by Cat Johnson
Tara wasn’t much for rules, but she figured she could always stretch his rules until they broke. “Like what?”
“We’re not having full out intercourse and you stop trying to get me to.” Jace’s breath was coming fast and shallow.
“But we can do everything else besides that?”
He drew in a breath. “Yes.”
She’d work on pushing the boundaries of the deal later. A smile bowed her lips. “Deal.”
Jace glanced across the room. “Lock the door.”
Tara jumped up and for once didn’t mind following Jace’s instructions since it meant they were definitely going to get down and dirty. By the time she got back to him, his shorts and T-shirt were on the floor and he was laid out, bare before her on the sofa.
Tara moved to straddle him as she’d been before, but he shook his head. “Spin around.”
“What? Why?”
“You want this, you do as I ask.”
“Fine.” She did, which had her kneeling over him and facing his feet, which seemed a pretty unproductive position until he grabbed her hips from behind and guided her backward so she was braced above his face.
A gasp escaped her as Jace pulled her hips down over his mouth and drew her clit between his teeth, while his erection thrust skyward just below her.
He pulled back just far enough to say, “Feel free to suck on that if the urge strikes you.”
That was all the conversation before he went back to working her already sensitive bundle of nerves. She leaned low and slid his length into her mouth. Jace tensed beneath her. Tara grabbed his shaft in one hand and ran her tongue up one side, and then over the slit, tasting him. He paused between her legs. She felt his hot release of breath against her skin. She slid all the way down to the base of him as he thrust his hips up to meet her.
Tara might not know much in this area because of her lack of experience, but what she was doing seemed to be working for Jace. She set a steady up and down pace with her hands and mouth and after a few strokes, Jace’s hold on her hips tightened and he attacked her with more vigor than before.
Yup. This was a pretty good compromise they’d worked out between them. Of course, she’d continue to pursue the end goal, losing her useless virginity.
Her muscles clenched around the fingers Jace thrust inside her as he sucked her core, all while she tasted him in her mouth.
For now, yeah, this would work just fine.
Chapter Seventeen
“See? Now don’t you feel better?” Tara treated him to her usual smug smile and all he could think of was how those lips had just been wrapped around him.
“Yes. Thank you. You were right. I feel better.” Jace rolled his eyes. “That what you want to hear?” A war waged within him between guilt and post-orgasm euphoria.
“I want to hear the truth. I think it’s good for you to have sex with someone else besides Jacqueline.”
Tara had to go and say that name, just when he’d been happily not thinking it.
“Is this a therapy session? Because I don’t remember making an appointment for one.” Jace hoped to redirect the conversation with a joke.
“Can I ask you something?”
He sighed. “Could I stop you?”
“No. Not really.”
Oh, well. It had been worth a try. “Fine. What?”
Why the hell not let her ask him a personal question? They were collapsed on top of each other, exhausted and satisfied after doing one of the most intimate things two people could, although not the most intimate thing. But Lord help him, they got a little closer to that final act every time they were together. That was one thing he could not let happen.
“Why didn’t you and she get back together? I mean you said you’d broken up a bunch of times. She’d thrown your shit out on the lawn other times, but you always stayed together in the end. So what was different this time? If you two were still having sex and you’re still into each other, why not get back together? Move back in.”
She wanted to talk about Jacqueline? If Tara didn’t keep trailing the tip of her finger down his stomach as if she were fascinated with the line of hair leading down to his cock, Jace might have minded the conversation more. As it was, the way she touched his happy trail was making him hard again even though he’d just come. It seemed what she lacked in experience, she made up for in sheer enthusiasm. And how he hated knowing that about his best friend’s little sister.
Maybe the depressing conversation about his past with Jacqueline was exactly what he needed to keep his burgeoning erection at bay before Tara noticed it and came up with some creative plan to deal with it.
