by Lily Cahill
Except a very large part of her wanted to let Jax use her in any way he wanted. Tiff dropped the strawberries on top of the rest and starting cleaning them again. She kept her eyes trained on the task and was fairly proud of how little her hands shook. She could feel Jax behind her, watching her.
Jax leaned against the counter with one hip, facing Tiff. Jeez, he was so close. She could feel the heat of his body radiating out over hers. She was awash in it. Tiff set aside one carton and got to work on the second.
“You know, you should work that little gravitational pull come on into your lyrics. It’s not nearly as cheesy as your other stuff.”
Jax huffed a laugh. “You think our lyrics are cheesy?”
Tiff stopped what she was doing and glanced up at him. “I believe the couplet from one of your hits goes, ‘Goldilocks had to make due with three bears. Come into our den, baby, our table has four chairs.’”
Jax laughed again, harder this time. “Okay, I take your point.” He grabbed a strawberry from the carton and twisted at the stem. “You like that line about the gravitational pull? Really?”
Tiff considered the question for a second, then nodded. “I really do. It’s intense without being so obvious. You write an album like that, and I won’t just be at your concert because of free tickets.”
The second Tiff said it, her chest went cold. She dropped her eyes quickly then dared a peek up at Jax. Way to insult the rockstar, Tiff.
But Jax just looked thoughtful. His hands were still slowly twisting the stem off the strawberry, and the green top popped free. Jax held up the plump, red fruit for a moment, then held it out to Tiff. He gazed at her and didn’t look away.
Against all reason, Tiff shifted closer, lifted her chin, and opened her mouth. Jax placed the strawberry on her tongue and watched Tiff close her lips around it. The fruit was ripe, and it gushed between her teeth with the perfect combination of sweet and tart.
Jax smiled—a small, private thing that made Tiff’s knees go weak. “Things go my way, and you’ll never pay for tickets to see the band again.” He regarded Tiff for a moment, then grabbed another strawberry. “Though I do want you to like the album.” Jax popped the strawberry into his mouth and closed his eyes as he chewed. “Mmm,” he said with a satisfied groan. “The only thing this is missing is some chocolate.”
Tiff laughed, happy for the distraction from watching Jax’s amazingly hard jaw and wondrous lips do their work. “Yeah, but chocolate has maybe a few more calories than just a strawberry.”
Jax grabbed two more strawberries. “I don’t stop myself from indulging in the things I want, and you shouldn’t either.”
“Well, you’re a rockstar and I’m ….”
“Unbelievably sexy,” Jax nearly growled.
Tiff’s stomach churned. No one had ever called her sexy before. Pretty, sure, and cute more than once. But never sexy. It made the practical part of her brain latch onto that. Why would he see her any differently? Unless she was just what she feared to him … a conquest. A game piece to add to his collection and win a bet against his brothers.
Tiff rolled her eyes. “You said chubby wrong.”
Jax’s entire being stilled and his eyes snapped with dark green. “I meant exactly what I said.” He held Tiff trapped in his intense gaze for a long moment, then he broke the contact. He strode over to the fridge and swung it open, rooting around inside.
Tiff heard a little, triumphant “aha!” and then Jax straightened and turned, brandishing a jar of chocolate sauce.
Chocolate pooled on Tiff’s tongue, setting her tastebuds alive with the rich mix of the sauce and the sweet strawberry. She closed her eyes and chewed slowly, savoring every sensation in her mouth.
“That’s good,” Jax said around a mouthful of his own.
“So good,” Tiff responded.
Jax grinned. There was a bit of chocolate at the edge of his lips. “Another?”
“I shouldn’t,” Tiff said, even as she was reaching for another strawberry.
Jax beat her to it, he plucked a large, deep red berry from the carton and dredged it through the chocolate. He held it up, and Tiff obliged. She opened her mouth and let him slide the decadent fruit past her lips. A droplet of chocolate clung to her lip, and she flicked her tongue, but Jax’s finger was there. Her eyes darted to his. His pupils were large, and she could see the beat of his heart against his throat. He dragged his finger against Tiff’s lip, concentrating on his work, then edged the tip of his finger into her mouth.
