by Amy Brent
***
Jonah
I felt Sabrina shudder in my arms as I angled my mouth over hers to deepen the kiss and for the first time in over a year and a half, everything felt right. For the first time, I felt like I was finally back where I belonged. It felt like coming home.
The anger was gone, melting into a razor-sharp desire that had me pulling her close, crushing her to me but it still wasn’t close enough. It would never be close enough. The thought had me kissing her harder, faster. Biting her lower lip between my teeth in that way I knew drove her insane.
I couldn’t resist her. I could never resist. Not from the first moment we met in that dive bar just outside of town. Not any moment since then. I knew it was a lost cause to try, and damn it, I didn’t want to.
It felt so good to hold her in my arms, to feel the familiar fire that had always burned like wildfire between us sear away all the lonely night and empty beer bottles that I’d tried and failed to drown her in.
Need, sweet and sharp pounded through me and I didn’t think. I couldn’t think. All I could do was give in. All the defenses I’d spent building over the past year crumbled to dust, swept away by her kiss, her touch. Her taste. Honey and spice all mixed up together to make something as unique as she was.
My hand were moving, my fingers tracing down her rib cage until they reached the hem of her t-shirt and then sliding up and under. I pushed the fabric out of the way as I went and nearly groaned out loud as I felt nothing but bare skin.
“Fuck, Sabrina. You’re not wearing a bra?”
I felt her shrug, and then her words spoken softly against my lips, “It was still wet from last night.”
The sound of the word wet spoken in her sultry, sinful voice made my knees go weak and for a moment I wondered If I would hit the floor.
“Jesus. You’re going to kill me.” But the words were lost in our kiss, swallowed down right along with the panting breaths and moans of need. I cupped each breast in one hand, feeling the plump fullness before narrowing my touch to the already hard peaks of her nipples.
I teased them with my fingers, just as my tongue teased hers. A dance that felt as familiar to me as my own skin. Sabrina gasped into my mouth and gladly drank in the sound. Every murmur and sound of pleasure and desire just spurred on my own.
With one frantic motion I lifted the t-shirt, pulling it over her head and latched onto one nipple, my fingers still teasing the other. Sabrina’s hands fisted in my hair, pulling me even closer and I gratefully obliged.
All I wanted to do was to taste her, to tease her, to feel her coming apart in my arms. I knew exactly how beautiful she was, the sight of her flushed cheek and heavy lidded as her whole body tightened around me like a vice.
Everything inside me snapped at the thought and I reached for the button of the jeans that were all but painted on her body but she was wriggling away. I reached out again, my body in full control and my mind little more than a pulsing red haze of want but she pushed my hands away.
“Jonah, hold on…I think…I have to go.”
I shook my head, trying to understand. She was looking behind her, following something with those dark, fathomless eyes of hers as she pushed her shirt back into place
“Sabrina, I–.” I trailed off. I didn’t know what to say. Most of my thoughts were still focused on the painfully hard erection pressing against the zipper of my jeans.
“Damn it. I’m going to lose him,” She shot me a look full of regret, and another unreadable emotion, and then she was gone.
I don’t know how long I stood there, my whole-body aching, waiting for the rest of me to figure out that it wasn’t going to happen so I could walk out of the back office without embarrassing myself or giving Mrs. Markel the show of her life.
I snorted, rolling my eyes at the thought but they landed on the black shadow on the floor a few feet away. I picked it up, recognizing the bag Sabrina had slung over her shoulder. The bag that had fallen unheeded to the ground during that kiss.
Kiss. It was such a weak word to describe what had happened between us. It had been so much more than just a mere kiss. With a sigh, I grabbed the bag but stopped when something slid from the open flap in the front.
Curious, I picked it up, my eyes widening on the small pocket sized notebook. Sabrina had never been without one of these things. Before I could stop myself, I flipped it open. I stared at her chicken scratch handwriting. It was nearly incomprehensible but I wanted to see it more than read it. Another part of her that had been missing from my life for so long.
I flipped to the last few pages and something familiar caught my eye. Notes about the bed and breakfast. About Coral Springs. And something about following a ten-thousand-dollar bounty.
Bounty? I shook my head, more confused now than before. Sabrina was a private investigator. She wasn’t a bounty hunter, was she? But according to the notes that’s exactly what she was doing here.
Worry filled me. I knew better than most just how resourceful Sabrina could be but it could be a dangerous job, chasing after criminals. My thoughts racing, I took both bag and notebook and headed after her. But by the time I got out into the hallway, she was already long gone, and with no clue to tell me where she could have taken off to.
“I’ll just wait until she gets back,” I muttered to myself, glad I didn’t run into any of the other guests. I’ll wait for her, and maybe I’ll take a cold shower while I do. Or three. I wasn’t sure even that would be enough.
Chapter 4
Sabrina
“Where is it? Where is it?” I wasn’t even aware of the panicked words falling out of my mouth as I tore through the bedroom, searching frantically for my notebook. “Fuck. Where the hell is it?”
