“I assure you, there is nothing going on.”
Her assistant barked out a laugh. “Oh, for God’s sake. There’s a big difference between ‘nothing going on’ and ‘nothing happened’ and you know it. Which is it?”
Fuck. Amy was good. Must be why she’d recently become Rhiann’s number one confidante. Deciding that no answer was the best answer, she simply stared off into space.
“I know that look,” Amy muttered. “What did he do? Kiss you? Is this all about a kiss?”
Dammit if she didn’t feel the rapid rise of a blush spreading across her face and down her neck. Yeah. It was about a kiss. A very erotic lover’s kiss. The kind where his lips between her legs doing all sorts of wicked things had her screaming and shaking and coming on command.
Amy chuckled and came to her side, leaning down for an unexpected hug, while Brynn sat stoically, arms still crossed. “For someone so smart, you are a mess when it comes to men,” she murmured.
“Did he say anything before he left?” Brynn inquired.
Amy cackled with glee and taunted, “What makes you think he left?”
Brynn shot out of her chair like a cannonball and ran to the glass window so she could see into the shop. “What?” she shrieked. “Fuck! Is he still here?”
“Man, you have a lot to learn if you think storming off like a drama queen auditioning for the Real Housewives of Bucks County was going to make that man slink away with his tail between his legs. Unless I’m missing something, he has a serious case of the hots for you, boss. And yes. He is most definitely still here. He set up camp by the tearoom fireplace and has been sketching something and making phone calls all afternoon.”
Brynn was speechless. He was still here? After her little performance? That didn’t make sense.
“Um,” she stammered. “Has he said anything?”
“Yes. In fact he did.” Amy grinned at her like a loon. “Said I was to tell you, if you asked of course, that he was sorry. Mumbled a bunch of nonsense about jealousy and being a guy. Any of that ringing a bell?”
“Oh,” Brynn muttered, her forehead puckering with the weight of her thoughts. “He actually used the word ‘jealous’?”
“Yep. That was the exact word. Let me guess,” Amy ventured gently, “he opened his mouth and inserted his foot, right?”
“Both of them,” Brynn winced.
“Ever heard the expression, ‘by the balls’?”
Brynn nodded.
“Well lady, that’s where you’ve got him. By the short hairs. Seems to me that you’re calling the shots at the moment so maybe you want to think about what you want from this guy ‘cause from where I’m standing, you’ve got Mr. Jackson Merrill on his knees.”
It didn’t take much to imagine exactly what she wanted from Jax, and if Amy was correct and Brynn had the guts to take what she wanted, maybe the fire he’d ignited inside her last night could be put out with a frontal approach. The idea of the hot-as-fuck guy with the crazy, amazing ass on his back with Brynn riding him like a rodeo bull was appealing. Very appealing. Hmmmmm.
Amy was chortling as she exited, calling over her shoulder, “Ding. Ding. Ding. Go get ‘em lady. And enjoy!”
At exactly five o’clock, Brynn appeared in the shop to say good-bye to the young lady who took over after Amy left. Just like the day before, she’d let her hair down but kept on her sneakers, and though she didn’t so much as glance in his direction, Jax was positive she knew he was there.
Wandering here and there she turned off lights, locked doors, inspected the counters, and closed out the cash register, all while maintaining a reserved air that he was pretty sure cost her a lot in the composure department.
Jax waited and observed her every move but said absolutely nothing. Gaging her mood was no easy task as long as she kept her distance, but it hadn’t taken him very long at all to pick up on a couple of subtle hints that let him know he wasn’t in imminent danger of her doing him bodily harm.
On the contrary. The way she was rolling her hips and flicking her hair off her shoulders were the sorts of signals that got a guy’s cock twitching. Hmmm. Interesting. He didn’t doubt for a second that she was going to make him pay for his earlier gaffe. Noting that her ass was relaxed and swaying with a sexy arc instead of the tight, clenched way her bottom had looked earlier when she was ready to rip his fucking head off told him she thought she had the upper hand.
