“Hey,” he said softly, his voice deep. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes if you want to eat soon.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” I said, trying to remain focused on his eyes and ignore the wall of tanned, toned muscle in front of me.
“Jess,” he hedged, seeming ready to talk right here in the hallway.
“I should get changed.”
“Yeah, right. I’ll see you in a few.”
He turned to let me pass by, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I closed my bedroom door. We definitely had to figure things out ASAP or this entire roommate situation was going to kill me. How often did people get lucky enough to fall for their best friend? The chemistry we’d had together had practically blown my mind, and I was positive that Josh wouldn’t have taken things to the next level if he didn’t feel something for me, too. If he regretted our sleeping together, though, I didn’t see how I could handle living with him anymore. Even the thought of him with another woman made my stomach turn, and if we weren’t meant to be together, I didn’t want a front row seat to when he did eventually find “the one.”
I quickly dressed, pulling on a lacy white top that I knew Josh liked and low-slung jeans. We hadn’t even decided what we’d be having for dinner tonight, but I figured the point was more to clear the air between us than to worry about fine dining. I couldn’t believe how nervous I felt as I padded down the hall barefoot to the kitchen. I poured myself a glass of wine and then grabbed a pizza menu from the drawer beside the fridge. Although a part of me was feeling too nervous to eat at the moment, I knew eventually that I’d want dinner. And Josh, being Josh, was probably already starving. I didn’t have any cash on me so I decided to go grab a credit card from my purse to place an order over the phone.
I started to head out of the kitchen and stopped short at the sight of Josh two feet away. His large frame filled the hallway, his tee shirt tight as the muscles bulged beneath the soft cotton. But all I could really focus on were his blue eyes, gazing down at me in the dim light. My heartbeat sped up and lower lip trembled as he took a step closer. I backed up, the counter pressing against my waist, wanting to both run away and run into his arms at the same time. “Jess,” he whispered, his voice soft. The air between us grew thick as he leaned down, and I could smell the clean scent of soap on his skin. His face came closer, and as I blinked back the tears that were springing to my eyes, his soft lips finally met mine.
I kissed him back, holding him to me as our kiss seemed to continue on forever. When at last we came up for air, he placed his hands on the counter on either side of me, effectively boxing me in. I could practically feel the heat radiating off his body as I looked up into his eyes.
“I thought you said we were a mistake,” I said.
“Not us, Jess, just rushing into things the way we did. I didn’t want you to think I was taking advantage of you yesterday.”
I sighed. “I like that you can be protective of me, but I’m a big girl, Josh. I knew what I was doing.”
“I know. Watching that guy grab you the night before, thinking that he might hurt you—I guess it just made me realize how much you really mean to me. Yesterday morning was amazing, but I just wanted to make sure you felt the same way as I did.”
I reached up and caressed his arm, running my fingers over the hard muscles of his bicep. It was hard to imagine this amazing man before me was Josh, the guy I’d grown up with and been best friends with my entire life. Josh reached up and stroked my cheek, his other hand gently resting on my waist.
“The truth is, I think I’ve had feelings for you for a while,” I said. “Mike and I broke up because things weren’t working between us anymore. Obviously. But part of that reason things weren’t working was because of you.”
“Me?” he asked, confused.
“Mike didn’t like how close we were,” I said with a shrug.
Josh sighed, closing his eyes as he let my confession sink in. “Is that why you didn’t tell me that you and Mike broke up?”
“Maybe,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t know. I needed time to sort things out. But I can tell you that the moment you walked in the door the other day, I couldn’t get you out of my mind. Maybe yesterday morning was impulsive and wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t ended up in my bedroom the night before. But this is us that we’re talking about. We’re perfect together, and I’m pretty sure that sooner or later it was inevitable.”
“I think so, too,” Josh said, bending down to brush his lips against mine. “I’d been feeling the same way before I left. Ever since you started dating Mike, I realized that I might really lose you—you’d get engaged, marry some other guy. I finally realized that you were more than just a friend to me.”
“Were you ever going to say anything?”
“I just wanted you to be happy,” he said softly.
“I’m happy with you,” I said.
“Good.” His stomach growled, and a smile came to my face. “Want me to order dinner? We have all night to talk.”
“That sounds great.”
Josh picked up the menu that I’d left on the counter and went to grab his cell phone to call in our order. As I watched him walk away, I had a feeling that things would somehow work out between us after all.
Chapter 8
On Friday night, I walked out of my bedroom, wearing a tee shirt and lightweight cotton pajama bottoms that hung from my hips. It had been a long day and even longer week, and I was looking forward to nothing more than crawling into bed. I hoped I’d be able to sleep tonight, but since my exhaustion was getting the better of me, I thought that even without Josh around to comfort me, I’d be asleep within minutes. I heard the TV playing quietly in the living room and went in to shut it off for the night. Surprised, I saw Josh stretched out on the sofa in the dim light.
“Hey,” I said, walking over to him. “I thought you went out with the guys.”
Josh reached out and pulled me to him. I sank down onto the sofa and snuggled against him, my back resting against his chest and my head leaning on his shoulder. “I was going to. I wanted to stay here with you though.” He tightened his arms around me, and I relaxed into his warm embrace, feeling the beating of his heart as he held me close.
“What are you watching?”
“Dunno. I was mostly just waiting for you.”
I felt the rise and fall of his chest and tried to concentrate on the flickering of the television in front of me, but it was difficult when Josh was holding me so close. I could smell the scent of his cologne and feel the warmth radiating off of his body. I closed my eyes and felt Josh’s gaze on me. Aside from a few kisses here and there, we’d kept things mostly platonic during the week, wanting to sort things out between us before moving back to the next level again. We planned to spend the weekend together—no friends, no family, just us—and I wondered if things might shift back into the passion we’d shared last weekend.
