Line of Scrimmage (10 page)

The sound of his rough voice sent shivers racing over her like millions of minute fingers, and more of her cream flooded her panties. His words were arousing, sensual, plucking at her as if he’d actually touched her. She squeezed her legs together, hard, to still the pulsing in her pussy while her fingers found the hem of her T-shirt. Like a dancer in a club, teasing the audience, she slowly eased the shirt up and over her head, and tossed it to the floor. With the same deliberate, liquid movements, she reached behind her to unclasp her bra, slid the straps down her arms, and pulled the garment free.

Jake stared at her breasts, now unfettered and aching for his touch. With bravado she didn’t know she had, she lifted them and offered them to him, her thumbs stroking lightly over her nipples. She felt a boldness with Jake that no other man had ever sparked in her, a desire to take a walk on the very wild side.

“You’ll have to come closer if you want my mouth on those rosy, ripe buds,” he pointed out. “You’re a little far away at the moment.”

“Don’t you want me to take off the rest of my clothes first?” she teased.

“Damn straight I do.” He was still rubbing the length of his shaft with a languorous motion of his fingers. “I love looking at that body. But more than that I want to feel my dick inside you. Feel those hot pussy walls grip me like a vise and squeeze me until we both come.”

She trembled at his words, turned on by his blunt talk. It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard it before, but with Jake, the words danced over her like electric flames, igniting her nerves and sending her heated blood rushing through her veins. With Jake she was learning that words could be as arousing as actions.

She unbuttoned her jeans, lowered the zipper, and slowly eased them down her legs. One flick of her foot and she’d kicked them to the side. Last came the miniscule scrap of lace and satin that passed for her panties. With her eyes still locked with his, she hooked her thumbs in the elastic and shimmied out of them, accentuating the movements of her hips. She’d done a lot of things before, but somehow a deliberate strip tease had never been one of them. Now it would be something she could share only with Jake.

Jake, who looked as if he wanted to eat every inch of her and taste her with slow, delicious licks of his tongue. She was halfway between embarrassment and raging desire. He seemed to bring out her inner wild woman in a way no one ever had before.

“Gorgeous.” He breathed the word. “Come closer and let me touch you.”

With a deliberately provocative movement, she sashayed over to stand beside the bed. She was close enough that he could reach out his free hand and skim his fingers over her breasts. Just that light touch made her pulse race and moisture flood her sex. When he squeezed each nipple, hard, she sucked in her breath at the exquisite pain that surged through her.

He dusted his hand between her breasts, over her tummy, and down to probe between the trimmed curls covering her mound. When he idly trailed two fingers between her damp lips, she hitched herself forward and rocked her hips back and forth. Every muscle in her body clenched in response and the walls of her pussy pulsed with need. A need that accelerated when he slid his fingers free, brought them to his mouth, and slowly licked them clean one at a time.

“Better than the finest brandy,” he told her in his slow molasses drawl. “Get up here and let me taste some more.”

She climbed onto the bed and straddled him, knowing this was one of his favorite positions. And now it was one of hers. He gripped her hips and pulled her forward, dragging the lips of her sex slowly over his chest, the soft curled hairs on his chest an erotic tickle on her skin. When he finished adjusting her, the cheeks of her buttocks rested on his upper chest and her pussy was perfectly aligned with his mouth. Erin rested her hands on her thighs to balance herself, digging her fingers into her skin when he lazily spread her labia and stared at her with heat in his eyes. The hunger in his eyes stoked her fires even higher.

Erin didn’t remember any man ever looking at her body the way Jake did, as if she were the most delicious morsel in a sensuous feast and he couldn’t wait to taste her. Of course, she didn’t think she’d ever been as unrestrained with any man before. He managed to push every one of her hidden buttons.

“Keep those hands right there on your incredible thighs.” His voice was low and rough. “Close your eyes and feel. Just feel, sugar.”

At the first slow lick of his tongue on her clit, she trembled with delight, icy heat racing over the surface of her skin. Beneath her, his body was furnace-hot, searing her sensitive skin. His callused thumbs rubbed gently over the lips of her pussy as he continued to stare at her, the look he gave her as hot as fire. When he swiped an anticipatory tongue over his lip, she shivered, her inner muscles clenching.