Oh, nice, he thought. The possibilities involved with Brynn in the command and control position fired up an endless riot of hot and heavy scenes that spoke to pretty much all of his wildest desires.
When there wasn’t anything else for her to do, she strolled in his direction with a surprisingly wicked gleam in her eyes that got his blood pumping. Jesus fucking Christ. He had no doubt he was in for a wild ride. Quickly doing a mental check he made sure there was a condom or two in his backpack, then met her steely-eyed gaze with his own.
“Come with me,” she husked, then turned and walked away from him. The rather deliberate and in-your-face undulation of her hips got most of the blood in his upper body rushing to his dick with frightening speed. Unf, this was going to be good.
“Yes, ma’am,” he muttered, grabbing his backpack and scurrying in her wake. He smiled when his deliberately obedient and submissive answer made her feet falter but she recovered quickly and kept up her ‘Naughty Mistress’ performance as she led the way from the shop.
There was no idle chitchat as there had been last night. She leered at him as she held open the door for him to walk through and this time, instead of him placing his hands on her waist, she slowly palmed his ass as he slid by. Holy fuck. Whatever was going on in that head of hers was making him hard as stone. The notion of pissing her off on a regular basis seemed like something worth considering if her actions were any indication of how anger made her react.
He had to force the shit-eating grin off his face as he pretended to meekly follow her along the path. Jax liked this kind of play—letting her take the reins was fun as shit and was going to give him a front row seat to how her desires played out. He wondered if she realized how much she was going to give away with this little performance. He sure as shit wasn’t going to tell her. This way was far more amusing and hot as hell.
Instead of heading for the house, she veered off toward the garage, which he noted with satisfaction she had thought to illuminate with the lighting remote that gave her control over the dimmers.
She hadn’t been kidding about the garage being renovated as a studio workspace. Using an open concept, the space was littered with comfortable seating and a mish-mash of easels and artist tables. A galley kitchen ran along the back wall and a small compact bathroom was tucked in the far corner. An open stairway climbed into what he assumed was a loft that looked down onto the big room.
“Studio,” she announced with a gleam of mischief in her eyes. “Kitchen and bathroom,” she added, pointing out the obvious.
He nodded and struck a casual pose, his hand at his shoulder holding on to the strap of his backpack.
With all the aplomb of Vanna on the Wheel of Fortune, she waved at the stairs leading to the loft and commanded, “After you.”
Yeah. He was enjoying this. She’d caught him leering at her ass on more than one occasion. He supposed the way she’d palmed his backside, and the obvious demand that he walk up the stairs first was her way of evening the score. No problem there, he thought. Let her look all she wanted. If there was one thing Jax knew for sure, it was that he was in possession of a seriously ripped body thanks to the physical work he did and the countless hours he spent at a gym, any gym, letting out his aggression on a punching bag.
Making sure to give her the performance she wanted, he casually strode past her and up the wooden staircase with calm assurance, into the surprisingly open loft in the peak of the garage. There was a queen-size mattress on the carpeted floor under a huge arch-shaped window and two easy chairs sitting side by side with a small table between nex
t to an antique-looking armoire. Simple. Efficient. Private.
Dropping the backpack next to the bed, he turned and looked at her with his hands on his waist and the best passive expression he could muster.
For the briefest moment he saw hesitation flash in her expression, making him grin inwardly. Ah. She wasn’t all that sure of herself. Awesome. Another piece of inside information to tuck away for later.
“Think this will do?” she asked in that husky voice that made his insides quiver and his sex sit up and start begging.
He leered suggestively at her, dipping his eyes to that place where his face had been buried last night before slowly moving up her torso, paying extra attention to her breasts before finally landing on her face.
“Perfect,” he growled. When her eyes flared and pupils dilated with arousal, he knew she’d interpreted his answer correctly.
That slight hesitation returned and he wondered if he should help her out but decided against it. Nope. This was her show. Better to let it play out and see what kind of passions fired up the naughty woman trying not to show her shyness.
