Hidden Fire: Fire, Book 2: Red Hot Weekend (5 page)

“You and I both know that was no mistake.” He deliberately kept his voice low. Let it out like a gentle caress. “That was what we both wanted. Had wanted for a very long time. Still want. To be naked and alone in each other’s arms.”

“I want no such thing.” Her gaze clashed with his, her blue eyes steely with determination.

There it was. The momentous control.

“You want me as much as I want you. You always have.”

She smiled sweetly, much the way she’d smiled at Rachel earlier. It held no emotion whatsoever. “If I’d wanted you…always, I would have responded to your amorous advances by now, don’t you think? Just one of them.”

Garreth took a long breath. Shifted in his seat, tried to ease the ache in his groin. Still she held firm to her dignity. Refused to acknowledge the wantonness of her action in the mountains. It made him want her even more. Made him hell-bound and determined to get her to lose her icy veneer.

He might be pissed as hell that Jack and Rach had attacked them, kidnapped them, tied them to chairs and left them with no choice but to talk. But now he was in this situation, he wasn’t about to let it go to waste. He’d intended on going to see her tonight anyway. Intended on holding her captive himself, inside her flat, until she finally agreed to hear him out.

He might as well take advantage of the present, of the opportunity they’d been given, to start chipping away at her defenses, at the massive wall she’d placed around her heart.

He’d tackle it one brick at a time. Or maybe just blast the whole God damned thing clear out of the water.

“You did respond, Jenn.” His breath rasped from his lungs. “Every time. You just pretended not to. Uh-uh. Don’t shake your head. We both know it’s the truth.”

“Garreth—” she began in a huff, but he cut her off.

“I’ve loved you way too long not to notice how you respond to me. Wanted you too damn much not to be aware of the subtle changes to your body when I’m around. It happened before, and it’s happening now.

He swallowed hard, just thinking about those changes. “I love the way your skin flushes, pink tingeing your cheeks and your neck when you’re aroused. And the way your breasts tighten when I’m near you.” He smiled. Let himself enjoy the very sight of which he spoke, knowing she glared at him while he did. “You try to hide it. Rounding your back just a little so your shirt hangs loose from your shoulders. Turning away from me, wrapping your arms over your chest.” His cock ached. How the fuck could he be this aroused while tied to a chair?

“You can’t hide your reaction to me now, can you, Jenn? Not bound and helpless. I can see you want me. Can’t tear my gaze away.” He licked his lips wolfishly and was rewarded with an indignant squeak from her.

“Your shirt’s wet. It’s clinging in all the right places.”

The indignant squeak turned to a howl of dismay.

“Clinging to your nipples, showing me exactly how tight they are.” As he spoke, they poked harder at the cotton of her blouse, making his vision blur with lust.

“You’re an arrogant sod,” she snapped. “My shirt is wet and it’s wintertime. If my…breasts are tight, it’s because I’m cold and can’t put on a jumper.”

“You’re aroused because you want me as much as I want you,” Garreth corrected. “I know how you feel. I’m aroused too, and it has nothing to do with the weather. I get turned on every time I see you. Think about you.” Even as he spoke, the rope rubbed against his skin, torturing him. He wanted her hands on his chest, not these freaking binds.

“Christ, Jenn, I’m sitting here, wishing I could touch you. I’m ogling your breasts, wishing they were in my mouth. Wishing I could roll my tongue around them, suck your nipples between my lips and feast. Wishing I could make you come, with my mouth on your tits and nothing else.” He raised his gaze to hers, noted the shocked look in her eyes, and amended his confession. “Wishing I could make you come in every possible way known to mankind.”

It took her a good few seconds to react. Her eyes glazed over, and her lips parted as she puffed air in and out.

Knowing his words had affected her, and knowing they’d affected him just as much, if not more, made him gasp for air.

She blinked, clearing her gaze. “Why are you saying these things?”

Garreth went straight for the truth. “Because I want you, and you want me, and now the pact is broken there is nothing standing in the way of us being together.”

