Nicole tilted her head and peered at him uncertainly. “Why? Is it because you were only turned seven years ago?”
“No. I have gained the skill, and can read most mortals,” he assured her, and then grimaced and added, “I resisted it at first. I didn’t want to be like my family. But in my job it’s a handy skill and so I eventually gave in and have used it pretty regularly … on the job,” Jake added to ensure she didn’t think he ran around reading and controlling people willy-nilly.
“Okay,” she said slowly.
“However, I can’t read or control you,” he added.
“So you said,” Nicole reminded him.
Jake grimaced and nodded. “And that is the sign of a life mate.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Which is what?”
“It’s—” He frowned, wanting to get it right, to find the perfect words to make her understand and at least be open to the idea of being his life mate. “A relationship wouldn’t work if both parties could read each other, or even if one could read and control the other.”
“You said that,” Nicole pointed out quietly.
“Yeah, I guess I’m struggling here,” Jake admitted on a sigh, and then shook his head and said, “Forgive me, this is the first time I’ve had to explain any of this.”
“Right. Sorry, I’ll keep that in mind,” she said wryly.
“Thanks,” he muttered, and then said, “Look, basically a true life mate is someone that an immortal can’t read and control. It’s the one person they can relax around and not constantly guard their thoughts.”
“Surely you don’t have to guard your thoughts around mortals?” Nicole asked. “We can’t read you.”
“No, but some mortals think really loud and we have to put up guards against that too. Otherwise it would drive you crazy. People are always thinking, and sometimes just the stupidest, most nonsensical things. We have to keep our guards up against that as well, filter it out, basically.”
“I see.” She tilted her head again. “But you don’t have to do that around a life mate?”
“No. We can relax around them,” he said. Jake gave her a moment to consider that and then added, “Of course there are other things that are special about a life mate.”
“Like what?”
“Well, actually, nobody’s ever explained it to me and I’m not sure what they all are,” he admitted on a wry laugh. “But I know from watching my mother and Roberto that … well, it’s a special relationship. They seemed to have mostly the same tastes and values. Like the same things, enjoy each other’s company. They still had disagreements and such, but much less often than I think most couples do, and they seemed to get over them really quickly. They just seem so bonded … and apparently, if Dante and Tomasso are to be believed, the physical relationship is much more intense.”
Nicole was silent, which made him worry that she wasn’t getting how important a life mate was, but then he wasn’t sure he fully understood himself.
“It’s also very rare, or hard to find,” Jake added. “Some immortals wait centuries to find one, and some never find one at all.”
She was still silent.
“I’ve heard that the nanos have something to do with selecting a life mate, that they recognize them as a good mate for the immortal and are the reason the immortal can’t read that particular mortal or something. So that it works, I guess.” The conversation where he’d been told that had been a while ago and he hadn’t paid much attention.
Nicole stared at him.
Jake stared back, his mind racing around in search of something to say to help convince her that being a life mate was a good thing, or at least not reject it out of hand. But he feared he had an uphill battle ahead of him. Nicole had just come out of a terrible relationship. She wouldn’t be interested in getting involved again so soon. This was really bad timing.
“I don’t—” Nicole began and Jake was sure she was going to tell him she wasn’t interested, and if she did, he was screwed. He’d lose her. Jake didn’t want that. He wanted what his mother and Roberto had. He’d always wanted that. It was why he’d still been alone at fifty-one. There had been women he’d cared about, and even maybe loved somewhat in his life, but having watched his mother and Roberto together all those years, nothing less than that kind of relationship would do. So when she started to say, “I don’t,” he flat-out panicked and resorted to Dante and Tomasso’s advice. He stood up, stepped forward and bent his head to kiss her.
It was very effective. Not just at silencing her either. Certainly, it did that, but that wasn’t all. Had he wondered and worried about the fact that while he found her attractive he had no great desire for her? Had he really thought that? The question ran through Jake’s head, free-floating around the passion that exploded up within him the moment his lips touched hers. Honestly, it felt like it slammed up from the ground, through his feet, up his legs and straight to the groin. Talk about your instant erection, Jake was very aware that the loose joggers he had pulled on before dinner were now a pup tent that had sprung out from between his legs and, damn, but it felt good.
Nicole had stilled when he first covered her mouth with his, but the moment she relaxed, allowing her lips to slip open with a little moan, Jake moved one hand up to catch her hair in his hand. Using that hold to tilt her head to where he wanted it, he thrust his tongue into her mouth even as his other hand slid around her back and urged her closer against his chest.
Now that she’d given in to the kiss, Nicole wasn’t still either. He felt her arms slide around him, to dig into his back and grasp at him, and then she scooted forward on the stool, her legs sliding along the outside of his thighs until she bumped into the pup tent in his drawers. She hesitated then, but Jake reached down and shifted himself as he moved right up so that his legs pressed against the stool and his erection was pressed flat against his stomach between them.
That brought another moan from Nicole and he felt her legs close around him, her heels pressing into the backs of his calves. Encouraged, Jake pressed himself more firmly against her, his right hand now moving around to her back and down to clasp her behind and urge her closer still as his hips ground against her.
