Nautier and Wilder (20 page)

Her phone rang. “It’s Marco.”

She answered it, and filled Marco in on what happened at the store while she ate and
reassured him that Jed was there with her and she was safe. He listened to the dynamic.

“No, don’t come over. Jed’s here and I’m fine . . . Yes, I was scared, but I swear
I would have taken one of Bondino’s corals and beaned him with it.”

She laughed. “I know how much it’s worth, but it’s not like I carry a gun, and even
if I did, I wouldn’t shoot them . . . Well, okay, maybe if it was him or me, I would
shoot him . . . No, you absolutely will not increase your hours at the shop. You have
school, and you have Torrance. You have a life, too.”

Then she handed the phone to Jed. “He wants to talk to you.”

Jed arched a brow and took the phone. “Hey, Marco.”

“Is she all right? I mean is she really all right? She’s trying to make me feel better
because I wasn’t there, but I need to know.”

Jed met Elena’s gaze. “She’s fine.”

“I’m afraid for her. This is the second time something has happened while I wasn’t
there.”

“I know.”

“Don’t say anything to her, but I’m thinking someone’s targeting her.”

Marco was pretty perceptive. “Maybe. I’ll check it out.”

“Thank you. I feel better knowing you’re there with her. You’ll stay the night?”

He smiled at Elena. “If she’ll let me.”

“Use your charm, man. Coerce her. I won’t sleep if I don’t think she’s safe.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it covered.”

He sighed. “All right. I’ll be there early in the morning.”

Jed handed the phone back to Elena. She finished the call and laid the phone down
on the table. “He worries like a mother.”

“It’s good to have friends like that.”

“I know. I don’t know what I’d do without him. We’ve been together since I first opened
the shop. He has a keen eye for art, but beyond that, he’s a good friend. He’s family.”

Because she didn’t have any other family around to be her support system.

“You miss your mom?”

She shrugged. “I can’t miss her.”

“Why not?”

“I got used to her not being around. And I’m an adult now. I don’t need my mother.”

She was staring at her salad.

“I would think a girl always needs her mother, especially at a time like this.”

Her gaze shot to his. “A time like what?”

“Come on, Elena. Your shop was burglarized, and you were nearly attacked today. That’s
fairly traumatic.”

She lifted her chin. “I’m not a child who needs to go running to her mama every time
something bad happens. I’m self-sufficient and able to take care of myself.”

More by necessity than by choice, he’d imagine. “Because your mother wasn’t here for
you so you had no choice?”

“I never thought about that. Maybe.” She leaned back and took a swallow of beer, then
pointed the tip of the bottle toward him. “You’re very good at this.”

“At what?”

“Playing psychologist.”

He laughed. “Just observing. I don’t analyze anyone.”

“Either way, it’s a good point. I don’t spend too much time delving into my relationship
with my mother. She is who she is and maybe that’s made me who I am. I’m not as free
spirited as she is. I don’t just drop everything and go or try new things, because
I never wanted to be anything like her. I wanted to remain planted in one place, doing
one thing, because she was always on the go doing a hundred different things.”

“And you didn’t like that.”

Her clear gaze met his. She didn’t seem angry, just contemplative. “No, I didn’t.
I hated her lifestyle, hated the havoc it wreaked on me. Whoever she was, I wanted
to be the opposite.”

“Are you angry at her?”

She looked away, out the window. “I don’t know. Maybe. Probably. Yes. When I was really
little, she’d take me with her. We had great adventures, traveling from place to place.
I met some pretty cool people. She was so much like a kid herself that it was like
hanging out with a best friend. No rules, no curfews, just all this joy.

“But then she decided—or maybe other people decided for her—that I needed to be in
school. So she stopped taking me with her and left me with other people. That’s when
the fun ended.”

“Because she got to go off on her great adventures, and you didn’t anymore.”

She nodded. “Yes. I resented her for that. I was jealous. I had to grow up, be responsible.”

“You grew up, and she didn’t.”

He saw the tears welling in her eyes. She pushed away from the bar, threw her plate
in the trash and walked to the balcony.

He’d pushed her too hard, hadn’t meant to, but there was so much about her he wanted
to know. Just part of the mission, of course. The more he could discover about her
mom, the better chance they had of finding her.

And then he could move on to another mission.

