Chapter 18
Jace had wanted to kiss her since the first time she took a seat at his bar and smiled at him.
He’d wanted to kiss her before she said a single word to him, and the more he got to know her, the more he’d wanted to kiss her.
When he’d realized she was the one advertising the room for rent, he’d been torn because of the overwhelming attraction he felt for her.
What the hell, he thought. Why not tell her that?
“I almost didn’t move in because I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first time we met.”
“That long?”
“Yep, and every minute since then.” He kissed her again, because they had a lot of time to make up for now that the kissing portion of the program had begun.
“Jace?” a voice called from outside the doors to the bar. “Are you still here?”
He released Cindy so quickly that they both stumbled as they parted. Taking hold of her arm, he helped to steady her. “I’m still here,” he called to Matilda, the night manager. “Just leaving now.”
“Ah, okay,” Matilda said when she came into the room. “I was going to lock up.”
He took Cindy’s hand and headed for the door, handing a bag of cash and credit card receipts to Matilda. “Have a good night.”
“You do the same.”
This was already shaping up to be the best night of his life since his kids were born, and it wasn’t over yet. At least he hoped it wasn’t.
Still holding hands, they walked through a dark, quiet town that they had mostly to themselves at that hour.
He wanted to say something to her, but he wasn’t sure what, so he stayed quiet while wondering what she was thinking and feeling.
Had that kiss rocked her world the way it had his?
Was she dying to do it again the second they got home?
It’d been years since he’d been anywhere close to something like this.
The last time had been when he was first seeing Lisa and had been completely overwhelmed by feelings he’d never experienced so intensely.
Unfortunately, those feelings had been exacerbated by his rampant drug addiction.
He’d screwed that up royally, which worried him as he started something with Cindy.
She’d already had more than her share of grief. The last thing she needed was more.
“You’re very quiet all of a sudden,” she said when they were almost home.
“So are you.”
“That’s your fault.”
“How’s that?” he asked as they approached their place.
“You kissed me senseless.”
“Did I?”
“You know you did.”
“You did the same to me.” Jace used his key in the door and stepped aside to let her go in ahead of him.
During the summer months, when the doors to the bar were open, he would’ve wanted a shower immediately after sweating his balls off for hours. But with the weather turning cooler, the doors had been closed, and he hadn’t worked up a sweat.
Now that they were in the house, he felt uncertain about how to pick up where they’d left off in the bar. Until Cindy turned to him, dropped her purse on the floor and put her arms up around his neck.
“Okay, then,” he said, smiling.
“Are we going to pretend that we don’t want to continue the conversation from the bar?”
He placed his hands on her hips and smiled down at her gorgeous face. “I’m not pretending.”
“Neither am I.”
“And this is what you want? I’m what you want, even with everything you know about me?” he asked.
“You’re what I want because of what I know about you.”
“I’m not sure I deserve you,” he whispered against her lips.
“Yes, you do. You deserve me, and I deserve you, and we both deserve to be happy.”
“How happy are we gonna get?”
“I think we’re going to be very, very happy.”
Smiling, he kissed her with the abandon he hadn’t been able to surrender to while at the Beachcomber.
Pressed against him, arms tight around his neck, Cindy was right there with him, making him see stars, he wanted her so badly.
It’d been so long since he’d been close to a woman that he was afraid he might scare her.
He couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t let that happen.
She wasn’t just anyone. She was special, and he wanted to show her that.
“Tell me to stop if it’s too much.”
“It’s not.” She tugged at the long-sleeved Henley with the Beachcomber logo on the chest. “Take this off.”
He pulled the shirt over his head and gave thanks for the hours in the gym as her eyes went wide with appreciation.
She ran her hands over his biceps, making him shiver from the excitement of her touch.
“What about this?” he asked, giving her sweater a gentle tug.
“Take it off.”
Jace kept waiting for her to call a halt to this madness, but as long as she didn’t, he was all in.
And madness was the only word to describe the way he felt being close to her this way.
As the sweater cleared her head, he gazed down at her, taking note of the tan lines on her chest and the rise and fall of full breasts.
Reaching behind her, he released the clasp on her bra and watched as the fabric fell away. “You’re pretty everywhere, Cindy.”
Her hands skimmed over his back. “So are you.”
He cupped her ass and lifted her, hoping she’d wrap herself around him, which she did. “Your place or mine?”
“My bed is bigger.”
“Yours it is.” As he carried her to the bedroom, he was still waiting for her to say, Hang on, this is happening too fast. But she only continued to kiss his face and neck, making him even crazier than he already was.
When he lowered her to the bed and came down on top of her, he held himself up on his elbows. “You’re sure about this?”
“Are you?”
“Very sure.”
“That makes two of us.”
Gazing down at her sweet face, he said, “And we’re not going to regret this afterward?”
“I’m not planning to if you’re not.”
“No regrets. Just pleasure.”
She ran her fingers through his hair, sending more shivers down his spine.
“I ought to warn you that it’s been a while for me.”
“How long is ‘a while’?”
“Like seven years?”
“Oh. Well…”
“Yeah, this is apt to be quick.”
Smiling, she said, “Are you good for only once?”
“Um, no,” he said, laughing.
“Then quick is fine.”
“You haven’t taken leave of your senses or anything, have you?”
Cindy laughed. “Why, because I’m not freaking out or pretending like I don’t want this as much as you do?”
“Yeah, all that.”
“My grandmother told me I should take you for a ride, so I’m doing what she told me.”
“Have I mentioned that your grandmother is the coolest granny ever?”