Electricity zinged through Tiff, and a deep, wild yearning. Her body wanted this … wanted him. And right now, she was going to let herself indulge in just what she wanted. Tiff parted her lips and captured Jax’s finger. She rolled her tongue along his finger as she sucked and drew away slowly.
Jax made a strangled sound far back in his throat, and his eyes flicked to hers. Tiff blinked slowly, innocently, then reached up with her own hand for him to return the favor. She swiped at the bit of chocolate at the edge of his mouth and teased her finger along the seam of his lips.
Jax’s mouth dropped open with a ragged breath, then he grabbed her hand and tugged her closer. His lips closed around her finger, and he sucked her in deep. His lips worked wonders against her finger, made her body pulse with desire. God, she was wet. She was so wet just from this. Imagine what else he could do with those fingers, parting her, plunging into her. And that mouth.
A moan escaped Tiff, but that just made Jax nip at her finger before releasing her. He dipped his finger into the chocolate and let it drip against a sliver of Tiff’s exposed collarbone. She shivered with anticipation, then craned her neck to give Jax access.
He dove into her neck, burying his lips into the crook where her neck met her shoulder. He lapped at her, licking up the chocolate then sucking at her skin.
She moaned again, and Jax matched her with a groan that vibrated against her soft skin. Goose bumps erupted on her neck and rolled down her shoulders, arms, and fingers. Jax dragged his mouth across the hollow of Tiff’s throat, the scratch of his stubble a glorious contrast to his soft lips. Tiff could barely catch her breath, barely believe what was happening.
But, God, she wasn’t about to stop it. Not even when Jax grabbed her waist and picked her up. Tiff squealed, momentarily worrying about how much she weighed in his hands, but the wild, wanton look in his eyes made her forget all that. Jax slid Tiff onto the counter, and she spread her legs so he could stand close.
Jax ran his hands down her waist, skimming over her generous hips and down her thighs. His fingers hooked on the hem of her dress and tugged it up her legs. Tiff fought the urge to pull the hem back down, covering her legs. She knew they were strong—the same legs that helped her hike miles into the Northwoods and swim in Lake Michigan’s cold waters—but they were thick. They were every bit her stocky, Swedish inheritance.
But Jax’s fingers trailed higher, teasing the inside of Tiff’s thighs, and she spread her legs wider. God, he wanted her. Jax Hart wanted her.
And she wanted him too.
Jax kept one hand curled around the inside of Tiff’s thigh and dipped a finger of his other hand into the chocolate. He smeared the chocolate against Tiff’s thigh, then his eyes flicked to hers for just a moment, asking permission. Tiff gave it by leaning back on her palms and letting her knees drift apart. It made her skirt ride higher, and she reveled in the way Jax looked at her with wide open hunger.
He dipped his head between her legs and licked up the chocolate. Then he licked his way higher. And higher. Tiff could feel the warmth of his breath against her pussy. It was shocking to think that his mouth was nearly at her core, and she hadn’t even kissed him yet. His mouth was hot and wet against her skin, his lips sucking gently against her inner thighs in a way that made Tiff throw her head back and moan loudly.
There was a bump above her, the creak of floorboards.
“Shit!” Tiff squeaked. She shoved Jax’s head away from her thighs and squeezed her legs
shut, but that just made the desire pulse hotly.
Jax growled and glanced above their heads.
“My brother, Tyler,” Tiff whispered, her voice an octave higher than normal. “He pulls nights at the station, so he’s sleeping.”
Jax’s hands wandered back up Tiff’s legs and gripped at her waist. “We can be quiet.”
Tiff highly doubted that, not if just his lips on her thighs made her keen loudly. Tiff tugged her dress back down over her knees and jumped down from the counter. She shifted her gaze around for a moment, trying to make her brain click over into action … into any thought that wasn’t a primal desire for Jax’s cock thrusting inside of her.
“Tiff?” A groggy voice called down the stairs at the same time the duck clock quacked the time.
Jax swiveled his head around to stare at the clock. “What in the ever-living hell is—”
She grabbed his hand suddenly and dragged him toward the door. “Never mind what that is. My studio,” she managed, then pulled him out the door.
