“Very happy to comply,” he said, freeing the last button. Almost too slowly, he spread her pajama top wide open. Shooting her a look of hunger mixed with pure anticipation, he placed his hands under her hips and pushed up, drawing her torso toward him. Melanie dragged a breath deep into her lungs when his mouth landed on her stomach. His tongue circled and tasted, and her breaths became more ragged.
His mouth moved up, until he reached her breasts and found her nipples. A languid glide of his tongue brought forth a moan; a second slide sent a series of shivers cascading through her body. One breath shuddered out of him and then another as he moved on to her other nipple. Melanie ran her hands along his back, finding the hem of his shirt, and reached underneath. His skin was warm and smooth, his muscles hard and tight.
“Shirt off,” she mumbled as she tugged. Lifting his head, he helped her remove the shirt and then returned to his slow exploration of her body. But the sight of him, his washboard-flat stomach and the lean, muscular beauty of his chest, deepened the fire already burning through her until every inch radiated with heat, with longing.
Another long lick, and Jace kissed and caressed his way to the skin just above the waistband of her pajama bottoms. She moaned again and closed her eyes, allowing herself to sink into the moment, into the sensations that Jace ignited with every touch, every kiss. Her senses expanded in a rush of awareness that seemed so much bigger and brighter than anything she’d ever known.
His hands were on her breasts, his thumbs rubbing her nipples in small, breath-stealing circles. Bending her legs at the knees, she tightened her thighs around him and fluttered her fingers into his hair. Never in her life had she felt so alive.
“You are so very beautiful, Melanie,” Jace said, his voice rich with his want for her. Moving back up her body, he cupped her cheeks with his hands and brought his lips to hers. He kissed her softly at first, but then with more intensity, more passion. Hell, more everything. Without breaking the kiss, Jace slid his hand down her belly until he reached her waistband, where he dipped his fingers, feeling for her panties.
She gasped when his finger pushed inside, stroking her, feeling for himself the strength of her desire. Tendrils of pleasure snaked up and down her body, pulsated through her blood and caused her muscles to shiver and shake. But it wasn’t enough.
Not nearly enough.
Breaking the kiss, Melanie pushed her hips hard against Jace’s hand. “You’re killing me here, Jace. I think the foreplay portion of our evening should come to a close.”
She whimpered when his fingers found a particularly sensitive spot. Giving her the wickedest of grins, Jace said, “Is that so?”
“Mmm-hmm. As in, it should end now.”
“See? It isn’t so tough being in charge.” Jace winked, leaned in and gave her another scorching kiss. “Anything else you’d like to say?”
“Condoms. Bathroom. Under the sink,” Melanie said in a gasp of mashed together syllables. “And hurry.”
He did. When he returned, she’d already removed her pajama bottoms, and she was more than happy to assist him in getting his jeans off, one leg at a time. That act alone ramped up her courage, gave her the bravery she couldn’t find earlier. His gaze held hers, steady and sure, while he slid on the condom.
Balancing herself on her knees, Melanie put her hands on Jace’s shoulders and pushed until he was flat on his back. She gave him what she hoped was a saucy wink and moved her body into place, straddling him. “I think I rather like being in control. Who would’ve guessed?”
“I’m not surprised in the least,” he said thickly. With that, he gripped her waist with one hand and used the other to pull her to him. Her nipples hardened when they grazed along the firm plane of his chest, and the ball of heat in her belly flared through her limbs, through every cell in her body, when they kissed.
She found the position she wanted—needed, really—guided him there, inhaled a long, deep breath and slowly sank down. Her head reeled back as he entered her, as her body softened and accepted him, and then tightened around him. They moved together as one, her hands clasped in his, their eyes locked on each other. It was a level of intimacy she hadn’t known existed: powerful and gentle, decadent and sweet, calm and earth-shattering, all at once.
