Protect and Serve

by Gwyneth Bolton

  And now Big Mama was gone and she had almost lost Carla again and Jason was here, but he would be gone in a heartbeat if she told him the truth.

  Shaking her head, she pushed her anxiety to the back of her mind and begged it to stay put.

  “Ah, yes, the calendar. Can I just tell you, when I saw that calendar hanging on the wall of some of the guys in my dorm at Pace, I wanted to hurt somebody?”

  “Hey, that calendar paid the tuition my junior year. But it was all a means to an end. I had no desire to be the top video model.” She stressed the word model because that was what she’d been in spite of Sophie’s attempts to besmirch her with the label ho.

  She’d never had sex with directors or rappers to be in videos. And after being loved by Jason, she hadn’t been easily impressed by the men she met on the video shoots. Who could have competed with the love of her life? So she hadn’t had to worry about falling victim to the groupie syndrome that a lot of the video girls ended up succumbing to.

  “All I wanted was my degree. But I made a lot of friends during my short stint. One of them, Maritza Morales, was another video girl who was finishing up her degree at UC Irvine. We clicked and started our own image consulting and publicity firm, Keys and Morales. She’s a wonderful partner—a real cool Latina who acknowledges her African heritage. She calls herself a Blacktina. And she’s from the Bronx, a Nuyorican, so we had the whole East Coast connect happening. We got each other. We clicked.”

  “Yeah. I’ve heard a lot about your company. You’re doing big things. I’m proud of you, girl.”

  The sincere expression on his face, along with the adoration in his tone, made her nervous, because it weakened her resistance almost to null. The fact was, all his pride would go away once he knew what a truly horrible person she was, so there was no need to bask in the ill-deserved praise.

  “We do okay. Enough about me. What about you? You joined the police force instead of becoming a fireman. I always figured you’d be one or the other, given the Hightower family legacy. But what made you choose the police?”

  “I’ve always been interested in figuring things out. So becoming a police detective just seemed like the way to go. A degree in forensics and a minor in criminology pretty much made it a given.” His nonchalant manner of talking about his accomplishments only served to make her swell with happiness and pride for him. He had done what he set out to do, and he was continuing the wonderful rich legacy of service of the men in his family.

  “Does your family still have those summer softball games, firemen versus the cops?”

  “Yeah, but the younger guys decided to add basketball to the mix.” He placed his arm on the headrest of the sofa, and his hand touched her shoulder.

  Another jolt of electricity passed through her. “Basketball. That…that…must be fun.”

  “It is fun. I love beating the firemen in my family at basketball.”

  “So the cops always win, huh?”

  He frowned. “Well. Not always…Actually, we’ve been having a losing streak. But we’re coming back up.”

  She laughed. He smiled. And her heart stopped and restarted like clockwork.

  “You don’t know how much I’ve missed your laugh, Pen.”

  You don’t know how much I’ve missed your smile. Dang. Does the sexy gleam in his eyes have to surface every time he shows his teeth?

  Torn didn’t even begin to cover how she felt at that moment. “I need to get out of here.”

  Oops, did I say that out loud?

  “Why do you have to get out of here? I’m on my best behavior.” His hand slowly caressed her neck and move up to her cheek.

  A moan escaped her lips before she could stop it. Letting Mr. Good Behavior in hadn’t been her brightest idea. But she couldn’t very well make him leave now. Could she?

  He turned her face to his and captured her lips in another one of his mind-altering kisses.

  As she let her tongue glide into his mouth and tasted the addictive nature of his masculinity, she couldn’t think of one reason she should stop, not one reason she shouldn’t kiss him until all of their clothing fell off. Sure, she might think otherwise if she halted their lip and tongue exploration, but why on earth would she do that?

  His hand dipped under her T-shirt and cupped her breast. She found herself leaning back on the sofa to give him better access, and was rewarded when he began to rub her nipples.

  “Mmmmm…Jason…”

  He nibbled on her lips in a seductive manner, taking a small nip before responding, “Yes, Penny?”

