Chapter 10

J.T. brought her back to her place. She parked, waited for him to do the same, and preceded him through the building to her door. Once inside, she shut and locked it, then slid off her shoes.

“Okay, buddy. Let’s talk.”

He sighed, not sure he could resist her in her current pissy mood. “Where do you want me?”

Her subconscious glance at her hallway, which led to her bedroom, about killed him. “The couch it is.” He hurried to his favorite place in the apartment and stared at the couch. “Ah, the memories.”

“Stop it.” Hope left him and returned with two bottles of water. She lobbed one at his head, but he caught it.

“What a great host.”

“So what’s the deal with you and Cam playing men who know better than the little woman? I’m the one feeling threatened by flowers and cinnamon buns.” She paused, and he wondered if she heard how odd that sounded. “My point is, I should be taking charge of this.”

“Fine. What do you want to do about it?”

She opened her mouth then closed it, saying nothing.

While she debated how to sound in charge, he studied her, in lust with her business attire. Hope always looked like a million bucks to him. But especially in work wear. Short, curvy, and classy, with her blond hair pulled back in a sexy chignon—he’d looked the style up after seeing her wear it that way once—her skirt formfitting and stylish, her shirt staid but hinting at the curves beneath. The whole package was pretty much his fantasy for being seduced by his hot secretary or boss.

As usual around Hope, his dick took notice, wanting to stand up and salute her. He opened the water and drank to distract himself.

She did the same. Just two pals hanging out together on a Monday evening drinking water. He grinned at the inanity of it.

“What’s so funny?”

“Us.” He shook his head and put the water down on a coaster. Then he spread his arms out on the couch cushions behind him. “Well? I’m waiting.”

“Uh, right. Well, it’s okay for my cousins to know, but not my brothers. They can get really pushy and wrapped up in Marine protective mode. They might both be out of the service, but it’s always there. And with Theo signing up, he’ll be just as bad.”

He nodded, in agreement with the part about the service always being present in both her older brothers. He’d met them, and they were guys he wouldn’t want to tangle with. Which was why he’d called them both to let them know about her secret admirer situation, a fact Hope would not like. At all.

But at least her brothers had agreed to let him take point, along with Cam, and gently ease Hope into their protection. So when they subtly showed up here and there, she wouldn’t immediately boot them away.

They knew her better than J.T. did. Apparently Hope was still a little too trusting and naive, despite dealing with some pretty scummy exes. She had a big heart and wanted to think the best about people. J.T. knew that much about her too.

She seemed to deflate before him. “You agree with me? Good.”

He watched her grab her cell phone from her purse, then dither over where to sit. When she chose to plant her sexy tush right next to him on the couch, he didn’t know what to say.

“Now you sit right here and wait while I have a discussion with my mother. Then we talk.”

* * *

Hope dialed her mother, who took her sweet time answering.

“Hello? Who is this?”

Hope pinched the bridge of her nose, conscious of J.T.’s scrutiny. “Please, Mom. Caller ID is a well-known fact of life.”

“Oh, is this Hope? My only daughter? The one not talking to me? What a lovely surprise.”

J.T. leaned closer to hear, so she put the call on speaker. “You’re on speaker, Mom, so I can keep my hands free while we talk. Guess who I met today at work?”

“Who?”

“Steven.” She saw J.T.’s eyes narrow and put a finger over her lips to remind him to keep quiet. He frowned but nodded. “What a coincidence that the same man you tried to set me up with at brunch just happened to find Cam and talk investments today.”

“I’m so glad he went. Smart men take care of their money. Smart women too, in case you try labeling me a sexist.” Her mother laughed. “What did you think? He’s handsome and kind. Just your type.”

J.T. didn’t look pleased at all. For that she had her mother to thank. What a tangled mess.

“Yeah, about my type. I’d like to bring him to dinner. Not Steven. My tattoo artist boyfriend.”

Her mother said nothing.

