by Anthology
I was always the one who had the upper hand. Always. Because I didn’t get emotionally invested, and it didn’t matter to me what happened between me and the guy I was seeing. And yet, somehow I knew Jamie had the potential to change the dynamic I was accustomed to.
I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t.
“That’s it, baby.” He pressed closer to me, the sensation of his skin against my almost naked back causing a small moan to escape my mouth. “Put your hands behind my neck. You move them and I stop.”
One of his hands moved ever so slowly up to my breast, pulling aside the bikini top to play with my nipple. My sex clenched as he twisted and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger.
“You have a beautiful body, Jackie. Never cover it up around me.” His voice was deep and soaked in sex.
I had a fleeting thought of telling him that whatever was about to happen here was a one-time thing, that I wasn’t his, but it fell from my mind as his other hand dipped into my bikini bottom.
“Put your left foot up on the shelf.”
I did as he asked, without hesitation, wantonly opening myself to him and allowing his fingers better access. And was I ever glad I did.
“How come you didn’t take instruction this well the first time we met?” He gave a low chuckle.
I had a witty comeback on the tip of my tongue, but just then his right hand dipped lower, his fingers brushing over my clit and rimming the entrance to my sex, but not entering. I moaned and squirmed against his fingers.
“Oh Jackie, I’d love to, but the first part of me inside you is going to be either my tongue or my cock. I haven’t decided which. For today you’ll have to just deal with my attention here.” He punctuated his last word with a swirl over top of my swollen bud. I arched back into him, unable to stop my reaction.
His left hand pinched my nipple, while his right lavished attention on my clit. Again and again he kept up this pattern until I was a panting, quivering mess.
“God, you smell so fucking good, Jackie. Do you know how hard it makes me, being able to smell how turned on you are?” He pushed his groin into my lower back so I could feel his rigid length.
A small cry escaped my lips, and I couldn’t help but pull the hair on the back of his head where my hands rested.
“Ah, my kitten wants to finish, does she? You’re pretty amenable when you retract your claws long enough to let me get my hands on you. Lucky for you, I aim to please.” He nuzzled his face into my neck and continued fondling me, playing with me, driving me to the edge. My knees shook slightly as I gazed down at my body and saw for myself what his skilled hands were doing.
Heat pooled at the apex of my thighs as the need to come built up to a peak, then Jamie dragged his tongue from the base of my neck up to my earlobe where his teeth bit down and I came apart. White light bathed my vision while I moaned, squeezing my eyes shut and shuddering in his arms. I had the fleeting thought that someone might hear, but as I slipped further and further into sensation it disappeared.
As I came back to earth, I slunk down to the cool floor, leaning against Jamie as I did. That orgasm had been mind-numbing, but I couldn’t look up at him. Somehow I knew I’d only see a smug, satisfied smile on his handsome face.
I righted my bikini top, reached for my cover-up that lay in front of me. I pushed up off the cool ceramic floor and raced out of that wine cellar without a word or a backward glance.
Chapter Six
Jackie
I managed to avoid Jamie for the rest of the party, though I knew he was watching me. I could practically feel his eyes on my body. He didn’t stay long after our wine cellar rendezvous and left without a goodbye, which had irked me. And the fact that it irked me, irked me even more. There was no reason it should matter, but I found myself drinking more than I normally would in an effort to try and forget about him and what he’d done to me in that basement.
After paying the cab driver and stumbling into my house, I pulled my cell phone from my purse and sifted through my contacts for my best friend. After several rings, she answered. It was clear I’d woken her, based on the groggy sound to her voice.
“Chloeeeeee,” I whined into my cell.
I heard her yawn into the phone. “Jackie, what time is it?”
“I didn’t look. This is a girlfriend emergency.”
“Are you drunk?” There was a slight tone of disapproval to her voice.
“I’m fairly tipsy, not drunk,” I said a little too defensively.
“I’d love to know the distinction someday.” She laughed.
“I’m serious, Chlo. I need you. I did something really stupid tonight.”
She sighed. “Uh-oh. This must be really bad if my live-in-the-moment friend is this freaked about it. What happened?”
I plopped down onto the chair in my living room, hanging my legs over one armrest and leaning my head on the other. “You remember that cop I told you ticketed me?”
“Uh, yeah. You complained about what an asshat he was for like a day straight.”
“He was at the party.” I draped my arm over my eyes.
“Please tell me you didn’t actually rip his balls off and feed them to him like you so vividly described last week.”
“Har-har. No I did not. Though it does kinda have to do with his balls…in a round-about way.” Chloe said nothing, silently waiting for an explanation. “The long and short of it is we fooled around.”
Chloe laughed at my expense. “Well?”
“Well, what?” I said with a huff.
“Was it long or short?”
Clearly my so-called best friend wasn’t seeing the seriousness of this situation. “I don’t know,” I said, flustered. “Based upon the feel of it pressing against me I’d say the latter.”
“Wait. What exactly happened?”
“He ambushed me in Don and Shawna’s wine cellar and got me off.” I blew out a breath. I can’t believe I’d gone through with it. I mean I was no nun, but I didn’t even know the guy.
