by Vivian Arend
When she finally grew still, sighing in pleasure, he kept going. Eased the pressure, slowed the tempo of his fingers. But his tongue stayed on her clit. Slow, fleeting licks and feather-light teases, until he felt her beginning to squirm again.
He snuck a peek at her face, floored by the flush on her cheeks, the hazy passion in her eyes. She lightly stroked his hair, bringing a shiver that scurried down his spine and tickled his balls. This was heaven. This was where he belonged, between Pepper Wilson’s thighs, with his lips on her pussy and her fingers in his hair.
“Goddamn it, I’m addicted to you,” he mumbled. A sense of urgency overtook him, spurring him to act, to plunge his fingers inside her again and lap at her clit like a man starved.
Pepper’s moans heated the room and vibrated in his body, and then she was clawing at his hair and moving her hips again, her voice bursting out in a desperate pant. “Oh God, Jack. I’m coming again.”
His laughter rumbled against her pussy as she trembled from another release. He licked until she went limp, her head falling back against the couch, eyes closing, arms dropping to her sides in a useless heap.
Rising to his feet, Jack reached for his belt buckle. “Open your eyes, baby. You’re not gonna want to miss this.”
Those eyelids cranked open, her glazed expression summoning another wave of pure satisfaction. Pepper’s gaze followed the movement of his fingers as he released the belt from the buckle. As he undid his pants, dragged his zipper down. Jack eased the denim down his hips, then reached inside his boxers and slowly withdrew his aching cock.
He arched a brow at her, fingers wrapping around his erection to give it a firm stroke. “Pepper, I’d like you to meet Big Jack. He’s real happy to see you.”
What he got in response was a…noise. Kind of like a snicker. It seemed to start at her toes, traveling all the way up until her lips curled into a full-out smile. She lay relaxed on the couch, and in spite of him standing there with his dick in his hand he had to smile in return.
She curled upward, and one hundred percent mischief flashed at him.
And then? She lost it.
Oh. My. God.
While it was impossible to control the first burst of amusement, she was damn proud that she managed to stifle all of the other things she wanted to say. Had to be the endorphins flooding through her system that were leaving her giddy and foolish and far too reckless.
The man’s tongue was magic. But…he’d named his penis.
Pepper snickered again.
Jack’s cocky stance adjusted slightly. “What?”
She pressed her lips together in an attempt to keep control, but it was impossible. “Big Ja—”
The word disintegrated into a jumble of noises as she pressed a hand over her mouth and looked away.
Beside her, the couch moved as the heavy weight of his body joined her.
“Pepper.” There was disapproval in his tone.
She would’ve given anything to be able to simply say his name. To taunt him back with that little repetition thing they seemed to have going, but all she could think was he’d named his penis. “Big Jaa-aa-ack.”
It was no use. Peals of laughter escaped. One after another. She finally wrapped her arms around her waist to try to get back under control. Her stomach hurt, and there were tears running down her cheeks. She chanced a glance to her left. Jack was staring at the ceiling, a look of infinite patience on his face, the rest of his…anticipation…muted.
Pepper felt guilty, or she would have, if she could stop laughing.
He leaned over her, one arm on either side of the back of the couch. “You’re pissing me off.”
“Sorry,” she squeaked, gasping for air. “And I apologize to Big Jack as well—”
She slapped her hands over her mouth again, desperate to stop. A moment of panic snuck in. She’d worried about being less experienced when maybe what she should have been worrying about was being considered too childish for Jack’s taste.
Laughing at his equipment certainly wasn’t a good way to make an impression, but God—
There was no way to stop.
“You’re impossible.” Strong arms snuck around her body, and Pepper found herself moving through the air as Jack carried her down the hall. She grabbed ahold of his shoulders gratefully, burying her face against his chest and letting her laughter fly in the hopes she could stop sometime before he got too annoyed.
