Ultimate Kill (Book 1 Ultimate CORE Trilogy) (CORE Series) (12 page)

“I need a shower,” she said, turning toward the sliding door. “Since the fish are already cleaned and filleted, it won’t take long to cook them. We can eat in an hour or so. Unless you’re hungry now.”

He
was
hungry. Not for dinner, but for her. Picturing her naked and standing beneath the shower spray, water sliding down her breasts, her flat stomach and curvy hips had him hard and ready.

“I can wait,” he said, then chugged half his beer, telling himself not to rush anything. They’d had a great day. Caught a bunch of seafood, caught up on each other’s lives, created new memories. He needed to exercise patience. Since he had no intention of returning to the Rainbow Lodge, he had all night to spend with Naomi. Whether he’d spend it in her bed, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure. But based on the small touches she’d given him while they’d been fishing and shrimping and the quick glimpses of desire in her eyes, he considered the odds were in his favor.

She paused at the door and glanced over her shoulder. “If you plan to stay the night, feel free to bring in your luggage. You can either use the guest bathroom shower or mine. There are fresh towels in either linen closet.”

“Thanks,” he said, his mind working quickly. Did she just invite him to take a shower with her? Maybe. Back when they had been living together, he’d never considered needing permission to join her in the shower. Naomi had always been a highly sexual woman and always welcomed his advances. In the shower, in the bed, against the kitchen counter—it didn’t matter where.

He drained his beer and headed outside to his rental. After retrieving his small suitcase, he went back inside the house. When he stepped into the hallway, he noticed Naomi’s bedroom door stood open and he could hear her shower running. As he walked down the hall, he considered his options. Strip out of his clothes and join her in the shower or use the guest bath. The former sounded better than the latter, considering it had been a while since he’d had sex.
 

Still.

After dropping his suitcase in the guest room, he opened it and grabbed his leather travel kit. Instead of heading for her shower, he stepped into the guest bathroom and turned on the shower. As the water warmed and he pulled his toiletries from the travel kit, he kept picturing Naomi. Sudsy water covering her nipples, dripping down her stomach and between her legs, leaving a tempting trail…

“Damn,” he muttered and stripped out of his t-shirt and shorts. After dinner, after more conversation, he’d make his move. They hadn’t made love since the night before she’d left Bola. He’d rather bite the bullet now, bank his lust and take his time with her later. Taste her, touch every inch of her body, sink into her heat. If he went to her now, he knew in his gut how things would play out between them. Turned on, his dick hard and aching, there’d be no finesse, no time to savor the taste of her, no time for slowly making love.
 

He shoved the shower curtain aside and stepped under the hot spray, then immediately turned the faucet to cold. He’d bitched about the freezing shower he’d been forced to take this morning at the Rainbow Lodge, but needed to do something to cool off his body and his lust.
 

Because he hated standing under the cold water, he finished his shower in record time. Towel around his waist, he stood in front of the mirror, applied deodorant, then finger combed his hair. Although the shower didn’t do much to tame his arousal, he knew he’d done the right thing. Yesterday, they had relived and joked about how they’d met and the beginning of their relationship. Eight years ago, he’d been eager to sleep with her, not because of the bet he’d refused to make with his buddy, but because he’d fallen for her sweet smile and even sweeter personality. He hadn’t minded waiting, though. If anything, the wait had only built up the anticipation and made their first time together that much hotter, sexier…hell, emotional.
 

You fell in love with a stranger.

He refused to think about that right now.
 

You didn’t even know her real name.
 

So she’d lied about her name. She’d had good reason. So she had carried on the ruse even after they were engaged and living together. Did it really matter? Naomi could change her name a dozen times and she’d still be the same person on the inside. The same person he’d fallen in love with on the beach eight years ago. The same person he still loved.
 

All of this thinking about emotions and love, and why he shouldn’t have raced into her shower and taken her against the wall, messed with his head. Had him getting way too in touch with—
shit
—his feminine side.
 

