She placed her hand on top of his, squeezing his fingers into her flesh. “Probably about as much as you like the idea of me on my knees pleasuring you.”
“You are a dirty, dirty girl.” He took a strand of her hair and wound it around his fingers.
Her eyes sparked with a dark challenge. “Have I ever alluded to being anything else?”
No, you sure as hell haven’t, but you’ve denied me every time I made a move.
Tonight she appeared to be dipping her toe in the Jake and Addy water. About damn time. They said weddings made women want in ways they never had, but he knew Addy had wanted him long before the wedding, even if she refused to let herself go there. It was in his mind that he was seeing more than a one-night stand in their future, and it had nothing to do with the wedding and everything to do with the sensual, witty, challenging woman before him.
He tugged that luxurious dark strand of hair until it was taut. Her hand tightened around his, but she didn’t lean forward to ease the sting he knew he was causing, telling him more than that sassy mouth of hers ever could. The daring gaze never faltered, exuding confidence like no woman he’d ever met. The vibe she emitted was fierce, determined, and one hundred percent sexual, reeling Jake in like a fish to water.
He leaned closer.
She didn’t budge.
He pushed his hand beneath her hair, holding tightly to that strand as he grasped the back of her neck and tugged her toward him. Her eyes widened just a little. If he hadn’t been looking for it he might have missed it. But he was this close to making Addy his, and he refused to miss a thing.
“Jake.” The warning came across loud and clear.
He nudged his knee between her legs, and with a hand around her waist, tugged her forward, so their legs were intertwined, their faces so close he could smell her shampoo. Jesus, he was breathing hard. How many months had he wanted to do this? To feel her body trembling, hear her breath hitch, for him?
“Gabby and Duke,” she said breathlessly.
“Will never know,” he answered, pausing long enough to give her time to protest.
“We can’t screw this up.”
“I never screw up sex.” He brushed his thumb along her jaw. “Scared, sexy girl?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Never.”
“What, then?”
She pressed her lips together, then opened them as if to speak, but no words came. Vulnerability flashed in her eyes, and in the next breath that innocence was gone, replaced with ferocity she couldn’t feign. She wanted this just as badly as he did. Thank fucking God she’d finally hit her breaking point.
But he’d seen that moment of hesitation.
He’d felt it in the way her body tensed, and not the good kind of tense. The oh-fuck-what-am-I-doing kind. Jake was a lot of things, and cocky asshole was probably near the top of the list as far as women were concerned. But he’d never take a woman against her will. He slowed down long enough to gaze into her beautiful eyes and make sure he wasn’t misreading her approval. Was she simply meeting a challenge? Would she do that? Give herself over rather than back away simply to prove she could?
She was looking at him like she wanted to devour him, licking her lips like she couldn’t wait. All the right signals were staring back at him. But that moment of hesitation, no matter how short-lived, held him back. His body pushed him to take, take, take. It was what he did, what he excelled at, what he knew.
But this was Addison.
The woman he’d fantasized about for months on end.
His brother’s wife’s best friend.
A friend he cared about.
Shit. He hadn’t really picked that apart before. He’d always thought of Addy as Gabriella’s friend. Once removed. But she was his friend, too. Hadn’t she called him when she wanted to surprise Gabriella for her birthday and asked him to help by keeping Duke busy while they set up the surprise? She could have asked Trish, or Cash, or Blue. But she’d called him. Jake, I need you. He’d actually thought it was a booty call, and he’d told her it was about time she realized she needed a real man in her life. He’d been thinking, in her bed, but he’d bitten his tongue. She’d set him straight then, too. Wishful thinking, big guy. I don’t want or need a man like you in my life. They’d argued that point. And he’d hung up wondering why the hell they’d argued. He hadn’t been looking to be any woman’s man. And then he’d helped keep Duke busy, as she’d asked, and they’d gone right back to being friends who toyed with each other’s emotions.
This was totally fucked up.
She was watching him with that bold look in her eyes, waiting for his next move. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t sure what that move should be.