“Jake,” she gasped, tearing her mouth from his, and the excited plea incited him further. Turning his lips to her neck, he nibbled and sucked and licked there as his hands shifted to her top and began to work at the buttons, slipping them quickly from their eyelets until he could pull it open and get to what was underneath.
Urging her backward, one arm under her back for support, Jake closed his other hand over one generous silky cup of her bra and moved his mouth down to run his tongue along the top of it. When Nicole groaned and shifted her hips against him in excited reaction, he caught the edge of the bra and pulled it down until her breast was free. He then lavished the hard, rosy nipple with attention; licking and suckling at it with feverish excitement … and then he suddenly froze.
“Jake?” she said uncertainly, her voice shaking, and he raised his head, letting her nipple slip from his mouth to peer at her with confusion.
“I’m sorry, I just … never mind,” he murmured, sure he was wrong. But rather than bend his head to her breast again, he covered it with his hand, squeezing and kneading and then plucking at it. Nicole groaned, her eyes dropping closed, her body shifting against his again and he almost closed his eyes too as pleasure shot through him as well.
This wasn’t the first time Jake had done this. He loved women’s bodies and had enjoyed many lovers in his life, but it had never been this intense for him in the past, and he had certainly never enjoyed the sensation this way, not as if he himself were experiencing the pleasure he was giving her … but now he was. Earlier while he’d been suckling, and now, every time he plucked at her nipple, it sent a shaft of pleasure shooting through him that just ratcheted up his own pleasure.
Fascinated, he released her breast and slid his hand down between them to cup her between the legs through her jeans. Nicole cried
out, and Jake sucked in a startled breath at the sharp excitement and need that shot straight through his groin. Was it the nanos? Were they somehow communicating her pleasure to his body? Jake had no idea, but this was … Hell, he didn’t even know how to describe it. It was incredible, amazing, fricking awesome! And he wanted to explore it fully.
Nicole gasped with surprise when Jake suddenly picked her up with one hand behind her back and one between her legs and under her bottom. She grabbed at his shoulders nervously as she was lifted off the stool, and then glanced around with surprise when he set her on the edge of her desk and used one arm to swipe the papers, stapler and other odds and ends out of the way, before shifting her to sit on it more fully.
Her gaze slid back to Jake then, but before she could say or even think anything, he kissed her again. Nicole kissed him back at once, with all the passion and need he’d stirred in her. Her own tongue tangled with his briefly before she withdrew it to suck at his, and then Jake broke the kiss and stepped back to pull at her jeans. It was only as they began to slide off of her that Nicole realized that he’d undone the button and zipper while he’d kissed her.
He made quick work of removing them, which was probably a good thing. She didn’t get a chance to protest that way, and didn’t really want to, but if she’d had time to think, Nicole might have felt she should.
Tossing her jeans aside, Jake stepped back between her legs to kiss her again, his arms slipping around her and hands dropping to cup her behind through her panties to squeeze and knead her cheeks as he pressed her against him again. The sensation was even more exciting without her jeans there buffering it somewhat, and Nicole gasped and shifted eagerly against him as much as she could. Her own hands slipped down to cup his behind and urge him on briefly, before she began to work at the top of his jogging pants, first tugging, then pushing them down off his hips in the back until his bottom was bare.
Nicole squeezed hard, pressing him tightly forward until it was almost painful and then jumped in his hands and gasped when one of his hands slid far enough under her to press between her legs through her panties.
“Oh God,” she groaned, and then released a small disappointed sigh when he stopped doing that and eased his hips back from hers. In the next moment, she cried out with surprise and pleasure when his hand slid between them again. This time he didn’t just cup her, but tugged her panties to the side and slid his fingers beneath the thin material to caress her hot, damp skin.
“Oh-please-yes-God-Jake.” The words were gasped in one long slurred sound and almost unintelligible, but then Nicole didn’t really have a clue what she was saying. Didn’t care either. The only thing she knew was that what he was doing felt so damned good. It was instinct alone rather than any conscious thought that made her slip one of her own hands around to find his hardness through the joggers. They had been trapped between them in the front when she’d pulled them down in the back, but had ridden down somewhat when Jake had put space between them. He was still covered by the cloth, but barely.
The moment her hand closed on him through the material, Jake sucked in sharply through his teeth and stilled. Nicole hardly noticed what he was doing, however. She herself had gone stock-still at the sudden sharp stab of excitement that shot through her.
Confusion hard on the heels of that excitement, she hesitated, and then jerked his joggers down so that he sprang free and closed her hand over the velvety skin of his erection. That sent an even more powerful wave of passion shooting through her, but Jake was no longer caressing her.
“What … ?” Nicole raised her head to look at his face. “I feel—It’s like—”
“I know,” Jake ground out when she faltered. “So do I when I touch you.” He slid his fingers over her again as if to prove it, and groaned out loud, but it was the way his erection jerked in her hands that told her he was experiencing her pleasure along with her. Though it was rather amazing that she was aware of his body’s reaction with her own body reacting to his touch.
“But how?” she asked breathlessly.
