Faking It (6 page)

“Erin,” he whispered, then ran his hand over her shoulder, down her arm to her hip. “You’re so perfect. So beautiful.”

She moved against the bed. “Touch me, Jack.”

Her scent drifted over him and he buried his face between her breasts, surprisingly ample despite her small frame. He cupped her, kneading her until she moaned softly and arched up to him, silently begging him to take her into his mouth. He savored the feel of her nipple against his tongue as he suckled her long and hard while rolling the twin between his thumb and forefinger.

“Oh, sweet Jack.” She parted her legs in invitation and he breathed deeply of her musky scent as he smoothed his hand down her belly, over her tangle of curls to the soft folds of her femininity.

She sighed softly as he dipped two fingers into her tight passage. She was hot and wet and his cock stirred with the need to plunge deep inside her. Still, the desire to pleasure her—to touch her and taste her—rose in him and he moved down her body, kissing a trail over that same path.

Shifting, she tilted her hips to give him better access as he scooped his hands beneath her buttocks and lifted her. He lowered his mouth to her. She shuddered as he licked along her folds, then dipped his tongue into her.

The taste of her.

“Jack, oh, Jack, that feels so good.”

He ran his tongue along her clit and centered there, drawing circles around her with the tip of his tongue. She moaned and moved beneath him while he laved her.

“Oh, Jack…yes…yes.”

Her sexy cries sent heat spiraling through him as he worked her swollen flesh, her pleasure somehow reaching out to him and filling him, burning through him. Her movements became more frantic and he gave her all she asked as she gripped his shoulders and moved against him.

“That’s right, that’s it…oh, yes…oh, yes…ah…ah…aah.” Her body trembled and she cried out as her orgasm took her. She shuddered and moaned, and liquid heat pooled from her.

He drank his fill, her taste, her scent so right he couldn’t get enough. At last she stilled and he moved back up her body, kissing her navel, her breast, where he lingered a while, until she moaned and he thought of that hot, sweet mouth of hers.

She slid her hands over him as he pulled back to look at her lying sated in his bed while he burned for her. Her gaze met his, and to his surprise, dark desire swam in her green depths. She wasn’t sated. She wanted him still.

He kissed her then and again the kiss drew him in, spun him around, until all thought left his head, just the hunger and the sensations of her touching him, loving him with her mouth, with her hands and with her luscious body as she rubbed against him.

“Wait.” He pushed back, then fumbled a condom from the nightstand drawer.

When he was ready, she pulled him on top of her and kissed him again. Her fingers slipped down his front to close again around him and he groaned into her mouth. She shifted, her tongue stilling as she nestled his cock against her clit. The pleasure was almost unbearable as he moved his hips, then slipped inside her. She was wet and hot and tight and she seemed to sense exactly what he needed as he thrust and she moved with him.

The heat, the pleasure spun around him in a tightening coil. He broke the kiss to nestle his head in the crook of her neck. Once more he thrust. Again. Then again, falling into a rhythm of give-and-take between them. Time seemed to stretch, then collapse. His breath came in short pants and he let the desire claim him as he sheathed himself over and over again in her heat.

Shudders racked him and he plunged deeper, faster. She moaned and trembled beneath him. She gripped his hips as her muscles contracted around him. She came with a force that sent him hurtling
over the edge with her. He cried out as he emptied himself deep inside her.

For long moments he lay dazed beside her, his arm and one leg thrown across her. His heart thrummed in his ears and a feeling of euphoria filled him. He floated for a while, then she slid her hand along his chest, stopping over his heart.

Warmth suffused him. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her palm, then she was in his arms again, her mouth soft and caressing on his. She pressed her body closer to him and, miracle of miracles, his cock stirred. “I still want you, Jack. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?”

Rolling to his back, he carried her with him so that she straddled him. “It means I’m the luckiest man alive.” He glanced down to where she rubbed herself along his hardening length. “Woman, you keep that up and I’ll have you on your back again.”

Her eyes shone as she settled more firmly against him. “Well, I hope you’re a man of your word then.”

E
RIN CLOSED HER EYES AS
the heat surged through her once more. How was she to resist when it felt so good, so right? Her clit burned as she ground against him. Every cell in her being hummed with excitement.

“Hold on.” He tugged his pants up, then padded to the bathroom. When he returned, he was gloriously naked.

She let her gaze drift over him as he slipped on a new condom. “Hurry,” she urged.

He cupped her breasts as he stretched out beside her. She settled over him again. He tilted his hips and thrust into her while he squeezed her nipples.

“Oh, Jack.”

As before, he responded to her every movement. Her cries of pleasure sent desire spinning out from him and she gasped as he withdrew, then thrust up into her. She let the rhythm find her, the pleasure building deep inside her with each surge of her hips.

Her sex throbbed with delicious sensation, and the
heat took her in waves. He pulled her forward to take her nipple, and the feel of his hot mouth on her, suckling her, while she rode him was almost too much.

She pressed her palms to the headboard. “Jack…Jack…that feels…so good.”

