by Mari Carr
She tugged his shirttail free of his jeans, her hands sliding beneath to stroke his chest. “So are you,” she said, as she ran her fingertips over his pecs so lightly, it almost tickled.
Releasing her breasts, he lowered his hands to strip off her jeans. While he could tell she’d showered after school, there was still the faintest scent of smoke in her hair, blending with the strawberry of her shampoo. It was a strange yet tantalizing combination.
Once she was naked, he took a step away, wanting to steal an unobstructed look at her. The night they’d spent together was chiseled on his brain. And his heart.
It had been everything and he’d longed for this moment every single second since.
A million nights in her bed wouldn’t be enough for him.
Hope glanced at his jeans, lifting her eyebrows in a “get on with it” way.
Jake shed them without haste, sucking in a sharp breath when she wrapped her hands around him, caressing his cock from root to tip. He let her make the journey up and back half a dozen times before he gripped her wrists and pulled her hands away.
“Jake,” she started, but he shook his head.
“When I come, sweetheart, I’m going to be buried deep between those pretty legs of yours.”
She shivered, the reaction pure arousal. “I want you inside me now.”
He chuckled. “Always in such a hurry. Go lie on the bed. We’re going to get there.” And then, because he was ornery, he added, “Eventually.”
She didn’t miss the last word, but he didn’t give her time to argue about it. They walked toward her bed and he pressed his hand on her shoulder, urging her to sit.
Kneeling in front of her, he tugged her ass to the edge of the mattress and pushed her legs apart. “Lie back, Miss Connor,” he teased. “I’m going to be very naughty.”
Hope’s laugh was breathless and short-lived as she fell to her back the second he took her clit between his teeth. Her hands were in his hair within seconds, clinging to it as he slid his tongue along her slit.
“God,” Hope cried. “I love…” Jake held his breath until she found the strength to finish. He was disappointed when she added, “The way you do that.”
He’d spent a lifetime running from the words I love you. Love was the trigger, the thing that kept him trying to escape, but now, he wanted them, needed them from her.
Patience had never been one of his strong suits.
He licked her again, then sucked her clit into his mouth, pulling on it roughly. That little hot button never failed to push Hope to the brink and beyond. Her hips gyrated wildly, so he gripped them firmly, holding her still as he continued to feast on her sweet pussy.
“Jake, please.” While they weren’t exactly the words he was hoping for, they were definitely a close second. He loved the sound of his name on her lips, combined with that plea for release.
“Mmmm?” he hummed against her, pretending to misunderstand her desire.
“I need you.”
Lifting his head, he waited until her eyes found his. Then he gave her a self-satisfied smirk. “Tough.”
She narrowed her eyes, but he wasn’t swayed. He was going to taste her first orgasm. Jake drove his tongue inside her, her back arching almost violently in response. Hope’s reactions were so natural, so unrestrained. She gave him everything she had. It was a heady thing, something the alpha inside of him wanted to exploit, to take advantage of.
He pressed his tongue in and out of her wet pussy as her head thrashed from side to side, his name her breathless mantra.
“Jake. Jake. Jake.”
He fucked her with his tongue, and when she was right there, on the edge, he ran his thumb over her clit, pushing her off.
She jerked, her fists closing around his hair, pulling it so hard, his scalp burned. He’d be lucky if the wildcat didn’t pull out every strand.
It would be worth it.
The taste of her was still on his lips when her orgasm waned and he lifted his head. Her pretty cheeks were flushed red, her breasts rising and falling rapidly as she sought to catch her breath.
“Ready for round two?”
She hadn’t caught her breath yet, hadn’t fully landed. It didn’t matter. There was a tiny part of him that wanted vengeance for that morning after. Waking up in an empty bed, searching for her, longing for her.
This time he was going to bind her to him, not with physical bonds but with stronger ones. He was going to tie her here with the knowledge that he was the only man who could fulfill her every fantasy, satisfy her every desire.
It was time to unleash the beasts—hers and his.
Driving two fingers inside her, he curled them, finding her G-spot on the first stroke.
“Fuck,” Hope cried out loudly. Her hands had lowered, clenching the bedspread, tugging on it as he pressed his fingers deeper before withdrawing them completely.
She hadn’t expected him to stop. He could see that from her confused expression.
“Promise me,” he said, his voice husky with painful need.
“Anything,” she replied breathlessly.
In a different state of mind, he might have smiled at her quick acquiescence. But right now, the memory of her leaving him alone and avoiding him for nearly two weeks was too strong.
“No more running.”
“No more,” she agreed.
