Twenty-Four Hours (Shattered Boundaries Book 1)

by Anthony, Carolyn

  “Where’re you at, baby?” Jake rested his hands on her hips.

  “Umm.” How to put this? She cleared her throat. “Last night you said—”

  “Wait...” He put a hand up. “I know that look. This is gonna be intense, right?”

  Hooking her fingers inside the neckline of his T-shirt, she shrugged as if no big deal. Right—neither was a grenade with its pin just pulled. “It’s something you said, so it’s on you.”

  “Ahhh, Eve…too early for intense. Can I have coffee first?” He bunched the sides of her pajama bottoms in his hands.

  The breath lodged in her throat came out in a defeated rush. “Yeah, okay.” When she shifted on his lap to stand up, he fisted the material tighter, locking her in place.

  “The top needs to go.” He skimmed his hands up her arms, wrapping the spaghetti straps of her coffee-stained camisole around his fingers.

  “Okay, but you have to let me go first,” she said.

  “So grumpy this morning.”

  Was he serious? “Stop saying that! I’m not grumpy.”

  “Oh, yeah...grumpy.”

  The slightly roughened pads of his fingers trailing down her arms made her nipples harden. She shivered at the scratchy circles he drew on her skin while he played with her top.

  He took up the slack on the cami straps until she couldn’t move.

  “Not enough coffee?”

  “It’s your fault I didn’t hit my quota.”

  “In the past, baby. Point is...this is wet,” he said, as he played with her tank straps. “Can’t have you getting sick, so it’s gotta come off.” He lifted the camisole up.

  Eve squeezed her arms to her sides. “Babe, let me change. Go get coffee.” If her libido had an antagonist—it was Jake. His touch alone killed any coherent thoughts, turning them into a ridiculous manifestation of sexual need.

  “I have coffee.” He switched up and tugged the cami down to her waist, twisting the straps around her wrists.

  “Jake!” Her instinct was to cover up, but her wrists were stuck in the straps.

  “That’s called improvising.”

  The pressure of the material digging into her wrists was the only thing keeping her composed. Only a few more hours left with him.

  Leaning forward, Jake ran his lips over the sensitive spot right beneath her chin. The leisurely slide of his tongue across her neck was almost torturous. God, she craved him to an inexplicable degree. The clean pine scent of his shampoo enveloped her as she rested her cheek on top of his head. Breathing him in, she relaxed into the warm feel of his tongue along the heavy swells of her breasts. Shifting back, she gave him more access.

  “Mmm. Best coffee ever.” The warm tip of his tongue licked at one blissfully abused nipple.

  The teasing pressure of his teeth grazing over her areola sent little jolts across her skin. When he finally got to the tip and gently bit down, her body instantly reacted with a surge of wetness to her core...and she realized it was too late. Had been too late for her, since they’d crossed the line of friendship. Jake owned her. He forced her to feel and that was something she’d lost a long time ago. The numbness she’d worn like protective armor had eviscerated with the first touch of his mouth to hers. She fidgeted in his lap, needing to feel his body stretching hers, filling her up.

  “I can’t get enough of you—never enough time,” Jake whispered. Letting go of the straps on her camisole, he placed both hands on either side of her hips and lifted, so her breasts were even with his mouth.

  Breathing became a task. Wiggling free of the straps, Eve threaded her hands through his thick hair. Her pajama bottoms clung to her core, saturated with her need for him. How was she supposed to get through two years without him now that he’d found her again? His face was the last thing she wanted to see when she went to sleep and the first thing she woke to in the morning. From the second she’d picked up the phone a little over a year ago, and heard his voice for the first time in sixteen years, she’d been lost to him.

  Jake fluctuated between teasing sweeps of his tongue and sharp nips of his teeth on her tender nipples, keeping her on edge and needy.

  “Jake...” she moaned.

  “Feel good?” He asked, giving her a little more pressure.

  “Yeah,” she whimpered to him. “Please—don’t stop.”

