Acting Lessons (Off Guard)

by Katie Allen

  “Not you.” There was a strange noise that she realized was Jamie grinding his teeth. “Dan. That’s why he didn’t inform her that they were no longer dating.”

  Twisting around so she was sitting, she cupped his jaw. “Right, because they never were broken up, although I think he’s regretting that now, and you need to stop torturing your poor tooth enamel.” To her relief, the grinding stopped, although he still looked extremely pissed.

  “How much did he offer you?”

  She shrugged. “A lot, but it doesn’t matter, since I wouldn’t take it now even if he offered, which he won’t, since his totally stupid plan went sideways, and he’ll need that money for Barb’s Botox injections and laser treatments after you cut him off. I’m keeping the five thousand deposit, though, since I’m missing a lot of work and I had to shop with his cranky carrot.”

  Making a wordless yet still sarcastic-sounding noise, he looped an arm around her and pulled Topher down so that she was lying on top of him. “There’s no way that woman is going to stay with Dan if he’s cut off. If the money’s gone, then so is she.”

  “Not to sound all catty and judge-y and not pro-universal-sisterhood, but totally. There’s no way the ginger bitch is sticking with broke-Danny.”

  He smacked her bottom, his hand staying where it landed and giving her smarting cheek a squeeze. “Language.”

  Although she tried to frown at him, her body had a mind of its own and wiggled enthusiastically against his. Giving up her attempt at pretending she was offended at the correction, she grinned at him. “Who knew I was such a spank whore?”

  His breath caught and his hand grew infinitely heavier, pushing her against him.

  “Again?” she asked breathlessly, surprised but not at all opposed to the idea of a third round.

  “No.” Despite the denial, his body still strained to be closer to hers. “Sleep.”

  “But—”

  “If you go to sleep now, we’ll go riding tomorrow before anyone else is up.”

  “Okay.” The promise immediately shut down her protests. “Good night, Jamie-Bear.”

  “’Night, baby girl.”

  Although his body under hers was a hard substitute mattress, Jamie was warm and she was tired. The stroke of his hand up and down her back was incredibly relaxing, too. Soon after she closed her eyes, she was asleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  It was a good way to wake up. No, Topher mentally corrected herself, it was the best way to wake up, with Jamie between her legs, nuzzling at her inner thighs. His scarred cheek felt alternately smooth and rough against the sensitive skin there, and, on the other side, his beard stubble was consistently rough, scraping in a way Topher knew would leave a red burn there. She really didn’t mind. The abrasion caused a heat deep in her belly, melting her.

  Then his tongue touched her, and she was wide awake, her body quivering so hard she almost levitated off the bed. Jamie was good at this—really, really good. Topher wasn’t sure why she was surprised; when James Hawkins did something, he did it well. Then he scraped his teeth oh-so-lightly over her clit, and she stopped thinking anything. All she could do was feel.

  “Oh!” Her voice was husky with sleep and passion. At the sound of her exclamation, Jamie redoubled his efforts. “That’s nice.”

  She not only heard his chuckle, but she felt it, vibrating against her in the very best way. Then he spoke, and the heated air and his lips both brushed her skin. “Just nice? I need to do better.”

  Although Topher wanted to heartily agree with that plan, and also wonder exactly how he was going to make it better without her brain melting into mush, she was incapable of saying anything coherent. With a wordless sound, her hips arched as she pressed into him. However he was going to achieve this miracle, she was all for it.

  Oh, and he did do better. He did. Somehow, he used his lips and tongue and teeth and fingers in a way that made her first moan and then pant and then cry out as pleasure she’d only ever experienced with Jamie drove her closer and closer to orgasm. It wasn’t any orgasm, though. It was almost frightening how her muscles drew tight before ecstasy flooded every cell. Her body was out of her control, and panic crept into her brain.

  Jamie’s hand wrapped around one thigh, pushing up toward her belly. That grip, strong and demanding, was oddly soothing, grounding her and taking away her nerves. All that remained was pleasure like she’d never felt before, and Topher allowed it to carry her away, trusting Jamie to keep her safe.

