In the Line of Duty: First Responders, Book 2 (10 page)

He slid his hand over her ribs and cupped her breast through her shirt, his thumb grazing the nipple. “It’s not me I’m worried about. I don’t want you to regret anything in the morning.”

There was a swift kick of desire that centred low in her belly. His hand was doing fabulous things, making her feel all jacked up and liquid at the same time. He never stopped his slow ministrations even as he gave her a way out. They were talking about sex. Spending the night. It would be so different than the last and only time she’d been with a man. She was sure of that. Just as she was sure that she’d always regret walking out of this apartment tonight.

So she reached for the buttons of his shirt and said, “Are you going to talk all night, Jake?”

She spread the light fabric wide, revealing the expanse of his chest, touching the warm skin beneath. His eyes seemed to penetrate her in the darkness, intensely black as she ran her fingers over the wide expanse. He bit down on his lip, and she smiled as he quivered beneath her fingers. “You’re holding back,” she whispered. The music from the bar downstairs still sent a rhythmic thump through the floor that echoed between her legs as his hand slid over her hip.

“I don’t want to scare you,” he murmured back.

“Please,” she begged, “Don’t treat me like I’m breakable.” She wanted to meet him as an equal. She wanted to see Jake unleashed. What she wanted, she realized, was nothing short of
it all
.

“You know what you’re asking?” he said in the darkness, his voice rippling along her nerve endings.

“I do. I’m asking you to let go with me. And I’m asking you to let me meet you halfway.”

“Then we have to get up.”

“Get up? Why?”

He cupped her chin in his hand. “Because when I make love to you I don’t want it to be on some cramped sofa I’m scared of falling off of or on my living room carpet. I want you on my bed. My very big bed.”

She scrambled off his lap and he took her hand.

“This way,” he said, leading her down a short hall to his bedroom. Inside, he let go of her hand and went to a small table beside the bed and flicked on a small lamp. “Welcome to my sandbox.” He grinned, his chest still visible beneath the gaping tails of his shirt. “Wanna come play?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” she answered. Suddenly, the weight of the day seemed to lift from her shoulders. She hadn’t known it could be this way—playful. She was feeling her way through it, and it felt wonderful, liberating. She reached for her buttons and slid them from the holes, untucked her shirt and slipped it off.

“Oh, Officer,” Jake teased, eyeing her lace bra with appreciation. “That’s some concealed weapon you’ve got there.”

“What, this?” It was all new to her, but she was willing to experiment even as heat rose in her cheeks. She ran her finger down her cleavage until it caught at the front clasp of the bra. She toyed with it for a moment, her gaze never leaving his as she raised a teasing eyebrow. “This is everyday issue.”

“Really.” He stepped forward and reached for the waistband of her trousers. “I can’t wait to see what else you’re hiding.”

She slipped out of the pants and stood before him in matching satin-and-lace panties. “Do they meet your specifications, sir?” she asked, turning in a slow circle.

“Ken,” he murmured, catching her around the waist and pulling her close. “If I’d known you had these on under your uniform…”

“You what?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t have waited so long to ask you out. You’re beautiful, you know that?”

She was fairly sure she wasn’t, but his words lit something inside her anyway. She felt beautiful, whether she truly was or not.

Jake reached behind her, slid the elastic from the back of her braid and tucked it in his pocket before plunging his hands into the dark strands, teasing them out of the plait until her hair fell in waves to her shoulders. “I love your hair down,” he murmured as he threaded his fingers through it. It felt so good, the way his fingertips massaged her scalp before sliding through her hair to her shoulders. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, enjoying the sensation until she heard a guttural sound from his lips and felt his mouth touch the hollow of her throat.

His left hand slid beneath the waistband of her panties, cupping her bottom and pulling her close against the zipper of his jeans, a promise of what lay ahead.

