Chapter Nineteen
Liz pulled him through the door of her bunkhouse, fumbling for the light switch in the hallway, other hand firmly gripping his jacket. He was trying to lever off his shoes while also attempting to grab her, and she smacked at his hand, laughing so hard she could barely speak.
She squealed as he finally caught her and picked her up, striding farther into the house, stopping as he hit the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.
“Which way?” he growled, and smacked her ass lightly as she squirmed.
“Down the hall. Left!” she managed as she wriggled, trying to free herself, but also enjoying the caveman routine and playfulness that had stolen over him when they had pulled into the parking spot in front of her house.
They had driven the rest of the way with his hand on the back of her neck, playing with her hair, the heat from his palm bringing home the relief she’d felt when they’d said were on the same page with this thing they were about to do.
Him agreeing to casual meant she could fully relax and let herself have fun.
That fun had ramped up pretty quickly, and she’d almost let him do her right on the lookout wall.
On the drive, it sank in that she was wound up to bursting if she was willing to be out in the open, half naked with a guy she barely knew.
What it was about him that undid her ability to keep herself in check, she had no idea.
Well, other than he was ridiculously hot and was nothing like anything she’d ever put her hands on before.
She didn’t even want to compare him to Darren, because Darren was miles away from the sheer male presence this man had when he walked into a room.
Jake toed open her door and deposited her on her bed, which, she discovered, as she hit it, was neatly made. There were no piles of clothes on one side, clean but jumbled because she never put them away. The comforter was smooth and not a massive lump thrown open each morning.
“What the—” she managed as she looked around her in confusion. Her bed was never made.
Mom.
She must have popped in today, unable to help herself. It bugged Liz sometimes that her mother invaded her space, but it was also comforting that she still wanted to take care of her. Without Brett, Peony needed something to do, someone to take care of.
“I never took you for a neat freak, Liz,” Jake teased as he crawled up the bed until they were nose to nose, his arms braced on either side of her head. “You are so not a tidy kind of girl.”
She ran her hands up his chest, effectively trapped by his body, thrilled as his shoulders flexed under her touch.
Sliding a knee under her thigh he nudged her legs apart, lowering himself against her with a rumbled groan.
His eyes took her in, eyelids lazy and hooded, his intentions clear as he dipped down and grazed his lips over her jaw.
“I’m not,” she replied. “I like it dirty.”
With that, he pressed himself against her, his mouth finding hers. She unfolded around him, nestling him farther into her core, conscious of how delicious it was to have his weight solidly on top of her.
Jake’s hand moved under her shirt and she arched into him, the smooth slide of his hand rippling across her nerve endings.
As she tugged her shirt over her head, another soft growl met her ears as he lowered his lips to her chest, leaving hot trails wherever he kissed.
He moved over her skin slowly, kissing and touching, pulling goose bumps and anticipation into the air.
He was teasing her. She wanted him now, hard and fast. The wait on the drive home had been bad enough, and the slow and soft was going to make her lose her mind. She didn’t like waiting.
“Are all city boys so slow on the draw?” she teased. A soft laugh was the only response she got as he pushed the cup of her bra down and worked a nipple loose, his tongue circling it.
“Yes, that,” she breathed, and reached behind her, unhooking the clasp of her bra, wishing she’d worn a nicer one. Comfort had dictated her underwear choices since her breakup, and her slightly frayed T-shirt bra felt a bit embarrassing.
Not that he noticed, since he’d zeroed in on other things.
“A good meal should be lingered over,” he murmured as he looked up at her.
She laughed at that and pulled on his shirt, which he yanked over his head.
She immediately palmed the solid planes of his shoulders, happy to finally see them and touch them.
Yes, they were definitely her favorite. Well, depending on how the rest of him looked naked, of course.
He kissed his way down her body, sucking along her stomach, hands caressing her legs, pulling them up and around him, gentle squeezes as his fingers dug into her thigh muscles.
It was maddening, this slowness, and she wondered why he wasn’t just getting on with it.
Most guys would have her naked and bent over by now, and she squirmed impatiently.
“Jake, Jesus!” She hissed as he hit a ticklish spot, and his lips curved in a smile against her skin. He paused when she spoke, then kept right on going.
He popped the button on her jeans and yanked them clean off, underwear, socks, and all in one fluid motion. All thoughts left her head with the slight pinch of his teeth grazing over the point of her hip, his tongue soothing right after.
He deftly lifted one leg out and up, exhaled over her center, and looked up at her.
“You still good?” he asked, his voice rough.
“Yes,” she managed, her entire body sparking with the need for his touch, her hand sliding down to his hair, threading in as his cheek rasped against her inner thigh.
She wanted him to touch her, but before she could urge him on, his mouth traveled downward, stilling her breath in her throat. His tongue circled her center, and he dove in, mouth and fingers sliding over her exactly the way she wanted.
Oh my god, that felt amazing.
“Does that feel good?” he asked, and she lifted herself to him as a response, greedy for more, his mouth against her erasing all angst about how much time he was taking.
His fingers filled her, stretching her, and she shook from the quick buildup as he curled them inside of her, his tongue still circling on her clit.
She was going to come, and come hard, which was straining every nerve in her body. It had been too long.
“Yes!” she breathed, bucking into his hand. “Fuck, yes, more.”
A hmm rumbled from him and he licked back up her stomach to her chest, then all the way up her neck with maddening slowness, denying her the release, frustrating her. Finally, he kissed her and forced her to look him in the eye.
“Not yet,” he growled defiantly, taking her hand and guiding it down to his fingers still pumping in and out of her, sliding their joined fingers over her clit. She moaned and arched, the tension almost too much.
“I like making you wait, but I like watching you too. Such a dilemma,” he murmured, his tone teasing.
