Never Gamble Your Heart (The Secret Society of Governess Spies #2)

Chapter 39

F rankie was deliberately provoking him. Jasper was possessive and protective, and she knew—had always somehow known—that if they ever joined together, he would claim her as much as any vow could. The growl he made in the back of his throat and the darkening of his eyes sent a thrill straight down her spine.

“The last .”

“We shall see.”

Jasper began to undress, never once taking his gaze off her, and she followed his motions in fascination as his body was revealed little by little. When he dropped his cravat on the floor, her eyes traced over the thick column of his throat. When he unbuttoned his shirtsleeves, she raked her gaze over the wide expanse of male chest dusted with dark hair. His stomach was taut, and the hair on it tapered into a line that disappeared beneath the waist of his trousers.

“You are eating me alive with those looks.”

She waved her hand. “Do not stop.”

Jasper gave a low laugh and shucked his boots and trousers. Frankie had seen the male member in a number of artworks, but she did not recall it ever looking quite like that. Fully aroused, Jasper’s anatomy was proportional to the size of the man.

Frankie stepped forward and lifted her hand, but before she touched him, she hesitated.

“Touch me wherever you want, however you want, love.”

With his permission, she boldly smoothed her palms over his bare chest, reveling in the feel of the crisp, wiry hair and the smooth, warm skin of the man beneath. She pressed her palm over his heart and felt the beat in her hand. When she looked up, she found him watching her through heavy eyelids.

“I would like to make you mine, now,” she said.

The words were like a blade to the taut string of his control: and with that one sentence, it snapped. Jasper lifted her to him and kissed her, forcing her mouth open with the pressure of his thumb on her jaw so that he could shamelessly plunder. She allowed him entrance, opening to him with a low hum in the back of her throat.

After a drugging kiss he released her and dragged his hands down her back, the calluses of his fingertips rough on her skin, and cupped her bottom in his palms. With ease born of well-used muscles, he lifted her so that she could wrap her legs around his waist. Frankie gave a little shriek and then laughed before she linked her arms around his neck and fell back into the glory that was kissing Jasper. The man was sinfully talented when it came to using his tongue, and she could not seem to get enough of his taste.

She was still exploring his mouth when he flexed his arms and she felt the velvet length of him rubbing through her wetness. The contact was so shocking that she broke the kiss and pulled her head away. She was breathing heavily and she felt achy in all those secret places no one ever talked about.

Jasper’s jaw was tight when he said, “Do you want to stop?”

“No-o, not exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I do not know how to do this. I won’t know if I do something wrong.” Frankie was used to easily excelling at whatever intellectual task she undertook, but this was so far out of her area of expertise that she did not even know where to begin.

Jasper rubbed against her again and her eyelids fluttered. “First, you cannot possibly do anything wrong. Second, the best way to go about making love is to talk.” As he spoke he pumped his arms, his muscles bunching with the effort of holding all her weight, and slid her back down for another long, sensuous rub that forced a groan from her throat.

“Talking?” she gasped.

His eyes were so penetrating, so focused on her, that Frankie felt as if she were the only person that existed in the world. “Yes, talking.” He lowered his eyelashes and said quietly, “For example, do you know that I have been dreaming of feeling you clench around me, sweet and hot and wet?”

Frankie was not sure what he meant, but his tone was so worshipful that she knew it was filthy and delightful all at once. There was nothing mild about what she felt for Jasper Jones. She yearned for his touch, ached for him with such longing that it had become an almost constant need. Everywhere he brushed her skin she burned. Every time his eyes stroked over her, she melted. The pleasure he’d brought to her with only a few kisses was soul-shattering. She was almost afraid of what the marital act would do to her.

Frankie tunneled her fingers into his hair and leaned in to kiss his ear, copying his earlier technique and nibbling on his earlobe before blowing hot air.

“ Frankie. ”

He dropped her onto the bed and landed on top of her, once again catching her mouth in a wet, branding kiss that had her toes curling. He moved down her neck to her breasts and took a nipple into his mouth. Frankie gasped, coming up off the pillow as he gently suckled and tugged before turning his attention to the other breast, all while continuing to pleasure the first with his fingers. The double assault sent a lightning strike of desire directly to her center. She squeezed her legs around his hips and threw her head back, pleasure building in her so rapidly that she was panting.

Jasper read her body as easily as she read math patterns. He slid one hand down her belly and delved his fingers into her curls. He’d barely brushed her when she violently crested.

Shapes burst behind Frankie’s eyelids as her entire body tightened and pulsed. Her nails dug into Jasper’s upper arms and she pressed her mouth to his skin to muffle her cries, and then she melted into the mattress, a woman transformed into a boneless puddle. She was sated and satisfied and simultaneously greedy, because she still wanted more. More of him. More of them coming together, combining flesh and chasing pleasure.

