Forbidden Fruit (17 page)

He held the can of whipped cream over her once more, and her sex clenched. Then he sprayed it in delicious coils onto her hardened nipples.

“This is what you want, isn’t it, Mia Rose? Just this one thing, more than anything.”

“Yes,” she breathed.

He touched one snowy mound with a fingertip, brought it to her mouth. And once more she took it between her lips, the sweet creaminess working on her like some kind of wild aphrodisiac.

When he leaned in and drew one cream-covered nipple into his mouth, she groaned, the sensation going through her like a sensuallshock. But she never let his finger slide from her mouth; she pulled it in deeper.

His tongue swirled over her nipple, and he sucked harder. Her sex was thrumming with need, hot and aching to be filled. He moved to the other breast, drew her nipple into his mouth, and sensation shot through her, a lightning bolt of pleasure.

His finger slipped from her mouth. “Ah, Jagger!

Please…God, I can’t wait!”

And as he sucked harder, the sweet scent of the whipped cream surrounding her, her head and her body filled with the memory of what this felt like, what this meant to her. She came, exploding, crying out.

Pleasure hammered through her veins, hot and sharp. So damn sharp she was yelling now, nearly sobbing, her body convulsing. Pure ecstasy.

She was still shivering with her climax when he pulled away, stood watching her face. She didn’t care how she looked at this moment. She didn’t care about anything but what was happening to her.

“So beautifullwhen you come, Mia Rose. This is only the first time tonight. I’m going to make you come over and over. I want to see it, to feellyour body tremble. To taste you as you come onto my tongue.”

“Ah, God…”

He moved down then, ran his tongue in a long line up one thigh, making her squirm. And even though she had climaxed only moments before, she was nearly ready to come again the moment he lapped at her chocolate-covered cleft.

God, it was too good, too much! She arched her hips as pleasure drove into her with every flick of his tongue. The scent of chocolate was strong in her nostrils, sweet and sharp all at the same time. And his lovely, lapping mouth. So good. Then he used his fingers to really open her up, and his wet tongue dove inside, that velvet softness licking at her flesh, making her crazy with need.

She was panting, breathless, another climax building, bit by fiery bit. When he latched on to her clit, it seemed to swell right into his mouth, against his soft tongue.

“Jagger! Please…don’t stop. I…I need you.

Please…please…”

Some part of her knew she was incoherent. Didn’t matter. All that mattered was his wet, sucking mouth on her, his fingers sliding over the stickiness on her skin, that scent of heat and sugar.

Very quickly the tension in her body built, pure ecstasy centered in her core, spreading outward, untillshe was humming all over with it. And Jagger kept on, sucking, licking, using his fingers now to massage the lips of her sex. To dip inside. Pleasure drove into her, searing her with its heat, arrowing deep down. And she came once more, shattering, her system turning to molten liquid. She was nothing more than sensation, one long, trembling surge of pleasure after another.

“Oh…oh…Yes!”

She was bucking into his mouth, her muscles clenching so damn hard. Tears slid down her cheeks. Tears of joy. Tears of pain for what she’d missed all these years.

When it was over Jagger lifted his head, wiped his face on the back of one arm. When he kissed her she could taste it all: the whipped cream, the chocolate and caramel, and the sharp tang of honey mixed with her own ocean flavor, salty and so sweet.

She was melting, shivering, small frissons of pleasure still shooting through her body.

“Yeah. Fast and furious, baby,” Jagger said to her, his voice quiet. “You needed it. Now we can take our time. Now we can really play.”

He wiped a finger over her skin, swept it over his own lips, and kissed her. Soft kisses, full of sugar.

He pulled back, stood looking at her. She couldn’t think straight. She only wanted him to touch her again.

Her mind felt far away, and yet she was as tuned in to her body as she’d ever been in her life. Her limbs were heavy against the wooden table, as though she were grounded there, an organic part of it.

Jagger undressed himself, moving slowly. When he stepped forward and she caught sight of his cock, brown and hard and beautiful, her mouth literally watered.

“I need to touch you,” she told him, her voice quavering.