Taking his time, he savored first one breast, then the other, circling her nipple with his tongue while kneading her. She groaned as flames of desire licked through her. With his mouth and his cock both pleasuring her, she rode him faster, longer, harder.

Each pull of his mouth triggered a response deep inside her. Her blood heated and the wetness spilled from her as she moaned and increased her pace.

His tongue stilled and he groaned as she flexed her inner muscles in an intimate caress. Then he tugged hard with his mouth, and the first tremors of her release rippled outward. She opened her mouth in a wordless cry as she came, her climax hitting her in waves as she shuddered and stiffened over him.

He gripped her hips and thrust into her, straining toward his own orgasm. She tightened her muscles as the aftershocks of her climax flickered through her, and he found his release.

She wrapped her legs around him and rolled to her side, taking him with her and keeping her body joined with his. A state of peace descended over her. Never had she felt more complete.

Jack pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

She groaned in protest as he pulled away from her to head into the bathroom again. The man was at least clean. She should follow him, slip into the shower with him. Unless…

She stared at the ceiling. What if he hadn’t gone in there to clean up? What if she’d made him ill?

Sitting up, she clutched the sheet to her and strained to hear any sound from the bathroom. A hysterical laugh choked its way out of her as the significance of her actions dawned.

What in heaven’s name had come over her?

The possibility that she might have made him ill sent panic through her. How could she have forgotten?

Jack emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist, a washcloth in his hand. His eyes sparkled as he slipped into the bed. “Why don’t you relax and let me clean you?”

She scooted away from him. “I’m so sorry. I’ve never been so… If you want to hire another designer, I can make a few recommendations.”

“Erin.” He took her hand. “You don’t want to quit because of this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I should. I’ve never behaved so unprofessionally. I’m not sure what came over me. It’s shocking, really.”

He rubbed circles around her knuckles with his
thumb. “Look, we didn’t plan this. It just happened. There’s obviously something between us. I don’t know about you, but I thought what we just shared was pretty incredible. Is there any reason why we can’t continue to work together and at the same time explore this attraction?”

The hope in his eyes was almost more than she could resist, but she had to. The energy between them was definitely different—much more intense than with any of her previous lovers. Would her effect on him be stronger? The last thing she wanted was to make him sick.

“I know this is going to sound bizarre after that little episode,” she said, “but I’ve decided to give dating a rest.”

He stilled. “Oh.”

“It isn’t you. Really. That was probably the most incredible sex I’ve ever experienced.” Why did she feel compelled to speak so honestly with him? “It’s me. I promise that when I say we shouldn’t pursue any kind of a relationship, I’m thinking only of your best interest.”

Disappointment swirled out from him and she held her breath.

“What if I don’t agree that it’s in my best interest for us to not see each other?” he asked.

“You have to trust me that it is.”

Could it be that her gift was different in that it worked only with certain men—or with one man? And was it possible that such a man wouldn’t be adversely affected by her gift?

She’d had sex—great, fantastic sex with a client. What kind of an idiot was she? She didn’t deserve to have sex that good. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

“Wait.”

She kicked aside the bedding, but her legs became tangled in the sheet and she groaned in frustration. “Damn it.”

“Hold on.” Jack stilled her, then untangled her with gentle movements. “We need to talk about this. Don’t go off half-cocked.”

“Half-cocked? No, that wasn’t half-cocked. I would say that was pretty much fully cocked, whichever way you look at it.”

“Erin, we’re partners, in more ways than one, now. Let’s talk this through.”

She took a shuddering breath. “You’re telling me that you still want me to do your interior decorating for you?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Even after…” She gestured toward the rumpled bed around them.

“We signed a contract.”

“I won’t hold you liable, Jack. I was grossly neg
ligent and I will completely understand if you want to tear up the contract.”

“No way.” He cupped her cheek and damn if his mere touch didn’t have her melting toward him. “I was here, too. I hate that you would categorize what’s just happened between us as negligent. It was wild and beautiful and…I can’t describe it and do it justice, but something incredible is happening here.”

Warmth and tenderness filled his gaze. The room blurred and she blinked. Great, all she needed was to go hormonal. He reached for her, the desire bright in his eyes.

She pulled away and searched for her clothes. “I have to go.”

“Wait, Erin, we don’t have to end the night like this.”

“If I don’t leave, we’re just going to end up…” She rolled her hand, indicating the bed.

“We don’t have to. We could…talk.”

“Right.” He stood and her gaze slid over his bare chest. Her pulse raced.

She scrambled from the bed, her clothes in hand, and ran for the bathroom. What the hell was wrong with her? This was so not normal.

J
ACK CLOSED HIS EYES
and took a deep breath, but still the room spun and his stomach churned. The pain in his abdomen increased and he gripped his belly and
moaned. At least Erin had left before he’d embarrassed himself and gotten sick.

Erin.
His mind drifted back over the past twenty-four hours. Had he really just met her yesterday? It hardly seemed possible.

His gut lurched. Bile burned his throat, and he stumbled to the bathroom, making it just in time to empty his stomach into the toilet. He heaved until he had nothing left, and still the spasms wracked him. Shaken and spent, he splashed water over his face, then rinsed his mouth.