“I don’t understand why you sound so foul then. Seems like you had a pretty good time at the party.” She was way too amused for my liking.
“I don’t want to like this guy,” I argued, gazing up at the ceiling above me. Well the parts that weren’t starting to spin anyway. “First of all, he’s a cop and you know how I feel about that—”
“I do know how you feel about it,” she interrupted, “and I know you know how I feel about that.”
I pulled my arm up and rolled my eyes. This was a subject we’d never see eye-to-eye on. She couldn’t understand how I chose to work surrounded by emergency service workers, how I had the utmost respect for them, and yet I refused to consider dating one. But she wasn’t the one who had lost her father to the job when she was ten.
“Anyway,” I went on, stretching out the word in a moody way, “He was a complete pompous ass the first time I met him, and he acts like it’s a foregone conclusion that we’re going to sleep together.”
Chloe chuckled. “Gee, I wonder what gave him that idea.”
“I’m serious,” I whined again. “Now he’s going to think he can snap his fingers, and I’ll come running, legs wide open.”
Another chuckle. “What did he say after?”
I huffed into the phone. “I didn’t give him the chance. I ran out of there and avoided him the rest of the party. I felt him watching me the whole time, though.” His steel gray eyes might as well have been branding me.
“Now you just sound dramatic,” she sighed.
“Trust me. When this guy looks at you—you feel it. Everywhere.” A full body shiver wracked through my body just remembering how heated I’d felt whenever his gaze was on me.
“You obviously like him,” Chloe reasoned. “What’s the harm in spending some time with him and seeing where it goes?”
I went rigid in the chair. “You know I don’t do emotional entanglements, Chlo. And I’m certainly not going to break my rules for a cop. I’m not going
to end up like my mother.” It sounded harsh, but I couldn’t stomach the idea of turning into her. I loved my mom, but from the moment my dad had been killed in the line of duty, she’d been mourning a ghost. She’d never moved on with her life, and never dated or loved anyone else in the sixteen years since. No one else could compare to the memory of my dad in her mind.
“Then I guess you’ll have to avoid him,” Chloe said, matter of fact. “You obviously can’t control yourself around him.”
I groaned. “How am I supposed to stay away from him when I know it’s that good when he lays his hands on me? Can you imagine what the sex would be like?”
“Sounds like quite the dilemma.” She laughed.
“I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t,” I whined again, feeling my frustration mounting.
Chloe yawned into the phone, and I suddenly remembered what time it was. “Shit. I’m sorry I called so late. I’ll let you go.”
“Sorry, I was up early this morning to take Jess to work.” Chloe was the sole caregiver for her teenage sister.
“No worries. I’ll call you in the morning. Any chance you can run me over to Don’s to pick up my car? I had to take a cab home.”
“Of course. Give me a call and we’ll head over.”
“Alright. Thanks for always having my back and dealing with my fucked up issues. Love you, babe.”
“Same here. Night.”
I let my phone fall in my lap. I lay there for a while and pictured Jamie with no shirt on. The way his abdominal muscles rippled when he moved, how his biceps flexed when he’d lob the ball across the pool, had been mouthwatering. And then I fell asleep, dreaming of his large hands on me, groping, teasing, and bringing me to climax before I woke up on the chair with a crick in my neck and managed to drag my ass to bed for a fitful sleep.
Chapter Seven
Jamie
I pulled the cruiser into Jackie’s driveway. What the hell was wrong with me? It was only yesterday that I’d gotten her off and yet here I was, sitting unannounced in her driveway like a fucking stalker.
If I’d thought it difficult to get her off my mind before, what had happened in the wine cellar had made it damn near impossible. I’d ended up going home and jacking off, then taking a cold shower, but the feel of her slick heat and the smell of her arousal still taunted my mind.
Everyone I’d talked to had said the same thing—that she’d turned down each and every cop or fireman that had asked her out. No one was sure if she was just trying to keep her personal life outside of the work environment or what, but I intended to find out. The insane pull between us didn’t leave me any other choice.
With a sigh, I unbuckled my seatbelt and glanced at the small bungalow. It was cute with white siding and black shutters. Hanging baskets of colorful flowers hung from hooks around the veranda and a kickass bicycle was leaning against the side of the house. That helped to explain why she had such a firm ass.
I opened the door to the cruiser when the front door of the house burst open, and Jackie stood there frozen, her hand held to her chest and such an expression of fear on her face that I bolted out of the car and up the front steps.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded as soon as I was in front of her.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” she asked in barely a whisper.
I relaxed a fraction once it was clear she was okay. “I figured you could use a lift to Don’s place for your car. Didn’t think you would’ve driven home last night.” I shrugged. “It’s been quiet today, so I popped by to see if you wanted me to drive you over.”
She released a pent-up breath and relief washed over her face. “Oh, thank God.”
I frowned and gripped her upper arms. “What’s going on? Everything okay?”
She glanced down at where my hands lay on her soft skin and looked back up to me, blinking twice. “It’s nothing. When I saw the cruiser in the driveway…never mind.” She shook her head.
I studied her for a moment. She was sexy just rolling out of bed with her hair thrown in a messy bun and last night’s make-up still on her face. “You sure?”
