“As much as I’d like to see that, it’s probably best that I won’t,” he told Kassie, grinning. He turned his palm up and gave her fingers a grateful squeeze. “Thank you. I’m not good at talking about things like this, but you’ve made it easy for me.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” she said, squeezing him right back. “Don’t forget it.”
Looking into her eyes with the September sun beating down on them, with just about everything on the table between them, something lurched inside Jax’s chest. Hard. And he knew then that he didn’t just have it bad for Kassie. He was starting to fall in love with her.
* * * * *
Kassie sighed as she pulled a pan of lasagna from her oven. The heavenly scent of baked cheese hit her. If Jax had enjoyed her mac and cheese, he was in for a real treat with her lasagna. One of her best dishes, it had never failed to please anyone who tried it. Leaving it to cool on her stove, she turned to the bowl of Romaine lettuce waiting to be tossed.
A full week had passed since Jax had showed back up at her door, and since then, they had spent almost every day together. They met for lunch during the work week, dinner on the weekend. They headed to the beach in his Jeep, driving it all the way to the Virginia state line, and had a picnic lunch on the sand. He’d taken her back out on his boat again, showing her how to fish for flounder.
It had been the best week of her life. She was falling for him, faster and harder than a cement block cast into the ocean. Nothing had ever felt so right, so real. She couldn’t recall, in all her years with Adam, ever feeling the way she did with Jax. Everything about it was exhilarating.
The doorbell rang.
Anticipation skittered over her. He was here. She untied the apron she’d been wearing to cook, tossing it back into its drawer. She’d worn a little black dress, her hair was down around her shoulders just the way he liked, and she’d made a hasty excursion to the lingerie shop that she hoped he would appreciate later on. Kassie hadn’t worn a thong and a bustier in her life, but Jax had her feeling naughty. Adventurous. She loved that he was taking her out of her comfort zone, introducing her to things she’d never even known existed. He’d invited her into his world, and she never wanted to leave.
She clipped to the front door in her heels and pulled it open. A wave of lust instantly hit her. He wore a black button-down shirt and his customary jeans, along with black leather boots. His hair brushed his collar, his stubble was to die for, and his blue eyes were taking her in as if he couldn’t wait to push her up against a wall and take what was his.
Oh, yes. She was instantly wet, her pussy pulsing with longing for him. In the last week they hadn’t had sex, both of them trying to make good on taking things more slowly. Her body missed him. Badly.
“Hey,” he said, his voice butter-rich and honey-smooth.
“Hey,” she said back, opening the door farther for him to enter.
“I missed you,” he told her as the door closed behind him.
Kassie smiled. “You just saw me yesterday.”
“At lunch.” He leaned into her, his hands going to her waist to draw her against him. “That was over twenty-four hours ago. I was starting to go into Kassie withdrawal.”
The air was electric around them. A sweet ache started low in her belly. Her hands fluttered to his muscular shoulders as she leaned into him, feeling the delicious ridge of his cock pressing into her. “That sounds like a problem. How can I help?”
“Hmm.” He led her backward until she felt the wall in the entryway at her back. “For starters, you can kiss me.”
He didn’t need to tell her twice. She pulled his head down to hers, meeting his lips in a hungry, open-mouthed kiss. His tongue slid against hers in a sensuous tease. God, she wanted him so badly. Suddenly, her intentions to take things slowly were eclipsed by the fiery desire overtaking her. She wrapped a leg around his hip, wanting more of him. As much as she could get.
His fingers skimmed down her waist to the hem of her dress, snagging it and drawing it upward. When his touch slid over the thin lace of her thong, she moaned into his mouth. He rubbed a lazy path over her clit. Kassie arched into him. It had been too long. Far too long. His fingers swept beneath the thin scrap of lace to meet with her hot, slick flesh.
Jax broke their kiss. “Ah hell, baby. I want you so badly.”
She nipped at his lip, ravenous for him now. Every part of her was desperate for him, desperate for him to take her, claim her. “Yes.” He stimulated her clit, knowing just what she liked, how to tease her into a frantic state of yearning. “Please, Jax. I need you.”
