“Ever heard of foreplay?”
“My tongue still works.” She gulped and sat back in her seat as if expecting me to go on the attack right that minute. For all her sass, it was obvious that she was nervous from the way she gripped the edge of the car seat with both hands.
JESSICA
Boys are so easy, damn. The caveman beside me was still fuming a good few hours later, but I was ignoring him. After I iced his hand and got myself a large bowl of ice cream with all the works, my day was complete. He was still holding me hostage in his house, though, so there was that.
“Enjoying yourself?”
Why are you being so grumpy? “Who pissed in your dessert?”
“I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“There was mention of a kitty that needed petting.”
“Yeah, but your paw is broken, maybe next time.”
“Don’t you know anything about men?”
“What about them?”
“After a good fight, the next best thing is a hard pounding.”
“So, go find someone to pound you, what you telling me for? Hey!” He grabbed my face and kissed me like he was trying to inhale my esophagus.
I’d forgotten all about his hand until he placed me on the bed and took a step back, and I saw the damage. I grabbed his wrist for a better look at his bruised knuckles and became enraged almost immediately. “That bastard. Where’s your first aid kit?Does it hurt?” I rattled the words off and started blowing on his hand before I could stop myself.
I felt such anger at the sight, the kind of anger I’ve only ever felt when one of my loved ones was hurt, and if Dale were standing in front of me, I’d have smacked the hell out of him. It didn’t dawn on me that Julius was watching my reaction, or the message it was sending. “I’ll get the kit.” What’s with that smarmy tone?
Why did it hurt me to see him hurt? Why should I even care? I’ve only ever felt this way about my family, that rush of protectiveness coupled with the need to defend. He came back with the kit, and I got to work tending to the bruised knuckles, blowing on them each time he winced because I couldn’t help myself. If I had any sense, I’d let him suffer, the jerk.
“There, all done.” He lifted my chin with his finger and lowered his head to kiss me. Dammit, I meant to bite him, but instead got caught up; he sure does know how to use those lips of his. I’m not sure how long the kiss went on for, but my lips were swollen by the time he let go. I saw the smirk before he walked away. I should’ve let his hand rot.
I gave serious thought to sneaking away before he came back, but there was no time, and I wasn’t dressed anyway. I needed to think about the night’s events, but the way he looked when he walked back into the room told me that he had other ideas.
“What’re you looking at? What are you thinking of doing?” I scooted back on the bed until my back was pressed against the headboard. He walked closer, more like stalked, but it was the look in his eyes that posed the biggest danger. He looked… predatory, like an animal stalking its prey.
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll kick you.” My words only fell on deaf ears, and before I knew it, he was there, dragging me down on the bed by my ankle. “You set me up tonight, I demand payment.”
“Who set you up? Did I ask to be kidnapped and dragged off to your lair? You’re the one who got in the way of my plans.”
“Does that mean if I hadn’t brought you here, you planned to go see him alone?”
“Well, duh!” What’s with him and choking me? I pulled at the hand he had wrapped around my throat, but he only tightened his grip.
“If you go see him again, I’ll kill him.”
“You…” His tongue cut off the rest of what I was about to say. How is a person supposed to breathe with a mouth full and their throat locked off? This man is a maniac, but those stirrings; am I a freak? Since when do I like being manhandled?
This kiss seemed to go on forever, and before I knew it, I was under him, pressed into the bed by his much bigger body. It felt different somehow, but I couldn’t put a finger on it. Then it hit me, I’m always the one in control. I never let myself get carried away and have always been able to keep myself distantly removed, even when being touched.
But with him, it was the complete opposite. He didn’t give me a chance to take over, but instead took me under hard and fast. The kiss packed more of a punch than anything I’d experienced before, and I was drowning. I remembered that he was public enemy number one and tried to escape his grasp, but it was no use. He used that hand around my neck to control me and keep me in place.
Things were heating up down there, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the kitty took over and started a mutiny. She’s so starved she’d settle for anything, the idiot. It’s only when he lifted his lips from mine that I realized that I, too, had been holding him in place with my arms around his shoulders, so much for being indifferent.
The way he looked at me did something to my heart, I won’t lie. I couldn’t read his eyes, but there was gentleness there,maybe some regret, and I’m not sure what else, because my mind strayed when he started brushing the hair back from my temple and forehead.