Heartless Rebel (17 page)

 
          
“I’m
very ready for you, sweetheart,” he said. “We can stop this game any time and
get to the good part.”

 
          
She
wanted to. Oh, God, how she wanted to. But it was a bad idea. Bad because she
wanted it so much. Bad because she’d never wanted a man this much, and had no
idea what would happen if she let herself go with him. Would she fall in love?
Would he break her heart?

 
          
Or
would they have fantastic sex and go their separate ways as if it meant nothing
at all?

 
          
Was
she capable of meaningless sex?

 
          
She
didn’t think so. She’d never had a one-night stand, and she’d never slept with
a guy she’d just met. She’d known Jack for three days—how could she possibly go
to bed with him?

 
          
You’re playing strip poker with the man, for
God’s sake! How could you not be prepared for the possibility of sex with him?

 
          
“I
think you just don’t like losing,” she said.

 
          
He
looked sinful, hot and dark and devilish. “I don’t intend to lose, Cara.”

 
          
“I’m
not the one with only one stitch of clothing left,” she retorted.

 
          
“Game’s
not over yet,” he said. “Deal.”

 
          
Cara
picked up the cards and shuffled them. After he’d cut the deck, she dealt. The
promise of the hand leached away with her next deal, so she folded. Three more
hands passed with her folding each time.

 
          
“Are
you trying to stave off the inevitable?” Jack asked.

 
          
“I
haven’t had a good hand,” she said. “There isn’t a time limit on this game, you
know.”

 
          
But
another fifteen minutes passed before she got a hand she felt she could use.
Only one card separated her from a flush. It was a risk, but when the next card
came up diamonds, she breathed a sigh of relief. Inwardly, of course. She
didn’t want him to know she was confident in her hand.

 
          
This
time, when the call came, she laid her cards down with a flourish. “Beat
that.”

 
          
His
smile was not what she’d hoped to see. “I can do that,” he said, spreading his
cards out for her to see. A full house. Cara cursed inwardly. How had she let
that happen? How had she not clued in to his body language on this one?

 
          
Because
he was damn good, that’s why. So was she. Usually.

 
          
“The
bra,” he said, eyes gleaming. “Off with it.”

 
          
Heart
tattooing the inside of her chest, she straightened her spine and reached
behind her back to snap the bra open. Her nerve endings were singing, her body
flooding with liquid heat. She lifted her arms and pulled the bra off first one
side and then the other before letting it fall to the floor behind her.

 
          
She
felt the heat of a blush rising up her neck, but she refused to acknowledge it.
Instead, she tilted her chin up and put her hands on her hips, daring him to
look his fill.

 
          
She
didn’t know what to expect next, but Jack clearly did.

 
          
“That’s
it,” he said. “I forfeit.”

 
          
Shoving
the cards aside, he reached for her. Panic threaded through her, but she shoved
it down deep and went into his arms. How could she deny that it was where she
wanted to be? Where she’d known she would end up almost from the first moment
she’d met him?

 
          
He
stroked the skin of her shoulder, his fingers so gentle and light that she
shivered, little goose bumps rising in the wake of his touch.

 
          
“You
are amazingly beautiful,” he said before his mouth came down on hers.

 
          
Her
first thought was that if she wanted to preserve herself, preserve her heart,
then she needed to push him away.

 
          
Her
second was that she couldn’t stop this thing between them from running its
course. The tension had been unbearable for days now, tightening as they played
this game, and this was the only form of release that would be acceptable to
them both. Whatever happened, she was so entangled now that she could do
nothing but enjoy the ride.

 
          
She
wanted him inside her, on top of her, tangled up with her, loving her with the
fierceness and ruthlessness that were the hallmarks of his personality.

 
          
She
wanted him, all of him. Desperately.

 
          
Cara
speared her fingers into his hair, loving the texture. She finally felt free to
touch, to explore, to claim him as her own. With the loss of her bra,
everything had changed. They’d crossed a line over which there could be no
retreat. The only way out was forward.

 
          
Jack
urged her closer until she was sitting with her legs on either side of him.
Then he put his broad hands on her bottom and pulled her against the ridge of
his erection.

 
          
Cara
gasped as sensation streaked through her at the simple contact of their bodies
through the thin fabric separating them. It had been a long time since she’d
been with a man. She hadn’t realized how much she missed this kind of contact.
Except that everything with Jack seemed to feel so much more intense than it
ever had with anyone else.

 
          
He
flexed his hips, pressing hard into her center, and her body responded with a
surge of moisture. The kiss deepened, their tongues tangling with an urgency
she’d never experienced before. The kiss was hot, intense, and deep—but it
wasn’t enough.

 
          
She
tried to get closer, couldn’t stop the moan that vibrated in her throat.

 
          
Jack
immediately broke the kiss, leaving her empty and disappointed. “I forgot about
your lip. I’m sorry.”

