The Protective Dominant (7 page)

“I hope so.”

He saw her give the others a self-conscious look, as if aware of the way their eyes were drawn to her and Taz.

“It’s all right. They just haven’t seen me with a lady before.”

She shook her head. “You really need to work on that.”

“I am.”

She frowned at him, but Luke signaled that it was time to finish up so he went back to work. While he was helping to store packaged coffee, Jenny and Dharma sorted through the new plates and cups—neither of them let Sian do anything—then they disappeared into the stock room with the crockery.

Luke hefted the last shelf and Fred and Zane screwed it into the wall. Taz was shaky and sweaty. Automatically he looked around for Jenny.

He frowned when he didn’t see her.

“Uh-oh. Your lady spending time with Dharma is never a good thing,” Luke said.

“Sitting right here, Luke Cade,” Sian growled. “You better watch what you say about my best friend since I try not to judge yours.” She gave Taz a pointed look.

Taz shoved through the swinging door into the store room.

Dharma and Jenny were slouched against stacks of boxes. Both women had their arms crossed. As one, they looked up and frowned at Taz.

Taz wasted no time in reclaiming Jenny. “You ready to go?”

Jenny raised her brows. “Now? But—”

“I’m all done out there.”

“But—”

He took her arm.

“Don’t you tug on me,” she warned him.

He stroked her arm.

“Hmmm. Seems you’re on your best behavior.” She looked at Dharma. “See you.”

“Yep.”

Jenny insisted on saying goodnight to everyone in such a long, drawn out fashion that Taz knew he was on thin ice. But watching her squeeze Sian’s hand, it suddenly occurred to him that something was different about her from earlier in the evening.

She didn’t look afraid.

In his truck she was silent, sitting with her arms crossed, her gaze on the passing scenery.

He would not be the first one to start talking. He knew this was just a woman’s ploy to make him feel guilty—

He sucked in a breath.

“What?” she asked him.

“I just had a misogynistic thought.”

She lifted one brow.

“That’s all.”

“Well, at least you’re aware of them now,” she said peaceably.

“You don’t want to know what it is so you can give me hell?”

Her lips quirked. “Probably it would make you a better person if I did, but I’ll cut you some slack tonight.”

“Really, you’re cutting me some slack? I figured…”

“You figured after I found out that you and Dharma shared a hot sexual encounter once, I’d pitch a hissy fit?” she asked sweetly.

He swallowed. “Uh, yeah.”

“Surprise.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Are you planning on being with her again?”

“Fred would kill me.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“No.”

“Probably she wouldn’t have you anyway. She’s a sensible woman.”

Taz ran his tongue over his teeth. Oh, yeah, Jenny was out for his scalp, but he wasn’t sure why. Instead of jumping to conclusions this time, he tried to figure it. It wasn’t that he’d been with another woman. She’d seen him bring legions home. It wasn’t even that it had been Dharma, a mutual acquaintance. It was…

“I should have told you I was involved with Dharma.”

She looked at him now.

“I mean, that’s what you think.”

“I don’t know what I think,” she said. Then she shrugged. “No, I do feel that way even though it’s not fair. I mean, we’re not involved. Not officially.”

“Hey, we’re going to share a dog. That’s official.” He wanted to make her laugh.

“Your friends looked at me like I was an oddity. Have you had hundreds of dates?”

He blinked. “I don’t know.”

“You’ve been with a lot of people. And suddenly I realized it wasn’t academic for me anymore. That it will hurt when I meet someone that you…”

“Did Dharma say something to upset you?” He was ready to spin the wheel around and… What? Go confront Dharma?

Yeah. Hell,
yeah
, he was.

“Because we were not involved. Not in any meaningful way.” He didn’t want to spell out what they had shared. It had been hot, sure, but he preferred not to talk about his past.

“That’s what she said.”

“She did?” He reached back to rub the tension in his neck when they came to a stop sign, but Jenny pushed his hand aside and massaged his sore tendons.

“You need to pay attention to the road,” she said.

They drove in silence, but she was touching him voluntarily, so that had to be good, right? If Dharma had managed to poison her against him, he figured Jenny wouldn’t want to touch him.

