Crashing Into Love (17 page)

“Bedroom.” The word came off her lips like a demand.

Jake pulled back and searched her eyes. “Fi?”

Her voice was tamped down by need she couldn’t contain. Her heart slammed against her ribs in anticipation. She took his prickly cheeks in her hands and sealed her mouth over his again with a kiss that left no room for misinterpretation. Jake carried her to the bedroom, hands searching, tongue stroking, as they tumbled down to the bed. Fiona hadn’t felt this much raw desire since she and Jake were together in high school, and she wasn’t about to slow down. She tugged at his jeans, craving his impressive manhood. Wanting all of him. He tore her shirt from her body and tossed it aside. He took off his shirt as he knelt between her legs, then made quick work of getting her naked save for her bra and came down again, kissing her as his hands explored every inch of her skin.

“Off,” he said as he unhooked her bra and tossed it aside.

His eyes went nearly black as he filled his palms with her breasts and brought his mouth to hers again, his tongue sliding over hers in rhythm to the slow torture his fingers were playing out with her nipples. Teasing her until she thought she might climb out of her skin. Her hips rose off the bed, pressing against his as she reached for his jeans again.

“Off,” she pleaded.

Jake’s lips quirked up in a devilish grin as he rolled to the side and swiftly divested himself of his remaining clothes.
Good Lord
. She’d forgotten just how
big
he was, how thick, and he seemed impossibly larger than she’d remembered. She licked her lips, wanting to taste him and knowing full well she shouldn’t because of how many women he’d been with. Hell, she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to bring him as much pleasure as she knew he’d bring her, and she reached between his legs. He gripped her wrist and pinned her to the mattress with a heated stare.

“No, Fi.”

Her heart sank. She hadn’t wanted to face the reality of the overzealous sex life she’d heard about, and here it was, literally staring her in the face.

“I haven’t had unprotected sex, but I want to get tested before…” He lay beside her and cupped her cheek. His eyes pooled with emotion. “I don’t want to take any chances, and if you’d rather not go any further, we can stop.”

“And if I want to?” She could wait to taste him, but she wanted to be close to him, to feel him inside her. To be
his
.

“I have protection.”

She nodded, and he reached into the nightstand and threw a handful of condoms on the bed with another coy grin.

“Confident, aren’t we?” she teased, but inside she felt a pang of worry about his condom supply. In the next breath she shoved it away. This wasn’t new information, and she wasn’t going to allow it to ruin their intimacy.

“You and I have been down this road before. You tell me.”

She yanked him back down on top of her, and this time when their lips met, it was in a slow, sensual kiss. Their naked bodies intertwined, his arousal pressed against her belly, her legs wrapped around his muscular thighs. Their skin heated as they explored each other’s bodies. His calloused hands sent shivers to her core. She reached between his legs and stroked him, pulling a throaty groan from his lungs.

“Fi,” he said urgently.

She stroked faster, and he gripped her wrist again.

“I’ve wanted you since I saw you in the bar. Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“I think touching you is the best idea I’ve ever had,” she shot back, and arched up to lick his chest. He tasted salty and hot, and so manly her body pulsed with need. It had been too long since she’d been with a real man. A man made of muscles and vigor. A man who knew how to love a woman.

Jake Braden knew how to love a woman, and he was about to prove just that, as he slithered down her body, his hands caressing, his mouth loving, kissing, teasing a path down the center of her body.

He touched his forehead to her stomach and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her to him. Fiona felt herself tearing up. This was the Jake she knew. The sensual, tender man whose heart hungered to be loved. When he whispered, “God, I’ve missed you,” she felt a tear break free.

He lay there for a long while, and Fiona soaked him in. She could hardly believe this was finally happening. They were finally together, and his walls were coming down. The feel of being in his arms again was better than she’d remembered, better than she’d hoped, but when he lifted his gaze and met hers, the love in his eyes sent her heart out of her mouth.

“Love me, Jake.”

