ThreeReasonsWhy (10 page)

She fought to catch her breath at his demand. Before she
could think about what she was doing, she unbuttoned her shirt.

His eyes followed the motions of her hands. “Pull the
material apart. I want to see your breasts. I want to eat my cake off your
stomach.”

Reaching above his head, he pulled down the plate with the
rest of her chocolate cake.

When she bared herself to him, he placed a large piece of
cake on the sensitive skin of her stomach. The dessert slipped a bit as her
breathing accelerated and her chest rose and fell rapidly.

With sticky fingers, he reached into her bra, pulling her
breasts out of the lacy material. She sucked in an excited breath as he dabbed
some chocolate icing on the tip of each taut nipple.

“Wes,” she whispered as he reached back up to the counter
and pulled down a can of whipped cream.

“Almost ready,” he murmured as he shook the can. He sprayed
a large dollop of cream atop the icing on her nipples. “Mmm. I’ve always said
you look good enough to eat. Guess that wasn’t too far from the truth.”

She fought against the impulse to pull his lips down to her
aching breasts. She wanted his mouth on her, wanted him to take his fill. She
didn’t have to wait long as he answered her body’s call, bending forward to
suck one sweet, covered nipple into his mouth.

He took his time as he licked off every smear of chocolate
and cream before turning his attention to her other breast. When he’d cleaned
them completely, he moved farther down her body, leaning forward to take his
first bite of the rich dessert he’d placed on her stomach.

Hungry for a taste, she reached down. Dipping her hand into
the cake, she pulled it to her mouth, seductively licking and sucking the
chocolate off each individual finger.

“Jesus,” he muttered. “Jill, we better get upstairs or I’m
going to take you right here in the middle of this diner.”

She glanced to her right, relieved to realize they were
hidden from the street by the counter. Christ. He had her so turned on, she’d
forgotten where they were. She was lying on the floor of her diner with her
shirt unbuttoned and her breasts hanging out.

He pulled her up, helping her set her shirt to rights,
although they were both a sticky mess.

“I know you don’t want me to stay,” he said, more seriously
than she’d expected. “I don’t know how else to say it, Jill, but you’ve become
the most precious person in my life. I’ll do anything to make sure you’re
safe.”

The seed he’d planted in her heart at Christmas blossomed
into a full-grown rose, despite her wish that she could pluck the damn thing
out. He’d gotten in under her defenses and she was lost.

“Damn you.” She reached up to drag his face to hers. She
offered him a kiss, closing the distance and praying he wouldn’t see the truth
in her eyes, hoping she could distract herself so the words she’d fought so
long to deny wouldn’t fall from her lips.

Because if there was one thing she couldn’t do, it was
confess to Wes that she loved him.

Chapter Six

Wes dropped his duffel bag by the door just inside Jill’s
apartment. She walked ahead of him toward her bedroom, turning at the doorway.
“You can shower first,” she said. He suspected he’d frightened her with his
admission down in the diner and now she was hoping to reestablish the same
cursed distance she’d kept between them for months. She was weakening though,
and he knew it.

“Or we could shower together?” He pulled off his T-shirt as
he walked down the hall toward her.

She welcomed him back into her arms and he rejoiced at her
quick acquiescence. Used to having to cajole her into accepting him, he was
thrilled by her enthusiastic response.

As he kissed her, he pushed her backward into the bathroom.
Their lips connected and their tongues tangled as they fought for control of
the kiss.

“Shower.” She leaned over to turn on the water before
resuming their broken kiss. Soon, steam filled the room and they pulled apart
to hastily shed their clothing.

Jill climbed in first, turning to crook her finger in
invitation. As he stepped in, she reclaimed his mouth, and he fought to control
the demon inside prodding him to take her against the shower wall.

Wes grabbed the soap and worked up a lather. He washed the
remnants of chocolate from her breasts and her stomach as Jill reached down and
cupped his balls.

“Jesus,” he muttered as she firmly rubbed his erection, bringing
him far too quickly to the danger zone. “Slow down, pixie, or this will be over
before it starts.”

