Tempting Eden (15 page)

CHAPTER TEN

J
ACK

T
HE WATER FLOWED OVER
my head and down my body. I needed to cool off more than anything. Seeing Eden talking with Ms. Temple was a surprise. Eden volunteering to wait on me as I showered, an even bigger surprise.

I had no doubt they’d been discussing my past. I lathered up quickly, wondering what Eden must be thinking about me. Was she still afraid? When I’d dropped the bomb on her the night before, her thoughts seemed scattered and she withdrew, physically and mentally. She’d worked in her office and gave me only a cursory wave when I left for the night.

After rinsing off, I twisted the squeaky knobs to stop the spray and stepped out. I dried and dressed, donning a white t-shirt and some shorts. She rose quickly when I opened my bedroom door and walked into the living room.

“I really shouldn’t have made you rush or anything. I came over because Fairfax said I should talk to Maria. I was going to go, but she can be very, um—”

“Persuasive?” I’d had years to develop stratagems against Ms. Temple’s kind-hearted coercions. I still failed miserably. Eden, though formidable, didn’t stand a chance.

“Yes. I think she’s kind of badass. And,” she tapped her chin, “has she ever mentioned my mother to you?”

“Your mother? No, why?” What was she talking about?

Her face fell. “Oh, nothing, just something she said earlier.”

She fidgeted with the hem of her sweater, a V-neck in a light lavender color that cut down to the pale swells of her breasts. She wore tight jeans with tall brown boots that came to her knee. Pitch perfect for the fall, though I preferred her the way she was in the hotel room—naked, wanting.

“Well, anyway, I should be going. You’re probably worn out from cutting the lawn. You looked so hot… I mean you were sweating, so it was hot. Not that you weren’t
hot,
because you were…” She pinched the bridge of her nose.

I don’t think I’d ever seen her so rattled. Score one for Ms. Temple.

“Come on, sit down.” I sat on my worn but comfortable sofa and patted the cushion next to me.

She sat and crossed her legs at the knee. I let her get comfortable, gave her time to talk. One thing I’d learned about Eden was that she wanted to tell me things, almost seemed to need it. I didn’t know why she felt compelled to tell me so much about herself when she never told anyone else more than what was necessary. It pleased me, all the same.

She took a deep breath. “Well, Maria told me about how you were at first, when she met you. The things you did to drive her away.” She met my gaze, a question in her green eyes.

“That’s all true. I cussed her, threatened her. Anything horrible you can imagine, I said to her, more or less.”

“But Helen brought you back around?”

I nodded. Helen had become my patron saint. I still dreamed about her sometimes, her smile and the tinkling sound of her laugh. She was the standard I was trying to reach, though I knew I never would.

“I’m sorry those things happened to you. And, more than that, I’m sorry about how I reacted last night. I was just sort of taken by surprise, I guess.” She shrugged.

“It’s okay, Eden. I came to terms with what I did and what I ought to have done a long time ago in that cell where Ms. Temple found me. I had to go through it all to get to where I am now. A different man. I still miss Helen. I think about her. I pray for her. I don’t think that will ever go away.”

She put her palm against my cheek and rubbed her soft thumb along the stubble there. “You are the strongest person I’ve ever met.”

“You aren’t exactly weak.”

A haunted look passed across her face, but it was gone in an instant. “You don’t know me, not really.”

“I know enough. I know you’re tough, kind, a great mother. And just a little temperamental. Just a smidge.”

She smiled. “Only a smidge, huh?”

“I don’t mind it. Keeps me guessing like, ‘what will she do next? Yell at me, or pat me on the back? Tell me we’re equals, or demand I go fetch her lunch?’”

Her laughter echoed around my small space, making the streaks of late afternoon sun musical. I wanted her to laugh like that often. She rarely laughed, and when she did, it didn’t reach her eyes like it did now.

She took my hand in hers and opened my palm. She flattened the back of her hand against it, her whiteness surrounded by the darker pink of my skin. “The thing that we did. The thing at the beach. We probably shouldn’t do that anymore.”

