Forged of Steele Bundle (37 page)

Bas smiled. “Now isn’t that a coincidence. So was I.”

“And what was your favorite part?” she asked him, wondering if it was the same as hers.

He deliberately licked his lips and eased up closer
to her. “I can’t believe you have to ask me that, sweetheart,” he said in a low voice.

Heat suddenly seemed to bubble up in Jocelyn’s throat. The sight of his tongue was sending unflagging warmth all through her. “You enjoyed that, huh?”

“Most definitely,” he whispered, leaning in closer to her.

Jocelyn breathed in, remembering the nights she hadn’t been able to sleep because of thoughts of him, and she knew there was something she wanted to know.

Something she
had
to know.

Last night she had had an orgasm standing up. She wondered how one felt lying down in a bed. A slow burn began building between her legs at the thought of finding out. And she knew she couldn’t leave this cabin until she did.

A part of her knew that she and Bas would never be a real couple. His home was in North Carolina and hers was here. There was nothing to keep him in Newton Grove when it was time for him to leave. But there was something the two of them could share while he was here. It was something she had never shared with a man before. A hot and torrid love affair. It would all be in the name of fun. In the end there would be no hard feelings and no regrets.

She could do this. She wanted to do this. She
needed
to do this.

Bas had awakened feelings and urges within her that she’d never had to deal with before. Not only had he awakened them, he had stirred them up real good and hot. She knew if she wanted to take things to the next level it would be up to her to make the move. He probably assumed that if he made them, she would accuse him of moving too fast. Hadn’t he told her about the problem with assuming things?

Making the decision to take matters into her own hands, she smiled and pointed past him. “Have you used your fireplace yet?”

He glanced over his shoulder and then back at her. “No, why, are you cold?”

“No, I’m not cold.” She sighed deeply. For God’s sake, she told herself, don’t lose your nerve now. Remember that article you read in
Today’s Black Woman
? Sometimes it’s up to you to let a man know what you want, Jocelyn Isabella Mason. She smiled, thinking that although she wasn’t named after her father, together her initials spelled JIM.

“But I think a fire would be nice,” she decided to say. She wanted this man and she intended to have him, for whatever time she could.

“Okay. Just make yourself comfortable.”

“Thanks, I will,” she said walking over to the sofa and taking a seat.

It didn’t take Bas any time at all to get the fire started, mainly because one had already started to
flame, right in his gut. He wasn’t born yesterday. He could recognize seduction a mile away. But in this case it wasn’t a mile away, it was right smack in his living room and sitting on his sofa.

He stood and turned around and the flame in his gut suddenly blazed. Jocelyn had her legs crossed in a way that made her skirt rise higher on her thighs. They were the same luscious thighs he had held on to tightly last night while tasting her.

He tried not to stare. He even tried to stop his body from getting hard, but it was no use. There were some things that a man couldn’t control and a physical reaction to a beautiful and sexy woman was one of them. Especially when he happened to be in love with that woman.

He met her gaze, saw the heat in her eyes and saw how she suddenly took her tongue and licked her lips. At that moment all he could think about was taking that tongue, sucking it into his own mouth and having his way with it. He then watched as she switched positions and recrossed her legs, giving him a quick view of her panties. They were white.

He growled low in his throat, not even aware he’d made the sound until a pleased smile touched her lips. “You’re trying to tempt me, aren’t you?” he asked.

Jocelyn sat back and smiled. “You think so?”

“Yes.”

She laughed. “Sounds like you’re assuming things, Mr. Steele, and what’s your position on people assuming things?”

Positions.
Now
that
was something he didn’t want to think about at the moment. But then maybe he did…

He slowly crossed the room, not taking his eyes off her, and when he came to a stop in front of where she sat, he reached out for her arm and tugged her unresistingly to her feet, pressing her body to his and gazing deeply into her eyes. “But this time, I’m assuming right.”

Jocelyn shivered, feeling the thickness of him pressed against her center. Nice. Hard. Forged of steel. “If you’re assuming right, then what are you going to do about it?” she whispered.