He dragged his mouth down her neck, drawing a trail of fire over her eager skin. “Where’s your bedroom?”
The breath left her as she realized he wasn’t going to wait until after dinner. Thank God. She didn’t think she could last now that he’d ignited the fires within her. “Upstairs,” she managed to say as his wicked fingers slicked moisture down her clit to her opening. When he sank inside her, she moaned. “Oh, God. First door to your right.”
He removed his fingers, leaving her wanting, and clamped his hands back on her waist. He tore his mouth from her neck as he looked down at her, his eyes darkened with the same powerful desire coursing through her. “Wrap your legs around my waist, darlin’.”
She did as he asked, not even bothering to worry whether or not he could support her weight. He was a solid man. Strong, hard-working. He knew what he was doing. Exactly what he was doing. He cupped her ass, holding her in place. He kissed her again before turning with her in his arms and heading to the stairs.
Good Lord. He couldn’t possibly mean to carry her all the way up there? In her lust-fogged brain, she’d imagined they were going to have sex right here in the entryway. She wasn’t overweight, but she was a curvy girl. She didn’t think there was any way he could carry her all the way upstairs without embarrassing himself and her both.
“Wait,” she said. “You can’t carry me. I can walk.”
“Watch me.” He turned and carried her up three steps to the landing at the foot of her steps.
“I’m too heavy,” she protested, self-conscious. “I can walk.”
“You’re light as a feather,” he countered, kissing her swiftly as he started up the second leg of steps. “And I love the way you feel in my arms.”
God, could he get any more perfect? She didn’t think so. He wasn’t even out of breath. Another plus to being with a blue-collar man. He was in better shape than any man had a right to be. And it turned her on like crazy. She kissed him again, clinging to him as he took her upstairs. She’d never felt more womanly or more alive.
He carried her into her bedroom, flicking on the light switch with his elbow as he went before depositing her on the bed in the center of the room. Her dress up around her waist, she sat on the edge of the king size, reaching for him.
“No.” He caught her hands in his. “Let me.”
Kassie’s excitement was heightened by his control. She allowed her hands to fall to her sides and watched as he unbuttoned his shirt. “What do you want me to do?”
“Take off your dress.” He shucked his shirt, the black fabric falling to the floor in a whisper of sound.
She stood on legs that had grown shaky, reaching down to grasp her hemline of her dress before pulling it over her head. She tossed it to the floor as well, standing before him in only her heels, thong and lace bustier. She was very much aware of how much of her body was on display to him. Her stiff nipples were nearly popping out the top of the lacy cups constraining her breasts. His eyes were on her, singeing her with their heat.
“Jesus, you’re beautiful,” he said.
She could have said the same for him, had her wits been in working order. But she was too overwhelmed for speech at the moment as she took him in. He was bare-chested, the top button of his jeans undone. His chest was perfectly defined, covered in just enough dark hair to make her mouth water as it led in a deliberate path down his lean belly to his
hidden cock. She wanted to take those jeans off him, but when she reached for him, he stopped her again.
“Wait.” He cast a glance around her bedroom then. “Do you have any stockings?”
His odd question took her by surprise. Of course she did, remnants of her old days in the corporate life. “Top drawer,” she told him. “On the left. Why?”
“You’ll see,” he responded, striding to her dresser and pulling open the drawer she’d indicated.
As he pulled two pairs of stockings free and turned to look at her, she realized exactly what he was doing. He wanted to tie her to her bed. She swallowed as a new surge of desire crashed over her. She’d never before done something like that, but the idea of being at Jax’s sexual mercy gave her a thrill.
“Get on the bed, darlin’,” he ordered.
She obeyed, turning to scoot into the middle, grateful that she’d picked a headboard with long, open slats between the two posters. It facilitated this kind of play, a kind she’d never imagined until Jax, but one she wanted more than she could have ever realized. She still wore her heels, panties and bustier, and as she settled onto her soft comforter, she allowed her legs to fall open.
