She was having trouble focusing on more than one part of him at a time. His strong hands, one gripping the steering wheel, the other sliding along her bare leg. His scent, that delicious masculine mix of soap and Jake. The muscles in his arms, straining against his shirt and making her speculate about what the rest of him would look like when she finally peeled off his last layers. Her body hummed with excitement. Excitement and arousal.
“Turn here. I’m the fourth house on the right. Park in the driveway.”
Those were the first words she’d spoken since they left the bar, and she was surprised at how hoarse her voice sounded. She could tell herself that it came from all the singing tonight, but she knew the truth: lust had left her throat rough, her head spinning. Her lips still stung from the intensity of their first kiss, and she needed more. She needed to spend hours exploring his mouth, and thankfully, they had nothing but time to do just that.
Jake parked his Jeep, and they tumbled out and raced up the stairs of her front porch. She fumbled with her keys, laughing as she almost dropped them before disengaging the lock and tugging Jake in after her.
Once the door was shut behind them, all their rushing fell away and they stood facing one another. In her heels, she barely had to look up to meet his eyes, dark and thick-lashed. They were usually full of intelligence and humor, but tonight his eyes reflected her own want back at her.
He took a step toward her, and she took a step back, unexpected nervousness flooding her. She took two more steps back as Jake took two more forward until she bumped against the wall. His eyes traveled across her face for a moment before he reverently ran two fingers down her cheek. At his gentle touch, her nerves fled and her hunger flared. He must have seen the shift in her eyes because he bent his head, and before she could overthink it or talk herself out of it, she tilted her face up and met his lips with hers.
They fell into each other then, kissing and touching. He ran his hands down her arms, and she slid her fingers under the hem of his shirt, moving them up his back. His skin was as warm as she’d imagined, his taut muscles flexing under her fingers. He licked along her lower lip, sliding across the seam with his tongue, and she opened her mouth to let him in. He kissed her urgently, only breaking the contact to move his lips down to her neck, grazing his teeth along her bare shoulder.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all night,” he rasped, pressing kisses against her skin. The heat of his breath made her shiver.
She let her head fall back against the wall as he slid her shirt farther down her shoulder, and her breathing hitched when he ran his big hand along her collarbone and then trailed his fingers down. He hooked a finger around the wide neck of her shirt and slowly, agonizingly slowly, pulled it down over her breast. When he ran his thumb over her nipple where it strained against the fabric of her strapless bra, she made a noise deep in her throat that made him smile wickedly and press himself against her. God, he was hard. She rubbed against him, wanting that delicious friction even through the layers of their clothes, and he groaned and pushed her bra down, gazing at her exposed breast for a moment. Then he met her eyes with such a rapturous expression that she had to laugh.
“And I’ve been thinking about this all night,” he said, voice rough.
“Mutual. So mutual,” she panted. “Touch meplease.” And he did, stroking her nipple first with his thumb and then with his tongue until she was writhing against him. He continued teasing her with his mouth as his hands moved down to grip her hips, holding her against the wall while he tilted forward and ground himself against her. She rocked against his cock until he groaned and moved his head up to claim her mouth again, giving her the opportunity to sink her hands into his hair. Of course it was as thick and soft as she’d imagined. Not a single part of him was turning out to be a disappointment.
After a series of long, drugging kisses, he broke away to command, “Bed, couch, floor. I don’t care, but it needs to be now.”
Mabel put a hand on his chest and pushed him back a step. “This first.” She grabbed the hem of his shirt and started to pull it over his head. Once he realized what she intended, he helped her by lifting his arms so she could tug it off and expose his torso. She tossed the shirt to the floor, and he held still as she looked her fill.
“You… you’re perfect,” she breathed.
And he was. Solid muscles curved along his arms, and his thick, defined chest lifted and fell with his heavy breaths. Goddamn,but her guess had been right; he had a full six-pack. She stepped forward and stroked a hand along his pectoral muscle, then followed the path of her hand with her tongue, loving the salt taste of him, the crispness of the dark hair that dusted his chest. She reached down and gripped the thick ridge of his cock through his jeans, then looked up at him with a wicked smile.
“I was right. Itisthe whole superhero package.”
He huffed out a laugh, but his eyes were closed, his hands clenching and unclenching. “I mean it, Mabel, I’ll pull you down on the floor right here and—”
She giggled and tugged him forward. “The couch,” she said, stumbling a little as she moved into the living room. “Lights on or off?” She reached for the light switch in the living room, missing it on her first attempt. With a frown, she tried again, but the switch was jumping around more than she expected.
She felt Jake go still behind her.
“What’s wrong?” She leaned against the wall to control the slight rotation the living room was doing around her. Maybe kicking off her high heels would help. She flipped her left shoe off but almost tumbled over when she reached down to pull off the right one. When she straightened, she found Jake frowning, and he’d stopped touching her, which was all wrong.
“How many drinks did you have tonight?”
Mabel grimaced at him, swaying slightly even though she’d kicked off those death trap heels.
“I don’t know,dad,” she said. “I had one or two at the bar, you brought me a couple, I had one onstage…”
Her voice trailed off when she saw the hunger on his face fall away, replaced by something that looked an awful lot like dismay. He stepped toward her, and she raised her arms to twine them around his neck. If they could just start kissing again, she was sure she could put that hot, needy look back on his face.
Instead, Jake ducked away from her arms and tugged her bra and then her shirt back into place.
“What… what are you doing?” she asked stupidly, reaching out to touch the miracle of his chest again.
Jake trapped her hand against his body and held it there, drawing her closer and placing a kiss on top of her head. “I’m going to hate myself for this maybe forever, but you’ve had a little too much to drink for me to be comfortable doing anything more than kissing you, sweetheart.”
Mabel struggled out of his grip. “What? No! I want you. I want this. I’ve wanted this for weeks!” She felt herself starting to wilt, an unsteady whine creeping into her voice.
“The feeling is so much more than mutual. You have no idea.” Jake’s laugh was strained. “And we can pick up where we left off as soon as possible, I swear. But I don’t want this to happen when you’re out of your head.”
He cupped her face and ran his thumbs along her cheeks, kissing her gently when she started to protest. “You wouldn’t like me very much tomorrow if I didn’t stop this now. I definitely wouldn’t like myself anyway.”