“If something upsets you, you stick around and we talk it out.”
“Absolutely.”
He believed her. Yet, there was a part of him that needed something stronger than just her words. That vow was going to be solidified…with punishment and seduction.
Jake stood, flipping her to her stomach with a strong hand on her upper arm. Hope started to lift up, but he placed the flat of his hand in the center of her back. With the other, he spanked her, several firm slaps that ensured she wouldn’t forget the promise she’d just made.
“You’re mine,” he said, caressing the heated flesh of her ass. He’d never felt this unfamiliar need to possess a woman. It was strong, almost overpowering.
God help sweet Hope because he was going to be a jealous boyfriend. That was a new emotion for him as well.
“Yours,” she whispered. “I’m yours.”
“Open your legs.”
Her thighs parted and he drove his fingers back inside—three this time—fucking her with them from behind, pounding them in deep and hard.
She came within seconds, and he drew the orgasm out, kept it firing as he refused to slow his pace, to give her time to recover. Her body shook, as if she’d just received an electrical shock. She continued to plead—for him to stop, to keep going, to take her with his huge cock.
The kindergarten teacher knew all the bad words and she let them fly.
“Fuck me,” she yelled. “Please, Jake. I need you inside me. Take me. Hard.”
He wiggled his fingers. “I am inside you.” He knew what she meant, but he wanted to hear her say cock again.
“No,” she cried out. “Your cock. I want your big cock. I need you to fill me up, fuck me so hard, it hurts. I…God…please, Jake.”
He’d never gotten a better invitation.
“Roll over,” he commanded. “And move to the middle of the bed. This time I’m going to see your face when I slide inside you.”
Hope wasted no time getting into position, lifting her arms and drawing him over her. He kissed her, letting her taste her own arousal, still lingering on his lips. Their tongues touched. Hope’s hands wrapped around his dick, guiding him to her opening.
There was no hesitation on her part.
Not the slightest bit.
He pressed the head of his cock inside as she shifted her position, lifting her knees to ease his path. He threw them over his shoulders to open her even more. She was completely at his mercy.
Mine.
Their eyes met. He wasn’t sure what she saw in his face, but he realized he’d given the last fear away.
She cupped his face with a sof
t hand. “I don’t want slow and easy.”
His chest tightened at the thought of taking her the way he’d always dreamed of, longed for.
“And I want it all,” she added.
With every single lover in the past, he’d taken care, given the woman plenty of time to adjust to his girth, his length, even as he longed for hard and fast.
“Hope,” he whispered.
She placed a finger over his lips. “Are you going to give me what I want?”
He grinned. His kitten had claws.
“Or should I find someone else to—”
That was as far as she got with her taunt before he slammed inside her.
Hope Connor was his.
She screamed, but he took her at her word, gave her what she said she wanted because—God help him—it was what he wanted too. She urged him on, begging for everything he had.
He thrusted roughly as Hope’s fingernails scored his shoulders, scratching the skin. He was going to feel that tomorrow.
Then he realized she was going to be sore as well. Neither of them was giving the other an ounce of reprieve. They were claiming, possessing, taking, giving.
Hope’s hips lifted to meet him, her palms flat on the headboard above her head. She was using that placement not just for purchase, but as a way to move herself toward him to capture even more on every inward thrust.
She came once, but he wasn’t quite there. He couldn’t be. This was everything he’d ever wanted and he wasn’t about to let it end.
Her next orgasm was a mere second behind the first, but this time, he lost his battle to hold on. Her inner muscles clenched tightly around his dick and he filled her with come.
No condom.
He figured it was a testament to just how deeply he’d fallen when he realized how disappointed he was that she was on the pill. Funny how getting her pregnant was now a goal, not a fear.
Jake remained inside her as they slowly came down, both of them gasping for air. Then, reluctantly, he slid out of her wet heat, watching her face as he did so. His wits were starting to return now that he wasn’t blinded by that haze of sexual longing.
“Hope,” he said, praying he hadn’t hurt her, as he fell to the mattress next to her. “Sweetheart.”
“I love you,” she said.
Jake’s heart nearly exploded, too full of happiness to hold it all. “I love you too.”
She twisted on the bed, wrapping her arm around his waist, nuzzling close. “How long do you need to recover?”
He leaned back until he could see her face. “What?”
“I have a five-year-old son, Jake. We need to take advantage of times like this, when we can be as loud as we want to. How long,” she asked, her hand stroking his dick in a way that was pure minx, “until we can do it again?”
Jake placed his hand over hers, applying more pressure as the two of them stroked his cock together. “You keep that up and it won’t be long at all.”