She needed him inside of her, she needed a release right fucking now. “Then let me solve it,” she said, shaking his hand off hers and reaching for his belt. She had waited long enough.
* * *
The more she wanted to speed things up, the more he wanted to slow down, enjoying her squirming in anticipation.
He’d taken his time on purpose, because he knew the explosion was going to be incredible when she finally gave herself permission to let go.
She was ready for him, wet and hot around his fingers, turning him on so much he could barely contain himself when he tasted her.
But he wanted to enjoy every second, draw it out and learn her.
Her busy hands pushed his jeans off, and in short order she was stroking him, which felt so damned good he nearly let himself pump into her hand and finish right there. He reached for his jeans tossed to the other side of the bed and pulled his wallet out of the pocket.
“Wait. Condom,” he managed to gasp as she swirled her hand over him and fished it out. He hoped it was still okay; it had been in there a while. He’d put one in there when he and Ashley had finally split, to appease friends. Gordon had told him to “get back on the horse.”
Well, he certainly was now. He peered at it critically. The wrapper wasn’t bent or ripped, so he thanked himself for the foresight.
“Do you need to read the instructions, City Boy?” she teased, and he looked back to see her eyebrow lifted.
He bent his head, unable to resist the tight, pink nipple nearest him, and sucked on it, eliciting a beautiful throaty moan from her as she arched her back, her hips meeting his, rubbing against his already rock-hard cock.
God, she was responsive, and she had perfect breasts.
Just enough to get his hand wrapped around but big enough that if she pushed them together, he could—
“Fuck. Now,” she gasped, and his train of thought derailed completely.
She wasn’t used to foreplay or playing in bed.
He’d had an odd thought when he first noticed her impatience that maybe she had never really, truly been given attention, been pleasured.
He aimed to remedy that while he was here because there were so many things he could do to her that would have her vibrating off the damned bed if she let him, and the thought turned him on even more than he already was.
He opened the packet and slipped the condom on quickly, her roaming hands distracting him, her laughter as he gave her a dirty look light and sexy. He grabbed one hand to stop her, placing it firmly around the base of his cock, and leaned into her, his intent now very obvious.
“Show me what you want,” he said, and she lifted to meet him.
The world narrowed in on her eyes, the piercing need in hers echoing into him as he sank into her, gritting his teeth to keep himself in check. She went stiff, trembling slightly, and he lost himself for a moment before he noticed. He stopped.
“Hey, you all right?” he murmured, and she nodded quickly.
“Uh-huh,” she whispered. “I’m, uh, sorry. Been a while.”
“It’s okay,” he murmured, and kissed her gently, waiting for her to be comfortable, slowly sliding in and out of her, each thrust a bit deeper.
It was all he could do to be gentle; he wanted to just let go and dive into her fully, but her reaction told him slow was now more than just play; it was necessary.
He wanted her to tell him when she was ready with her body, not just with her impatience and expectations.
Her urgency had been nerves she was trying to hide, and he could understand that.
When he caught the impatient flare of her nostrils paired with a soft “oh,” he sank into her completely.
“That’s better,” she breathed. She closed her eyes, her hips rolling into him, and he abandoned all restraint, roughly pulling out and thrusting back in, hard. Her resulting moan and grappling to hold him closer to her the exact response he had imagined.
“I want to fuck you. Hard. Do you want that?” he asked, and she gasped a yes in response, a moan following. It was intense, and he dared himself not to look away from her as he let go into her with all he had, sweat sprouting on his forehead from the effort.
The buildup over the past two days was obliterated by the pleasure in the moment, and he was blown away with how good she felt under him.
It was fucking honest and real, and they fit together as if this wasn’t their first time.
They moved in sync, only the next thrust, her moans, her firm grasp on his body, the way she felt surrounding him mattering.
He wanted to fuck her all night just like this, if not for the fact he was holding himself back from coming because he wanted to watch her come first.
He was rewarded a moment later when her cries reached a level he’d never thought she could make, completely at odds with her normal whiskey-fire voice. He angled himself up to watch her, tightening his abs as her muscles clenched around him, her thighs shaking.
“Yes, oh Jesus! Jake, I’m—” she screamed as her hands went above her head, throwing her legs wide, gripping the headboard spindles hard, the entire bed creaking as she came undone underneath him.
He was so close, so damned close, and when she did that, screaming his name, he lost control and within the next three thrusts exploded, his vision blurry as pure pleasure rocketed through his entire body.
He grabbed her waist roughly to hold her up and into him, to keep him deep inside her as he came.
“Liz. Fuck,” he swore, closing his eyes to ward off the dizziness threatening him. They collapsed onto the bed together, breathless and sated.
Her hand floated out lazily, threading fingers through his damp hair, and she wrapped her leg around his waist, the other hand slapping him lightly on his ass.
“You good?” she murmured in his ear. “You gonna die on me now?”
He laughed at that and raised his head to look her in the eye, brushing hair off of her face to see her, utterly spent.
“You gonna let me go?” he countered, which made her giggle, and she released him so he could slide from her and flop to the bed beside her.
They looked at one another. He couldn’t believe that had just happened.
His chest hurt and his hips and knees were complaining, but the rest of his body felt fucking amazing, pulsing with the aftershock of one of the best orgasms he’d had in a long, long time.
“Well. That was something,” she quipped, a half-cocked smile on her face as well. “I may like that more than your cooking.”
“I haven’t even gotten started yet. That was just an amuse-bouche, darlin’,” he drawled in a ridiculous fake Texan accent, trying to hide how overwhelmed he was in the moment.
Her deep, throaty laugh filled the bedroom. He took a steadying breath, pulled her into him, and kissed her.