She nodded and her eyes flicked down to my hands once more. “Why are you always touching me whenever I see you?” Her voice had come out all breathy, not at all convincing me that she didn’t like my hands right where they were.
I grazed her collarbones with my thumbs, causing goose bumps to form on her skin. “I think you know exactly why.”
With a gulp, she stepped back and I released her, dropping my hands to my sides. Her eyes narrowed the tiniest bit—something I’d learned meant she was beginning to get annoyed with me, and I had to ask her again. “Are you telling me you haven’t felt this pull since the moment we met?”
Jackie sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. God, what I wouldn’t do to be able to suck on that lip right now. I reached forward and pulled her lip down so it popped out of her mouth.
She just stared up at me for a moment, unblinking. “You’re certainly not the first guy I’ve been attracted to, Jamie.” She crossed her arms over her chest, trying, I think, to show her displeasure. Unfortunately for her, all it did was advertise the fact that her nipples were hard.
I stepped closer, wanting to make her a little uncomfortable, and force her to confront the issue at hand. “It’s more than that, and you know it.”
“Pfft. Don’t flatter yourself.” She rolled her eyes.
I leaned down into the crook of her neck. Her scent was clean and fresh, with a slight citrus tinge to it. I spoke slowly into her ear. “Your body betrays you, Jackie. Your nipples are hard, your breath is more shallow than when I first arrived. The body doesn’t lie, but you do.”
She inhaled a sharp breath, and then pressed both her hands against my chest to push me away. “You need to leave.” Her face was blotchy.
I chuckled, loving the effect I had on her. Why couldn’t she just admit it, and then we could skip all this bullshit and get to the good stuff. “What about your car?”
She turned her head to the side, tucking a stray piece of dark hair behind her ear. “I have a friend coming to get me. It’s not your concern.”
I clenched my fists at my side, wondering if it was that jackass from yesterday. “This wouldn’t be the same ‘friend’ who had you on his shoulders yesterday in the pool, would it?”
Her face scrunched up. “Jared? Not that it’s any of your business, I love Jared, but we’re just friends. Besides, I was on your shoulders yesterday, too, and I don’t even like you.” She raised her chin and placed her hands on her hips like she’d just shot the winning lob my way.
I narrowed my eyes ever so slightly. “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart, but I’m pretty sure it was me who had you half-naked and panting yesterday, not him.”
Her lips twisted in disapproval. “Argh! Go! Just get out of here.”
I had to bite down to keep from laughing. She really was pretty fucking hot when she was pissed. Maybe that was why I enjoyed riling her up so much.
“One date, Jackie,” I said, totally serious. “That’s what I want. It’s not like I’m down on bended knee.”
Her hand shot out in front of her, and she shoved me again, this time forcing me backward. “I’m not going out with you, so you might as well stop asking,” she growled.
I stopped moving when she’d just about pushed me down her front steps. “Yeah, I heard you don’t date cops. Why is that again?” I arched a brow.
“None of your business. Now go! I have to get ready before Chloe gets here.”
I was ashamed to admit to the small amount of relief I felt at knowing it was another female who was coming to help Jackie collect her car. “Fine. This isn’t over though.” I slid my sunglasses onto my face. “You can’t ignore this…thing between us forever.” At that, I turned, taking the stairs down her porch.
“How did you find out where I live?” she shouted at me when I’d almost reached the car.
I opened my door and leaned one hand on
the roof, facing her. “I’m a cop, Jackie. There’s not much I can’t find out about you if I want to.” I winked and got into the cruiser and put my seatbelt on. When I looked up, she had already gone back into the house.
I smacked my hand on the steering wheel. Damn, that woman was frustrating. Why did she fight the inevitable? Because one thing was for certain—I wasn’t about to let Jackie slip through my grasp. I’d have her one way or another.
Chapter Eight
Jackie
After a couple of weeks had gone by, I’d managed to forget almost all about Jamie. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I’d been keeping myself as busy as possible, dividing my time between work, my fitness regime, and hanging out with Chloe. But at night, when I was alone with my thoughts and by myself in bed, my vibrator had been getting quite a workout.
I was desperate. So much so that when Brad asked me out I agreed. Anything to get rid of the image of Jamie’s hands on me.
Brad wasn’t typically my type. He was more straight-laced than I was used to, probably more uptight than I’d ever be comfortable with, but I figured what the hell. He worked at the bank, and I’d ran into him a few times. I was young (if you could call twenty-six still young), single, and it was better than sitting around on a Friday night, getting off with a poor imitation of the real thing, while daydreaming about a guy I wouldn’t have.
Knowing that this date probably wasn’t going to go anywhere, I had opted to meet Brad at the Cottage Street Pub for drinks, a tiny bar just off Main Street which meant less tourists. It would also help to avoid the inevitable awkward goodbye at my doorstep later.
It was easy to spot Brad at the corner of the bar when I walked in, given the small size of the place. He smiled and waved to me as I approached.
He looked handsome in a nice guy sort-of way with his hair trimmed close to his scalp and his dress shirt tucked into his khaki pants.