A Touch of Confidence

by Jess Dee

  His hand found the hem of her skirt and pushed it over her thighs until cool air brushed the juncture of her legs.

  “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

  Claire forced her fears and inhibitions aside. Forced herself to simply relish the pleasure of being touched by this man, adored by him. “You’re quoting Shakespeare?” she asked on a breathless laugh.

  “I am. For two reasons.” He skimmed his hand over her left thigh. “One, so you never forget how truly stunning you are.” His finger touched her panties, and Claire almost stopped breathing. “And two, to remind you that I’m not the ruthless property manager you think I am. There’s more to me than leases and shop viewings.” He raised his head to stare down at her exposed legs, and again the breath hissed from his lips, feathering over her skin, making her shiver.

  “You’re a teacher too. I haven’t forgotten.” She hadn’t forgotten a single thing about him. Doubted she ever would.

  “Good. Then know this is not about getting you to take a shop you don’t want. It’s not about distracting you from the other shop either. It’s about you and me. Claire and Jack, and the attraction that neither of us seems able to deny.”

  “I…I can’t deny anything when you look at me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like I’m breakfast.”

  He shook his head. “Not breakfast. Not even a summer’s day. Thou art more lovely and more temperate.”

  “Than breakfast or a summer’s day?”

  “Than anything I’ve ever seen on earth.” This time when he lowered his head, it wasn’t to suck on her nipples. His mouth landed firmly on her panties, exactly where her clit pulsed against the silk.

  Jack pressed a soft kiss there, and Claire jerked with pleasure.

  He buried his nose against her clit and inhaled, then groaned, a sound mixed with pain and exhilaration. “Fuck, you smell good.”

  Liquid heat pooled between Claire’s legs, and she pushed her thighs open, giving up any thought of denying him access. How could she push him away when he made her body weep and her heart stutter?

  How could she push anyone away when he looked at her like Jack did? When the hunger in his gaze was almost as arousing as the temptation of his lips?

  “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

  And summer's lease hath all too short a date.”

  He opened his mouth and sucked her clit over her panties.

  Claire gave up thinking at all. Between Shakespeare and Jack, she was a trembling sack of aroused female hormones. She dropped her head to the floor, closed her eyes and relished his sinful attack.

  Big? Okay, yes. Claire was not small and fragile. Didn’t mean she wasn’t the sexiest woman Jack had ever met—ever had the pleasure of kissing. She deserved to have the beauty of the old bard’s words showered down on her.

  “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

  And oft’ is his gold complexion dimmed;”

  Settling on his knees between her legs, he slipped his finger beneath the silk of her panties and tugged them aside, exposing her sweet pussy to his mouth.

  He loved her size. Loved that he didn’t have to wrap her in cotton wool for fear of hurting her. In his haste to get close to her, he’d tackled her to the floor, for God’s sake. Twice.

  It wasn’t just a pleasant change to have a woman who could cope with his size. It was a huge fucking turn on.

  Jack feasted on her clit, licking it, sucking it, kissing it and licking all over again. He did the same with her slit, spreading her pussy lips with his thumbs and licking at her juices.

  “And every fair from fair sometime declines,

  By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed;”

  It was hard not to notice how incredibly Claire responded to his words. Every time he quoted Shakespeare, she got a little wetter. This time she let out a choked sob and squeezed him with her thighs, the satiny soft flesh pressing against his ears. Yes, Claire was a substantial woman, but that just gave him more of her to appreciate.

  “But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

  Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,”

  Fuck, he struggled to talk, struggled to move his mouth far enough away from her to let the words out. He loved her taste, loved her response. Loved how she’d forgotten her shyness and inhibitions and just given herself over to his touch.

  His own arousal inched up another notch—if that was possible. He was so turned on, so hot, his cock ached like the devil. If he could, he’d unzip his pants, free his cock and palm himself, just to get some relief. But this wasn’t about him. This was about Claire. About making her feel as beautiful as he thought she was.

