Too Far Gone (In Too Deep #2) (9 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Lara

I didn’t have my phone, I certainly couldn’t go back to get it and to my own dismay, I didn’t come close to memorizing Jake’s number.  All I had was my coat, my shoes and a single hope – one that could very well mean nothing.  After all, I was high on adrenaline and my mind had done a one-eighty since finally getting up from the couch.  I’d let myself fall into some pathetic, dark place where I’d given up on everything but thanks to Dane, my fire was back and so was my hope.

So I went to Brooklyn.

I had a lucky twenty dollars in my pocket so I asked the cabbie to take me seventeen bucks into DUMBO before having him stop so I could leave a tip.  Then in the rain, I walked four, maybe five blocks till I was on Water Street.  It was starting to pour.  I was soaking quickly through what little clothes I had on, but I slowed my pace as I neared the window of the bar in which I’d first met Jake.  We’d been Max and Tara that night – the only night we’d had without having to think about anything else in the world.  Nothing besides wanting each other so badly the rest of the room could feel it.

I just wanted to be them again.

But the closer I got to the window, the faster my pulse raced.  Everything I had on me and in me banked on the chance that he was there.  The very slim chance.  I had no idea if Jake was in New York let alone Brooklyn, and in that little neighborhood joint where I’d first laid eyes on him.  There was no certainty at all, and yet I’d run out of my apartment from Dane, naked under my coat with no money, phone or ID in my pocket.  All I had was this relentless hope that Jake was in the very spot I’d spent my last dollar traveling to.

I wanted so bad for it to be real that I just stood next to the brick wall for a minute, at the edge of the window, too scared to look in and let reality crash down on my shoulders.

But finally I took the jump.

My hand on the wall, I peered through the glass.  Right away, my heart twisted.  An empty room.  Two tables, one server, a lonely bartender.  Not even the same one I’d seen that night. 
Please.  Please, please
.  I stared at that Employees Only door where I’d first seen Jake emerge from.  I willed him to come out of it. 
Please, please, please.

But he didn’t.  And in no time, I was freezing, hot tears streaming down my face as I walked fast in no direction on the empty cobblestone road.  I had no idea where I was going.  All I knew was I had to go.

But then I caught something.

Through the corner of my eye, I saw movement.  Across the street.  Despite slowing down, I forced myself not to look, not to give myself another ridiculous hope.  One foot in front of the other, I pushed myself to ignore it, to keep walking unless I felt the realness of his touch on my skin.

And when I did, my knees gave out.

“
Lara.
” Outrage.  Worry.  Relief.  All of it balled into the sound of my name emanating from his lips.  His hands held my waist.  They were all that kept me from crumbling.  The tears before were nothing compared to the ones that fell now as I looked up into the realness of Jake’s eyes.  I grabbed fistfuls of his wet shirt as his hands went to cup my face, his gaze unblinking as he shook his head and studied me through the sheets of rain.  “Christ, Lara, what the hell,” he exhaled, crushing his lips against mine.  I melted into him.  I wasn’t even sure my feet were touching the ground.  “I was trying to find you all day.  Sloane too.  Jackson said you weren’t home.”

I shook my head.  “He lied, I was.  He’s just…” I trailed off.  I didn’t care to talk about Jackson.  Or Dane.  “Jake.  Listen, I’m sorry for losing it yesterday. I’m sorry for being careless.  And about what I said… if you don’t… it’s fine if you don’t…”

“Lara, stop.  Just stop for a second.”  His velvet murmur coated my skin.  “What you said last night – I should’ve acknowledged it.  I know I should have.  It wasn’t fair to you to keep those words hanging in the air like they meant nothing.  I didn’t handle that the way I should have last night but the reality is that I haven’t known you for very long.  At all.  It doesn’t make any sense for me to love you.  But with every fucking fiber of my being, I do and to be honest, those words have been lingering in the back of my head for probably longer than they have in yours, Lara, how could they not? I’ve been falling in love with you since the first word you spoke to me in there and I’ve been actively, every day,
fighting
the feeling since I found out who you were.  But it’s still there.  I can’t get rid of it.  I love you, Lara.”  The faintest smile touched his lips.  “Of course I fucking love you.  Aside from being the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid my fucking eyes on, you’re strong and determined and you still let yourself dream when everything in the world is working against you.  You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. And I want the fight you have.”