When he parked in his driveway, he turned to face her.

She was smiling at him.

What the fuck? Was she trying to torture him?

“So, will you come and pick up the puppy with me tomorrow?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I am so confused right now.”

“Yeah, well, you’re male. Allowances can be made.”

“Can they?” He studied her intently. “Does that mean you’ll share a hot tub with me tonight, Jenny?”

She chewed her lip. “I’m not sure if I’m ready for a hot tub.”

Disappointment bottomed him out. “Okay.”

“But I thought I could go for it anyway.”

His throat was too tight to speak for a moment. He reached out and pushed some wisps of hair behind one of her delicate ears. “No one ever mattered.”

“I know,” she said softly. “It’s why you keep screwing up so much.”

Chapter Seven

Jenny was depressed.

As she approached the hot tub and saw Taz slouched in it with his hair slicked back, looking like a model for Cool Water cologne, her depression didn’t lift.

She’d tried to cure it by snacking on a chocolate bar before donning her swimsuit. When that hadn’t worked, she’d had soda. Then had simply told herself to cheer up.

Taz’s eyes snapped open. He sat up, watching her so intently she halted.

She tugged at her ponytail. “I think I made a mistake.”

His hands balled into fists, but all he said was, “All right.”

She paced, thinking she would add a pot of nasturtiums to his mini patio now that he’d invited her to this sacred space, this temple of his solitude. The flowers would go wild and cover the flagstones with vines and bright mustard flowers.

Rock and flowers.

Yin and yang.

Her and Taz. Could it be that simple, just that simple? Could she be woman to his man, or was she still too broken?

“Jenny, talk to me.”

She jolted out of her whimsy. Rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know what I’m feeling.”

“So…” He looked around as if for inspiration. “Make a list of things that are bothering you and just tell me so I know. I can’t understand you if you don’t talk to me.”

She sat down on a recliner. “Whoa, that’s Relationship 101.”

His smile didn’t reach his eyes, which were watchful on her. “No, it’s me not being able to sleep sometimes and having to make a list so I know what the fuck I’m feeling. I, uh, got good at disassociating from my emotions a long time ago.”

Jenny held his gaze, saw pain under his machismo. “I guess I’m a little down.”

Taz nodded. “Go on.”

“I feel awkward here, like you’ll have expectations and there’s no way I can meet them. Because I’m not sexy. Because I can’t just walk up to you and kiss you without being nervous about how you would react.”

When Taz didn’t say anything, when his expression remained impassive, it weirdly reassured Jenny to keep going. “Dharma’s beautiful and experienced and…gorgeous. And I’m not.”

He raised an eyebrow. “How do you feel?”

“Um, queasy. I ate a chocolate bar. I thought it would make me feel better. Happier or something.”

“I’m coming out,” Taz warned her. “You might not be ready for this.”

Nude. He was warning her he was nude. Jenny swallowed tightly. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been waiting forever to see you. I’m just not sure I’m ready for more, okay?”

Tenderness burned in his eyes. “Okay.”

He lifted himself out on his arms, his biceps bulging with the effort, water spilling with him in a sloshing waterfall.

Taz was a big man.

She’d known that, had peeked at him quite happily often enough to have seen everything he had to offer.

But it was different when he was only a few feet from her, when he was watching her watching him. When he was naked and comfortable and she was blushing and self-conscious.

He towered over her, intimidating, his chest so broad her hands would look tiny pressed against it. On his right upper arm was a Celtic knot that looked like the armband on an ancient warrior.

Hair threaded from his navel to where it flared generously around his sex, which was… Oh. He was really…
Oh.

“Come on, you had to have seen it before.”

“I think this falls under ‘objects are larger than they appear from a distance’.”

“You make it sound like a UFO.”

“For me, it kind of is.”

He snickered. She gave him a faint smile.

Then his voice roughened. “I’m hard. You make me hard.”

Jenny swallowed tightly.

Taz reached impatiently for a towel to cover himself, but she grabbed his hand, gripping it while he held her gaze, checking out her expression. “All right,” he said, and dropped the towel. Then his forehead crinkled. “It sounds as if you’re depressed, baby.”

