Persuasion Skills (5 page)

He remained quiet for a few moments
before looking into her eyes.

She tried not to let his soulful gaze
deter her frustration. Unfortunately, her body didn’t get the memo, and a
slither of awareness slicked its way down her body. She had to clench her hand
to keep herself from reaching over and trying to comfort him.

“Don’t give me the puppy dog face. I’m
immune, remember?” she said instead, shifting uncomfortably in her chair.

Falling in love with Jax was definitely
wreaking havoc on her nerves.

His gaze didn’t waver.

“A lot’s happened this year, Pep,” he
said softly. “I just needed to get away and think about a few things.”

His words acted as a heavy blanket,
smothering her fury in only a few short breaths. She was such a horrible friend,
focusing only on her hurt and pique, completely dismissing the fact that Jax
had suffered a major loss that year. With his birthday coming in only a few
weeks, he must have been feeling the loss of his mother even more keenly
lately.

She should have made the connection
sooner.

It hurt her to see such a look of loss
and confusion on his face. Jax was rarely confused. He always believed that a
solution was in reach. Whenever he was working on a tough design or trying to
solve some problem in the lab, he attacked it with complete focus and
concentration. Watching him flounder was rare and difficult to observe.

She wanted to tell him that it would all
be okay, but knew the words would ring hollow against the loss of a parent.
Instead, she reached across and squeezed his hand.

“You should have talked to me about this.
I would have understood.”

He raised his brow at her statement and
looked pointedly at the computer and tablet she had set up on the table.

“Really? And I suppose confiding in you
would have prevented this impromptu meeting?” he asked.

Pepper felt her face flush in
embarrassment.

“Well, maybe not the meeting, but
definitely the punch in the face.” She reached up and cupped his jaw in her
palm. “Jeez, Jax, I’m sorry I hit you.”

He placed his hand over hers and reached
out with his other arm to pull her close.

“Hell, Pep, I missed you,” he said before
dragging her from her chair into his waiting lap.

 
He
dipped his head to the crook of her neck and engulfed her into a tight hug.

There was nothing quite like a Jaxon Grey
hug. He hugged with his whole body. His tall frame and broad shoulders always
curved just right around her, immersing her in a mantle of warmth and shelter.

She dipped her head and rubbed her chin onto
the top his head and closed her eyes.

“I missed you, too, jackass.”

His resulting rumble of laughter caused
his chest to shift against hers, and just like that, her back stiffened in
addition to a few other things along her body.

She bit back a groan as her nipples
tightened against the lace of her bra.

The warm gust of his breath against her
neck wasn’t helping matters either.

“You’re such a sweet talker,” he said.
“And since I like you so much, I promise not to spank you for your bad
behavior.”

He pulled her in tighter and began to rub
the base of her back. His stroking hand was far from soothing as it settled low,
and his fingers grazed the swell of her ass. All it did was remind her of how
good his big hands had felt stroking her naked flesh.

She shifted uncomfortably on his knee,
trying to scoot away from the heat of him.

“I’m sorry, but I left my Emily Post handbook
at home.”

He lifted his face from the crook of her
neck and drifted his hands lower. Holding on to her hips, he dragged her
forward and caught her gaze with his.

“Really? That’s too bad. Chapter six is
dedicated to the perfect way to drape yourself across a man’s lap. Feel like
practicing?”

Both his suggestion and hooded gaze held
her captive for a few silent seconds. The idea of his strong hands spanking her
ass flushed her body with heat.

The thought of him holding her down at
his leisure and pleasure was surprisingly arousing. She knew that Jax liked to
control things in bed, but how far did his need for dominance go?

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”

He continued speaking as if he hadn’t
just casually filled her mind with raunchy goodness. She tried not to pout
before responding.

 
“It
is what you’re known for,” she said, trying hard not to stare at his mouth. Her
clit was already warming at the recollection of what that mouth could do.

She yelped at the pinch he gave her hip.

“Brat. I’m serious. After Mom died, I
really started thinking about what I wanted in my life. I started thinking
about all of the things missing.”

“Jax, you can’t expect to fill the void
your mom left with things. It’s just gonna take a little time to heal.”

“I’m not talking about things, Pep.”

He smoothed a hand up and began to rub
the nape of her neck.

“Mom was always pestering me about
settling down and starting a family, but I always thought there was plenty of
time. You know me. I’ve never been one to believe in love and marriage.”

Pepper tried not to flinch at his words.
Jax had always considered love to be an illogical emotion. He always joked that
it was just nature’s chemical drug designed to propagate the species. His
outlook on love was one of the reasons why she had always been able to avoid
acting on her attraction to him. There was no use ruining a perfectly good friendship
for Jax’s idea of a romantic relationship.

His words only served to remind her that
falling in love with him was a lost cause.

“But, ever since the funeral, I’ve
realized she was right.”

It took a few seconds for his words to
sink in.

“Uh, what exactly was she right about?”
she asked, confused at his line of thought.

“She was right. I
should
be thinking about getting married and starting a family,”

“
What
?
Okay, who are you, and where have you hidden the real Jaxon Grey?” she said,
laughing desperately, and hoping this was his version of a horrible joke.

The look on his face sobered her up
quickly.

“You’re not joking, are you?”

“No. I’ve analyzed the situation and
determined that my mother was right. So I’ve decided to get married,” he said.

