Just because she stayed didn’t mean anything was going to happen. She’d be smart not to let it. Smarter if she left now and made sure of it.
He pressed a soft kiss to her head again. “Stay.”
“Okay.” It was impossible to say no. She didn’t want to say no.
Jake’s bathroom smelled like him, fresh and male and woodsy with a lingering scent of his aftershave. That scent reminded her of those minutes in her kitchen and just the memory made the blood pulse hard between her legs.
The hot spray reminded her of his massaging fingers, and when she closed her eyes, breathed in the scent of his shampoo, she could almost imagine him there with her. Both of them naked, both of them wet.
Like she was naked now, in his shower, with Jake just a room away.
After ten minutes under the pounding, high-pressure showerhead, she stepped out, warm and loose, a little tingly and a lot nervous. She towel-dried her hair, ran her fingers through it. Thinking to slip out to her car for a T-shirt and shorts, she wrapped the towel around her body and opened the door into Jake’s bedroom. And came face-to-face with the object of her fantasies.
Chapter 16
They both froze and the sound of her own blood pulsed in her ears.
“Sorry. I wanted to make sure you had a towel, but…” Hot, appraising eyes took in her bare shoulders and barely covered body. “I can see that you do.”
A drop of water fell from her hair and slipped beneath the edge of the towel between her breasts. Jake watched it disappear.
“Feel better?” His voice was thick and raspy and his eyes came back to hers.
“Yes.” The word came out a breathless whisper because she couldn’t breathe. The man was large, intense, and his brown eyes burning into hers made it hard to swallow, impossible to move. He exuded sex but for long, silent seconds he just looked at her while her heart raced, unsure what he would do next.
She wanted his lips on hers, his hands running over bare skin. She wanted this, wanted to be touched, to feel alive and free, and not full of worry and fear and guilt. Mostly she wanted Jake.
The muscles in his jaw tensed with barely contained restraint and he looked down at her from hot and heavy eyes. Finally, he raised his hand and traced one rough finger along her collarbone, making every nerve fire as he went.
“Tell me to stop.”
“No.”
He continued along the edge of the towel, his knuckles just brushing the top of each breast. “Paige. You’re tired.”
“I’m not that tired. Please. Just this once.” She needed him, right now. Needed his kiss, needed the way she felt in his arms. Like for once she wasn’t racing toward something wonderful that always seemed to move farther away, but was already grasping it.
With a simple tug, she untucked the edge of the towel where it wrapped around and let it drop to the floor at her feet.
Jake sucked in a deep breath, and she watched as his eyes burned her naked body. Starting at her feet and pausing between her legs, then her breasts, he continued up until his gaze met hers. Her nipples tingled at the thought of his touch, but he didn’t touch them.
Instead he framed her face in his big hands and traced the crease of her lips with his tongue, silently asking for entrance. The answer was yes. Utterly and completely, yes. He kissed her long and deep, making love to her mouth until the only thing holding her up was his arm banded around her back.
Her nipples rasped against his cotton shirt, her thighs against his jeans. She needed his clothes off, wanted to feel his hot flesh against her own, but then his hand moved lower, slipped between her legs and she couldn’t speak. He devastated her with his kiss and his touch until she was trembling in his arms. When he lifted her off her feet and to the bed, she was on fire, begging.
Still clothed, he braced himself over her, his hands planted on either side of her head and a reckless craving burst inside of her. He was so beautiful, so male with his hard body, but with soft eyes that reached right out and touched her heart.
She pulled at his shirt, sighed when her hands found skin. Then sighed again when he stripped it over his head. His body rippled with strength she yearned to explore. And she did. His sculpted abs and chest, his broad shoulders and powerful arms. Before she was finished, he took her hands and pinned them above her head. His eyes burned into hers and a fiery heat curled low in her belly.
Then he surprised her by reaching out and gently brushing the hair back from her face. If she thought sex with Jake would be fast and powerful, she was wrong. Wrong about the fast, but Jake’s touch was powerful in a way that took over all her senses, her thoughts, her breath.
“God, Paige. Do you have any idea how badly I want you?”