Jasper gazed down at her with a mixture of stunned discovery and primal satisfaction. “Your breasts are so sensitive.”

“Is that bad?”

Jasper nuzzled into her cleavage, rubbing her soft skin with the dark scruff of his day-old beard. “Oh no, sweetheart. That is very, very good.”

Frankie’s shy smile quickly turned into a moan when he returned to mouthing her breasts. While he lavished one with attention from his tongue, he used his clever fingers on the other, slowly working her into frustrated tension once again.

Feeling that he had had more than enough control, Frankie reached down and grasped his member in her palm. Jasper stilled, and the look in his eyes turned feral. He hissed between his teeth as she slowly explored him, moving her hand up and down and rocking her palm across the soft, velvety tip.

“Stop,” he ground out. He caught her wrist and pinned it, along with the other, over her head. “I will finish in your hand otherwise.”

Frankie’s heart pounded in her chest. This big, powerful man holding her hands over her head while his nude body was pressed into hers was one of the most erotic sensations of her life. Her skin was damp with perspiration and she felt enveloped by the male scent of him, pine and leather mixed with the lemon furniture polish used to clean the room. She feared she would forever become aroused by the scent of lemon polish from therein out.

Jasper’s breaths were ragged as he slowly nudged against her opening. Frankie thought perhaps he was hesitant, so she wiggled her hips so that he would enter her an inch or two. She was so wet that the tip easily slid in.

“ Fuck .” Jasper pushed into her farther, and Frankie’s rocking hips became less about trying to entice him to enter her and more about attempting to find space for him. He eased into her slowly, inch by inch, allowing her body to grow accustomed to him, until at last he was fully seated. Frankie breathed in through her nose and exhaled through her mouth.

“Are you in pain?”

“No, it is more that I am uncomfort—oh!”

Jasper had taken her nipple into his mouth again and simultaneously pulled out a fraction and then reentered her, causing a sunburst of sensation to radiate from between her legs. Her lower belly felt heavy and tight as he repeated the action. Each time he pulled out a little bit farther and returned with a little more speed. Just as Frankie thought she had reached the height of pleasure from their union, he widened her legs and bent her knee, driving deeper and grinding against a spot that made her gasp.

“Do not stop that, Jasper!”

He grinned down at her, his teeth a slash of white in his tanned skin as he continued to roll his hips in a way that made her entire body tingle and tighten. His eyes were focused on her face, on her mouth, on her most minute expressions, as if he were learning her body like he would a new card game, reading her level of pleasure and committing it to memory.

Then his pace shifted, slowed, and he began to move in her so tenderly that her eyes welled with tears. He cradled her head in his palms and kept his gaze locked on hers as she began to rock with him, their bodies blending together. Their mouths clung and she dug her nails into his back, desperate for release again.

Jasper broke the lingering kiss and withdrew completely, to her dismay and confusion. “What are you doing?” she moaned.

“You have a tendency toward bossiness—”

“You are hardly one to talk.”

“—which has me thinking you might like to be in control for a bit.” He rolled onto his back, his chest rising and falling, and pulled her on top so that she straddled him. He clasped her hips in his hands and helped her lower down. Her cheeks turned red at the obscene sight of his thick member impaling her, the sensation sending goose bumps straight up her arms.

“You are in control now,” he rasped.

She tentatively rocked on him and readjusted her spectacles. “Oh, I like this.”

“I thought you might.”

“You are gritting your teeth, Jasper. Does it hurt?”

He braced her hips with his hands. “No, it does not hurt.”

Frankie sighed as she took her turn experimenting, moving degree by degree, then faster and slower until she found the perfect rhythm. The action of him entering her combined with her most sensitive bundle of nerves rubbing against his pelvis was almost too much to bear. Then he brought his hands up to palm her breasts and she shattered again, the intensity such that she nearly burst into tears. Jasper lifted her off him just before he pulsed, splashing a white substance onto his belly.

Sperm, she thought vaguely, having once read the word in reference to horse breeding.

She collapsed beside him, and he quickly wiped himself off before pulling her to his chest, both of them breathing laboriously, their bodies slick with perspiration. He traced lazy circles on her shoulder until she finally lifted her head. “That was different from what I expected.”

“How so?”

“It was… incredible. How do newlyweds ever leave the bedroom?”

He gave her such a smug look that she could not help laughing. “Of course it could have been a fluke. We may need to try it again tomorrow to be sure.”

She may have been forced into marriage with Jasper Jones, but she was beginning to think the perks would be well worth it.

His response was a kiss that made her heart squeeze.