“No! I’m not okay. The apartment was broken into, we have nothing to go on except a women’s coffee group, and Matthew Carmon had his hands all over you while you looked at him with,” he waved his hands, “goo-goo eyes.”
She giggled. Goo-goo eyes?
He stopped pacing and turned to stare at her. “Did you just laugh at me?” A dark frown commandeered his features, and he took a single step towards her, crossing his muscular arms over his chest in a defiant gesture that bunched his thick shoulders and really just made her mouth water.
She felt her pulse kick in her throat when she met his eyes but chose to jut her chin out in defiance anyway. She wanted to meet his challenge head-on, wanted him to know that she wouldn’t be cowed by him, even when he was being completely irrational and pig-headed. “I did.”
“Why?” he asked, his voice going eerily calm.
Undeterred, she said, “Because I’ve been trying to get you to sleep with me for an entire week and suddenly because I’m having a moment of camaraderie with my male neighbor, you start acting like a Neanderthal!” She huffed out a breath when she saw a flicker of anger flash through his eyes.
“I’m trying to give you space because you’ve been emotionally embroiled and I don’t want you to think that I’m using you,” he said, enunciating each of the words as if he were talking to a slightly slow animal.
“Well then don’t get mad at me when I’m talking to my friends!”
“He’s in love with you.”
“Well, he knows that I don’t love him back!” she shouted back at him. That I love you. She felt her mind slow as the thought entered her head, felt the fight leave her body in one quick whoosh that drained everything from her. She looked at him, saw the rigid set of his shoulders, the defensive cross of his muscular arms over his chest, the angry glint in his eyes, and she didn’t care.
Suddenly, she wanted to cry.
Jacob sensed the change because, in only a second, he had moved to her side. “No. Please don’t cry,” he whispered, gripping her, his big hands completely encircling her upper arms. “I won’t know what to do if you cry.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she lied, not wanting him to see the truth. How could this have happened? It’s been a week.
“Lola,” he whispered, his breath warm against her ear. He sighed and pulled her into his arms, wrapped them around her as the first tear fell.
She would not, under any circumstances, tell him how she felt. No siree. I’ll just pretend that nothing has changed. She breathed in his scent, knew after living with him for days that the delicious leather and spice smell of him was the fancy aftershave that he used. Resting her head against his heart, she listened to the heavy thump of it.
He rested his chin on her head. “How did we get here?”
She sniffled and took a step back, trying to put space between them, but he took one step forward and, gently cupping her face, leaned down to kiss her.
Lola heard herself whimper as his tongue met hers in a deep dance that made her knees give out slightly beneath her, made her entire stomach drop into her lap. She gripped his muscular biceps to steady herself and they bunched under her palms, sending a toe-curling shiver down her spine.
He placed one big, open palm on her waist, even as the other moved to cup her ass. “I’ve thought about touching you every moment of every day since we’ve met,” he whispered, his voice coming out hoarse as he pulled her closer, close enough that she felt the hard length of him under his jeans. “After last time…”
“I’ve wanted you too, Jake,” she whispered. She closed her eyes as he lifted the corner of her shirt and pulled it over her head, let her head fall back when he raised both hands to cup her breasts as his thumbs grazed her nipples. The feeling of his calloused fingers touching her, made her very core throb with need, made her instantly aware of the hot, heavy feeling of her own body.
He dipped his head and flicked his tongue over her left nipple, through the lace of her bra. Lola moaned when his teeth gently took the sensitive peak in a soft nip, before he twirled his tongue over it, the movement rubbing the lace against her seductively. Needing to remove the barriers between them, she reached back and unhooked her bra, let it fall to the ground as she watched him.
His eyes glazed over when her breasts spilled free and he moved over to her right nipple, doing the same, even as his hands trailed down her back. When he reached her ass, she felt her breath catch in her throat and took a solid step back.
For a moment he looked confused, but when she grinned at him, he smiled, his left dimple flashing. With her heart knocking in her chest, she took another step back and slowly, while he watched, unzipped her jeans and stepped out of them. His emerald eyes darkened perceptibly, but he stayed still, and she leaned down and, as slowly as she could, peeled her underwear off so that she stood, gloriously naked in front of him. She usually wasn’t so confident but being with Jacob made her feel so wanted that she didn’t even care.
When he reached out a hand to touch her, she sidestepped and sent him a wicked grin. “Not yet.” She moved to him and began unbuttoning his shirt, one button at a time. When it came loose, she pulled it back, off big, muscular shoulders, and sighed when she took in the sight of him.
Finally.
His broad, tanned chest narrowed to solid abdominals and a tapered waist. She ran her hand down his stomach, enjoying the way that his muscles quivered under her touch.
Kneeling on the floor, she reached for the button on his slacks, but he grabbed her arms. “I don’t think…”
She grinned, enjoying the fact that she could incapacitate Lieutenant Jacob Simmone. “Only one way to find out.”
She undid the button, gently lowered his zipper, and, when he didn’t move, she pulled his pants and his boxers down to his ankles in one fluid movement, leaving the full, hard length of him exposed.
Reaching forward, she wrapped her hand around him, relishing his sharp intake of his breath. She moved her hand down the length of him, felt a smile pull her lips tight when he groaned and fisted his hands in her hair. When she glanced up, she saw that his eyes were dark, glazed, and his chest rose and fell quickly as if he were out of breath. She leaned forward and took him into her mouth, sliding her tongue along the full length of him as her lips worked over him.
“Fuck!”
She used her hands and her mouth until his breath came in quick, short gasps. When she thought that she had nearly won, he gripped her suddenly by the arms and pulled her to her feet before lifting her the rest of the way off the ground and carrying her to the bed.
He placed her down onto her back gently and took a step back so that he could look at her. Lola grinned when he gave himself one long stroke before climbing onto the bed beside her.
Their mouths met again, this time in a kiss that stole her breath with its intensity, left her head reeling when they finally broke apart. His hands roamed her body freely, stroking, kneading, squeezing as he trailed small, open-mouthed kisses down her belly. She felt the long, slow pull of her body tightening, drawing towards her center, collecting between her thighs.
His hands whispered over her torso, before moving down. His breath tickled the inside of her thigh, and he gently spread her legs wider with big, strong palms. When his mouth found her, she whimpered, overwhelmed by the assault of pleasure. She bucked her hips slightly, urging him on as she fisted her hands in the bedsheets on either side of her. Her hips gyrated of their own volition, moving in time to his whisper-light tongue as it flicked gently against her. Already, she felt as if she would explode.