“How’s this?” she asked, all but aroused out of her mind at the expression of raw desire on Jax’s face as he looked at her.
“Good.” He lowered himself to the bed, straddling her hips. He still wore his jeans, the cold teeth of his zipper a tantalizing touch on her clit as he leaned over her, her stockings in hand. “Do you trust me?”
She swallowed, knowing the question was a loaded one. Knowing she needed to produce the right answer. And she realized that she did. She trusted him with her body and her heart. “Yes. I trust you, Jax.”
“Give me your hands.”
She did as he asked, sighing when he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the top of each one. “What are you doing?” she asked, wanting to hear him say it aloud, knowing that the verbal explanation would only inflame her even more.
“Tying you up so that I can have my way with you.” He ran his tongue along the sensitive skin of her inner wrist before tying a loose knot around it with one of her stockings. “Is that okay with you, baby?”
Asking her that was like asking her if it was okay with her if she won the lottery. She’d never done it before, not with Adam or anyone else, but there was something about giving herself completely to Jax that felt right. Heady. Delicious. “Yes.”
He guided her hands above her head and tied each to the rungs in her headboard until she was well and truly trapped beneath him. His fingers trailed down over the insides of her arms, tracing a path to her breasts. He bowed his head, taking her mouth in a powerful kiss. Finding her aching nipples, he rolled them between his thumbs and forefingers, torturing them through the lace of her bustier.
Jax broke off the kiss, lingering close enough for his breath to fan over her lips. If she leaned up just a fraction, she could kiss him. But he was the one in control now, and so she remained where she was, looking up at the sexiest man she’d ever seen, who just happened to be half-naked and hell-bent on pleasuring her.
“I love this,” he whispered. “You’re so damn sexy.”
She was unable to manage even a coherent one-word response as he dragged the cups of her bustier down, revealing her breasts. He kissed her neck, his tongue flicking against her skin. Then he tugged at her nipples, pinching them with just enough pressure to make a new rush of wetness tingle between her thighs. Good Lord, she was going to come before he even touched her pussy again if he kept this sensual torture up.
He scraped his scruff against the curve of her breast, looking up at her, his gaze intense as it fastened on hers. “I want you on fire for me, baby.”
Oh God. He was certainly accomplishing that feat with alarming ease. She moaned, curving her back in an effort to get his wonderful mouth closer to her nipple. But he waited, seemingly enjoying the anticipation he stoked in her. He ran his palms down the ribbing of her bustier, stopping as he reached her bare hip bones. His touch was a brand on her skin, possessive and yet gentle enough to make her want him all the more.
She realized her breath was coming in fast gasps. She was so desperate, so ready for him. It was crazy. “Please, Jax,” she whispered. She wanted his mouth on her, his fingers stroking her. His cock deep inside her. She wanted it all, and she wanted it now.
“Have some patience, darlin’.” A sound of appreciation hummed in his throat. He gave her a beautiful smile, one of his dimples appearing, and pressed a kiss to her breast, just missing the nipple that longed for him so badly. “I like you at my mercy. This way, I can take my time.”
But Kassie didn’t want him to take his time. She was worked into a fine frenzy now. And he was calm and sexy as ever, straddling her in his blue jeans as if he had all day to pleasure her. Unfair. She wanted him to be just as wild. As feverish.
“You’re not playing fair,” she accused, breathless.
He ran his tongue in a lazy circle around her nipple, leaving the peak untouched. “Let this be a lesson to you. I never play fair. It isn’t any fun.”
His hands slid beneath her back, finding the hook-and-eye closures of her bustier and pulling them open. His task completed, he plucked the lacy garment away from her and tossed it over his shoulder. “Much better.”
“Better for whom?” she groused, thrusting her hips into his. His erection was a tantalizing ridge against her clit. She rubbed herself against him shamelessly, the friction sending pleasure shooting through her.
“Look who’s cheating now.” He caught her hips in a strong grip, holding her still. “None of that yet.”
