Exposed (8 page)

"Thanks. I will." He smiled at her, sitting back in the chair to watch her work in the kitchen.

He should have asked to help, but he liked watching her more. The sway of her dark hair just touching her shoulders, the angle of her small nose, and the way she scrunched it with concentration. He might be in trouble, because thoughts kept teasing him of her spread out on the counter top of his breakfast bar, while he slowly licked her ...

"Grr," he rumbled under his breath.

What the hell was this? Sexual rebound wishes? More like frustrated sexual wishes or blue balls from disused sexual wishes. And he had more control than that ... didn't he? He certainly didn't want to scare Nia away with unwanted advances.

Nia brought over a large bowl of salad, and when she dipped to set it on the table he got a bountiful view of the slopes of her breasts cupped by lacy white satin. Inwardly he groaned, willing the appreciative evidence in his slacks not to show up.

"How was your day?" Nia asked, stopping her motions in front of him. She had a small smile on her curvy lips.

He was hoarse and he had to clear his throat. "Sadie kept calling."
Damn it.
He'd not meant to mention that.

Nia reached forward and touched his shoulder while her soft scent circled him. The desire to embrace her and bring her body against his was strong. He looked away, trying to gather his willpower.

She said, "Oh, how awful for you. Was it bad?"

"She’s acting as if she doesn't understand I’ve already served her with divorce papers." Why had he said that? Stupid mouth wouldn't stop.

Nia went to get the lasagna and bring it over to the table, as she said, "It sounds like some kind of game, but I don't know her." He nodded as Nia came and sat across from him. "Dig in," she said.

"It looks great, Nia." Then he said about her comment, "Sadie will play it for all its worth, though, driving me nuts, until the truth gets blurred." He sighed as Nia passed him a plate of lasagna. "With the divorce papers served, any debt she incurs will be hers now, though."

"That's good," Nia said with a soothing voice.

He took a bite. "This is really good."

"Thanks." She smiled. "It's kind of therapy, cooking, and I wanted to show you how sorry I was about yesterday and getting bitchy with you over my scumbag husband."

Her hand touched his on top of the table, and that simple touch thrilled him. He was either going to have to ignore his attraction to her or tell her about it.

He chuckled on her comment about a scumbag husband. “You could never be bitchy, you are too sweet." Hell, he blushed a bit, not certain he should have said it like that.

She looked a little startled, and then gazed at him intently. "I wasn't very sweet yesterday," she murmured.

He caught her hand, making their fingers weave into holding hands. "This is a tough time for both of us," he said, extremely glad she didn't pull her hand away, but kept their fingers intertwined.

"You are being noble and I really like that about you," she said.

It was as if they were caught looking deeply at each other. If only she knew what naughty thoughts he had about her, she'd not think him noble at all.

"Thanks." He brushed her palm with his thumb. It was an intimate act and he waited for her response. A light blush crept on her cheeks, and he looked down at their hands and deliberately did it again. "I'm really glad you’re here, Nia."

"I am too, Jack," she murmured.

Reluctantly, he let go of her small hand, not willing to let her know the full force of his attraction to her. "I haven't had a homemade meal in ages," he said instead.

They talked about their lives as they ate—him growing up in town, her not. It felt like a date, and he really liked that.

"So you like making those purses, then?" he asked, sitting back in his chair after finishing a good meal. They'd been talking about hobbies: his love of camping, which he never got to do, and her love of making really stylish and quirky purses.

"I love it," she replied. "I just sort of started when they had a dollar sale at work, and I got carried away with what I bought." She laughed, and he smiled at how pretty she was when she did that. "I had to use the material up and this is what came of it. Then I was hooked."

"You know I’m just a guy, and even I noticed that purse."

She looked surprised. "You did?"

He nodded. "It looks ... ah, interesting. I like the quilted patterns."

"Wow. Well, thanks. I do have ladies stop and ask me where I bought it." Suddenly the sound of a Roy Orbison song interrupted them. "Oh, my cell," Nia said, rising.

"You took Elvis off," he said, showing a wounded look.

