Rough Play (8 page)

And yet, something still felt different. He caressed a hand down her arm and a smile tipped her lips. It was just him. He touched, a lot. Somehow satisfied her and created this fullness blooming through her. This want to hear his groans and feel his breaths on her skin all over again.

She swallowed it all down as she shuddered in sweat soaked nakedness against him. This was good. They were good. Last night messed with her head, but this was all good. “Now that. That was just sex.”

He kissed at her neck and jaw, whispered against her skin, “I’m all for a lot more of ‘just sex’, if you’re game.”

“Absolutely.” He cupped her cheek and turned her face up to him. “But nothing slow.”

She bit her lips. Slow, sweet and sensual was far too dangerous. Last night was good, but that smile continued to stick out. A smile that was more than satisfaction. It was a hint of attachment she crazily wanted to explore. Gave a skin crawling sensation of wanting to curl up in his bed and stay there for the night. She didn’t date, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew what those signs meant. A relationship.

Relationships were, hell, she didn’t even know. A plague. Something that sucked you in. Didn’t let you go and carried a high probability of leaving you dumped on your ass at the end. Even if she was looking for a relationship or even something semi-lasting, it wouldn’t be with him—a self-proclaimed not-a-nice-boyfriend-kind-of guy. That would just be stupid and she’d had too many life lessons to be stupid.

She shook her head. Nothing slow.

“Last night, you hesitated before taking the belt off.”

She dropped his gaze.

He hooked his thumb under her chin and lifted her gaze back to his. “Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Damn sure does if you want to tie me up again.”

She dipped, intending to slip out around him, but his arm pressed to the wall lowered, intentionally blocking her way. “Did I scare you?”

She forced a smile and a swallow at seemingly the same time. “I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to let you go. I like having you at my mercy.”

“
Flora
.” The way he said her name went clean through her. Tingles across her skin. Warmth through her chest. The deep timber of his whisper, the hum of his voice. She pulled in a breath, trying to get her legs working, back to feeling. With him like this, there was nothing but the delicious, crazy heat filling her by his stare. Oh boy “Tell you what, next time I tie you up, we’ll have a safe word.”

A harsh breath tore from his throat and he pulled his arm away. “Fine.”

She escaped the cubbyhole of comfort he’d had her wrapped in and reached for her clothes. It wasn’t his business. Knowing about her past didn’t matter. It’s not what they were about. It wasn’t. Never mind that he had this whole space and thing about him that had her itching to just talk with him. It just didn’t matter. It was the plague thing. Infecting, that’s what he was.

Besides, last night she hadn’t hesitated exactly about freeing him from the belt, but rather, thought better of it during the moment. That’s all. Just tried to decide whether or not she wanted to untie him or keep him at her mercy.

Yeah, Flora. And cows jump over the moon and frogs don’t bump their ass when they hop. She tugged on her pants and buttoned them closed. Somehow she’d known what was going to happen last night. Those damn eyes of his. The deep-set color had looked into her, demanding she release his arms and she’d known what was coming.

And what scared her most was she hadn’t stopped and left then, but wanted it.

The fun, quick sex that started with a lap dance she’d performed for the purpose of keeping things light and sexy had fizzled off and things turned all serious. But, oh my God, never could she have predicted what he’d do to her. The intense focus he’d dedicated to every last inch of her. The seriousness of his gaze as he stared at her, then just as completely shocking, his teasing humor afterward.

“How long do we do this?”

She fastened her belt back in place and picked up the few tools that had tumbled out. “Until one of us wants to change something.”

“See you later then?”

She glanced over her shoulder to see him leaning against the door jamb, filling the doorway, same as when he’d first come in the room. There was a good chance she just swallowed her tongue. She’d figure out her weird issues going on because there wasn’t a chance she was passing on what he was offering. “Yeah.”

“Where?”

