Slow Hands (19 page)

Maddy reached for Jake’s waistband, unbuttoned it, then slowly lowered his zipper. His rock-hard erection arched against her hand, but he didn’t stop her. Instead, he watched with hooded eyes as if wondering what she was up to.

She’d pleasured him with her mouth many times and knew he loved it. She also knew it was what he expected.

It wasn’t what he was going to get.

Tugging his briefs down and pushing them, with the trousers, over Jake’s lean hips and butt, Maddy breathed lightly on that silky skin. But rather than taste him, she wiggled closer. Close enough for her nipples to brush against the fine hairs on his stomach, to feel the ragged pulse as his blood raged through his veins.

“Good God,” he said with a groan, finally understanding her intention.

Reaching around to clench his taut butt, Maddy hugged him closer, smothering his erection between her full breasts, making a nice, soft, warm channel for him. He was helpless to resist, his muscles flexing in her hands, his pelvis tilting, his staff gliding against her body as if he was buried inside her.

“Maddy,” he groaned. He twined his fingers in her hair and she looked up at him, wetting her lips, groaning in pleasure as he continued his slow, lazy thrusts.

“I never imagined how good this could feel,” she whispered, admitting she was trying something new.

That realization seemed to make him grow even more engorged against her, and he threw his head back, the cords of muscle standing out in his neck.

Maddy wasn’t entirely sure how far this kind of thing could go. Knowing Jake, he wasn’t anywhere near coming. Nor was she selfless enough to give up truly having him inside her. But she did like it. A lot. She especially liked that he was visibly losing a little of that infamous control, his hands clenched tightly in her hair, his breath coming in short gasps.

“Gotta have the real thing, babe,” he muttered, dropping his hand to her shoulders and pushing her onto her back.

“I wish you would,” she whispered, wanting him desperately.

But instead of pushing her farther back on the bed and climbing on top of her, Jake remained standing between her parted thighs. He grabbed a condom out of his pants pocket, opened it and put it on between one breath and the next.

Unfastening her garters with a few easy flicks of his fingers, he reached for her panties and tugged them down, tossing them out of his way, then sliding his fingers into her silky wet body.

He seemed to lose the last vestiges of control at finding her already fully aroused and ready to take him. “I can’t believe I’m doing this without giving you more,” he said, sounding on the verge of desperation.

“Please, just
take
me,” she groaned.

He didn’t make her beg again. Jake lifted her legs completely until her calves rested on his huge, bare shoulders. Holding her hips and lifting her wet, tender core toward him, he plunged into her with sudden, shocking force.

Maddy screamed at the power of it, so filled by him she didn’t think she’d ever feel whole again if he stopped making love to her.

He froze. “Maddy? You okay?”

One hand moved to her face, his thumb tracing her parted lips. She bit it lightly, already rocking up toward him, greedily demanding more as he began to pull away. “As long as you’re not stopping, I am just fine.”

“Then I guess I’m not stopping.”

He pulled out, thrust again, the firmness of the floor beneath his feet giving him incredible control. Maddy was helpless to do anything but love every stroke, to gasp when he went fast, to whimper when he slowed down.

And finally, when he reached between their bodies and caressed her swollen clit, to cry out her release moments before he attained his.

Only then did he scoot her back and fall on top of her, both of them falling into a sudden and unexpected sleep, still joined in every single way.

T
HEY WERE LATE
.
Quite a bit late, considering they’d fallen asleep and hadn’t awoken until twenty minutes before the rehearsal start time. Jake had made up as much time as he could behind the wheel of Maddy’s car, but they still pulled into the church parking lot not a minute before seven forty-five.

“Oh, damn,” Maddy whispered, seeing all the cars. Then, in a hopeful tone, she added, “I don’t see Tabby’s convertible. Maybe she’s not here yet.”

Or maybe she’d ridden with her father, her fiancé, or any other member of the bridal party, he thought. Not that he said so aloud.

When they got inside and saw Maddy’s very anxious father rushing toward them with an expectant expression, he figured Maddy had been right.

“Is Tabitha with you?”

“No, she’s not.” Maddy glanced toward the group of people clustered at the front of the church, then back at the closed doors through which they’d just come.

“Please tell me your sister isn’t going to do this again.”

“Again?” Jake whispered before remembering the previous wedding, and the previous broken engagement. Or engagement
s
?

“Have you called her?” Maddy asked.

“I have. Everybody has.”

“Where’s Bradley?”

“He was late, too,” Jason Turner said. Finally noticing Jake’s presence, the man offered him a friendly smile, appearing pleased to see Maddy on his arm, despite his anxiety. “He arrived fifteen minutes ago and went right into the minister’s office without talking to anyone, not even his parents.”