Mentally, I traced back, trying to remember every step I took, every place I’d been throughout the day. Waking up the room. Going downstairs to the dining room. Breakfast with the gossip girls. Following Jonah to the back office. And then after…
My cheeks heated as the memories filled my mind unbidden. Memories of Jonah’s mouth on mine. His all-consuming kiss. His hands touching me, pulling me close against his hard body. That was the problem. As soon as I started thinking about Jonah and that wildfire kiss every other thought just flew out of my head. I could hardly focus.
“He’s a distraction,” I said to myself and the empty bedroom, trying to make my voice sound firm, “He’s a distraction I don’t need.” I just wished it was that easy to make myself believe it. Because the truth was, that kiss and unlocked something deep inside me. A desire that had never gone away, had never faded. I’d just shoved into a box and hid it in the corner of my mind and now that it was out in the open I was terrified I would never be able to lock it up again.
I glanced around the room hopelessly. It looked like a war zone. I’d completely torn it apart looking for my notebook but the knot of dread in my stomach made me feel pretty certain I wasn’t going to find it.
“Well, that sucks.” I huffed on an irritated sigh but before I could figure out plan B there was a knock at the door.
Still irritated I stomped towards the door and flung it open, already ready with a tirade for whoever had the gall to interrupt my fruitless search. But the words got stuck on my tongue as my gaze landed on Jonah, his smug expression, and the object he was holding over my head, waving back and forth teasingly.
“My notebook!” I cried out, filled with instant relief at seeing the beat up brown cover. I must have forgotten it behind after rushing from the office. I reached for it but Jonah easily held it out of reach. “What the hell, Jonah? Give me the damn thing.”
But instead of giving in to my demand he sauntered inside the room, closing the door behind him, all the while holding it up in the air. He sent me another smug look that made me want to kick him in the shin but I stopped myself.
“Do you know what this is?” He finally asked and I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, Jonah. I know what that is. It
’s my very important notebook. And I would really appreciate it back now.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No, it’s not just a notebook.” He waggled his eyebrows at me and I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes again, “It’s a bargaining chip.”
“A bargaining chip for what?” My question was thick with suspicion as I watched him walk into the middle of the room and then stop, but when he turned back to me the smug smile was gone and all I could see in his face was an honesty that caught me off guard.
“For answers.” He just looked at me, open and waiting, and it was almost too much. I could practically hear the cracks in my defenses breaking apart and I knew all it would take was the slightest bit of pressure from him to have them crumbling down around me. Jonah had always been my weakness.
So, I evaded. “Answers for what?” I tried to make my voice as nonchalant as possible, looking at anywhere but him. He’d always been able to tell when I was lying.
“I saw your notes–.”
“Jonah! You had no right!”
“A bounty hunter, Sabrina? Really?” Jonah scoffed and I crossed my arms across my chest, barely even aware of the defensive move. “What are you thinking? What about your Private eye business?”
“It got too…messy.” I finally said, trying to find easy answers to give him to stop his questions. “Too personal.”
“Well, I know how much you hate personal,” The way Jonah said the word left no doubt in my mind to what he was talking about. And it wasn’t about my job.
“I was tired of telling wives that their husbands were cheating. And telling husbands that their wives were cheating. I just needed a change, alright?”
“So you decided to become a bounty hunter?”
“It’s not that different from what I was already doing, Jonah. Tracking people down. Finding out their dirty little secrets. And making sure they paid.”
“It’s a lot different, Sabrina!” Jonah stared at me wide eyed, “You’re not going after an unfaithful spouse. You’re going after criminals! Like the one you followed here.”
“I didn’t–.”
“I saw the notes. Granted I couldn’t read most of it but I saw Coral Springs. And this place. And the ten-thousand-dollar bounty on Mr. Criminal.”
“His name isn’t Mr. Criminal.” I snorted, reaching for the notebook again but he still held it out of reach.
“What is his name? Is he staying here? A guest here?’
“I’m not going to tell you his name.” I shook my head, hating the rejected look on Jonah’s face, but I couldn’t tell him the truth. The truth was dangerous in this line of work. The last thing I needed was Jonah playing the hero and scaring him off again.
“Just tell me, Sabrina!”
“So you can do, what exactly? I have a job to do. And my job is to get this guy and turn him in.”
“I…I can call the cops. I can–.”
“You can’t do anything, Jonah. Just let me do my job and then I’ll be gone, I promise.” I saw my words hit him, I watched him flinch and then he was leaning close.
“What if I don’t want you gone, Sabrina?” He asked, and the raw emotion in his voice tore me apart inside, “What if I want you right here beside me? What if that’s what I’ve always wanted.”
“Please, Jonah. Don’t–.”
“What happened last time, Sab? What happened between us? Why did you leave me?”
I opened my mouth, searching for an answer but the words wouldn’t come. I looked up into Jonah’s eyes, and I was lost. All the need, all the desire, all the love that I’d kept buried away for so long exploded like a dam bursting, flooding my system. I was drowning, and I didn’t care. I was tired of fighting. Tired of pretending.
