Twenty-five
AS THEY HURRIED through the hallway, Cameron’s body tingled with anticipation. Jack had barely touched her, and she was already completely turned on.
He unlocked the door and let them into their room, tossing the key on the desk in the corner. As he did his usual check, Cameron noticed that housekeeping had turned down the beds and had left the lights on dim. She set her purse on the nightstand.
She turned to face him when he finished, thinking that if he didn’t kiss her soon she might suffocate from all the sexual tension in the air.
She expected him to pounce and throw her onto the closest bed.
He didn’t.
Jack folded his arms across his chest. “So I’ve been thinking about your Walls of Jericho. Actually not so much about the wall, but about the other part. Where I show you how a man undresses.”
The temperature in the room rose so fast the glass on the television fogged.
Cameron exhaled. “All right. I’m watching.”
First, Jack took off the jacket of his suit, exposing his gun harness. He quickly removed that as well and set it on the desk. His hands moved to his tie. He loosened the knot and pulled it off, and Cameron had to fight the urge to storm over and yank the rest of his clothes off him.
There was a glint in his eyes as he made no move to undress further. “Sorry, but this is the twenty-first century version.”
“What happens in the twenty-first century version?”
“You lose the dress.”
Well, then.
“There’s not much underneath,” she said. She’d had little choice with the way the dress was cut.
“I’m counting on that.”
Cameron reached for the zipper that ran along one side and inched it down. Without dropping Jack’s gaze, she then untied the halter around her neck. The dress fell in a pool at her feet. She faced him wearing nothing but her black silk thong panties.
And of course, her high heels.
Her nipples tightened in the cool air of the hotel room. Or maybe it was just Jack’s look.
Lust clouded his eyes as he took in every inch of her, and she had never felt more sexy—and bold—than she did right then.
“Your turn,” she said.
He undid the buttons on his shirt and peeled it off, revealing a tight white T-shirt that showed off his firm chest muscles.
Cameron was aching to get her hands on him. As if sensing this, he crossed the room. Her pulse skyrocketed as he approached, yet he still didn’t touch her.
“Now you,” he said.
She reached up and removed the antique-silver chandelier earrings Amy had picked for her, dropping them to the floor beside the dress.
“That’s cheating,” Jack said.
“You have four times the clothing on that I do.”
With one swift tug, he yanked his T-shirt over his head. “Better?”
Hell . . . yes.
Cameron took her time, savoring the sight. The hard muscles . . . the tight, six-pack abs . . . the light scattering of dark hair on his chest. . . . She wanted to taste every inch of him.
Then, briefly coming out of her daze, she noticed something else. Of course.
She had forgotten about the scars.
Three years ago she had read the files that contained a very detailed report of the hell that Martino’s men had put Jack through during the two days they’d held him captive. But she hadn’t thought about the physical scars that kind of hell would’ve left behind.
Her eyes took in the cigarette and electrical burns by his right shoulder, moved to the knife wounds along his side and under his ribs, then came to a stop on the quarter-sized circular scar high on the left side of his chest—from the bullet he had taken when making his escape.
Cameron raised her eyes to Jack’s. He was watching her carefully, to see her reaction.
She stepped forward and rested her hands on his chest. She gently kissed the scars on his shoulder. She did the same to the one on his chest, and after that bent down to run her lips over the scars under his ribs and along his side. Then, unable to help herself, she ran her tongue along the soft trail of hair that started at his navel and disappeared behind his belt buckle.
Jack pulled her up and stared into her eyes with a ferocity that would’ve scared her under any other circumstance. He guided her backward, and when she felt the edge of the bed against the back of her knees she needed no encouragement to lie down on top of it.
“You still have a lot more clothing on than I do,” Cameron said, rising onto her elbows.
“I can fix that.”
She watched as Jack undid his belt buckle, then the button on his pants. His eyes feasted on the sight of her lying on the bed before him as he unzipped his fly. She caught a brief glimpse of gray boxer-briefs just before he slid them off with his pants, socks, and shoes. Then he stood before her in all his glory.
