Jasper had overstepped. Asking a woman to marry him was a big deal. He didn’t do it lightly. But he’d failed to take into account Annie’s panic level. He’d rushed her. They’d only been dating eight months. It was a lifetime for him, but apparently only a test period for her.
She saw marriage as a weight that would drag her—them—down. He worried it might be the only way to hold on to her.
He’d made a shitty choice in a relationship once before and didn’t want to live through that again. That time he’d panicked. He’d let fear rule his decisions. Not this time.
Maybe he was being unfair. After all, she never acted like she wanted something else, someone else, but she was this mass of energy that he wasn’t always clear about how to handle. Forget containing it. He didn’t want to rein her in. He wanted the opposite, actually. But wrestling her fear of commitment was starting to take a toll.
He blamed her parents. Those two deserved each other. They’d filled Annie’s youth with repeated trips to court and, thanks to her father, a kidnapping adventure to Mexico. Annie’s story had been in the paper. All her friends knew it. Her parents both lost custody for a while. She’d been the poster child for what happened in dysfunctional relationships.
He wanted her to put all that behind her but, truth was, he got it. That kind of background shaped a person. While she’d grown up and moved on and even tried marriage once, all those doubts and that pain still lingered.
He understood because he had some of his own. He feared that though he’d moved on from the past, he’d never quite broken free of it.
So he vowed to be patient and to not be a jackass.
The first step in that plan was making dinner. He’d put his grilling skills up against anyone. Tonight, he’d gone with chicken and a salad. Step two would be reassuring her that he’d give her whatever time she needed…even if it killed him.
A minute after he brought the plate piled with food inside from the expansive balcony off their two-story penthouse condo, he heard the beep of the alarm at the front door. Annie shouted hello as the click of her heels sounded on the shiny hardwood floor.
She stormed up the stairs and through the family room before entering the kitchen. She didn’t stop and didn’t make idle chitchat or ask about his day, which was unusual.
With that entrance, he figured he needed to jumpstart his plan quickly. Operation Don’t Be an Asshole had begun.
He put the plate down, ready to say something that might help. “Hey, babe. I made—”
“Stop talking.” She stood right in front of him and dropped her bag on the floor. Next, her arms came up and wrapped around his neck. Her mouth hovered just over his, which meant she had to be balancing on tiptoes. “I’m in charge.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He knew that was the right answer because he wasn’t a complete dumbass.
“I want you naked and inside me in five minutes. Not six. Five. Max.”
All the blood rushed to his dick. “Now?”
“Right now. You on top of me, in me.” She grabbed his hand. “Let’s go to the bedroom.”
All thoughts of food and apologies fled from his head. His lady wanted good hard sex, and he was more than happy to oblige. They could discuss the ins and outs of her day later. Much later.
“No.” He brought her body tight up against his again. Chest to chest as his brain shut down and his body revved up. Let his hands travel up and down her sides. “Right here.”
Excitement welled in her eyes. “The wall.”
“The table.” They could use the wall on the second round. This time, he wanted her spread out before him. Bare and ready.
She glanced over at the reclaimed wood kitchen table right behind her. “It might not hold us.”
“Trust me.”
Before she could say anything, he lifted her off the ground. Her legs linked around his hips. Their mouths fused together in a blinding kiss as his hands went to her ass. That perfect ass.
She squirmed. No way was that an accident. The move had her rubbing over him, bringing that erection roaring to life.
Wanting to be inside her, he took the two steps to bring them to the edge of the table. The sounds of kissing and heavy breathing mixed together. Her ankles dug into his ass. He held her steady with both hands on the back of her thighs.
He somehow managed to lift his head. “Were you a good girl today?”
She blinked. “What?”
“I told you what I would do if I caught you wearing panties without permission.”
Her body relaxed against him and her fingers slipped into his hair. “I can’t walk around bare. People will talk.”
“You can and will.” He lowered her to the table and immediately went to work on those tiny buttons on her shirt, sending more than one flying across the room.
Not that she seemed to notice. Her hands didn’t stop moving until they found the top of his jeans. She had the button open and his zipper down in two seconds. Those fingers wrapped around him, pumped up and down, and he moaned in relief.
“That’s better.” His lips traveled over her neck as his fingers tunneled up her skirt.
He touched material and jerked it to the side. Heard it rip, but he couldn’t stop now. Their hands and mouths skimmed over each other. He lowered her body and shoved her skirt up, bunching it at her waist. One tug and he peeled her underwear off. Then he tucked the silk in his back pocket as he pushed his jeans down past his hips.
She kicked off a shoe and put her foot on his shoulder. Her other leg fell to the side.
He could see all of her. And he couldn’t hold back. He dipped a finger inside her, and caressed her until she was wet and ready for him.
She lifted her body and pulled him forward to her. Then he was inside her, reveling in the feel of her. Bare and tight, every internal muscle straining against him.
Pushing and plunging, he moved. The table shook and one of its legs thudded against the floor. He found a steady rhythm while she wiggled and moved underneath him. Her heel slammed into his shoulder, but he didn’t care. He wanted it all, every groan and every pulse.
On this level, they always connected.
The heat ratcheted up around them. Every cell sparked to life as his hands skimmed over her bare skin. Energy surged inside him. He didn’t ease up on the tempo. Her grip on the side of his leg didn’t allow him to. His brain screamed slow down, but his body refused to listen.
He pressed deeper, plunging and retreating until her breath caught. When she whispered his name, he lost it. The orgasm rippled through him. He ground his teeth, trying to hold it off for a few more seconds and prolong the pleasure.
He dropped his hand, letting the tip of his finger slip over her clit. Her hips shifted forward as her hands locked around the edge of the table and her fingers dug into the wood. Her legs shook.
Heavy pants filled the room. He repeated her name over and over as his mind blanked. It took another few stuttering seconds for his brain to work again.
“God, baby. Yes.”
With his last push, her body tensed and she came. Every muscle seemed to tighten as she threw her head back. Her body bucked under him. Those shoulders rose. That mouth dropped open.
He heard noises and could smell the sex. Sweat rolled down his back. She’d barely finished when he finally let go. He pumped into her, coming inside her and relishing the feel of her body wrapped around his, inside and out.
It took a little longer for the table to stop wobbling and his breathing to move out of heart-attack range. He could hear nothing but the muffled tick of the clock hanging on the wall as some of his strength returned. He could think again.
After kissing her calf, he moved her leg off his shoulder and let his body rest against hers. His head settled on her chest and immediately her hand came up to hold him there. Her heartbeat thumped under his ear, steady and strong. He could smell his scent on her skin and couldn’t imagine anything sexier.
“You are so hot,” he said, as he turned to place a kiss on the top of her breast.
“I don’t think I can move.”
He laughed. “Works for me.”
“Jasper.” Her arms fell back against the wood. “That was way better than dinner.”
“That was only the first course. Next, we try the wall.”