Beneath the Burn (24 page)

Images of calloused kinky men beating and fucking her corroded his ability to identify with her solution. She had options. She had
him
. “I get it, Charlee. I do. And I want you to trust me.”

A startled look softened her jaw.

“Hang on. I know for that to happen, I need to prove to both of us that
I
trust
you
.” He removed his arms from her waist and stretched them along the back of the seat. Maybe he was delaying exiting the car. Maybe he was out of his mind, but he wanted her wrapped around him in a way he’d never allowed anyone before. “Straddle me.”

32

Silence. So dense it weighted the air in Charlee’s lungs. Straddle him?

Jay’s palm slid up her spine, raising bumps there, and returned to the back of the seat. A pulse of reckless want built up between them. Looking at his beautiful face, feeling that momentary comfort of his hand along her back, it was a glimmer of promise that left her burning for more.

Roy had stolen so much from her, but her desire to touch and be touched was still embedded deep within her. She hungered for physical closeness, in friendship or otherwise. “This will be a much more intimate position.”

His brown eyes clung to her like slow-moving molasses. “Exactly.”

Good lord, his sexiness issued from the purr of his voice, the dimple in his cheek, the lazy way his Adam’s apple nodded in his throat, and his vulnerability with touching. Hell, even wearing the stupid wig, he was tempting. She closed her eyes to break the trance.

“What are you thinking?” Warm exhales steamed against her lips.

She opened her eyes and found him watching her from inches away, stealing her breath. “Your security team is waiting for us.”

A flex rippled through his arms. He didn’t spare a glance at Colson and Tony, their backs to the SUV, keeping a vigil on the empty parking lot.

“We’re safe and in no hurry.” He bit his bottom lip, staring at hers. “Whenever you’re ready. My arms will stay here.” He patted the headrests on either side of him. “To prove to myself I don’t need to restrain you from touching me.”

The discussion about moving her to L.A. waited for them at the hotel. If she was going to consider his offer, they should feel comfortable enough to trust each other in this small thing.

Besides, he was so inviting, sitting there, chewing his lip, she wanted to close the distance just to lick where his teeth were.

She tossed his sunglasses on the seat and slid off his lap. He wasn’t a big man, but his presence was formidable, exuding potency and overwhelming the space around him. He moved his legs closer together and kept his arms outstretched, watching her, waiting.

Slowly, she placed a knee on the seat beside his hip and reached overhead, bracing her palms on the roof.

Curiosity nudged her. She wanted to pursue this connection with him, had to know where it would take her. She swung her other leg over his and hugged his narrow lap with her knees. A foot of emptiness separated their groins. Almost there.

He was motionless beneath her with his head tilted back and his eyes on hers.

The strength of his gaze tingled her cheeks and prodded her to close the distance. Would he trust her if she put her hands behind her back where he couldn’t see them? Could she trust herself to leave them there?

“Closer, Charlee.” He stretched his neck and opened his mouth for hers.

She pressed her hands to the roof and dipped her head. The gap was too great for a full kiss. His tongue stretched and the tip teased hers, coaxing a quiver in her inner thigh. The touches slid into licks and their tongues tangled through wet greedy pants. They arched toward one another, and her hands on the roof became fingertips, slipping.

He nipped at her bottom lip and missed. “You taste so fucking good. Come here.” He bucked his hips, but the space between them prevented contact.

Straining toward him as she was, her fingers teetered on the ceiling. Her noisy breaths matched his, making her question her sanity.

In the confines of Roy’s penthouse, she experienced sexual desire against her will. But Noah taught her how to want it and the professional Doms showed her how to develop it.

She craved affection above all, and despite Jay’s limitation on touch, he gave tenderness in the dance of his tongue, the softness of his tone, and the way he looked at her as if he adored her. Even more, he was stretched out beneath her, willing her to explore with anything but her hands.

She lowered herself onto his lap until her fingers lost their hold on the roof. The contact of his arousal against her pussy stole her breath. She wanted to cup his gorgeous face and bury her tongue in his mouth, but she held her palms up and away. “No hands, but arms are okay, right? Just like the piggyback ride?”

A raw unquiet stirred in the cab. His body hardened and vibrated around them. His voice hushed through the tension. “I’ll keep my shit tight. I promise.”

The steadiness in his eyes chased away any doubt she might’ve had. He would probably chew off his fist before he used it against her.

She draped her arms over his shoulders and dangled her hands behind the seat. “This okay?”