“I’d had enough of the bullshit that night. I don’t know what made that time different for me but it was and I drove away rather than stand there until dawn to talk her into letting me back inside. And when I didn’t stay, when I left, she got pissed off.”
“Pissed that after she threw all your shit out on the lawn, you had the nerve to pick it up and leave?” Tara laughed.
He shrugged. “Yup, because all the other times I hadn’t left. Even if it took all night, I always stood outside and waited for her to calm down.”
“And begged.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” His male pride stung that Tara had called it so accurately. That was exactly what he had done. Begged Jacqueline to open the door. To stop being silly. To let him prove to her she was the one he wanted. “But not that time. Or since.”
One dark brow rose. “Good. Make sure you don’t do it ever again.”
Tara could be a real hellcat. To see her fire turned to protect him, rather than fight him was a shocking switch, and it affected him more than he’d like to admit. He let out a breathy laugh. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You know I took a psych class. We learned about mental disorders. The way you describe her—with the very high highs and the very low lows—it sounds like Jacqueline could be bipolar.”
Jace rolled his eyes. “No need to say she’s a psychopath or whatever just because she’s my ex.”
“I’m not, Jace. I’m serious. It used to be called manic-depressive years ago, but now they call it bipolar. It just means really violent mood swings. There’s pills for it and everything.”
Violent mood swings didn’t begin to cover it, but Jace couldn’t deal with this conversation. “Can we not talk about this any more right now? It’s kind of strange to be discussing my ex-girlfriend’s psyche while lying here with you naked.”
Although truth be told, he was the only one naked. Tara still wore a T-shirt, and now that he thought about it, he’d like to have that gone. He ran a hand up her thigh, enjoying the fact that at least she was naked from the waist down.
“Why is this weird? We’re friends with benefits. Friends talk to each other about anything.”
“Oh, really?” Jace raised one brow. “One thing wrong with that theory, darlin’. We’re not friends. Remember? Your words. Not mine.”
“You’re right. We’re not friends. We’re much more. We’re traveling partners. Your words. Not mine.”
Tara always did love to turn his words against him. He couldn’t even argue. He gave in, which he seemed to be doing a lot of with her. “Yeah, we are.”
“So I have this theory . . .” she began.
“That worries the shit out of me.”
“Shut up.” Tara smacked his chest. “Just listen. I think that every time you come with another woman, you move farther along in your recovery.”
Tara had taken one too many psych classes at school. She fancied herself a freaking therapist. Jace laughed. “My recovery?”
“Yeah, in getting over this physical addiction you have to Jacqueline.”
“That’s your plan, huh? Cure by orgasm. Sometimes the way your mind works is frightening.”
“Good. I like keeping you a little afraid of me. It gives me the upper hand.” Tara trailed her finger lower, sweeping it over his cock so it jumped beneath her touch. She had the uppe
r hand, all right. No doubt about it.
Hell of a plan she’d come up with, but they’d already crossed the line so many times and in so many ways, he might as well do it some more. He rolled onto his side to face her. “Take off that T-shirt.”
Tara frowned. “But it’s kind of cold in here.”
“Not that cool and I’ll have you warmed up soon enough.” He pushed the hem of her shirt up. “Besides, don’t you want to help me in my recovery? It was your idea, remember?”
“Fine.” Tara rolled her eyes, but he didn’t miss the smile. She pulled off her shirt to expose two small, rounded globes.
Jacqueline’s fake tits had been nice for a while, but Jace had been missing the good old-fashioned kind. The ones that were just a mouthful and so sensitive a little work had the girl writhing beneath him. That’s the kind he hoped Tara had. Jace tested it by sucking her nipple into his mouth. Her back bowed in response.
Yup. Nice and sensitive. He smiled “Good?”
“Yes. Now, shut up and do that again.” She palmed his head and pushed his mouth down over her peak.
