Whole Nine Yards
JULES
I STARED AT THAT MOUTH. Those lips . . .
Oh, my God.
Jake was talking, telling me about a conversation he had had with the Governor about the rural counties of Georgia, but I wasn’t listening.
In the vast space of the open ballroom, it was taking all of my strength to fight against the lustful desire that was trying to make its way deep inside me.
Jake glanced over at me, and I knew the moment he became aware of my lustful trance. I felt the blood rush to my face, and I swallowed hard. My parted lips and heavy breathing were a dead giveaway. Not to mention my nipples felt like diamonds, and there was a steady pulsing between my legs that was beginning to ache.
He leaned closer.
He knew what he was doing to me.
My clit felt like it was throbbing.
Space.
I needed space.
Thank God, the ballroom doors were open, and I used that as my cue to put some distance between us. With long strides, I stepped ahead of him and out into the fresh air of the night. He caught up with me, and my gaze rose. Again I found myself staring at those lips.
Those lips that had to send every woman reeling.
I knew they did me.
With a dry throat, I managed, “Looks like everything went off without a hitch.”
Jake dropped his own gaze. “All that’s left are the fireworks and the send-off, and then it’s done. I think you deserve a break.”
I gave a huff of laughter. “My break will come at the very end.”
He looked at his watch. “We only have thirty minutes until midnight. I think you can relax for a few minutes.”
I sipped my pink champagne and then turned to look out toward the party. Moonlight danced on the surface of the tents, and the stars were as bright as I’d ever seen them. “Yes, maybe I can.”
I leaned against the open door jamb. I’d changed into that blush silk dress with the thin, sexy straps I should have worn to begin with. The only downside was I had to change my shoes. My toes curled in my heels. My feet were killing me.
Lilies scented the air, and I breathed it in. I loved this part of summer. The dark nights and the warm air whirling around with the scent of the summer in it.
From behind, Jake reached around me and handed me a black velvet rectangular box. “I bought you something.”
With shaky fingers, I took it from him and opened it. Inside was the most beautiful diamond necklace. A single solitaire inside an elongated star. A perfect match to my diamond earrings. I looked at him.
“It’s your North Star. Whenever you wear it, I want you to think of me.”
I knew this was his goodbye to me, but I didn’t want to believe it.
I just wanted him.
He put it around my neck and then turned me to face him. His eyes turned hungry and electricity sparked between us with just a simple look. This attraction was too much. I didn’t know how to deal with it without acting on it.
Dropping my gaze, I looked at my glossy pink toes. He lifted my chin. Excitement stirred in the air. He was so close to me that I could smell his heavenly scent. He smelled of the soap in the shower. He smelled of pure man. Like always I wanted to bury my nose in his neck and sniff him.
Our bodies were almost touching.
I wanted them to be.
Then they were.
Like two magnets, we were drawn together.
He had leaned forward just a bit and then his fingers were on my face, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear.
Feeling electrified, my body jerked as his flesh came in direct contact with mine, and my breath caught at the intensity of the physical connection.
“I want you,” he whispered at the same time he lightly nipped at my bottom lip. “Right now.” I nodded, silently telling him I wanted him too—and right now.
He took my hand and walked fast through the foyer and into the room that had once been his grandmother’s office. Behind him he locked the door, and then pressed me against it.
The feeling of his lean, muscular body pressed against mine only served to further ignite my desire. With a desperation I didn’t understand, I pushed myself closer. Close enough that my hard nipples pushed against his unyielding chest. I couldn’t help myself.
Jake made a sound of approval deep in his throat.
I wanted to close my eyes but couldn’t. I had to see him. I looked up into his eyes, those light and dark eyes, and lost myself in him.
He looked at me like nothing else mattered but having me.
I shivered from that look alone.
It wasn’t long before his hands were running up my sides and when he lifted me, I felt electrified. I wanted this like I’d never wanted anything. Responding in the only way I could, I wrapped both my arms and legs around him and then buried my face in his neck.
With my lips touching his skin, and his scent invading me, my senses came alive. The edges of his hair tickled wonderfully against my cheek. The feel of his hands, now firmly grasping my hips, seared me as if he were branding me. His heavy breathing was all I could hear.