She nodded, feeling her misery rising like a genie from a bottle. Talking to Taz about it seemed to be releasing it.

“Why do you think you feel that way?”

“Because I’m scared.”

He nodded, reached out and cupped the side of her face, soothing long fingers. Gentleness. He was big, yes, but he was so surprisingly gentle with her. She thought it was a first for him, just like his invitation to come here.

“Why are you scared?”

“Because I’m a virgin,” the words just popped out, flowed with his touch. Then she immediately said, “No, I’m not—”

He was shaking his head slowly. “You are. In every way that counts, you
are
, Jenny.”

Tears pricked her eyes. “You think?”

“Yep. Not that I, uh, have any experience with, ah, virgins.”

She quirked a brow. “Really?”

“I think that innocence can’t be taken. It can be crushed. It can be wounded.”

She sucked in a breath. “I wanted it to be you.”

Taz brushed his lips against hers. “Don’t you see that’s what I’m trying to say, Jenny? It can be me. I mean, if you still want me.”

“Oh, Taz.” She buried her face against his shoulder. He cupped the back of her neck. Safe, he made her feel safe, as if anyone who tried to hurt her would have to get through him to do it.

“Come here.” He offered her his hand and she took it, shifting to sit with him in the weathered recliner. He settled behind her. She could feel his bare body pressed against her, feel his cock against her backside. His hands tightened on her hips then gentled. “I don’t want this to be about me. Does that help?”

She nodded.

“Good. Because it seems to me that every virgin deserves to be wooed. Deserves to be pleasured and to laugh and to feel wonder.”

He made it sound so
good.

She looked at him over her shoulder and saw the black hair that had fallen over his forehead, his brilliant green eyes set off like jewels by his tanned, healthy skin. He was so effortlessly sexy. He knew all the secrets to making her cry out and lose herself and surrender to him.

Just the thought of it made her pulse throb in her throat and wrists and between her legs.

“Probably we should let you get used to me and then I’ll get used to you. All right?”

It sounded so down home practical. So entirely sane.

Throat tight, she nodded.

As if he couldn’t resist, he pressed his lips ardently against her neck, the side of her face. “Brave. You are so fucking brave.”

She was trembling, a scared little girl, and he thought she was brave?

But then he kissed her again, just the edges of his lips brushing hers. It lured her, promising heat. His tongue warm velvet as he licked her upper lip then her bottom one.

She shuddered, never having felt such pleasure, and he laughed, triumphant, husky male laughter. “I can make you want me.”

“Well, duh,” she grumbled. “I’ve only been watching you for months.”

“Me too.”

Her eyes widened. “But you were so mean to me!”

He dropped his gaze. “You scared me.”

“Me? I scared—”

“Let’s not dwell on the past.” He licked her bottom lip again and she gasped. How did he do that, light her up with a touch? “Oh, Christ, touching you.”

She felt the same melting into him. His hands cupped her face as he kissed her, taking over. And they were both hungry, so hungry. To merge, to be a part of the other, as if something had fallen away a very long time ago and only now was it found again.

His tongue was deep in her mouth. The throbbing had become an ache. She squirmed to get closer, but he held her still, forcing her to comply with his slow, tortured pace.

She clung to his shoulders and didn’t understand for a moment that he had pulled back,
why
he had pulled back.

He watched her, careful, considering, and she knew that, for him, control still existed. It was a thin, fragile thread, but he kept it.

For her. Because this was her first time.

Emotion was huge, overpowering her like a roller smashing her on the beach. She reached out and touched his body, sleek and made for swimming, made for running, scarred some places—from his work? She longed to ask him, but now it would have to wait because she was lost, drugged by his body.

Her hands ran down his chest, the thick pad of muscle, the rippling abs, until she clung to his hips. His erection flexed, as if demanding that she touch him, know him.

“Does it frighten you?”

His voice sounded foggy. Had she done that to him, despite all his one-night stands?

“Not exactly.”

He blinked, surfaced. “Do you want to touch me?”

She sucked in a breath and lost it somewhere in the center of her chest. “
Yes
,” she admitted brokenly. Yes, let this be another first for her. Let him be the first man she’d ever touched voluntarily.