  “Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade,

  When in eternal lines to Time thou growest.”

  He dragged his tongue from her clit, over her pussy and down, almost reaching her hidden rosette.

  She froze. Her soft moans quieted. Even her breath was silenced. But she didn’t object.

  Jack grinned to himself, and wrapped that observation safely away for another time. Then he repeated the action, over and over and over, waiting for her breath to catch again and for her cries of pleasure to fill the room.

  He didn’t have to wait long. Her body stiffened beneath his hands. Her hips jerked against his face and she was coming. All around his tongue.

  Her body convulsed in small sharp jolts and her thighs pinned his head to her pussy.

  Jack licked her through her climax, tasting her pleasure, his cock throbbing in time to her release, desperate for release of his own. Long seconds passed as Claire’s orgasm rippled through her. Long satisfying, frustrating seconds for Jack.

  He wished he could see her face, her expression, look into her eyes. Wished he could show her his own satisfaction, his triumph in her release. But most of all he simply enjoyed her climax.

  And when finally her hips dropped to the ground, her thighs slackened and she tugged on his hair, pulling him away from her pulsing pussy, he raised his shoulders, stared into her dazed eyes as he’d wanted to and said,

  “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

  So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

  Claire’s body shuddered again in what Jack suspected might be another tiny orgasm.

  Still trembling, and with the exquisite vibrations of ecstasy rippling through her, Claire looked at the man who’d just taken her to new heights, and thought she might faint from bliss.

  His lips were wet with her juices, and as her gaze settled on them, he wiped his mouth with a long finger, then sucked the finger clean. “Mmmm.”

  Claire couldn’t talk. Didn’t have the breath. Instead she tugged on his hair, pulling him closer. Soon as she could reach his arms, she tugged on those and then grabbed his hips and pulled him forward to exactly where she wanted him. Straddling her chest.

  His eyes darkened as he looked down at her face, and his lower lip dropped open, emitting another hiss of air—a sound she was fast growing addicted to.

  She would have smiled up at him, but forgot to when she got lost in his expression. As her fingers worked feverishly on his belt, tugging it open, struggling with his button and then yanking down his zip, her mind read a hundred emotions in his eyes.

  Satisfaction, hunger, lust, happiness, frustration, contentment, delight, greed, need…

  She stopped evaluating when her hands found his cock and freed it from the confines of his cotton boxers. Jack helped with this, pushing down his pants so she had easy access to both his impressive erection and tight balls.

  He swore softly as she tentatively wrapped one hand around his thick shaft and caressed his scrotum with the other.

  “Tighter,” he demanded, and she closed her fist around him. “Yeah, beautiful. Like that.”

  His approval increased her confidence, and she held him a little more firmly still, pumping him with her fist.

  Drops of pre-come bea
ded on his slit.

  Claire raised her head and laved them away, the tang of his desire coating her tongue. God, he tasted good. Felt good too. Silky soft skin stretched taut over iron hardness.

  She parted her lips, taking his cockhead into her mouth, testing its girth, running her tongue around and around, until he groaned and hitched his hips, guiding a little more of his length into her mouth.

  She dropped her head back to the floor, tugging at his thighs, and he leaned over her, taking the strain off her neck.

  It was all Claire needed. She gorged on him, taking as much of his length as she could manage, sucking him in deep, enveloping him with her cheeks and tongue, and releasing him in a slow, steady rhythm.

  “Christ, Claire,” he groaned. “What you do to me…” He dropped forward, stretching over her, taking his weight on his arms, as though doing pushups, and Claire half wished she could see his upper body, watch the muscles in his arms and shoulders flex and bulge. Only half wished, because nothing on God’s earth was getting her mouth off his cock. Nothing was stopping her from giving him as much pleasure as he’d given her.

  She let her finger slide past his balls to the fragile skin behind, to draw tiny, erotic circles there, and was rewarded by his thrusting into her mouth.