“Yeah.” He arched his hips against her and the leather creaked. “Fuck, I want you closer. Relax your legs.”

She let gravity press her down, mold her body into his. The warmth of his chest soaked into hers and she knew in that moment, it would kill her to let him go.

33

Their heartbeats paced the stillness between them. Charlee savored the dips and cuts of Jay’s body against hers, his heavy-lidded eyes, and his breath panting through parted lips.

Sunlight filtered through the tinted windows. The silent sentries stood motionless outside the car, watching the traffic on the street and surrounding buildings. Apparently, when Jay told them to wait, they did so with patience.

Beneath her, his muscles began to relax. She traced her nose along the hard line of his throat, rousing a low-pitched rumble in his chest. He tilted his head to give her more room and a spicy, earthen aroma flavored her inhales. She retraced the path with her tongue, continued the lazy tour over his jaw, and into his waiting mouth.

His sharp inhale stole her breath, and he crushed their lips together. The kiss was hungry and jaw stretching and her heart thudded as if it would burst from her chest. He chased her licks in his mouth and curved his body into hers as much as his arms on the seatback would allow.

She moved her mouth to his nose and he flinched. She laughed. “I won’t bite.” The bright white of his smile and the intensity in his eyes made her chest ache to move closer. “Still good?”

His pupils dilated, and his shoulders strained toward her. “Never been this good, Charlee. Come back here.” He raised his mouth in invitation.

Wow. It really was just the hands he had a problem with. Groin to groin, chest to chest, she shifted her boots from the outside of his knees to the inside, using her toes to open his legs. She rubbed her body along his, sliding her tongue over his bottom lip. It
did
feel good. “I think we passed the test. You trust me not to put my hands on you, and I trust you not to take my control.”

The erection trapped in his leather pants jerked between them. He seemed oblivious to it as he regarded her with dark unsmiling eyes. “To be trusted by you is the greatest compliment I’ve ever received.”

She melted into him and his body pulsed against her. She wanted to free him from the confines of his pants and work them both into a mindless fog where boundaries didn’t exist. “I feel the same way, Jay, and all I can think about is…” She caught his ear lobe between her lips, drew it into her mouth, and released it with a pop. “How I could fuck you like thi—”

His hands flew off the seatback, grabbed the back of her head, and yanked her mouth to his. Rough and penetrating, he ate at her lips, his teeth scraping and nibbling, his hips grinding. She opened for him and met the thrusts in her mouth and the rocking of his body, trembling against the fervor bolting through her.

Despite his aggression, there was a measure of restraint between kisses. She pulled back to test it. He allowed the slack, his gaze tracking the roll of her swollen lips as he gasped through his own.

The freedom to stop and start ignited something inside her. She wanted him, wanted to surrender to him. A slow throb kindled and warmed between her legs. She dove at his mouth, submitting to the strength of his jaw and the urgency of his tongue.

The car filled with his breathy moans and the squeak of leather. His hands shook as they traveled to her neck then her shoulders, and separated. One moved up to tangle in her hair as the other pushed down her spine to rest over the crack of her butt. “Where’s your gun?”

Arousal trembled through her limbs, cranking her hips, and curling her fingers. “Moved it to my messenger bag.” She peppered kisses on his wet lips, the sculpted contour of his jaw, and the arch of his fevered cheek. She lingered over his eyelid, brushing her lips along the delicate skin. He was so soft there, so unlike the rest of him. “I want to touch you so badly.”

A low groan escaped from deep within him. He dropped his head back and stared at her with his mouth hanging open. “I want that, Charlee. More than anything.” He shoved his hands through her hair and gathered it off her face. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are grinding on me and looking at me like that?”

Only a man would define grinding as beautiful. Holding his eyes, she rotated her hips once, twice—

He gripped her thighs and the sinews in his neck bulged against the skin. “Christ. Okay, stop. I’m about to embarrass myself.”

“I’d like to see that.” She smiled, and the blissful feeling panicked her. How could she let herself want someone so unobtainable? He was a celebrity and she was on the run. He had some kind of fucked up tactile defensiveness and drug issues, and she didn’t have the background or expertise to deal with it. Yet, all the shitty circumstances faded away as he leaned in and took her mouth.

A vibration buzzed in her pocket. Creases bracketed his scowl as she slid off his lap and tugged out her phone. “It’s Nathan.” She gave him a shaky smile and hit
Answer
. “Hey.”

“Everything okay? Tony said you haven’t left the car yet.”