Hidden Fire: Fire, Book 2: Red Hot Weekend (9 page)

“You were so confident when you explained it all to me. You knew what you were talking about, you believed in yourself, and you pretty much blew me away with your knowledge. Your professionalism and your confidence were a freaking huge turn on.” He chuckled again. “I almost ran the Sydney marathon just because it would have given me an excuse to spend more time with the professional Jenna.”

Jenna grinned. Couldn’t help it. But what did it have to do with her confession and her fear now?

“You believe in yourself when you’re working,” Garreth told her. “You know who you are, and you know what you’re capable of. You trust your abilities. Now all you need to do is trust your feelings and your love and your desires like you do your job skills. Believe in them. They’ll show you how to act. They’ll tell you what to do.”

God, he made it sound so easy. “I don’t know how.”

“Yeah, you do.”

She shook her head.

Garreth nodded in response. “You can do it.” He paused for a moment, in deep thought. “I can help you, if you’d like me too.”

Did she want his help? Shouldn’t she be able to do this by herself?

Garreth must have sensed her doubt. “I want to help you.”

She frowned.

Garreth smiled wryly. “You realize I’m not just offering for your sake? I have a personal stake in this as well.”

She raised an eyebrow in question.

“I want everything from you, sweetheart. Everything. And if you need a little help learning how to share everything, then I want to help you.”

Oh, Lordy, when he put it like that, how could she refuse? Slowly she nodded her acceptance.

Garreth smiled his beautiful smile.

Encouraging as it was, Jenna was still damned nervous. “How do we do this?”

“Relax, it’s not too hard. I’m gonna ask you a few questions. All you need to do is answer me honestly. The first thought that comes to your mind. Not the second. Or the third. The first.”

She looked at him dubiously. “We can try, I guess.”

“Good. Close your eyes.”

Jenna did, reluctantly. But she did it for him. For them.

“Tell me, Jenna,” Garreth asked, his voice a soft whisper. “Do you want me to touch you?”

No difficulty answering that one honestly. “Yes.” She always wanted his touch.

“Where?”

Everywhere.
“Uh, my leg, I guess.”
And my arms. And my belly. And my pussy.

“You guess?”

She nodded.

“The first answer that comes into your head,” Garreth warned.

She bit her lip.

“Where do you want me to touch you?” he asked again.

Goose flesh covered her skin. “Everywhere,” she said on a soft sigh.

“I want to touch you everywhere.” His hand skimmed over her chest, down the valley between her breasts and feathered over her stomach. “Do you want me to kiss you?”

“God, yes.” Even as he asked, her lips ached to feel the pressure of his pushing against them.

“Where?” He pressed a soft kiss to her outer thigh.

“There,” she gasped. “And my lips. And other places.”

“Other places?”

She blushed. Didn’t answer.

“Be honest with me, Jenn.”

“My breasts. And my pussy. I want you to kiss my pussy.” She hesitated for a heart beat. “Again. And again.”

“I will,” he promised, his voice a gruff growl. “Again and again.” He nudged her legs open slightly and pressed a kiss to her inner thigh.

Her breasts tightened in anticipation.

“Do you trust me?” Another kiss.

Did she?
Jenna tilted her head to the side, pondered the answer. He’d protected her when she was hurt. He’d loved her. He’d gotten Jackson to break the pact so he could be with her. Did she trust him? Yes? No?

Her answer surprised her. But it was the truth. “I do.”

Garreth let out a long breath. Had he been holding it?

“Okay, next question.” His hands trailed a feathery-light path from her hips all the way down to her ankles, leaving her breathless. “Do you love me?”

“Yes.” The answer exploded from her lips.

“Have you always loved me?” She could hear the triumph in his voice.

“No,” she whispered.

Garreth swore.

“The first time I saw you it was more a case of instant lust,” she admitted.

“It was?”

“Uh, yeah. You were, without doubt, the sexiest man I’d ever seen.” He still was. Just looking at him turned her on.

Garreth growled. “Did I make you wet that first time?”

Jenna’s instinctive answer made her face burn. She couldn’t voice it out loud.

Garreth smacked her calf. Not hard, but with enough pressure to tell her he meant business. “This’ll never work if you hide your answers from me.”

Flames burst out all over her cheeks.

“Did I?” he persisted.

Jenna nodded. “S-so wet, that when I got home, I…” Her voice trailed off.

“You what?” Garreth asked.

“I touched myself.”

“You touched yourself?”

