Soul Of A Man (12 page)

“Well, think of something,” Jericho ordered her.

Cara silently looked at him, noticing the faint blush that covered his cheeks. It was dawning on her that he was uncomfortable. “Are you embarrassed?”

“Why shouldn’t I be? You just told me that several immortals are watching every move we make, including those of a private nature, and I am supposed to be okay with that? Can I ask what made you assume that I am an exhibitionist?”

Cara tried, she really did, but she couldn’t hold her laughter back any longer. She doubled over when his affronted expression became too much for her to bear.

“Well, I can see that you are in no mood to be reasonable, so I’m going to bed. If you’re hungry, you can forage for yourself. Goodnight.” He was almost out of the room before Cara could gather herself.

“You mean you are going to your room? But I thought…” This time it was Cara’s turn to blush.

Jericho didn’t even turn around, the arrogant jerk that he was simply kept walking out of the room. “Until you can figure a way to keep prying eyes away from my bare ass then our show has just been cancelled.”

Jericho woke the next morning to the smell of frying bacon, and unless his twitching nose was mistaken, he also sniffed the odor of biscuits. He was thirty-five-years-old and had never woken to the smell of a cooking breakfast.

He pulled a soft pillow over his face, blocking out the smells. The inept girl was probably getting ready to burn down his cabin. The food couldn’t possibly taste as good as it smelled. She was taking over his cabin as if she was going to be staying, as if she belonged. He was going to set her straight. Right after he tried her breakfast.

Cara fumbled with the frying pan, wincing as the popping grease struck her hands. The cooking show hadn’t shown that there was going to be popping grease. If they were going to give a cooking demonstration, then they at least should be accurate, you would think. Especially if it could involve the possibility of pain.

“Darn it!” The pan slid crazily as she tried to maneuver it off the hot burner.

“Having problems?” Cara looked up to find Jericho standing in the doorway.

He had expected a mess; to see flour strewn everywhere and burnt food. Instead, the table had a platter of biscuits waiting, a heaping bowl of scrambled eggs and the bacon was sitting on the counter. She had also set the table with plates and silverware. Beside each plate sat a glass of orange juice. Jericho felt his throat tightening.

“How did you do all this?”

Cara gave him a cheeky grin. “Did you know that there is a TV channel that shows you how to cook?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Have a seat. It’s all ready.” Cara smiled at him. He could see the flush of accomplishment on her pretty face. There was no way he was going to sit at that table.

“No, thanks. I’m not hungry.” He turned to leave the kitchen.

“I don’t understand. You have to be hungry since you haven’t eaten since yesterday.” The smile was leaving her face and hurt was entering her eyes.

“When I get hungry, I’ll fix myself a sandwich.”

“So it’s because I fixed this food that you don’t want it?” Cara’s confusion had Jericho almost ready to relent until his eyes found the small glass of flowers she had set on the table.

Angry, Jericho pointed to the table. “Why did you do all this?”

Her confusion deepened as he took a step back from the table. Cara stared at the table that was making him so angry. “I thought you might be hungry.”

“No, that’s not why you did it.” He looked at her with fury in his eyes. “You are trying to make more out of this than there is.”

“More out of what?”

“Us. What you may believe happened yesterday in the cave. You are trying to find a place here as if you’re going to stay. As if you think we are a couple now with all the happily ever after bullshit.”

“And my cooking breakfast says all that?” Cara watched as he nodded his head.

She turned off the stove and moved towards him, noticing how his eyes slid down her body. She hadn’t bothered to dress. Her body had seemed to finally become acclimated to the environment and she had simply cooked in the t-shirt she had put on to sleep in. The thin white shirt only came to the tops of her thighs and showed that she wore no underwear. He took a step back as she stalked toward him.

“So we’re not a couple, but it was you who wanted to know if I was your woman yesterday. What was that?”

Jericho shrugged. “It was a moment of adrenaline, us responding to the danger around us.”

“That was it? So, let me get this straight. You want to fuck me when you want to with no strings attached?”

Anger darkened his eyes. “It’s called friends with benefits.”

“Well, I’m learning all kinds of useful information from you, Jericho. I just can’t express my gratitude at you guidance.”

