Twisted Up (10 page)

Or? Or, or, or? Oh. “Well, I believe getting you in the shower with me is answering it.”

She stopped walking, forcing him to stop to. Her lips were pursed, her eyes narrowed. “Maybe I don’t want to get into the shower with you.”

“Liar.”

She flushed after a second or two. “Ass.”

He grinned. “Yep.”

He tugged lightly and she pouted but followed. Yeah, life with her would be a treat. Now all he had to do was convince her to give it a try with him, but first, he needed to get her all hot and bothered and slippery wet between her thighs, that’s when all her defenses were down, when she was open and giving. He wanted her on the edge, on that precipice where anything was possible, where she’d agree to anything if he’d just hold her right there, if he’d just keep her right there where her body quivered and all she could see and feel was pleasure.

He wasn’t above manipulation to get her to see him, to need him. But he’d never trick her. It was all her choice, all her decision. He just wanted a fair shake, a fair try.

“Justin?”

He stopped halfway up the steps and turned around. She had that dreamy, lusty look in her eyes again. She’d been staring at his ass. “Naughty girl.”

She nodded. “Can you take your jeans off?”

“What? Here?” He tried for affronted, again, but knew he failed.

She nodded again. “Uh-huh.”

He let go a pretty good but fake annoyed sigh, which didn’t faze her a bit, and made a big show of snapping buttons from their holes along his fly. Her green eyes darkened, and she licked her full bottom lip with the tip of her tongue.

Justin was at a bit of a loss as to what had gotten into her. She’d never looked at him like a piece of meat before today, at least not to the extent she was now or back out in the yard. “Ella.”

Her head snapped up. “What?”

He laughed and pushed his jeans down his legs to his ankles, stood tall and held his arms out to his sides. His cock was harder than a hammer, and the tip peeked out from the foreskin. The air that blew across it from the room made him tingle, but the way she looked at him, as though he were her last meal, made the tingle go away.

She took one step up and dropped to her knees. “Please, Justin,” she whispered.”

He wouldn’t tell her no this time as he had in the bedroom earlier. He wouldn’t stop her. He took her hair in his hand and pulled her toward him. Her mouth was already open, her tongue sliding out and he sucked in a breath, braced himself with his other hand on the banister and waited for the first touch, that first lick, that first caress of her fingers.

And when it came, his breath whooshed out between his lips and it was all he could do to keep standing.

It was going to be a long afternoon.

Chapter Six

Ella lay with her head on Justin’s lap, a glass of wine in one hand, his hand in her other as she looked up at the stars. Justin had a swing out behind his house that looked to simply be plopped down in the middle of the yard, but it was perfect really and far enough away from the house that the lights from inside or on the porch wouldn’t interfere with the big Texas sky full of twinkling dots.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said, completely in awe.

“Kinda figured. It really is something.”

“Something isn’t even close.” Looking up, she felt so small and insignificant and yet at the same time, she felt that if she just reached out a little, she could touch the sky with the tips of her fingers. She liked that idea. She liked believing she could just reach out and touch her dreams. She squeezed his hand at that thought and turned her head slightly so she could bring his face into focus.

The sky wasn’t the only something she was in awe of. She repeated her statement from the night in the truck on the way to his bed. “Two days isn’t enough, Justin.”

He looked down at her and brushed her hair from her face. “No, it’s not.”

“I meant, it’s not enough to know.”

“It’s not just been two days, baby. It’s been many more days. Maybe not in physical contact and proximity, but it’s been much more than two days. We’re real good at two days though. I’d like to try for longer sometime soon.”

He was right. Their relationship spanned much more than the days she’d spent on the ranch and there were a lot of two-day weekends they’d spent together. They did need more than that, she just didn’t know if she could give it. “I don’t want to have to go to New Orleans tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to let you go, but I have to. I’d rather keep you here, bind you to the bed so I can come home and slide right inside you. I can’t do that though. You have a job you love, and I have a job I like.”

