Jared (24 page)

Tessa fought against covering her stomach. She’d never had the perfect flat stomach, not that she didn’t try thousands of times to achieve the look, but total fail
ure
every time.  Her hips were too wide, not to mention her ass, which tha
nk
God he wasn’t looking at. Her mom always said
she had a woman’s body and shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Finally unable to stand his gaze any longer her arms went automatically to her stomach.
“Jared, I….”

He shook his head moving her arms again as he stood. Grasping her with one hand beneath her ass he moved her closer to the wall before setting her back down gently and pinning her arms above her head. “
You need to get use to me looking at you Tessa because I plan on doing it often.” His gaze slipped down her body before sliding back to her eyes.
“Damn girl
,
you
’
r
e
going to drive me insane.”

A small groan caught in the back of her throat escaping only when she let the breath she was holding out
. He still held her hands above her head against the wall with one hand, his other hand unsnapped the button on her jeans. Tucking his thumb in the waistband he hooked her jeans and undies at the same time working them over her hips, he lowered his head taking her lips again as he worke
d them down
showing a definite talent at removing a woman’s clothing with one hand while kissing her senseless. He was everywhere, her whole body was being affected by him and she was useless to stop him, didn’t want to stop him. She wanted this more than she wanted breath.

Totally losing touch with reality
,
Tessa felt herself being picked up and carried into the sho
wer. Jared stood with his back to the water making sure it wasn’t too hot before turning around and placing her down. Grabbing the soap he stopped her from taking it from him.

“Please
…
let me
take care of you
.”
His voice was deep, h
is golden eyes, now black with desire.
Making a snap decision she let the soap slide out of her hand and into his. The look in his eyes told her that she wouldn’t regret her decision.
Her eyes strayed to his neck, slowly making their way down his wide chest to his hard stomach and finally to his…..jeans. Her head snapped up.

“Why are you wearing jeans when I’m totally naked?” Tessa frowned
,
feeling even more naked if that was at all possible.

Jared tore his focus on bathing her. “Because I know my limits and honey
,
you wet and naked is a hard limit for me.”

“That’s not really fair.” Tessa
grumbled. “If I have to be naked, then so should you. I want to see you as much as you wanted to see me.”

Jared groaned and chuckled at the same time. “Honey
,
let me finish this pleasure before moving to the next because as soon as I remove my jeans it’s going to get real.” He winked at her. “I only have so much control when it comes to you.”

Her stomach
trembled
at his words. She tried to stay still
while
his hands lathered and cleaned her body. Each sweep of his hand
over her bod
y drew her closer to the edge of
madness. Every time she reached out to touch him
,
he would stop her with ease making her forget the journey her hands wanted to take, but the
n
she would remember and again he would stop her. Finally sick of not being able to touch him
,
she leaped at him putting her arms around his neck as one of her shaking hands traveled down his hard chest. She grinned at his deep
harsh
groan when she followed her hand with kisses down his chest. Before she could g
et to his hard
,
rippled stomach
he stopped her….again.

“Damn
woman!” He gripped her jaw bring
ing
her mouth to his. Kissing him with everything she had her hands moved to his jeans, down the front over the bulge that set her heart beating a frantic tempo and gripping him with enough
pressure to
make him moan in her mouth and push against her hand. “You keep that up and we’re not going to make it out of this shower.” H
is
growl
vibrated
against her lips.

Tessa nipped his bottom lip feeling brave. She wanted him and was tired of being shy about it. By the feel of him he wanted her to
o
, she just needed to keep her head about her and not get too carried away. This was just sex, something she hadn’t had in forever and needed badly.

“
That’s fine with me.” She
whispered
running her hand
back
to the snap of his jeans. This time he didn’t stop her. Her hands fumbled
in nervous anticipation. She prayed she didn’t make a fool out of herself. Sex with Otis had been….boring
, h
ardly any touching or play before he was pounding inside her finding his release. He had always made her feel stupid when she tried to do something different, so she had stopped, she had laid there and pretended she liked it, not that it would have mattered. Otis never seemed
to
care whether she liked it or not.
He did his thing, rolled off her looking pleased as if he had just done her a tremendous favor, leaving her feeling used and wanting.

“Hey?”

Jared’s voice broke into her memories, her hands had stilled on the button of his jeans. She was afraid to see the look in his eyes that she had seen in Otis’s eyes, the look of disappointment.

“I don’t know what demons you’re fighting, but I plan on putting them to rest.” Jared’s voice was sure and strong. “If you’re having second thoughts because you don’t want me that’s fine, but if it’s because of something in the past I plan on erasing that tonight. I want you Tessa. Never have I wanted anything more.” He reassured her, his eyes kind.

Tessa shivered
,
his words exactly what she needed to hear. “I’m sorry.”

Jared’s features change
d
to disappointment. Reaching around her without touching her
,
he turned off the water. “I’ll get you a towel and some clothes.”

“No. You don’t understand.” Tessa stopped him from leaving the shower. “I’m sorry I’m acting like this. It’s just
…
this is new to me.”

