The Heat Is On (10 page)

She snorted.

“And again,” he said, gliding his hands along her smooth thighs.

“I wouldn't be able to walk.” When his fingers got high enough to brush her panties, she closed her eyes and swallowed. “Or ride home.”

“Fantasy,” he reminded her, groaning when he stroked a finger over the taut silk and found it wet—

As if galvanized into action, she once again leveraged herself off him, evading his hands when he tried to stop her. “You're going to like this,” she said. Lifting her hands, she untied the back of her halter dress, cupping the material to her breasts as it began to slide down.

She was right. He was liking this.

With a little smile, she slowly let it slip to her waist, exposing her bare breasts.

Her nipples had hardened into two tight peaks and his mouth went dry.

She slid her hands under the hem, giving him a quick peekaboo hint of that silk. Then she wriggled, and her hand reappeared with that blue silk, which she tossed over her shoulder.

Ah, yeah. He was liking this a lot.

“We're not on your bike,” she murmured, slipping back onto his lap, straddling him. “But maybe we can improvise.”

“I'
M GOOD AT IMPROVISING,”
Jacob murmured in Bella's ear. The rough timbre of his voice made her shiver. It was true, she thought. He was really good.

Always.

He kissed her lips and she curled her fingers around his neck. She slid them into the soft, silky hair at the nape, making him let out a low sound that was half growl, half purr, as if her touch had suffused him with pleasure.

He wasted no time in once again pushing the dress up to her waist, but of course this time she was commando.

“Christ, look at you,” he breathed reverently. “So pretty here.” Lightly, he dragged his thumb over her wet flesh. “And here.”

Her head fell back, mouth open as she tried to suck in some air, but someone had used it all. She
tightened her fingers on his hair as he continued stroking her with that rough, callused thumb. His other hand gripped her hip, slowly rocking her against the hard bulge behind his button fly. Then his mouth joined the fray, hungry and demanding as it devoured hers.

It was all too much—and not enough.
“Jacob.”

“You feel so good, Bella.” Sliding his hand around to cup her ass now, he pulled her harder against him, letting her experience just how good she made him feel.

She felt the same. Having him look at her like this had feminine power surging through her, and caused her pulse to throb in every erogenous zone in her body, of which there was suddenly so many. “Jacob—”

“Right here.” His grip on her hips was tight, controlling as he ground against her rhythmically, causing the heat to spread. Her every muscle tightened, leaving her about an inch from orgasm.

“I can't get enough of you,” he murmured, opening his mouth on her throat, still rocking, always rocking.

“Yes, but—” But she was going to go off far too quickly, she could feel it building within her even before he kissed and sucked and nibbled his way to her breasts.

“Oh God.” She couldn't suppress the whimper, or slow the train down. Her mind was spinning with it, with the shocked realization of what he did to her,
how he could make her so completely lose herself so that nothing,
nothing
else mattered but this.

Him.

His mouth fastened on her nipple, and with another helpless whimper, she arched her back as he continued to grind his erection hard between her legs, assaulting her senses, finding a spot deep inside her that no one else had touched. “You have to stop,” she gasped, trying to pull free. “I'm going to—”

He merely tightened his grip, and then lightly clamped his teeth down on her nipple.

With a soft cry, she exploded—and lost her ability to see or hear anything over the roaring of the blood in her ears. When she could stop trembling and blink her vision clear, she pressed her face to his throat and moaned in embarrassment. “That was all your fault.”

He slid his hands into her hair and lifted her face, his eyes scorching, his voice low and fierce. “I love the sounds you make when you come.” He looked at her for a moment, then rose to his feet, effortlessly holding her. “Bed,” he said, apparently done talking, preferring to move onto the doing portion of the evening.
“Now.”
And he kissed her deep and wet while, without missing a beat or taking his tongue out of her mouth, he strode down the hall to his bedroom. At the side of his bed, he slowly let her slide down his body.

She opened his Levi's, pulled out just the “es
sentials” and stroked the thick, hard length of him. “Condom?”

He pulled one from his nightstand.

“In the name of fulfilling fantasies,” she murmured, and with a last look in his eyes, turned from him and bent over the bed, knowing by the rough groan torn from his throat that he was enjoying the view. She felt his hands glide over her, gently murmuring in her ear when she jumped a little, soothing her with his touch as he pulled her back against him.