He pulled a chair over, stepped onto it, then onto the table, and knelt over her body. He picked up a ramekin, poured it over his cock. Some of the still-

warm liquid dripped onto her stomach. She drew in a deep breath, taking in the sharp, earthy concoction of caramelized sugar, the scent of fruit, the scent of desire.

Jagger picked up a strawberry, ran it over the tip of his caramel-covered cock, and she heard his own sharp indrawn breath, saw his cock pulse. He lifted the berry to her lips, and she opened for him, let him slide the fruit inside. She sucked the caramelloff, then bit into it.

“Yeah, that’s it, baby.”

Shifting, he raised his hips over her, and she lifted her head a little to take his swollen shaft into her mouth.

Inch by sweet inch, she swallowed him. And as she did, she felt almost as though his cock were pushing into her sex. She was wet, clenching, pulsing with pleasure once more, just from the sensation of his flesh in her mouth, the taste of the caramellon his skin. He snaked a hand behind her head, holding her fast to his pumping cock. He was hitting the back of her throat; her eyes were watering. But she wanted all of him, as much as she could get. And the harder he thrust, the harder her sex pulsed, thrummed with need, building and building.

“Ah, Mia Rose, you’re too good, baby. I have to stop.”

Jagger pulled out of her mouth, leaving her empty.

“Jagger, no…”

He smiled, bent down, and kissed her. “We have allnight. And I have promises to keep.”

He covered her body with his then, the chocolate and caramelland honey making their bodies slide, as though they were beings made entirely of liquid, getting warmer as he moved. He slipped lower, ran his fingers over her belly, her breasts.

He picked up a slice of fresh mango, put it to her lips, and told her, “Just suck on it, Mia Rose, don’t bite into it.”

She did as he asked, too mindless to do anything else. She opened her lips, and he slipped the fruit in.

It was coolland lovely on her tongue before he pulled it out. He did it again, and it was almost like a smallcock sliding in and out of her mouth. The sensation, the idea of it, sent shivers racing through her body.

Her nipples, her clitoris, were so hard, painfullwith need. But she concentrated on the fruit sliding in and out of her mouth, sweet and fresh. Like fucking. Like love.

Jagger pulled the fruit from her mouth, bent over her, and kissed her lips.

“So sweet, my Mia Rose,” he murmured. He sat back, and she watched his face, saw how his features were loose with desire, his lush lips swollen as he rubbed the mango over them, sucked it into his mouth for a moment.

Using one hand, he reached down and held the lips of her sex open. Then he slid the mango over her aching cleft.

“Oh!”

“It’s good, isn’t it? I knew you’d like it.”

He ran the plump slice of mango over her slit, then, dipping lower, pushed the tip of it right into her.

“Ah, God, Jagger!”

He pulled it out, dipped inside her again, and she was panting, aching, crying once more. And when he slipped the mango out of her, put it to his lips, and ate it, she nearly lost her mind.

He bent over her, rubbing his cock over her sticky belly. And she loved it, loved the way he pushed his hard shaft against her stomach: the slip and slide of flesh against flesh. He moved up, held her breasts together with his hands, and slid his cock in between. And as he pumped between her breasts, he used his thumbs to tease her nipples. Her hips arched up off the table, her sex too empty, wanting, yearning.

“Jagger, I need you inside me. Now. Please,” she gasped.

“I need you, too, baby.”

He pulled her legs up and apart, untillher knees were bent, tight against her shoulders. She was so completely open to him as he knelt between her thighs. There was one brief moment when she was dimly aware of Jagger pulling a condom packet from somewhere on the table, rolling it over his cock. And then he was pushing into her, all the way to the hilt in one long, lovely stroke.

She reached up and held on to his strong shoulders, his skin sticky and slippery all at the same time. Allaround them was the scent of warm sugar as he drove into her. Long, sweeping strokes of his hips, each one more devastating than the last. And he kept his eyes locked on hers, his expression of pleasure driving into her as deeply as his cock.

Desire swarmed her, taking her higher, and soon she was at that lovely peak once more. Jagger’s gray eyes glittered, dark and deep, bottomless. And as he tensed over her, her climax took over her body, drowning her in pleasure, in him.

Surge after surge, like heat, like liquid fire, like sugar melting in her veins. And something inside her broke open, broke apart in a warm rush. She felt it, that opening up. And it was scary for one brief moment before she let the fear go, too.