Hope grinned at J.T., who looked more bemused than annoyed with her. “Well? You said you wanted to meet him. Remember?”

“Fine. We’ll have dinner this Friday evening. Six thirty. I hope this one isn’t a vegan. Your father will be making steaks.”

“Great. See you then.” She disconnected and put her phone down on the coffee table, realizing that she was in for it now. No backing out of her fabrication anymore.

“So. Who’s Steven?”

She turned to J.T., sitting so close. “I think the real question is, why did you think you could just take charge back in the office? I have a brain, you know.”

“I know.” The heat in his gaze should have bothered her. Instead, it only added to the sexual tension rising in her. “Believe it or not, I see beyond the curvy, blond bombshell to the savvy woman beneath. You’re not just a pretty face. I get it.”

A compliment, yet the part about knowing she was intelligent meant more.

He studied her. “You know, you and I couldn’t look more different, but we’re a lot alike.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” He settled into the couch, widening his seat and stretching out his long legs. Dressed in his typical business casual, he wore jeans, boots, and a black tee that clung to his body. Nothing at all wrong about liking the look of a man in his prime, she thought.

J.T. kept talking. “You see, you and me, we get judged on how we look all the time. Most people do, but we get it more. You get people thinking you’re not that bright because you’re blond and beautiful. Most guys take one look at you, and all they can think about is getting you alone and fucking you.”

Blunt but on target. She just wished he wouldn’t have used the word fuck because it put even dirtier thoughts than she’d been having about him in play.

“Then there’s me. Most people look at me, see a big, black dude who looks mean when he’s not smiling.”

“And sexy.”

He gave a half grin. “And sexy. And they think I’m all brawn and no brain. Chicks want a big dick. Guys either want to join my ‘gang’ or push me around to show they’re not afraid of me. Or they are and they avoid me, because obviously a black man in Seattle is only in the city to mug and rape and maul people.”

“Sadly, I think you have that right.”

He raised a brow.

She frowned. “Oh, stop. I meant you’re right that people stereotype us all the time. But I don’t see you that way.”

“I don’t see you that way either.”

“Right.”

“Good.” He sat there, his arms spread wide, his arms and chest begging her to touch.

She couldn’t stop remembering what they’d done before on her couch.

A glance down his body showed he hadn’t forgotten either.

Oh boy. She tried to calm herself, then thought to hell with it. They should probably just get a few things out of the way. “I think we need to stop making a mess of all this. So here’s the deal. You and I are friends, correct?”

No hesitation. “Yeah.”

“We care about our families and don’t want to screw up their lives with entanglements and regrets and you never calling me the next day.”

He smirked. “Yeah, right. More like you seeing me in the street and pretending we never met.”

“Sure, because most women look at you and run the other way.”

“Well, when you put it like that, you’re right. You’d never ignore me. But you wouldn’t be shouting from the rooftops that we slept together.”

She huffed. “Because I do that with all the guys I sleep with. I announce it to everyone. Oh hey, Big Brother Landon. Guess what? This is Greg. He and I had a sixty-nine, and it was gross.”

J.T. cringed. “Okay, bad example.”

“Gavin, meet Rob. He thinks our sexy times should begin with him ordering me around the room in a drill sergeant voice. And he always wants me to salute and call him sir before bending over.”

“Please, stop.”

“Oh, and Theo, I know you’re not yet twenty-one, but did you know Brian thinks having rituals before sex is a turn-on? Wash my hands and feet twice, then put the nightgown on, then take it off and fold it in half four times, place it on the chair, and wow. I’m so in the mood.”

J.T. covered his eyes with one hand. “You’ve made your point.”

“Finally.” She snorted. “Because sadly, I could go on. Anyhow, you and I are friends who find ourselves attracted to each other. There’s no point denying it. I think you’re sexy as hell, and you have a hard-on anytime we’re alone together. Unless you’re always thinking about something else.”