Jericho tried not to notice how her breasts strained against the thin t-shirt. How her anger was making her breasts jiggle with her quickened breathing. His hands clenched into fists to keep himself from grabbing the firm mounds of flesh.

He watched as she turned to walk over to the pretty table she had set. “And since you don’t want to eat the breakfast I cooked because I might misinterpret what it means, let’s see if you can figure out what this means.” With the speed of a striking snake, she picked up a glass of the orange juice and flung the cold contents into his face.

Stunned, Jericho was motionless for a second until he saw her reach for the bowl of scrambled eggs. Quickly, he moved forward until he could reach her arm holding the eggs. “Put them down,” he ordered.

“My pleasure.” With a twist of her fingers, she let the eggs slip out of her hand. The bowl with the hot eggs landed on his bare feet.

“Damn, that hurt.”

“Good.” Cara moved to grab the biscuits.

“Stop it, Cara!” Jericho tried to stop her, but slid in the eggs, barely managing to catch himself from falling on the floor by grabbing the edge of the table for balance. Cara helped by pushing his head forward into the platter of biscuits. Not content with only doing that, she used all her strength while he was off balance to smash his face into them.

“Cut it out!” Jericho finally managed to get his balance in the slippery mess, barely able to breathe. He also managed to extradite himself from the enraged woman’s hands. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Yes, and you have driven me to it, you idiot!” Still not content with the damage she had inflicted upon him, Cara moved in on him again. Jericho had enough sense to know when to get the hell out of dodge and this was it. He moved to slide by the enraged woman, but she blocked his exit. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

Jericho tried tact. “Look, Cara, maybe I was wrong and read more into the situation than there was. I’m sorry.” Jericho got nervous when he saw the calculating smile begin to curl her luscious lips.

“You weren’t mistaken Jericho, in fact you were right. I was trying to do what normal couples do on a Sunday morning, and if you’re trying to keep me from caring about you, then you’re too late. You see, I have fallen in love with you and no matter how much of a jackass you show yourself to be won’t change that fact.”

“You don’t love me.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Jericho, no matter how many times you deny it, you won’t change my feelings.”

This time Jericho didn’t let her stop him from leaving the room; he pushed passed her. Cara doggedly followed him down the hall. When he went into his room and slammed the door behind him, she followed. Jericho was jerking his egg stained jeans down his hips while Cara admired his firm ass while she also couldn’t help staring at his cock straining upwards. He may be furious with her, but he wanted her badly. She didn’t miss the small gleam of moisture clinging to the crest.

“Get out!”

“No, I’m not going anywhere.”

This time her words let loose a storm of fury within him. Cara could see it overtake him. His eyes darkened until they were almost black, and his muscles tightened until she thought they would surely burst from his arms. Jerking his shirt off before throwing it down on the floor, the loosened crumbs of her biscuits fell at Jericho’s feet.

Cara tried not to laugh at him, she really did, but the big, bad Indian staring back at her, looking as if he had a serious case of dandruff, did her in.

He grabbed her and pushed her up against the door. One hand buried itself in her hair, straining her neck back until she was looking into his stoic expression. He had trampled his fury down so all that was left was a coldness that Cara did not know if she would be able to reach.

“If you want to play rough, then you came to the right man. If you can dish it out, then you had better be damn prepared to handle it.” Crudely he ground himself against her, forcing her legs to part and allowing him to plaster himself closer to her.

“I can handle anything you give me.” Cara didn’t flinch from him, knowing that was what he expected of her.

If she wanted Jericho, then she had to prove to both of them that she was more than a match for him. He was a warrior, he had fought his whole life for survival, and he wouldn’t tolerate less from the woman that would finally win his heart. Cara had every intention of being that woman, whether Jericho knew it or not.

“Let’s just see, shall we.” His mocking tone left Cara in no doubt that he believed she would call a halt when things got too hot. Well, he was in for a surprise. She happened to want him as bad as he wanted her. His hand slid the shirt up her soft thighs, going immediately to grasp her wet heat, a finger plunged into her. Using a knee, he forced her legs wider so that he could move further within her.

