Chapter 19
Georgia’s entire being shook as she tried to step out of the truck. She hadn’t felt this nervous or alive since that night nine years ago.
Jake’s strong hand was resting at the small of her back, but he could have been deep inside of her from the way her body was reacting. With his free hand, he found his keys and opened the door. Once inside she tugged him toward the staircase and a giddy little giggle escaped.
He put a finger to his lips. “Shhh.”
“What?”
He kissed her gently and then whispered against her lips. “I don’t want to wake anyone.”
She almost asked him what he was talking about when the motor in her brain fired up. His family! Joy and Nic and Rachel! They were just a few walls away.
She was about to bolt. His hand tightened around hers. “No one will know. My room is at the back of the house. It’s isolated.”
“I don’t want to do the walk of shame. You come to my room.”
“Your room shares a hallway with my grandparents. Which is fine by me, but you might—”
Not wanting even a second to rethink this very bad decision, she yanked him down the back hallway. A soft laugh followed them as they stumbled through the door. He closed it behind him and stalked toward her.
Never stopping, never hesitating, he just walked right up into her space like he belonged and took her mouth.
His lips were amazing, full and skilled, all patience and finesse.
He smelled like sandalwood and desire and kissed her as though he couldn’t get enough.
Which worked for her, since she was pretty sure that this was the best kiss in the history of the world.
In fact, kissing Jake was like being reborn, like she was launched back to that night where they shared their first kiss. It was needy and desperate—magical.
Kind of like his thigh, which was currently tucked between hers, putting on the pressure and driving her right out of her mind. Nuclear-powered tingles exploded though her body and Georgia’s nipples went hard. She wanted him.
Bad.
It was all she could do not to unbuckle his belt and drop his pants. Especially when his thigh shifted higher, pressing harder, the silkiness of his slacks gliding along the thin fabric of her dress, creating a delicious friction.
Friction was good. Friction was freaking great. But she wanted more. So she went to work, leading her hand to the cause. Okay, both hands, since one palmed his ass to pull him closer, while the other slid around the front to his—oh, my.
“Aw, darlin’,” Jake groaned, his head falling back. “You keep that up and it will be over in three seconds, and I want to do this right. In a bed. Taking my time. Loving you all night.”
That last part had her lady parts going into party mode.
But the bed? Was he serious? Because his bed was up in the loft, residing at the top of a very windy staircase.
And after weeks of foreplay there was no way she was going to make it up those stairs.
That he hadn’t attempted to move, except to push harder into her palm, told her that it would not take much to get him on board.
So she gave a little squeeze. “Impatient, remember?”
Maybe it was more than a little squeeze, but he didn’t seem to mind. Nope, Jake’s eyes dilated and she knew it was game on, because he let out a relieved groan and all his finesse and hard-won patience evaporated.
His hands slid up her thighs and under her dress, gripping her ass. Then he lifted. Her feet came off the ground, her heart fell to her toes, and Georgia felt sexy. Desirable. Wanted.
How long had it been since she had felt wanted? Too long ago to remember.
“Wrap your legs around me.”
She got on board in two seconds flat and a whoosh of air expelled when her back came flush with the wall. Then, as if preordained, her good parts got up close and personal with his good parts and they had a very pleasant, Nice to see you again moment.
Her body burst into flames lit by anticipation. Needy and desperate for more, her hands went to work, tugging at his buckle. Jake’s hands were skilled, shoving her dress to her waist and running the tips of his fingers along the edge of her silk panties, then up the center, making her gasp.
He stopped and his eyes bore into hers. “Have you been like this all night?”
“All night.”
“Because of me?”
“Because of you,” she admitted, smiling when his belt clanked open.
“Fuck. It was hard keeping it together seeing you in that dress. Knowing how wet you were under the dress? We never would have made it out of that damn coat closet.”
If Georgia was having trouble getting his slacks unzipped before, she was helpless when he pushed her silk to the side and slid one finger in. When another joined the party, she knew without a doubt that this was the best non-date ever.
Wanting him to share in the pleasure, she gave up on his fly and slid her hand inside of his pants, sighing when she found him already hard.
She gave a little stroke, then another, and based on the way he was cussing in her ear, she squeezed until his body jerked at the contact, and his hands faltered, nearly dropping her. So of course she did it again.
“That’s playing dirty,” he moaned.
“I thought dirty was your thing.”
“You’re my thing.”
“Good to know,” she said, grateful for the darkness of the room since it hid her cheeks that were tinted with shyness.
“Now, as much as I’d like to continue this conversation, I think my mouth would be better used here.”
Before she could ask where here was, her bottom met a cold, hard surface. Jake nudged her thighs wider and then there he was, on his knees, shoulders settled between her legs. Before she could do more than tug her panties to the side, his mouth was on her core.
Then his tongue. Sweet baby Jesus, his tongue. Smooth and silky and firm with the confidence of a man who knew his way around a woman’s body. Knew his way around her body.
He kissed and nibbled, driving her higher and higher. Her body coiling tighter and tighter. Just when she thought it was all too good to be true his teeth sank into her pleasure button. Then his fingers swirled and pressed until—
“God,” she moaned.