Drawing in a long, slow breath, Jake set up a steady rhythm, licking and lapping, never increasing the speed no matter how she urged him or begged. With her eyes closed every sensation was enhanced, every touch of his tongue exaggerated. She was stunned at the way it made every other sense come to life, how every reaction was amplified.

His thumbs pressed her lips open as he fed from her, swirling the tip of his tongue around her clit, then stroking the hot flesh on either side of it. When he finally thrust his tongue inside her, every muscle in her body clenched and she clamped down on him. He hummed against her, the vibrations reverberating through her, like a violin when its strings are plucked. And then there was nothing but the intense all-consuming pleasure as her release uncoiled and surged through her with the force of a wild storm.

She rode it out, focused only on the incredible feeling gripping her, on the spasms that shook her, urged higher and higher by Jake’s incredible tongue. When the last of the shudders subsided, every ounce of energy seeped from her body. He rolled her to the side and pulled her against his body. She felt his hand skim her back and her arm, slow soothing strokes as she waited for her heart rate to return to normal.

She lay there, cocooned for a long time, his lips stringing kisses along the line of her jaw, thinking that she’d never felt so complete, so—

Erin sat upright in bed, her heart pounding, her breath coming in loud rasps, the pulse in her pussy throbbing with the insistency of jungle drums. She pulled at her sleep shirt, tugging it away from her sticky skin that was covered with a fine sheen of perspiration. What on earth?

Then it slammed into her, the erotic dream she’d woken from.

Oh. My. God.

She threw back the covers, and on legs slightly unsteady wobbled her way to the bathroom. After filling the tumbler on the counter, she drank it down without stopping. She ran cold water over her wrists and splashed it on her face, then looked up and stared in the mirror. Her face was flushed, her eyes slightly glazed with the I’ve-just-had-great-sex look. What was wrong with her?

I want to jump Jake Russell’s bones. That’s what’s wrong.

Wrong on so many levels.

Why couldn’t he have been a dud in bed? A selfish lover? The asshole she’d expected him to be? She’d finally stopped having those very sexy dreams about him and now here she was, back in the soup again. This was just bad on so many levels. The worst part of it was she had a sneaking suspicion that underneath that jock exterior Jake was actually a nice guy. Of course, she’d thought that about someone once before, and she remembered exactly how that had turned out.

“Ivy, you are so going to pay for this,” she muttered.

She dreaded going back to sleep. She didn’t need another dream that left her hot and bothered and hungry for more. Maybe if she was quiet enough about it she could sneak into the kitchen and fix herself a cup of tea. The one-cup brewer made tea and hot chocolate as well as coffee, so she could do it easily. Maybe she’d have hot chocolate instead. That was her comfort drink of choice.

She did without slippers, afraid they’d make a sound on the hardwood floors, and she had no idea how soundly Jake was sleeping right now. Unwilling to turn on any lights, she unplugged her cell from its charger and used her flashlight app. She had just popped the K-Cup of hot chocolate in the holder when she heard something coming from her room. It startled her so much she nearly knocked over the machine.

Wait. There it was again.

She realized suddenly it was the intercom on her nightstand. Should she go directly to his room? Answer the intercom first? She left the mug and took the cup out of the holder, then hurried back to her room.

Pressing the Talk button, she said, “Yes? Do you need help?”

“Of course I fucking need help.” The voice was nighttime hoarse and gravelly. “Do you think I’m buzzing you to make idle conversation?”

Well, he was certainly his charming self. Of course, Erin wondered how pleasant she’d be in his situation, forcing herself to forget for the moment that he was Jake Russell and think of him as someone in a bad spot who needed her assistance.

“I’ll be right there.”

When she reached his room, she took a moment to gather herself, swallowed hard, and opened the door. He was lying back against the pillows, pain edging his face. The lamp beside his bed was on, highlighting the sweat glistening on his body and the rise and fall of his chest. He had one foot on the floor, the leg in the cast still on the bed, and the foldup walker was lying crookedly on its side.