She giggled, grabbing her phone out of her purse. "Sorry, Jack, I didn't know you liked Elvis so much," she teased. Then she looked at the call and immediately frowned. "It's him," she ground out.

Jack leaned forward and grabbed her hand gently, trapping her fingers against her cell. "Don't answer," he said. "We don't need to answer tonight."

N
ia felt every inch of Jack's hand over hers and she had to acknowledge the look in his eyes was more than friends ... it was intimate. She might have been married, but she knew when a man was interested in her. The thrill she felt eclipsed the anger she had about her husband's call.
Jack wanted her.
Maybe Jack just wanted any woman after the betrayal, but she stubbornly shoved that thought aside because her deepest secret was that she wanted him to want her.

"You’re right," she returned softly, moving her fingers beneath his fingers and clicking her phone off.

Jack's eyes grew deeper and warmer, making an answering flush move across her. He slowly looked over her face, then lower to her mouth. Things inside that hadn't made any appearances in a long, long time stirred.

"Jack," she whispered.

He blinked slowly, with his dark lashes falling and lifting, as if he were coming out of a trance. "You make me feel things I haven't felt before," he said slowly, so low she barely caught the words.

She was surprised to hear him say such an amazing thing, while an answering kick of excitement filled her.

"Me too," she murmured. Now she was looking at his mouth, tracing the contours. It would have to be absolutely amazing to be kissed by him. In a league her bastard husband could never touch—Jack was just that attractive to her.

The scratch of his chair sounded as he moved closer and his hand tightened over hers. "Tell me to stop and I will," he murmured, looking deep into her eyes.

He was going to kiss her!
If she let him. "I'm not moving, Jack."

His brown eyes flared, and he dipped closer as she dipped toward him. "God, Nia, I can't keep my mind off your sweet mouth." His big hand cupped her face, drawing her closer.

She gasped lightly at his sexy words, and when their lips touched, hers were open. Sensations expanded like a mini-explosion through her, and she lost coherent thoughts but for the textures, heat, and desire. They both scooted closer at the same time, while he turned her chin, angling his mouth deeper over hers. She followed the heat of his mouth, plucking, then meshing, then pressing deeper.

They switched angles to taste each other that way, and thrums of excitement like she’d never felt before poured through her. His fingers caressed the side of her neck down to her collarbone as their tongues touched.

A moan filled her throat, and suddenly she was pulled forward. She landed against his chest with her knees sinking to the kitchen floor. His arms circled her, pulling her tightly against him between his legs, while one of his hands cupped her bottom and the other sank into her hair. She explored the sinew on his shoulders and arms as their tongues tasted and caressed with deep glides. The simmer she'd been feeling fanned into a blaze, and she felt the hardness of Jack's erection where she pressed into him.

"I didn't mean to go so fast." His voice rumbled with emotion. Elation filled her that he'd planned anything where them coming together was concerned. She couldn't think she was so excited. Their breath heated together ... their mouths were a finger apart. "But you taste so good, it's hard to stop,” he murmured.

She nodded while his hand stroked her nape, but it was his hand gently fondling her behind, as if he weren't quite aware of it, which aroused her body to answer with heated throbs. She barely kept from obviously rubbing against his erection as she stroked his neck, feeling the heat of his body warming her breasts.

"I'm not sure what we are doing," she whispered. If she were brave enough she would tell him how much she liked it.

His temple touched hers, rubbing lightly, and the tilt put their mouths farther apart. "I don't think it is revenge or anything like that."

Nia blinked; she’d never thought of that. "Like we want to get back at them?" she asked.

He nodded lightly. "I'd never forgive myself for pushing you too fast into anything." He sighed heavily, and then he began to pull back.

She grabbed his shoulders, holding him tight and dragging him back. "We’re not done talking about this," she exclaimed softly.

His smile was perfect against her mouth. "Mmm."

She kissed him deeply several times, and then pulled away a bit. "Yes,
we
should decide."

His eyes simmered with intensity. "The lady is right, I shouldn't just decide for us." He kissed her lightly once. "However, it’s more critical on my side to disengage, if there is going to be any disengaging, before parts of me take over."