He’d work her until she came, then send her off to her own room. He was hard enough to cut diamonds and she knew it. She’d already wrapped her fist around him and was stroking him, long and slow. Maybe he’d let her finish him off, and then shoo her to bed.
Good thing tomorrow was another day off. They were going to be tired as all hell in the morning. Him especially because a guilty conscience—and Jace knew once the endorphins were gone, all there’d be left was guilt—was not conducive to a good night’s rest.
As he worked her breast with his mouth while sneaking a finger down her belly to land on her clit, she threw her head back against the sofa cushion. She tightened her hand around him, and his cock anticipated another round.
Yeah, they were gonna be exhausted, but man would it be a good kind of tired.
“You look chipper.” Dillon grinned, looking much too awake and energetic for Jace’s liking.
“Uh, thanks.” Jace drew in another sip of coffee in an attempt to get chipper, since that’s what his friend seemed to think he was. Meanwhile, Dillon’s persistent grin had Jace feeling uncomfortable. Finally, he just came out with it and asked, “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Dillon gave a half shrug. “Let’s just say my house has thin walls.”
Realization hit Jace hard. Dillon must have heard him and Tara going at it in the guest room last night.
“God almighty.” Jace hung his head, more disappointed in himself for letting it happen than embarrassed Dillon had heard. And his wife and daughter must have heard, too. They were all in that room together. “I am so sorry, man. I don’t even know what to say.”
“Don’t be sorry.”
“But Cassie. And Cheyenne.” Jace scrubbed his hands over his face. The knowledge they’d all heard was enough to make his brain bleed.
“Cheyenne was sound asleep and I haven’t seen Cassie so happy in a long time. She wants to see you and Tara together so badly, I’m surprised she didn’t grab her old pompoms from high school and run in there to cheer you on.”
The image was so ridiculous, Jace couldn’t help but laugh. “Still. I’m sorry. It was wrong.” On so many levels.
“It’s fine. Really. I’m happy for you. It’s about damn time you two are together.”
“We’re not together.” But he had given in to her. Again. Jace shook his head. Things that seemed like a good idea in the dark never could stand up to the light of day.
“Uh-huh. Sure, you’re not.”
“No, really.”
“So you busted up that little party she was having with Klint and Justin at the bar because you’re not together?”
“I did that to protect her because Tuck’s not here to do it.”
“All right. And so what I heard last night was for what then?”
Certainly not for Tuck. The rock in Jace’s gut doubled in size. He sighed. “Tara decided that we should be travel partners with benefits.”
Dillon broke out into a hearty laugh. “Man, if I were single, I’d have to try that line out myself.”
“It wasn’t my idea.” Jace scowled, but he couldn’t blame Dillon for laughing.
Tara’s theory sounded like bullshit to Jace, too. It was the kind of thing a guy might come up with to get into a girl’s pants without setting up any expectations. But it was Tara who’d proposed it to Jace. As he’d thought a good hundred or so times since the road trip had begun, she always did enjoy being contrary.
“Whatever you want to call what you two have, it’s working for you. I haven’t seen you look this good in years.”
“What are you talking about? I look like crap.” Jace had gotten a peek at himself in the bathroom mirror this morning. He had circles under his eyes deep enough to drive a truck into.
“Well sure, you could use a few more hours sleep, but look at you. You’re relaxed. Lounging here with me, enjoying a cup of coffee with not a care in the world. You haven’t rubbed your shoulder once all morning, so you must be feeling better. Do you even carry a cell phone anymore? Back just a month or two ago, you’d look at your phone like every three minutes. No joke. Here, I haven’t seen you do that once.”
Dillon was right. Things had changed. “I’m, uh, trying to disconnect a bit from technology.” And from Jacqueline.
“Good. Keep it up. Like I said, it’s working for you, dude.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
But shutting off his cell phone wouldn’t work forever. Eventually he’d have to deal with that loose end back home. For now though, the phone would remain off so he could pretend Stillwater and Jacqueline didn’t exist. Dillon was right—he did feel relaxed for the first time in years—though there was no way in hell he’d give the credit to Tara’s cure by orgasm theory.