His gaze remained locked on hers, and she was struck by passion so intense it was hard for her to swallow. She watched as his eyes darkened. “Don’t ask unless you really want to know, Jocelyn.”

She sucked in a deep breath when she felt him harden even more against her belly. “I really want to know, and I’m asking,” she said, pushing her lower body even closer to his for a more intimate fit.

Now it was Bas who sucked in a deep breath. Bas whose arms wrapped around her tightly. Bas who leaned closer to make sure she saw the desire in his eyes. He moved in closer still and when his mouth was just inches from hers, he snaked out his tongue,
slid it sensuously across her lower lip, then the upper one and watched her shudder in response.

“Well, since you really want to know…it’s show time,” he whispered huskily, before greedily taking her lips with his and picking her up into his arms.

B
as pulled his mouth from Jocelyn’s the moment he placed her on the king-size bed, feeling the insistent throb of desire running rampant all through him.

He hadn’t intended to move this fast so soon. He had wanted to give her a chance to get used to him, to accept the place he intended to claim in her life and the intense love he had for her, before they shared ecstasy together. But now fate had stepped in and the need to stamp his claim, brand her as his, was as elemental as breathing. But first, he needed just to hold her, to feel her close to his heart, the heart she now possessed.

“Come here for a second,” he said softly, opening his arms to her. And when she slid across the bed to him, into his opened arms, he held her tight, enveloped her into his warmth. She laid her head on his chest, and he knew she could hear the fast beating of his heart, but what she didn’t know was that it beat at that pace just for her.

Emotions were churning through him, emotions he’d never before felt for a woman, and now he understood what Chance had meant when he’d said falling in love with Kylie had been like being hit with a ton of bricks. It had happened so fast Chance hadn’t been expecting it.

It has been the same for Bas. Love was the last thing he had been looking for when he’d arrived in Newton Grove, but the one thing he’d found with Jocelyn. There was one thing that couldn’t be denied with the Steele men. When they found love they knew how to accept it and claim the woman as theirs. At least, it seemed it was that way for three of them. There was no telling how Donovan, who was slow to accept anything at face value and prone to be the most resisting of the four, would handle love once he found it.

Bas’s attention was reclaimed when Jocelyn raised her head and smiled at him. Her smile triggered something deep within him. He had to touch her, feel her, taste her all over, have her naked beneath him and join
her body intimately with his, make love to her until they were both out of their minds, crazy with need.

And he wanted her now.

He stripped and reached out and began removing her clothes, first her blouse and bra. When her chest was completely bare, the sight of her firm breasts quickened his pulse. He leaned forward, took them in his hands and stroked them, licked them, exhaled hot breath over the hardened dark tips.

And then his hands moved down her waist to remove her skirt while his brain could still function. And when she lay before him in nothing but a pair of white lace panties, he reached out and let his fingertips trace along the edge before touching her moist center. He heard her quick intake of breath, her quiet yet ragged moan. She caught hold of his shoulders as his fingers continued to stroke her with slow caresses. His fingers slipped beneath her panties to touch her intimately, stirring her scent, flaming her heat.

“Bas.”

His name was a whispered groan. An earth-shattering moan. And when a purr of pleasure rippled from her throat, he leaned back to pull the scrap of white lace down her legs. Her scent was intense and filled the air surrounding them. A shudder passed through him, the need to mingle in her wet heat became overpowering. But first he wanted to reacquaint his tongue with her taste.

He leaned forward, reached for her hips and lifted her up gently toward his mouth. The moment his tongue entered her she screamed, but he ignored the sound as his tongue continued to push inside her, deep, and then he kissed her intimately, savoring her taste, needing to make love to her in this special and profound way again.

Jocelyn uttered an intense moan while her hips involuntarily rocked against Bas’s mouth. No man had ever done this to her before him, and he was making her body crumble into a thousand pieces. She felt every bone in her body melt, and she was filled with intense heat. Her fingernails were digging into his shoulders but she couldn’t help it. She was too delirious to do anything but moan in pleasure.

And then he pulled back, cupped her face into his hands and kissed her while easing her back down on the bed, covering her body with his. She felt the ridge of his erection, powerfully aroused, press against the place where his mouth had left its mark, making her thighs tremble. The sensation of his tongue inside her mouth, kissing her deeply, had her moaning incoherently.