“Jericho...” Cara could not help moaning his name. She wanted him unbelievably bad. It seemed that most of the time since she met him was spent wanting him. She ground her head back against the door.

“You’re hot for me, aren’t you?” he whispered into her ear, making her shiver. His finger began to move quicker and harder within her, making her hips thrust forward as each stroke sent flames of desire burning higher until she thought she would burst. Jericho wouldn’t allow her release, though; he stilled his finger until her body pulled back from the edge of the climax he had brought her to. Cara couldn’t keep the whimpers of need from escaping.

Jericho eased away from her body until he could work the t-shirt up her waist and over her breasts. He immediately sucked a nipple into his waiting lips, suckling and nibbling until he saw that it had gone from a pale pink to a red before he moved to its twin.

Cara couldn’t keep her hips still. Desperately, she tried to grind herself against the thigh between hers, but he wouldn’t let her, moving it away. Cara felt the heat of his cock as it strained against her belly, she tried to reach for it, to put it exactly where she wanted it, but Jericho jerked her hand away, pulling it behind her back. Using the grip he had kept in her hair, he pulled her away from the door. Cara thought he would lead her to the bed, but the warrior in him didn’t have that necessity in mind.

“Get down on your knees.” His guttural voice shocked Cara. Though his face remained expressionless, his voice gave his desire away.

Cara let herself go to the floor where a braided rug protected her knees from the hardwood floor. Jericho followed her until he covered her back. His lips buried themselves in her sensitive neck while his strong hands pulled her thighs apart until he was between them, his cock at her entrance. Another whimper left her lips as he nudged at her wetness, yet did not enter.

“Jericho, please, please fuck me.” Cara didn’t care that she begged him. She wanted him to know how desperately she wanted him.

“Oh, I’m going to fuck you, when you beg me to.”

“I’m begging! I’m begging!”

“Not hard enough.” His lips picked a patch of skin and began to nibble at the same time his hands held Cara in place and, when she tried to reach back to touch his cock, he once again grabbed her hand.

“No, you don’t.” He rose up slightly, pulling her t-shirt over her head without allowing her arms to slide free. He maneuvered the garment until it circled both wrists now bound behind her back. He moved forward again until her forehead touched the rug. She was completely open and helpless.

“I’m going to teach you a new phrase,” he said with another seductive murmur in her ear.

“You are?”

“Yes, I am. Would you like to know what it is?”

Cara’s newfound sexual confidence began to stutter at the sexual domination he was exhibiting. “I don’t think so.”

“How about I just show you?” With that sinister tone in his voice, Cara didn’t know if she wanted him to show her anything. She felt him moving down her back, his lips grazing her spine. When he lingered at the small of her back, searching the small crevice with a slow lick of his tongue, Cara knew she was in trouble.

“Jericho…” He ignored her.

She felt his hands as they spread the cheeks of her buttocks. His lips lowered, following the crease that he had exposed. Cara tried to rise, but one hand pushed her back down until her forehead was once again on the rug. Jericho’s tongue found the rim of her anus and nibbled until she thought that her lungs would burst with the need for oxygen.

Just when she thought she couldn’t take another second, his lips slid lower until they reached the weeping wetness they were searching for. One second he was licking, the next his tongue was buried as far as it would go within her before he would draw it out just to plunge it inside once again while his fingers were busy rubbing her clit. She ached to climax, but every time she stiffened to, he pulled back to nibble at her anus until she was a withering mess, held up only by his hands on her hips.

“Please let me come, Jericho… please… please...” Again, he ignored her. Each time he pulled her back, he would once again delve into her slick cunt. Sweat dripped down her body as the torture he imposed on her continued. There was no area of her body that he didn’t tease and taunt until Cara could not take it and her screams filled the bedroom.

It was only when she began to cry that he swiftly rose up between her thighs, circled her waist with a hard arm and pulled her hips up until her knees no longer touched the floor. He then took his cock and placed it at her entrance, sliding just the tip into her wetness; lubricating himself, moving closer, poised to enter her. Sobs were now tearing through her chest. She felt him removing the shirt from her wrists until they fell to her sides and he once again covered her back as he also let her knees touch the floor.