  She closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath. “What are we doing?”

  His left eye slanted. “Rhetorical question?”

  She let her hands roam his chest, lingering over the ripples of muscles underneath his dress shirt. She moved to his tie. It hardly seemed fair that he still had to wear his church clothes, when she’d had the chance to change into something more comfortable. The least she could do was loosen his tie, and maybe the first two buttons on his shirt.

  His eyes followed her hands, watching as she tossed his tie to the side and arching when she stopped at the second button.

  She let her hands rest on his shoulders. “We’ve got so much history between us, Jason.”

  “Which we agreed to leave in the past for now.” His hands moved from underneath her T-shirt to his own shirt. He finished the job she’d started, and removed his shirt.

  “But—”

  “Look, Penny, all I know is right here, right now, I feel like I need to connect with you. I want you so badly. And I feel like no matter what happened in the past, you want me, too. Am I right?”

  “Yes.” She didn’t even hesitate, didn’t give herself a moment to think about her answer.

  Jason let out a sigh of relief. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t still determined to find out what really happened to their relationship back then. But he’d also be lying if he didn’t admit he still wanted Penny. He still craved her touch. He still desired her beyond belief.

  He leaned forward and gave her a small peck on the lips before removing her T-shirt. The pink lacy bra underneath was one of those numbers that showed lots of cleavage. It looked hot, but he knew what would be even hotter. He reached behind her and unfastened the bra.

  He had to take a moment to pause and appreciate all her beauty. She had more curves than when they were seventeen. And yet her thirty-three-year-old body still had the same impact on him as it had in the past. He couldn’t keep his hands off of her then, and he couldn’t keep his hands off her now. He wanted to see more.

  He got up from the sofa and knelt in front of her. Slowly, he let his hands slide to the waistband of her sweats and inched them down her soft and shapely thighs. He placed his head between her legs and inhaled. The heady scent was all woman, with a hint of Beautiful perfume. He wanted to taste. But in order to do that, he would have to remove the cute little matching pink lace panties.

  Her eyes were closed and her head was back, but she lifted just enough to aid him in the removal. He positioned her hips on the edge of the seat and spread her legs before diving in for a more thorough exploration.

  It was one of the things he hadn’t done a lot of when they were teenage lovers, but it was something he wouldn’t deny himself now. He let his tongue lap her already wet and slick folds. He teased her pleasure button and grabbed hold of her behind as she started to squirm. He held her hips firmly and fed like a starving man.

  “Oh, Jason. Oh, God!” Penny grabbed the back of his head and pulled him into her, even as she tried to move away from the pleasure he was giving her.

  He continued to lick and let his tongue travel into her core with all the precision that another part of his body wanted to bring.

  Her body rewarded him with the sweet-honeyed flow of her essence, and he gladly took it. He could have tasted her forever, but it had been too long, and he needed to feel her, too.

  He took the blanket she’d brought downstairs for him and s
pread it on the floor.

  “I want to make love to you, Penny. I need to. Will you let me make love to you?” He had no idea what he’d do if she said no. He might have to resort to begging.

  It might have been a mistake to take a taste of something he thought had been long lost to him. But he had done it, and now she was as much in his system as she was before she broke his heart.

  She closed her eyes and then opened them. She stared at him, and it seemed as if time stood still. With her sexy body and her beautiful face flush in the aftermath of her orgasm, it was all he could do to wait for her answer without reaching out and caressing her soft skin.

  “I want you, too, Jason. I want you to make love to me.”

  He smiled as he stood and held out his hand to her. He positioned her on the blanket.

  “We can always go upstairs to the bedroom, you know,” she said as she gazed at him with the stars in her copper eyes that he remembered from high school.