She would never, ever compare him to a molten lava cake again. After seeing Jack’s naked body, all other delicacies were henceforth ruined for her.
Of course, her eyes were drawn to that part of him, the part that was big and hard and raring to go. All for her.
Jack climbed onto the bed, and she lay back. His dark, fiery gaze made her shiver with anticipation, yet he still didn’t touch her.
He nodded to her near-naked body. “You choose what’s next.”
Did he want her to beg? Because she was nearly at that point. “God, Jack . . . touch me . . .”
He smiled.
He was the devil.
“Choose,” he repeated.
“I’ll keep the shoes,” Cameron said defiantly.
“I was hoping you’d say that.” His hands moved to her hips and tugged her panties down her legs and over her shoes. Then his mouth started at her knee and slowly made the opposite journey, up her thigh, along her hip, her stomach, the V between her breasts, her neck, and swept down on her mouth. She moaned, finally able to kiss him. His arm slid under her back, and he pulled her up so that she was sitting on his legs, straddling his hips.
“You’re so beautiful, Cameron,” he said, running his finger along the side of her face. “Despite everything that happened, over the last three years there were so many times I would lay in bed at night, thinking about you.”
“What did you think about?” she asked, sliding her hands up his chest.
“Doing this.” He pulled her breast into his mouth. His tongue glided over the tip in a wet, silken caress, and he licked and sucked until she thought she’d go crazy. Then he moved to the other one, her nipple already hard and tight, begging for his touch. Gently cupping her breast, he drew the rosy peak into his mouth.
She started to rock on his lap, desperate for more. While his mouth continued its assault on her breasts, he slid his hands around her hips. One hand cupped her bottom while the other slid between their bodies. His fingers stroked their way to the core of her, opening the soft, wet folds. When he found the center, he teased her with his thumb, massaging back and forth until she was shaking. He slid a finger into her, and then another, and she gasped as his fingers slowly drew in and out, and again, finding a rhythm that nearly sent her over. She cupped his face and pulled him up, kissing him hotly.
As his tongue tangled with hers, she slid her hand down his chest, past his stomach and lower, where her fingers found him hard and throbbing. She wrapped her hand around the thick shaft, reveling in the sudden catch in his breath.
She began stroking him. “Did you think about this when you used to lay awake at night?” She ran her thumb over the engorged head in smooth circles.
He closed his eyes and groaned. “Fuck, yes . . .”
She slid her hand down to the base and cupped him as she whispered in his ear. “Did you think about me using my mouth, too?”
“Christ,” Jack muttered, and before Cameron knew it she was on her back with him kneeling between her legs. He yanked off her shoes before she could protest.
“As hot as those pointy heels are, I’ve got enough scars on my body,” he told her, his breath quick.
“I’ve got condoms in my nightstand,” Cameron said, so ready she was practically panting.
“So do I. Many.”
“Let’s get one of them. Now.”
Jack reached over and yanked the drawer open, nearly pulling it off the track. He quickly found what he was looking for, and the sound of a wrapper being ripped open was music to Cameron’s ears.
“Let me put it on you,” she said urgently.
“If you do, this might all be over before we get started.”
The sight of him rolling on the condom got her even more worked up and she began arching her hips, needing him. “Jack . . .”
He moved over her. He grabbed her hands and pinned them over her head. “I’m right here,” he soothed in her ear. She felt him between her legs, hot and hard and ready. He inched into her slowly, filling her.
“Spread your legs, baby—let me in,” he urged. She did, and he moved deeper into her, then deeper still, and began a slow, tortuous rhythm. He held one of her hips with his free hand, gliding in and out as he pinned her to the bed. She took his achingly smooth thrusts again and again, and he brought her right to the edge, then backed away, holding her suspended there for what seemed like an eternity. She moaned his name, frantic to touch him, but he held her wrists against the bed. He slowed and withdrew from her nearly all the way, teasing her with shallow thrusts.
