Rock Steady (26 page)

He shrugged. “Maybe, depends on the topic.”

Her insides twisted, her belly doing a little flip. Tia would happily blow the top off a subject so touchy. But her temper sizzled too. “I get your point on Steven. Don’t go thinking I’ll take your controlling me like that on matters that aren’t about safety. If I’m not ready to tell you something, you don’t threaten to go check up on me. Not when it’s personal.” She was drawing a line. Maybe it was risky, but she decided she wasn’t going to be a doormat.

Ramsey cursed. “Jesus, Jewel…you’re tearing me to sheds. Just tell me. I can’t stand knowing you’re upset. I want to help, be a part of…stuff. You’re shutting me out.”

He meant it. Her temper fizzled out, leaving her nursing guilt for being too chicken to share her concern with him. “It’s stupid, and for the record, I’m trying not to whine. I do know how to pull up my big-girl panties.”

“Not stupid if it upset you,” he countered. “Tia is messing with you because of me, which was my screwup. So that means I’m going to stay right here until you tell me.”

“You own your fuckups?”

He nodded once, firm and hard, with determination glittering in his eyes. “Spill it, Jewel, we’re in this together.”

It was his last word that broke her down.
Together
. It was an idea really, a shimmering concept that she was still too scared to accept as reality. She really should have had more pride, but the reality was, she was pretty sure she’d crumble like a dried-out sand castle if he cut her out of his life. So that meant trusting him. Jewel swallowed the lump lodged in her throat. “She was being a bitch—”

“She’s good at that,” he interrupted.

Jewel propped her hand on her hip. “Well, you’re the one who dated her.”

“Hooked up with. And in my defense, it was a little more like I didn’t shove her off when she sat in my lap. I didn’t chase her. Tia is a groupie,” he explained. “You’re the first woman I’ve dated since I was in high school.”

“But she has connections,” Jewel finished, feeling a little hollow and out of her league. Sure, she should have been able to hold on to her confidence, but she’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit to being just a little envious of Tia’s ability to stay in Ramsey’s world.

“Don’t,” he said firmly.

She’d been lost in her thoughts. “Huh?”

He reached out and flattened his hand on her chest. Just above her heart. “Don’t think Tia has anything compared to this…connection between us.”

She knew instantly what he was talking about. The current was there, his touch awakening her body. It was immediate and so strong, her breath caught.

Breathless. Yeah. That’s what he did to her.

“I fucked Tia. She made the offer, and I took her up on it. I sure as hell never spent any time trying to impress her or find a way to keep her near me. I put off having you work on my ink because I don’t want you to have a way to leave.”

The admission shocked her, hitting her directly in the heart. It was the sweetest thing she’d ever heard. Ramsey pushed a hand through his hair in exasperation.

“What…did she threaten you with?” he asked roughly. “Please.”

She was going to have to step up and meet him. Take a chance on letting him see her at her weakest.

“She…” Jewel got stuck, because her emotions were swirling around, making thought difficult. “She said it to be a warning, and I can ignore it, except…I realized the core point was something I should have addressed. That’s what I’m dwelling on.”

He reached out and cupped her shoulders, his face warning her he was just about out of patience with her hedging.

“I’m not on birth control,” she pushed out. “And I lost my head the other night and…”

“Tia somehow knew you weren’t on the pill?” he asked, his tone gone dead serious.

“No,” she answered quickly, realizing his mind had instantly jumped to security. She saw the man he must have been in the Navy, his focus clear and unwavering. That sort of thing came only from knowing your life and those of your comrades hung in the balance. But she realized what Tia had known, and it made her stop.

Ramsey lifted her chin when she looked down while she contemplated.

“Tell me exactly what she said.” His tone was deadly serious.

“Um…she knew I was a virgin. I didn’t think a lot about it at the moment.”

But she should have. “It’s really weird the way she knows what’s going on in your bed.”

He grunted. “That’s because I’m a meal ticket to her.”

That made sense. Jewel nodded, but Ramsey kept her chin cupped in his hand. “So tell me how she threatened you.”

“You’re not dropping it, are you?” It was a pointless question that earned her a half grin from him that was full of promise.