The bubble of anticipation flattened. Where, indeed. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so hasty in agreeing to see him again. Once a day should be more than enough. She glanced at him, to tell him as much, but found her voice dead in her mouth. Jacob was just so raw, intense and there.

She wanted him again. As in now, exciting like they were against the wall. There wasn’t a chance in hell she’d turn him down. His brow lifted. “How about your house?”

Heck no, not where she couldn’t easily get rid of him just in case. That settled it. “Yours. I’ll stop by after I get off work.”

“And we just pick up the same as here?”

She grabbed the wrench out of her pocket. “Yep. Can you handle that?”

His brows dipped, darkening his gaze. “We’ll see.”

He turned on his heel and stepped out of the room, thankfully leaving her alone to her work, and, unfortunately, alone with her thoughts. Dark, murky thoughts.

Being betrayed. Being alone.

Seventeen years old, not yet out of high school and suddenly homeless. The safety and security she’d thought she’d had was all just smoke and mirrors hiding the cold hard truth.

This room was too small. The air too still and suffocating. The bare dirt of the ground stared up at her and
coffin
whispered through her head. Creepy ass chills went down her spine.

She left the confinement for the fresh outdoors and the warm, breeze. She crossed the grounds to her truck, pulled open the passenger door and slid in. A tug on the glove box latch had it dropping open. The old, worn leather wallet flopped in place.

The edges were frayed. Dirt clung to the wallet. The harmless looking brown leather was a hole in her chest. She opened the flaps and peeked inside at the money pocket and at the three twenties that had been shoved in there haphazardly from that day all those years ago.

She closed her eyes, the day as clear now as it had been then. Her mother’s red-rimmed crying eyes. The dirt smudges on her cheeks. Wiry hair sticking out from every possible angle across her graying head as she slammed the twenties, car keys from the beat up pickup into her hand and told her to get the hell out of her house and never come back. The day her mother had picked her lover over her daughter.

As if it was Flora’s fault her mother’s lover—Flora’s uncle for God’s sake—had made a pass at her.

Flora squeezed her eyes closed and slung the wallet back in the glove compartment and shut it. She’d never spent those twenties. Never would.

Chapter Eight

Renewed energy surged through Jacob’s at the sight of Flora’s truck parked behind his house. She wasn’t in the truck, so he figured she was at Gretchen’s across the trailer park. But just seeing the vehicle had him taking the steps two at a time to grab a quick shower before finding her. For four days she’d been at his house shortly after he got home. She’d stay, they’d have a good time and then she’d leave. After that first night, he never really knew if she was going to be there the next day or not.

There was nothing about Flora he could predict. He slid his key into the lock and turned, but the door was already open. He peeked in to find Flora in his recliner, remote on her leg and dozing with some girl shit on TV. The moment he stepped in on the small patch of linoleum, she started, a full breath filled her chest and she sat up, an unmistakable grin on her face. “There you are.”

“And there you are.” He shook the keys in his hands as he toed off his muddy boots. “How’d you get in?”

“Gretchen wasn’t home so I stole the spare key from her.”

“Nice.”

She frowned. “Should I go?”

“Only if you want to.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Wash my back in the shower to start with.”

Her eyes widened and she raked her lower lip with her teeth. “That could possibly be arranged.”

“Oh yeah? How so?”

“I’ll start with your back. It won’t end with sex though.”

“No sex…why?” See, there she went again. Because she was all about sex with them. And he was all over that arrangement.

She grinned and crossed the room to him. “Because just a few hours ago you had me against a wall.”

“I didn’t find anything wrong with that.” In fact, it had been pretty damn fantastic sneaking around the manor with her. Not that his brother would like it, but what the man didn’t know wasn’t going to kill him.

She pulled at his belt. “Spice is the life.”

“You want variety?”

She pulled the belt off with a long, slow tug and tossed it to the floor behind him. “And I used to rent this trailer. I’ve been in the shower. It’s tiny. I’m open to warming up the bathtub and washing your back in there.”