Jagger’s hand was on the back of her neck, his fingers burrowing in her hair as he shivered and groaned. And he kept his gaze locked on hers, so that she saw everything in his eyes. Beautiful.

Powerful.

Their bodies were still writhing, sweet flesh sticking together. And there was a new ache in her body, in her chest. She wanted to cry. And yet she’d never felt happier in her life.

“Jagger…what is this?”

His gaze still held hers. He lifted her head closer, bent and brushed his shivering lips across hers.

“It’s love, Mia Rose. It’s love.”

MIA BIT DOWN HARD ON THE WAVE OF PANIC

RIPPLING OVER her skin like an icy chill.

Love.

God, but hadn’t that very idea run through her mind only a few minutes earlier? So naturally she hadn’t even questioned it. How could she be so damn scared she was shaking, even as she lay beneath Jagger’s warm body? On the table where he had staged her deepest fantasy. He had done this for
her.
No man had ever done anything of this magnitude for her. She’d never even dreamed anyone would. But Jagger was different from anyone she’d ever met.

She
was different, with him.

Fear lay like a hard lump in her throat. She couldn’t speak. And her head was still spinning, her body buzzing with pleasure.

Jagger was kissing her, tiny kisses over her cheeks, her chin, her closed eyelids. She couldn’t bear to look at him now, not into those beautifullgray eyes.

She knew she couldn’t handle it. Knew she would see too much there. Knew if she opened her eyes and looked into his at this moment, she would falltotally and irrevocably in love with him.

She squeezed her eyes tight. But his lips, so soft against her skin, seemed to be working their way beneath it. His warmth was spreading right into her, into her body, her mind, her heart.

No, no, no!

But when he kissed her lips, so tenderly it made the tears spill over her cheeks, a small torrent of emotion she had absolutely no controllover, she knew it was too late.

“God, Jagger,” she whispered in awe, unable to controllwhat she was saying any more than she could what she was feeling. “I’m in love with you.”

His lips were so close to hers, she could feellhis breath warm and fragrant on her face. She opened her eyes and looked at him finally, through the blur of hot tears.

“Baby, don’t cry. It’s alright. I love you, Mia Rose.”

He held her face between his hands, and that touch alone was sweeter than anything she’d felt in her life.

That touch, the expression on his beautifullface, the tone of his voice, warm and heavy with love.

She’d never been so scared in her life.

“I…I can’t believe this is happening.” Was that her voice? So choked, so unsure?

“It’s all good, baby.” Jagger stroked her cheek with his thumb.

She shook her head. But she let him help her to sit up, to lead her to the shower, where they stood under the water, quiet together. She leaned her head on his chest, let him wash her. So gently, so tenderly.

Then he dried her with a thick, white towel, wrapped her in one of his pajama tops, slipped the bottoms over his own slim hips. Then he took her to his bed, lay down next to her, his arms around her.

She tried to relax, but she couldn’t do it. Her mind was whirling.

When he slipped his hand up and cupped her breast, her body responded to his touch as it always did: that immediate fire in her blood, burning through her like some long-lost yearning she’d never been aware of untillshe met him. But she resisted now, rolled away from his touch.

“Mia Rose, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know how to explain it. I’m just…so damn scared. God, I can’t do this. I can’t.”

“Is it the age thing? The student-teacher thing? I’llquit the class. I can take a summer course. I’ve been thinking about it all weekend.”

“No, you can’t do that. This is the last class you need to graduate. You can’t screw that up because of me.”

“It wouldn’t be because of you. It would be because of me. Because I love you, baby. And I’ll do whatever I need to so we can be together. I can’t pretend it’s not happening anymore. Not now. Everything has changed.”

He was right. Everything had changed. But she didn’t know if she could deallwith what was happening between them. It was all so much simpler when they were nothing more than two people who were attracted to each other, exploring a sexuallfantasy together. But it had been a while since the dynamic between them was that easy, that basic.

Still, she didn’t like that he’d make such a foolish choice about his future. Not when it was based on their relationship, a relationship she wasn’t even certain she could handle.

“I think that’s a bad idea, Jagger.”