  “Hmm.”

  The vibrations of Jake’s moan sparked across her skin like waves of electricity.

  “Always tell me what you want, what gets you off.” He suckled one nipple, while simultaneously pinching the other between his fingers. “I need you to own that, baby.”

  Always. The word thundered through her head—there was no always for them. Was there?

  Touchy and raw from last night, Eve welcomed the physical distraction right now, because emotionally she felt close to shattering. It would be so easy to just give in to the dark web of erotic possession Jake spun around her, but then where would she be if he did disappear again? Lost. Empty. Alone.

  His strong arms enfolded her and his mouth worked back up her neck, keeping her in the present moment. Cuddling her to him, he nuzzled her ear and tightened his hold.

  “No.” The sweet smell of his minty toothpaste lifted to her nose. Every inch of him smelled too good. Maneuvering her hands in between them, she created some space. “I need you.”

  No more waiting. No snuggling. It took all she had not to go crazed sex nymph on him and stroke him through his shorts. They were on a clock—no time for foreplay. No. Time. She dropped her hands to his waistband and scooted back on his thighs, giving herself room.

  The second Jake dropped his head and pressed his forehead to hers, she felt the muscles in his legs tense.

  “Shit, baby. You’re fucking red.” He lifted her wrists up, examining the angry strap marks. “Why didn’t you say—”

  “I’m fine.” Quickly pulling her hands out of his, she anchored her palms on either side of his head and pushed her chest against his. “Kiss me, Jake.”

  He grasped her shoulders, his fingers digging into her skin, and held her away from him.

  “What? Babe—what?” But she already knew...

  “Why didn’t you tell me I was hurting you?” His voice was soft. Eerily soft.

  “It’s nothing—a few red marks.” Eve insisted. “And it didn’t hurt.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “Nothing...” He dropped his hands to her wrists and held them up in front of her, the angry red strap marks violent against her skin. “This is nothing? What’s going on, Eve?”

  “What do you think?” She bent to kiss him again, but his grip on her tightened, stopping her. “I’m trying to have sex with you. You’re being difficult.”

  “Sex?”

  “Yes!” She deserved some kind of award for not rolling her eyes. Out of sheer will, she straightened her spine when all she wanted to do was melt into him. He was making something out of nothing.

  “Not making love?”

  This time, she couldn’t stop the eye roll. “Twenty questions? Right now? Yes...sex, Jake!” Stealthily, she stole another quick peek at the clock.

  “Huh.” He nodded once as his brows pulled together. “Funny thing, baby...you never say ‘sex.’ You say ‘making love.’ No matter how dirty I get or how hard I push you.”

  The little hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end. She swallowed the scream chafing the back of her throat.

  “Do the words actually matter at this exact moment? Making love, sex...whatever. They’re a means to the same end.”

  “Night and day, sweetheart. Making love, sex, and the one word you can’t even say, fucking—not something I’ve ever done with you.”

  Even with the screen door open and the breeze off the ocean cooling the room, the air became stifling. Something deep inside drove her to push him away and she kn
ew that’s where Jake’s tolerance ended. The sense of finality marring his cryptic admission of love last night wouldn’t stop running through her overactive mind. She couldn’t stop herself from trying to provoke something physically she could justify staying emotionally detached from later. Something had to stop her from falling deeper in love with him every second he was in her presence.

  “You think I’ve fucked you?”

  The edge in his voice stopped her cold and her eyes met his. “No. That’s not what—”

  “Right, whatever’s going on in that over-active brain of yours...rope it the fuck in.” The back of his fingers lingered over her nipples, playing with her while he spoke.

  Her heartbeat raged out of control at the gentleness of his caress in contrast with the rage in his voice, which for some godforsaken reason made her want him even more. She tried to jerk away from his touch. This wasn’t working...

  He locked strong hands around her biceps. “You can withhold shit from me over the phone, but sure as fuck not when you’re with me. Not when I’m touching you.” Shaking her gently, he tugged her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. Cradling the back of her head with one hand, he held her face to his neck for a quick second.