Well, no guts, no glory…

“She told me you’d dump me…”

He snorted. The little sound filled her with happiness. It was just there, in her chest like a huge bubble of joy. He read the realization right off her face, one side of his mouth lifting into a grin, but he held up one finger between them.

“And she said…what?”

“That I shouldn’t try to hold you with a bun in the oven.” Reality was killing the mood, puncturing that bubble of joy as she was forced to face hard facts. Standing still became impossible. She walked by him as she flung her hands into the air. “And I realized I should have done something about making sure…”

He caught her from behind, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on top of her head. “We.”

He kissed her temple and smoothed his hands down her arms. “We should have done something, Jewel, not you. We are in a relationship. It’s both our responsibilities to discuss birth control. And stop making everything so easy for me. I don’t deserve that.”

She turned around, cupping his cheek. “Yes, you do.”

He captured her hand and kissed her palm. It was a soft press of his lips, but what hit her hardest was the way his hand shook. “No, I don’t. But I’m going to start trying to be worthy of it.”

She smiled, couldn’t help it. Joy filled her, and a sense of tenderness she was positive she’d never felt before.

“Oh…man…” he groaned. “I really am a dick.”

“Huh?” she asked, confused.

“I should have given you reasons to smile like that before now,” he said huskily.

The sound of his voice dropping hinted at growing passion. She recognized it and reacted, her nipples tingling as they drew tight. His gaze lowered to her chest, his eyes narrowing as his lips thinned.

God, she loved seeing that look on his face. It was a shot of pure confidence, making her bold.

“So…how does that”—she gestured with her thumb at the swing—“work?”

He made a low sound in the back of his throat. “You strip first.”

“Hmm…” Jewel hummed as she lifted her bag off. She moved a little way back, enjoying the way Ramsey watched her. If that was vain, fine. Guilty as charged.

But it was also a total buzz.

His eyes glittered with anticipation as she smoothed her hands down her body and over her hips in search of the hem of her tunic top.

“Down to your skin,” he clarified.

She found the hem of her tunic and pulled it up, not because she was submitting to him. Oh, no. Nothing was further from the truth. She was being brazen. The desire to wave the red flag in front of the bull raged through her. The night air hit her bare skin.

“It’s so fucking sexy to know you don’t have a bra on.” He moved toward her, dropping his leather vest behind him so his chest was just as bare.

“I love knowing there is nothing but a layer of fabric between me and these.” He slid a hand around her waist and leaned over to capture one of her nipples between his lips. She ended up arching back and over his arm as he tongued her nipple and sucked on it.

He surprised her by releasing her. “The rest.”

There was the ring of authority in his tone. A touch arrogant, but it teased something inside her that made a curl of heat lick her insides. The intensity in his eyes had her pushing her leggings down.

She waited for him to strip, her gaze lowering to where his leather pants were tied. He chuckled, catching the laces with his fingers. Her mouth went dry, anticipation building inside her as he tugged the laces free and the leather opened. His cock was already swollen, the length pushing out the moment the leather no longer contained it.

“Nice.” She reached for it, for what she craved. The skin was smooth and hot, but beneath that satin covering, the organ was as hard as stone. That curl of heat set fire to something, making her feel like she was dancing in the middle of a firestorm. Being naked didn’t make her feel exposed any longer. It felt perfect, just perfect.

“Glad you like it,” he whispered against her ear. “Because it’s all you’re ever getting.”

He threaded his fingers through her hair, binding her with the strands and tipping her head back so their gazes locked. She felt the connection as much as saw it. His black eyes glittered with hard purpose.

“You’re mine.” It was a declaration and also a request. His features were drawn tight as he waited for her response.

Jewel stroked his cock, reaching down to the base and pulling her hand up to the head. “Then I guess you’d better let me do the additions to your ink, so I know you trust me.”

He closed his eyes but opened them a moment later. His lips curved slightly. “Later,” he rasped out. “Right now, I want to put you in that swing.”

His words had barely crossed his lips when he pressed a kiss against her mouth. A firm kiss that spiked the level of arousal boiling her blood, and anticipation was a living, breathing thing inside her. He scooped her up and carried her across the suite, his cock hard against her bare bottom.

