“Careful. She sent an entire case.”
“No warning necessary. I’m in.” After another taste, I gesture toward the pool. “Do you swim a lot?”
“Yes.”
“Do you swim naked?”
“It’s happened.”
“And you’ve enjoyed that?”
“I have.”
I don’t think he’s being intentionally coy, but the short and sweet responses make me wonder whether skinny dipping was something that he did with Michelle, and maybe never since.Andthatmakes me wonder whether she lingers anywhere I won’t be welcome.
“I’ve got no plans to tiptoe my way through anything with you,” I say. “I’m almost always horny and very often loud about it, and that won’t change. Even when I’m not horny, I tend to be loud about the things I want, and I don’t always ask permission when I should.”
“Is this your way of saying you want to swim naked with me?”
He’s already lifted his wine glass to his mouth again, and I can’t quite read his expression, so I match him with a sip of my own before I answer.
“It’s my way of saying there’s a lot I want to do with you, here in your bed and in about a thousand other places,” I smile. “But if there’s anything—a meal or a movie or a lounge chair or a freaky sex position that isn’t mine to have, even for a minute—I need you to tell me that.”
“A minute, huh? I have to admit, my expectations were far higher for you.”
I snort, grateful I’m not trying to swallow. “Come on, Jake. You know—”
“I do know, yes,” he interrupts. “And I understand. You’re about to upend my life, and because I don’t want to be coddled, and because you wouldn’t dare coddle me, it’ll be up to me to stop you from touching sacred things.”
“I really wouldn’t dare.”
Jake looks down at his backyard, then his eyes meet mine again. “I’m not a sacred thing.”
It’s the second time he’s asked me to touch him without demanding it outright, and I’m done holding on to my wine when I could hold on to him. I take his glass, and I’m gentle when I set both of them on the small table in the corner of the balcony—and even more so when I turn back to him and reach for the top button of his shirt. It’s unnecessary, but I’ve had just enough wine to make me want to do something nice, and undressing him feels perfectly kind. Maybe it’s important too, being able to do this without fresh wounds in my way, and once I’ve tossed his shirt just inside the bedroom, I take the time to trace his tattooed rosary with my fingertip. His heartbeat is right there, but I leave it behind to tease his nipples, my eyes meeting his so I can study his reaction before I scrape my nails down his body, stopping only when I hit the top of his pants. I unfasten his belt and button, and I tug on the zipper, but then I drop it for another chance to flatten my pretty hands against his gray chest hair, Jake watching my every move when I slide up to his shoulders and down his bare arms.
Then it’s not enough to have him watch me, and I lift one hand to his mouth and slip two fingers past his lips, a recreation of the picture I bought from Adrian. Jake accepts them easily, sucking like a goddamn natural while I grow impossibly hard and barely stop myself from rutting against his thigh to come just like this. Pulling back a little, I use enough pressure to get him to open for me, and then I lick into mouth, filthy about it because I’m done with nice. He moans beautifully, and the kiss stays sloppy even after my hand finally falls away, wet fingers scrambling to finishwhat I’d started with his zipper. I’m interrupted when he makes a more frustrated sound and grabs my sweater, and I don’t fight back when he pulls it over my head and drops it anywhere.
Jake has seen me shirtless too many times to count, and he doesn’t stop to look at my body now, his tongue warm and eager against mine when we begin to claw at each other. If he’s been tentative before—or could be again—there’s no sign of it now, and I get swept away by this man who’s so new at this and not new at all. This man who was far more bothered by my need to bandage his wounds than by my desire to be on my knees over and over again. This man who barely swears, but told me about the night he made himself come.
“You are so fucking sexy,” I mumble, sucking at his ear and his neck and his shoulder before I find his hand with my own and use it to raise his arm. I run my tongue along the inside of his bicep, then I trace the same path with the tip of my nose while he trembles in my grasp, my breath teasing him from armpit to elbow and back again. He’s pliant and panting, but I’ve hardly done anything, and I need him to know how feral I can be when my dick aches like it does now. With my face buried in the patch of perfect hair under his arm, I let the smell of him overwhelm me until I give in to the temptation to lick and bite and growl, and the sharp and sudden grip he has on the back of my head is even more forceful than when I’d been ready to choke on his cock. My mouth is open, and I’m hungry, and I can’t help but appreciate him. “You taste so good.”
The hand in my hair drags me back for a messy kiss. “What doyou taste like?”
There are so many ways to answer him, but I like when his tongue is in my mouth and I encourage as much of that as I can get while we grind against each other on his balcony. In a minute, I know I’m going to walk him back inside and get him naked and sprawl across his bed and give and take until we can hardly move. First though, I force a hand between us and work past everything keeping me from getting my dick free, my mouth still open for Jake while we pass a dozen needy sounds back and forth. Then I slowly drag my thumb over the head of my cock to get it nice and wet, reluctant to back away from the kiss, and all too happy to make it worth it.
“Here,” I say, brushing my precum over his lips. “Taste me and tell me you want more.”
He licks it slowly and never looks away from me. “I want more.”
It’s the final push I need to take his hand and bring him back inside, fine with leaving the balcony door open because the entire world might as well hear us when we come. I nod for him to take off his pants while I do the same because not everything requires that tender kind of help, and I hang back while he drags the duvet and sheets out of our way. For all my bar and bathroom liaisons, a bed isn’t new to me, and I easily kiss Jake again on my way to lie down, pulling him with me. We tangle together almost too well, our bodies knowing just how to fit without either of needing to focus on more than another kiss, slow and deep about it until he smiles against my mouth.
“I probably should’ve checked with you first, but I bought condoms and lube. They’re in the nightstand drawer.”
“Why would you need to check with me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you’ve got endorsement deals or frequent flyer miles.”
I laugh so hard I move his entire body with mine, and it feels stupidly good. “I’m sure whatever you have is perfect, but we don’t need anything yet.”