Then he slowly pressed into her, wrenching a sigh of pleasure from her and a deep groan from him. He went still a minute, letting her adjust to his size, then began stroking her in long, slow thrusts that had her trembling, once again on the very edge. His mouth was on her shoulder, one hand on her hip, the other gliding back and forth between her breasts, teasing her nipples into two hard aching points. Then his fingers trailed down her quivering belly, slipping between her thighs.

Gripping the blankets beneath her in two fists, Bella pressed her forehead into them as she gasped for air, making dark needy sounds that might have horrified her if she could have put a thought together. But Jacob's mouth was on her neck, his fingers strumming between her legs as he moved within her, and suddenly there was no thinking at all.

Behind her, Jacob groaned, struggling for control, a battle he lost as he followed her over, her name on his lips.

 

A
FTERWARD
, J
ACOB TOOK HER
into the kitchen to raid his fridge. He wore his jeans, unbuttoned. Bella wore his shirt.

Also unbuttoned.

He handed her a bottle of water and she drank as if she hadn't had anything to drink for a week. “Your turn,” he said, watching her throat convulse as she swallowed. Fascinated, he ran a finger down her throat to the center of her chest, changing directions to glide the pad of his callused thumb over her nipple. It hardened into a tight bead, and his body had a matching reaction. Jesus. He was never going to get enough of her. “Your fantasy next.”

She looped her arms around his neck, sinking her fingers into his hair, making him practically purr. “You really want to know?”

He looked down into her face and felt something catch deep within him, and he knew in that moment that Ethan had been right.

He had it bad for her.

“I really do.”

Tilting her head up, she met his gaze. “You show up at my place unannounced.”

“Yeah?” His hands slid up the backs of her thighs, beneath the shirt.

“I open the door to you and tell you…” She affected a look of mock shame. “That I've been bad. Very, very bad.”

“Mmm.” His mouth was busy on the spot where
her neck met her shoulder, his fingers cupping and squeezing her sweet, bare ass. “How bad?”

She kissed one corner of his lips, then his jaw. His throat… “You have to cuff me.”

His eyes drifted shut. “Do I?”

“Uh-huh… And then—” She licked his nipple.

“And then?” he managed to say.

“And then you exercise your authority,” she whispered against his chest. “Because I've been so bad and all. I mean,
really
naughty.”

He picked her up in tune to her surprised gasp, and carried her down the hall toward the bedroom, grabbing his cuffs on the way.

“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly.

“To see just how bad you've been.”

 

B
ELLA WOKE UP AND TOOK
assessment. She was toasty warm, and someone had stolen all the bones in her body. She cracked open an eye.

She was face-first in Jacob's chest.

Not a bad place to be, as it was a world-class chest. She was snuggled up to his side with one leg and an arm thrown over him, hugging him to her like her own personal body pillow. The blankets were long gone. Only a sheet covered them, and it was pooled low at their waists. It was still dark outside but there was enough light slanting through his window from the predawn to see that Jacob was asleep.

As they'd not passed out until very late, and it was
debatable as to whether it was officially still very late or very early, she couldn't blame him.

He was on his back, far arm stretched above his head, the other wrapped around her. His face was turned toward hers, eyes closed, jaw whiskered in dark shadow. He looked younger, and extremely relaxed, as if maybe someone had stolen his bones, too, and the thought brought a knowing smile to her mouth.
She'd
put him in that state.

She could stare at him all night. Except she couldn't. She had to go.

He shifted, and drew in a deep breath. Eyes still closed, his arm tightened on her, and he pressed his face to the top of her head. “Mmm. Good way to wake up.” His voice was sleep roughened and sexy as hell vibrating in her ear.

“Don't get stirred up,” she said. “I have to get to the shop.”

“Too late.”

She crooked her neck and look down the length of him. Yep, it was too late. He was stirring.
Everywhere.

She watched as the sheet became an impromptu tent, and because she couldn't help herself, slid a hand beneath the fabric to wrap her fingers around him.

He groaned and covered her hand with his. “I like where this is going.”

“It's not going anywhere. I have to start baking or we won't have anything to sell today. I'm not sure we'll have customers after all that's happened, but
I know Willow is going to be hoping for the best.” But because she couldn't help herself, she shoved the sheet free and bent over him, kissing him on the very tip of his most impressive erection.