“Now there’s an idea.” Tub full of water and her naked and hot. Slick. Yeah, excellent idea. He lifted his arms as she stripped his shirt off. Arms free, he grabbed her by the hips and lifted. Her legs wound his waist. Arms encircled his neck.

And her nose wrinkled up. “Oh my God, you stink. I’d been hoping it was just your clothes.”

He grinned and managed a love pat on her ass. “That’s the scent of man, doll.”

“I don’t think so.” She leaned forward and sniffed. “Did you bathe in diesel and sweat?” She sniffed again and her cheeks puffed out in a classic vomit move. “Is that smoke too?”

“Probably.” He lowered her. “I had to fill up the tractor today and it overflowed. And I burned another pile of junk off. I’ll clean off in the shower, you work on the bath.”

“Good idea.” She walked backward and pulled off her shirt, tossing it in the chair.

He followed after and she turned. She reached behind her and fingers tugged at the latches of her bra. The pink straps unsnapped and she dropped it on his kitchen counter, never missing a step toward his bathroom while he nearly tripped over his feet three times. And then he got in the bathroom and she was pushing down her shorts and panties at the same time. Her rounded ass faced him as she bent over and pulled them off her feet and tossed the clothes to the side.

“Hey, Jacob?”

He leaned against the sink as she bent and turned on the tub water. The muscles of her thighs were strong, firm, sculpted and matching the definition on her arms. He knew her skin was so damn soft, but her abs were defined by a line down the center of her belly. The sway of her back smooth and flat. Not the slightest fluff of love handles. He hadn’t noticed her muscles in bed. He knew she was strong. Felt her strength whenever he had her with the way she held herself against him, could tug him to her with ease, squeeze his hips with her thighs, but he hadn’t realized the absolute carved fitness. ‘Course she’d been lying flat instead of being up and moving. And her job no doubt required some strength and—

“Jacob?”

He blinked and glanced to her. “Yeah?”

She shook her head and chuckled. Her breasts swayed as she moved. Legs looked elongated with the toe of one foot propped on the step of the wide garden tub. “Don’t forget to put a condom by the tub. Just in case.”

He reached in his wallet and pulled one out. There was no just-in-case about it. “
Here.
”

She grinned and walked to him. Her breasts were full. Nipples puckered and tight. Chill bumps covered her skin. Hips were wide and he knew the softness of those inner thighs. Sinfully soft. The slit of her opening even more so when coated with her silky wetness. She plucked the condom from his fingers. “Thank you.”

He shucked his jeans and jumped into the fastest shower of his life. The hot water streaked over him as he scrubbed. While rinsing the shampoo, he glanced out the frosted glass door but it was a tad too frosted for detail. There was only a tan shadow against a white tub.

He twisted the knobs off and opened the shower to find her lounging on her belly in the water. Feet swung in the air, ankles were crossed. The water filled the tub up to her shoulders and covered the rounded cheeks of her ass. Steam rose around her, her face was flushed pink. Skin damp and glowing.

“Are you going to make room for me?”

She pushed up. Water drizzled off her, dripped from her tits and the ends of her hair that was put up on top of her head. That was going to have to be fixed.

She grinned up at him. “Gretchen needs to buy non-frosted glass. I had a hell of time trying to check you out in the shower.”

He chuckled and slipped in the hot water with a hiss breaking up his throat. “Same here. You’re friends with her. You should bring that up over the next pie meeting.”

“Pie meeting?” She turned and settled against his chest. Her fingers drew lines and shapes on his thighs. Each stroking touch raced through his veins and flooded into his cock.

“The other night, in the diner.” While he had the chance, he removed the clip in her hair and the weight of it fell in his hands. Long and thick and tangled as it caught between his fingers. He relaxed and combed his fingers through slowly, picking out knots as he found them. “The three of you attacked that pie like lions on a zebra.”