Line of Scrimmage (16 page)

She did her best to avoid touching him anywhere but his leg, but no luck there either. As she tried to straighten up, her arm brushed against his crotch. She jerked back as if she’d touched a lit flame. Jake’s fingers closed over her elbow, and he tugged her toward him.

“Don’t,” he said when she tried to pull away. “Look at me.”

She let her gaze travel up the length of him until it locked with his. His face was flushed with desire, the late day scruff so temptingly delicious she wanted to rub herself on it like a sleepy cat. His eyes were now the dark color of espresso, and the hunger in them was so evident he might as well have worn a blinking neon sign. He stroked his fingers lightly along her arm, the barest of touches but enough to ignite even more flames. He caressed her gently, slowly, as if he expected her to bolt.

Or smack him.

Walk away
.
Tell him to let go of you. Be smart about this. You know this is a huge mistake.

But smart apparently wasn’t on her agenda today. All those erotic dreams flashed in her mind like a naughty movie, and without warning moisture flooded her panties and her nipples hardened. Damn! The man was lethally dangerous where she was concerned, because try to deny it or not, she wanted him. Badly.

What was the old saying? You’ll hate yourself in the morning?

Maybe. But being this close to him, inhaling the clean male essence of him, remembering the magic of his touch and the heat of his kisses, the feel of his thick cock inside her—common sense fled and all her other senses took over. Despite her good resolutions, she was totally lost, giving herself over to the pull of desire between them.

Jake slid his fingers into her hair and pulled her head down so her mouth was aligned with his. His hot breath fanned her cheeks.

“Give me your mouth, sweet thing.” His voice was thick with need. “Just one kiss. I need to celebrate getting that cast off my wrist and moving to crutches. Don’t you want to help me?”

“I think a glass of wine might do the same thing, now that you’re off your pain meds.”

“Come on. One kiss. I promise not to be grouchy for the rest of the day.”

“Yeah, right.”

This was a bad idea. One kiss would lead to more, because she stupidly had no willpower where he was concerned. With a sigh of surrender, she moved her head the extra tiny space until their lips touched, his so warm and firm. He licked the closed seam of her lips, one smooth glide back and forth.

“Open for me,” he whispered. “Now.”

Tossing all her reservations aside for one wild moment, she braced her hands on either side of his head and let his tongue sweep inside and lick every surface of her mouth. He coaxed her tongue to dance with his, twisting and twirling, tasting every bit, a sensual tango that she wanted to go on forever.

She was so lost in the taste and heat of him it barely registered when he tugged up the hem of her short-sleeved sweater. He slid his hand smoothly along her rib cage until he reached one breast. When he cupped it gently and squeezed, she couldn’t hold back a tiny moan.

“Get down here with me,” he said in a low tone. “I want to feel your body next to mine.”

She had one last moment of sanity, piercing the erotic fog surrounding her. This would be the time for her to break away and tell him this wasn’t such a good idea. Instead, her traitorous mouth said, “There’s hardly any room next to you.”

“You could go around on the other side, you know. I have a whole half a bed that’s not being used.”

“No, that’s the side with the broken leg. I can just see you knocking me out with it.” She swallowed. “I’m not sure—”

“Don’t you have any sympathy for an injured man?” He grinned, humor in his eyes. “You’re supposed to see to my needs, right?”

Her laugh was slightly hysterical. “I’m not sure this is in my list of duties.”

“Then I’m adding it on. Come on, be adventurous.”

She tried again, her last chance to escape. “It will be uncomfortable for you.”

“You let me worry about that. Dr. Moline said I don’t need to keep that leg elevated all the time, so let’s see what we can do.”

The hunger in his eyes wiped away the last of her restraint. He managed to maneuver his body so he was lying on one side, sort of, tugging Erin down so she was lying next to him, albeit in a very narrow space. The feel of his heated body set her nerves on fire, especially when he rucked up her sweater more and opened the front clasp of her bra. When his fingers teased her nipples, pinching them lightly and stroking her aching breasts, jolts of electricity shot straight through her to her pulsing sex.