Going to a light panel at the top of the stairs, Brynn lowered the dimmer switch until the loft was filled with low lights and shadows. Since it was early autumn in Pennsylvania, twilight had come and Jax thrilled knowing that the massive arched window would fill with moonlight later.
“Shoes. Off,” she instructed, pointing at the chair for him to sit. Deciding to needle her just a bit he murmured, “Yes, ma’am,” again and saw her eyes widen at his reply.
Sitting, he removed his shoes and socks, noting out of the corner of his eye that she had toed off her sneakers and was now barefoot. At the sight of her toes painted a soft shade of raspberry, his balls tightened with interest.
To his utter astonishment, she pulled several condoms out of her jeans pocket and tossed them next to the bed. Holy fuck. No, really. Holy. FUCK. One would have made him smile. Two would have got him thinking but the handful she threw down felt like the ultimate fuck challenge.
Standing, he started to unbutton his shirt but she quickly stopped him with a throaty hiss. “No!”
Dropping his hands to his sides he watched with a shuttered expression as she rolled and swayed in his direction, her wicked eyes fixated on the rather impressive bulge he knew was pressing at the zipper of his dress pants. In jeans the hard-on he was sporting might not have been so obvious but in a pair of tight, tailored pants, she had no trouble mapping his ridiculously hard cock with her eyes. God. Paybacks were a bitch. He had to get control of his response if he didn’t want to go off like a firecracker before they even got started.
Coming to a halt about a foot away from him, she tilted her head and twirled a blond curl with trembling fingers before tucking it behind her ear.
“You were an ass earlier,” she murmured.
“I know,” he gritted. “I’m sorry. How can I make it up to you?”
Edging even closer, she hovered for a second and licked her lips. “Is that what you want to do? Make it up to me?”
He couldn’t help himself. She wanted to play? Good. Let’s see what she did with this. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied with faux submission hanging on every syllable. “Anything you want.”
“No hands. Understand?” she taunted with a slow, sexy smile.
He nodded and clenched his fists to stop from touching her. Fuck. She was going to make this as hard on him as she could.
Pursing her lips into a pensive pout, she started unbuttoning his shirt, slowly slipping one button after another through its hole. When his pants stopped her, she didn’t yank the shirttails out, just left him standing with his chest exposed as she moved to the buckle of his belt
He liked the way she frowned in deep concentration as she focused on releasing the buckle and then the snap on his pants. She looked him in the eye though when her fingers found the tab of the zipper, lowering it an inch or two and then stopping. His pants weren’t going anywhere due to the way his cock was tenting the fabric. The little tease she was subjecting him to only made matters worse.
When she ran the flat of her hand from his neck to his belly button, he almost lost his shit. She had the softest touch he’d ever known, a thought that had goosebumps breaking out across his flesh.
Finally pulling the shirttails out of his pants, she made quick work of the last buttons then pushed the shirt off his shoulders pulling his arms from the sleeves at the last. Rather as he had done with her shirt the night before, she tossed it aside and took a small step back as her eyes devoured his torso.
He was beyond being simply aroused when she sucked in a deep breath and moaned, “You’re beautiful.” He’d been called a lot of things but hearing the way she said that word was sexy times a hundred.
Jax’s clenched fists twitched as he struggled to not touch her when she used those soft, expressive hands of hers to explore every inch of his chest. Her fascination with his nipples made his struggle all the harder. He didn’t even try to stop the groan that rumbled up from his core as she stroked his flesh and used her nails to lightly score his skin. She was staring intently at what she was doing so he lowered his forehead until it rested on hers.
“Fuck,” he growled. “I need to touch you.”
“No,” she growled right back at him. “You promised. No hands, remember?”
His head rolled back on his shoulders as an anguished “Unf,” split the air.
Next thing he knew, she was licking his skin, pressing hot, wet kisses across his collarbone and up his neck. With her fingers applying just the right amount of tortured pressure to his nipples, she sucked on an earlobe, bit it, and then swirled her tongue inside the shell of his ear. He was shaking by the time she switched to the opposite ear.