“Yes,” he mumbled, his breath skating along the sensitive skin. “What can I do for you?”
“Make me come.”
“I love a woman who knows what she wants and demands it.”
“Then stop talking and get to action.”
She felt his smile against her inner thighs. “Like this?”
Before she could answer, his tongue and fingers worked in unison and he gave a final flick and a swirl and all she could see was what seemed like a million Christmas tree lights sparkling overhead.
Chest heaving, mind spinning, she opened her eyes and had to blink twice. The Christmas lights were really there. They’d managed to slide off the coffee table and onto the floor, landing beneath a Christmas tree.
Jake’s personal tree.
“Now, I get to unwrap my present,” he said.
Cool knuckles slid down her back as her zipper was pulled from the waist to below her butt. Then he peeled the gown in two, slipping it down her body. She swished her hips and the dress vanished, leaving her in nothing but perfume and a black thong.
He sat back on the bed and looked down at her and the expression on his face, good God, it literally stopped time. She didn’t want to move, didn’t want to breathe, afraid that if she did it would all be over. And it couldn’t be over. The connection was just too amazing.
He was amazing.
“Jake,” she breathed, not sure how to explain what was happening. It was as though all the emotions and expectations collided into a ball of hot need low in her belly.
“I know,” he groaned, placing a kiss in the curve of her neck. His hands pinched her hips, pulling her toward him. Then he was magically sheathed and entering her, until she felt so full, so complete.
Digging her heels into his lower back, she urged him even closer, with such force that they tipped back until he fell flat against her.
A great combination—that hard, male weight pressing into her soft curves felt so good she couldn’t catch her breath.
All the memories she’d cherished over the past decade couldn’t even compare to the real thing.
Not even bothering to brace his weight, Jake drove into her and she came hard and embarrassingly fast. Not that it deterred him, since he continued pumping, creating hundreds of aftershocks.
“I want you to let go.”
“I want to make this perfect,” he said through gritted teeth, still pumping.
“This is perfect,” she said and squeezed her core. She felt his breath catch, and then he pounded two times more before he quickly followed her over.
Still splayed across her, and buried deep inside, Jake pulled back. His hair sticking in every direction, his shirt missing the top few buttons, he looked as dazed as she felt.
With a contented sigh, Georgia turned her head, surprised to find that they were still under a Christmas tree. That the twinkling lights had been real. And that this moment between them had changed everything.
“You okay?” Jake whispered.
Georgia nodded, unsure if she had enough left in her to actually form a coherent word. And when she spoke her voice came out breathy. But she was breathy. “That was—”
“Just the appetizer,” Jake whispered, slowly easing out of her. He helped her sit up and pressed a sweet kiss to the side of her neck.
With one last look, he discarded the condom and then came back to her. Taking her hand, he gently helped her up and led her up the windy stairs to his bed. Before her feet hit the landing she was lifted into his arms and he walked her to the bed and set her on her feet next to the bed.
She reached for the waistband of her thong and Jake caught her hand.
“Not yet. Now we take it slow, and that means I get to finally look at you. All of you.”
Georgia resisted the urge to cover herself, but his gaze was so hungry and intense as he slid her panties down her thighs, she wasn’t sure what to do with her hands. Not that she had time to figure it out. With an appreciative grunt, Jake peeled the sheets back.
“What are you doing?”
“Darlin’, I’ve waited years to see you like this. I’m going to take my time enjoying every inch of you. First with my hands.” He firmly cupped her butt. “Then with my mouth.” He ran his tongue over the curve of her shoulder while he settled her on the mattress.
After delivering a well-placed, well-executed kiss that spanned from her breast all the way past her belly button and lower, he straightened and stood back, his eyes raking over her body.
Neither of them moved or spoke. She watched him watching her, and the raw lust in his expression emboldened her.
She pushed up on her elbow, moving so that one bra strap—whoops, how did that happen?—slid off her shoulder. “Then what?”
His eyes rose to meet hers and a slow, lethal smile curved at his lips. “Why don’t you lay back and I’ll show you.”
Georgia reached behind her with one hand and then changed her mind. If he wanted a show, she would give him one. Her eyes never leaving him, she traced the lace trim with the tips of her fingers, slowly tugging down the fabric and letting her breasts spill over.
“I changed my mind,” Jake said, his voice thick and strained. “I want to be the one to undress you.”
Reaching behind with one arm, he pulled his shirt off.
Next came his pants, underwear included, exposing a tattoo that started on his upper rib cage and ran the length of him, down to his hipbone and disappearing behind his back, where Georgia knew it stopped at the dimple above his butt.
It also exposed the most incredible erection she had ever seen.
She tried not to openly stare, a hard task when the man was gorgeous.
Before dropping his slacks to the floor, Jake reached into the back pocket and pulled out a strip of condoms. Holding it by two fingers he let the packet fall open, revealing a six-pack—minus one.
“Pretty cocky there.”
“It’s called confident optimism.” Tossing the condoms on the bed next to her, he covered her body with his, and she sighed at how good it felt.
Their naked skin touched, sticking in the combustible air, as he pressed her hands above her head and into the mattress.
“And the cocky doesn’t start until portion three of the evening. ”