by Jenna Jacob
“You’re so fucking beautiful.” His voice was low and raspy, and it made me shiver.
Just as he leaned in to kiss me, the doors of the elevator opened. James stepped back. I felt as if I’d been stripped naked and tossed out in the snow when he broke the fiery spell.
James gestured for me to go first. I stepped into the parking garage dragging in a shallow and frustrated breath. Moving in next to me, James dropped his broad palm to the small of my back, stoking the embers back to life. I savored the sweet, delicious burn while sexual energy pinged through my cells.
“You do normally have someone walk you to your car at night, right?” he asked, scanning our deserted surroundings.
“No. The garage is perfectly safe.”
He grunted in a tone of disbelief. “Do you have a gun?”
“No.” I chuckled at his over-protective mien.
“A Taser?”
“No.”
“Mace? Please tell me you at least carry mace.”
“No. There are security cameras everywhere,” I explained, pointing out the video devices. “Besides, the hospital has a guard on duty. I see him up here every once in a while.”
“That’s not enough protection, Liz. Christ, you’re a woman alone in a vacant parking garage. You’re a prime target for muggers or rapists. Anyone could jump out from behind one of those pillars and—”
“I know you’re a cop, but you don’t have to be so paranoid. Nothing’s ever happened and nothing ever will.”
“Ex-cop,” he corrected with a hint of annoyance. Squaring his shoulders, James puffed out his chest, all self-righteous and full of himself. “I’m not paranoid. You can’t claim that nothing will happen. You don’t know that for certain. It’s fucking dangerous to walk to your car at two in the morning, unescorted.”
“Well, I don’t usually walk to my car at two in the morning; it’s usually a little after midnight. And I am being escorted. By you,” I jabbed with a sassy grin. “No offense, but I feel just as safe as I always do.”
“You need a spanking; that’s what you need.”
My heart skipped a beat. No doubt James would like to try, and he’d probably do it with shocking capability and skill. I was certain he’d had lots of practice at Genesis. After all, he was a Dom. But what was I? What did he expect from me? If he presumed that I would sink to my knees and follow his every command, he was out of his freaking mind. I almost snorted at the idea of a man bossing me around like I was some spineless, weak woman. Never going to happen.
Never say never. Stranger things have happened, like you lusting after a man you’ve known a whole whopping sixty minutes. You might be a wee bit in over your head. Just sayin.’
Tucking away my unnerving thoughts, I stared at my car—like a ship lost at sea—isolated and alone at the far end of the garage. Darting a sideways glance, I couldn’t miss the irritated expression lining James’ face. Obviously unimpressed with my independent streak, his attitude scraped my nerves. A part of me wanted to assure him that I didn’t prance out of the hospital each night, oblivious to my surroundings.
Still, I couldn’t overlook that fact that I sought his approval, even though it chafed. But why? Why was his validation so damn important to me? I hardly knew anything about the man. He himself could be a mugger or a rapist.
He can’t rape the willing.
Suddenly a visual of James pushing me up against the car, tearing off my scrubs, and driving deep inside me filled my mind. Shivers slammed down my spine in a parade of pleasure and I nearly gasped. Dammit. I needed to climb inside my car, drive home, take a nice cold shower, pull out my vibrator and detonate this ungodly ache out of my system. James’ lips pressed together in disapproval as I pulled my keys out of my pocket.
Plucking them out of my hand, James jammed the jagged pieces of metal between his fingers. “You should always have your keys, wedged between your fingers, like this.” He raised the protruding edges in his fist to my face. “Before you even step off the elevator. You need to be ready if someone rushes you from the shadows. Jab these in their eyes then knee them in the balls. Understand?”
“Yes, Officer Safety,” I replied dryly as I bit back a grin.
James shook his head with a scowl. Just when I thought he couldn’t look any sexier, he pinned me with a glare and narrowed his eyes. “That’s two,” he growled.
“Two what? What is it you keep counting?”