God, there wasn’t enough air in the world for me to breathe.  Now I knew my feet couldn’t possibly be touching the ground.  Wrapping my fingers around Jake’s wrists, I felt something joyous quivering on the corners of my lips.  “Well, I’ll share the fight.”  The reply I managed came with a crooked smile. “God knows I only have it because of you.”

Jake laughed, giving me a kiss before gently backing me under an awning and smoothing back my soaked hair.  I blinked raindrops from my lashes as I watched him, aching for him despite the fact that I was holding him.  Despite the fact that I had him.  I just needed even more.  I couldn’t get enough.

Closing my eyes, reveling in the unimaginable comfort of his touch, I made myself a promise right there.  That I’d do anything it took to be with this man – that I’d stop at absolutely nothing till we could have what Max and Tara had the night they’d first met, in that bar a couple doors down.  We’d have that night again and then go on beautifully from there, as if nothing had ever happened in between.

But first, I had to take care of the in between.

Lifting my lashes, I gazed up at him.  “Jake.  I have so much to tell you.”

Chapter Eighteen

Jake

I wasn’t sure what woke me up first – the crick in my neck or the sound of my phone buzzing itself off the edge of the table.  I blinked awake to find myself on the couch, Lara lying peacefully on top of me
. 
Apparently, we’d fallen asleep talking.

After all, there had been a lot to talk about.

As my haziness faded, I remembered all the things she’d told me last night and suddenly, a surge of energy came crashing down on me, compelling me to get the fuck up do a million things at once.  Go to the cops about Nick Seaver.  Fucking kill Dane McNulty.

“Jake?”

Lara’s soft, groggy laugh brought me quickly back to Earth.  Slowly, she rose from my chest, the most beautiful but pitiful thing I’d ever seen as her nose winced and twitched, waiting desperately for a sneeze.

“Shit, I let you fall asleep like this,” I muttered hastily at her wet clothes, sitting up as she did too, straddling my lap.  “We should get you out of these before you get sick,” I murmured, unknotting the tie on her trench coat and pulling it open.

I froze when I saw her wearing nothing underneath.  I stared. 
Pure.  Fucking.  Perfection. 
A hard breath whooshed out from my lips as I took her in.  “Lara, what…?”

“What?” she giggled, feigning innocence.  “Like you’ve never seen me naked before.” 

I was entranced, running my fingertips up her smooth stomach.  “I usually know I’m about to so I get some kind of mental preparation,” I laughed, trailing my hands up till I was cupping her tits, propping her nipples up for my tongue.  They were pink, hard – like candy I’d gone far too long without tasting.

“Oh, God,” Lara breathed, rolling her head back and hugging my head tighter against her chest.  “I need this so bad right now,” she moaned softly, leaning back, pulling me forward, giving me the sweetest mouthful of her body.  Licking, nipping, sucking soft then hard, I freed her nipple from my lips with a
pop
, then pushing her coat off of her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor.  Casting just a look at her panties, I had her up on her feet, her pussy at the level of my eye as she pushed down the lace, letting me pull it the rest of the way down her flawless legs.  One foot, then another, she stepped out of them.  But when she was ready to sit back down on my lap, I stopped her.

“Stay there,” I murmured, having her stand before me.  Nodding at the top of the couch, I cupped her left thigh.  “Put it up there,” I instructed.

Astonishment danced in her eyes for a second before she bit her lip and did as she was told.  Stepping one foot up on the back of the couch, she spread her legs wide enough to present my mouth with the smooth length of her wetness.

“Perfect,” I murmured, freeing my cock from my jeans as I took in the view from where I sat between her legs.  Her breath was already jagged, her chest rising and falling with a heaviness that made me want to lick the full underside of her perfect breasts.

But I had something else in mind first.  And I wasn’t going to rush it.