She wasn’t sure where he was taking her. Bedroom, probably. Sure enough, when he pushed open a door, her quick peek revealed his king-sized bed, a deep burgundy quilt pulled military neat over its surface. The familiar sight helped dull her amusement. She drew another couple of gasping breaths to calm herself, careful to keep her gaze lowered to the floor in case meeting his eyes set her off again.
Jack lowered her to a cushioned surface—not the bed. She glanced down to find herself seated on the edge of an exercise bench. “Workout time?” she joked.
“I think so.” Two steps later he was straddling her, his muscular legs trapping her in position on the padded surface of the bench. “It seems you’ve gotten over your hesitation.”
“If you’d just told me you’d named your penis right off the bat…” Pepper squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth to stop laughing all over again.
He clicked his tongue. “Pepper, Pepper, Pepper. You are one hell of a woman.”
She took a final deep breath and looked up to see him hovering over her, no annoyance in his expression, just a contented grin and a whole lot of full-fledged one hundred percent American hero. Stark naked.
And carrying a fully engaged and loaded cock, and at that moment she didn’t care what he’d called it. She wanted it. Any way she could get it.
“You’re very talented.”
“I told you I was,” Jack gloated.
She made a rude noise. “I was talking about how fast you stripped.”
One of Jack’s brows went skyward as he leaned over, his abdomen tightening, emphasizing the to-die-for ridges of muscles she couldn’t wait to examine with her tongue. “You were laughing for quite a while. Trust me, I had time to do a lot of things.”
Her gaze dropped. “There are a few things left undone.”
“My cock?”
“Big Ja—” She swallowed hard. “Nope. Can’t say it.”
“Dammit, Pepper. I was just trying to make you feel more comfortable.”
She wrapped her hands around his naked hips, smoothing her fingertips over his rock-solid buttocks. His cock was right there between them, and she was all too aware of it. “I don’t need childish reassurances. I need you.”
Before he could speak, she slipped one hand forward and wrapped it around the base of the shaft, sliding her hand upward carefully as her eyes locked with his.
A couple of strokes later his jaw had tightened. She was getting to him in a whole new way. Or in an old way they could finally satisfy.
His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing lightly over her lower lip. “I need you, too.”
She didn’t need a roadmap to know where they should go. She stuck out her tongue and licked his thumb, stealing the opportunity to wrap her lips around it and suck lightly.
The heat in his eyes flared, and he moved his hand, as if fucking his thumb into her mouth. “Oh yeah, that’s what I like to see. Gorgeous.”
He pulled back, escaping with a soft plop. He adjusted his stance, and Pepper leaned over, extending her tongue to greet the tip of his cock. The tortured moan of satisfaction that escaped his lips was all the reward she’d been looking for. She played, twirling her tongue over the smooth head for a second before closing her lips.
“Hell. It feels so good when you do that.” Jack tunneled his fingers into her hair, pulling it back into a ponytail and holding it with his hand. His gaze locked on her lips as she rocked over him, sucking and swirling and having a damn good time. “Stop, Pepper. This isn’t how we’re going to end things today.”
She p
ulled her head back, smacking her lips. “That’s right, you’re so old if I get you off now, you’ll never ever get it up again tonight.”
“Brat,” Jack snapped, but he was smiling. “It’s not a case of not being able, it’s that I’m dying to get inside you.”
Pepper shrugged, leaning back slightly on the workout bench. “You’re the one who put me here.”
“Just until you settled down.” His strong fingers crept past her cheek. “Get on the bed.”
“Assume the position?”
His eyes flashed. “You have no idea.”
Oh, really? “Well now, Jack. You have secrets I don’t know about? Should I check the bed frame for buckle straps and chains?”
She rose to her feet, and his gaze swept over her body. Lingered on her chest, where her breasts moved erratically as her breathing grew unsteady. That expression in his eyes—she’d taunted him for days in this same apartment, and she’d seen lust on his face before.