He tossed his plate, grabbed both beers, and walked out onto the balcony. It was cool
outside tonight, but he liked it. Bikers lined the streets and he wished he could
hop on his Harley and join them. Instead, he handed her a beer, grabbed a chair and
just watched and listened to the thunderous rumble. All he could see for miles were
single headlights in both directions, horns honking, bikers riding or walking on the
sidewalks. He got up and looked down the road.

“There are vendor and beer tents set up, and bands, too. You can go. I know you’d
rather be out there riding with them.”

He picked up his bottle. “Got beer right here, and I’d rather be with you.”

She laughed. “Liar. We could go for a ride.”

He shook his head. “It’s not safe.”

“If you think I’m going to become a prisoner in my own house, you’re wrong. Just because
two assholes tried to threaten me today doesn’t mean I’m going to be afraid to go
out.” She stood. “I’ll go change.”

He grabbed her wrist and stopped her, hooking her gaze with his. “I’ve been to plenty
of rallies. There’s nothing new out there I haven’t seen before.”

He pulled her down on his lap, swept his hand down her back. “Here now, there’s definitely
something new and way more interesting than anything down there.”

EIGHT

T
here was nothing more enticing than a man who focused his entire attention on you.
Elena’s breath caught as Jed’s gaze captured hers.

His eyes revealed so much—heat, intensity and desire.

She’d opened up to him, told him about her mother in more detail than she ever had
before with anyone else. She barely knew him, and yet she’d spilled her secret pain
to him. Why?

Because he’d made it easy. He’d asked, she’d answered—just like that.

And he was still here.

Most men didn’t want all the deep dark secrets. They wanted easy and uncomplicated.
Jed had dug deeper, forging a connection she wasn’t sure she was ready to forge with
him—with any man.

Now he looked at her as if he wanted something deeper, the kind of connection that
would require them to move forward on a physical plane.

Though they already had, at least on her side. Until he’d backed away, and she’d wondered
if maybe he’d had second thoughts. But the looks he gave her now told her something
else entirely.

“Don’t think so much all the time, Elena,” he said, sweeping his hand to the back
of her neck and drawing her closer. “Just feel.”

His breath whispered across her mouth as he fit his lips to hers. She sighed and leaned
against the hard plane of his chest and let her fingers slide into the silken strands
of his hair.

She was lost in the sensation of his mouth, the way his tongue swept along hers. She
breathed in the clean male scent of him, smoothed her hands along the muscles of his
arms and felt him tense. When he deepened the kiss, she was lost, wanted to dive in
and forget everything but the way she felt right now.

And what was so wrong with that, other than she was always in possession of her faculties.
She never threw her sensibilities out the window, was always in control.

She hadn’t felt in control of anything since she’d met Jed.

He stood, his arm wrapped tight around her waist until her feet touched the ground.
He maneuvered her to the wall of the balcony and moved into her, pressing his body
against hers.

And then he pulled back, one hand on the wall, the other on her hip, his eyes locked
with hers.

She zeroed in on his mouth. Damn, he had a fine mouth. Her lips tingled as she remembered
how good he was at using it to kiss her. She wanted more of that—a lot more of it,
which made her mind wander to what else his mouth was good at.

He must have been watching her, because she saw the upward tilt of his lips.

She lifted her gaze to his and was hit by the blast of unshuttered desire in his eyes.

“I want you, Elena.” He moved his hand along the side of her rib cage, inching her
tank top up, too.

Her body flushed with a sudden rush of heat. “Right here?”

He shrugged. “I don’t care. I want to fuck you. Here or inside. Up to you.”

She shuddered in a breath and slipped her hand around his neck to pull his head down.
She held him an inch from her lips. “Let’s start here and see where it goes.”

His mouth met hers in an explosion of deep, dark passion, his arm sweeping around
her back to draw her against him. He lifted her top and slid his hand inside to rest
against the skin of her belly.

Her heart pounded, a loud, crashing beat that drowned out the sound of revving motorcycles
and honking horns. All she could hear was her own breaths and the moan she let escape
as Jed plundered her mouth with deep kisses.

She’d been kissed before—plenty of times. But this was all consuming, and her head
spun, her knees felt weak, and she was dizzy from the sensations blasting her body.
There was a chill to the night air but she was hot—all over. And so was Jed, his body
a furnace as it pressed full on against hers.

This was no gentle make-out session. It was a power assault, as if all this time he’d
been holding back and now he’d unleashed everything he had on her.