“No. This is embarrassing. I usually have more control over my body. But you mess me up.”

The feeling is mutual, believe me. “There’s nothing wrong with us being honest about it. And we shouldn’t be embarrassed. We just, um, seem to hit it off. Physically.”

He put his arm back along the couch. “I agree with everything you’ve said. So what’s your point?”

“My point is we’re not going to do anything to ruin things. So we had fun the other night. I’m not demanding marriage, and you’re not acting all macho about my mother trying to set me up with another guy.” She dared him to object, saw him swallow, and when he said nothing, continued. “Yes, Steven is a handsome doctor and seemed interested. I’m not. I don’t want a new boyfriend. I’m tired of finding all my Mr. Wrongs.” Tired of always being hurt.

“Okay.” His gaze softened on her. “I get it. I’m tired of all my Ms. Wrongs too. You’re not the only one not wanting to go through another breakup. You want the truth? I’m not a commitment kind of guy. My dad went through hell twice. First when my mom died. Then when he married Del’s mom. I lived with that for a long time. I don’t want it. Do I want a wife and kids?” He shrugged, and she had a feeling he was being more honest and open with her right now than he’d been with anyone in a long time. “The idea is nice. Sure. I look at Del with Mike and Colin, see how happy she is, and I think that would be cool, to have something like that. But I’ve dated a lot, and I just don’t see that future in the cards for me.”

She answered with her own truth, because J.T., of all the people she knew, understood. “That’s me. I mean, I watched my older brothers fall in love. And I’ve seen my parents together, happy and successfully married, for my entire life. By the time my mom was my age, she already had a husband and three kids, and a career she was getting off the ground. But me? I’m nowhere near having the perfect family.” She shrugged. “So it’s easier not to date and pretend I’m okay with it. I’m not, not really. But I’m finally happier on my own than being part of a couple. I refuse to rush into anything because I’m almost thirty.”

“Yeah, when is your birthday, again?” he asked.

“August eleventh.”

He nodded. They watched each other with new understanding. “So what now?”

Despite all her talk about keeping some distance, she didn’t want it. Not tonight. “I’m hungry. I say we get something to eat. After.”

He frowned. “After what?”

“After I take charge of our plan to thwart my mother.”

His frown eased, and he chuckled. “You sound like a supervillain.”

“Sure, why not?” She scooted closer and put a hand on his thigh.

J.T. tensed all over. “What are you doing?”

“I’m coordinating with my evil henchman.” She stroked his thigh, amazed at the muscle on the man. Then, because she couldn’t help herself, she put her hand on the bottom of his shirt and dragged it higher. “Wow. You have a total six-pack. No, wait, is that a twelve-pack?” She ran her fingers over his taut abdomen, enthralled with the soft skin overlaying such rigid muscle. Man, she’d kill to have a stomach that flat. And he had the softest brown skin. She wanted to lick him all over.

“Um, Hope?” He sounded hoarse.

She smiled, feeling empowered. “Look, we laid out the ground rules. We both feel the same way. I’m just trying to even the score. You did something to me the other day, and I’ve been curious ever since.”

His body was like a rock under her hand. So pretty, and right now all hers. She had a feeling J.T. wouldn’t mind a little experimentation.

He cleared his throat. “You, ah, you go right ahead.”

She glanced at his splayed arms, his hands gripping the back couch cushions for dear life. A perfect way to end her Monday. She rested both hands on his belly and slowly dragged them higher, learning the feel of him as she moved.

Breathless, she traced the contours of his chest, grazing his nipples, which tugged a groan out of him. She feathered her palms over the hard buds, and he shifted on the couch, clearly aroused.

Then she leaned closer and breathed in the scent of him, a hint of cologne and man that made her ravenous. She tugged his shirt up to his neck and kissed him there, right over his heart.