She looked up at me, hand still in mine. Her mouth said one thing, her eyes another. Now she knew me, the real me. My secrets were in front of her, and I could sense that she still wanted me, the real me.

“You’re probably right.” I leaned in and took her mouth.

She was sweet, the sweetest thing I’d ever tasted. I wanted more, wanted it all. I’d thought about her so much, replayed our night over and over in my mind. Her skin, her smell, her taste.

She wrapped her arms around my neck as I deepened the kiss, slanting over her mouth and slipping my tongue inside. She moaned into me as I pulled her onto my lap. My hands were in her hair, sifting the silky strands before pulling them. She gave into my pressure and raised her chin, breaking our kiss. I fastened my lips to her neck, feeling the rapid beat of her heart along her jugular as I traced kisses there. I continued down and lingered on her collarbone until the fabric of her sweater was in the way.

“Arms up.” My voice was gruffer than I intended, but she obeyed.

I stripped her sweater up and tossed it aside. Then I picked her up and made her straddle me. The heat from her pussy permeated her jeans and went right to my cock, making it strain against the fabric of my shorts.

She wore a black bra. I didn’t want to see it; I wanted to see her. I kissed down her chest and reached behind her, unfastening her bra and pulling it away from her gorgeous breasts. Her nipples were pink, tight, and hard. I cupped one breast and kissed the other. I wanted the tip in my mouth so bad, but I wanted to make her want it even more.

She dropped her head back, a heavy sigh escaping to the ceiling as she rested her hands on my shoulders. She rocked her hips, grinding against my cock. I continued my tease, licking and sucking the soft skin of her breast while I rubbed the pad of my thumb over her other nipple.

Her fingers dug harder into my shoulders as I circled closer and closer to the tight nub of her jutting breast.

“Jack, please.” Her voice was sex, sultry and low. She looked down. When her eyes met mine, I took her nipple into my mouth. She moaned, and the sound went right to my cock, making it so hard it almost hurt.

I sucked her lightly and grazed my teeth along her skin. She moved her hips faster against me, any inhibition she may have had completely gone. This is how I wanted her, needing and desperate for my touch. I sucked her harder, pinching her other nipple until she writhed on top of me.

I lifted her from the couch and claimed her lips again, kissing her as I carried her to my bed. I dropped her down and sank to my knees in front of her. She was beautiful, her tits perfect and reddened from my attention. I slid my hands down her stomach, enjoying the tremble I caused. I shucked off her boots and socks one by one and slid her jeans and panties down her legs.

She lay back, her mouth slightly open. I wanted to bury my face in her pussy and leaned forward to do just that when she spoke.

“Strip. I want to see you. I want to see all of you.” She reached down and started fingering her clit, wetness coating the tips of her fingers.
Lord help, woman.

I pulled my t-shirt over my head and dropped it to the floor. She made an
mmm
sound and flicked her clit faster, moving her hips to her own rhythm.

I pushed my shorts down to the floor and stood. She stopped moving and stared at my cock. Her eyes grew wide.

“Oh my God, you’re gorgeous.” She sat up and slid to the edge of the bed.

She took me in her mouth and pushed my tip to the very back of her throat. I jerked involuntarily at her unexpected move. With my cock still between her lips, she slid to the floor and started sucking me slow and steady. I entangled my hands in her hair, guiding her along my shaft. She watched me, her eyes upturned as she took every inch I had to give her and lodged me in her throat.

“Fuck, Eden!” I could have come just from watching her suck me.

She moved faster, and her fingernails dug into my ass. I was so turned on that I began fucking her mouth with abandon, pulling her head to me as she made delicious wet sounds around my cock. Her eyes watered, but I kept my grip in her hair, plunging inside her and using her the way I’d wanted to for so long. She kept her gaze locked with mine even as two perfect tears slipped from her eyes.

My balls pulled tight to me, each stroke into her wet mouth courting my release. “I’m going to come down your throat if you don’t stop.”

She dug her nails in even harder and increased her suction before slowly slipping my cock from between her lips.