He still wore the shirt he’d put on for the trip to the doctor, and impatiently she yanked it up from his shorts enough to bare his chest so she could slide her hands over the crisp curly hair covering his hard wall of muscle. Finding his hard male nipples, she scraped her fingernails lightly over them, eliciting a harsh intake of breath from him. They lay there, teasing each other with sensual caresses until she wanted to scream at him to get on with it.

“We’ll probably have to be a little inventive,” she warned him.

“Inventive is my middle name. I promise you.”

“Good.” She smiled.

“I want to undress you,” he growled softly, “but I think I might need a little help here. How about it?”

“If you’ll do the same.” She wanted to see him naked again, see his glorious muscular body. Not even the cast could detract from his athletic male beauty. Not that she hadn’t seen most of it every day, but this was different. A lot different.

“No problem.” Desire and hunger flared in his eyes.

As she eased off the bed, the memory of her striptease in the dream popped into her head and her inner adventurous devil took over. With slow movements, she discarded the bra and sweater, unzipped her slacks, and eased them down her legs to step out of them. The last piece to go was the tiny scrap of satin that passed for her panties. She wiggled her hips as she slid the insubstantial fabric down, stepped out of it, and held it up like a trophy before dropping it with the rest of her things.

“Jesus.” Jake sucked in a deep breath. “Your body is even better than I remembered. Come here.”

He gestured with his hand, and she stepped close to the bed. Sliding his hand between her thighs, he nudged them apart to give him easy access to her already throbbing pussy. He stroked his fingers through her folds, just skimming the tip of her clit enough to draw a slight gasp from her. When he lifted his hand away from her, his fingers glistened, and he gave her a knowing smile.

“Soaked.” He licked each finger with a slow lap of his tongue. “And delicious.”

He repeated the movement twice, leaving her trembling and craving more. She wanted him to plunge his fingers inside her, to rub her aching clit and relieve this agonizing tension rippling through her body. She rocked her hips forward slightly, coaxing a lazy grin from him.

“You want more, sweet thing? So do I. But you haven’t finished your chores yet.” He pointed to his body. “Didn’t you say I have too many clothes on?”

“Yes.” She licked her lips. “So I did.”

It was an awkward process, but the very awkwardness was exciting. Jake pulled himself up to a sitting position, and together they made short work of his shirt. The shorts were a little more difficult, the cast an awkward obstruction. She leaned over him, unbuttoned and unzipped the shorts he’d worn, and started tugging them down over his hips. He braced himself on his elbows to lift his weight as much as he could. She did okay getting them past his ass, and he bent his uninjured leg to free it. The cast was another matter. Finally, she climbed up onto the foot of the bed and tugged from there until she could pull them off completely.

The boxer briefs were even more of a challenge. By the time he lifted his hips again and she dragged the briefs off, almost falling onto his cast while she did, they were both huffing and puffing. She wasn’t sure this whole thing was worth it.

He grinned at her and said as if he could read her mind, “Yes, it is.”

“Is what?”

“Worth the effort.”

Maybe he was right. Apparently all this wasn’t a mood killer, either, because she was still highly aroused and greedy for him. Ditto for him. He was gloriously naked now, his thick cock swollen with need, the head a dark purple, the sac with his balls lying heavy against his thighs. The sight was even more than the memory, even beyond what she’d dreamed, and her hands flexed with the desire to touch him. When she tore her gaze away from his groin to look at Jake, his mouth curved in a knowing grin.

“Go ahead. You can touch it. God knows I’ve dreamed enough about you doing it.”

“Y-You have?” she stammered.

His mouth curved in a grin that could only be called hungry. “Don’t you remember what I said before? Or did you want to push that out of your mind?”

She felt a blush creep up her cheeks at the remembered image of him lying in bed, fingers wrapped around his cock, semen spilling over them. And his tension as she’d carefully cleaned him with as much objectivity as she could muster.

“Go ahead,” he urged. “Touch me again.” He wet his lips. “Please.”