She took a sip of her wine. It still saddened her, the whole regular life thing. She didn’t want to leave this idyllic little world of him and sex and sex and delicious food like the steak sandwiches he’d made her earlier and sex and sleeping in that amazing bed and sex and him. She had no idea what she was supposed to do on Saturday morning when she would normally head home to Birmingham. Was she supposed to go back to life as it had been before he had showed up on her doorstep?

When she’d left him the times before, she hadn’t wanted to leave, but she’d always thought, somewhere in her mind, that she could return to him if she wanted. He never pressured her for more, never asked. But did he even need to ask? She could return to Texas and Justin whenever she wanted, right? He’d welcome her with open arms, wouldn’t he?

And could it really be that simple?

“You’re thinking too hard, baby.”

“Yes.”

“About what? Tell me.”

And that inquiry, that curious concern made her ache and sigh and wish and dream and hope. He always asked, always wanted to know, always wanted to help if he could. She was important to him, and he let her know it. He never let her just assume it, he told her, asked about her, gave her his attention no matter what it was, big thoughts or small.

Did she give the same in return? Did he know how important he was to her? Another swallow of wine went down bitterly, along with her thoughts. No, he probably didn’t know. She’d avoided seeing him these last couple of months and kept herself locked away emotionally most of the time. How would he know what he meant to her with all her walls up?

She was likely a damn fool.

Some liked to keep their thoughts to themselves, but after years of feeling as though her ex cared little for them, it was like a balm to her soul that Justin made it a point to ask and be interested. She only wished she could take and follow his lead and not fear the niggling little thought that she’d once again be rejected if she opened up. “Thinking about what happens after Saturday.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the last session of my training class is over at noon and I’m supposed to fly home.” She turned her head against his thighs, tried to ignore the not-so-easy-to-ignore bulge in his jeans against her cheek, and looked up at him. She smiled when she found him looking down at her, concern etched on his face in moonlight.

Yeah, she needed to be serious here and not give in to the temptation to avoid the rest of the conversation and nibble on his cock. “I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you want to do?”

Fuck you. Come live with you.
“I don’t know.” Why did she find it so hard to admit the truth to him? She could open up and tell him anything and she knew that, deep down in her soul she knew that, but then there were moments that the truth scared the crap out of her and she bit her tongue to keep from letting it spill over. Besides, living with him wouldn’t be a wise thing to do at this stage. Maybe not at any stage.

He nodded and lifted his free hand to again brush hair from her face. The caress was so tender it made her heart hurt.

“It’s hard to do anything when you don’t know what you want to do.”

“What do you want me to do?”

Justin shook his head. “I can’t tell you that. I got you down here. I got you out of your comfort zone to face some dirty desires. I got you some damn good sex and some pampering. But, I can’t tell you what I want you to do. I don’t want to influence you in that way because once the words are out there…”

“You’re no help,” she grumbled, knowing he was right. If she heard the words, even though she already knew what they’d be, if she heard them, she wouldn’t be able to resist them.

He laughed low and sexy. But then, it seemed everything he did was low and sexy.

“So, now I’m mean
and
no help. Not very gracious of you, baby, after all I’ve done for you since Sunday.” He
tsked
and shook his head again, this time in a very disapproving manner. “I do believe this requires some form of punishment until you decide to be grateful.”

He winked, kissed the back of her hand that he held and let it go, only to reach out and pinch her nipple through yet another T-shirt that he’d let her borrow. She arched in automatic reaction, which gave him opportunity to lift the shirt up and expose her body. Another thing she loved that was low and sexy… The whistle of appreciation when he got his hands or his eyes on her. He made her feel beautiful, erotic and sexy.

His work-roughened hand slid up her belly to cup one of her breasts, his thumb stroking over the nipple, keeping it erect and sensitive, keeping her back arched and her chest thrust up in offering. She loved the feel of the scrape of his skin over hers. It left her feeling even more vulnerable for reasons she wasn’t sure of. She just knew she liked it more than soft, smooth hands.

