Burns So Bad (Smoke Jumpers) (26 page)

There was no arguing Rio was a
sexy, creative lover—it was just that some part of her—her
heart
—wanted more. And she wasn’t
convinced Rio had it to give, despite the words he’d said.

So she’d make do with sex for
tonight.

“Now,
damn it,” she said and palmed his erection.

###

Christ
.
There was nothing subtle about Gia’s touch. She pushed her palm over the denim,
rubbing the fabric over his dick, and he hardened more. When she shaped him
through the cloth, he bit back a groan. Gia out of control was a sight to see.

Gia’s
face was pale everywhere except the pink flush staining her pretty cheekbones.
Her eyes glittered as she stared up at him. He wanted to scoop her into his arms and…she was possibly pregnant.
With his baby.

Probably.

He
was fairly certain he shouldn’t be standing here, even if she did have one hand
on his dick and the other yanking at heartstrings he hadn’t known he possessed.
She squeezed, and he bit back a groan

She
leaned so far forward he was sure she was about to tumble out of the bed. He
had a feeling that he’d just follow her to the floor, and when she repeated her
earlier demand, he was sure of it.

“Get
in the bed.” Her fingers found him through the gaps between the buttons of his
fly. That soft butterfly stroke on his bare dick was the most erotic thing he’d
ever felt. She could take charge here if that’s what she needed.

Her
other hand cupped his balls through the worn denim, and his desire for this
woman exploded. She’d said
yes
. She
was as all in as he was, so he didn’t need to wait. Stepping back, biting back
a groan as her fingers slid off his dick, he hauled his T-shirt over his head
and shucked his jeans. He probably beat one or two known speed records for
undressing, but Christ, she was waiting and she’d invited him in and he was so
done resisting. If she wanted to have her way with him, he’d let her.

And
then he’d have his way with her.

Sliding
an arm beneath her back, he covered her and took her down to the bed.

He caged her head between his arms,
pressing her down into the mattress. Reminding her who was in control. She
wouldn’t get away from him now. He had her at his mercy, and they both knew it.
He could feel the slow grin splitting his face, because, hell, he liked having
her spread out beneath him.

All
his
.

She looked up at him, all wide,
brown eyes and sexy need. Wanting him. Wanting this. He was naked. She had too
many clothes on, but he’d fix that.

He ran a hand along the vee of her T-shirt. The dark pink
cotton was a fiery contrast to her sun-kissed skin. She’d skipped the bra, and
her nipples pebbled beneath the cotton. Yeah. She wanted this all right. He was
one hell of a lucky man.

“You’re a pretty sight,” he said.

He didn’t give her a chance to
answer. Instead, he pushed her T-shirt up with one hand and, Christ, she was so
pretty. Her breasts were a handful he couldn’t wait to palm, all soft skin and
the sweetest pair of nipples begging for his kiss. He trailed one calloused
finger over the white marks from her summer bikini, down and over the sensitive
tips. She squirmed, and he liked that too. He liked everything about her, and
that was the truth.

“Lose the shirt,” he growled,
because he wanted her naked,
now
, and
she seemed to be of the same mind. Thank God. Together, they yanked the shirt
over her head, their fingers meeting at the hem, palms brushing as the cotton
went up. Her long, blessedly bare legs wrapped around his, her hips rocking
into his erection as she shimmied to get the shirt over her head. He didn’t
help her with those last few inches. Hell no. He held her and enjoyed every
second of her effort.

He dropped the shirt on the floor
and kissed her as her reward. She kissed him right back, all hot need and fiery
passion. He gave, she took, and gave right back in a hot tangle of lips. He
pressed, licked the soft seam. Nipped her lush lower lip and about groaned when
she opened up.
Christ
. She touched
him back, her tongue meeting his, and he knew, just knew, there’d be nothing
polished or refined in what they did here in this bed tonight. Raw, hot sex, he
thought, as his head shut down and his body took over. That’s what he had to
give her tonight. He hoped like hell she was ready for him.