And what an arsenal it was. His body was all hard muscle, his thigh wedged between
her legs more than capable of keeping her upright. As she grasped his upper arms,
she felt the bulge of his biceps and swept her hands over his broad shoulders.

He made her feel safe and made her swoon a little bit, because he wasn’t the type
of guy she usually went for. He wasn’t a buttoned-up business guy. He was an outdoors-and-carved-in-muscle
guy. He looked dangerous; he smelled like leather and something primally male that
was unique to him. It wasn’t cologne, either. It was his masculine scent and it drove
her crazy. She had no idea how to handle him.

Fortunately, he was doing all the handling at the moment, because her brain cells
were melting under the siege of his mouth and hands. And when he slipped his hand
down her pants and cupped her sex, she cried out against his mouth.

He drew his lips away from hers to meet her shocked gaze.

“You’re wet and hot in my hand.” He teased her with a light stroke, dragging another
moan from her as she clenched his shirt between her fingers and held on.

His cock was hard as he rocked it against her hip.

“I’m going to fuck you tonight, Elena. Hard and fast, then easy and slow. I’m going
to make you come so many times you’re going to beg for mercy.”

She rolled her hips toward the magic of his fingers as he dug the heel of his hand
against her clit and tucked two fingers inside her. She was so close to coming she
could only focus on his movements and the dark, whispered words that spilled from
his lips.

“You know, I’ll bet you taste as good as you feel. I want you to come in my mouth,
Elena.”

She was balanced on the very edge of insanity, but held on enough that shock slapped
her when he bent down and dragged her pants over her hips.

“Jed. Not out here.”

He tilted his head back and grinned at her. “No one’s watching, and you have enough
privacy out here. You’re ready to fly, Elena. Let me.”

It was such a wicked idea, and she didn’t have the power to move, let alone think.
She could only watch as he pulled her pants and panties down to her ankles. The cool
breeze hit her feverish skin, but then Jed was there, cupping her buttocks with his
hands and tilting her pussy toward his mouth.

She watched in awe and need as he fit his mouth over her clit and sucked.

Oh, God. So, good. His tongue darted out and licked the length of her pussy, and she
threw her head back, forgetting about the brick wall behind her. But even the pain
didn’t dissipate the incredible pleasure of his mouth, his tongue and the delicious
things he was doing to her as he dragged his tongue across her tortured flesh, parted
her folds, put his lips over the tight knot and took her right over the edge.

She reached for his head and held him there while she came, wanting to scream but
not wanting to call attention to herself. Instead, she pushed her pussy at his face
and rocked against him while he licked and sucked her through the most intense orgasm
she’d ever experienced.

When the wild pulses died down, he helped her step out of her pants and panties, then
led her inside and laid her on the bed, only to bury his face in her pussy again.

She hadn’t had time even to catch her breath from the last orgasm before he had her
primed and ready to go again. Only this time he widened her legs and slid his fingers
inside her while he sucked her clit.

“Jed,” she whispered, reaching down to tangle her fingers in his hair. She arched
against his mouth, and he met her gaze as she came. The contractions were even more
intense than the first orgasm he gave her.

She was panting out breaths, trying to come to grips with what had just happened to
her, when Jed loomed over her, the hem of her shirt fisted in his hands. He smiled
down at her. “These have to come off. I want you naked.”

She wanted that, too. “I want you naked, too.”

“You, first.” He lifted her tank tops off and tossed them to the floor, then climbed
off the bed only long enough to shuck his clothes.

She leaned up on her elbows to watch as he discarded his shirt, revealing sculpted
abs and a line of dark hair that disappeared into his pants.

Her mouth watered and she licked her lips. That was a most tantalizing line, and she
watched it as he popped the button on his pants, drew the zipper down and let his
pants drop to the floor.

It was so unfair that a man could be built like that. Narrow hips, amazingly well-built
thighs, and his cock was magnificent. She scrambled onto her knees and waited as he
climbed back onto the bed.

“You’re incredibly good-looking,” she said as he came to her.

One side of his mouth quirked. He swept her hair away from her face. “And you’re gorgeous.”

He threw her down on the bed and followed her. She laughed, but all humor died when
he put his hands and mouth on her again. Naked, his body pressed to hers, was a bone-numbing
experience. He was hot and hard all over, and she wished she had more hands.