It bobbed happily.

She gave one last sigh of regret and slipped out of his arms and off the bed.

“That's just mean,” he said as she padded off to his bathroom. “Cruel and unusual punishment.”

She was smiling when she turned on his shower, smiling when she used his soap and pressed her nose into her own arm to get as close to his scent as possible, smiling when she felt the door open behind her.

And then she was pulled back against a solid, hard chest. “No funny business,” she warned him. “If you behave, I'll meet you for lunch, but for right now, I've got to go. Just cleaning up here, that's it, then I'll call a cab.”

“Hmm,” he said noncommittally as his hands slid up her soaped-up, slicked-up body and cupped her breasts, his fingers grazing her nipples.

Her entire body quivered. “I mean it, Jacob.”

“Fine. We'll do lunch.”

“You mean, we'll do each other.”

He grinned against her skin. “That, too, if you'd like. I'll come to the shop, pick you up and feed you first. Okay?”

“Mmm.” It was all she could manage with one of his hands on her breast, his other heading south—

She dropped the soap.

“Uh-oh,” he murmured silkily. “Better get that.”

When she bent over to get the soap, he sucked in a breath and gripped her hips. She felt him hard against her ass. “Jacob—”

“Just pretend I'm not even here,” he said, both laughter and arousal in his voice.

“I'm only cleaning up,” she repeated weakly, her body on high orgasm alert. Good Lord, it was crazy. They'd had each other so many times last night she'd lost count. How could she
still
want him like this? “I've really got to get going…”

“Oh, Bella.” His voice was low and full of sexy promise. “You're going to get going. And coming…”

The words themselves almost edged her over. “The shop—”

“You're going to be late.” He took the soap from her and directed her hands to the tile in front of her, gently kicking her feet farther apart as though he was about to frisk her. Then he slid a hand down her ass and groaned again. “
Very
late.”

 

L
ATER THAT MORNING
, J
ACOB
was at his desk handling paperwork while reliving the morning's shower—look at him, multitasking—when Ethan stopped by.

“Just visited your girlfriend,” Ethan said, annoying smirk in place. “She has the same just-been-thoroughly-laid look on her face that you do.”

Jacob leaned back, lacing his hands over his abs. He was feeling far too mellow to put his fist in Ethan's mug, probably due to the just-been-thoroughly-laid feeling that was indeed running through his veins today.

Ethan dropped into a chair and stretched his legs. “We've put every spare man we've got on this case.”

“I know. We're going to get him now.”

Ethan nodded. “I've interviewed Willow, Trevor, all the neighboring shop owners and their employees, and all of the men Bella dated through the singles club.”

“Except me.”

“Except you. You haven't been contacted by the club since the date, right? Or by any of the other participants, other than Bella?”

“Nope.”

“And no sense of being watched in any way?”

“No.”

Ethan nodded. They both knew that once a cop, always a cop. If someone had been watching him, chances were Jacob would have noticed.

“Your club date with her was different than the others in two ways,” Ethan said. “With everyone else, they had a meal or a drink, that was it. But with you, you changed venues and did quite a bit.”

“Yeah. What's the second way it was different?”

Ethan waggled a brow. “You're the only one who slept with her. Did you know that was forbidden?”

“No, it wasn't.”

“Okay, it wasn't,” Ethan agreed. “But it was discouraged. So the question is, why you? Why did she sleep with you?”

“Thanks, man.”

Ethan grinned. “I'm actually serious. It was out of character for her.”

Truth was, Jacob didn't know why Bella had slept with him. All he knew was that from the moment they'd met, there'd been a spark—a physical, visceral spark—and it was still there, every time he saw her. Every.

Single.

Time.

“You've kept seeing her,” Ethan said. “Not that anyone could blame you. But she hasn't made a move to see any of the others again.”

“So?”

“So are you exclusive already?”

“And that's pertinent to the case how?”

“Oh, it's not. Just wondering what that sweet little thing sees in you. I mean, look at her. She's warm and funny and sexy as hell. You on the other hand are grumpy, usually scowling, and I'm having a hard time imagining you bringing the funny or the sexy.” He rose lithely to his feet when Jacob's eyes narrowed, and wisely moved to the door. “Ethan?”