Chapter Seven
Jax
JAX’S MIND WAS CLOUDED WITH lust. It rolled hotly through him like an all-consuming fog, Tiff the only thing he could see. He practically stumbled behind her as she tugged him across the backyard and into the shade of a grove of birches.
Were they going to make love outside? That got Jax’s blood pumping. He wouldn’t mind going au naturale, that was for sure. But no, Tiff was dragging him to a little wood-sided shed he hadn’t noticed. She let go of his hand only to grasp the handle and turn it at the same time she bumped the door with her hip, then her fingers found his again and they were plunged into cool shadows.
Slowly, Jax’s eyes adjusted to the dim light. Ah, that’s right. Tiff had said “studio.” Now he got it.
Wait. Jax stilled, taking in everything around him. There was a single desk lamp flicked on in the corner next to a Mac, and two windows let in soft morning light. Photographs were everywhere, mounted on foam board to lean against the walls, large matte prints tacked to the walls, a cluttered work table where simple, beautiful frames were being constructed. Jax’s mouth dropped open, and the heat he’d felt for Tiff since the second he saw her this morning warmed to something deeper.
“These are amazing,” Jax whispered, touching the edge of a photograph depicting a vivid green hollow imbued with golden sunlight. He felt like he was in a gallery. He wandered a step away to peer closely at a photograph of an otter lazing on its back in clear water. He turned to her, goose bumps ridging his skin. “Tiff, you are a brilliant photographer.”
In the low light, Jax watched her cheeks color pink. It was almost unbearably pretty to see her blush like that.
“It’s hard to take a bad photo up there. My mother’s family has a cabin on a lake up north that I escape to when I need some inspiration.”
Tiff dipped her head, apparently to hide her pleasure at his compliment. And Jax couldn’t think of a single reason that he wasn’t holding this woman right now, wasn’t kissing those lips. His mate. His amazing mate.
He crossed to her in two big steps and wrapped his arms around her waist. She was perfect under his hands, her curves soft, her breasts and hips generous and lush. Tiff peeked up at him, her brown eyes dark and open.
She licked her lips, and Jax was transfixed at the way her delicate, pointed chin trembled just the tiniest bit.
Jax captured her mouth with his lips and saw stars.
Tiff’s lips parted, and Jax let his tongue explore hers. She opened for him, her tongue and lips sweet against his. Jax caught his hands up in Tiff’s long, silken hair and nearly shuddered with the perfection of it. Of kissing her. Of imagining all the things he wanted to do to her.
Tiff tilted her head, and Jax deepened their kiss, pressed their bodies together fully. Tiff wound her hands up Jax’s back and held on to his shoulders. Her fingertips were hard against his shoulder blades, like she was holding on tightly. She clung to him, but Jax clung to her too.
Tiff nipped at Jax’s bottom lip, tugging it between her teeth and dragging away. Jax moaned, and his hips rocked forward. He was hard, already so hard. Just from a kiss. It was unreal. How many women had he been with? And yet a single kiss with Tiff Anderson had driven every single one of them from his mind.
Unseeing, Jax backed them up, but they bumped into a corner of her desk. The lamp tipped back and forth, and Tiff pulled away, just for a second. She cast her gaze to the lamp, biting her lip. Then she reached out to tug at the metal chain.
“No,” Jax growled, licking his way from Tiff’s neck up to her ear. He sucked at her lobe for one moment. “Leave it on. I want to see you when you come for me.”
Her blush grew hot in her cheeks, and that just made Jax more determined to keep the light on.
“I don’t want anyone to see us,” she squeaked. “There are neighbors next door, and my brother has cop ears.” Her fingers curled around the chain.
Jax reached out and wrapped his large hand around her own. “No,” he whispered again. “Leave it on.”
Tiff chewed at her lip for a second, then her hand went soft around the chain. They left the light on.
Tiff’s hands caught at the collar of Jax’s button-down and slipped open the first button. Her fingers were soft and graceful as she worked her way down, kissing him lightly as she went. When she’d freed the last button, Jax shucked the shirt off and reached for his dark, worn jeans.
