It made her feel funny to be kissed that way, warm, coaxing, tasting kisses that explored every sensitive surface, that exploited every nuance of response. Her stomach quivered. Or maybe that was her heart. She swayed against him, wanting, needing... more. More pressure. More kisses. His hands tightened at her waist, holding her close. Not nearly close enough. His thumbs skimmed lazily up and down, soothing and inciting at the same time. Up to tease the lower curve of her breast, down to dip beneath the waistband of her skirt. She held her breath in anticipation.Up and down. Up and... His thumb brushed metal, and his body twitched as if he’d been electrified.
“It’s okay,” she whispered reassuringly. “It doesn’t hurt.”
His fingertips dug in before he eased her away. Darn. Not the reaction she was hoping for.
His eyes narrowed intently as he stared down at her piercing: a small gold bar dangling a trio of gemstones like a shower of sparks.
She couldn’t read his face. Her heart sank a little.Too slutty? Too Goth? Too much?She moistened her lips. “It’s agate. To calm anxiety. And—”
“It’s hot.” He dropped to his haunches in front of her and pressed a kiss to the bare curve of her stomach, just beside the glitter of stones. The hot, wet suction of his mouth weakened her knees.
“And, um, blue topaz. For protection.” She swallowed as he worked her skirt up her thighs. Her heart pounded in excitement. “And tourmaline for... uh, tourmaline...”
His hot breath gusted across her sex, covered only by a thin triangle of cotton. She squeezed her legs together, overcome with lust and embarrassment.Oh God. She couldn’t remember what tourmaline was for.
“Jack...”
He leaned forward, holding her close and still in his strong hands, and kissed hertherewith the same attention he’d given her mouth, licking, flicking, chasing her response. In minutes, she was gasping, shaking. She couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t stand. Her head rolled back and hit the wall.
He raised his head, his black eyes narrowed and gleaming, his mouth wet. “You okay?”
Oh God, oh God, oh God. “Fine,” she said weakly. She waggled her fingers. “Carry on, don’t mind me.”
He laughed, a vibration through her flesh, and went back to what he’d been doing.So good. She grabbed his shoulders, his muscles too hard and smooth for her fingers to find purchase. She clutched his hair. Too short. He slid his finger inside her and she cried out, her body jolting in pure, mindless pleasure.
Selfishpleasure.
She couldn’t just stand here and let Jack do all the work. She gripped his head, rubbing little circles, massaging his scalp, and he made a dark sound low in his throat and surged to his feet. Wrapping her in hard arms, he nudged her back on the bed and followed her down.
“Jack.” She twisted under him, her skirt scrunching around her hips. Too manyclothes. She wriggled in frustration.
He levered off the bed in one smooth movement, stripping his shirt over his head, shucking his pants and underwear.
And he was just so... Whoa. Wow.
Jack in uniform, armed and dangerous, was enticing enough. Naked, he was all hot, honed strength. His chest was broad and deep, lightly dusted with dark hair, his torso solid with muscle.
He wasn’t like any man she’d been with before. No hint of adolescence, no sign of self-indulgence, nothing pale or soft or uncertain about him. She wondered what her friends back at school would think of him, this plain-spoken cop. What he would make of them. Would he find them, well, lacking in some way?
Would she?
Jack, in contrast, was all grown up. Fully adult, fully functioning, all male. She smiled. Hard to miss that, with the impressive evidence right there in her face.
She started to reach for him and then stopped. “I have birth control. In my purse.”
“I’ll take care of you.”
Yeah, she’d heard that before. “I’m not on the pill.”
“I said I’ll take care of it.”
He slid out the drawer under the bed and pulled out a box of condoms.A new box. Not that she was reading anything special into that, but... Cellophane crinkled as he broke the seal.
“When did you buy those?” she asked.
His mouth quirked in that wry half smile. “After I didn’t follow you to your room the other day.”
Her breath went as something in her chest expanded, pushing out the air. Maybe he hadn’t called her. But he’d wanted—he’dplanned—for this.