“I can still start at Berkeley in the fall.”

“That’s not the point.”

He was quiet a moment, then he turned her body toward him, looked into her eyes.

“What is it, then? What are you saying?”

She bit down on her lip, willing that pain to take away the sharp ache in her chest. “I’m…I’m saying that maybe I don’t know how to do this. And that I think it’s foolish for you to make a choice right now that can influence your future. I don’t think you’re being entirely rational.”

“There’s nothing rationallabout love, Mia Rose.”

“Please don’t make a joke of this!”

“I’m not. Do you have any idea how reallthis is for me? Because I’m taking a hell of a chance here, with you. It’s like I’m slicing a part of myself open, leaving myself raw. But I have to do it. I’ve been so damn hurt before. I was never going to chance this again.

But I can’t not love you. Even if it tears me apart allover again.”

“That makes it even worse!” Her heart was hammering, her whole body hurt.

“Worse?” He lifted himself up so he was braced on one elbow, looking down at her. He ran a hand through his hair. “What’s so bad about loving each other?”

But she saw something flash in his eyes. He was feeling it, too. That uncertainty.

She said quietly, “I think you have some idea of what the problem is, Jagger. I’m…I’m deficient when it comes to relationships. I don’t really let anyone in.

Oh, I’ve been trying. With Karalee. With you. But it’s not nearly good enough. And you have your issues, too, obviously. Old baggage. And I’m exactly the sort of woman who could hurt you in the worst way possible. Because I don’t…I don’t really know how to love. Not anymore.”

“I thought I didn’t, either. And then I met you. I had to ask myself if all that shit was just a cop-out. And you know what? It is. I’m coming to understand that on some levellI thought my past relationships falling apart was my fault. Maybe it was. Who knows? I’m beyond wasting time dissecting it now. Now I think I can do it right, with you. Don’t let your fears mess it up, Mia Rose.”

Her face went hot with anger. “I’m not the only one who’s afraid.”

“No. But you’re the only one who’s willing to walk away.”

“I can’t talk about this now.”

“You can’t just pretend you don’t love me.”

She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes once more. “No. But I can take some time to decide what to do about it.”

“Fuck.” He flopped onto his back on the bed, leaving a cold distance between them.

“I think I should go home.”

He was quiet for a long time. She watched him, his jaw working as he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, rubbed a hand over them. “Yeah. Okay.

Maybe you should.”

The knot in her stomach pulled tight; it seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. A thousand pounds of pain. But she didn’t know what else to do. She had to think, to figure out what loving this man might mean for her, for him.

“Jagger…” She put a hand out, touched his arm, felt him flinch. She dropped her hand, a new surge of pain stabbing into her belly. “Okay. Okay. I just wanted to say…this doesn’t mean…this doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you. I just don’t know. I don’t know what it means.”

He turned to look at her. His eyes were dark, full of emotion. She felt like a complete bitch for doing this to him.

“Let me know when you figure it out.”

There was anger in his voice. She didn’t blame him.

The wood floor was cold beneath her bare feet as, slipping out of bed she found her clothes and got dressed in the dim neon light filtering through the windows. Picking up her purse, she paused, thought of going back to where Jagger lay quietly in the big, soft bed, but she had no idea what she should say to him. She supposed she’d already said everything she needed to for tonight. Too much, probably.

Instead, she opened the heavy door and slipped out of the apartment, feeling as though she were stealing away. She felt like a coward. But she had to go.

By the time she got into her car, the tears were coming hot and fast. She had to keep blinking them away so she could see to drive, the city lights like watercolors bleeding into the night outside the windows. Her mind was spinning, her body strung tight with nerves, with adrenaline.

She could not believe she was in love with him.

She could not believe she loved him, and had left him behind.

The city seemed all too quiet as she drove over the hills, her heart pounding in her ears the only sound she heard; that and her own gasping breath as she struggled to hold the anguish inside.

More tears came, untillshe had to give up and pullover, yanking a little too hard on the parking brake, hurting her hand. She didn’t know where she was, exactly. She didn’t care.

You have lost your mind.

No, you’ve lost your heart.

Damn it!

The tight, heavy ball in her chest expanded, filled her so completely she couldn’t breathe. Her head was spinning, so full of information, emotion, she was blinded, deafened, by it all.