“You’re getting ahead of me,” she chided, trying desperately not to lose herself to his touch so quickly. She wanted to give as well as receive. Wanted to take control as well as be controlled. She unbuttoned his jeans and slipped her hands inside to rub against the soft cotton of his briefs, feeling the hard warmth of him against her hand as his hips pressed forward involuntarily.

She gave a little squeal as he looped an arm beneath her legs and picked her up. It was incredibly cliché, and she adored every second of it as he took her to the bed and laid her atop the spread.

Then he stood back, stripped off his shirt and dropped it on the floor. He slid his jeans the rest of the way down and knelt on the bed beside her.

He slid the hook from the loop of her bra and revealed her breasts as he dropped the bra to the floor on top of his clothes. She lay back, her hair splayed across his pillow as he reached for her panties and slid them down her legs.

She was naked. On Jake Symonds’s bed. And she was so ready for him her whole body throbbed with it.

He raked his eyes over her body, sliding his gaze back up to rest on her face. “Beautiful,” he confirmed.

Jake told himself to take his time. In the few hours since she’d walked up to the bar and ordered a drink, he’d run through more emotions than he cared to recall. They had all brought him here, to this moment, with her.

With Kendra, stretched out naked and willing on his bed. Exactly as he’d imagined her after the day at the beach. Only better. Her hair spread across the white of his pillow like an ocean wave, and her hands rested on either side of her head, making her breasts lift and damn near beg for his touch. Her belly was hollow and hard—God, he loved her physicality—and her legs were long and lean, and if he didn’t take time to think, to slow down, he’d be between them right now and pleasuring them both.

But that would be over too soon, and he wanted tonight to last. He needed it to last. Needed, like she did, to feel full of life and energy and exist in the moment rather than think about the past or worry about the future.

So he forced himself to take his time. To make it last, to make it good for both of them.

He started with her lips, tasting them, running his tongue over the softness of them. He explored her mouth, closing his eyes, loving the feel of her tongue twisting with his as small sounds of pleasure hummed in her throat.

Next he feasted on her breasts, exploring them with the pads of his fingers, replacing the tactile trails with his mouth. So soft, the curved swells sweet and salty on his tongue as he pulled the pebbled tips into his mouth. Then the sensitive indent of her stomach, which hollowed as she gasped at the first sensation of lips to skin.

And finally, when he couldn’t wait any longer, he kissed her intimately, his heart hammering a victorious tattoo as she surrendered, opening her knees to allow him access. Her fingers found his hair and caressed his scalp as he tasted her.

But ultimately it wasn’t enough. He needed her. Needed to be inside her, to feel her surround him completely. He slid off the bed, went to the table beside the bed and took out a condom. He’d bought the box after their day at the beach. What had happened that afternoon had been a surprise. Despite how it had ended, he hadn’t wanted to be surprised again and caught without protection.

They’d been heading this way all along, hadn’t they?

When he came back to the bed she was watching him with eyes that glittered like dark sapphires. He didn’t look away but let himself get lost in her eyes, let himself give in to the connection that ran between them, hot and insistent. Her long lashes fluttered as he slid inside her. She felt so good, so tight and warm and
right
. He hesitated, savoring the moment of being joined for the first time, watched as her eyes opened. Something inside him shifted, something fragile and not quite identifiable, but something important just the same. The teasing smile slid from his lips as he put his weight on one arm and touched her cheek with his free hand. He felt…tenderness. He cared about her like he hadn’t allowed himself to care about anyone in a long time. And he hadn’t even seen it coming.

She ran her thumb over his lower lip, then slid her hand down to grasp his hip. She shifted, a subtle turning movement that made him forget everything but the delicious sensation of being inside her.

“Jake,” she whispered, her voice a seductive sigh in the low light. “Mmm, Jake.”

The soft way she said his name nearly did him in, and he slid a hand under her bottom for leverage. He hadn’t guessed she could be this way. So gorgeous, so free, so perfect. He was nearly to the breaking point when she put her hands on his hips.