She raised a brow. “Nothing?”

“Not a single, damn thing.” Especially with Sam out of the picture. Rachel had shared that interesting detail with him in the mountains.

Once again Jenna pasted her sweet, soulless smile on her face. “Apart from the fact that you fucked my best friend, you mean?” She paused, looked down at her trussed body, sighed and corrected herself. “Ex-best friend.”

Garreth sucked in a deep breath. Not because of her attack, but because of her choice of words. Jenna never swore. Ever. It was all part of her self-discipline. Her carefully controlled manner. Swearing showed emotion, weakness, and Jenna wasn’t weak. Not anymore. Once she had been, and it had almost crushed her.

She’d accused him of fucking her best friend—not sleeping with Rachel. Which told Garreth two things. One, she hadn’t gotten over it
—
not that he’d believed for one moment she had, and two, her control was slipping.

Good. He wanted her control to slip. Wanted her wall down. Not so she’d be vulnerable, but so he could get in, tell her the truth about his actions last weekend once and for all, and bond with the part of Jenna she kept so well hidden.

Garreth chose his response carefully. “I fucked Rachel, but I love you.”

Her sweet smile turned into an empty laugh. “Ah, Garreth, what a charming way you have of expressing your love. No wonder women fall at your feet.”

“I’d have fucked you, if you’d ever given me the chance. I’d have fucked you every day for the last two years. I’d have done it so thoroughly and so well, you’d have begged for more.”

“Not very discerning, are you?” Jenna mocked. “Me, my friend. Would you like an introduction to my cousin? My clients perhaps?”

Had her reaction to his deed not already torn his heart out in the mountains, her words might have hurt more. But he’d had a week to brace himself. He was more than ready to tackle the issue head on. “Jealous, Jenn?”
Please, be jealous!

“Why should I be? Because you can’t keep your pants on? Because you can’t see that fucking the best friend of the woman you love may be a little…selfish? Or that fucking the woman your housemate loves is even more…perverse? I’m not jealous, Garreth. I’m appalled.”

Appalled, maybe. Contained? Not so much. She was trying, he’d give her that. Giving it her best shot. But the fact she kept swearing told him she was losing control just a little more with every passing minute.

Time to push a little harder. “Appalled? Or angry?”

“I’m disgusted,” she hissed.

“You’re furious. Because no matter how immoral my actions might have been in your book, the bottom line is I fucked Rachel, not you.”

She glared at him. “You fucked the woman Jackson loves.”

He nodded. “I did. And that makes me the selfish prick. But have you seen your brother this last week? Have you seen Rachel? Have you seen what’s happened as a result of my sleeping with her? They’re together. They’re in love. And they are finally happy! Very, very happy.” He eyed her warily. “Can you say the same for yourself? Are you happy?”

Jenna pursed her lips. “They’re happy. I’ll concede that. But that doesn’t justify your actions.”

Ah, no surprise she’d avoided the question about her own happiness. If she answered honestly, she’d be giving him some insight into her deepest thoughts and feelings. “You rejected me, Jenna. What did you expect? That I’d remain faithful to you? That I’d let my life rot while you fucked another man?”

“I never asked you to be faithful. But I sure as hell never expected you to fuck my best friend.”

“Why not just acknowledge the truth? You wish it had been you, not Rachel.”

“I hate you.” Her eyes flashed.

“Correction. You hate that I never fucked you.”

“No. I hate
you
.”

“You hate that you begged me to make love to you in the mountains, and I didn’t.”

“I was wrong. I don’t just hate you, I fucking despise you.”

There it was again. The very word she never used. “You despise that when we finally had a chance to be together, I pulled the plug.” Didn’t she know that had nearly killed him? Jenna, naked in his arms was not something he could easily have passed over. But he’d had no choice. If he hadn’t stopped her, she would really have ended up hating him. And herself. And he’d never, ever have risked that outcome.

Even if it had left him with a serious case of blue balls for the past week.