  For a second she thought she might choke on his ample size. As it was, her jaw was stretched to the max. But she forced herself to breathe through her nose and relax her throat muscles, allowing him to slide a little deeper inside.

  Still, he was a large man, and there was no way she could fit all of him in. So she once again wrapped her fist tight around his cock—this time at the base—and pumped him in time with his thrusts.

  Between her fist, her mouth and her finger, she figured she had all bases covered.

  Jack must have figured it as well, judging from the groans that he emitted.

  “Jesus, Claire, fuck…”

  His thighs turned to rock above her chest. Every muscle in his body tensed.

  “Don’t stop. Please, God, don’t ever stop.”

  She didn’t. Didn’t drop her pace, not for a second. Not until he stiffened above her, for just the shortest of seconds. And then she took as much of him into her mouth as possible, held his cock in her tightest grip, and continued to tickle him behind his balls.

  Jack came with a fierce growl. Spurt after spurt of come pulsed from his cock, filling her mouth and sliding down her throat. She waited as long as she could, until the pulses slowed and dried, and then swallowed it all.

  He groaned long and loud above her. A last shudder trembled through him, before his muscles relaxed and she let him slide from her mouth. He shifted to his side, collapsing beside her on the floor.

  For long moments, the only sound that filled the room was their uneven breathing.

  Then he shuffled down until his head was in line with hers, leaned in, and sealed his mouth over hers. It wasn’t a long kiss. Not like their previous ones. But it was fierce, it was hot, and it tasted like sex.

  And when it ended, Claire knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a blow job would never, ever be enough for her.

  She wasn’t sure how it had happened, or when, since she’d only known him two days and most of that time had been spent arguing. But when it came to Jack, she wanted a whole lot more than a magnificent orgasm on a shop floor.

  Chapter Six

  “I don’t know,” Julia said, her face thoughtful. “It might not be a bad option.”

  She, Claire and Maddie sat eating breakfast in a trendy coffee shop in Glebe—meters away from the property Jack had shown her yesterday.

  “It’s not too far away,” Maddie offered.

  “It’s the other side of the city.” Claire looked at them as though they were both nuts. “There’s no short cut from Clovelly to Glebe.”

  “It’s the other side of the city centre,” Julia said calmly. “Not the other side of Sydney. It’s not as if we’d have to travel to Parramatta. Besides, I like Glebe. It has some of my favorite restaurants. And a real funky vibe. There’s something incredibly appealing about it.”

  Claire gestured towards the people sitting around them. “It’s full of students. No wonder you like it.”

  Julia pulled a tongue at her. “Yeah, yeah, mock my age. Just because I finished Uni two years ago, doesn’t mean I’m too young to make decisions.”

  “I’m not mocking your age—for once. I’m just pointing out a basic demographic of Glebe. It’s full of Uni students. And Uni students are not our target market. New parents are. Different stage of life. Glebe is the wrong area.”

  Maddie looked up from her iPad. “I’m not convinced about that, Clairey. There’s a primary school right around the corner for starters, and I’ve just Googled daycare centers in Glebe. There are at least a dozen in this area alone—and that figure doesn’t take into account the neighboring suburbs.”

  “Besides, a shop here opens up business to the Inner West,” Jules said. “Maybe Jack Wilson has a point.”

  “We spoke about the Inner West. And the Inner City and decided against both of them,” Claire reminded her.

  “Because we preferred the idea of Rose Bay. Glebe was still on the list of top ten suburbs that would suit our needs,” Maddie reminded her. “Look, had we gotten the shop without a problem, we would have taken it. But we didn’t, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like going to court over this. Yes, I’m pissed off. But, I don’t feel like spending the money on a lawsuit. Not if we have a decent alternative. I’d rather pump the money into the two shops or into buying new stock.”

  “And if we’re talking money, you can’t ignore the rental price. It’s good. Too good to ignore,” Julia added.