“Christ, Hope…”

She let the shirt fall back down and leaned over him, kissing up his neck to his cheek, pleased when he tilted his head to the side to give her better access. She kissed her way to his ear and whispered, “You seem so tense. Can I help you unwind?” Then she nipped his earlobe, saw him jolt, and heard a few swear words she didn’t think usually went together.

“Yeah, yeah. Help me. Any way you want.” He continued to hold tight to the couch, his eyes closed, supplicant to whatever she had planned.

Hope wanted to play, to touch and taste him everywhere. But then she’d end up losing herself in J.T., and despite all of this teasing, she didn’t want to get in any deeper with the man.

So quit seducing him and leave him alone. Go get dinner, get back to being friends, and—

“Shut up,” she muttered.

He opened his eyes and looked down at her. “What?”

“Nothing.” She did what she’d been wanting to do all day and kissed him on the lips.

He parted for her immediately, and she gripped his shoulders and gave him a kiss that told him what she wanted. She thrust her tongue between his lips and ravaged his mouth, amazed a man could taste like sex and need and throw her desire into the stratosphere with little effort.

She had to kneel to reach all of him. Draped over his body at an awkward angle, she had to work to continue the kiss without sliding off him. But she wanted access to his pants, so…

He yanked his head back when she unfastened his jeans. “What are you doing?” He was panting, his eyes wide.

“Just checking to see how much control you have,” she teased, recalling when he’d done the same to her.

“Fuck me.” He slid his zipper down, then returned his hand to the back of the couch, out of the way.

She smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back. All intensity and frustrated desire.

God, you are such a beautiful man. Hope kissed him again, this time with the feeling she hadn’t wanted to have for a man, not for a while.

He kissed her back, passion and hunger there for the taking.

As she kissed him, she eased her hand beneath his underwear, grazing a long, thick shaft down to his balls.

Constricted by his underwear, she had to hold him tight, and he spread his legs wider, arching into her grip. Then he lifted again, and she left the kiss to look down, pulling his boxer briefs away from a huge, aroused cock.

She stared in awe at the sight of him, wondering if she was ready to take him inside her mouth.

J.T. was moaning her name and took the choice from her. He wrapped his hand in her hair and tugged her back for another kiss.

So she did what she’d been wanting to since getting her own happy ending on the couch. Hope started jerking him off. Her hand barely fit around him, he was so thick, and as she pumped him, she swore she could feel his heartbeat in the pulse of his arousal.

He kissed her like a starving man, thrusting with his tongue in ways that dampened her panties, readying her body for the treat in her hand.

Holding him tighter, she increased the strokes. Up and down, with firmer pressure, since he seemed to be seriously getting close, his kisses devastating to her senses.

Then he pulled from her lips and kissed the corner of her mouth, saying, “I’m gonna come so hard, Hope. So fuckin’ hard.”

She nudged under his chin and sucked a spot on his neck that made him shudder. And as she did, she jerked him off even faster. His groans turned to grunts, then a long moan as he came, jetting all over her hand and his belly. The orgasm lasted longer than she’d have imagined, as streams of seed landed on his shirt.

Yet he remained firm and erect in her hand, not softening even after he’d stopped releasing.

J.T. was breathing hard, his hand clenched in her hair while she kissed her way back up his neck to his chin. She started to pull her hand away when he wrapped his own around it, keeping her glued to his cock.

“In a minute,” he rasped, breathing as if he’d run a marathon. “Oh, Hope. Shit. Damn.” His vocabulary devolved from there, but she had to smile. She’d well and truly rung J.T.’s bell. And she couldn’t have been happier, even if she was a little sexually frustrated. She really could have used that massive erection between her legs, though feeling him come had been amazing.

He wiped her hand on his belly, released her, and finally looked down at her. He said nothing, but his kiss had never been sweeter. And he continued to kiss her, stirring her up all over again.

She was aware of his naked parts hanging out, of the come on his shirt, of his seed still on her hand. The musky scent of him went straight to her head, and she marveled that nothing about J.T. had yet grossed her out. Previous lovers had been less than fresh, too grabby, unpleasant after an orgasm with demands or a need to clean up right away.