She bent over the steering wheel, curling as much into a ball as she could manage in the cramped car seat. She was shaking. The tears still fell silently.

The enormous sob that had been building in her throat since the moment Jagger told her he loved her was like some solid thing. She almost expected to see it swell, to rise from her body, to choke her. To kill her.

How could she survive feeling like this? So fucking awful. It hurt too much.

The sob welled up, and for severallseconds she truly could not breathe. A ragged heat built in her chest, scalded her, made her head feellas though it were being crushed. And then the sob broke out, like shards of glass coming out of her throat. And she was making noises like some injured animal, a long, raspy keening that seemed to go on forever. She was horrified. In pain. So much pain. Her body ached, screamed with it. And she was shaking so damn hard her teeth were chattering.

Images of Ben, her mother, her grandmother, flashed through her mind, a series of incoherent ideas and memories. And she saw Jagger’s face there, too.

“Oh, God…” It came out in a choked whisper. “I’ve lost him already.”

Karalee groaned as she sat up. She’d fallen asleep on the sofa at some point. Now she was stiff and cold. Pulling a throw blanket from the arm of the couch, she slid it around her shoulders. It must be early; it was still half dark. As her mind cleared, she remembered what she was doing there, everything that had happened the night before.

She took in a deep breath, the coollmorning air calming her. Rising on stiff legs, she went to look out the living room window. She didn’t know what she was looking for. She just needed to move.

It was a classic foggy San Francisco morning outside. She’d always loved the fog in some strange way. It was one reason why she’d moved to this neighborhood, so close to the ocean. But this morning she’d never seen anything more bleak.

She knew it was because of how she felt inside.

Because of how Gideon had made her feel.
Made
her feel. She’d allowed it to happen, yes, but he had been the one to bring her to this bleak place.

Suddenly the grief was overshadowed by anger, burning bright, burning through the morning fog, through the hurt.

How dare he do this to her? Lead her on, let her see his emotions finally, admit his pain, his secrets, then dump her?

How dare he make her feellsomething for him? How dare he make her open her heart, then walk all over it?

She tossed the blanket to the floor. She was not having this; oh no. She was going back to Gideon’s house and giving him the reaming he so richly deserved. No man played with her emotions this way. She’d spent a lifetime happily avoiding it. Look what had happened when she’d finally let someone in!

She stalked down the hallway to her bedroom, quickly changed out of her skirt and into a pair of jeans and a sweater. Gideon loved her in a skirt. But she wasn’t dressing for him this time.

Grabbing her keys, she flung the front door back, stalked to her car, and drove across town through the quiet, gray morning.

Gideon’s neighborhood was even more quiet. But she really didn’t notice anything around her; she was too focused on reaching his front door. She lifted her hand and gave it a hard rap, the anger still burning through her.

He pulled the door open, looking rumpled and half asleep, and still dressed in his clothes from the night before.

“Christ, Karalee. What are you doing here?”

“I had to talk to you.”

“I want to talk to you, too.” His voice was rough.

Sexy.

Fuck.

She was not going to notice that.

“You had your say last night. Or rather, you didn’t fucking say anything. Except good-bye, in the most abbreviated way.”

“I know.” He rubbed a hand over his unshaven jaw.

“Here, come inside.”

The anger was still trying to boillas she brushed past him. But beneath it was an enormous surge of wanting she couldn’t deny. When he turned to look at her she took a step back, forcing her hands to stay still at her sides when all she wanted was to touch him.

“Okay.”

Gideon moved past her and went to stand by the bank of windows in the living room, started to pace.

She didn’t step away from the entryway by the door.

He paused in his pacing. “Karalee, will you sit down?” Then, when she refused to move, “Please?”

She crossed her arms, shook her head, but she went to sit on the brown leather couch.

“Okay, Gideon. Talk. Say whatever it is you wanted to say.” The anger was draining away, no matter how hard she tried to hang on to it.

He ran a hand over his jaw once more, and she saw the stubble there, how tired he looked. His eyes were red, his features soft. He was pacing again, his bare feet scuffing over the wood floor. She hated that seeing him like this made her melt a little inside.