine,” she agreed in an indignant huff. He stared at her for several moments, daring her to say anything else, before he turned and walked away.
“Let’s go,” he said a few minutes later after helping her find her purse from underneath a table.
“Jake,” she began once they were driving down the highway.
“Forget it, Kimberly. I refuse to argue with you while I’m driving.”
Clearly frustrated with him, Kimberly stared out the car window for the remainder of the trip home.
Once inside the house, they each went their separate ways. Kimberly intentionally pounded up the stairs in her high heels, while Jake went into the living room.
Jake threw his blazer down over the arm of the couch and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt with a long sigh. He put some music on, and the mellow jazz filtered throughout the room, its soft melody instantly relaxing him. He sat down on the couch and removed his boots, carelessly tossing them aside without a thought. He was angry, angry with himself for allowing Kimberly to affect him the way she did, angry that he had expected, hell, he didn’t know what he had expected tonight, but it hadn’t been to find her with another man at the party.
Edgy and sorely in need of a drink, Jake decided to prepare himself a healthy glass of scotch. Hopefully, with any luck, he would pass out on the couch, blocking all thoughts of Kimberly from his mind. He heard a movement by the bar just as he leaned his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. He turned swiftly in the direction of the noise and saw Kimberly.
“Why aren’t you asleep?” he asked irritably. She was still in the little black number she had worn to the party, but had removed her heels. Additional strands of her hair had escaped from her chignon to lay softly against the base of her neck. He took a deep breath of air as he allowed his eyes to travel over her legs, their slenderness accentuated by the dress swishing against her skin.
“I couldn’t sleep. I thought I would have a glass of wine before I went to bed.” She held up her hand to stop him. “Before you say anything, don’t bother. I’m thirty-one years old. I’m allowed to drink if I want, to get rip-roaring drunk if I choose to.” She glared back at him and then reached for a bottle of wine off of the rack in the bar.
“The hell you are.” He shot upright and stood up. “If you think I’m going to sit and watch you drink a bottle of wine and then stay up babysitting you for the rest of the night, you can forget it.” He breached the distance between them with two powerful strides. He reached across her, his hand brushing against the bare skin of her arm as he wrenched the unopened bottle of wine from her hands.
She trembled at his touch, and he felt a similar shiver travel up his own skin from their brief contact. She was practically sober now. Her previous slur was absent from the lecture she had just given him, which rattled him even more than if she were drunk. Sober, there was no excuse for her actions or her reaction to him.
She turned to look at him. “Don’t try to bully me, Jake Taylor.” She lunged for the bottle of wine. “Just give me the damn bottle,” she lashed out.
Jake watched the fire glowing from her dark eyes as she struggled against him for the bottle of wine. The air around him grew warm as he glanced at her heaving breasts, much of them exposed in her low-cut dress. The moonlight streamed through the window and shone on her creamy shoulders, begging him, he swore, to taste them with his lips. He released his hold on the bottle of wine, and his gaze traveled upward to look deeply into her eyes.
Jake watched her reaction, the slow realization that he had stopped fighting her finally dawning on her. Her dark eyes searched his for answers. “Jake?” she asked hesitantly.
“Kim,” he whispered before bending his head toward her. He took the wine bottle from her hands and placed it down on the bar as his mouth brushed against hers. His lips moved softly against hers, and he gently eased them open with a slow devouring of her mouth. His hands held onto the sides of her waist, crushing her to him as he deepened their kiss with exhilarating momentum.
His hands caressed their way up her back until they reached her hair. With one swift motion, he removed the clip from her hair and the dark mane cascaded down her back. She pushed her pelvis into his pounding arousal, and he growled with satisfaction.
Kimberly moaned with pleasure when he released her lips to allow his mouth to explore the pulsing hollow at the base of her throat. Her body trembled under his fingers when he pushed the tiny straps of her dress from her shoulders. He eased the zipper of her dress down her back, and she groaned evocatively into his ear. The dressed slipped away from her skin, landing in a soft puddle at her ankles.
Jake groaned with pleasure upon the discovery that she was braless, his breath a series of short, raspy gasps. Her rosy nipples were hard and pointed when he brought his hands between their bodies to cup each of her full, milky-white breasts.