He cupped her breast, feeling the
satiny softness as she pressed into his hold. She moaned, her hands making
demands of their own as she traced the lines of his abdomen down, down, down,
her fingers wrapping around him again. Oh hell yeah. She held on to his dick,
squeezing and tormenting him.

He ran a finger over her pretty
pink nipple. She whimpered, hungry-like, and her grip on his dick tightened.
That was his clue right there. She liked that. So he repeated the slow stroke
again and again. Teasing her. Plumping the little nub and squeezing lightly.
Then lowered his head and sucked her into his mouth like the sweetest of
cherries. His Gia was damned perfect. He switched, kissing his way over to her
other breast, because no way he didn’t get himself a taste there too. She
whimpered, her legs moving restlessly, brushing his. But he had her pinned
wide, and there wasn’t much she could do but ride out the sweet ache.

He trailed a hand down over her
stomach. He could feel the heat and damp of her through the fabric. He hadn’t
thought he could get any harder, but that did the trick. Her wanting him was
the sexiest thing he’d ever felt. He tugged her shorts down, rolling to the
side so she could toe them off and he could shift his hand down and touch her
where she was all slick heat and luscious wet. Christ, he loved learning what
made her gasp, what made her shiver.

“Rio—” She bucked hard, but
he had her.

“Right here,” he promised and
touched her again. His mouth grazed her ear.

He circled his thumb and forefinger
around her clit, plumping her, and that sent her over the edge. She throbbed
and pushed against his touch, coming in a short, hard burst. Primal
satisfaction filled him.
His
. She was
his. He’d given her this, done this for her. He’d do it over and over, make her
come on his fingers and his mouth. Just as soon as he’d had her.

He reached for her.

###

Rio
.

She
shouldn’t, he shouldn’t, but they
would
.
She liked how out of control this too-in-control man was around her. She also
had plenty of plans to make him still crazier. After all, she was one up on the
orgasm count, so she definitely owed him.

Plus,
he was watching her again. “I think I like that look on your face,” he said,
stroking a finger over her as she caught her breath and came back to earth.

“Just
wait,” she promised and slid down his big body. The muscles in his stomach
twitched when she touched and licked her way lower. She liked that. A lot. Rio
had a reputation, and she’d worried she wouldn’t stack up with the other women
in his past, but he didn’t seem to care, so she let go of those fears and just
enjoyed him. Drank him in as she ran her hands down the cut lines of his
abdomen and farther south. He was glorious. There was no other word for it
other than
mine
because, right now,
he was all hers, and she didn’t have to share.

His erection was thick and hard, the tip of him damp. She
wrapped her hands around him, savoring the hot, delicious heat of him.

“Touch me,” he demanded, and she gently dragged a thumb over
the crown, stroking the velvety skin.

He groaned. “Just like that. Take me into your mouth, baby. I
want that tongue of yours on me.” She didn’t hesitate, his rough plea making
her pussy spasm.

Acting on pure instinct, she let her head drop forward and
wrapped her hands around his thick length. Her hands guided him toward her. He
was too big for her to take all of him easily, so she suckled just the tip,
swiping her tongue over the crown. Exploring him like he’d explored her. Her
pussy clenched, remembering, as Rio groaned in her ear.

His big hands tangled in her hair,
guiding her, holding her. She gave him more, took more, loving this new power
over him.

“Gia.” He growled her name, clearly
near the edge. Good. She licked her way up, swirling her tongue at the top.
Then sank back down. Did it again because she loved touching him like this.

“Let me inside you. Please?” The
rough demand and the hoarser please undid her.

She rolled onto her back. He looked
down at her and hesitated—a small beat of time so quick she almost missed
it in the haze of need and lust—but then he followed her. His powerful
biceps braced on either side of her head, his big body pressed hers down into
the mattress.

She smiled up at him. “Wish
granted.”

“Thank Jesus.” He fished in the
bedside drawer, producing a condom.

“Just in case,” he said, rolling down
the condom.

Don’t
ruin the moment, Jackson
.
Don’t tell
him he doesn’t need a condom anymore, not with you.