Her smile was a lethal combination of sweet and sexy and totally Hope.
“Good. I have a fire inside me,” she murmured.
Jake chuckled at her joke when she squeezed his dick tighter.
“Lucky for you, I have a big hose.”
Epilogue
“Come on, Miss Connor,” Jake called from the bottom of the pole. “Slide down.”
Jake had been trying to talk Hope into sliding down his pole ever since the first day they’d met during the field trip. And while she’d taken countless rides on the firefighter, this was the first time he’d convinced her to try the real deal.
“Come on, Mommy.”
Jake was on duty tonight, so she and George were spending the night at his apartment above the station. It was a routine they’d fallen into over the past few months, splitting their time between her place and his. It was incredible how easily all the pieces had fallen into place.
George loved the nights they stayed at the station, helping Jake clean the trucks, sitting behind the wheel of the big tanker, the two of them pretending to race to fires.
George swore he was going to be a fireman just like Jake when he grew up, and the more Hope got to know Jake, the more deeply she fell in love with him, the more she hoped George did grow up to be just like him.
She peered down through the hole, but she couldn’t see George or Jake.
“I thought you were going to catch me,” she called down.
“You’re not going to fall, sweetheart. Just grab tight to the pole and slide down. We both know you’re a natural at it.”
Hope giggled, grateful George didn’t understand the true meaning behind Jake’s words.
“Okay, but if I fall…”
She gripped the pole, wrapped one leg around it, held her breath, closed her eyes, then slid.
When she opened them again, she was on the ground. Hope saw George, standing next to Jake, who was down on one knee, holding up an engagement ring. Both of them were beaming, co-conspirators in the surprise.
She gasped. “Jake,” she started.
“Marry me, Miss Connor. Save me from this miserable life of bachelorhood.”
She laughed. “I thought you liked being a bachelor.”
Jake narrowed his eyes but continued. “Give me a five-year-old son with…” Jake looked over and started describing George, who was cracking up at the joke. “With blond hair, blue eyes, a red-striped shirt, blue jeans, a scuffed elbow, and two?”
George shook his head and held up three fingers.
“Three,” Jake corrected, “missing teeth.”
Hope walked over to them, her gaze taking in the beautiful ring even as his words made her giggle, made her happier than she’d ever been in her life.
“I can’t live without you,” he continued.
Hope knelt in front of Jake, reaching over to wrap her arm around George, who leaned toward her, urging her to agree.
“Say yes, Mommy.”
“Yes,” she whispered, trying not to cry. Jake slid the ring on her finger, bending forward to kiss her. Then he stood, helping her up, as George let out a loud hoot. The two of them did a high five, acting as if they’d just won the Super Bowl.
“We did it, little man! We surprised her.”
George bounced with glee. “Can I call you Daddy now?”
It was a heartfelt request that took Hope and Jake down hard. She was a goner as she felt the first happy tear slide. She didn’t miss the way Jake had to swallow hard, then clear his throat before he could manage to say, “There’s nothing I’d like more, Georgie.”
“Can I tell Ike you’re getting married?” George asked.
They both nodded as George darted back to the bunk room, where Ike was repairing one of the beds.
Jake reached for her, giving her the kiss they both wanted. It was deep and long and passionate.
When they parted, they shared a smile. “Happy…” He paused a second before adding, “Mrs. Garrett?”
Hope loved the sound of that.
And him.
“Deliriously so…Big Hose.”
Ready for more? Check out these books by Mari Carr, also in Kindle Unlimited.
Making His Play (a hockey player, fake relationship, drunken Vegas elopement free-for-all)
Erotic Research (sexy erotic role playing while trapped in snowstorm with her rich publisher)
Tequila Truth (friends to lovers “who loves a good spanking” menage)
Power Play (birthday sex with a stranger turns into the gift that keeps giving - a workplace/power exchange romance)
Rough Cut (Hollywood’s hottest bad boy in a BDSM romance)
Assume the Positions (older woman, younger cop with handcuffs! romance)
Mad about Meg (mistaken identity - who knew he was a billionaire? - holiday romance)
Do Over (seasoned “they’d be dead by chapter 2 after all that sex” romance)
Educating Ms. Wright (happy hour between friends turns into menage-a-palooza)
About the Author
Virginia native Mari Carr is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller of contemporary romance novels. With over two million copies of her books sold, Mari was the winner of the Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Plume award for her novella, Erotic Research. She has over a hundred published works, including her popular Wild Irish and Compass books, along with the Trinity Masters series she writes with Lila Dubois.
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www.maricarr.com
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