Ivory Tower (4 page)

They lay as one on the bed and Josh toyed with her long,
foiled hair. “I wonder what you’d look like as a brunette.”

“I could change it.”

“Damn it, Jenna. That wasn’t why I said that.” Josh sat up
and ran his hands through his hair.
Fuck.
He hated it when Jenna slipped into the puppet-mode her mother had conditioned
her to. He wanted his passionate Jenna. The one with her own opinions. The Jenna
who was willing to try new things, and the one who would fight with him, and
for him. “Stop trying to be what others want you to be.”

Josh hated the sheen of tears in her eyes, but it was past
time for this to be said. He cupped her face in his hands. “Do you have any
idea how special you are? You are beautiful, no matter what your hair color is.
You think of others before yourself, to a fault. When are you going to think
about yourself? When do you come first, Jenna?”

“I—I don’t know.”

“I don’t want to marry someone who plays chameleon depending
on whom she currently needs to please. I want to marry
you
. Jenna Louise Wilton. The woman who loved her father so much,
she got past her grief and stage fright to speak at his funeral about what an
amazing man he was. The woman who made all the arrangements for that funeral,
and who called me a month later, asking me to meet her for coffee. I want to
marry the strong, self-sufficient woman I fell in love with. More importantly,
I want
you
to know that woman.”

Jenna shrugged. “I’m not sure I know how to find her
anymore.”

“You’ve let your mother dig in too far and I think we need
to exorcise her.”

“That’s pretty harsh, Josh.”

“Yes, it is,” he said. “But there’s some truth in it.” He
stared at her, daring her to disagree with him. He also hid the worry over what
he’d done to break her away from her mother’s clutches. Sending that obscure application
in had been an act of desperation. He really needed to talk to Jenna. About the
application and the business changes. She wasn’t going to be happy with either
situation. Later, he thought. Right now, they needed to settle this thing about
her mom.

Jenna nodded. He knew she couldn’t disagree with him.

“Good. I tell you what. Let’s start right now. With
something simple.”

Jenna raised her head and stared at him for a long moment. “All
right.”

“So, what color would
you
like your hair to be?”

She pulled a few strands in front of her, running them
through her fingers. “I like brunette.”

“You don’t get to pick what I just said.”

“Wait a minute. Just because you said it, doesn’t mean I
don’t want it. I’m a natural brunette and I liked my hair color. Mom figured it
looked too Irish, with the blue eyes and all.”

He frowned. “What does Irish have to do with it?”

“Dad was Irish. He went prematurely white.” She gulped. “But
I always liked my hair color.”

Josh grasped both her hands. “Then that’s who I want to
marry.”

When she looked at him quizzically, he touched her hair and
explained. “I want to marry a natural brunette. Since you probably can’t grow
this out in the few weeks we have left, any chance you can get close with a new
color?”

Her eyes shone as she nodded. “I can try. No. I will
do
it. And I want my hair longer, too.
This...” Jenna fluffed her hair. “This makes me look like I can’t decide
whether I want it short or long.”

So Jenna’s hair and eye color, as well as her complexion,
took after her father. Josh thought of her mother with her blonde, shoulder-length
hair, and realized the woman was trying to mold Jenna to look more like her.

“I'm glad you like long hair. I do, too.”

She grinned. “Then we both want the same thing.”

“And this is only the start. I envision a whole list of ‘I
like’ items in your future.” He kissed her long and hard, then lay her back on
the bed. “Now, maybe we should see again if you really
are
a natural brunette.”

****

His kisses pulled all the breath from Jenna’s lungs. Hard
and fast, then slow and sensual, he tried things he’d never done before,
hesitating after each one as if gauging her response. It felt ... empowering.

He pulled her lower lip into his mouth and Jenna leaned
into him, wanting more. He sucked harder and she pulled her lip back, driving
her tongue into his mouth. Telling him without words what turned her on, and
what didn’t.

He peppered kisses along her chin and throat, then sucked
the fragile skin of her neck into his mouth. Jenna shivered as he played with
her, feeling his kisses as though they plunged straight into her slit,
separating it, and devouring her.

He toyed with the buttons of her blouse as he kissed her
collarbone. Before she could think straight, all were undone. He backed away
and spread the edges, leaving only the pink lace of her bra covering her
breasts. Josh ran his flattened hand along the dip between her breasts and she
arched into him.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, leaning in to suck a nipple,
already tight with desire, into his mouth, lace and all. Jenna gasped as threads
of lust bounced off all the edges of her body, then pulled back to a mounting
explosion in her soul. Her feet tingled, her hands itched to touch him, and her
core was hot and wet. And waiting.

“You like that,” he mumbled without losing the grip his lips
had on her.

“Oh, yes,” she answered.

His hand kneaded her other breast through the material as
his lips on her taut tip became her sole focus. Awareness of the room around
her disappeared. There was only Josh, here, toying with her, showing her how
good they were together. She never sensed him moving, yet the front clasp of
her bra parted and he pulled it back, baring her to him. His hands moved over
her, caressing her, as his eyes made love to her. When he lowered his head
again, she almost cried in relief, until he pulled her nipple into his mouth
and she had to suck in air to keep from flying. She felt his touch everywhere,
even though he limited himself to her breasts. And it felt like heaven.

Jenna moved against him, pulling his now erect cock against
her hip.

“Uh
uh
. This time, it's all about
you,” he said, making Jenna gasp as he pinched her nipple and sent shards of
pleasure coursing through her.

He nudged her to a sitting position and helped her shed the
blouse and bra. Then he watched, his eyes focused on her every move while she
undid the zipper of her skirt and stood.

