“Pardon?”
“How sorry are you, Rosebud?” His eyes had changed. Something else was there, and she felt her bones turn to liquid as she realized it was lust.
“I-I, ah, don’t understand.”
“The only reason I’m not looking at twenty to life right now, after going to your house and beating the tar out of whoever was in there trashing the place, is because I promised you, so I need something else to take the edge off my anger. Neither of us are criers, but we’re both wired. So I’ll say it again, how sorry are you?”
He may be lounging on that wall, but he was tense, legs braced, arms folded. His shorts hung low on his hips, and she saw the ridges of muscle on each side of his stomach disappearing below the waistband. He was sexy, pure and simple, and he should be hanging on a dozen walls for woman to ogle. But he wasn’t; he was here and so was she. Messy hair, broad chest, it was a package that would make any woman melt.
“Something happened to your tongue, sweetheart?”
She wanted to run it all over him, starting with the band of hair that rose from his shorts. Heat suddenly pulsed through her veins, and her breasts felt heavy as she rose from the seat and dropped the blanket. Branna had never been a femme fatale, never incited a man to unbridled lust, but she wanted Jake to be the first. The aftermath of fear had left her body pulsing with need and, like him, it needed an outlet.
“Those shorts can go first.” His voice was a deep purr of pure sin.
Branna undid the button and slid them slowly down her thighs, then pushed them to the floor and stepped out of them. The long T-shirt hid her white lace panties.
“Shirt now.” The rasp in his voice made her legs turn to liquid. Reaching for the hem, Branna lifted it slowly up her body, amazed at her daring, then pulled it over her head. Throwing it aside, she stood before him in her panties.
“Ah, baby, you are one sexy woman. Now come here and climb all over me.”
She did, and the entire time his eyes ran over her, hunger in their dark depths. Branna kept walking until her body was pressed to his. She felt how rigid he was holding himself, felt the hard length of him pressed against her stomach. Lifting one hand, she grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged until his mouth met hers.
It was hungry and carnal, and Branna wanted it all; the savage heat and driving need inside him was matched by her own. It drove away thoughts of what those men had done to her house and what they might have done to her.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He cupped her face.
“Never, you could never hurt me.”
Branna ran her lips over his jaw and down his neck. Her hands kept busy, trailing over his stomach then lower to release the button on his shorts and push them and his underwear down his body. His hands were in her hair and anywhere else he could reach, and she was on fire, her body wet and aching for him. Wrapping her hands around his hot, hard length, she stroked him.
“That feels too good.” Closing his eyes as she caressed him, his breathing grew harsh. “I want you so badly right now, Branna. I’m not sure I can wait.”
“Don’t wait, please, Jake. I need you inside me.”
He lifted her into his arms and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to his room. Laying her on the bed, he stripped off her panties, then lifted her hips and sank deep inside her. It was hard and fast, and Branna cried out as ecstasy rolled through her in waves. He let out a long, soft moan as she clenched tight around him.
“Last night, I watched you in that flirty little dress and thought about doing this.”
The pressure inside her built as his hand slid to cup one breast, the fingers rolling her nipple.
“I had a long cold shower when I got home, but even that didn’t help.”
He pushed deeper, and Branna arched her back as the ecstasy built.
“Let go, Branna.”
And she did, the pleasure almost too much to bear as it crashed over her, her cries loud and long. He answered after one more thrust, his shout as loud as hers.
Branna fell onto the bed and he followed, his big body blanketing hers as he pressed her into the covers. The only sound in the room was the deep rasps of their breathing. He eased to the side, pulling her back to his front.
Her body felt limp, limbs weak, as she struggled to draw in a deep breath.
“You okay?”
“Da, no.” Branna seemed to have lost the ability to speak.
He snorted into her hair and then maneuvered them around until they were under the covers. “Sleep now, Rosebud. The morning is soon enough to think about the rest.”