He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips before moving lower. He gripped her thighs, spreading them farther apart, all the while holding her gaze. Then his mouth was upon her. Her head fell back with the first luxurious stroke of his tongue. She dug her fingers into his hand as he teased her. Her nerves felt exposed and electrified. She tried to remember how to breathe—and when he slid his fingers into her, she lost all sense of the here and now. Lost in pleasure, she writhed against his talented mouth, feeling the swell of an orgasm low in her belly.

“Come for me, baby.”

His lustful voice vibrated through her and sent her spiraling over the edge, stroking her into the longest, most intense orgasm she’d ever had.

IN ALL THE years since Jake and Fiona had been together, he had never forgotten how sweet she tasted or the sexy sounds she made when she came apart. He rested his cheek on her inner thigh, taking a moment to try to regain control of his desires. Being intimate with her again brought a rush of emotions, and he’d nearly come from the intensity of it all. Jake had never needed safety in his life, but regardless of what he needed, when he was with Fiona, he felt safe, and it blew him away. She was anything but safe. She’d left him once. She should make him wary, if anything, but when he’d entered the trailer tonight, the love in her eyes wiped that slate clean.

He kissed his way up her body, inhaling her scent and tasting her heated flesh. She was as new to him as she was familiar. Her curves were feminine and sexy as hell. Her breasts filled his hands, and as he brought his tongue to her taut nipple, she sucked in a breath and tightened her hold on his back. He loved the way she clawed at him, the way her body and heart responded to him on all levels. She was strong and tough, sensitive and caring. She was still all the things she was years ago, only more intense and wiser, and it endeared her to him even more. He looked into her love-filled eyes, and in that moment he knew he didn’t want to just protect her; he wanted to love her again.

Wanted
to.

He was already there. Even if clouded by memories of their past and what his life had become, beneath it all, his love for her had remained steady and true.

He folded her into his arms and held her tight. Too tight, he was sure, but he didn’t want to let her go. Not again. Not ever. He felt her heart beating against his, and when he drew back, she touched his cheek.

“You feel it, too.” It wasn’t a question.

Oh yeah, he felt it.

“Fi…” He wanted to warn her again that he’d fuck up. He’d become too selfish to make this work, hadn’t he? He’d become the type of man he’d loathed when he’d first come to Los Angeles. The type of guy who was only out for his own pleasure and didn’t know how to feel.

She stroked his cheek again, smiled up at him with trusting eyes.

But he
was
feeling. She was helping him feel, making him realize he wasn’t too broken to ever feel again.

“You look sad,” she whispered.

“No, babe. I’m happy.” He kissed her softly. “I haven’t felt this much in forever.”

“That was my fault.” She shifted her eyes away.

“I’ve decided to blame it on your life instead. You couldn’t weed through your family’s upheaval back then. This is better.” He kissed her again, then kissed each of her cheeks and her forehead, his feelings growing with every passing second. “Now we both know what’s out there. We both know what we want, and we’re learning who we really are. It’ll take time to figure it all out, but I think maybe all that hurt had to happen.”

She wrinkled her brow. “Hurt never needs to happen. I’m sorry, Jake.”

“Babe, we’re adults now. We know what we want, and even if it took me a while to get here, I know I want you.”

She wrapped her delicate hand around his neck and pulled his mouth to hers. Their tongues slid over each other’s with fresh desire and urgency that sent her hips off the mattress. He was throbbing with need, and before he could reach for a condom, she did. When she handed it to him, their eyes connected—and held—with a hundred different emotions.

Jake tore the wrapper open with his teeth, and she helped him roll it on. He hadn’t allowed any other women to do that for him, and without any thought, he allowed Fiona to—and loved it. She lay back on the bed, and Jake could hardly believe he was lying with Fiona again. His Fiona. God, how had he ever let her go? As he lowered his body to hers and they joined together, he knew he’d fight till the death to keep her with him forever. He held her gaze as he filled her completely and wrapped his arms around her again, keeping her close. This was what he’d missed most, this closeness. This intimacy that he’d only ever found with Fiona.

The desire to love and be loved.

Their bodies fell into a natural rhythm. Jake laced his fingers with hers and held them beside her head, so he could look into her eyes as he loved her. She met his efforts with her own, lifting off the mattress, angling her hips to take him in deeper, her inner muscles tightening around him.
Christ
. He’d forgotten how good she was at this and how good they were together.