Sounded unusual. Jake’s senses went on alert. But when he heard the door behind them open, and saw the relieved look on Jason Turner’s face—and on Maddy’s—he figured maybe his instincts were slightly off. This time.

“I’m so sorry!” exclaimed the bride, a tall, slim blonde, who looked about as much like Maddy as
he
resembled George of the Jungle—the cartoon one. “There was an issue with the lobster for tomorrow, then I had to deal with some problems with the fountains and the fireworks.”

Yeesh. Lobster, fountains and fireworks. Was this a wedding or a state dinner?

“Bradley
is
here?” she asked, her tone hardening.

“Yes, of course,” her father said, taking her arm to lead her to the front of the church. “Don’t worry, he was late, too.”

“I know,” the woman said.

Seeing the way Tabitha’s spine stiffened, her shoulders squared and her head came up, as if she was preparing herself for an ordeal, he couldn’t help wondering at the not-so-happy bride’s mood. It seemed to be more than simply annoyance.

Neither her father nor her sister, who both appeared relieved, even noticed. Especially not when the bride swept toward the front of the church, expecting—and getting—the small crowd to part in front of her.

Yeah. About what he’d anticipated, from all Maddy had said. Tabby seemed to be exactly the self-absorbed woman he’d pictured. She’d probably kept everyone waiting intentionally, just so she could make her grand entrance.

Throughout the brief rehearsal, though, as he watched from the back of the church, he began to wonder about those strained undercurrents he couldn’t help noticing. Not from everyone. Maddy seemed fine—more than fine, in fact. She was beautiful, still flushed from the love they’d made, as he’d known she would be. She also appeared genuinely happy for her sister, and made a stunning picture as she walked down the aisle.

God, the
images
that put in his head. Even if being here, among all these rich people who probably made his annual salary in a day, should have him running the other way.

Damn it, they could work it out. He loved Maddy. He suspected she loved him, too. That was all that mattered—it was the
only
thing that mattered. He just needed to keep reminding himself of it.

Though Jake’s attention remained on the woman he’d escorted here tonight, he definitely felt some vibes coming off the engaged couple. Tabitha’s laughter seemed almost too bright, her mood more forced than joyous. And the groom had little or nothing to say at all.

Yeah. There were definitely some undercurrents going on, though maybe they were only visible to an outsider who didn’t have anything at stake in tomorrow’s high-society event.

In the car, on the way to the dinner, he voiced his observations to Maddy.

“What? Are you kidding? Tabitha’s very happy.”

That hadn’t seemed like happiness to him. Then again, maybe for Maddy’s sister, the tight smile was typical, maybe her eyes never sparkled, and the slight droop to her shoulders was a result of fatigue from wedding mania.

But he doubted it.

“I can’t believe I forgot to even introduce you,” she said, sounding genuinely distressed. “I’ll rectify that as soon as we get to the hotel.”

The one owned by the groom’s father. He remembered that tidbit. “Yeah, be sure to point out your stepmother, too, okay? I want to make sure I’m ready to deal with her…just in case.”

“I told you, I already warned her you’d be there.”

She had, on the way to the church. Fortunately, it hadn’t been an issue then, because the stepmother of the bride hadn’t bothered to attend. Another tidbit that caused the bride’s mouth to tighten. Deborah was, however, per Maddy’s father, definitely going to be at dinner.

Yippee.

“She and I didn’t have time to talk for more than a few minutes the other night, but I put her on notice.” Maddy’s mouth tightened. “There’s no way she’s going to say anything my dad might overhear. That would put her in some serious trouble.”

“I know,” he mumbled, though his mind had already shifted gears. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about Maddy’s stepmother, beyond the fact that he wouldn’t want Jason Turner, whom he already liked, hurt in any way.

Nor did he give a damn what anybody else—the stepmother, or any of the spoiled, rich socialites who might show up at the wedding tomorrow and remember him from the auction—thought of him. They could consider him the biggest boy toy in the world. It didn’t matter. Only one person’s opinion mattered and she was sitting right beside him.

Maddy deserved the truth; he had known that for days. But it had never been more clear to him than those moments before he’d made love to her tonight, when their eyes had met and they’d silently said the words that neither of them had dared to voice out loud.

He loved her. There were no more caveats, no more qualifications, no more maybes. He couldn’t hide behind the protective, halfhearted idea that he was “falling for her” or that he
sensed
they could have something, or that he
thought
he could love her. He did love her. Period.

And her expression tonight, not to mention every moment they’d shared in the past several days, told him she loved him, too. Whether she loved him enough to get over the fact that he’d let her believe a lie, he didn’t know. All he knew was that, feeling the way he did, he couldn’t continue something he found so morally dishonest. Even though they were almost to the hotel and there was really no time, he found he could no longer continue the charade. He couldn’t walk into that dinner filled with her family and friends under such dishonest terms.