He didn’t answer, simply gave me a proprietary stare. And somehow, as if it were even possible, that primal look turned me on even more. James opened his fist, studying the small picture charm on my key ring. It was a photograph of Dyane and me at a bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. We’d vacationed there, four months before he’d died. It was an image of me and him, clinking our hurricanes together—already three sheets to the wind, and laughing like loons. It was one of the best trips we’d ever taken.
“I didn’t know Trevor and Dayne had the same color of hair and eyes.”
I wanted to lie and say I hadn’t noticed, but James studied me with such scrutiny, I knew I couldn’t deny it.
“Yes. They do.” I lowered my head as we reached my car.
With trembling fingers, I plucked my keys from his palm and punched the fob to unlock my doors.
“That’s what has you so on edge, isn’t it?” James murmured.
My heart clutched, but anger spiked, overriding my sorrow. I was unsure what I was more pissed at: James’ keen perception or myself for being transparent as glass.
Moving in close, he placed both hands on the roof, caging me in with his body. That unexplainable pull grew stronger, and I realized that deep down, I didn’t want to escape him… but rather, escape into him.
“No,” I fibbed. “We were hammered in the ER all night. It’s just been a very long day.”
Sliding one hand from the roof of my car, James tucked two fingers beneath my chin. Tilting my head back, he forced my gaze. Gliding his thumb over my bottom lip, his hungry stare settled there.
“Who do you have waiting at home to draw you a hot bath and massage your feet?”
A weak smile curled my lips. “No one.”
Inching in closer, he brushed his lips to the corners of my mouth as he wrapped a strong arm around my waist and pulled me against his solid body. His swollen erection, hot and hard, pressed against my belly. James surrounded me in his dizzying embrace as he toyed and teased at my mouth with his own in a maddening game of torture and temptation. Finally he feathered his soft lips fully over mine as I gripped the cotton of his shirt, closed my eyes, and waited for him to kiss me hard.
Please.
“Look at me, Liz,” he commanded in a whisper. Lifting my heavy eyelids I saw James smiling at me. “These are my lips on you, no one else’s. Just in case there’s competition out there I don’t know about.”
“There’s no one else,” I answered in a breathless sigh.
“Good girl,” he murmured.
His approval plucked some deep-seated need to please. Euphoria buoyantly rose up to the surface inside me, but before I could wrap my head around the strange sensation, James whispered his lips over mine in a soft, sweet caress. Dizzy with need, I longed to wrap my arms around his neck and slide my tongue deep inside his mouth. Instead, I stood stock-still, letting him take command for fear I’d break the magic between us.
James let out a groan as I stared into his captivating eyes. In an urgent rush, he crushed his lips to mine and swept his tongue along the seam of my mouth. Parting my lips, I welcomed him in. Mewling, I ached for him to kiss me deeper as I dissolved beneath his blistering mouth.
Passion swirled around and through us as our tongues dueled in mutual exploration. Sliding my arms around his strong body, I did the only thing I could; I held on tight.
Slickness spilled from between my legs as heat engulfed me. Wrapped in his sizzling embrace, locked against his mouth in a torrid kiss, I wanted more. Demand chased the fire and gathered in a pulsing confla
gration low in my belly. I’d never felt such fire from a kiss. No one had ever drawn my focus to every minute sensation the way James had, with his talented mouth.
“You taste like spun sugar on my tongue…sweet and addicting.”
His silky voice destroyed me, one syllable at a time.
James dragged his lips up my neck. I clung to him for dear life while he nuzzled my jaw and nipped at the lobe of my ear. I squirmed against him, gasping and moaning as he peppered a trail of kisses over my jaw before capturing my lips once more. James feasted on me amid our mingling growls and whimpers.
Releasing his shirt, I slid my fingers into his soft, short hair and held tight against his scalp as he ravenously ate at me. I felt him unclasp my barrette and heard the metal clank onto the roof of my car before he cinched his fist in my hair and squeezed. Gripping even tighter to emphasize his command—as if there were any doubt he controlled my mind and body—tiny explosions of painful pleasure skittered along my scalp, spread down my spine, and ricocheted under my clit.