Shivers danced along her skin, pleasure and need churned in her veins, and as their pace quickened, so did their breaths. Jace let go of her hands and grasped her hips. She pushed down against his thrust, hard. The muscles in her body tensed, held and exploded in a tidal wave of sensations, one after another, growing in strength, until every part of her quivered from exhausted satisfaction.
Jace stilled, caught in that breathtaking second before everything synchronized into being. Melanie watched him, loving what she saw, loving that she could bring him the same pleasure he’d given her. He closed his eyes, and a groan spilled from his throat. His body tensed beneath her for one beat, two beats and then a third, before relaxing in satiated bliss.
Drooping her entire body forward, she rested her weight on his chest and tried to calm her breathing. He cracked one eye open, gave her a lazy, sinful smile and tousled her hair with his hand. “So freaking beautiful,” he murmured. “Exquisite.”
She didn’t argue with him or tease him about having his vision checked. If he saw her that way in this minute, then she’d accept it… Hell, she’d revel in it. “Thank you. You’re beautiful, too, Jace. In a manly sort of way, of course.”
“Of course.” A silent question popped into his expression. He voiced it by asking, “Are you about to send me home?”
“No,” she said softly, still stunned by the sheer power of what had just occurred. “You can stay over. I mean, if you want to.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.” Tousling her hair again, he said, “Come here, Mel. Let me hold you.”
So she crawled off of him and into his waiting arms. They closed around her tightly, securely, as if she was precious and he couldn’t bear the thought of her being too far away.
Silly notion, of course. Jace was a smart man. Smart enough to have learned that a woman liked to be held after sex. Smart enough to know that doing so allowed a man to fall asleep faster, probably with less pillow talk. She shouldn’t assume that this was anything more than that. Regardless, she wasn’t going to overthink a damn thing. She wasn’t going to overanalyze, either. Not tonight, anyway.
Right now, her only plan was to spend the night in Jace’s arms.
Jace stretched out on his couch to read through his latest draft for “Bachelor on the Loose” and tried to ignore the swirl of nausea attacking his gut. He wished to hell that he hadn’t learned about the Gazette possibly being sold, because that information was the only thing stopping him from being done with the column once and for all.
But he couldn’t let Kurt down. He was more than the boss: he was Jace’s mentor. Had been since the summer Jace had interned at the paper, back when he was still in college. Kurt had offered him a job before the internship even ended, on the stipulation of graduation. Jace had been a Gazette employee ever since. He owed the guy, simple as that.
Swearing, he saved and closed the file. He’d written about a supposed Friday night out with an innocent-looking vanilla who’d turned out to be anything but innocent. Their fictionalized date included the normal club scene where a local band was playing—Jace had checked to be sure the band actually did play two nights ago—followed up by a nightcap at his “date’s” apartment. Where she then proceeded to shock him by wanting to reenact the scene between Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke from 9 1/2 Weeks.
The article held all of Jace’s trademark humor. It had the normal innuendo he had to rely on to toe the invisible line between sexy and raunchy that was necessary for a paper like the Gazette. Kurt would love it, as would Jace’s audience. Melanie, though… God, he couldn’t stand
the thought of her reading this and believing it to be true. Especially now. Especially after the amazing night they had shared.
So, okay. He’d push past his stubbornness and tell her the truth before the article was printed. He hoped he’d have built up enough trust by then for her to believe him. He had time. This one wouldn’t appear for almost two and a half weeks, and he wasn’t quite as concerned about next week’s column. After all, when that date supposedly took place, he hadn’t yet slept with Melanie. Sure, she wouldn’t like it any better than those that came before, but she wouldn’t believe that he’d left her bed for another woman’s. That was essential.
He refused to hurt her that way, refused to let her think that their night together meant so little to him. Not when the opposite was true. Not when he’d never experienced anything like he’d experienced with Melanie. He still didn’t know what to make of it, to be honest. The sex itself was fantastic, but that hadn’t surprised him. With the physical chemistry between them, he’d known a long time ago that they’d be fantastic together.