The contrasts between them, more than their gender, turned her on. He was lean, slender, but strong in muscle, where she was soft and rounded. He was tall and she was a bit shorter, enough to give her a feeling of being protected in his shadow. He was pensive at times, aggressive at others, laid back and casual, whereas she was not so aggressive and a little tenser. But he was wicked smart in a real world kind of way, worked hard for everything and gave still more to his friends, and he had a strong moral compass when it came to the heart. He wanted love and wanted to give love, but knew that it took a lot more than the words to make it work. Not to mention his open-minded sexual desires, which if someone were to look too closely at, might think he had no moral center at all. She knew differently.

She was open-minded too, loved the things they’d done together, but she was a little more reserved and he delighted in breaking through those reserves. Truth be told, she delighted in the breaking in and breaking through as well.

“Ouch!” She nearly came off the swing and his lap as pain exploded through her nipple from where he was pinching.

“You drifted, and I wanted you back.”

“So you pinched me hard enough to…to…” She couldn’t finish the sentence as she laid her head back down and tried to get her breathing under control.

“No, sit up and scoot your ass in my lap.” He still held her nipple, though very gently, and she sat and moved so she was sitting sideways in his lap. “Good girl,” he whispered as he nuzzled her neck before lifting her breast in his palm and sucking the tip between his lips.

Ella moaned and melted against the arm that was braced at her back. Liquid heat slid through her body as he pulled and tugged and nibbled, soothing the previous soreness into tender, insistent pleasure. She could do little more than recline into his body and accept his touch.

Her eyes were closed when he lifted his head. The hand holding her breast drifted down to her mound, then he sank his fingers into her wet sex. There was no coaxing, no teasing, no gentle urging. He simply thrust them upward, burying them deep. She wore no underwear and no bra under his T-shirt. She hadn’t needed to. She hadn’t wanted to. Her outer thigh, the one closest to the edge of the swing, moved, almost of its own accord, giving him more access to her folds. His thumb, instead of rasping against her nipple, pressed and rasped against her clit. The arm at her back shifted her slightly until Justin could lower his head to her other breast, latching onto the nipple.

More pleasure spiked through her and flowed down from her chest, into her belly. His fondling was erratic, slow and steady in and out, followed by hard and heavy thrusting, then sliding from inside to rub from her clit down to her opening and back again. And she lay there, basking in the attention from his mouth and his hand, her eyes staring upward at the sky.

“Don’t wander from me again, Ella,” he murmured against her. “Stay with me, feel it, feel me.”

But she was with him, she was just floating, or at least it felt like floating. Something about the big Texas sky and the warm air brushing her skin mixed with the very real human touch of Justin and she was there with him, only…

His fingers slid back into her, forcing her complete attention. “Look at me.” His gaze clashed with hers as he pumped his hand between her legs. “What were you thinking about?”

“Nothing… I… Floating. Overwhelmed with it. So perfect.”

“I’ll give you overwhelmed in a bit, baby. I promise. This is nothing compared to what’s coming, but just stay with me. You can float later.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Now look, watch my hand.”

Slowly, as if it took a moment for the words to sink in, she turned her head and looked. His hand was moving, fingers fucking inside her, thumb flicking the end of her clit, time and again. She spread her leg wider, tried to get a better look, tried to see more for now she was lost in this, in the visual of what he was doing, not just the feel.

And then he curled his fingers up, hooked them against the front wall of her pussy and moved his thumb, pushing the heel of his hand against her clit. He rocked her like that until she started to move on her own, undulating and thrusting her hips up from his lap, gripping his knee for support.

“That’s it, baby. That’s it.”

The Texas sky all but forgotten, she started to see stars of her own as her eyes closed and slid her own hand between her legs, curved it over the back of his and jerked herself off on his fingers.

“More, girl. Give it to me. Come for me.”

“Yes,” she breathed. “Yes.”Louder this time. “Yes, yes, yes.” Even louder. “Justin, yes,” she shrieked.