His cock strained against his pants, and it pulsed when he saw the way Tiff gazed at him. Her need was naked on her face, her chest rising and falling unsteadily. It made her breasts stretch against her gray dress, the shape of her nipples easy to see. She needed to be free of the garment. Immediately.
Jax grabbed a handful of the fabric in his hands and yanked up. The dress shimmied up her hips, up her waist, up her chest. He tugged it over her head, her hair cascading down her naked back. Jax groaned as he beheld her. Jesus. She was perfection.
Tiff stood before him, in only a pair of black panties riding low on her luscious hips. Her body was all curves and graceful arches, her thighs wonderfully strong and her ass the sort of marvel that was made for grabbing. And her breasts, her amazing breasts. They were large and round, with nipples already peaked and curved upward. If her ass was made for grabbing, those tits were made for sucking.
Jax growled with desire and dipped his head to Tiff’s chest. Her nipple slipped between his lips and he lapped at it, dragging his tongue in a circle before sucking at her. Tiff moaned loudly. Jax reached up and pinched her other nipple between his fingers, and she sucked in a hissing breath.
“Oh my God,” she moaned. Her hands fumbled for Jax’s jeans, unbuttoned but still hanging on his hips. She pushed them down then plunged her hand into his boxer-briefs. “Oh my God,” she said again as she wrapped her hand around his cock. She stroked him once, twice, until Jax was breathing ragged against her breast.
Tiff dragged her other hand up Jax’s chest and grasped his chin. She pulled him upright and attacked his mouth with her own. She freed her hand from his boxer-briefs and rocked her hips against him. Jesus. She was so hot. He could feel the heat of her pussy against him even through two layers of fabric.
Jax lost track of how long they stayed pressed together, the kiss driving his desire higher and higher. Tiff dragged her lips away from his mouth, along his jaw. Her fingers curled around his wrists then walked higher to swirl against the tattoos etched across his forearms. He’d gotten the geometric lines and triangles the night he and his brothers left Montana. The design reminded him of his mountain home, a place to which he planned to never return.
Tiff slowly traced her way up the lines, pausing to kiss each triangle on a torturously wonderful progress up his arms, to his shoulders, and across his chest. A larger triangle with short lines radiating out from it was tattooed over his heart. Tiff let her fingers graze against his nipples and then planted a kiss against the tattoo. She pressed her palms against Jax’s chest.
“I’ve wanted to do that since the moment I met you,” she whispered. She looked up at Jax with her mouth quirked into a playful smile.
Jax stroked the side of Tiff’s face and traced the outline of her cupid’s bow lips. “Do you want to know what I’ve wanted to do to you?”
Pinpricks of crimson flared in Tiff’s already-flushed cheeks. She pursed her lips together and nodded.
Jax leaned in close and whispered, “Let me hear you say it.”
Tiff blinked and gazed up at Jax, her eyes bright and snapping with desire. “What have you wanted to do to me, Jax?”
Jax wrapped his arms around Tiff’s waist and pulled her body against his. He kissed her hotly then moved to suck at her earlobe. He flicked his tongue against her ear, then whispered, “I want to lick your pussy until you scream my name. I want to make you come then come again and again with my dick buried in you.”
Tiff shuddered, and he felt her heartbeat quicken under his fingertips. She’d got her wish, and Jax was determined to get his too.
Jax broke away only for a moment to drag Tiff’s desk chair closer and gently pushed her into it. Her breath was ragged and short, her beautiful breasts rising and falling with each shudder. The light from the desk lamp bathed her curves in soft, golden light that made into her something out of a painting. Jax dropped to his knees in front of her and wrapped both hands around her thighs.
“Spread your legs for me,” he commanded.
Tiff bit at her lip, but obliged. She looked into Jax’s eyes and slowly, so slowly, opened her thighs. That small triangle of black panties was all that separated him from what he wanted. Jax slid his fingers up the inside of Tiff’s thighs until one hand caught at the edge of her underwear. Jesus. She was soaking. Just the thought of how wet she was, how ready for him, made his throat go dry. His cock surged against his boxer-briefs, but he knew he’d have his turn. He wanted to give Tiff this first.
Jax let one finger slip underneath Tiff’s panties and dragged his way up her pussy to her clit. She tilted her head back and moaned, writhing against his hand.