A tiny laugh escaped her as she skimmed her lower body slightly across "that" part. "I take that as direct temptation," he said, and he pulled her bottom until she was snug against him.

The impression of his rigid erection was a brand against her, answering tingles of arousal, attacking her lower. Jack kissed along her jaw, and then her neck, while she tilted her head back, encouraging access.

"Wow," she breathed, feeling her nipples grow harder into the solid wall of his chest.

"Seriously, Nia." He pressed kisses to her throat. "I can stop anytime." He pressed his lips to a spot that made her softly moan. "Don't want to stop." His tongue licked gently, causing her aroused shivers. "But I will."

"Don't stop." Her voice was breathless, and if she tried to think clearly her aroused body wouldn't let her; instead she rubbed against him, building the heat of that arousal.

"Nia," he answered gruffly, and she knew it was to the stimulation of their bodies moving against each other.

She threaded her fingers in his hair, dragging his mouth back to her lips. This kiss was more urgent and deeper. Their tongues flicked, pressed, and then licked with the rising heat of passion, while he pressed his arousal against her.

She desperately wanted that hardness pressing into her core, but doubts started attacking the back of her mind. She never climaxed with sex ... she only came when she used her own fingers. Would Jack think her lacking if she didn't come? Should she fake it with him?

She tried to let her body go where it wanted to go, into the blazing heat of passion that was so exciting it was making her wet with desire. But doubts kept picking at her.

Finally, she pulled away from the hot press of their mouths. "I'm not very good at this," she panted.

His lips were parted and wet from their kissing and his eyes were closed. It seemed a long time before he slowly opened his eyes. The passion banked in the brown depths of his irises stirred an answering call deep inside her.

"I'm not sure I am either," he said with a rough voice. He took a deep breath that expanded his muscular chest into her breasts. "So, I’m hearing we need to slow down and talk about this?"

She shook her head, then immediately contradicted that by nodding. "Yes," she said, torn. She wanted to fall into him and their spontaneous passion. She
should
just fake it.

"I don't want plain vanilla marriage sex anymore," he said. "I want long, passionate, and adventurous lovemaking that lasts for days." Each word, one after the other, that Jack spoke, so close to her mouth, built excitement, multiplying through her as if he’d intimately stroked her. "But I haven't done any kind of sex for a very long time."

Her brow furrowed as she tried to understand, with the heated sensations curling through her, what Jack’s last sentence meant. While his hand gently groped her bottom and his thick erection pulsed against her. He didn't have sex? Oh? Oh!

"That's not right," she blurted. "While mine was uninspired, I never say no."

"Uninspired, huh?" His lips grazed her jaw, then the corner of her mouth. "You are very inspiring, Nia."

"I never have orgasms," she blurted, with an embarrassed, whispering hiss. Her body stiffened as she awaited his reaction. She was so flawed.

Jack's body stilled and his hand stopped fondling her bottom. She was certain she'd shocked him.

"With intercourse?" he asked. Nia shook her head. "Never by a man's hand?" Another shake of her head. "Your hand?" She dipped her gaze and nodded. She felt his chest sighing. "Oral?" She didn't move. "You've never had a man's mouth on you, have you?"

Her fingernails curled into his muscle and she started trying to push away from him. He let her go just a bit, but held her from leaving completely. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, that was just too graphic, when things should be more romantic."

She peeked at him. It was hard ...
very
hard to talk about those things. But she wanted to, needed to, and he wasn’t being judgmental. At all.

"No, Jack, it's okay. I started it. Killed the mood." She brushed back a strand of her hair. "I just thought you should know. It's not like I don't love sex. Because I do."

"So we’re both rusty and unsure," he said, with his gaze, deep with intensity, looking straight into hers. "But hot and bothered too."

She really liked how he put things. She nodded, holding his gaze. "Definitely the hot and bothered part," she murmured, then she added, "I like that adventurous part too."

"
Jack
! I'm home,
Jack
! And I'm not leaving!"