The swing moved as he angled her into it. The straps were more comfortable than she’d thought they’d be, while the position in which they supported her body was far more intimidating than she’d expected. She was mostly on her back, reclining against the black straps, while the bars above her supported her weight.

“Hmm… I like the view.” Ramsey cupped her knees and slid his hands to the tops of her thighs.

Jewel gasped, arching into the touch, her clit throbbing. Ramsey chuckled, the sound more a promise than anything else. He drew his hands back up her thighs, but with his fingertips set against her flesh like talons. His fingernails were clipped short, keeping her from getting scratched, which left her with nothing but the pure exhilaration of his touch.

“Claw me,” she whispered. “Be the jungle cat I thought you were the first time I set eyes on you.”

She was still exposed, still hanging in midair like bait, but she was also bold. Demand pulsed through her, and there wasn’t going to be any tempering it with rational thought. When Ramsey made it to her knees again, she lifted her eyelids enough to see him.

His expression stole her breath.

It was a combination of need and conquest that defied her entire comprehension of sex. He wasn’t just contemplating appeasing his lust, he was set on claiming her on a much deeper level. He slipped his hands beneath her knees and lifted her legs into the air, all the way up so that her nose was hitting her thighs for a moment. With a slow motion, he spread them and let them down on the opposite sides of the straps that secured the swing to the bar above her head.

She gasped.

His lips lifted into a pleased grin. A damned cocky one too. She was spread open for him, the evening air touching the already wet folds of her sex. There was a second set of straps by her shoulders that she suddenly realized came equipped with bondage cuffs.

That made her shiver.

“Don’t worry, baby…” he cooed softly as he teased the curls on the top of her sex. Each little hair was suddenly ultrasensitive.“I want to control you with my own hands.”

It was a promise he didn’t waste any time getting started on. “Great thing about swings is…the adjustability factor.” He moved away from her, toward the wall. Ramsey pulled something off the small table that had all the sex aids on it. When he returned to her, he pointed a small remote at the ceiling, and the swing was suddenly lifting her. He stopped it when his head was directly between her spread thighs. She tried to close her legs out of instinct.

“Not a chance, Jewel.” He teased her curls again before using his fingers to spread her folds away from her clit. “You know how much I like to eat you out.”

His breath hit her clit, making her shudder, before he leaned in and lapped her.

She cried out, her voice hitting the ceiling where the spotless mirrors waited to reflect everything right back at her. She ended up watching in fascination as Ramsey licked her slit, from the opening of her pussy to her throbbing clit. She felt it and saw it, the combination beyond anything she’d ever felt.

“Mmm…” he murmured against her clit, the vibrations adding to the stimulation. Her nipples had puckered, the mirror above her showing off their hardened peaks. He teased the opening to her body, rimming it with his tongue before licking his way to her clit and capturing the little nub between his lips.

She was straining toward him, lifting her hips as the need to climax nearly drove her insane.

“Not a chance,” he warned her, looking up her body as he rubbed her belly with one open hand. “It’s not going to be that simple tonight.”

She shivered at the harsh edge to his words. She’d gripped the straps of the swing on either side of her shoulders, and suddenly realized she was holding on to the bondage cuffs. Ramsey noticed too. But he returned to the table, contemplating it for a long moment before he came back.

“Um…what’s that?” She knew it was a dildo, but couldn’t seem to keep the question from popping out.

“I’m almost jealous of it.” He held up the glass dildo so she could see it. “But not enough to keep me from enjoying every last second of having you on the edge”—he looked up and locked gazes with her—“while I’m still clearheaded enough to not blow my load because my cock is lodged inside you.”

She blushed. It was rather ridiculous, considering they were having sex, but his blunt talk made her feel about as naive as a teenager.

He flashed his teeth at her before there was a hum, and the swing lowered. A moment later, she lost track of everything. At least as far as her thoughts went. There simply wasn’t room in her brain for anything except what she was feeling. Ramsey teased her, stroking her belly and threading his fingers through her pubic hair. The first touch of glass against her folds was shocking. She jerked, and he soothed her back with a soft motion of his hand against her belly.