J.T. acted as if he had all the time in the world as he made love to her mouth. And here she’d thought he’d be too tired to continue. She sure the heck had been after he’d rocked her world.

He pulled back and stroked her cheek, and the affection in her breast grew deeper. “That was amazing. Thanks, baby.” He kissed her. “But I think I can do better than that. I mean, we’re good friends, and we don’t want there to be issues between us, right?”

She nodded. “Right, so why—”

He wrapped her hand around him, and she felt him finally softening. But not all the way. “I need some more. I don’t think you drained me yet.”

“Huh?”

“But this isn’t enough.”

“I, um, we weren’t going to have sex, remember?” She felt stupid saying that, considering what they’d been doing.

“Oh, I remember.” He grinned, and her brain took a snapshot of J.T.’s joy. Something she’d never forget, how beautiful he looked at that moment. Then he surprised her by lifting her in his arms and holding her over one shoulder with one arm while he adjusted himself with the other. “Now, time to really even the playing field.”

She didn’t know what he had planned, but at this point, she refused to argue. Especially because the man was carrying her over his shoulder, one arm over her waist to hold her in place as she dangled down his back, staring at his fine ass. He was so incredibly sexy. So strong.

She wanted to clap her hands and shout with glee that she’d broken him down, had him moaning and panting for her.

And then he had her on her back in her bed. He turned on the light on her nightstand and stared down at her.

She leaned up on her elbows. “What?”

“I want you naked. I want to see what I’m tasting.”

She shivered. “I, um, okay. But only if you’re naked too. But no sex,” she blurted, as if abstaining from the final act would keep her heart safe. And really, what did she imagine might happen? They’d have a naked tickle fight? Man, she couldn’t think straight.

He chuckled. “Oh, we’re not gonna have sex…tonight.” That tonight seemed tacked on at the end there. “But there’s so much else we can do instead. Too bad it’s not the weekend. I don’t think we have enough time to get to what I have planned.”

“Planned?” Just how much did he think they could do sans penetration?

He smiled and took off his shirt.

She stared, mesmerized. “You have a tattoo.” He had tribal patterns in black over his upper left pectoral and part of his shoulder. Not what she’d expected. As a tattoo artist, she’d imagined he’d be covered in ink. That brief trip to his workplace had shown her even Suke had more.

“I’m picky. My buddy Eddie did this one. I’ve been waiting for inspiration to hit me for my next one.” His voice lowered. “Gotta say I’m feeling pretty inspired now.” He stepped out of his clothes, keeping on only his boxer briefs. “Now you.”

She sat up, feeling almost shy, which she had never been. Though she didn’t normally leap into bed with a man, she liked her body. But like most women, she felt she could do with losing a few pounds.

Hope stood and removed the sweater she wore to combat the AC in the office. Then she took off her blouse and skirt.

“Hot damn. Matching white lace? Nice, Hope. Very nice.”

She smiled at him, and his eyes darkened. He stared at her body, and her nipples grew rock hard against her bra. She reached behind herself to unfasten it, then dropped it to the floor. J.T. stood as still as a statue.

“Now the panties,” he said, his voice thick.

She hadn’t worn a thong today, but the bikini panties were pretty and soft and made her feel feminine. She liked matching undergarments, especially her silky ones.

Hope stepped out of her panties, glad she’d done some landscaping that morning. She’d shaved all but a thin strip of hair over her mound. With the summer upon them and thoughts of dipping into a friend’s hot tub, she had to be groomed for her bathing suit.

J.T. apparently approved, because he licked his lips and grinned. “Oh, I am gonna eat you right up.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty hungry. Haven’t had my dinner yet.”

“Oh boy.”

“Now lay back on the bed and spread those pretty thighs. We have a lot of no-sex to get to.”