Running a hand up the leg she stood on, I leaned forward, savoring the little moans that escaped her throat before my mouth even touched her.  I groaned myself as I got closer, intoxicated by her sound, her scent, every fucking last thing about her.  Once my tongue was an inch from her clit, I squeezed her ass, a loud gasp bursting from her lips as I spread her just a little wider for my tongue.

“Fuck, Lara.”  One taste and I was in Heaven.  My grip on her tight ass hardened as I drew hot, wet circles around her pearl – slow at first then faster, wider since I couldn’t get enough of the way she said my name.  Breathing deep, I devoured her, in sensory overload as I savored her moaning and tasted her honey.  I could do this every fucking day for the rest of my life.  Her body, her voice, the satisfaction of her ecstasy – give me those three things and I’m set.  I wouldn’t need anything else.

“Jake, please… I can’t stand anymore…”

I pulled away to look up at the tortured beauty on her face. “You’re going to stand until I make you come,” I murmured, sliding my fingers easily into her and watching her buck.  I pumped inside of her, running my free hand up and down her leg for a minute as I sat and watched her drown in pleasure.

“Oh God, that feels so good,” she gasped, her leg shivering under my touch.  With nothing to hold onto, her hands grasped at the air, spasms rippling through her body as I brought her closer to a finish.

“Squeeze your tits for me.”

She did.  The rumble of a growl rose from the pit of my throat as I watched in wild arousal as Lara soothed herself with two hands on her breasts, rubbing, squeezing, pushing them together so hard I couldn’t take it anymore, whipping my cock out of my jeans.

“Good girl, Lara.”  My teeth were gnashed as I watched her, thrusting inside her, jerking myself off all at once.  When I needed it again, I leaned forward to taste her, to slide my fingers out and push my tongue in instead.  Her juices slid onto my lips as I immediately tunneled – so deep I had her screaming before she could even come.  My hands gripped both her legs now, holding her up as I savored every last drop of her desire, ready to blow from just the sound of my name tearing from her throat.

As she came, the room filled with the sound of her moans, every breath of air I drew in thick with her pleasure.  Ecstasy still seeped from her lips as I carried her up those stairs and into my room, laying her out on the bed and letting my eyes travel across every inch of her body as I peeled off the rest of my clothes.

“Jake,” she breathed my name and held her arms out.  That was all I needed to go to her.  Whatever she wanted, I’d give.  Anything she asked for, I’d find it.  If there was any woman who deserved every pleasure, satisfaction and relief in the world, it was mine.

Climbing onto her, I let her pull my lips to hers, my tongue gladly taking the invitation of her parted lips.  I groaned against them as she reached down to wrap her fingers around my pulsing cock, though she could barely pull one stroke before I couldn’t take it.  I tore my mouth from her.

“I need you now.”  I clenched my jaw, ready to explode from just the touch of my helmet grazing her stomach.  She cupped my jaw, looking into my eyes as she parted her legs for me.  But when I reached for the condom, she breathed eagerly about the pill. And with my cock straining furiously to be inside her, that was it.  I sunk myself inside her, roaring wild at the sheer pleasure.  Nothing could break my gaze from her as I rocked into her body, groaning from the depths of my chest as I pushed deep, even deeper, burying myself inside her and filling her to the hilt.

“Yes,” she breathed out, arching her back completely, presenting me her trembling breasts.  The image was enough to make me lose it but I couldn’t.  Not until I got to hear her once more.

“Come for me again, baby,” I panted, my jaw tight, my pulse between my teeth as I felt every last muscle in my body clenching harder than ever before.  Thrusting deep, my gaze slid from her bouncing breasts to her gorgeous collarbones to the swollen, wide open lips I couldn’t wait to kiss every morning.  “Fuck, you’re so beautiful.”  My groan was ragged as I felt her tighten around me, as I heard the small, desperate whimper that meant she was seconds from coming.  “Come for me, Lara.”

Throwing her arms around my neck, she gasped.  “I’m coming – ”

I couldn’t hold it any longer.  As she fell apart underneath me, I came with her, the same hot ecstasy rippling through our bodies, seizing our muscles and minds and sending us so far away I wasn’t sure we’d come back.