But sex with Melanie went beyond the physical. There had been this raw, emotional charge between them that he hadn’t expected. He felt it even now, jumping around inside of him like a lightning rod. It scared the hell out of him, because it erased any of the doubts that Melanie might or might not be the woman he wanted. She was that woman. And she now had the power to annihilate him, to crush him beneath her heel and walk away with his heart in shreds.
That was a power no other woman had ever had over Jace.
And damn, she was confusing him. Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, she’d played the part of a woman interested in him. Since then, she’d steered every one of their conversations toward work-related topics. But she also hadn’t pushed him away when he’d kissed her after leaving the courthouse on Friday afternoon. So he wasn’t quite sure what to think. Still, he worried that she was in cooldown mode, raring up to end things before they barely got started.
His cell rang, interrupting his mental stroll down the worst-case-scenario path. It was his brother. Jace answered with, “Good timing, Grady. I was ten seconds away from bashing my head against the wall.”
Grady laughed. “I thought you finished the renovations on the house?”
“Did.” Jace had purchased his house as a fixer-upper, and over the past several months had finally fixed up the place. “But that’s not what I’m referring to. Anyway, what’s up?”
“Couple of things. First, we read the article you sent us,” Grady said slowly, “and we talked it over, and we’re good with you printing it.”
“Olivia, too? I worried about how she’d react.” After reviewing the drunk-driving article again, Jace had sent it on to Grady and Olivia. He figured it should be their decision whether Cody appeared in the article or not. “Reading it had to be tough.”
“Yup. It was. But we… Hell, Jace, we’re both impressed with what you did.” Grady’s voice lowered and cracked. “Sharing this is difficult, but if it somehow helps even one person avoid the pain we’ve experienced, then it’s worth it. So we want you to go ahead with it.”
A knot of emotion closed Jace’s throat. He swallowed to push it away. “Thanks, bro,” he said, forcing his voice to remain even. “That’s originally why I wrote it. But I also wanted to honor Cody and others who…others like him.”
“That comes through loud and clear. You’ll let us know when it will be printed?”
“I don’t know that it will be,” Jace cautioned. “Have to run it by Kurt first. But, yeah, if I get the go-ahead, I’ll let you know.”
“He’ll print it. You did a damn fine job, Jace.” Grady cleared his throat. “Now, about this Valentine’s Day thing. Olivia’s all for the idea, and while I’m less inclined to agree, she’s managed to talk me into it. So I suppose you can run with that, too.”
Jace laughed. His brother was all about the romance but wasn’t so fond of broadcasting that he was a softie. “You have to pass Melanie’s test first. She hasn’t yet agreed to include family members.”
Grady’s obvious sigh of relief came through the line. “So I still have a shot of getting out of this?”
“That you do. I, ah, was thinking of bringing Melanie to Mom and Dad’s one night for dinner.”
Grady whistled. “Finally going to introduce her to the family, huh? Mom will be thrilled.”
Thrilled was an understatement. Karen Foster would be beside herself over Jace bringing an actual woman home. He’d never done that before. “Think you and Olivia can be there, too?”
“I don’t see why not. We’re there a couple of times a week as it is. Give me a call when you know the day.”
Jace smiled. Plain and simple, his family rocked. “Will do.”
Ending the call, Jace stood and stretched. His stomach grumbled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten. He put together a quick lunch and returned to the living room. Now that he had Grady and Olivia’s approval, he sent the Cody article to Kurt. He hoped that Grady was right, that Kurt would decide to run the piece.
He had just swallowed the last bite of his peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich when a new email popped into his in-box. It was from Seth. The stress that gathered and grew in between emails and phone calls from his younger brother eased. For now, Jace knew Seth was fine. Clicking open the email, he started to read and quickly found himself grinning.