  He started removing his own clothes and chuckled. “Next time. I can’t make it upstairs. I need you now.” He took protection out of his wallet and then slung his clothes on the sofa. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”

  Penny opened herself to Jason in more ways than one as her thighs circled around his back and her arms closed around his neck. His penetration felt like a homecoming. And the way her heart pumped loudly in her chest, she knew she was giving him more than her body. All the feelings she’d thought were long buried seemed to be bubbling up and taking over.

  She let her hands roam over his muscular frame, taking in every new bulge and ripple. His broad and expansive chest felt good to her, as did his firm and taut backside. Even though she could tell with his clothes on that he had become quite the man, nothing could have prepared her for the way he felt as he moved his hips in and out of her.

  He took one of her nipples in his mouth and began to suckle, causing her back to arch and her hips to rush and greet his thrust. Each piston down by him was greedily welcomed by a push up from her. They moved in unison, and soon his mouth moved from her nipples to her mouth.

  His tongue traced her lips and then dived in. The way his tongue mimicked his manhood took her over the edge. Soon she was crying out in pleasure around his scandalous kiss. Her hips bucked wildly, and she felt herself tighten and release as the most ferocious and mind-blowing spasms she’d ever experienced racked her body.

  This seemed to make him want to take her higher, and he began to move even faster and harder. She felt slick and wanton as her orgasm crested and moved quickly into another.

  “Jason!” What was he doing to her? “Oh…my…”

  He threw his head back and called out her name as he joined her in bliss.

  Moments later, wrapped in his arms and lying on a blanket on the floor, Penny waited for the feeling of regret to come over her. She waited, but nothing came.

  He touched her face. “Let’s take this to the bedroom now.”

  As Jason held Penny in his arms in a comfortable spooning position, he thought it was what he’d always imagined it would be like. When they were two horny teenagers, they hadn’t spent a lot of time spooning after sex. Those stolen moments hadn’t been conducive to lying in each other’s arms and sleeping afterward.

  So he appreciated the chance to finally hold her when he woke up in the middle of the night with her perfectly round behind pressed so seductively to his groin.

  He glanced around her bedroom and was surprised to see that nothing had changed. Big Mama must have left everything in place, even down to the New Edition posters on the wall. She still had the full-size white canopy bed with gold trimming, with the matching desk and dresser. Even the lilac canopy and bedspread were the same.

  He started thinking about all the times they’d spent making out in this room, and realized the trip down memory lane wasn’t helping him control his growing erection. He thought maybe he should try to go back to sleep.

  Once they made it upstairs to the bedroom, she’d conked out and he’d dropped off sleeping soon after. Then he’d felt himself automatically responding to Penny’s sweet body as his sex swelled and jutted out. He shifted a little, trying not to wake her, even though her waking up at that moment would have been a blessing.

  Moving again, he was surprised when she turned with wide-open eyes and stared at him.

  “I thought you’d never wake up,” she said she as reached up and cupped his face in her hands.

  He studied her face, checking for any signs of regret, but all he found was desire. He searched his own mind for second thoughts, and even though he still wanted to know what had happened back then, he wanted to be with her in this moment more.

  Thinking of the implications of his feelings, he tried to grapple with the fact that, for all intents and purposes, he seemed to be okay with her betrayal.

  Had time healed his wounds, or was he just incredibly aroused?

  The pressure building in his sex as Penny stroked his cheek answered that question for him. She leaned forward, lightly brushed his lips and tried to pull back. He wasn’t having that, so he gripped her shoulders and held her in place, deepening the kiss.

  She moaned into his mouth and slung her leg over his hip. He smiled and let his hands roam her body.

  Luscious was the word that came to mind as he cupped her behind in his hand and squeezed. Succulent jumped forth in his head as he moved higher and teased the more than a handful that made up her breasts. “Amazing…” He actually mouthed the word into her mouth as his hand trailed back down her belly and dipped into her wet and waiting sex.

  She arched her back and rocked her hips as he added another finger to his task and used his thumb to press and stroke her spot of desire. Pulling his mouth away from hers, he moved to her nipples and tasted them. He could have sworn she tasted like brown sugar.