  Her back arched as she came, her body pressing into his hold. The feel of his hand holding her down amplified every emotion, and pleasure crackled through her body, over her skin and through her muscles, so intense it was almost painful. It was as if he were conducting electricity, sending shocks of ecstasy with his mouth and his tongue...

  Dear lord, that tongue.

  Twisting and fighting, she orgasmed harder than she’d ever come before, and Jamie shifted so his body covered hers, pressing her into the mattress with his weight. She panted, intermittent aftershocks of pleasure making her muscles twitch, her bones melting under his welcome bulk.

  “Was that better than nice?” His voice was a rumbling purr that vibrated through her, waking up nerves that Topher thought were down for the count after that brain-blowing orgasm. When she didn’t immediately respond, Jamie lowered his hips, nudging the sensitized area between her legs with the tip of his erection.

  She jolted, but his weight kept her in place, so she couldn’t pull away from the teasing pressure. “Better than nice?” she started to say doubtfully, but then Jamie’s cock was pressing against her clit, and she couldn’t keep up the teasing anymore. “Yes. So much better. Like, a world and a half better.”

  His chuckle shook both of them, which was both wonderful and maddening, depending on what part of her body Topher focused on. He shifted, sliding his erection down and then up again. With a pleasurable shiver, she squirmed until her legs were free so she could wrap them around his waist.

  Even now that she was completely open to him, ready for him, he didn’t enter her. Instead, he continued his torture—a slow drag across her pussy, followed by a bump of her clit. Her lassitude dissolved as her muscles tightened, the urgency in her body starting up again as her desire rose.

  With a huff of impatience, she tried to meet his hips with hers, to force him to enter her, but he stayed annoyingly elusive. She glared at him, but Jamie just looked amused—and aroused.

  “Fine,” she said, giving him a wicked smile. “Two can play at that game.” Twisting her body, she tried to flip them over, but his blanketing weight didn’t budge.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, laughter clear in his voice. Topher was momentarily distracted by how happy he looked, but then she refocused.

  “I want to be on top.” She heaved, trying to roll them both, but she couldn’t even move Jamie an inch. Flopping back onto the mattress, she tried to glare at him, but it was too hard to pretend to be annoyed with happy-Jamie, and she had to hold back giggles. “Please, Daddy?” She gave him her best pleading look.

  “Fine.” He rolled them over with such ease that she was jealous at his effortless strength.

  Sitting up, she tightened her thighs around his hips and grinned triumphantly. As she looked down at his smirking face, though, her feeling of superiority faded. Even when he was on his back and Topher was perched on top of him, it still felt like he was in charge.

  “Now what?” he asked.

  “Now...” Topher said in her best seductress voice. “I have my wicked way with you.”

  His bark of laughter was not the reaction she was expecting, and she pouted at him. “Go ahead.” He tucked his hands behind his head and raised an eyebrow. That chuckle and self-satisfied pose made her even more determined to reduce him to a boneless heap of want, just like he’d done to
her.

  Lifting her hips, she shifted up onto his belly and then scooted backward, so that his erect cock was nestled against her ass. Immediately, Jamie looked less complacent, and Topher held back a smile. Leaning forward, she let her nipples barely touch his chest as she reached up to run her fingers over his head.

  Despite the short length, his hair was surprisingly soft. She scratched lightly at his scalp, and his eyelid lowered to half-mast. He made a sound deep in his throat, like a purr from a satisfied cat—no, not a cat. A lion. Big and dangerous and mostly wild. Watching him was getting her even more excited, and she lowered her hips, pressing her pussy against his belly. His body jerked in reaction, pushing his cock against her ass cheeks.

  Topher’s breath caught as the contact sent a flare of need through her. It would be so easy to raise her hips, to make that small movement that would connect them, but she shoved away the temptation. Her desire to explore him was minutely greater than the need to have him inside her.

