Against the Cage (Worth the Fight #1) (19 page)

“Oh … well, that’s flattering. But I won’t be around much longer.”

“Come on, you can certainly take a minute to say hello. That’s innocent enough, right?”

“Uh … yeah. I guess so.”

“Travis is a good guy, but he’s not your type,” Slade interjected as he looked at his watch. He seemed a little tense, which was very unlike him.

Jack walked back in. “That was the chief. It looks like we may be able to get your charges dropped if your girlfriend will testify as to what transpired. Apparently this isn’t Dennis’s first run-in with the law. The chief is tired of covering for him, even if he is the mayor’s nephew,” Jack said, taking a big swig of beer.

“That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time. Thanks, Jack.” Chrissy gave him a smile.

Slade, however, didn’t look as confident or as happy.

“What’s your problem?” Jack asked.

“They’re back together.” When Jack and Chrissy looked confused, he added, “Dennis and Jessica—they’re back together. I don’t know if she’ll come forward and help me out.”

“Fuck,” Jack and Chrissy both drawled at the same time.

“I’ll talk to her later today,” Slade said. He looked at his watch again, and she could have sworn he gave Jack a significant look. She shook her head; perhaps she’d imagined it. “Actually, maybe I’ll leave now to go find her,” he said.

“Okay. See you tomorrow, or if not, then at your fight. I’m so worried and I’m not condoning it, but I’ll be there,” Chrissy said as she waved goodbye. Slade nodded, glanced at Jack again, and then left. Lost in her own thoughts, Chrissy moved the food around her plate, unable to eat. She listened to the conversation between Jack and some of the other patrons at the bar. “Good left hook … that knee to his midsection was great … broken nose … awesome liver shot …” They went on and on, detailing all the intricacies of the fight. She couldn’t fathom how they could talk about it for so long or so casually.

The car ride back to Jack’s after dinner was relatively quiet. “How’s your wound? Did you get hurt anywhere else?” Chrissy asked.

“I feel great, baby.” He reached for her hand and squeezed. The entire drive back, he caressed the top of her hand with his thumb.

Still feeling uncomfortable about the fight, Chrissy thought she would go to Slade’s instead of Jack’s, but he was so happy, she just couldn’t bring herself to do that to him. She knew it would cause an argument, and she didn’t want to bring him down, nor did she have the energy to argue.

Before the front door had fully closed, Jack already had Chrissy in his arms and was heading toward his bedroom. Drogo must have heard them walk in, because he lazily got up, stretched, yawned, and followed them upstairs.

“No, stay,” Jack snapped at Drogo, but the pup ignored his command and kept walking. Chrissy pointed down at Drogo and repeated exactly the same thing Jack had
just said, and he stayed. “Traitor,” Jack whispered, but he soon lost interest in the dog and turned all his attention to Chrissy.

“I finally have you all night and day,” he told her, waggling his eyebrows.

“You don’t work tomorrow?”

“Nope. I have you all day tomorrow. And I also have a bed instead of a wall. Looks like all the stars are finally aligning for us.”

“And your eye? It looks a little better. Does it hurt?” She reached up to touch it.

“I feel completely fine, Chrissy. Stop worrying.”

She smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her mind was all over the place. It didn’t seem like Jack wanted a one-night thing. In truth, she had realized that it had stopped being just about sexual desire a while ago. They had history and a connection that went beyond sex, yet she couldn’t help but think that they were doomed to fail. The problem was that after seeing him tonight, a small part of her was afraid of him—physically afraid of him. It wasn’t the dominating sexual way he spoke to her; she actually really liked that. It was the fighting. She just couldn’t seem to get past that, and she couldn’t help comparing him to Brian. But then he kissed her hungrily, and that sent her mind spinning.

Last night he’d given her the pleasure she needed. He’d helped her forget her past, even if only for the night. Today she would give him what he needed. Her affection. Her body. Help him celebrate his victory. Jack had no idea of all the turmoil going on in her mind at the moment, nor did she want to hurt him by telling him. She closed her eyes and let his magical hands consume her and help her forget. Tomorrow? Tomorrow she would face her fears.

“I lied to you,” he said. His kiss was deep and intense.