  Penny grumbled in complaint when he broke the kiss, but began to mewl with pleasure when he suckled her.

  “Mmmm…Jason…” She started to writhe, her words coming out in a soft pant.

  He was too busy moving from one breast to the other to answer her. The only thing he knew for certain was, he had to be inside her soon. Then he remembered he had used his one and only condom. He could have taken the time to curse himself, but that would have meant he wouldn’t have the benefit of Penny’s sure-to-be-magnificent orgasm. He kept working on her, delving deeper with his fingers and sucking her already tightened nipples to glorious peaks.

  A soft and sexy grunt escaped her lips, and her body twisted, almost making his mouth lose its grasp. But there was no way he was letting go when she was so close. She screamed, and her sex grabbed on to his fingers, desperately pulling them up and in, furiously trying to milk them for all they were worth.

  Penny pulled his head from her breasts and planted her lips on his, pushing through with her tongue. The kiss was hard and demanding and clearly an attempt to stop herself from screaming again.

  Jason could only smile and join the tongue-wrestling match.

  Watching her come down was even more fulfilling than watching her explode. Jason could almost make himself forget about his own growing need. Almost. He willed himself to deflate, but it wasn’t working.

  Penny let out a deep and fulfilled sigh and opened her eyes. When she noticed his erection, she frowned. “Why’d you stop? Aren’t you forgetting someone?” She reached down and enclosed his manhood in her silky hands.

  “No more condoms, baby. Unless you have some?”

  She groaned and shook her head. Then she smiled. “That doesn’t mean this guy has to go without.” She started to kiss her way down his chest.

  When her sweet and sexy mouth covered him, he moaned and almost exploded at her soft, wet touch. The moment she began to suckle it almost did him in.

  “Amazing…” he said again, in a voice that was between a grunt and a groan.

  Chapter 10

  T he morning after…Wasn’t that always when the postloving panic signs started to
surface? Jitters? Postorgasmic awareness? Horror? Stone-cold fear? Penny couldn’t believe how much she had let things get out of hand.

  She almost dreaded waking up with Jason. Almost. Then she felt his strong arms still wrapped around her, holding her close and tight. And she suddenly wished she was having an active enough sex life to keep boxes and boxes of condoms at her disposal.

  Talk about wasted opportunity…Urgh! She sighed.

  “What’s that sigh for?” Jason murmured as he kissed the back of her neck.

  A tingle spread from her neck to her toes, and she realized she needed to get out of bed in a hurry. Not only did she have to go get a rental car for the rest of her stay in Jersey, she also had to get Carla from the hospital. Add to that the fact that she had a million errands to run in order to tie up Big Mama’s affairs, and she was looking at a very busy day.

  But none of those things were the real reason why she had to get out of bed. She had to get out of bed because she didn’t trust herself not to make love with Jason, condoms be damned.

  “That sigh was because I don’t feel like getting up yet. But I have a million and one things to do today, including going to get a rental. So…” She pulled away, got up from the bed and stretched.

  The way his eyes roamed her naked body as she stretched would have made her feel self-conscious if he hadn’t already kissed every blessed spot on her body and told her repeatedly how beautiful and amazing she was. Her knees started to get weak just from thinking about his homage to her calves, ankles and thighs, to name just three body parts he’d blessed with his mouth. She wasn’t even going to think about the arch of her foot and her toes.

  Lord, when did Jason turn into such a foot man? Hello—no more condoms, horny girl.

  Penny shook her head to clear it. “I’m going to take a shower and get dressed.”

  Jason got up from the bed and took a stretch, too.

  Penny’s mouth fell open as she watched his muscles lengthen and move. His biceps…Lord, his biceps…They bulked and pulled, and it was all she could do not to reach out and touch. The six-pack and tightly molded stomach and chest area had her darn near panting. She couldn’t help but look down, and in addition to the rippling mountains of his thighs, she got to see another one of his muscles standing at full attention.