 
          
“No,”
she said, “that’s not it at all. Kiss me, Jack. Don’t stop kissing me.” He
fused his mouth to hers again. And then he was lifting her, pushing her back
onto the bed, coming down on top of her. His body was big and hard, and she
loved the feel of him pressing into her.

 
          
When
his hand closed over the slope of her breast, she arched her back, thrusting
into his hand. He pinched her nipple, softly, expertly, until she was a
quivering mass of sensitive nerve endings.

 
          
“Jack,”
she said, her voice breathy and thick. Tears pressed against the backs of her
eyes. Tears of joy, of frustration, of unimaginable sorrow. She didn’t know why
she felt all these things with him, but the intensity of it physically hurt.

 
          
“I
know,” he replied before kissing his way down her neck, over her collarbone.
His fingers shaped her ribs, the slope of her breast, the soft skin of her
abdomen. She couldn’t pull herself away now even if she wanted to.

 
          
And
she definitely didn’t want to.

 
          
The
moment his mouth closed over her nipple, she cried out. The pleasure was so
intense, so unbelievably intense, as he sucked the hard, tight bud between his
lips. Her fingers clutched in his hair, on his shoulders.

 
          
He
slid a hand down her abdomen, beneath the silk of her panties, found the hot,
wet center of her body. He groaned as his fingers sank between her legs.

 
          
Those
fingers, those clever fingers that handled the cards so expertly, began to play
her body like a fine instrument. Two fingers pinched and kneaded her clitoris,
making her cry out with the pleasure. And then he was dipping lower, inserting
a finger into her body, joining it with a second one as his thumb took up the
rhythm above.

 
          
His
mouth played her nipples while his fingers stroked her—and Cara came unglued at
the seams. Her body tightened painfully, so very painfully, as she flexed her
hips and tried to make his hand move faster.

 
          
She
could feel the release gathering, feel it coming, feel every cell of her body
vibrate with energy and need—

 
          
And
then it happened. She reached the peak and fell off the other side, sobbing and
gasping the whole way.

 
          
JACK
had never felt this kind of urgency before. When he made love to a woman, he
took his time. He was in control, always in supreme control.

 
          
But
not this time. Cara’s breathy little moans, the way she curled her fingers into
his skin, the sweet intensity of her voice as she shattered beneath his
fingertips—not to mention the hot, wet feel of her, the way she sizzled and
shook, the scent of her skin—he had to have her.

 
          
Right
now.

 
          
His
side hurt, but he didn’t care. He’d never felt such sweet pain as the pain of
his arousal. His injuries simply didn’t compare.

 
          
Cara
was still shaking from the power of her release as he practically tore the silk
panties from her body. Then he was shoving off his underwear and settling
between her legs again. She opened to him immediately, her long legs wrapping
around his hips as he pushed inside.

 
          
He
had no finesse. None whatsoever. He’d lost it somewhere along the way. Cara was
ready for him, more than ready, but she gasped a little at his possession, her
chest rising and falling rapidly as she waited for her body to accommodate him.

 
          
But
he couldn’t speak, couldn’t ask her if she was okay, because it took every
ounce of control he had not to take her hard and fast. His body urged him to
cast off restraint, to use her sweet lushness for his pleasure, to spend
himself wildly in frenzied lovemaking.

 
          
He
held himself rigidly, fighting for control—and then she reached up with a soft
hand, stroked it across his cheek.

 
          
“Jack,”
she said softly. “Oh, Jack.”

 
          
Tears
glazed her eyes, but he understood instinctively that they weren’t tears of
pain or unhappiness. My God, she was beautiful. And she was
his
.

 
          
Just
like that, he lost whatever tenuous grip on his sanity that he’d had. He began
to move, relentless, stroking into her body. He rode her hard, but she met him
all the way, her lush body tilting up to his, her hips opening to him, her
lovely breasts bouncing with the force of their lovemaking.

 
          
It
drove him insane. She drove him insane. He held on as long as he could, held on
to the tight knot of pleasure gathering at the base of his spine until he felt
her body tighten around him. A moment later and she was arching her back,
thrusting her breasts up, gasping as her climax hit her. He sucked one of her
nipples into his mouth, gloried in the sharpening of her cry as he increased
her pleasure.

 
          
She
was so incredibly responsive. When she collapsed on the bed again, he grasped
her buttocks and lifted her to him, angling her until her body began to spark
once more. It didn’t take much to make her come again.

 
          
This
time when she went over the edge, he went with her, spilling his body into hers
with such force that his vision went black for a split second. It was the most
amazing, most wonderful feeling to find his release in Cara’s lush body.

 
          
But
at the back of his mind, dampening the sensual afterglow, was the knowledge it
wouldn’t last. It never did. Nothing ever kept his attention longer than it
took to establish his dominance. Not even a woman as sweetly sexy as Cara
Taylor.