She gave him a wicked grin as she loosened her grip. “We
have all night.” She dropped to her knees and took him to the back of her
throat in one hard, fast move.

Wes’ hands slammed against the tiles. He needed something to
hold him upright as she sucked him deeply, strongly.

“Mother of God,” he growled, wanting to prolong her
beautiful torment but knowing he couldn’t. She held him in the palm of her hand—literally—as
she gripped his balls, squeezing them with just enough pressure that his eyes
rolled back in his head.

He reached down to grip her head, his fingers tangling in
her hair. She groaned as he pulled it. “Fuck,” he muttered. He couldn’t hold
back, using his hands to push her faster, harder.

“Please,” he said through gritted teeth. He should be
apologizing as he roughly thrust inside her mouth. Her hands moved to his
thighs, her fingernails digging in as she swallowed his head.

She was sexy as hell, and he was a goner. Two more thrusts
and he erupted. Holding her head, he came in her mouth, crying out in
pleasurable anguish. She swallowed his come, caressed his softening flesh with
light brushes of her tongue.

He pulled out of her mouth and fell to his knees. “God,
pixie. I—”

She didn’t let him finish, didn’t let him make amends for
using her so roughly. She simply leaned forward and kissed him—hard.

They broke apart, both gasping for air. “Hot,” she
whispered.

He narrowed his eyes, taking in her flushed face, her
sparkling blue eyes. He was never letting her go.

When they finished showering, he dried her and wrapped a
towel around her before throwing one around his hips.

They walked back to her bedroom in silence and he watched as
she rummaged through her drawers for a T-shirt and pair of panties. He let her
get dressed before speaking. “I’m going to take those off you before you fall
asleep.”

She snorted. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

He grinned and pretended to fumble with his towel, pleased
when her eyes followed the movement as if hoping for a small peek.

“See anything you like?” he asked when her eyes lingered on
his reemerging erection.

She huffed. “Not particularly. Been there, done that.” Her
smartass reply surprised a quick bark of laughter out of him.

“You’re going to be the death of me, Jill Harper.”

He walked to the living room to grab his duffel bag. When he
returned to her bedroom, he pulled out a comfortable pair of lounge pants,
eschewing the need for a shirt. As she watched, he sprawled out on her
queen-sized bed and started flipping through the channels of the TV.

“Making yourself at home?” she asked, her arms crossed.

He grinned. “I hope so.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I can see us doing this every night for the rest
of our lives.”

As always, his words pushed her back behind a defensive
wall. Her face went blank as he silently cursed. Every step forward with her
was followed by twenty paces back.

He patted the bed. “Come lie down beside me.”

She stood stiffly.

“I won’t bite,” he teased. “Much.”

She rolled her eyes and crawled into the bed, careful to
keep two feet between them. He chuckled at the image of her clinging to the
edge of the mattress.

“We both know you’re going to end up in these arms before
the night is over. Why fight it?”

Jill gave him a dirty look that was ineffectual against the
happiness pervading his soul. He was in bed with her, and he’d move heaven and
earth to stay there.

“I’m not interested in anything more than sleeping.”

“Mmm hmm.” His tone proved he knew her words to be a lie.

“I mean it, Wes. You’ve had your fun. Now I’m tired and I’m
going to sleep.”

He moved so quickly she couldn’t fend him off as he wrapped
his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

“Are you listening to me?” she asked.

“Of course I am. I just happen to prefer what your body is
saying over what your voice is.”

“My body?”

He pulled her T-shirt and panties off just as he’d promised.
She didn’t fight him. Didn’t try to shield her naked body from him. God, he
loved her confidence, her poise. She was sexy as hell.

“Your nipples are taut, drawn up so tight and firm, they
look like little cherries, just begging to be tasted.” He engulfed one within
his mouth and she gasped, her fingers twisting in his hair.

Once he’d taken his fill, he pulled away and rested his
cheek against her chest. “Your heart is racing, pounding hard and fast, begging
me with its rhythm to take you the same way.”