  Her hands left his hair and found his ears. The right one was rounded and whole, but the left was mostly missing. The little cartilage that remained was misshapen and thick with scar tissue. Tracing both with gentle fingers, she asked, “Does it hurt?”

  “No.” Pulling his hands from their faux-casual position behind his head, he grasped her hips. Topher expected him to take control—to lift her and slide his erection inside of her—but he just held on to her. As she continued to explore his ears and then his cheeks and nose and lips, his fingers tightened when she touched certain areas. Cocking her head, she watched his expression closely as she stroked along the line of his jaw, and she was pretty sure he squeezed when something was especially pleasurable.

  “Good.” She smiled as she said it, amused by the humungous inadequacy of that word. Getting to sit on Jamie-Bear’s rigid abs as he patiently allowed her to pet him was more than good. In fact, it was pretty much how she imagined heaven to be. “You have a ridiculously strong jawline. Captain America wishes he had your jawline.”

  He grimaced. “Right.” His voice was flat. “All superheroes wished they looked like me.”

  “You doubt me?” She gave him a stern stare before leaning forward to nip at the jaw under discussion, allowing her teeth to press a little harder than she would have on his unscarred side. His hips bucked under her. Although he quickly got the motion under control, it was too late—she knew it had turned him on. “I spend pretty much every minute I’m not barista-ing or cleaning offices with vain actors. I know what they want, and one of those things is your perfect bone structure.”

  With a disbelieving snort, he gave a small shake of his head. “Bone structure, maybe. Just not the rest.”

  This time, she bit the tendon on the side of his neck, and he grunted. Quickly, she raised her head to meet his gaze. When she saw the heat in his eye, she gave a satisfied grin, pleased that she’d managed to arouse him. Switching to the other side of his neck, she licked his throat, his morning stubble rough against her tongue. This time, the sound he made was more of a groan. “Don’t be dumb,” she scolded, her lips so close they brushed his skin.

  “What?” he asked, his voice rough.

  “How’d you get these scars?”

  “Truck bomb.” The muscles in his neck tightened as he spoke.

  “Afghanistan?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So these—” she nipped at the scarred side of his jaw again “—are just medals of honor and courage that you wear every day.”

  His grunt sounded skeptical.

  “You’re perfect, Jamie-Bear.” She sat up so she could see his face. He’d removed his eye patch the previous night, and she traced his brows—one smooth and one interrupted by scars—with the tips of her fingers. Leaning in, she kissed his mouth, hard and fast, before pulling back again. “All parts of you are perfect. How you look and how you act and how you feed me Leigh’s incredible food and how you accept my freakiness and how you wake me up with yet another amazing O. Speaking of which, I think I owe you a few.”

  Taking advantage of his momentary stunned stillness, she shuffled backward until she was straddling his legs and his cock, thick and heavy and as hard as iron, stood in front of her. Unable to resist, she wrapped her hand around it. The silky heat in her grip sent a shiver of arousal through her. It was hard to believe that she was touching him, that soon she’d be sucking him, when she’d been stuck with a fake relationship with Danny just a few days before. The thought of putting her mouth on him made her give a little excited wriggle, but Jamie cleared his throat, and she reluctantly shifted her attention from his cock to his face. Jamie propped himself up on his elbows and stared at her, frowning.

  “What?” she asked, widening her eyes innocently even as she ran her thumb over the head of his cock. It was slick with pre-come, and she was dying to lick it.

  “You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met before,” he said.

  “Okay.” Topher waited for a few seconds, but he didn’t seem inclined to expand upon his statement, so she prompted, “Is that good?”

  His frown deepened. “I don’t know yet.”

  Even though she figured she should pay attention to their conversation, she was distracted by the very pretty erection in her grip. Sliding her fingers down to the base, she gave it a squeeze. With a deep groan, Jamie moved from his elbows to supporting his weight with his hands, and Topher, fascinated, watched his abs swell and roll with the movement.