When he pulled back she opened her eyes and looked at him, saw the deep-rooted desire in his gaze. She also saw something else in the dark depths, something she couldn’t put a name to. “Now I make you mine,” he whispered, nudging her legs apart.
With a primal growl he eased inside her while leaning closer and trailing the dampness of his tongue around her earlobe.

Automatically her hips arched and a sizzling groan poured from her lips when he buried himself inside her to the hilt. Their connection, their joining was absolute, complete and so unerringly whole. And at that moment she thought there could not be a more perfect union between two individuals.

“You okay?” he asked, going still to glance down at her.

“Yes,” she said while her feminine muscles clamped him, clutched him and claimed him. The sensations she felt were almost more than she could bear. A growing tension, one she didn’t understand, begin to stir within her, right there at her center. And as if he knew exactly what she needed, he began to move, rock into her, thrust back and forth, stroke her with a rhythm that made her entire body quiver, fulfilling all her secret desires, her most wanton needs.

Her climax, more intense than any of the others, slammed into her and she screamed his name. She was aware of him driving harder into her, sending her even farther over the edge. She closed her eyes and tightened her muscles around him, milking him and making him groan aloud. She wanted everything she could get from him, determined not to deny herself anything. She wrapped her legs around his waist and
locked him in. She had waited too long for this. Too long for a man like him.

“Jocelyn!”

Bas screamed her name while fighting for control. Spasms of ecstasy began tearing through him, and the way her inner muscles were clutching him, draining him, was sending him over into the realms of oblivion. She had stolen his heart and now she was taking over his body, leaving him defenseless and filled with a need he could barely comprehend.

This was love, pure and unadulterated. He had never felt this way before. Nothing had been this intense, invigorating and passionate. And when she let out another scream that split the air, he felt his body explode once again as sensations ripped through him, toppled him over into another world. He lost all sense of everything, except the acceptance that the woman beneath him, to whose body he was intimately joined, was in total possession of his heart, body and soul.

Jocelyn came awake to the sound of Bas’s heartbeat. Lying with her head resting on his chest, with his arms wrapped securely around her, and their legs entwined, she felt totally exhausted. But who wouldn’t after what they had shared? After making love again in the bed, they had taken the top covers off and moved to a spot in front of the fireplace where they had made love again before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

It was still barely light outside and she figured she would have slept right through the night if the growling of her stomach wasn’t a reminder that she hadn’t eaten anything since lunch.

“Hungry?”

Jocelyn glanced up. Bas was awake and smiling down at her. The flames from the fireplace provided an austere glow to his features. The tone of his voice was sensual and in response to it, she felt a tightening in the lower part of her body. “Yes, I’m hungry,” she said, trying to make her voice sound natural.

This was the first time she had awakened in a man’s arms after hours of lovemaking. The last time, in college, she had asked the guy to leave her room as soon as it was over, thinking it had been a complete waste of time. But that hadn’t been the case with Bas. With him nothing was wasted. They could have been like the Energizer Bunny and kept going and going and going.

“I better feed you or you’ll think I’m not a very good host,” he said, rising to his feet.

Jocelyn swallowed as she gazed up at him. He was stark naked, unashamedly so. He saw the way she was staring at him and flashed a teasing grin. “If you keep looking at me like that, you might not get dinner after all.”

“Then what will I get?” she asked, deciding she might not be as hungry as she’d thought.

“Anything you want. I’m easy.”

She moved her gaze lower to a certain part of him. A smile tugged at her lips. “No, you’re not. Right now I’d say you’re extremely hard.”

He chuckled. “You noticed.”

“Staring me right in the face, how can I not?”

“Should I apologize?”

She shook her head. “No. What you should do is come back down here and let me take care of it.”

He slowly dropped to his knees and then crawled over toward her. “And what do you have in mind?” he asked huskily.

She leaned up and pushed him on his back, then straddled him. “Oh, trust me, Mr. Steele. You’re about to find out.”