“Tell me again that you’re sorry,” she whispered close to the side of his head. “Make me believe you this time.”
Oh God. She was killing him. “I’m fucking sorry,” he groaned.
“Why did you act like that?”
Ohhhh. She wanted an admission, not just an apology. No fucking problem. He didn’t have any reason to keep what he was feeling from her. She needed to know who he was.
“I was jealous, love. The thought of another man, any other man, touching you. It made me crazy.”
She gave him the greatest gift she could in the next breath when she told him, “I’ve never let anyone touch me the way you have.” To make sure he got the point, she latched her teeth onto his neck where it met his shoulder and bit down hard.
Fierce arousal shot through him as her teeth marked his skin, making Jax’s knees almost buckle from under him. Clutching her waist to keep from going down he was shocked when she slapped his hands away and reprimanded him with a grunted, “No.”
“Brynn…my God,” he pleaded.
“I’ll stop. I swear I will, if you touch me again without permission.”
Suddenly, Jax knew how she felt last night when he’d deliberately edged her arousal until she was incoherent with unfulfilled lust.
He could only grunt and growl as he struggled to stay ahead of what she was doing to him. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he chanted silently.
By the time her fingers went back to his zipper, he was more in control but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hanging by a thread. Enormously grateful that she’d been most careful not to injure him permanently as she tugged the zipper over his throbbing cock, when she slid her hands inside his pants and palmed his ass as she pushed the fabric down his legs he had to take a deep breath to restore some brain function.
As he kicked his pants away, she stepped back several paces and subjected him to a slow, leisurely visual inspection that robbed his mind of thought. Standing before her in nothing but a pair of skin tight boxer briefs, his sex had never seemed more pronounced as it did confined in the soft cotton.
Watching her lick her lips in anticipation—of what, he didn’t know—all his prayers were answered when she began doing a strip tease shimmy right in front of him. You’d t
hink that her standard daily uniform for working in the bakery of a plain white t-shirt and jeans wouldn’t be all that alluring but when the body underneath was revealed inch by tantalizing inch, it was the sexiest fucking thing he’d ever seen.
Jax wasn’t ignorant of the occasional lap dance or of what constituted a professional stripper’s routine, but nothing, absolutely nothing, could hold a candle to the sight Brynn made as she oh so very slowly started to disrobe.
First, she unsnapped her jeans and pulled on the zipper revealing an enticing tease of white edged in lace. Next, she pulled her arms inside the short sleeves of her simple t-shirt. She slowly peeled it up her stomach, exposing the lacy bra underneath, and then drew it over her head. For good measure, she clutched it in front of her, keeping the mouth-watering sight of her plump breasts from his view. She was going for the full tease and being a gentleman, he made extra sure to reward her with a scorching leer, never taking his eyes off her perfection.
There was a strange sound buzzing in his head when she twirled away from him, tossed the t-shirt aside, grabbed the top of her jeans, and began peeling them off her butt. Fuck it if she didn’t actually bend forward and wiggle her ass to help the pants slide down. Holy Christ. She’d never know how much it cost him to stay still and not leap across the room and throw her on the bed right then and there. When the seductive striptease had her completely bent over, ass raised provocatively in the air as she pushed the jeans off her feet, Jax was sure the heavy thud in his chest was the first sign of a heart attack. She was literally fucking killing him.
All sorts of things he wanted to do to her gorgeous ass lit up his mind when she ran her fingertips along the elastic at the leg openings of her panties. No expensive silk lingerie had ever looked as hot as that plain cotton and lace. He swallowed a huge lump in his throat. She said he couldn’t touch her, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t touch himself. With his dick pulsing and throbbing like a motherfucker in reaction to her sexy tease, he rubbed his hand across the heavy bulge in his briefs and groaned.
Wilde Forever (Wilde Women Book 1) Page 10