His hands drifted to her pussy and, turning her to her back,
he pushed her legs apart, leaving her open to his hands and mouth.

“You smell so sweet,” he murmured, sitting up and leaning
closer. “Your body’s begging me to take one little lick.” He dragged his finger
along her slit before slipping it into his mouth. He was assaulted by the
flavor of her tangy juices. The single taste left him hungry for more.

He lifted her legs until they rested on his shoulders, then
he bent forward, dragging his tongue along her slick flesh, and left no part of
her pussy untried. He teased her clit with the tip of his tongue for several
minutes, relishing the sounds escaping from her lips, her quiet cries for more.
His fingers drifted down to her opening and he slowly slid two in and out of
the tight passage, soaking in the way her body continued to beg for more. Her
inner muscles clenched and quivered against his fingers.

He pulled away when she reached the peak, selfishly wanting
to experience her climax against his cock.

“Tell me what your body wants, Jill. Tell me the truth.”

“You. It wants you.”

He smiled at her admission. For once, the stars had aligned
and he was following the right path, the path meant only for him.

Rising, he knelt before her and took off his lounge pants.
“Get on your hands and knees. I want to take you from behind.”

“Yes,” she hissed, quickly assuming the position.

“I want to push into you hard and strong. I want to be
inside you as deep as I can go.”

“God, yes,” she cried, her body thrusting toward him. “Do
it. Do it just like that.”

He pushed into her wet passage with one powerful thrust. She
began to climax immediately, and he bit his lip to keep himself from following
her into the void.

Damn, she tested his will. As she began to come down from
her orgasm, he started to move. His solid, rapid motions betrayed his
undeniable need for her. As he fucked her, his words, his emotions flowed,
filling the silence in the room.

“Oh baby, you feel good. So good. God. I can’t live without
you, Jill. Can’t live without you.”

She met him, thrust for thrust, as she came twice more. He
joined her the last time, filling her with his seed.

He’d done it again. Taken her without a condom.

He was tempting fate and it was a stupid thing to do. He
never forgot to use protection. Now, he’d failed Jill twice. A slight unease
niggled at the back of his mind. Had he subconsciously forgotten in hopes that
she would get pregnant? Even as the thought crossed his mind, he dismissed it.
What kind of bastard would that make him? He closed his eyes. The biggest kind.
Despite his desire to make a baby with Jill, he couldn’t hurt her like that.
She was fighting this relationship and he refused to play dirty. When she came
to him—God, please let her come to him—it would be of her own free will, not
because of a mistake, not because he failed to be careful.

He fell to the side, taking her with him, not wanting to
crush her but reluctant to leave the warmth of her body. They lay silent, both
of them breathless and overwhelmed by the intensity of their lovemaking.

“So my body was asking for all of that?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yep.”

“Smart body.”

They laughed as they drifted off to sleep.

* * * * *

Jill woke in the middle of the night to soft hands caressing
her back. “Mmm,” she said. “Was my body talking in its sleep?”

Wes chuckled, his hands scorching a path of glorious
sensation along her hips and over her ass. “Talking so loud it woke me up out
of a sound sleep.”

“Hate when that happens,” she said, her voice leaving it
perfectly apparent she didn’t regret it a bit.

“I did a little B and E while you were asleep,” he murmured,
his lips following the trail of his hands, his tongue darting out to tease the
skin along her back.

“You did?”

“Yep, I broke into your toy drawer.”

Jill stiffened at the thought of Wes seeing her sex toys,
worried about what he might think of her idea of fun. “Not very upstanding
behavior for a cop,” she said sharply, hoping he’d let the subject drop.

“I want to use your toys with you.”

Nope, he definitely wasn’t dropping the subject.

“You do?”

“Oh yeah, you’ve got some pretty hot stuff in that drawer,
pixie.”

Her mind went wild with the possibilities. Maybe she didn’t
mind sharing her bed with a criminal after all.

“I do, do I?” she purred.

He crawled on top of her, caging her in with his chest
pressed against her back. She was completely trapped yet marvelously free at
the same time. He had a way of raising annoyingly contradictory sensations
inside her.