“She is.” Cindy’s hands moved over his back and arms, making him shiver from her touch. “I can’t wait for you to meet her.”
“I can’t wait to thank her for putting ideas in your head.
” He bent to touch his tongue to her nipple, making her gasp.
She was so responsive, sweet and sexy. What he wouldn’t give to know what else her grandmother had said to her.
Then another thought occurred to him that had him groaning and pulling back from her. “Shit. I don’t have condoms.”
“You really haven’t done this in seven years?”
“I really haven’t.”
“I’m on birth control, and it’s been ages for me, too.”
“So, what you’re saying…”
Cindy laughed at the face he made that probably conveyed torture as much as excitement.
“When I said fast before… what I really meant was over before it starts.”
She shocked the shit out of him when she reached between them to cup his erection. “Maybe we should take care of that, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
“So, what you’re saying…”
Her laughter was quickly becoming his favorite thing. “Turn over, cowboy.”
“Um.”
Still laughing, she gave his shoulder a push.
Jace turned onto his back and looked up at her, waiting to see what she would do.
She bent over him and began placing light kisses on his chest and abdomen.
After going so long without a woman’s touch, the sensations were nearly excruciating, the desire overwhelming. He trembled helplessly as she outlined each of his abs with her tongue. “Cin…”
“Hmm?”
He exhaled a laugh. “You’re driving me crazy.”
“Am I?”
“You know you are.”
“Is crazy good in this case?”
“It’s not bad.”
Laughing, she continued the torture until he was on the verge of begging for relief.
When she tugged on the button to his jeans, he held back a whimper. He helped with the zipper and lifted his hips so she could pull his pants and boxers down. Then her hand wrapped around his cock as her lips brushed against the head.
“Cindy, stop,” he said, his tone full of warning.
She didn’t stop. Rather, she slid his cock inside her mouth and lashed it with her tongue.
He came so hard, he saw stars and comets and a few random asteroids behind his tightly closed eyes.
“There.” She ran her tongue over the length of him. “All better now.”
Jace was trying to remember how to form words.
“Are you okay down there?”
“Mmm.” He settled her on top of him, loving the feel of her breasts pressed to his chest. “So good. You wiped me out.”
“I bet I can wake you up again.”
“I have no doubt that you can.” With his hands on her face, he studied her for a moment before he kissed her. “You’re the best thing to happen to me in a very long time. I hope you know that.”
“Likewise.”
“Nice how that works out, huh?”
She nodded and smiled as she kissed him.
Jace surprised her when he suddenly turned them over and got busy returning the favor she’d granted him. He kissed her everywhere, removing the last of her clothing and spreading her out before him as he ran his tongue up the inside of her thigh.
She raised her hips in invitation, which he happily accepted, burying his tongue inside her and teasing her until she was panting.
He pushed his fingers into her heat and ran his tongue over her clit, making her explode in a screaming release.
Moving quickly, he changed positions and pressed his cock into her, riding the last waves of her orgasm.
He grasped her hips as he moved carefully, giving her time to adjust as he went. “Is this okay?”
“Mmm, yes.” She arched into him as her fingers dug into his back muscles.
It was a good thing she’d taken the edge off, or this would’ve been over the minute his flesh connected with hers.
During the long years of his incarceration, he’d survived by not thinking too much about the things he was missing.
He’d stayed focused on working out and learning a trade and turning his life around.
This was the payoff for all that hard work. Cindy was the payoff, and as he lost himself in her, he felt almost reborn into a whole new life free of his painful past. The trauma of his brother’s death and the price he’d paid would always be part of him, but maybe it didn’t have to define him.
No, he was beginning to think that this gorgeous woman might define him.
Cindy slept like a dead woman. She woke facedown, sun streaming in the window and the smell of coffee filling the air. When she stirred, her body objected, muscles she hadn’t used in a while reminding her of a wild, almost-sleepless night.
How was he functioning after being up most of the night?
She turned on her side, moaning.
The bed dipped, and she opened one eye to find him there.
“Is someone not a morning person?”
“I’m a morning person when I actually sleep.”
His low rumble of laughter made her smile, which had her realizing her lips were sore. “You don’t drink coffee, right?”
“Normally, no, but today is not normal.” Grasping the sheet to her chest, she used her other arm to sit up and took the mug from him. She hadn’t had coffee in years and hoped a few sips wouldn’t ruin her day. Today, they were apt to save her day.
“Are you okay?”
She opened her eyes to look at him. “I am. Are you?”
“I’m great.”
“Even though you barely slept?”
“I can sleep when I’m dead.”
She handed the mug to him. “Don’t say that.”
He took a sip and gave it back to her. “Okay, I won’t.”
“Why are you up so early?”
“Got to hit my meeting at eight.”
“Oh. Right.”
Jace reached out to caress her face. “Last night was amazing.”
“Yes, it was.”
“And it doesn’t feel weird this morning.”
“Not for me.”
“Me either.” He leaned in to kiss her. “I’ve got to go. Are you going to be around later?”
“I have to see Laura and Owen at the hotel in a bit, but nothing after that, although I did promise you a haircut today.”
“We can do that any day. Let’s go to the beach or something before I have to work.”
“That sounds good.”
He kissed her again and handed the mug of coffee to her. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Okay.”
Jace made it to the doorway before he turned around and came back, bending over the bed to kiss her one more time. “There,” he said. “That ought to hold me until later.”
Cindy watched him go, smiling like a kook as memories from the most sensual night of her life played like a dirty movie in her mind.