“I don’t know,” he panted and began to caress her again. “And right now I don’t care. I’ll ask Dante and Tomasso later.”
With her mind already losing its grip on her attention, Nicole thought that was fine. Later they could find out why this was happening. Right now—she slid her hand along his shaft again. Dear God, right now all she knew was that she wanted more of this.
Jake gave a grunt of surprise when Nicole suddenly released him and gave him a push away from her. Before he could ask what she was doing, she’d slid off the desktop and dropped to her knees before him. She’d always wondered how she was as a lover, and now she could find out.
“Nic—” Jake cut himself off with a curse as she closed her mouth over his erection.
Nicole moaned at the sensation she sent rifling through them both. She was aware when his legs began to shake, and wasn’t surprised when he bent over her to grab for the desk behind her to steady himself. However, she was caught completely by surprise when Jake suddenly jerked himself free of her, caught her under the arms and drew her to her feet even as he headed for the daybed. He swung her around as he reached it, almost tossing her on top of it and then he was on her, kissing her almost violently before starting to slide down her body.
Suspecting what he was up to, Nicole caught him by surprise and rolled, shifting him on to his back on the daybed. She had started this and wanted to continue. Not giving him the chance to roll her back, she shifted quickly off of him and turned to take his erection in hand again. Jake had started to rise up, no doubt to grab her again, but fell back with a gasped protest as she closed her mouth over him again. He was as stubborn as she was though, and she wasn’t surprised when he grabbed her upper leg and tugged her hips toward his head.
For one moment, Nicole had to stop what she was doing and balance herself with her hands as he shifted her knees to either side of his head. She nearly toppled over when Jake suddenly ripped her panties off, tearing the sides away to get the thin cloth out of the way. Nicole was glad he did that rather than shifting her about to remove them properly. In fact, it kind of turned her on … and then he pulled her hips down and buried his face between her legs and she forgot her poor panties.
Groaning, Nicole dropped her head briefly, her hair trailing over his upper thighs as his tongue rasped over her sensitive skin. With the second rasp, her nose bumped against his erection, and— recalled to what she’d been doing—she returned to it, taking him in her mouth and helping to drive them both crazy.
What followed was quite the most amazing, mind-blowing thirty seconds of her life. If it was thirty seconds. Nicole couldn’t be sure. It went so fast, passion crashing down over her in wave after hard wave, making the tension building and growing in her body expand exponentially until every nerve in her body was strained and tingling and her brain was a pile of worthless mush.
The release when it came was like a nuclear explosion in her body. White lights went off in her head, blinding her to everything but the pleasure blowing through her. She was vaguely aware that someone was screaming their head off and thought it must be Jake, but while some of the sound was a man’s deep timbre, she recognized a woman’s higher pitch in there too. Just as she realized it was herself, the white light dimmed quickly to black.
Twelve
Nicole opened her eyes and peered at the ceiling of her studio with a completely blank mind. There wasn’t a thought in her head for at least a full minute, and then her brain kicked in and began to ask questions.
Why was she asleep in her studio? What time was it? Where were her pants?
That last question only occurred to her as she started to sit up and noted they were missing. It also brought a wave of memories washing over her, which made the tingling increase.
“Damn,” she breathed, scrambling to get off the daybed and look for her pants. When she didn’t see them anywhere, Nicole dropped back on the bed. Her body was still tingling eve
rywhere. How long had it been since they—
Had she really fainted? She wondered suddenly.
Good God, she’d never ever before in her life experienced anything like that. Nicole had thought her ex was good in bed, but what she’d just experienced was transcendental. Life altering. Mind-blowing. Fricking amazing! And where the hell was Jake? How could he just leave her there like that after what they’d experienced?
Scowling now, Nicole stood up and looked for her pants again. She distinctly recalled Jake tugging them off and tossing them, but her jeans were nowhere to be seen. Neither were the panties he’d torn off of her. After a hesitation, she decided there was nothing else to do and quickly grabbed the throw off the daybed to wrap around herself. Her shirt was still unbuttoned, her bra askew with one breast out and while she quickly tucked her breast back in, she didn’t bother with doing up the shirt, but wrapped the throw around her chest so it covered her from above her breasts to just above her ankles. Then she headed upstairs.
There were sounds coming from the kitchen when Nicole stepped off the stairs at the top. She turned her feet in that direction, her thoughts so focused on Jake and what had happened in her studio that it didn’t even occur to her that it could be Dante or Tomasso making the sounds and she might have to explain her state of undress.
“Oh, shoot. I was hoping to get back before you woke up.”
About six steps into the kitchen, Nicole glanced to the right at that comment to see Jake standing by the counter in just his jogging pants, a knife in hand and a tray of various foods before him. His words made her relax. He hadn’t abandoned her after what they’d done. Well, he’d left, but had planned to come back.
Her gaze slid over his bare chest and she wondered briefly where his T-shirt had gone. Neither of them had removed their tops downstairs. But then Nicole noticed that his hair was wet and she realized that he must have taken a shower before starting on the tray.
“I thought you might be hungry when you woke up, so I was getting us a snack,” Jake said quietly.
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