  “Eve.” He set her away from him. “There’s still time, baby,” he said softly.

  No holding. And Jake holding her was usually the one thing she craved above all else. The tenderness in his eyes was like an increasing weight crushing her chest and she looked away from him. He read her so well and it wasn’t fair.

  “Jake—” She struggled to squirm away.

  “Shhh, I got you.”

  “Are you planning on finishing what you started?” she scoffed, staring at the back of the couch.

  “Yup.” Gripping her ass with both hands, he stood up with her in his arms. “On my terms. Yours suck right now.”

  “You’re going to hurt your back,” Eve cautioned. Frustrating man! “The doctor said two years for a full recovery—it’s only been one and change and you’re already back at work. You don’t listen to anybody. Even your doctor.”

  His sexy chuckle rippled along her ear. “I’m good as new, baby. See…” He bit her earlobe gently. “…even when you’re trying to push me away, you can’t stop caring. You’re loving by nature.” He set her on the bed and laid her down beside him, but leaned over her.

  “I don’t want to talk.” She trailed a finger down his cheek, over his full lips.

  “No more talk.”

  All the fight bled out of her with the touch of his lips to hers.

  He licked into her mouth with aggressive, sweeping strokes. No teasing. No sexy build up. He wanted, he took, and she willingly gave herself over to him. Aggressive. Hungry. Needy and dominant. This is what she needed from him.

  As he settled on top of her, she opened her legs, cradling him between her thighs. Using both her hands and toes, she managed to get his shorts over his ass to mid-thigh. She arched her hips off the bed, wanting his thick hard length against her.

  Jake worshiped her mouth. He seduced her with slow, teasing kisses that seemed to go on forever, before taking her bottom lip between his teeth and sucking on her tongue.

  She groaned when he broke the kiss. The loss of his mouth on hers had her reaching for him.

  Turning his face into her hand, he kissed the center of her palm before sliding down along her body to kneel at the side of the bed. He gripped her waist, then jerked her down to him, taking her pajama bottoms with him when he sat back.

  Her knees rested alongside both his shoulders, leaving her open to him.

  “Jesus, you’re soaking wet. Goddamn.” Jake groaned as he slid one finger around her opening. “Gotta taste you.”

  “Wait!” She scrambled to her elbows. “I—I’m sore. I don’t need this.” Maybe a little white lie. The anxiety aside, she knew she was close to ready. For the first time ever with Jake, she didn’t want him to go down on her—didn’t want the intimacy of the act. It would be hard enough to push back the memory of this weekend, so that she could actually be a functioning human being.

  Jake’s eyes met hers. “I’d never hurt you.”

  “I’m ready, though.” It was no use, but she couldn’t help trying to distance herself. “I want you.”

  “You’ll get me...when I say you’re ready.” He slid warm hands under her knees and pushed her thighs back on either side of her, exposing every wet, swollen, pink inch of her.

  If she wasn’t so turned on to the point she ached, she’d be humiliated—but that would come later.

  “Hold your knees.”

  “Jake—”

  His eyes drilled into hers. “Hold. Your. Knees.”

  Slowly, Eve wrapped her hands around her knees and pried them apart.

  He ran his palms up the insides of her thighs, pushing them out farther as he bent down between her legs. With an unleashed aggression, he covered her entire cleft with his mouth.

  The slide of his tongue through her dripping wet crease made her clit throb harder and she cried out. For some reason she’d expected slow. More gentle. Not even close to what he gave her. And fuck her if she didn’t get hotter with every hard flick and lap of his wicked tongue. A coppery taste flooded her mouth and she realized she’d bitten the shit out of her lip.

  Tilting his head, he swept the pad of his tongue up one side and down the other, sucking on the swollen lips of her pussy before slowly thrusting his tongue inside her.

  “Jake, please—please.”

  “Please, what?”