She loved his stomach. She’d never really gravitated toward guys who worked out all
the time. All that muscle was kind of a turnoff. But with Jed it was different. Maybe
because he had a brain to go with the muscles, and a sense of humor and an—

Oh, God, yes, that amazing mouth. He sucked her tongue deeply into his mouth and she
could swear she had a mini-orgasm. Her pussy tightened and her clit tingled, all her
nerve endings seemingly connected to what his mouth was doing to hers.

There was something magical about this man. He mesmerized her in every possible way,
and his touch had a profound effect on her. Sure, it had been a while since she’d
had sex, but she’d never thought of sex as something so amazing it would make time
stop.

Jed made everything in her world stop, including her breath.

She pushed on his shoulders and he lifted.

“Something wrong?”

“I can’t breathe.”

He moved off to the side. “I’m sorry. I’m too heavy.”

She rolled over and grabbed him. “No. Not like that. I mean I’m overwhelmed, but in
a good way. You’re rocking my world here, Jed.”

He arched a brow. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No. God, no. But isn’t it time we take care of you?”

He let out a short laugh. “Plenty of time for that.”

“Oh, but I take a certain amount of joy in touching you. You wouldn’t want to deny
me, would you?”

She traced her finger down his chest. So smooth, but underneath, there were those
muscles. She laid her palm flat over his abs and felt them tighten.

She lifted her gaze to his. “Tickle?”

He wasn’t laughing. “No. Your hand feels good. I like you touching me.”

She slid her palm down his lower belly and wrapped her fingers around the heavy heat
of his cock. It jumped against her fist and she began to stroke him.

“Then let me touch you.”

Now it was his turn to gasp, and oh, she really liked that. She squeezed his cock
harder, loving the rock-hard feel of him.

He released her hand, rolled her onto her back and slid between her legs. “If you
spend any more time touching me, I’ll come.”

Heat coiled deep within her. “I’d like to see that.”

“You will. But first I’m going to come inside you when I fuck you.”

She was going up in flames. She’d never been with a man so verbal. She liked the verbal.
A lot.

He leaned against her and rubbed his shaft across her pussy, sending spirals of pleasure
through her nerve endings. She wrapped her legs around his thighs and rocked with
him, increasing the tension to her clit.

Jed propped up on his hands and she held onto him, digging her fingers into the corded
muscles of his arms as he suspended himself above her. His strength was a turn-on,
as was the way he seemed to know how to pleasure her. This easy tease, the way he
took her right to the edge time and time again with no thought of getting himself
off, was a heady thrill and made her feel like the only woman in the universe.

Or at least the only woman in his universe.

And if he kept rubbing his cock against her like that, she was going to have an orgasm.
For the third time.

“Jed.”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck me.”

“I will. As soon as I watch you come again.”

She wanted to tell him it was ridiculous, when he hadn’t yet had one, but she was
so close—so close—and his hot shaft felt so damn delicious, his balls slapping against
her pussy as he expertly stroked her clit.

“You’re so wet, Elena. It would be so easy to slam inside you and fuck you hard until
I came. But do you know how your skin flushes when you’re turned on, and your nipples
get tight? I want to suck on your nipples when I’m fucking you and make you come when
I’m inside you.”

She dug her nails into his arm and fell right over the cliff again. He stopped, put
his fingers inside her and made it that much more intense as the waves of orgasm intensified.
Then he leaned over and kissed her, brought her down easy from the sweet climax he’d
given her.

He turned over and grabbed a condom, rolled it on and climbed between her legs.

“I could tease you and make you come all night long,” he said. “But I’m about to explode
because I want to be inside you.”

“I want that, too.” She reached for his cock and drew him to the entrance to her pussy.
He eased inside her, filling her as he pushed deep, then held, swelling inside her.

She didn’t think she’d be able to feel anything after coming so many times, but her
pussy quivered to life again, pulsing as he began to move.

He cupped one breast in his hand, leaned in to take her nipple between his lips, his
tongue sliding over the tight peak.

She felt the delicious tug all the way to her core. As he sucked her nipple, he half
withdrew, then drove his cock inside her, and the sweetest pleasure spiraled through
her.

He lifted his head, thumbed her nipple and took her mouth, kissing her deeply while
grinding against her. The myriad of sensations drove her ever upward toward another
orgasm. She swept her hands along his back, feeling his body tense as he thrust against
her.