He pressed his cheek to hers. “I’m not going to last, Fi. Not this first time with you. It’s been too long.”

Her lips curved up in a knowing smile. “I’m not worried.” She shifted her eyes at the pile of condoms spread over the blanket beside them.

He planted another hungry kiss on her receptive mouth, thrusting his tongue as he pumped his hips. She pressed on his lower back, urging him impossibly deeper, grinding her hips against his as their tongues danced to their own insistent rhythm. Her fingernails clutched at his skin as her head fell back again, her body racked with passionate spasms, pulsing around his potent rod. He heard his name sail off her lips as waves of ecstasy flooded him. Her cheeks were flushed, her breathing shallow. He wanted more of her. Always more. She was his weakness and his strength, at once. She had the power to ruin him and she was his driving force to be better, to be the man she deserved. She was worth the risk. She grabbed his ass, pressing their slick bodies together, taking in every inch of him. He gritted his teeth and buried his face in the crook of her neck, muffling his grunts, as thrust after powerful thrust drew out his powerful release.

They lay there for a long while, breathing hard, their bodies braided together. He listened to her breathing ease back to normal, felt her body melt into the mattress. Only then did he withdraw from between her legs. He squeezed her hand, then rolled to the side and disposed of the condom so he could hold her close again.

“Fi.” Her name sounded like liquid emotion.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.”

“I tried.”

He blanketed her body with his, wrapping one arm around her waist, and tried to give her the most serious face he could muster after such an earth-shattering orgasm.

“You tried?” he asked.

She nodded. “No matter how I tried to escape you, you were always there. I saw your eyes in every man, heard your voice in my head. You haunted me from the moment I left for college until the very second you pressed your lips to mine in your house. And every second since.”

He couldn’t stifle his smile. “You fueled my anger, Fi. Drove me half insane, and you were a million miles away. I thought I’d explode in rage if I spoke to you again, much less kissed you. What I realized after you roped me in was—”

“Roped you in?” She raised her brows, her eyes alit with mischief as she ran her finger down his chest. “Yee-haw, cowboy.”

He squeezed her ribs and she squealed. “Careful, or I’ll ride you like you’ve never been ridden before, girlie.”

She rolled her eyes. “Promises, promises.”

He sealed his lips over hers again and kissed her silent.

“After you
roped me in
, I realized that what I was afraid of wasn’t exploding with rage. It was feeling again. Allowing myself to get sucked back into the love we had. You opened that door and slipped right in, Fi. You broke me again, in a different way. A better way.”

“Broke you of your philandering ways?” Her voice was teasing, but he could tell by the serious look in her eyes that she felt it, too.

“Yes. You wanted to slay the beast. Now you have me.”
Just don’t throw me away again.

JAKE CAREENED OVER the top of a Jeep Friday afternoon and landed on the ground with a loud
thud
. He feigned a struggle to his feet and carried out his last fight scene for the day. Every punch he threw packed twice its normal power, every kick carried the weight of missing Fiona, whom he hadn’t seen for any significant amount of time since they’d come together Wednesday night. She’d had plans with Trish and Shea Thursday night. He hadn’t even been able to pick her up in the mornings because he’d had to meet with the executive producers of an upcoming film early yesterday morning and again this morning. They’d had a few quick chats between Trish’s scenes, but he hadn’t been able to hold her in his arms—and he craved the closeness. At least he’d made time before his scene to call his doctor and arrange for a quick blood test to be taken in his trailer under the strictest of confidences. That was one thing off his plate. While the blood had drained from his arm, he’d seen it as a chance for a new beginning. He was sure he’d been too careful for the test to be positive, but he didn’t want to take a chance with Fiona’s health.

He’d barely been able to think of anything but her since he’d seen her back home, and now that they’d come together, she was always there, lingering in his mind. It had taken him a few hours to figure out that the reason he’d been so jumpy and edgy over the last day and a half was because he was allowing himself to enjoy thoughts of Fiona after pushing her away for so long. Once he figured that out, it had taken another few hours for him to accept the unfamiliar feelings. Since then, he welcomed the gut-wrenching nervous feeling.