What came next happened so fast. We were moving. He was setting me down on the desk. His hands were dragging up my body to the hem of my dress. He lifted it to my waist.
My fingers trembled as they unzipped his pants. With a lick of my lips, I allowed my eyes to graze over him—he was devastatingly handsome. He was soft and hard at the same time. Just like the line of his jaw, the shape of his nose—they were hard but those incredible blue eyes outlined in dark, thick lashes softened his features.
My gaze slid down.
Seeing his erection made my heart beat so fast.
Heat flared in my belly.
All of a sudden, everything became about this man.
He was all I could think about. On how he slid his hands to the back of my neck. On how his fingers tangled in my hair to tip my head back. On those lips that would be on me very soon.
Oh, God.
Then he slid those soft lips down my skin and his fingers followed, and I felt each beat of his breath and mine.
Excitement danced in my belly.
My nipples were tight, like hard steel tips. When Jake skimmed his thumb over the silk that covered my breast, I sucked in a breath and nearly gasped. But when he pushed the fabric aside to close his mouth around it, and I felt his tongue, his teeth, and his lips all at the same time, I practically whimpered.
It felt so good—warm and wicked.
He worked his way back up to my throat, sucking the sensitive skin of my neck between his teeth as he did. The small bites didn’t hurt, but they did send the most erotic sensations ripping through me.
I bucked beneath him with a crazy, writhing need. I was like a lioness out of her cage, wild and free. With desperation, my hands found the back of his head to thread my fingers in his hair. Tugging it, pulling it, I brought him to my mouth where I wanted those lips.
He groaned, and then he placed his palm and pressed against my clit on the outside of my panties. Again, I writhed beneath him.
I had become a current for his touch, and the way his fingers slid inside my panties to find my slick heat, more than electrified me from the top of my head to my the tips of toes.
Breathless, I moved my hands to his shoulders and slid my tongue down his throat, and just like he had, I pulled his skin between my teeth. I might have been rougher, I might have left a mark—I wasn’t sure. I just couldn’t control myself.
His responding groan told me he was burning just like me, and his body language told me not to stop, so I didn’t. Not until he moved to capture my mouth with his own and take me with a heart-stopping kiss.
If I were romantic, I’d say that although he was bold with his body, to the point of unfaltering, he was almost tender, sweet even, with his mouth. It was that whole hot/cold, hard/soft thing we’d had going on from the start.
The heat of his body radiated and I could hear his ragged breaths. They mimicked mine. He took his cock in his hand and positioned himself at my opening. With the sounds of our mingled breaths the only noise in the room, I placed my palms flat on the cool surface and spread my legs wider.
His exultant groan echoed as soon as he thrust into me. Twin bursts of pleasure sizzled under his touch. I bit my lip to stop from crying out.
With steady movements, he eased in and then out again. In then out. Giving me a bit more each time. Going deeper and deeper. When he was fully inside me, I thrust my head back and closed my eyes.
He was my home, and I was going to lose him.
With his hands tightly gripping my hips, he slammed into me. Hard. And then harder still. Again, I had to bite my lip to stop from crying out.
It felt so good.
His fingers gripped me, pinched me almost, as he slammed into me. I followed his rhythm, and then everything exploded inside me. He pulled back and thrust. His cock slid so deep inside me that my hands gripped the edge of the table so hard that it was cutting into my skin.
And then we were both coming.
Joined together, we were breathing heavy, giving each other pleasure that never seemed to be enough. His head fell to the crook of my neck, and I wrapped my arms around him.
This was who we were, but not who we were meant to be. And I had to accept that.
Outside the office, we heard shouts. “Jake. Jake. Where are you?” It was Rory, and her voice was panicked.
Jake jerked back in a rush and zipped up his pants. He looked at me. “Go,” I said, getting to my feet and pushing my dress down. “I’m right behind you.”
“Jake, where are you?”
He rushed from the room and up the stairs toward Mimi’s bedroom. I tried to move fast, but I was stopped in my tracks when I heard the sound. The tortured cry of despair that ripped from Jake’s throat.
And I knew . . . I knew then, something really bad had happened.
That Mimi had died.