Like two magnets drawn together, he pulled at me with a force that I couldn’t ignore and couldn’t resist even if I had wanted to.
His kiss shattered through me and my mouth opened on a gasp of pleasure and pain. Pleasure from the taste of him, the feel of him holding me so close against him I could hardly breathe. Pain from the memories.
It had been over a year and a half since we had been together but it could have been yesterday, the memory of him was still so sharp. He’d haunted me in my dreams ever since the day I’d left Coral Springs, but this wasn’t a dream.
Jonah was real and solid and warm against my body and every nerve ending was electric with the feel of his touch. His mouth never left mine and the notebook he’d held in his hand dropped to the floor, forgotten. It wasn’t important.
He speared his fingers through my hair, holding my head at the right angle so he could deepen the kiss and I teased his tongue with mine, drawing him even closer. We breathed the same air, our lips never parting as my hands traced his body and found their way under the hem of his long-sleeved shirt. I needed to touch bare skin.
Impatience hit me like a whirlwind and suddenly I was moving, writhing against him but he was going to slow for me. Desire drove me forward, my hands grasping at my own clothes, desperate to feel closer to him.
I ripped my t-shirt off over my head, breaking the kiss long enough to get the offending fabric off and toss it to the floor. I stopped when I heard Jonah’s gasp.
“Damn it, Sabrina. You’re still not wearing a bra.”
I shrugged, a sudden burst of laughter threatening to slip past my lips but then I saw the heat burning in the depths of his eyes making them look like emeralds and the need was back. Heavy and insistent, pooling like honey between my thighs as I pushed Jonah back towards the bed.
We were both tearing at his clothes as we went. He tripped trying to kick off his shoes but it didn’t slow us down and his shirt and jeans soon followed, flying through the air to land in a heap next to my t-shirt. By the time we got to his bed he was wearing nothing but his boxer briefs and a soft seductive smile that drove me wild.
I shoved him back onto the mattress and he let out a rough chuckle that shivered down my spine.
“You’re still impatient.” He said, his voice deep and gravely and I shot him a quick grin but I wasn’t about to be diverted. Besides, he wasn’t wrong.
My mouth landed on the smooth skin of his shoulder and his scent surrounded me, masculine and warm and comforting and terribly familiar. I trailed kisses down his chest, batting his hands away when he tried to direct my movements and he gave in with another small, lopsided smile.
His gaze burned into me as I made my way down his body, saying hello to every part of him. I alternated kisses and small nips, soothing them with my tongue before foraying further.
Finally, I reached my destination, pausing at the hem of his boxers. I shot Jonah a devilish look through a fringe of lashes, savoring the quick inhale of breath as I slowly pulled them down his hips, not stopping until he was totally, wonderfully naked beneath me.
It was my turn to lose my breath as I stared down at him. He really did take my breath away. The memories of him were nothing compared to the real thing but my gaze caught on a faint scar that spanned across the right side of his ribcage.
I traced it with one finger, grinning as he trembled underneath me.
“I don’t remember this. What happened?”
Jonah shrugged against my touch.
“Accident. At work. Months ago.”
I grinned at him. His voice was tense and he couldn’t string more than two words together. I shot him a teasing look.
“You sure you didn’t get into a fight over some girl’s honor?”
Jonah’s expression fell, growing serious but he didn’t answer right away. Instead, he reached out, cupping my chin in one hand and tilting my face up towards his until our gazes met. I was trapped by him. I couldn’t look away.
“There hasn’t been any other girl, Sabrina.” He said gruffly, “No one serious. Not since you.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I couldn’t put into words the bittersweet tenderness that swept through
me at his words, and more than that, at the look in his eyes that told me he meant exactly what he’d said. I could only show him.
There was no more hesitation. No more teasing as I moved back down his body and drew his hard erection into the warm cavern of my mouth in one smooth movement. I sucked him deep, giving him everything I had, everything that I couldn’t say in words as I stroked him with my tongue.
I lost myself in the rhythm, feeling an answering pull deep inside me each time I sucked him as far into my mouth as I could. I couldn’t fit all of him but I wrapped the fingers of one hand around his base, squeezing in time with the movements of my lips but only a few moments later Jonah was pulling me up.
“What?” I asked, my voice low and sultry as he gave me a heated look.
“I can’t wait any longer.” As he spoke, he reached for his jeans on the floor and pulled out his wallet, then a small foil packet from that. A second later he was rolling on a condom with shaking fingers. “Your mouth feels real good, baby. But I need to fuck you. Now.”
He didn’t wait for me to answer either, just grabbed my hips and pulled me up and over him until I was straddling his thighs. His cock jerked just beneath me and it was too tempting to resist.
Slowly, inch by inch, Jonah’s cock stretched me wide as I sank down until my hips met his. All of him was swallowed by my pussy and for a moment I just stayed there, holding myself as still as I could, both of us moaning in unison at the incredible feel of our bodies joining together.