Hell, he’d either eaten something that didn’t agree with him or he’d picked up a stomach bug from somewhere. Hopefully he hadn’t gotten Erin sick, too. It was bad enough he’d sent her running from his bed.

How had he let things get so out of control between them? If he’d had to sleep with her, why couldn’t he have romanced her a little first? Memories of the almost wild way he’d taken her rolled over him.

No wonder she’d bolted.

Yet it seemed he lost his head when she touched him. Whatever healing power she had, Erin possessed some strong magic. He’d have to be better prepared when he saw her again—figure out a way to keep more focused.

The queasiness hit him again and he leaned
against the wall. A bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. He should call her—make sure she was okay. See if she was speaking to him.

After the way she’d left, chances were she wouldn’t take his calls. Surely once she calmed down she’d remember how incredible it had been between them.

He splashed more cold water on his face, then staggered back to bed, where he collapsed. Rest. He just needed to rest.

His phone rang, but he didn’t move to answer it. His answering machine kicked on and Bobby’s voice sounded over the speaker. “Hey, bro, you there? I need some advice on some investments. What do you think about OTC stocks? Anyway, call me.”

Jack shook his head. He’d call Bobby later. Guilt weighed on him, but Jack would figure out what to do about his family later. He couldn’t think about that now. He had a more pressing matter at hand.

What to do about Erin?

One thing was for sure—no matter what else, he and Erin were meant to be together. Even she wouldn’t be able to deny that. They simply needed to take things slowly. Tomorrow he’d call her and ask her out on a proper date. They’d figure the rest out then.

E
RIN GRIPPED HER CAR
keys on her way out late the next day. At the last moment, she turned to the liv
ing room of her new apartment. A sense of satisfaction filled her.

Boxes still filled the hallway and were scattered around the rest of the rooms, but she’d managed to unpack most of the living room. Every cushion, pillow and magazine was in place. No dirty gym socks lay strewn across the floor. No extra men mooned about or cluttered up the kitchen and bathroom. The coffee table remained clear of teacups filled with Aunt Sophie’s special brews and books on the art of sexual healing. Peace and quiet and order reigned.

This was the normal she’d longed for.

Her world had not been irrevocably altered by her encounter with Jack Langston. She closed her eyes to savor the moment, but memories of last night drifted unbidden over her. Heat filled her cheeks.

At least he hadn’t hurled in front of her. She would have been devastated had that been the case. In spite of her humiliation over her total loss of self-control, the fact that he’d remained healthy while she was with him lifted her spirits. Things could have gone worse.

She settled her purse strap over her shoulder. She should count her blessings. She had her new apartment. Her new
normal
apartment. Her new normal design business was holding its own. And she’d possibly slept with a man without making him ill.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t all that normal—at least,
not for her, but it was certainly normal for regular people. That had to count for something. She tamped down on the thought that she’d left before he’d had much of a chance to get sick. All she knew was that since she’d branched out away from her wacky family into her nice new
normal
world, she’d felt tons better about her life.

So she’d completely lost her head over a man who happened to be a client and she’d slept with him without any concern for his health. She’d work on that.

She did need to talk to Jack and clear the air, though, and she should do it soon. Surely he would understand that they’d made a huge mistake in sleeping together. She couldn’t pursue a relationship with him, not while he was a client.

She bolted the door behind her. As she headed to her car, a hawk circled overhead and a breeze ruffled her hair. What if Jack
was
different? He’d seemed fine last night. What if he were immune to her? She’d call him later to set up a civilized meeting with him where they could map out her strategy for the redesign of his condo. If she focused her efforts, she might be able to finish this project in a matter of weeks.

Smiling, she turned the ignition in her car. Then maybe they could pick up where they’d left off exploring this…thing between them. Her cell phone rang as she cruised along a street lined with tall palm
trees and pastel-colored homes. She pulled the phone from her pocket, squinting against the afternoon sun. “Erin McClellan.”

“Erin, it’s Jack.”

Her pulse kicked up a notch. “Hello, Jack. I was just thinking about you.”

“Well, that’s nice to know. I hope they were good thoughts.”

Her face warmed as memories of his hands kneading her breasts, his mouth pleasuring her in the most intimate kiss, his body joined with hers, invoking exquisite sensations, rushed over her. The heat that had gripped her during their lovemaking flooded her. “Yeah, I guess you could say they were good thoughts.”

“I’ve been thinking about you, too.” His voice flowed like warm honey.

“Really? That’s nice to know. Jack, we need to get together—talk this out.”

“Exactly what I was thinking. What are you doing tonight?”

“I’m open after six.”

“Why don’t I take you out for a nice dinner?”

“Dinner?” Her heart sped. She’d meant to schedule a meeting with him, but this sounded suspiciously like a date.

His throaty laugh sounded across the line, send
ing gooseflesh rippling up her arms. “I figured if we were actually going to talk, we should do it in a nice public place.”

“Okay…I guess public would be all right. It’s…safe.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up at seven.”