“Addy,” he pretty much growled. “Do you want me to kiss you?” Where the hell did that come from? He couldn’t remember ever asking a woman’s permission before kissing her.
She blinked several times, as if he were speaking another language, and then she was kissing him. Her hands were in his hair, and she was moaning into their kiss. She was so fucking hot, he didn’t hesitate to devour her eager mouth. She moved even more sensually than he’d imagined, hard and hungry, arching against him like she couldn’t get enough. And damn, he definitely wanted more. His arm circled her waist, and he lifted her onto his lap, taking the kiss deeper. She was so petite his hand nearly covered the width of her back, and he had the strange, intrusive thought that if he wasn’t careful, he might break her. She rocked against him, her sweet ass creating mind-blowing friction.
The lights strewn above them suddenly went out, and they both pulled away, breathless and panting. Instinct sent his arms protectively around her as he scanned the area. They were alone beneath the starry sky, the sounds of distant waves breaking through the darkness. It took Jake’s lust-addled brain a minute to remember the lights were on a timer. Breathing a little easier, he ran his hands over her soft curves. A salty breeze swept up the hill, blowing a lock of Addy’s long brown hair across her face. He tucked it behind her ear, feeling the softness of her cheek against his fingers. Addy had that vulnerable look about her again. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen from their kisses. Gone was the take-charge vixen he knew her to be, causing his chest to feel full.
“Jesus, you’re beautiful.” The words came easily, taking him—and by the shock in her widening eyes, Addy—by surprise. He’d thought it many times, but man, those words sure felt powerful coming out of his mouth. Jake loved the soft, feminine feel of women. But in his mind, he had always lumped them into a group. Women. Realization hit him like a kick in the gut. He was noticing her, not the gender she was born into. He ran his hands along the length of her arms, soaking in the feel of her warm skin and trying to chase away the Addiness in her and fit her back into the general category with which he was comfortable.
As if she realized this lowering of the veil, she drew her shoulders back, and a cavalier laugh sailed from her lips. She glanced down at their bodies. Her dress was bunched around her thighs, her legs straddling his lap. “A little late to be buttering me up, don’t you think?”
To cover up his momentary lapse in emotional control, he scoffed and tugged her in for another passionate kiss.
Chapter Three
ADDY’S MIND SAID, Slow down. Think, think, think. But her body had completely disconnected. It had hung up the phone, thrown out the memo, and was sprinting toward the finish line. The lust that had coiled deep in her belly at the first touch of Jake’s lips had swelled, flooding her veins, her limbs, and seeping out her pores. His big, hungry mouth consumed her as his hands roved and teased. And her hands followed suit, exploring his incredibly hard chest, while her very lonely girly parts enjoyed another deliciously hard part of his anatomy.
He fisted his hand in her hair and bit down on her lower lip, hard enough to sting. She cried out and he stopped cold.
“Too hard?”
“Never.”
She barely got the word out before he was kissing her again, ravishing every crevice of her mouth, then moving on to her jaw, her neck, her shoulder, nibbling and sucking, abrading her skin with his whiskers, while hanging on tight to her hair. She closed her eyes, enjoying each and every sensation: the exquisite sting on her scalp, the wetness of his tongue, sharpness of his teeth, and most of all, the low, appreciative groans he made as he took his fill. He clutched her hip, still gripping her hair, holding her as she ground against him and rocking up to meet her efforts. This was what she craved and what no man had been able to give. Raw, untethered passion. Manliness, and not the whip-me-baby kind. No, Addy wasn’t about to be anyone’s submissive, but she liked strength and virility, the feel of a man’s rough hands on her skin, the repositioning of her body exactly where he wanted it, the hard pounding between her legs. When he’d asked her if she wanted him to kiss her, she’d wondered if she’d made the wrong decision teasing him as she had. If there was one thing she’d had enough of, it was men who pretended to be one thing when in reality they were the exact opposite. She was thrilled to find that Jake knew how to take control, and she was surprised to realize that she was also strangely touched that he’d sought her approval.