Screw that.
 

He needed to do something manly. Chop wood, skin a deer, change a flat tire.
 

As he dressed, he couldn’t help chuckling. There wouldn’t be any wood chopping, deer skinning or tire changing going on at Naomi’s. Instead, she’d probably have him peeling and deveining shrimp or dicing up salad fixings. So much for doing something manly. Then again, maybe he’d have a chance to show his man skills and smash one of those flying cockroaches he’d seen earlier in her backyard.

Dressed, looking presentable and now relaxed after amusing himself with a mental manly pep talk, he left the bathroom. He dropped his dirty clothes and travel kit with his suitcase in the guest room, then went into the hall again.
 

The door to Naomi’s room was still wide open, but the shower was no longer running. Figuring she might be in the kitchen, he went in search of her. When he didn’t find her there or on the patio, he headed toward her bedroom again. “Naomi?” he called and rapped on the opened door.

Wearing a towel wrapped around her body and brushing her long hair, she hovered at the bathroom doorway. “What’s up?”

If only you knew
. He eyed the towel and pictured it on the floor. “Nothing. Want me to fix you a drink or bring you a glass of wine?”

“Sure,” she said with a slight shrug.

“Sure to which one? A drink or wine?”

“Whatever.”
 

She stepped back into the bathroom, but he caught her reflection in the large mirror. He wasn’t sure what had happened from the time she’d left the patio to now. Regardless, her mood had changed, and not in a good way.

Edging closer to the bathroom doorway, he made eye contact with her in the mirror. “Something wrong?”

She glanced at his damp head. “Nope. Find everything you needed in the
guest
bathroom?”
 

Holy hell. She was ticked he hadn’t showered with her. Damn it. Instead of tormenting himself with ice cold water and all of those reasons why he shouldn’t have come to her, he could have had a hot shower and, better yet, hot sex. “Not everything,” he said and stepped inside her bathroom. Standing behind her, he looked to the mirror and kept his eyes on hers.
 

She ran the brush through her hair. “Oh? What did you need?”

He tugged at her towel, letting it slowly reveal her naked curves. “You,” he said and ran his hands along her stomach, then up until he cupped her breasts.
 

Her lips parted when he caressed his thumbs along her nipples. She dropped the brush and leaned against his chest. “Why didn’t you—” She slid her eyes closed and her breath caught when he tugged at her taut peaks. “Why didn’t you join me in my shower?” she asked, her voice breathless.

Sliding one hand up her neck, he caught her chin and angled his head so that they were almost face-to-face. “Why didn’t you just come right out and invite me?”

She reached behind and ran her hand along his erection. “Since when did you need an invite?”

Since you left me.

“Are you inviting me now?” he asked, massaging her breast.

Through his khaki shorts, she cupped his testicles, then palmed his length. “We both already showered. Besides, I need to make dinner.”

“Dinner can wait.” Moving his hand from her breast, he worked his way down her torso until he reached the apex of her thighs. “This can’t.” He dipped a finger into her heat, pulled out, then did it again. This time with two fingers. Her warm breath fanned against his mouth. Aching for a kiss, he leaned forward to graze his lips along hers, then tilted her chin until she faced the mirror again.
 

Her eyes, bright with desire, immediately dropped to where his fingers sank into her. With her arm still behind her, she continued to grip and stroke his length. “Are you sure?” she asked, her tone embodying sex.

Moving his hand from her chin, he cupped her breast. At the same time he withdrew his fingers from her heat and brought them to his mouth. As he tasted her, he kept his eyes on hers, loved how her gaze darkened with a hunger that matched his own.
 

He pressed his erection against her palm. “Positive,” he said, settled his hands on her hips, swiveled her around and lifted her onto the counter. Needing to taste more of her, he lowered to the bath mat and spread her legs.