  “Um—um.” An uncontrollable shiver ripped through her. “I need you.”

  “Need me to what?”

  His response vibrated across her hypersensitive body. When he skimmed his teeth over her throbbing inner lips, her restraint snapped.

  “Christ, Jake...make me come,” she pleaded. “Don’t leave me like this.”

  “Never, baby. I’d never leave you hurting.” Wrapping his arms around her hips, he held her open with his fingers and teased his tongue just under her clit, but much softer now.

  Was he intentionally mind-fucking her without words? Angry, caring, aggressive, gentle—no consistency. She felt like she was on the edge of a cliff, contemplating whether to jump and fly, if only for the few blissful seconds of absolute freedom, or to step back and just exist, safely admiring the beauty from afar—imagining what it could feel like.

  The pulsating intensified the more he licked at her and pushed her closer to that edge. It felt as if he were barely touching her. His tongue was like a fluttery butterfly wing—fragile and soft. He’d never been this gentle with her before, knowing she needed more aggressive stimulation. This, though—this was loving, more intense. Exactly what she’d wanted to avoid. No jumping. No flying. Not for her.

  “I’m addicted to you,” he mumbled.

  Soft flicks and circles with the tip of his tongue had her panting and clenching the ends of a pillow in her fists. Muscles in her stomach violently ebbed and flowed as he slipped two fingers inside her saturated opening. She pulled her knees farther apart and rocked her hips against his mouth. A fiery warmth flooded her core when he finally sucked her clit into his mouth...shoving her right to the very edge of her metaphorical cliff. She jerked the pillow out from behind her head and screamed into it. Fear of being without him, her vulnerability to him, her self-preservation, all of it exploded inside her.

  “I want to hear you.” Ripping the pillow from her hands, Jake threw it across the room. “You’re gorgeous when you come.” Rising over her, he balanced his weight on one hand and caught one leg in the crook of his other arm. The second she wrapped her free leg around his waist, he thrust hard inside her.

  “Jake,” she cried. “Wait! Just wait.” She was sorer than she’d originally thought.

  “No waiting. Breathe, baby. I know your body. Just kiss m
e.” Releasing her leg, he shifted his weight to his elbows and held her face still with both hands. “Kiss me, hon.”

  Squeezing her eyes shut, she hastily grabbed his face and thrust her tongue between his lips. In all the times she’d been with Jake, as intense and aggressive as he’d been with her, he’d never felt so...deep. She whimpered into his mouth. Jeez, her insides were about to split in two.

  His lips barely broke from hers. “You’re tensing. Relax for me. You know what I want—give me those wet kisses that take my breath away.”

  Distracting herself from how uncomfortably huge he felt, Eve took his mouth and raked her nails down his back. She swept her tongue inside and lost herself in the taste of him. A long moan escaped her as she began to settle into the feel of him stretching her.

  Jake let out an encouraging groan. “Wetter, Eve.”

  Pushing her hands through his hair, she fastened her mouth tighter to his.

  He growled her name as he took her bottom lip between his teeth, opening her mouth wider.

  “More,” he demanded, as he pulled out and slowly drove back into her. “Wetter.”

  As the stretch inside her body bordered on intolerable, she concentrated on relaxing one muscle at a time, opening herself to him. The need to get closer consumed her…a desire edging toward crazed. She clutched at his shoulders, digging her nails into his skin as if that would allow her to hold on to him longer. Please don’t let this be the last time I see him, touch him.

  “Open your eyes, Eve.”

  Her name in that hard tone jarred her out of her head.

  Slowly moving in and out of her body, he set a maddening pace.

  “Better?”

  “Yes.” Locking her eyes to his, Eve forced herself to stay with him, never looking away. Like breaking in a glove two sizes too tight, she focused on the thickness of him. The head of his cock skillfully hit the delicious place inside her that guaranteed she’d come again for him, despite the lingering pain—as many times as he wanted her to. Her tender walls pulsed around him, ached with every penetration, and yet she needed him harder, faster.