  Maddie nodded. “Agreed. You said the shop was nice, Clairey?”

  “The shop is perfect,” she grudgingly admitted. “If we could pick it up and plop it down in Rose Bay, we’d be set for life.”

  “But we can’t, so let’s not think about that.” Maddie took a sip of coffee. “I think we should take the shop if for no other reason than this is the best damn cappuccino in Sydney. I could get used to working next door to this café.”

  “Oh, great reason,” Claire muttered, surprised her sisters were giving the shop such serious consideration. They continued debating the pros and cons of Glebe until their breakfast was done and it was time to meet Jack.

  Yesterday, she’d agreed to keep an open mind and bring her sisters through to see the property before work today. Just bringing them here was a massive step for Claire, who still stubbornly held on to her beliefs they should have the Rose Bay shop. But frankly? She would have agreed to anything Jack had suggested. Her head had been so full of the delights he’d rained down on her, she’d found she couldn’t refuse him a damn thing.

  Feeling suddenly shy about seeing him again, Claire took care of the bill while Julia and Maddie went ahead to the shop. Yesterday they’d been caught up in the heat of passion. What if today Jack showed no interest? What if he’d woken up this morning to find the chemistry had fizzled away on his side?

  It hadn’t on her side. She’d fallen asleep thinking about him and woken up the same way. Save the distractions her sisters provided, he’d pretty much been on her mind since she left him at his offices yesterday.

  She had another problem. What if in her excitement to see him today, she jumped him—in broad daylight, while her sisters watched? Claire almost laughed at their imagined shock. She hadn’t told them anything about the personal aspect of her and Jack’s relationship. Hadn’t been ready to share the delicious details.

  She dragged her heels paying, then took a slow stroll to the store. The door was open, and her G.G. stood inside, talking to her sisters.

  Claire’s heart slammed into her ribs, and her knees turned to jelly.

  Her little sister, the smallest out of the three Jones girls, flirted with Jack as Maddie walked around the front room, checking out the shelving and paint work.

  A wave of jealou
sy surged through Claire, shocking her.

  Jealous? Of her own sister? Or of her sister’s ability to flirt so easily, while Claire just got all inhibited around the men she desired? She cleared her throat. “Mr. Wilson.”

  He looked up, and a broad smile split his cheeks, showing his beautiful dimple. “Miss Jones.”

  His gaze swept over her body, from her face, down to her feet and back up again. Desire shone from his eyes, telling her his reaction to her yesterday hadn’t been a crazy fluke. Nor had the chemistry ebbed.

  “You’ve met my sisters, I see.”

  “They introduced themselves a few minutes ago.”

  “I love the shop, Jack,” Julia announced. “Love it.”

  Maddie was more restrained. “I’d like to see the other rooms before making a decision.”

  Jack held out his hand towards the inter-leading door. “Please, go ahead. Take a look, and make sure you check out the storage section as well.”

  Maddie and Julia disappeared into the back room as Jack walked over to Claire. “Good morning, beautiful.” His potent gaze made her breath catch.

  She meant to be polite. Honestly. But the second she caught a whiff of his aftershave, of that gorgeous, woodsy scent, her manners scattered, her words vanished and instinct took over. She grabbed his tie, yanked him forward, and stole his lips in a blistering kiss.

  Fortunately, Jack was quicker to respond to her advances than she’d been to his. He kissed her back with as much enthusiasm as she kissed him. The instant their lips touched, the chemistry between them sparked and heat tore through her, a scorching reminder of the passion they’d shared in the very room her sisters now explored.

  Also fortunate for her, was Jack’s excellent hearing, because Claire lost herself to their smoldering passion. She’d have kissed him for the rest of the day had he not pulled away with a harsh moan—an instant before Maddie walked back into the front of the shop.

  “Clairey,” she said, raising an eyebrow when her gaze landed on Claire. “Can you come through to the back room for a minute?”