She pressed one knee on the bed next to him and then reached for him, curving her fingers around him, feeling the heat of the steel-like shaft through the soft skin. Beneath her touch, the ropy vein wrapped around it pulsed with the blood coursing heavily through it. She brushed her thumb over the velvety head, spreading the tiny bead of pre-cum sitting on the slit.

God! This was so much better than any dream. Even better than she remembered it from that one night. His very male scent mixed with whatever aftershave he used—something woodsy—was such a turn-on. She wanted to bury her face against his skin and just inhale. Touching him sent little slivers of electricity sparking through her, ramping up her own pulse. She leaned forward and took just the head in her mouth, loving its lush velvet softness, and traced her tongue around the furled skin surrounding it.

“I want to watch.” Jake swept the curtain of her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I want to see it all.”

She hummed against him as she slowly lowered her mouth to the root and then drew it all the way back to the tip. Beneath her, Jake shuddered so she did it again. And again. His shaft flexed beneath her fingers so she squeezed, eliciting a deep groan from him. She worked him with her fingers and lips, moving slowly and steadily, feeling him swell and harden and throb beneath her touch.

She jerked when she felt his hand skate over the curve of her ass, up and down, before he trailed his fingers through the hot crevice. Just like in the dream. And just like that night. She’d tried to bury so much of it so she could walk away from it—from him—but the feel of him now brought everything back with growing intensity.

As she worked his cock, sucking and pulling, he rubbed his fingers up and down in a steady rhythm in the warm space separating the cheeks of her buttocks. She shivered again when he slipped his fingers lower to find her pussy, stroking the wet flesh and sliding the moisture back to her other opening.

Oh God!

“I’m not gonna last long,” Jake told her in a rough voice. “Not long at all. This feels too damn fucking good.”

The faster she worked him, the faster his hand moved, massaging her own moisture into her hot tissues. She squeezed his balls rhythmically in cadence with her attention to his shaft, so she knew exactly when his climax began its climb from deep inside his body. She increased pressure and speed, felt the surge beneath her fingers, and took him full into her mouth as his release roared through him.

With that first hot surge, one finger pressed into her anus, and she felt the walls of her sex spasm. Because she had to balance herself with one foot on the floor, she couldn’t give in to the urge to squeeze her legs together so the walls of her sex clenched convulsively on nothing but air.

Oh God!

She kept her lips sealed around him until the last spurt had filled her mouth and she swallowed it. The reality was way better than the dream. Then she eased her lips up, gave one last lick to the head, and turned to smile at him. His cheeks were dark with the heat of his orgasm and his eyes heavy-lidded, lust still crackling in them.

“Come here.” He tugged on her arm. “Straddle me.”

“Jake, I don’t want to hurt you—”

His laugh was edged with sexual desire. “I don’t think anything could hurt me right now. And I wouldn’t be much of a lover if I left you unsatisfied after you did such a good job for me.”

“But—”

He pressed his fingers to her lips. “Ssh. We’ll figure it out.”

Except it took much longer to figure out then he obviously expected. She tried to straddle him across his groin so he could slide into her, leaving her to do most of the work, but when he tried to move his leg to get in a better position he knocked his cast into her.

“Ouch!” She rubbed her hip. “That thing weighs a ton.”

“You should try it from my side of the fence,” he grumbled.

When she tried to reverse positions, she found herself with no place to brace herself. One good thrust and she’d fall on her face. Now
that
could definitely be a mood changer. She moved herself around to try yet another position, but when Jake shifted to help her, the muscle in his good thigh cramped and his face contorted with agony.

Erin flopped back down beside him, laughing. “Our intentions are good, Jake, but that’s about all.”

“I’m useless,” he complained. “Just damn useless.”

“It’s okay.” She placed soft kisses along his chin. “Really.”

“No, it’s not.” He looked at his leg. “Fucking cast. Fucking linebacker. Fucking useless offensive line. This is just a bitch.”

She lay on her side next to him, propped on an elbow, fitting into the narrow strip of bed next to him. “I said it’s okay. Really, Jake.”

And a lot better than a dream.

He closed his eyes for a long moment, and she wondered if he was mentally retreating from her. She lay there, schooling herself to be patient and preparing herself for it, even as she regretted getting herself in this position again.