“Married?”

The words came out of her mouth in a
whisper of disbelief.
Married?
Married?

“Yeah, married. And I’ve concluded that you
would make me the perfect wife,” he said before pulling her head down and
covering her shock-slackened mouth in a hot kiss.

Chapter Four

Pepper struggled to collect her thoughts,
but the feel of Jax’s hot tongue sliding into her mouth was wreaking more than
just a little havoc on her senses.

Her mind was in complete chaos. Before
she could fully focus on his statement delivered with such surety and let it completely
process in her mind, the calculating louse decided to kiss her.

She snaked her hands up to his chest, totally
intending to push herself away, but the feel of his hard pecs had her curling her
palms up to his broad shoulders instead.

He nipped her bottom lip and sucked it,
causing the flesh to throb a bit, before he stroked back into her mouth. The
rhythm he set made it hard to remember why she needed to push away. His kisses
were sparking tendrils of heat, pooling at her center, making her core wet, her
clit aching and swollen.

When he pulled her closer, she had no
choice but to wrap her arms around his neck to keep her balance.

That logic seemed perfectly sound as he
lifted her slightly, arranging her legs to straddle his hips.

They both groaned when her jean-clad
pussy settled against his crotch. Despite his hands clenching on the cheeks of
her ass, she didn’t need any encouragement to rotate her hips against his.

She would stop in a few seconds. No sense
in being abrupt about the matter.

When his lips began to trail down her
face and suck at the sensitive juncture between her neck and collarbone, she
figured it made more sense for her to catch her breath before interrupting him.
Yeah, that would just be rude.
She whimpered
at the tug of his mouth.

His hands traced a hot path beneath her
sweater, scorching her skin with every caress. She assumed he would stick to
only soft strokes, so when he quickly withdrew his hands, she let out a whimper
in protest.

He only grunted in response as he gripped
the edge of her top, drew it above her head, and threw it across the room.

The touch of cool air on her skin gave
her enough pause to make a weak protest.

“We should stop. This is a big mistake.”

Ughhh
. The words sounded weak and
unconvincing even to her ears. She cleared her throat and tried to wrap her
arms back around her bra-covered chest, but he stopped her with a sharp shake
of his head.

“Not yet, honey. I’m not done looking.”

He pulled her arms behind her back and
held her wrists in a tight grip with one hand.

The position forced her chest up and
forward, leaving her completely open to his gaze.

Her breath caught in her throat, and all
thoughts of stopping fled at the hot look of hunger on his face.

“Fucking beautiful,” he muttered gruffly,
before he bent his head forward, nuzzling his nose between her breasts.

She usually hated when men paid too much
attention to her chest. Its size had always been a source of embarrassment for
her. She’d developed quite early as a teenager, and not having a mother around
to talk to about the teasing she received had been hard. Having boys always
assume she was easy or dumb because of her cup size didn’t help any, either.

When Jax looked at her, all of her old
insecurities disappeared. She felt like a sex kitten just waiting for more
praise.

She arched her back further, silently
begging him for more, and she wasn’t disappointed.

“I’ve had fantasies about these,” he said,
raising his head back to watch her. His gaze held hers as he traced a free hand
up her ribs and cupped a lace-clad breast in his palm.

“All sorts of dirty little thoughts,” he
said just before pulling her nipple into a quick hard pinch.

A soft hiss left her mouth at the
exquisite pain, and her hips gave a reflexive jerk.

He threw her a wicked smile before
dipping his head to her throbbing nipple, smoothing it with his tongue and
causing the lace of her bra to scrape against her straining bud. The rough
sensation sent a jolt of heat prickling through her.

Her whole body trembled, wanting so much
more than he was already giving her.

As if hearing her thoughts, his mouth
engulfed her, sucking on her begging flesh and pulling a long moan from her
lips.

He sucked and nipped at her, moving from
one breast to the other, squeezing and teasing one with his hand while his
wicked mouth worked on the other.

The dueling sensations were driving her
quickly to the edge. She rocked her hips against him in earnest, loving the
delicious friction of rubbing against his hard length.

She was swamped by the feel of him,
overwhelmed by the searing heat that he’d produced, but her body was straining
towards an orgasm that felt just out of reach. She moaned out in frustration,
wishing there was no material between them, wanting to rub against his naked cock
and feel him swell inside her.

He freed her wrists and pulled both
breasts into his palms. Eager for more, she leaned back and placed her hands on
his knees, straining her chest forward, never ceasing her grinding hips.

“Please,” she whispered.

He squeezed her breasts together, forcing
the nipples to touch and rub against each other. He plucked at them before
clamping them together and holding them still, tightening his hold ever so
slowly into a firm pinch.

His ministrations were almost painful,
but caused a delectable throbbing in her clit. Her breasts felt swollen and her
skin too sensitive.

“Don’t worry, Pep,” he whispered against
her chest. “I’ve got you,” he said before clamping his lips down on her
nipples.

He released the swollen tips, and the rush
of blood flooding back to her flesh combined with the feel of his suckling wet
mouth sent her over the edge.

She screamed out her orgasm, her body
arching stiffly against him, lost in the wave of release raging through her.

He continued to suck at her flesh,
prolonging her quaking response, wringing every drop of release from her, softening
his movements and lightly licking at her as her body slowly relaxed from its
tight form.