She trembled under his touch, and he realized that he went too fast, much too fast with her. This is Kimberly, he reminded himself, when she dragged her nails over the front of his chest, and an unexpected rush of pleasure flowed through his veins. She wasn’t a one-night stand on which to take out his pent-up frustrations. She was a beautiful, elegant woman, a woman he laid awake thinking about at night, envisioning himself taking her into his arms as he did right now.
Taking a deep, tortured breath, he forced himself to slow down, despite the wild pounding of his heart. His tongue traveled in slow, rhythmic circles down her neck and over her breasts until he took a pink tip into his mouth. She squirmed beneath his touch, and he felt her knees go weak in response.
Swiftly he released his hold on her and reached for a blanket from the back of a chair, spreading it on the floor next to them. Slowly, gently, he lowered her to the floor with him. He lay down next to her, propped up on his elbow. Kimberly lay on her back wearing only a pair of black lace panties, her eyes glazed with passion as she looked up at him.
He ran his finger along the flat contours of her stomach, reveling in the tiny shivers her body released each time he touched a sensitive area on her skin. He leaned over her and placed soft kisses on her face, along the fine bones defining her cheeks and brow. His hand continued to caress the hollow of her abdomen as he nuzzled her earlobe.
He felt her fingertips tremble against the skin on his neck until they wound themselves together at the back of his head and, released his hair from its confining leather band. His hair dangled wildly to brush his shoulders, and she ran her fingers through the loose strands.
Pleased by her initiative, Jake raised his gaze to stare directly into her eyes. He searched her face for any sign of rejection, anything to indicate that he should put a halt to their lovemaking.
He found none.
With one swift, fluid motion, he sat up and began to unbutton his shirt. Kimberly watched his progress with hungry eyes, and he was pleased. She drew her tongue over her swollen lips when his shirt slipped from his chest and onto the floor. He grinned down at her. “I... you’re, you’re beautiful, Jake.”
“I hardly compare to you, Kim.” His voice was heavy-laden with the passion that consumed him. He could never tire of looking at her.
Kimberly’s eyes glowed, while she ran a long, painted fingernail along the matte chest hair, and he shut his eyes. She sat up, and he realized she was eager to take a more aggressive role in their lovemaking.
She pushed his hands away from the waistband of his pants and though her hands were obviously trembling, she unbuttoned his jeans and eased the zipper down over his throbbing arousal. He opened his eyes and stared back at her. She raised an eyebrow, and her look dared him to stop her. He didn’t, and to his pleasure, she bent her head and pressed a smattering of feathery kisses upon his chest.
Jake moaned as she continued to lower his jeans over his hips, and his hardened manhood pounded in desire. He was near collapse when he felt her soft fingertips trace the outline of him through his boxer briefs. Afraid that their lovemaking would end in mere seconds, he could no longer able to allow her to be the aggressor and gently coaxed her to lie on her back. He bent his head to her stomach and his tongue darted out to explore the hollow of her abdomen and hipbones. He slid her lace panties from her body and then removed the remainder of his own clothing.
“Jake, we’re not using any, any protection,” she whispered between gasping breaths.
“It’s okay, trust me.” He took a swollen nipple between his teeth. He visibly panted, and knew he was not alone in his desire when he slid his hand between her legs.
All thoughts of birth control must have disappeared from her thoughts, he realized, because she arched into his hand. “Jake,” she screamed when his fingers continued to move within the soft folds of her skin. She was more than ready for him to be inside her. “You’re so warm, so tight,” he whispered huskily into her mouth. He covered her mouth with his own as he entered her and gradually eased himself into her silky depths. He was grateful for her moan of pleasure, eager to bring her to the next height of their lovemaking.
He played a sexual dance with her. He slowly retreated, then quickly plunged back into her over and over again. Kimberly wrapped her long legs higher and arched her hips into him. Sweat glistened her brow, and he wiped it away with his fingertips. “Jake,” she cried out as he plunged into her the last time, and her body climaxed with wild abandon. Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, he heard her call out his name.
Jake, shaken from the aftermath of their lovemaking, was unable to believe he could feel the way he did. Never had it been so complete, felt so right before. Kimberly had taken him to places he never dreamed possible. He lowered himself next to her and swept her tightly into his embrace. He held her against his sweat-glistening body and placed tender kisses in her tangled hair.
Kimberly sighed deeply. He heard her murmur his name before she fell asleep within the confines of his arms. The soft sound of her breathing hit a deep cord within him. He watched the moonlight shine through the window with unblinking eyes and knew with a disturbing realization that sleep would elude him for a long time.