“About?” she managed to respond.

“I wanted our first time to be beautiful and meaningful. I wanted to make love to you slowly. But I can’t wait, Chrissy. It feels like it’s been years in the making and I have to be inside you right now.” In less than a minute he was naked. And wow, what a gloriously beautiful man he was. She realized at that moment that turning off the side of her brain that controlled rational thinking and turning on the part that just allowed her to feel was the right decision. Because feeling was good. Very good.

“You’re beautiful.” It slipped from her mouth—probably because of the Off button on the rational side of her brain. She hadn’t meant to say it. Her eyes trailed from his thick neck down his massive chest to his huge and growing erection.

He threw his head back and laughed. “You look like a kid in a candy shop.”

She licked her lips and giggled. He lunged toward her and lifted her to her feet.
He was so strong, and he handled her like a rag doll, positioning her how he wanted. She happily obliged. Jack pulled her shirt over her head, undid her bra, and threw it on the mounting pile of clothes on the floor. He unzipped her skirt, and in a flash it was pooled at her ankles. He slid her glasses off her face and carefully placed them on the dresser. He picked her up effortlessly and moved her aside so that the skirt was no longer at her feet. She had to stifle a laugh. Chrissy couldn’t help picturing him pounding on his chest and saying,
Me Tarzan, you Jane
. He didn’t bother communicating. He didn’t bother giving her a hand to help her out of her skirt. He just carried her and moved her around like she didn’t weigh a thing, and right now he obviously wanted her naked and couldn’t be bothered to ask her to take off her clothes. She’d be lying if she didn’t say she loved it. She’d gladly change her name to Jane, Queen of the Jungle, if it got her closer to the pleasure his hungry eyes were promising. When she stood in front of him completely naked except for the tiniest, almost nonexistent black lace panties, he groaned.

“Fucking stunning.”

To her complete surprise, he used both of his hands and ripped, literally ripped, the material that held her panties together on one side. Then he went to the other hip and did the same thing. She gasped. She’d never seen him so frenzied. Control and authority clung to him, except when she was involved. Chrissy secretly rejoiced that she was able to snap his control.

She was standing in Jack’s room naked. Jack Daniels, her brother’s best friend with the goofy name he hated. The guy next door whom she’d known since she was two years old. The kid who had placed a No Girls Allowed sign on the tree house in his backyard when he was twelve, for the sole purpose of keeping Chris the Priss out. The jackass who had tormented her day and night. The guy who she’d mistakenly thought, for years upon years, had chosen her best friend over her. And there she was: buck-ass naked.

Holy fuck!

For a moment Jack stood looking at her, eyes glazed over with hunger. Silently, looking like a predator, he stepped forward. His fighting and her fears of violent men still nagged at her, but she pushed those thoughts to the back of the sexually-unfulfilled-for-way-too-long part of her brain, for further examination at a later time. A time when this beautiful naked man with the lust-filled eyes was not standing in front of her.

With one of his bare feet he forced her feet apart so that she stood exposed to him with her legs shoulder width apart. The rate of her breathing increased. He took another step closer, fisted her hair, pulled her head back, and landed his mouth on hers for the most erotic kiss of her life. She felt completely helpless. With the other hand, he reached
down and began to rub her, while she stood completely naked in the middle of his room.

“Thank God you’re already so wet for me, because I can’t wait much longer.”

Her head was still thrown back, so she couldn’t nod; instead she let out an involuntary whimper. Without breaking the kiss, he walked her backward until the backs of her knees hit the bed. Roughly he pushed her onto it.

“Are you on the pill, Chrissy?”

God, he was so brazen! No beating around the bush with this man. She nodded.

“I’m clean. I get checked out before every fight.”

“Me too. Well, not before the fight, ’cause I don’t fight. I’ve been checked out because of traveling for work and …” She was rambling nervously.

He laughed in understanding. “Good, because I don’t want any barriers between us.” Without any further hesitation he knelt on the bed and spread her legs apart with his knees as he lay on top of her, his forearms on either side of her head to support his weight. Slowly, ever so slowly, he glided inside her.