Allowing him free reign over me felt empowering, while at the same time it left me totally bewildered. But then nothing about the way James ignited me made a lick of sense.
Yanking my head back, he delved deeper still while an animalistic growl of approval rumbled deep in his chest. When I rolled my hips against him, savoring the feel of his straining cock, something inside the man snapped. Lunging against my body, all but climbing inside me, James dipped his hips and drove his cock—hard, ample, and ready—between my aching folds. I wanted to drop to my knees, unzip his jeans, and taste his steely shaft.
“Step away from the woman, and put your hands up.”
CHAPTER FOUR
The thundering command rooted us in place for a long second until James slowly pulled from my lips. Turning, we both stared at a young security guard, no more than eight feet away, legs spread wide, shoulders back, wearing a menacing scowl and aiming a silver pistol at James’ head.
Terror and confusion whipped through me, instantly disintegrating every flicker of lust. Trembling like a leaf, I stood unable to speak as my heart raced wildly. Releasing me, James stepped back. Slowly raising his hands into the air, he narrowed his eyes. His jaw clenched with such force that the muscles in his neck ticked. James wasn’t afraid. No, he was pissed. Terrified that he’d do or say something and end up getting killed, I pushed off the car. Slapping my hands on my hips, I stormed toward the guard.
“Put that gun away,” I scolded in a tone reminiscent of my mother’s. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Shut up, lady,” the man barked as he glanced toward me. “I’m here to help—”
Before he could finish speaking, James rushed the guard like a ninja-cheetah and landed a quick chop of his palm against the young man’s wrist. The gun dropped to the cement and skidded a short distance as James swept a powerful leg at the guard’s knees. The young man crumpled to the pavement, screaming out in pain. In the blink of an eye, James had straddled the guard’s chest and pinned his arms to the ground with his knees. Leaning to the left, James reached out and picked up the gun, inspecting it with a scowl.
Shaking his head, he stared down at the security guard with a derisive sneer. “Rule number one. Never hold someone at gunpoint with the safety on. Rule number two. Never, ever take your eyes off the target. You got that, ace?”
“Get the hell off me,” the guard yelled as he struggled, trying to throw James off him.
Mouth agape, I stood shaking, watching James in a mixture of pride and awe. Sliding the guard’s gun across the pavement, far out of reach, James frowned at the man and shook his head.
“We’re going to talk first.” James’s tone was unreasonably calm.
“I’ll have you arrested for assault,” the guard threatened. His face turned bright red in anger and probably rosy from embarrassment, too.
“Go right ahead. Would you like to borrow my cuffs? I’m a cop.”
Ex-cop I inwardly corrected. It was the second time James had implied he was a police officer. Either he’d left the force recently, or was hiding a story…maybe both.
The man blanched and closed his eyes. “Fuck me. Okay. You proved your point. You can get off me now.”
“Are you going to pull any more Rambo moves?” James smirked.
I bit my lips together to keep from laughing.
“No,” the guard bellowed.
James quirked a brow, and the young man’s bravado deflated
“Look, it’s my first night. I was hired yesterday,” the man explained.
“Jesus,” James hissed. “A little training before they slap a gun in your hand might be helpful.”
Flexing his powerful leg muscles, James stood, then reached down and offered a hand to the guard. He begrudgingly accepted, and James hauled him to his feet.
“I’m sorry. I thought the lady was in trouble.”
Was the guy stupid and blind?
Scowling, I marched even closer to the man. “Did it honestly look like I was in trouble?”
“I wasn’t sure, Ma’am.” He shrugged with a rueful expression.
“Next time, you might want to assess the situation before you overreact. You might live to return to work tomorrow.” James landed his jab with a sarcastic chuckle.
Laughing? He was laughing? I didn’t find the situation the least bit humorous, and James’ blasé attitude pissed me off. My body shook ever harder, but I didn’t know if it was from anger, fear, or the toe-curling kiss I’d shared with James.