So when he tucked himself against
her opening and pushed steadily in, she held on and enjoyed the ride, drawing
his mouth down to hers. No questions. No words. Just hot sex and heated
promises that had nothing to do with f
orever
s
and everything to do with
right now
s.

###

Inhaling, Gia took stock. She was in Rio’s big bed, the sheets
tangled around her waist and six-plus feet of male temptation pressed against
her back. He was here now, one arm snagged around her waist. The clock on the
bedside table read four a.m. which made this getaway time. When she tried to
pull away, however, his grip tightened. Sprawled on his back, he consumed most
of the available space in the bed—that figured—his head turned away
from hers. Stubble roughened his jaw. He screamed pirate. Six-plus feet of
bronzed, muscled,
naked
pirate.

Was
she the luckiest girl in the world—or the unluckiest?

Rio
Donovan was overwhelming. He was sensual and demanding, with a side of
arrogance that she should
not
have
found so appealing. He wouldn’t let her hide from what he made her feel. He was
the drug, and already she craved more of his touch. That was definitely her cue
to hit the road. Wrapping her fingers around his wrist, she tugged.

“Let
go,” she whispered.

Leave. Stay. Both options were equally impossible. And both required
buy-in from the soldier lying there in the bed, fully aware that she was
walking out of his room and out of his life.She
didn’t have super Ninja stealth skills, and she’d never make the door without
his knowledge. They both knew that, like they both knew he was letting her go.

Sometimes
words just weren’t enough.
I love you.

Grabbing her clothes from the floor,
she dressed quickly. She was so not going out into that hallway half-dressed.
Knowing her luck, she’d run into his mother or both of his brothers.

“Gia—”
He rolled over, propping his head up on one powerful arm as he watched
her. She didn’t want to talk, and
she wasn’t staying. To be on the safe side, she added another five feet of
space between them. The man was too damned sexy for her own good.

“You
want to come back over here?” He growled the words, and damned if she could
tell if they were a question or a statement. Unfortunately for her, both worked.
Clearly, she’d underestimated Rio’s sex appeal. That, or what had happened in
his bed was about more than just the sex. It was a definite possibility, she
decided as she hopped on her good foot, tugged her shorts up, his gaze burning
her. Maybe she’d gotten a touch emotionally involved.

So
fine.

She’d
get uninvolved, starting right now.

Snagging
her shoes with a finger—there was no dignified way to beat a hasty,
morning-after retreat hopping away on one foot—she made for the door. So
what if they’d had sex? They were both unmarried, consenting adults. She’d
come. He’d come. No problems there. It had definitely been one hell of a date.

“Thanks,”
she said flippantly.

The
muttered curse behind her made Rio’s opinion perfectly clear.

What she didn’t expect was the way
he shot out of bed and came after her. With one smooth move, he snatched her up
and deposited her on the bed.

Oh happy day. Her caveman was back.

“Time to talk,” he growled.

Her pulse picks up like a runaway
fire, banging out a staccato rhythm that was no shade of normal. Nope. Her
heart had the beat of a sixty year-old, three hundred pound man confronted with
cardio for the first time in his life.

Ah, hell.

“Jesus Christ, Gia.”

Rio shot up and flipped on the bedside
light.

Gia was visibly short of breath,
fighting for each hit of air. She ignored him, leaning over to swipe her purse
from the floor and then rummage through the contents for something.

Fuck
this. He yanked the bag away from her, upending the contents on the bed. She
didn’t have that much crap stowed in the half-dozen pockets but whatever she
wanted, she got.
Now
. He needed to
fix this. Stat.

She picked a brown pharma bottle
out of the mess on her lap. The amber plastic kind with one of those
child-proof caps. When she didn’t get the cap off the first time, he took it
and popped the lid. Digitek. Whatever the fuck that was. He was no pharmacist

While she downed the pill, he
grabbed his cell phone.

“I’m calling Ben. We’re going to
get you in the ambulance and to the hospital.”

She shook her head, still sucking in air
like she’d been underwater for a century and only just come up. “It’s a wiring
problem, Rio, not a death sentence.”

What. The. Fuck.