As Jace pondered the situation, Tara walked into the room—the other thing that, beyond all explanation, was also working for him. She cradled a steaming mug in her hand, blowing on it before she took a sip.
“Got your tea?” Jace asked.
“Yup.” She smiled and plopped down in the chair across the room while he tried not to marvel how he knew she preferred tea over coffee in the morning.
That was something a boyfriend would know about his girl. Then again, it was also something a travel partner would know, so maybe things weren’t as screwed up as he assumed. But as a travel partner he shouldn’t know how Tara tasted, or the little noises she made when she was close to orgasm, or how she bit her lip trying to be quiet while she came.
“So what’s the plan for today? We driving to the next town by way of the store to buy you some lucky bull riding undies?” Tara smirked.
Dillon laughed and Jace couldn’t even get angry. She was a funny girl. If it weren’t at Jace’s expense, he’d be laughing, too.
He let the smart-ass underwear comment go and nodded. “Yup. That’s the plan.”
“Why don’t you stay another night?” Dillon glanced from Tara to Jace. “We can all head out in the morning and make it to the next venue in plenty of time for the event.”
Jace was more than aware they’d already imposed on this family enough. “No. Thanks for the offer, but we gotta get going.”
“Oh, couldn’t we stay, Jace? Cassie was talking about taking Cheyenne to the mall in the next town. I haven’t been shopping anywhere but the Big Mart in forever.”
“I don’t think—”
Dillon interrupted Jace’s protest. “Just stay. Your stuff’s already inside.”
Yeah, as if that was a good reason.
“Let her stay and come shopping with me.” Cassie’s voice came from the kitchen and Jace knew he was outnumbered.
“All right. We’ll stay.” In what he feared was becoming a pattern he’d have to put a stop to before he did something he’d really regret, he gave in to Tara one more time. But tonight she’d play by his rules.
No more sixty-nines on the McMahans’
TV room sofa. She’d sleep in her room and he’d sleep in his. A man had to draw the line somewhere.
“Thanks, Jace.” The way Tara’s smile over being able to go to the mall lit her face made him feel a little better about buckling under and doing what she wanted once again.
How could he have said no when something this simple made her so happy?
Jace felt that line he’d drawn slide a bit.
Chapter Eighteen
Jace had snuck off to bed in his room while Tara was in the bathroom brushing her teeth. The door was closed, but that had never stopped her before. With a glance down the hallway to make sure the McMahans were all still inside the master bedroom, she reached for the doorknob. It turned in her hand. He hadn’t locked the door. That was an invitation if ever she’d seen one. She pushed the door wider, stepped inside and quietly closed and locked it behind her.
“You really have no respect for a closed door, do you?”
The room was lit by nothing but the television screen, playing softly in the corner while Jace lay stretched out on the sofa.
“Nope.” Tara crossed the room and crawled on top of him, straddling his legs.
He moved his hands to her hips. It was beginning to feel natural, his hands on her. His mouth on her, too.
She really liked Jace’s mouth on her. Reaching for the hem of her T-shirt, she pulled it over her head and dropped it to the floor so she sat on him topless.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting naked. I suggest you do the same.”
“We can’t do this. They heard us last night.”
“I know. Cassie and I discussed it today while we were shopping.”
“You did?” He tensed beneath her. “Wonderful.”
Tara reached down and covered his hand with hers, then moved it up to her breast. “Yup. We did. It’s not a big deal.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“You are such an old fuddy-duddy. Relax. Sex is natural. We’re two single adults—”
“Imposing on the hospitality of our friends, who also happen to have a small child who could hear us.” As he spoke, telling Tara all the reasons they shouldn’t do anything, he also brushed his thumb across her nipple. He could lecture all he wanted, but actions spoke louder than words.