“I need to talk to you, Maddy,” he murmured, his eyes on the road. “Before we get there, you have to know a few things.”

She stiffened in her seat. He didn’t have to see to know it, the air in the car changed with her sudden tension. God love the woman, she was so used to having the rug yanked out from under her, she’d probably been steeling herself for something to happen. Something bad.

He tried to keep things light at first. “I hope you have money in your account, because your check is going to clear your bank any day.”

She let out her breath in an audible whoosh, which, considering she’d just gone through a whole lot of money, said a lot about how dark her expectations had been. “Okay.” Laughing lightly, she added, “It’s certainly not going to bounce.”

As if.
“Be sure you hold on to the canceled check. You’re going to need it come tax time.”

“Why?” Her hand moved to his leg. “Do they allow deductions for, uh,
this,
now?”

He covered her fingers with his, lifting them to his mouth to press a kiss there. “No. Because I signed it over to the Give A Kid A Christmas people.”

Her fingers tensed against his mouth, but she didn’t pull away.
Oh, sweet Maddy.
He knew what she was thinking, what she was wondering. Should she be angry? Should she be hopeful?

“I told you to do whatever you wanted with it.” She didn’t sound cold, merely alert, knowing, already, that there was more.

“There’s no way in hell I’d take money to be with you.”

“Jake…”

He cut her off. “Let me clarify. There’s no way I’d ever take money to be with
any
woman. But especially not you.”

At that, she did pull her hand away. They’d reached a stop-light a few blocks from the hotel, and he chanced a glance at her. Maddy was watching, her brow furrowed in confusion, her body tense. “I’m not following you.”

So he told her. “I’m not who you think I am. I don’t know how it happened, but somebody messed up at that auction. I’m not bachelor nineteen, I’m number twenty.”

“What?”

“I mean, I know I
was
nineteenth. But it wasn’t my bio that was printed beneath my picture in the program. It wasn’t my life. I’m not the man you went there that night to find.” Ignoring the fact that the light had turned green, he urged her to understand. “It wasn’t
me,
Maddy.”

It took her a few seconds. When understanding did wash over her, it did so instantaneously, and she gasped out loud, her jaw falling open. “Oh, my God.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not…”

“No.”

“I mistook you for…”

“Uh-huh.”

“Is your name Jake Wallace?” She still sounded dazed.

“Of course. I am the man you’ve gotten to know since that night. The only thing you don’t know is that I’m a paramedic for the city of Chicago…not an ‘international playboy and lover of women.’”
Or a hooker
.

Behind them, someone honked a horn, and he finally acknowledged that he’d been holding up traffic. He eased forward, spying the tall, high-rise hotel just ahead of them. Maddy remained silent, slumped back in her seat as he pulled into the parking garage rather than heading for the valet stand.

They weren’t finished. They’d been late to the rehearsal, they could be late to dinner, as well.

Maddy waited until they were tucked into a small-car spot in the basement garage before she came back at him with the accusation he’d been expecting. “You lied to me.”

“I know.” He had no defense.

“You let me believe it. Let me make a fool of myself and assume horrible things about you.”

He reached for her, but she jerked away. “I
know
. But not from the very beginning. Call me dense, but it wasn’t until I went to meet you at the boat, and you explained how you ‘knew’ everything about me that I realized what the hell was going on.”

Finally appearing more anguished than angry, she murmured, “I’m so sorry. God, how horribly offensive. How demanding and spoiled I must have sounded.”

“Believe me, that first morning, those things you said…I was about as mad as I’ve ever been in my life. Not to mention stunned when you put forth your proposal that day on the boat. Right up until you told me who you assumed I was, and why.”

“And then? What happened then?” she asked, coming to the most important part. The part where he’d have to make her understand why he’d done it,
and
make her believe in his genuine feelings now.

But before he could open his mouth to say a single word, someone tapped on the passenger side window. Surprised, Jake and Maddy both looked out and saw the bride herself, nibbling the corner of her mouth, looking unsure and unhappy and utterly unlike a woman about to marry the man of her dreams.

“Damn,” he said. “We need to finish this conversation.”

“I know.”

“Can you tell her we need a few more minutes?”

Maddy pushed the button and lowered her window. “Hi, Tabby. Can you give us—”

“I need to talk to you.”

Oh, boy. He sensed the bride was about to confess something. She looked jittery and nervous, obviously upset, more on edge than she’d been at the church.

“I am so sorry, Maddy, but there are two people upstairs who you are
not
going to want to see.” She glanced across the car, saw Jake, gave him a brief smile, then focused on her sister again. “I could wring my future father-in-law’s neck. I’ve been watching for your car so I could give you a heads-up. I’m really glad you guys decided to park down here so we have a minute.”

“What’s wrong? Who is upstairs?”

“Bitsy.”