“I think it would take a much smarter person than Brenda to fool Adam, Myra, Joe and Jen.”
He raised his milk glass to her in a toast as she took her first bite of cake. “Oh, man, this really is good.”
Jonas enjoyed the second piece of cake, but more, he enjoyed watching Cindy devour hers with a singular focus. He had a feeling Joe would be getting interrogated about recipes next time Cindy was in a room with him.
Damn, he loved the woman. She was beautiful, kind, and generous, almost to a fault. It made him crazy that her parents didn’t see that in her. Her observations about Olivia were a perfect example. He had to admit, he’d been annoyed with Olivia for being snippy when he’d first met her, and for her maneuvering him into helping her with the move. If she had straight up just asked him, he wouldn’t have thought twice about helping. But now he realized she’d probably been afraid of being rejected for such a simple request, and had gotten used to having to do things the more difficult way. Which just turned people off her, and that became a vicious cycle.
But his Cindy had seen through the negativity, and now he thought he’d be seeing Olivia with different eyes. And remembering to take a closer look at others who might deserve that second chance.
Which, unfortunately, probably meant she was right to insist that everyone give Brenda a chance, even though he kind of just wanted to hate her on principle.
He forked up his last bite of cake and polished off his milk. His mate was watching him, having finished her piece already, her eyes sparkling.
“What’s going on inside that head of yours?” he asked.
“Well, I was thinking about cake and milk and things that go really well together, and then I was looking at you and thinking that you would go really well with whiskey. I don’t know why, just that smoky, smooth bite of a good whiskey seemed like it would really compliment your skin, and so I was trying to thinking of what kind of whiskey we have in the pantry and if it was good enough for you.”
He blinked at her, his brain having gone numb at some point during her response. Then, without a conscious decision to get up, he stood fast enough to knock his chair over and kissed her, pressing her hard into the back of her chair.
She hummed her appreciation as he tasted the cake and milk and all that was his Cindy. He wrapped his arms around her and stood, her legs automatically going around his hips. When he pressed her up against the wall, she pulled her lips free of his.
“Does this mean you’re not going to let me pour whiskey on you and drink my fill?”
“Later.” He tried to work the button on her jeans open. “Maybe you should start wearing skirts.”
She laughed and pulled her legs down. He dropped to his knees and had her pants open and pulled down to her thighs in seconds, her underwear only a second after. He teased her with licks and nibbles, up and down and all around, until she was moaning, her legs, trapped by her jeans, trembling beneath his hands.
He froze when the scent that had been teasing him for a few minutes actually registered with his brain. He looked up, found her watching him with a soft look. She nodded.
She was ovulating. It didn’t mean she would get pregnant if they had sex. But she could.
He kissed her belly on either side, where he vaguely imagined her ovaries were.
“I have some condoms. Somewhere.” He cleared his suddenly tight throat.
She smiled at him and shook her head, slowly. He felt her desire through their bond, a perfect match for his.
He resumed his path south.
“Jonas, let me—”
He sucked her clit between his lips, enjoying her shocked cry of release that followed almost immediately. Slightly sated, he helped her down to the floor and pulled her pants off. She reached down and worked on her socks while he pulled his shirt over his head with a laugh.
“It’s kind of chilly, baby, maybe you should leave your socks on.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and pulled her own shirt off. “You know, there are rooms in this house that are carpeted. There’s a bed. Two, actually. There’s a couch. We should probably find one of those things.”
“We can do that.” He kind of grunted out the last word as she launched herself at him, landing him on his back, her knees bracketing his hips, her hands pressing firmly down on his shoulders, her lips hovering an inch above his.
“Or we can stay here.” He brought his hands up her sides, then curved them over her breasts.
She kissed him, softly at first, then harder as he squeezed her breasts, toyed with her nipples. She moved her hips until she was sitting on his hard length, her wet heat an invitation he wanted to accept, but he couldn’t quite bear to stop her just yet.
He abandoned her breasts and moved to cup her butt. His fingers digging into the luscious globes, he rocked her against him. She cried out, pulling her mouth away from his. He took advantage, rolling them so he was on top, her legs automatically encircling him as he slid into her.
“Oh yeah,” she moaned. “More, Jonas.”
Her demand, her need of him, was everything. He slid his hands under her head so she wasn’t grinding it against the hard floor, his fingers tangling in her silky hair. He kissed her throat as he slid back out, nipped as he thrust in again. He kept the rhythm for several minutes, refusing to increase his pace no matter how much the heels digging into his ass encouraged otherwise.