“When?” she demanded. Every bit of her clamored for him.
“When I say,” he told her cryptically. His palms glided back up over her waist, stopping at her breasts to cup them. “Tell me what you want, Kassie.”
No problem. She had never been particularly vocal in bed, but she was beginning to discover that she hadn’t really known all that much about herself until she’d moved to Atlantic. And found Jax. The old Kassie was a long-ago memory, lost in the dust of yesterday. Tonight, she was alive and on fire for him. Just as he had wanted.
“I want you to suck on my nipples,” she told him, feeling wicked as the words left her lips. Asking for what she wanted was new, but she liked it.
He lowered his head to her right breast, replacing his hands with his mouth. His tongue flicked over the tight bud, teasing it, before he sucked. Warmth seeped between her legs. He caught her between his teeth and gave a light tug, wringing another moan from her.
Jax glanced up, running his tongue over her nipple. “Like this?”
“Oh yes.” She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Don’t forget the other one.”
“Never.” He moved to her left breast, taking that pebbled nipple in his mouth and administering equally delicious torment to it. “I love how responsive your breasts are. Have I ever told you that?”
As he asked her the question, his fingers slipped back beneath the elastic band of her panties. They dipped to stroke her clit. “Ah.” It was all she could manage to say, because she was reasonably sure she was going to come in under a minute.
“Have I?” he asked again, flicking over her in a delicious rhythm. He cupped her breast with his other hand, rolling her nipple with his thumb.
“Have you what?” She’d already forgotten what he’d asked her.
“Told you how much I love how wet you are for me?”
His words had an unstoppable effect on her. The combination of his sexy drawl and his hands on her clit and breast, not to mention her wrists tied helpless above her head, was too much. She couldn’t hold on for a second longer. She arched into him, coming so violently her entire body shook.
“Are you ready for me, baby?” he asked, his fingers catching her panties and dragging them down over her hips.
“God yes,” she said, helpless in her overwhelming desire.
But just when she thought h
e was going to shuck his jeans and fuck her, he knelt between her legs, spreading them. He pressed kisses to the insides of her thighs, teasing her even further. His gaze locked with hers as his beautiful mouth descended to her clit. He sucked her aching bud into his mouth, making her jump beneath him.
The breath escaped from her lungs. She planted her feet, still in heels, on the bed, pushing her body up and into him. She wanted more. Couldn’t get enough of him, of each sinful stroke of his tongue on her body. Dear God, he was turning her into a mindless puddle of lust. And she loved every minute of it.
He played with her, alternating between sucking and licking, before sinking his tongue deep inside her pussy again and again. He moaned against her and she kept her eyes on him, unable to look away from the sight of him unabashedly worshiping her. He was so sexy. So hers. So incredibly good at bringing her to the edge of her release, at making her lose all control. That quickly, the sweeping pleasure was upon her, and she was coming undone in a way she never had before. She couldn’t take it anymore. She cried out, arching, her orgasm shaking her with a violence that took her by complete surprise.
Kassie was barely aware of him reaching into his pocket and dropping his wallet to the bed before taking off his jeans. His cock was thick and ready, standing at attention between his thighs. Kassie longed to touch him, to wrap her fingers around his hard, velvety length.
“Untie me, Jax. I want to touch you.”
He straddled her, his erection nestled against her hyper-sensitized clit, and reached up to undo the knots he’d tied around her wrists. “I want you so bad, baby.”
“Yes.” Her hands were free, and she reached for him, taking his cock in her hand. A thousand times yes. This was what she wanted. “I want you too. Fuck me, Jax. Now.”
He grabbed his wallet and pulled out a foil packet, tearing it open and sheathing himself in a few fluid motions. In another breath, he was poised at her pussy, his cock teasing her. “Tell me what you want,” he said again.
“You inside me,” she whispered, locking her legs around him. “Now.”
Jax thrust into her, fast and hard. Her hands went to his smooth, strong shoulders. His face hovered over hers, his expression intent. “You feel so good. I could stay inside you forever.”
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