It seemed Seth was in the same wacko world that Jace had lived in ever since meeting Melanie. Apparently, his brother had fallen for a local woman sometime during his leave in October. The woman, Rebecca, hadn’t replied to any of Seth’s recent emails, and when Seth tried to phone her, he discovered her number had been disconnected. Hell, that didn’t sound good. Jace stopped grinning and read the rest.
Because he was worried and unable to verify that Rebecca was okay, Seth had wondered if Jace would mind checking on her. It seemed a bit of overkill to Jace. If a woman didn’t respond to a man’s attentions, that tended to mean she wasn’t interested. But if Seth wanted him to pay this Rebecca person a visit, he would. Anything to help his brother stay focused.
Jace typed a quick reply, copied down Rebecca’s address and made a mental note to stop by one day after work. He could be wrong. Perhaps there were extenuating circumstances that would explain the non-replies and the disconnected phone. He hoped so, for his brother’s sake.
Next, he sent an email to one of his contacts—a private detective that he’d interviewed for the Gazette about a missing person’s case some time back. He passed along the small amount of information he had on David Prentiss, asked for help in locating him and hit Send before he could change his mind.
Possibly a mistake. He’d gone round and round with himself on this particular subject for the past few days. Melanie had specifically said she needed more time before making a decision. But he had to do something to try to repair the sadness he saw in her eyes.
Besides, he figured there was no harm in getting the ball rolling. That way, assuming his contact was able to find any information, Jace would have it ready for Melanie if and when she wanted it. If she decided to keep the status quo, on the other hand, then Jace just might have to pay a visit to David Prentiss himself.
Melanie spent the majority of Monday going through the interviews she and Jace had conducted on Friday, noting which couples she thought would work well for the article. Strangely, she had a tough time narrowing down the long list. Instead of focusing on the reasons why a couple wasn’t a good fit, she kept latching on to reasons why they were.
She blamed herself for that one. Ever since her…encounter with Jace, her head had seemingly become filled with bits of fluff that stopped her from thinking clearly. She’d also developed the irritating habit of daydreaming. About Jace. About that night. About him and what he might be thinking, feeling. If that night had stuck with him the way
it had with her.
Which then, naturally, led her to obsessing over why she was behaving so out of character. Perhaps she was coming down with a cold. One could hope, anyway.
That evening, she retrieved her car, complete with a new starter. All told, the price tag for the repair came in at just over three hundred dollars. Melanie used her credit card to pay the bill, but that was fine. It could have been worse.
Tuesday, she read through the new influx of letters for her advice column, proofed her current column and got a head start on the following week’s. For whatever reason, the appropriate responses to the various relationship questions came to her more easily than normal, almost intuitively. That pleased her, even if she didn’t understand why.
Right before leaving for the day, her mother called to cancel dinner, stating she had plans with Wade. When Melanie asked about joining them, Loretta hemmed and hawed with a zillion excuses. Concerned, Melanie pushed. But Loretta assured her that she was fine, that she was busy with wedding preparations and promised they’d get together soon.
Through it all, Melanie did her best to keep a polite distance from Jace. Not because she wasn’t interested, but because she was too interested. One week of spending time with the man and she’d basically begged him to take her to bed. Worse, she didn’t trust herself not to beg him again if they were left alone for very long.
Maybe that wasn’t bad. Maybe it could even be good. But she didn’t know yet. So until her ability to think coherently returned, alone time with Jace was out of the question.
Whenever he approached her, she was ready with a question about the article, her column or anything else regarding the Gazette. She turned down his few invitations to dinner with excuses that he likely saw straight through, but he didn’t question her. On Friday, though, he leaned over and kissed her on the courthouse steps.
Hunger roared to life inside of her with the simplicity of flipping a switch. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss before her brain could process her body’s actions. And then, she spent all weekend wishing she’d turned that kiss into a weekend in bed.
A Match Made by Cupid (Harlequin Special Edition) Page 13