The man drawing her into his arms was just a wee bit more intense than she’d expected. She scrambled to find some kind of joke to make, but it was impossible. As he laid her on the bed and trapped her there with his body, it was as if all the laughter had escaped moments earlier. All that was left was dark, intense passion.
Jack wrapped his fingers around her wrists and pulled her arms over her head. He stared at her for one brief moment, just long enough to scald her with his eyes.
“Keep your arms there,” he commanded.
Pepper didn’t even think of disobeying. Her fingers moved as if triggered, fisting the sheets.
He slipped down her body, hands moving in a slow, mesmerizing caress. When he lowered his head to her breasts to tease and torment, Pepper let out a sigh of satisfaction, then focused on all the happy endorphins that were dancing all over again.
“I’m ready,” she muttered softly.
He ignored her, continuing to bring her back up. His hands far more gentle on her clit this time, which she was thankful for, but his touch was relentless until she was squirming under the dual contact to her breasts and sex. It was as if he had more than two hands—and another dirty thought spun wildly through her brain as she momentarily imagined having four hands and two mouths working her over.
That had been a fantasy she’d dreamed of for a long time, even tried to reach for—with disastrous results—but maybe it wasn’t necessary. Maybe she just needed someone as talented as Jack because whoa, Nelly, the man was everywhere.
Everywhere, except where she needed him most.
“Fuck me,” she begged.
Jack lifted his head from her breasts, examining her face for a brief second before making as if to roll away.
Shit. She’d forgotten to mention this before. “You don’t need a condom.”
He swore, every muscle in his body going taut as he hesitated. “Dammit, Pepper—”
She tugged on his shoulders, wiggling underneath him until the heated length of his shaft nestled once more against her pussy. “Birth control, and I’m clean. I swear.”
He ignored her, except for the stream of curses escaping his lips. He was gone for a moment, rolling a condom onto his shaft. Crawling between her legs and holding himself over her torso as his hips settled over hers. “I’m clean too but we’ll talk later. Put your hands over your head now.”
Pepper snapped her arms upward. “Don’t stop,” she ordered.
He rocked back and forth a couple of times, sliding his cock over her clit before finally pressing the thick head to her opening. She held her breath, pulling her legs open and waiting. He was right there, the broad length just inside her passage, and still the damn man didn’t move.
Until he did. All in one motion, his hips riding forward until she was completely filled with his cock. “Holy jiminy, yes.”
Jack lowered himself to his elbows, their torsos touching as he stared into her eyes and thrust again. “Jesus. So. Damn. Good. Your pussy feels like heaven around me.”
The temptation to move her arms was strong. “Jack. I want to hold you.”
He thrust harder, the bed rocking under him, and a moan of satisfaction escaped her lips. Fine. If she couldn’t touch him, she’d just have to deal. She tightened her grip on the sheets and focused on the parts of him she could feel. It was more than enough, especially when he tilted his hips, grinding his pelvis over her mound and hitting her clit on every rock.
Wet heat enveloped her nipple a split second before his teeth nipped hard, and an electric jolt shot through her. She gazed down happily, no energy to do anything as his strokes grew quicker, the tingling in her core rising toward the moment when—
She broke. Her orgasm rolled into her not like a wave but like being slammed into the sand then shoved down the side of a dune. She couldn’t breathe, it was that damn intense. Her body tightened around him and she let out a low cry.
“Oh, hell, yes.” Jack stopped with his hips locked with hers, his cock stretching her passage. His hips jerked helplessly, the slick of sweat on his skin red hot under her fingers.
Somewhere in the past moments she’d let go of the sheets and grabbed him, and she smiled.
Holy shit.
He vanished briefly while her head was still spinning. Then two hundred or whatever pounds of sweaty, satisfied man lowered himself onto her as Jack pressed his face to her neck and nuzzled affectionately. She dragged her fingers through his hair, amazed that she could breathe.