The instant his tongue made contact with her sex, she gripped his head and raised one heel to the counter and the other on his shoulder. Open and exposed for him, he pushed his hands between the countertop and her bottom, cupped her sweet ass and raised her to his mouth. He ran his tongue along her labia, then in between her folds. He kissed her sex as if he were kissing her mouth. Swept his tongue inside her and used his thumbs to spread her lips.
 

Her breath quickened and she released a soft moan as she grasped his hair. Damn, how he’d missed her. Her taste, her scent, her smile and her touch.

Mouth still locked on her, he watched as her beautiful face contorted in ecstasy. Wanting to give her more, aching to taste her orgasm before he stripped naked and buried himself in pleasure, he lashed his tongue along her clit.
 

Over and over.

Her silky soft legs began to tremble. Her breasts rose and fell, her nipples hard and begging for his attention. But that would have to wait. Even after five years, he remembered the signs. Knew when she was close. As much as he’d love to drag out this moment, afraid it wouldn’t happen again or that he’d wake up and realize it was nothing but a dream, he was wound tight and needed her to come. He needed to be inside of her. To remind her of how they used to be together. Of how they still could be, if she gave them a second chance.

Knowing what she liked and how to please her, he flicked his tongue hard and fast until she arched her back and pressed his head against her heat. As she held his head steady, moaning her pleasure, he latched onto her clit, tugging and sucking, tasting her orgasm.
 

Drawing in a deep breath, she pulled his head back, looked down and gave him a sexy smile. The last time he’d seen a smile that sexy had been the last time they’d been together. No other woman had been able to match Naomi. Not sexually and certainly not emotionally. He still loved her. Still wanted to be with her. He wanted to tell that to her now, but knew it wasn’t the right time. They were on a road of rediscovery. And he worried if he said too much, too soon, he’d wind up having to make a U-turn, sending him back to being alone and without her.
 

Determined to give her multiple reasons to keep him in her life, he stood and scooped her off the counter. Capturing her lips, he poured his passion and emotions into the kiss and carried her to the bed.
 

The moment Jake set her on the mattress, Naomi reached for the waistband of his khaki shorts. She’d been disappointed when he hadn’t joined her in the shower. They’d had such a great day, and after their conversation this morning, he’d acted as if he held nothing against her for lying about her name change. Yet when he hadn’t bothered to show up in her bathroom, insecurity had set in and she’d begun to think that maybe he’d lost interest in being physical with her, or that maybe he really was upset after all. His skillful mouth and fingers had knocked all of those thoughts right out the door. As she shoved his shorts and boxer briefs over his lean hips, and he ran his big rough hands over her back and shoulders, the only thing she wanted to think about, the only thing she
could
think about was removing his clothes. It had been so long since they’d been together, she needed him. His hard, naked body on top of her. Filling her. Reuniting in the most hot and intimate way.

Once his shorts and boxers hit the floor, she scrambled to her knees, bent and took his length into her mouth. She looked up at him. Caught the satisfaction and hunger in his dark eyes just before he pulled his t-shirt over his head and dropped it on the bed. Like she’d done to him, he held her head, taking a fistful of hair and moved it away from her face.

Moving her mouth over his erection, she stroked him with one hand and cupped his testicles with the other. They’d been together for three years before she’d been forced to leave him. During the time they’d been apart, she’d fantasized about him, would lie in bed wishing he was beside her. Loving her. Kissing her. Making her body come alive.
 

Knowing he would leave, that she’d make him leave, she focused on now. He was here and she wanted to take advantage of every moment she could spend with him. Memories of kisses and touches that had once been so familiar and an everyday occurrence had mocked and taunted her for years. The memories they would make this weekend would follow suit. Loving the possessive way he tugged at her hair, his rough, rapid breathing, the way he pulsed in her mouth, she didn’t care. Maybe she was selfish or maybe she was a glutton for punishment, either way she wanted what he could give her. After being away from him, being alone and carrying so many unwanted evils, she needed him to remind her she wasn’t dead inside.