“Stop,” she said, licking her lips and gasping for breath. “I want…I need…”

Her cheeks were flushed and he couldn’t resist one long, slow stroke. She blinked and dug her fingers into his shoulder. “Please,” she begged. “Roll over, Jake.”

Roll over. Desire coiled low in his belly as he slid his arm beneath her and rolled, taking her with him until she sat astride his hips. She lifted her hips and then repositioned, moving tentatively at first but then faster and stronger, tightening around him. He couldn’t hold on much longer, not with the way she was moving and how she tilted her head back, making her hair fall over her shoulders as the urgency built. A hoarse cry tore from her throat as her muscles convulsed, and he lost his tentative grip on control. His cries blended with hers as she slipped forward, her soft breasts pressed against his chest, the pounding of her heart and her quick breaths imprinted on his skin.

After a few seconds of catching their breath, she put her hands on his chest and pushed herself up, still sitting on his hips, still holding him inside her. Her skin was rosy and her eyes bright… Good God, what a sight she made, all feminine power and prowess that he’d never expected from the uptight little package he thought he knew.

This…this was a woman he could fall for. Goddamn.

“That,” she said with a satisfied smile, “was incredible.”

“You’re telling me,” he answered, uncomfortable with the odd pull on his heart.

“So much better than…” She blushed. “Oh, that’s the wrong thing to say, isn’t it?”

And there it was. The innocence he always seemed to glimpse in her, behind the rule follower and starchy persona. Better than what? Better than who? Right now even the idea of her being in another man’s arms made him feel possessiveness he’d never felt before.

Shit. He
was
falling for her.

Chapter Seven

Jake had pulled the covers over them at some point through the night. Right now Kendra was on her side, Jake spooned up behind her, his body strong and warm as it held her in a protective cocoon. His hand was on her breast and she took a moment to enjoy the odd but pleasurable sensation of the sheets caressing her naked skin.

Making love with Jake had been so much more than she’d expected. What she’d needed was a hard and fast release from the stress of the day. Something to blast away the tension that had been dogging her for days now. Ever since…well, ever since she’d responded to his break and enter. At first she’d thought it was simple physical attraction.

But now she wasn’t so sure. She’d come to him last night because she’d needed him. She knew that now. She’d needed to talk it out with someone who understood. And sex hadn’t been just a distraction. There’d been that moment, the one where he’d stopped and gazed into her eyes. Her heart was involved. She cared about Jake. She wasn’t in love with him…she wasn’t really capable of being in love with anyone, was she? If she was, wouldn’t it have happened at least once by now?

His hand shifted, gently fondling her breast, and arousal coiled itself through her again. The only other time she’d had sex had been to finally rid herself of the albatross of virginity that had hung around her neck. After a certain age, it was just weird, wasn’t it? To never have been with a man? She’d liked Mark and it had been…pleasant enough, she’d supposed.

But it was gray and pale in comparison to what had exploded between her and Jake here last night. It was glorious and scared her to death at the same time.

Jake nudged closer, his intentions crystal clear, and she closed her eyes. Jake wasn’t the kind of man most women considered a keeper, was he? And the last thing he’d want to do the morning after was a whole post-mortem of the whys and wherefores.

She’d get up, get dressed and move on.

Later, she thought, as his tongue touched the skin of her shoulder blade. Right after she sated this hunger that suddenly burned inside her. Surely once more would satisfy her for good…

Turkey and cheese on whole grain was not exactly what Kendra would call a gourmet dinner, but at least it was decent fuel. She stood in her small kitchen, still in her shorts and sport bra, both damp from her hour-long session with dumbbells and the yoga mat. She’d worked her chest and arms today, alternating pushups with curls and triceps extensions. Right now her criteria for supper were simple. It had to have protein and it couldn’t be anything that required her to lift her arms farther than shoulder height. They were currently like jelly.