“What do you mean this is new to you?” His eyes narrowed
then shot open in shocked
surprise. “You’re not a….”

“No.” Tessa hurried to reassure him she wasn’t a virgin. “But I’ve only been with one man and…”

“Oat?” He growled
,
his eyes turning dark.

She nodded. “He never looked at me. It was always dark or under the covers.” Tessa blushed feeling like an idiot, but she wanted him to understand that this had nothing to do with him. It was all her and he was right
,
she did have demons. “Nothing I did pleased him. He made me feel cheap and stupid if I tried to do something different. So I’m sorry I’m acting like a sixteen year old virgin, but I don’t think I can handle seeing the look of disappointment in your eyes that I
s
aw
in his every
time
he rolled off me.”

Jared sighed
,
rubbing his hand down his face. He felt the cold roll off her body as she stood naked and wet before him. Reaching out he grabbed a large towel wrapping her in it.
“First of all….” He brushed a wet strand of hair off her face. “Oat is a fucking idiot.” He raised his eyebrow waiting for her to agree.

Nodding her head, Tessa did agree with that wholeheartedly.

“Secondly
,
while I understand your feeling
s you need to understand mine. The first moment I watched you run into our integration room holding that gun I knew I was going to have you. In my eyes you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” He leaned down and kissed the corner of her mouth. When she started to speak he placed a finger across her lips. “And lastly
,
if you ever bring up that sorry son of a bitch when I have you naked and in my arms I will find the dumb bastard and kill him.”

A slow smile crossed her lips, but when her gaze met his she saw he wasn’t kidding. Unfolding the towel that hid her body she spread it out and dropped it from her hands standing in front of him without a hint of shame. She felt beautiful for the first time in her life and she’d be damned if anything was going to ruin this moment for her. “Thank you.” She smiled up at him, wanting him to know what his words had meant to her.

His smile spread to meet hers. He picked her up holding her close to h
is
chest. “Now let me show you how welcome you are.” His voice was low and sexy as he stepped out of the shower.

After making sure his grandfather was situat
ed
Sid had thrown Adam a set of keys so he could take Angelina home. She had been wonderful helping him with
Gramps
and now they sat in front of her house. He turned off the car leaving the keys in place. The only noise in the car was him clicking off the lights. Adam glanced at her house seeing no lights on. “Sorry I’m getting you home so late.”

Angelina shrugged her shoulders glancing at the house. “
It’s
okay.
” She turned back toward him. “Nobody really pays attention to my comings and goings. Kind of nice at times like these.” She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Adam frowned. “I didn’t know you had feeling
s
for me Angel.” He started to explain feeling tremendous guilt. “I was so full of myself back then”

“Back then?” She snorted. “It wasn’t that long ago Adam, but I really don’t want to talk about it. I’m not a charity case wanting you to feel bad for the little girl who once was.”

“I’m not….”

“Yeah, you are.” She pulled her legs up in the seat to turn more toward him sitting on her knees. “Poor little Angelina. She liked a guy who didn’t know she was alive. So what. I
was
just one in a thousand….a million, in the same situation.”

Adam’s eyes searched her face. “I see y
ou now Angel, does that matter or am I too late.”

Angelina looked past him out the window. “I wouldn’t be sitting in this car with you right now if you were too late Adam.” Her eyes found him again. “My feelings for you haven’t changed. Oh, I wanted to hate you, tried to hate you when you would pass me with Ms. Perfect by your side. She was never good enough for you.”

“You tried to hate me?” Adam frowned.

“Oh, yeah.” She snorted again. “You should see last
year’s
yearbook. Every picture of you and Ms. Perfect that I could fin
d, and there were many, is grafitied
by yours truly.
I know that seems childish, but it made me feel better.
”

Adam just
sat
staring at the beautiful girl sitting across from him. “I did know you were alive Angel.” When she started to deny
,
he stopped her. “Last
year’s
prom. You ca
me
with that douchebag Dan Stevens. You and
he
were slow dancing when our eyes met. The rest of the night I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you and I never wanted to hit anybody more than I wanted to hit douchebag Dan.”

“You’re just saying that.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I would have known if you were looking at me because I was always looking at you.”

“You wore a lavender dress right above your knees with white lace.” He grinned at her shocked expression. “The lavender made
your
eyes even bluer.”

“Why didn’t you say anything to me?”
She couldn’t hide the shock in her voice
.

“Because I was with Ms. Perfect and you were with douchebag Dan.” He replied. “I wi
sh I could redo that night and ask you to dance with me. Would you have danced with me Angel?”

She didn’t answer right away, but sat looking down at her
hands which were
folded tightly in her lap
.
F
inally she looked up, a tear sliding down her pale cheek. “It would have been a dream come true.”

Adam reached out grasping the back of her neck pulling her close. “I was an idiot.”

She nodded with a small smile. “Yeah, you were.”

His lips stopped a breath from hers. “Am I forgiven?”

“
Only if you kiss me.” She didn’t move closer, but sat still in anticipation.

“Forgiven it is then.” His lips finally met hers in a kiss that steamed up the windows in less than a minute.