I lifted her from the floor and threw her onto the bed. She bounced from the force of it as I crawled on top of her. I yanked her hair hard and sucked her neck, not caring if I left marks. I wanted to claim her, make her mine somehow.

When my already sensitive cock came into contact with her searing-hot pussy, I groaned. She was so wet. I wanted a taste before I buried myself in her. My cock protested, but I ignored it. I would take my time, taste her, tease her. She deserved it.

I slid down her body, first giving her perfect tits my attention, sucking one and rolling the other nipple between my thumb and forefinger until she was writhing and begging me to fuck her. I wouldn’t. Not yet. I continued lower until I reached the patch of auburn curls. I didn’t tease here. I wanted it too much. I latched my lips onto her swollen clit and flicked it with my tongue.

She cried out my name. I never wanted her to stop. I let her clit go and licked at her wetness, drowning in her taste, before climbing back on top of her. I gave her the sweetness from between her thighs in a kiss, my tongue demanding and hers answering as my head hovered at her entrance.

She raised her hips up to me, pushing my head inside. That was all it took. My control was gone, lost as I surged into her. She cried my name again as I sank inside. I was barely able to wait for a few moments to let her get accustomed to my size before I started fucking her in earnest. She wrapped her legs around me and dug her nails into my shoulders. I loved it, wanted her marks all over me. I moved inside her hot, wet pussy as my tongue mimicked the movements in her mouth.

She rose up to meet me, our bodies slapping into each other and the bed shaking from the intensity of it. She dug her heels in, urging me to go harder, faster. I pushed away from her so I could watch my dark length slide in and out of her pinkness. She watched, too, before tugging me back down and biting my lower lip.

She wanted to play rough? I pulled out, flipped her to her stomach, and pulled her hips back to me so she was on all fours. I didn’t give her a second before embedding myself deep inside.

She moaned, and the walls of her pussy contracted against my cock, squeezing it even more. I’d never felt so much pleasure in my life.

“Like that,
Ms. Rochester
?”

I leaned over her and gripped one of her shoulders and started fucking her hard, yanking her down onto me. I palmed her plump ass with my other hand, digging my fingertips into her soft skin as I rode her from behind. I increased my rhythm, and her cries grew louder. Her walls closed against my cock, and seed piled up inside me, ready to spill. I let go of her sweet ass and reached around to finger her swollen clit. She bucked beneath me, but I never stopped my punishing pace, fucking her like I knew she wanted it, needed it.

I rubbed her until she stiffened beneath me and came with a harsh cry. Her pussy squeezed me, begged my cock to let go. I did. I came hard and loud, shooting inside her and adding to her wetness. Nothing had ever felt so good. Nothing.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

E
DEN

I
FLIPPED OVER ONTO
my back and stared up at the man who had just made me scream his name like I was in a porno. He smiled down at me, the real McCoy, dimples and all. I got that feeling, the one you get when you feel that first hit of anesthesia. The swirl of euphoria. After what we’d just done, how hard he’d made me come, I was beginning to think he was some sort of drug.

I can quit whenever I want to…right?
Before I could go into worry mode about what we’d just done, he lay next to me and pulled me into his chest. I was tucked under his arm where I could get a view of all his ink; some beautiful, some strange. He reached over and stroked my damp, curly sex hair from my face before settling back in.

I roamed his body with my gaze, analyzing the images as I went. “You are like the black Adonis, now with more tats.”

He laughed. “You got me. That was my street name back in the day. Black Adonis.”

I trailed my fingers along the fanciful burst of flowers done over his heart. It should have looked odd, wrong even, for a man like him to have what amounted to a girly tattoo. But it was done in such a way that it spoke of something more than just ink. One look and you knew it represented much more than skin; it was his heart.

“Helen?” I asked, my voice a whisper.

“Yes.”

“When did you get it?”

“When I got out. I spent what little money I’d earned while I was on the inside to go to an artist who could reproduce my own drawing.”

“It’s beautiful. These look like zinnias. Why?”

“Helen kept a little flower garden next to our apartment. These grew every year. Remember late last year, when the gas explosion happened out there?”