“I can’t believe you drew your weapon on him,” I boldly yelled at the guard.
James looped his arm around my waist and pulled me back. “Settle down, sexy tigress.”
I shot him a hateful glare. “I will not.” I clamored to break free of his grip but James only held me tighter. With a growl, I raised a finger, waggling it at the guard. “You just ruined the best kiss of my life.”
“Is that so?” A proud smile speared James’ slightly swollen lips.
“Then I suggest you two get a room,” the guard snapped in disgust.
“No. You need to retrieve your weapon and walk the hell out of here before I report you,” James ordered in a stern voice.
Turning away from the guard dismissively, he gathered me into his arms. “Now what was that about the best kiss of your life?”
As if we’d never been interrupted, James cinched a fist in my hair and tugged my head back. As James gazed into my eyes I drank in every nuance of his gorgeous face. From his long dark lashes, which any girl would kill to have, to the strong perfectly-shaped arch of his brow, all the way to the end of his straight and narrow nose. My anger instantly vanished as I settled my gaze on his lips…soft and full, they felt like heaven and hell when he kissed me.
As if reading my mind, he bent and claimed me with a fiery kiss that stole my mind. All the tension bled from my body and I sagged against his chest, drunk on desire.
“For fuck’s sake,” the guard murmured.
Peeking out from beneath my heavy lashes, I watched the man walk away. I rolled my eyes at the absurd encounter with the guard, but when James thrust his tongue in my mouth—sweeping over every nook and cranny—nothing but his slick heat mattered.
Whimpering and moaning beneath him, I clawed at his back and writhed in his arms. James pulled from my lips, then trailed his decadent mouth over my jaw, flicking his tongue as he kissed his way down my neck. I was panting like a porn star as he worked his way back up and swirled a slow, torturous lick over my ear. His warm, moist breath spilled along the path of his tongue, chilling my flesh and short-circuiting the synopses in my brain.
“I want you, Liz,” he growled hungrily in my ear.
Yes. Oh god yes. I wanted him too—in my bed, and deep inside my pussy.
“I want to see you again. Have dinner with me, tomorrow…um, rather later tonight.”
Dinner? That was it? What happened to ‘Let me take you home and fuck you hard’? That
’s what I really wanted. Not food. Pulling back, I tried to catch my breath as I studied his expression. Lust and desire permeated his half-lidded eyes, but a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth told me my shocked expression amused him.
The son of a bitch is toying with you.
If he thought for one second that he could ignite this kind of blaze inside me and not put the damn fire out, he was sadly mistaken.
“Will you let me take you to dinner?” he asked again. This time he was deadly serious.
Feeling as if I’d been doused with cold water, I weighed my options. I could tell him to kiss off…which was totally out of the question. Or I could cool my jets and bite back the urge to scream at the frustration coiled up inside me.
Opting for neither, I simply nodded ‘yes’.
Reaching into his back pocket, James plucked out a business card and handed it to me.
“Call me when you get home. I want to know you made it safely.”
Taking the card, I held it in my trembling hand and read the words printed in black raised lettering.
Stone, Inc.
Personal Protection & Private Investigative Services
James Bartlett
(224) 665-9990
“Liz? Are you okay? You’re shaking.”
I forced a tight smile. “I’m fine. It’s just that you…” Set me blazing like a damn bonfire and won’t bother to put it out. Yeah, I’m just peachy. Asshole.
I didn’t want to him to know how out of control he made me feel. I feared that if I tried to explain I’d sound either insane or pathetic. Besides, the man had to know what he did to me. Still, I was confused as to why he didn’t want to reap the benefits of his soul-stealing kisses. Why was he holding back?
“I what?” he asked tilting his head and delving into my eyes.
“You…heat things up,” I replied on a nervous chuckle.
“Indeed, but so do you.” Reaching out, he stroked my cheek. “Make no mistake, my little temptress, I want to sink inside your hot body and hear you scream my name. I ache to slide my tongue over every inch of your soft skin, and drink down all that sweet, warm honey as it spills from inside you.”