  “You’re like a little tornado,” he said, sounding slightly winded.

  “A good tornado?” The words were distracted, since her attention was focused on how glossy the head of his cock had gotten. The rising sun turned the room from dim gray to a rosy pink, and Topher was enjoying her improved view. “Or a life-ending, house-destroying tornado?”

  “When would a tornado be good?”

  “It killed the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz.” Tearing her attention away from his erection, she frowned at him. “Are you saying that I’m a bad tornado, then?”

  “No.” Closing his eyes, he took what looked like an unsteady breath. “I don’t know what I’m saying right now, because you keep breathing on my dick, and it’s driving me crazy.”

  “So...good, witch-killing tornado?”

  His laugh sounded a little strangled. “If I say yes, will you finally suck me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then yes. You’re the very best tornado. Now put your mouth on me before I explode.”

  She licked him, keeping her gaze on his face, on his hungry expression. He looked desperate for it, desperate for her, and she absolutely loved that she made him so wild. Refocusing on his erection, she swept her tongue across the slick head again. Her hair slid forward as she leaned over him, the strands pooling on his lower abs and muscled thighs. She noticed his shiver, and Topher smiled, turning her head from side to side so that her hair brushed the skin around his groin.

  With a guttural groan, he sat up and grasped her head in both of his hands, tangling his fingers in the strands. He didn’t try to move her or force her down on his cock, but the feel of his hands on her scalp, that possibility of Jamie making her do what he wanted, caused her banked arousal to flare to screaming life.

  She considered continuing to tease him. The thought of him making her suck him pushed that kinky-lust button only Jamie seemed to trigger, but Topher was almost as impatient to have him in her mouth as he was to be there. After stroking the tip with another lick, she gave in and closed her lips around the head.

  He sucked in an audible breath, his fingers tightening in her hair, pulling lightly on the strands. The tiny aches it caused made her squirm from need, rather than discomfort, the light pricks sending delightful shocks from her scalp through her entire body. Wanting more of his reaction—more of him—she lowered her head, taking him deeper as she sucked. Her tongue r
ubbed at the underside of his erection as his fingers worked against her scalp, making her moan with pleasure.

  Jamie gave a responding groan and tugged her head closer until his cock filled her mouth completely. The head pressed at the entrance to her throat, and she felt a thrill of panic. As she pulled back, he didn’t try to prevent her, and Topher relaxed, the claustrophobic moment passing. Dropping her head again, she kept her lips tight over his cock, slowly taking his length all the way into her mouth again.

  “Tophie,” he growled, his fingers tense around her skull. “Swallow me.”

  She did as he ordered, ignoring the panicky worry that she couldn’t breathe, working her throat muscles around the head of his erection as she sucked in air through her nose.

  “Good girl,” he crooned, and his hands took over the movement. He shifted her head up and down, pushing her back until just the tip of his cock remained between her lips, and then pulling her in, driving his erection into her mouth and into her throat. Once he took over, she relaxed and concentrated on sucking him. It was a relief to give over the control, knowing that he wouldn’t push her past the point that she could take. He’d take care of her.

  Jamie moved faster, grunting with each stroke of his cock in her mouth. Driving his erection deep into her mouth, he held her tightly against him, his body jerking slightly as he came, exploding down her throat. Her brain spun as he eased out of her mouth and then fell back onto the mattress. Strangely, Topher felt almost as lightheaded as she had earlier, right after she’d orgasmed. Resting her head on his sweat-slick thigh, she caught her breath and enjoyed the occasional residual tremor that coursed through Jamie’s muscles.

  When she started feeling chilly, she moved, lying on top of Jamie with her head on his chest. This way, at least her front was warm.

  “Want to go riding this morning?” he asked, his voice a low rumble in his chest that made Topher smile.

  “Yes,” she said quickly, propping up her chin on her crossed arms so she could see his face. “At least, I would have, before you turned me into a limp pile of mush. All my muscles have been reduced to cooked noodles. You’ve noodle-fied me.”