She went willingly when he rolled them over and placed her on his chest. Sprawled on top of Jack was her new favorite position in the entire world. “I’m going to have a nap now,” she announced.
“Fine by me.”
A tiny whisper of amusement snuck in. Sated from sex, she might not be thinking as straight as she should, but she couldn’t resist.
“Hey, Jack?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to name your cock—something more appropriate to its fine and upstanding abilities.”
He sighed. A long, exasperated, oh-so-patient sound. “Give it a rest, Pepper.”
She giggled for a second. “No, this is obviously very important to you. You just need something a little snappier. I’d love to give it some thought.”
“You’re so generous.”
“Ain’t I just?”
He was stroking his fingers through her hair, a relaxing, intimate move. Pepper dropped the topic, but she’d bring it up again sometime.
Right now she was too contented to keep teasing.
Chapter Eight
Jack rocked his chair as he looked around the boardroom at DreamMakers. There was a warm spot of satisfaction in his gut, not only from being the first into the room for their weekly planning meeting and getting to pick his favorite chair. Nope. His happiness went a lot deeper than scoring the best seat in the room.
“You’d better get rid of that expression before Parker walks into the room if you know what’s good for you,” Dean said, plopping into the chair next to him.
“What expression?” Jack asked innocently.
Dean leaned forward, his eyes lighting up with amusement. “You look well fucked.”
He didn’t need to answer. Dean’s jealousy was obvious.
Especially when his friend double-checked to make sure they were still alone, then lowered his voice. “She’s a wildcat in the sack, isn’t she?”
“I’m far too much of a gentleman to kiss and tell.”
Dean made a rude noise. “Come on, just one little breadcrumb.”
Jack shook his head. “Why are you asking me for dirty details? I thought you had a hot date last night. Did something go wrong?”
His friend leaned back in his chair. “It was a little too clingy. She didn’t only ask about the next date, she wanted to know what my plans were for the fall.”
Kiss of death in a relationship with Dean. “I take it you told her you were liable to be going wheels-up at any time?”
“You know it. Bullshit on long-term planning.”
Dean patted the leather boardroom table in front of him. “Only girl I’m interested in that far into the future is DreamMakers.”
“Married to your job?” Gillian strode into the office, her perfect posture carrying her to settle in the seat next to Dean. “Why, that doesn’t sound at all like you.”
“I’m very dedicated to DreamMakers,” Dean insisted vigorously.
“Uh-huh, I’m sure you are. As evidenced by your attention to detail and the sacrifices you make. Like going undercover into…” She glanced down at a card in her hand. “Enticing Massages by Merrill.” She grinned at Jack, ignoring the sputtering noises coming from Dean. “Good to see you again, sir.”
“Hey. How come he still gets a sir, and I don’t anymore?” Dean complained.
“Because you asked me not to call you that!” Gillian said in exasperation. She rested her elbows on the table as the DreamMakers staff slipped in one after the other. “Besides, I could never go back to calling you sir now that I’ve seen you naked.”
Didi jerked to a halt. The older woman was dressed entirely in neon, rainbow colors alternating from her bright orange sneakers all the way up to the garish pink bow in her hair. “Do I even want to hear this?”
“Do any of us want to hear this?” Parker asked with a frown. “Right now, I mean. I want to hear all the details later, but this is supposed to be a staff meeting.”
Dean shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. “It wasn’t anything important. The last recon we did had some complications.”
Jack’s curiosity was at an all-time high. “Are you blushing? My God, you are.” He glanced over at Gillian. “Okay, now you have to tell us. In the interest of staff well-being I need to know what happened.”
She seemed to be fighting laughter, and a part of him wished she’d let it loose. He suspected Gillian Reyes was a firecracker under her professional surface, which had been more or less confirmed by their other new hire Colby, who knew one of the men in Gillian’s former unit. Her old teammate claimed that Gillian had fit right in among the all-male crew, shooting the shit with the boys and drinking more than one of them under the table when the unit was on leave.