“I can’t remember the last time I ate a bowl of chicken noodle soup,” Jocelyn said, taking another spoonful into her mouth.

A deep laugh vibrated from within Bas’s throat. “Hey, I offered to take you into town to one of those restaurants and you turned me down.”

She smiled. “Only because I’m not ready to put my clothes back on. No pun intended but I think we’re on a roll.”

And that, she thought, was the truth. After making love again in front of the fireplace, they had gotten into the hot tub and made love once more before
deciding they needed to eat something to keep their strength up. Bas had let her borrow his robe and together they had gone into the kitchen, where, after checking his empty cabinets, they had found a couple of cans of soup amongst his fishing gear. While the soup had been warming on the stove she had taken the time to call Leah. Her sister hadn’t been very talkative, and had, in fact, cut the conversation short, after assuring Jocelyn she was all right.

Satisfied that she had at least spoken to Leah, Jocelyn and Bas had sat down at his kitchen table to enjoy soup and crackers and relish the aftermath of their enjoyment of each other.

Jocelyn figured if she never made love again in her life that would be okay because within the last six hours she had made up for whatever she’d missed in the past and stocked up on what might not be coming her way in the future. But a part of her couldn’t imagine sharing anything so intimate with anyone but Bas. Everything the two of them had shared had been utterly amazing. He was definitely a highly charged sexual man.

“Want some more?”

She glanced up at him and smiled. “Some more of what?”

“Jocelyn,” he said warningly, “haven’t you gotten enough?”

“Of what?” Her tone was innocent. “Soup or you?”

He was sitting across from her at the table wearing just a pair of jeans, and her gaze slid over his bare chest. He was as fine as fine could get and the memories of all those orgasms he’d given her had her body tingling inside out. She wanted to go to him, curl up in his lap, run her hand down his belly, inside his jeans and—

“You’re staying all night?”

She moved her gaze back to his face. “Is that an invitation?”

“Yes.”

She took another spoonful of soup then asked, “What about clothes?”

“We never did take your luggage out of the car.”

“How convenient.”

He gave her a knowing look as a smile touched the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, I think so.”

Leah finished folding up her laundry and decided that although it was still early she would go upstairs to bed. She heard the doorbell ring and sighed deeply, hoping and praying it wasn’t Reese. They had nothing more to say to each other and she wouldn’t be able to handle seeing him again that day.

Crossing the room, she wondered who it could be. At the door she asked, “Who is it?”

“Delivery for Leah Mason.”

She glanced out the peephole and saw a man of about twenty standing there with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. Still, she had grown cautious over the years. “Do I need to sign for anything?” she asked through the door.

“No, ma’am.”

“Please leave whatever you have on the doorstep.” She watched as the man did as she requested then walked away. She moved to the window to make sure he got back in his van and drove off. Taking a deep breath, she walked back over to the door and opened it.

She couldn’t help but smile upon seeing the beautiful arrangement of calla lilies, her favorite, and knew immediately who’d sent them. Couldn’t Reese see what he was trying to do was useless? She would never be the woman that she used to be, a woman who’d enjoyed making love to him anytime and anywhere.

She picked up the bouquet and went back inside the house, locking the door behind her. She placed the arrangement on the table before pulling off the card.

Leah continued to read the card, over and over. Why was Reese Singleton so stubborn? Didn’t he
understand what she’d told him earlier that day? Didn’t he get the picture; she was incapable of allowing another man, even him, ever to touch her?

She almost jumped when the doorbell rang again. She went to the door and glanced out of the peephole and her heart began pounding. It was Reese.

A part of her wanted to ignore him, but she knew Reese refused to be ignored. Besides, he evidently hadn’t comprehended what she’d been trying to tell him earlier. Maybe if she’d had the help of counselors or a support group earlier than she had, she would be a lot stronger now. But she hadn’t. Instead of opening up and talking about it, she had tried to go through life without dealing with the rape, and in so doing she had erected this physical and emotional shield against all men.

Although she already knew the answer, she asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Reese, Leah. Please open the door so we can talk.”

Telling him they had nothing to discuss would be useless. It was best to let him in so they could talk and then that would be the end of things.