They’d played around pretty heavily before. They simply
hadn’t broken through that last barrier. Still, Jenna had never been completely
naked in front of Josh. Tonight would be a first.

He pushed the skirt down over her hips and grinned up at
her. “Nice thong, love.”

She stepped out of her skirt with a slow sway of her hip.
When he dipped his head to kiss the pink material of her panties, she forgot
all about being flirtatious. His tongue dove through the flimsy thong and Jenna
groaned.

“You like?”

“Oh, yes,” she whispered.

“Then you’ll love this.”

She felt her panties slide to the ground. He helped her
step out of them and then gripped her thighs, nudging her legs apart. Without
giving her time to breathe, he drove his tongue into her. Back and forth,
between her sensitive clit and her opening, he licked. And kissed. And licked
some more. She leaned back against the wall and, as she moaned his name, he plunged
his tongue into her, sending her already overloaded senses skyward. She crashed
into the climax, thrusting deeper into his mouth, needing more.

Limp with expended desire, Jenna wanted to sag to the bed,
wrap herself around Josh, and fall asleep. He didn’t give her the chance, continuing
to taste her wetness, nibbling her clit, making her forget all about being physically
destroyed. He pulled her tighter to him and parted her lips with his thumbs as
he played, until the crescendo built again.

Bam! Bam! Bam! “Jenna? Are you in there?”

The euphoric fog Jenna and Josh were enveloped in
disappeared as if a balloon had been popped right next to them. Gasping for
breath, Jenna still managed to recognize the shrill tenor of her mother’s
voice. It did not bode well and, in fact, it sounded like world peace was at
risk. On shaky legs, Jenna grabbed her clothes and threw Josh’s shirt at him. “Get
dressed. Hurry.” she whispered.

“I will not rush on account of that woman,” he said.

“
Shhh
. She’ll hear you.”

“Let her.”

“Jenna?” Her mother’s voice was even higher-pitched this
time.

“We’re in the bedroom, Mrs. Wilton.” He grinned and raised
his voice as Jenna attempted to cover his mouth with her hands. “We’ll be out
as soon as we’ve finished.”

“Shit. Shut up, Josh.” Jenna tried to infuse some sting
into her words but her grin was too wide to effectively chastise him. “I am
going to pay for that.”

“Hey, at least the pounding has stopped.”

Jenna could just picture her mother standing on the other
side of the door thin-lipped, arms crossed, and foot tapping away.

“Damn it. You’re trying to cause me trouble, aren’t you?”
But Jenna couldn’t keep the smile out of her voice.

“You may do that woman’s bidding. I will not.”

“God, I love you,” she said.

Five minutes later, Jenna chewed her lower lip as she stood
in front of the still-closed door. What she really wanted to do was climb out
the bathroom window and run. Not giving herself a chance to consider that
option, she turned the handle.

No one stood, toe-tapping or otherwise, on the tiny porch.

“What? No ogre at the door,” Josh said, his chin on her
shoulder.

“
Shhh
.” Jenna nodded toward the
house where her mother stood ramrod stiff on the back porch as she searched the
yard.

Josh tucked her hand under his arm and, with a grin, said “ready?”

Grateful for Josh’s calming presence, Jenna smile up at
him. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

At the base of the back-porch steps, Josh turned to Jenna
and, in the good mood that lingered in his eyes, she saw her doom. Uh oh. She
gulped a lump stuck in the middle of her throat. What was he up to? With a
gleam worthy of a leprechaun, he tipped her back and lowered her over his arms.
He held her gaze in a way that had nothing to do with revenge and her blood boiled
with desire as he kissed her. Slow, long, languorous, and
scorchingly
kissed her, leaving her panting for breath when he stood her up. With a wink,
he whispered that they needed to talk, but it could wait for now. Then, tipping
his non-existent hat, he bid Jenna’s mother goodbye and headed for his car.

Chapter Four

Running a finger over her lips, a dazed Jenna watched Josh
leave, enjoying his ass in the form-fitting slacks until his last words
filtered into her brain. They needed to talk? She turned in time to watch her
mother whip around on her heels. The back door slammed with uncharacteristic
noise behind her.

Jenna followed, thoughts of talking pushed aside by the
memory of their cottage play. Josh’s kisses, the way his lips proved again and
again how much he cherished her, made the world background noise to her love for
him. She smiled. Marriage to him would definitely be fun. Satisfying, too. Very
satisfying.

All feelings of contentment fled when Jenna saw the neat
stack of stuffed, addressed, and stamped invitations on the kitchen table. Guilt
flooded her. This was the job she and Josh were supposed to help with tonight.

“Ah, Mother, I’m sorry.”

Her mother neatened a stack of the invites by pounding them
on the kitchen table.

“Come on. You remember being in love, don’t you? I wanted
to spend some time alone with Josh.”

Her mother gave her a pointed glare. “Did you give that man
your virginity?”

Jenna reeled as if slapped. “I...”

“You will never get his respect, and the things in life you
deserve, if you cave every time that man crooks his finger in your direction.”

Dropping to the chair, Jenna picked up several of the
invitations and fingered the edges. “That
man’s
name is Josh. And it’s not like that. I’m going to be his wife in a few short
weeks.”

“This is the only time in your life you’ll have the power
to make demands.” Her mother curled her manicured hand around Jenna’s wrist for
a moment and Jenna fought the urge to pull back. “Honey, I speak from
experience.”

This was an old argument between them and one Jenna had
grown very tired of. “Daddy was wonderful to you.”

“Your father took everything I had and then some.”

“He took good care of you. He
loved
you.”

“He didn’t know the meaning of love.”

Jenna’s defensive wall snapped upright and she gripped the
invitations, struggling to get her temper under control.