“I need to get up.” He spat the words out. “I’m sorry to disturb your beauty sleep. Believe me, I don’t like this any more than you do.”

Erin took a calming breath to steady herself.

Just pretend he’s an anonymous person who needs you. Mr. Anybody.

Yeah, right.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “We can do this.”

“It’s the fucking cast on my wrist,” he growled. “I can’t put any pressure on that damn hand, which screws with my equilibrium. Maybe someone should shoot me and solve all my problems.”

He chuffed a breath as she leveraged him to sit up. This close to him she couldn’t help inhaling his very masculine scent. She thought irrationally that he was the only man she’d ever met who still smelled good when he was sweaty.

Focus. Be smart and focus.

Using the same method they’d contrived earlier in the day, she got him up and to the bathroom. He pushed the walker ahead of himself and closed the door.

“I’ll wait to help you back,” she called out.

“Thanks.”

But he sure didn’t sound all that grateful.

The door opened and he clumped out across the threshold, doing his best with his one good leg and one good hand. Without saying a word, Erin moved beside him, and they made their way back to the bed with her supporting him as best she could and him leaning on her.

God, he smells so good.

Damn. She gave herself a mental smack.

Once she got him onto the bed, she folded the walker and leaned it against the nightstand.

“It will be easier for you to get to here than stuck between the bed and the nightstand,” she told him.

“Thank you.” He blew a breath and hitched himself higher against the pillows.

“You’re welcome.” She helped him raise the leg in the cast to the bed, then stood back, assessing his situation. “I think you should probably take your pain pills so you can get back to sleep. You look like you’re not feeling tiptop.”

“Ya think?” He gave a short, humorless laugh. “How would you feel with a broken leg and wrist, needing some man to help you get to the bathroom and back?”

“I get your point. Let me get you some water.”

She started to back away, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist. A dark flush rode his cheekbones and heat glittered in his eyes, now darkened to a rich espresso.

“I’m going to say something to you, and I don’t want you to take it the wrong way.”

She tried to free herself from his grasp, but his fingers tightened. “That already sounds like something I’m not going to like. You may want to think twice about saying it.”

“I’ve thought of little else since that night together. Especially when I’m trying to fall asleep.” His voice was husky. “You have the most beautiful nipples of any woman I’ve ever seen.”

She looked down and realized she’d run in here in her sleep shirt. No robe. Nothing to cover herself properly. She’d just hurried to see what he needed. If her hands had been free, she would have crossed her arms across her chest to give herself even the tiniest protection. But warm male fingers held her in place.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “Please. I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

Out of nowhere, her brain flashed back to the dream she’d just had, and the image of Jake twisting her nipples and sending shafts of the most pleasurable pain right to the core of her. Damn! Again she tried to jerk her hand away, but Jake’s fingers circled her wrist more tightly. The warmth of the contact sizzled through her blood and set up tremors in the walls of her sex.

Really, Erin? Get your act together.

“Jake, this is highly inappropriate. Please let me go.”

“Inappropriate?” He scowled. “A man paying a compliment to a woman is inappropriate?”

“I’m not here as a female, Jake. I—” She stopped. That sounded stupid even to her.

“Could have fooled me.” His mouth twisted in a caricature of a grin, evidence that he was riding the edge of pain. “Let me just look at you for a minute, okay? Jesus, look at me. I couldn’t do anything if you paid me.”

“Jake…” She shook her head. “Can I have my hand back?”

“Just tell me one thing. What did I do wrong that night? I thought we really clicked. What was so bad that you won’t even acknowledge how great we were together?”

This was going nowhere. “If you behave yourself tonight,” she told him, “I’ll answer your question tomorrow. Okay? Now let me get you some water and your pills.”

He released her hand with obvious reluctance, but the heated look he gave her burned the surface of her skin.

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad.

She repeated it in her head as she got the water from the kitchen and made her way back to his room. She had to get out of this house before her resolutions disintegrated and her willpower deserted her completely.