“Please, Jack . . .” she finally begged.
He let go of her hands, and when she looked up she saw that he was as close to losing it as she.
“Wrap your legs around my waist,” he rasped.
She did, and he plunged all the way into her.
“Oh God, Cameron, you feel so good,” he groaned.
She slid her hands up his back and tightened her legs around his hips, urging him deeper, needing him to fill her the way only he could. Her breasts crushed against his chest as he pounded into her, harder and faster, then he shifted his hips, hitting the spot that would drive her over. He slid his hands underneath her bottom, holding her against his thrusts.
He stroked her possessively. “I love being inside you, baby . . . For three years I’ve wanted to make you mine. Now I want to feel you come around me.”
That was all it took. Cameron gripped his shoulders and cried out as she reached her peak and exploded, holding on to him as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over her. Jack pumped long and hard as the throes of her orgasm gripped him tightly, and he followed her over. She opened her eyes just in time to see the moment when he surrendered all control, her name a strained whisper on his lips as he shuddered and moaned and thrust deep one last time before crashing down on her.
They both lay there, trying to catch their breath. With his head buried in the pillow next to her, muffling his voice, Jack spoke first.
“Wow.”
Cameron turned her head, pressing her cheek against his.
“My thoughts exactly.”
FOR ONCE, JACK was glad he had a hard time sleeping for more than a few hours at a time. He woke up, saw that it was still dark, and checked the clock on the nightstand. Not even 4:00 A.M.
Cameron lay on her side, curled against him. Both of them were naked. After their first round, she’d slipped on her underwear and his shirt, a look he’d found extremely sexy, especially when paired with her tousled hair. So sexy, in fact, that—well, he’d warned her what would happen if she wore those kinds of outfits around him . . .
He worried that he’d been rougher the second time around, although he held her mostly responsible for that, too. As if wearing his shirt and black silk panties hadn’t been bad enough, after he’d stripped them off her she’d pushed him onto his back and used her mouth on him in what had to have been the single greatest torture he’d ever been subjected to. She had licked, stroked, and teased until he’d been so completely out of his mind that he’d flipped her over onto her knees and taken her that way, not stopping until she moaned and cried his name and collapsed onto the pillows.
He couldn’t get enough of her.
It scared him a little, because he’d never before felt this way about anyone. Nearly thirty-five years old, he wasn’t exactly innocent—he’d slept with his fair share of women, some he’d even met while working undercover. But all of his relationships had been casual—and he’d made that abundantly clear going into them. In the past, he’d always used his job as an excuse to avoid getting serious with anyone. Now he realized that with the right person, he wouldn’t want an excuse.
Jack leaned in, whispering her name softly. He knew he was a greedy, selfish bastard to wake her up, but he loved the reassurance of their intimacy, what it said about their relationship without either of them actually having to say it. Not to mention, it had been a couple of hours and she was lying next to him naked. He could either sit there in the dark with a hard-on, or he could do something about it.
He said her name again, and she stirred. He rolled them both over and kissed her neck as they lay on their sides. His mouth wandered down the slope of her breasts, and he worked his tongue around one of her nipples.
Cameron woke up with a smile. “Hmm . . .” She ran her hands over him, sighing as she caressed his chest and stomach. Her hands dipped lower and found his achingly hard erection.
Her eyes opened mischievously. “We’re there already?”
“It just seems to keep getting this way around you.”
She slid one knee over his hip. “I like it this way.”
Not needing any further encouragement, Jack reached back and got a condom from the nightstand. After he rolled it on, he grasped her hips and slowly sank into the warm, wet depths of her. He cupped her ass with one hand and rolled his hips back and forth in a smooth, unhurried rhythm.
When he heard her gasp, he paused. “Is it too much?”
She closed her eyes and moved her hips against him, urging him deeper. “It’s perfect. Feel free to wake me every night like this.”
Jack bent his head and kissed her.
He should be so lucky.