Josh seemed to have the same thing on his mind, because slowly he dipped his head down, and brushing my hair back, softly kissed me behind my ear. I felt my breath catch, and he gently kissed me there again, letting his lips linger this time. “I’ve been rethinking this whole ‘taking it slow’ thing,” he said huskily.
“And?” I asked, my breathing becoming shallow.
His hand slid up from my waist and cupped my breast, his thumb moving back and forth across my nipple until it peaked beneath his touch. He pushed the feather-light material aside and reached inside my shirt, cupping my bare breast with his muscular hand.
“You have the most perfect breasts,” he said softly, squeezing and caressing the one he was holding. The fingertips of his other hand grazed across the skin of my stomach, and he moved them down until they reached the low waistband of my pants, sending delicious shivers right through me.
“Do you like this?” he whispered, slowly moving his mouth down to kiss my neck as he awaited my response.
“Yes,” I breathed.
He slowly slid
his hand inside my pajama bottoms, his fingers trailing lower and lower until they finally reached my fleshy folds. “Mmmm,” he said, intrigued at finding me already wet with arousal. He traced upwards until he found my fleshy nub and then began to gently caress me, his finger moving around in slow circles.
“Oh,” I gasped, amazed at the lightness of his touch. Who knew that Josh was so good with those strong hands of his? He began to speed up his movement ever so slightly, tickling me in my most sensitive spot, and simultaneously nibbled on my neck. “Josh,” I gasped, “you’re going to make me come.”
“That’s the idea, Baby,” he murmured. His thumb moved back and forth across my nipple, caressing me just as his fingers were down below. I could feel the warmth and heat building inside of me and knew that I would soon be surrendering to Josh, having no choice in the way my body was responding to his expert touch. Josh knew exactly what he was doing, and as he sped up, I could tell that I was spiraling out of control. His fingers lightly moved over my clitoris, faster and faster, and I was soon crying out his name. He slowed down his pace as I lay gasping in his arms, but he didn’t stop caressing my tender flesh, determined to get every last ounce of pleasure out of me.
“Oh,” I panted, unaware of anything else as I completely melted into Josh’s embrace. He nuzzled his face against mine, slowly pulling his hand back up and holding me securely in his arms.
“I want to make love to you all night,” he said, his voice sexy and low.
“Your place or mine?” I half-heartedly joked as I basked in the afterglow of the amazing orgasm he’d just given me. There was certainly more of that to come with Josh. He seemed to thrill at giving me pleasure, judging from our marathon session last weekend.
“Well, my bed is closer,” he said suggestively, “although we are already on the sofa….”
“The sofa works for me.” I twisted around in Josh’s arms to kiss him. “Although if I’d known you’d be home tonight and we’d be continuing where we left off last weekend, I might have worn something a little sexier.”
“Nothing is sexier than seeing you naked, Jess. Besides, I rather like the way this top clings to your breasts.” He reached up and cupped them in both hands, as if to prove his point, and I felt him growing hard beneath me as I straddled his lap. He began kneading and caressing my breasts with able fingers, and I subconsciously began rocking on top of him as he nibbled on my neck. “Let’s take these off, okay?” he asked huskily, reaching down to my pajama bottoms. I rose to my knees so he could lower them, and his hands cupped my bare bottom. “Mmmm, so sexy,” he mumbled, squeezing it gently before running his hands up and over my hips and ribcage until he was lifting my top off. He took one bare breast in his mouth and sucked intently, causing me to moan aloud. His hand moved down between my folds, and slipping his fingers through my arousal, he began another erotic caress.
“Josh,” I moaned, my thighs starting to tremble at holding this position as I straddled his lap. His tongue flicked back and forth across my nipple as his fingers tickled me below, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. I could tell I was only moments away from coming again, still so aroused from the last orgasm he’d given me minutes ago and equally enthralled with his current attempt to please me.
“Hang on Baby,” he said, taking hold of my waist and gently lowering me onto the sofa cushions. He bent down, his mouth taking over where his hand had been moments before, and pleasured me with his tongue until I was crying out in ecstasy. Josh unzipped his pants and pulled down both them and his boxers. I watched his erect manhood spring out and couldn’t wait to feel him inside of me once more. As he climbed on top of me, I reached out and guided him to my entrance. Rather than plunging straight in like he had last time, Josh entered me slowly, inch by inch, until I was practically throbbing with desire once more. I moaned at the feeling of him inside of me, his length and girth filling me completely.
He began to slowly make love to me, rocking against me as he filled me up. The base of his erect penis brushed up against my tender nub as he thrust deeply, and I gasped. Just as slowly he would pull out again until I was breathing heavily and desperate for his return. I ached for him to release the tension building yet again inside of me, but he kept his slow and steady pace, kissing me tenderly as we made love.
“I love you so much Jessica,” he said, passionately caressing my face as he moved atop of me.
I wrapped my legs around him, holding him tightly to me, as close as two people could possibly get. “I love you, too, Josh.”
He finally sped up his movements, and we unraveled together, lost in the moment and wanting nothing more than each other. I sighed contentedly as we finished at last and Josh lay sprawled atop of me. There was promise of more to come, both this evening and always, and I couldn’t wait to discover it together. I was safe in the arms of my soldier, and nothing else mattered now.
About the Author
Makenna Jameison is author of the Soldier Series Romance Novellas, including Christmas with a Soldier and Valentine from a Soldier.
To be added to the Soldier Series Romance mailing list and learn when new books will be released, send an email to [email protected].
COMING IN MAY 2013
In the Arms of a Soldier Page 5