“You, Garreth Halt. I despise you. I despise you more with every word you utter.”

“You love me, Jenn, and acknowledging it is driving you insane.”

“Knowing I stripped naked in your arms is driving me insane.”

Why? Because she’d exposed herself to him? Shown him her vulnerabilities? “You should have stripped naked in my arms long before Jackson broke the pact. I’d never have slept with Rachel then. I’d never have needed to.”

Her mouth tightened and her shoulders stiffened.

Damn it, she was engaging her defenses again.

Push her. Don’t let them back up.
“Does it still chafe? Knowing I was with Rachel?”

“Fuck you, Halt.”

“Does it keep you up at night, wondering what I did to her? How I fucked her? How many times?”

“You make me sick.”

He made himself sick. Taunting her didn’t come naturally. But her response was worth it. Jenna’s wall was crumbling, bit by bit. She wasn’t clinging to that façade of control. She was letting him see her very real anger. “Do you wish it was you? Lying in my bed? Lying beneath me? Opening your legs to my mouth? My cock? Crying out as I drive into you?”

Her gasp echoed through the room.

“It keeps me up at night,” he growled. “I lie awake, thinking about you. Imagining it
was
you, beneath me. Naked. Open to me. Inviting me in.” He shuddered. Need slammed through him. Every word he spoke was the truth. Thoughts of her kept him up at night. Awake
and
aroused. Kept him in a perpetual state of pain and need.

She gaped at him, her eyes wide, her cheeks stained a bright pink.

“Christ, Jenn, I dream about fucking you.” He shook his head. “Making love to you. Holding you beneath me, pushing inside you. Losing myself in your wet heat.” His chest heaved and his cock throbbed. “Awake or asleep I dream about it. Even now, sitting here, all I want is to spread your thighs and slide between them. Slide into your velvety pussy. Kiss your lips while I do, slip my tongue in your mouth. Feel your nipples against mine.”

She closed her mouth, opened it again. Closed it. Stared at him. Her chest heaved, as though she had trouble breathing.

“I wanna taste you, Jenn. Wanna sit at your feet, bury my face between your legs and lick your pussy. Lick every inch of it, from your swollen clit, down to your puffy lips. I want to open you up and feast on you. Drink every drop of cream you make for me.”

His gaze was fastened to her groin, and though he could see nothing but the skirt she had on, he had no trouble picturing her naked. He was a veritable expert at that.

Jenna shifted on her seat.

Garreth licked his lips, bit on the lower one, imaging it was her clit. Wishing it was her clit.

Jenna moved again, as though…rubbing her thighs together.

So, not as unaffected as she wanted him to believe. He purred silently. “Know what I want even more?”

Jenna didn’t answer. She simply stared at him with a frown, her chest heaving.

“I want you to come in my mouth. I wanna taste you as you orgasm around my tongue.”

Her eyes dilated, her pupils becoming huge black orbs.

Ah, definitely rubbing her thighs together. Which drove him crazy. Made him rip at his bonds, try and jerk his hands free. Didn’t help.

Still. Be calm. Seduce her.

Worry about touching her later.

He let the tip of his tongue play on his lips, watched her watch him. Heard the tiny groan that escaped before she’d realized it was out.

Oh, yeah, she was aroused. No question about it. Her arousal fed his, made him even hotter. Which was bloody impossible seeing as he was about to spontaneously combust.

“I’ll lick it up,” he promised. “Your cream. Savor every sweet drop.”

She shivered.

Precome leaked from his cock. He cursed the ropes, dug his fingers into the binds, searched blindly for the knot. And spoke. Didn’t stop speaking. Couldn’t. Not when she listened to every word. Whether she had a choice or not, she was hearing him. And whatever he said was having an effect. Jenna was losing control. One dirty word at a time.

“Just when you think there’s nothing left for me to lick, I’ll lift your ass in the air, wrap my hands around your butt cheeks, and open you up completely to my mouth.”