“You okay, baby?” he asked. She nodded, and he went even deeper. She moaned. “Still with me?” he asked.

“Jack,” she pleaded.

“What do you want? Tell me.”

She sat up slightly, on her elbows, and looked him in the eyes. “Fuck me right now, Daniels. Right now!”

He groaned again, and in one single movement pulled out and thrust back in, hard. She drew a sharp intake of breath and moaned in pleasure. “Again, Jack. Again.” A tidal wave of pleasure enveloped her.

He grabbed one of her thighs and positioned it above his shoulder, plunging into her again, angling himself perfectly. This time his thrust moved him even deeper. He placed her leg on his shoulder and let go, in order to free up his hand. “Keep your leg here.” Jack reached between their bodies and began rubbing her with his thumb as he thrust in and out. “But don’t come yet, Chrissy. Not yet.”

“Jack! Are you crazy? I can’t stop myself from coming,” she yelled. Her body arched toward him and her head pushed back onto the bed.

One, two, three thrusts.

When her sex tightened around him, Jack slowed down his pace a little, probably trying to delay her impending orgasm, but it was too late. Waves of pleasure rippled through her body as she began to contract deep inside. It sent him over the edge.

“Chrissy …” One last thrust and her toes curled, her heart stopped beating, and pleasure consumed her as Jack stiffened and exploded inside her.

Jack had been around the block a time or two. He knew great sex, but this … this was something else. He saw stars, fireworks, and the future all flash before his eyes; he thought his heart would explode. His entire body went limp, causing his forearms to give way, and he collapsed on top of her, resting his forehead against hers as they recovered. Their breathing was ragged—though hers might’ve been partly because he was still on top of her—and they glistened with sweat. When he finally spoke, all he was able to formulate was, “Damn.”

Chrissy smiled, her breathing still erratic. “That may be too tame a word for what just happened.” Moments later, he pulled her to her feet. She immediately tried to cover up.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s just … My God, your body is so perfect. You make me self-conscious,” she admitted.

With an amused smile he crossed his arms over his chest, still completely naked, and said, “Seriously? After what we just did? After what we—well,
I
did the night before, not to mention what we’ve done against many a wall, you’re going to be shy around me?” She shrugged in response. “Trust me, I like what I see. Why do you think I keep coming back for more? You,” he said, reaching for the arm that she was using to shield her breasts and kissing her palm, “are perfect.” He gave her a thorough and incredibly erotic once-over and then slapped her butt on the way to the bathroom. She squealed.

When the temperature of the shower was to his liking, he pulled her in with him.

Chrissy reached for the soap and sniffed it. “You always smell of this,” she said.

“And since you’re inhaling it, you must like it?”

She gave a lazy smile. “Mmm.”

Jack took the soap from her hand and started lathering her body.

“Turn around,” he ordered.

She obeyed. He put one of her hands against the cold white tile of his shower, then the other. He began washing the back of her, starting at her ankles and working his way up. When he reached her midsection, he wrapped his arm around her waist, then roughly lifted her ass up and pushed her back down, so that she was perfectly bent over.

“You couldn’t possibly be ready aga—”

“The correct question is, are you ready?” he said in a husky voice that was so sensual that, had she not already been willing and eager, hearing his voice would have gotten her instantly ready for anything he had to offer. One finger found its way inside her and then another. When she let out a moan, he slipped his very large and very erect dick into her. Like in the bed, it wasn’t slow. It was hard and fast and wonderful. Once again they climaxed together. Her legs gave way and they both slid down to the floor of his shower. He held her firmly against his chest and kissed the top of her head and her shoulders as they both tried to steady their breathing.

After a moment he stood and finished bathing himself. “Looks like you’re all dirty again,” he said with a wink, and tossed her the soap. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped his bottom half in a towel. Then, when she was done, he gently helped her out and swathed her in a big fluffy towel.

“Come on. Let’s go to bed.”

“I feel like jelly. My feet don’t seem to be cooperating, and without my glasses I can’t see a thing.”

He reached down, scooped her into his arms, and carried her to his bed. “You know, Jack, I’m not that light. Besides, I can walk.” She giggled when he nuzzled her neck with his slightly-overdue-for-a-shave face.