Shit, he wasn’t gonna let her get away with this. “I masturbated. Okay? I played with myself until I came. Pretended my hand was yours. Pretended you were the one bringing me to climax, not me.”

“Jesus, fuck!” Garreth groaned. “You’re going to give me a heart attack, you know that? I’m hard as a fucking pole now.”

She opened her eyes to look, but he stopped her. “Uh-uh. Keep ’em closed.”

She obeyed.

“Shit, You gotta give me a minute here, Jenn. Let me get my perspective back before we continue.” He sounded as though he were in pain.

Good. Because telling him about touching herself hadn’t exactly been a pain-free experience.

Garreth swore, breathed heavily, counted to ten, then swore again.

Jenna cut him some slack. “If it helps, I fell in love with you the second time I saw you.” The day he’d discovered she loved jogging as much as he did, and invited her to join him on his early morning runs.

“It does help.” He kissed her inner thigh again, reminding her all over again of her need to touch herself after the first time they’d met.

Liquid heat seared her pussy.

“Would you like me to untie you?” he asked.

Freedom!

Jenna’s eyes popped open. Garreth stared up at her intently.

Her heart lurched.

“Would you?” he prompted. He held an ankle in each hand, the only parts of her body not bound to the chair. Yet even as he held her, he offered her freedom.

Her arms were getting stiff. Her butt too. And in this position she was totally exposed to Garreth. Totally at his mercy. Of course she wanted him to untie her.

But he’d asked for her honesty. “No.”

Because no matter how appealing losing the ropes might be, sitting here at his mercy was even more appealing. So damn appealing her pussy clenched and swelled.

Desire flared in Garreth’s eyes. “What do you want me to do?”

Christ, the ball was in her court. He’d placed it there. He was encouraging her to acknowledge what was deep inside her head—and put it out there for him to see. Encouraging her to jump over her defenses and just be herself.

She’d done it earlier, demanded he tongue her, fuck her. But earlier she’d been cresting a wave of desire, anger and passion. She’d acted purely on instinct, not taking the time to think about it. Now she was thrashing, fully alert, through a wave of fear and confusion; and stumbling through another wave of openness and honesty. It was all so new to her. So unknown.

The instinct to suppress her desires and her love was strong. The need to protect herself forceful. But she wouldn’t do it. Not now. Hard as it was for her to actively voice the words, she had to try. For Garreth’s sake, and for hers.

She took a deep breath, and without removing her gaze from his, told him. “I want you to lick my pussy. Just like you did before.”

His smile sent shivers of delight up her spine. “You know I could never deny you what you want, don’t you?”

She bit her lip. “Lick me, Garreth, please.”

His eyes darkened with hunger. “Now?”

She nodded, her belly tumbling upside down. “Now.”

Garreth dipped his head, and ever so gently, did as she asked.

Jenna gasped.
God, yes!
She spread her legs wider, inviting him in closer.

He nestled in, flattening his tongue over her clit, and laved her, wrenching a low groan from her throat. Over and over he did it, until Jenna wanted to purr.

Garreth reached a little lower, encompassing her drenched lips in his ministrations. He licked her pussy and her clit hungrily, humming as he did. Sent tingles careening through her entire groin.

Emotions warred within. The urge to pull her façade back into place fought with the desire to spread her legs and offer Garreth every bit of herself.

Garreth looked up, caught her eye, and she refused to hide behind her old insecurities. She looked right back at him, holding his gaze.

Without looking away, he licked her from the bottom of her slit to the top of her clit, making her squirm with pleasure.

Her breath escaped in a low, long moan.

Triumph glowed in his eyes, saturating her every cell with pleasure, and then his eyelids dropped and he threw himself into the task at hand. Garreth licked, treating her as though she were the most delicious of treats. A snack he couldn’t get enough of. He feasted on her.

He placed his palm under her ass and stroked his finger first over her pussy, wetting it with her cream, and then over her anus, electrifying her.

Her anus, for heaven sake. “H-how can you touch me there?” She shouldn’t do this, shouldn’t crave it. She should keep her wants hidden so no one could see them.

Garreth lifted his face. “You want me to stop?” His finger continued to stroke her ass. “Is that what your heart’s telling you?”

She bit her lip, desperately needing his tongue back on her pussy, yet mortified by her relief that he hadn’t moved his finger.

She shook her head. “No! Fuck, no. Don’t stop.” Dear God, her face must be a million shades of scarlet.

Truth was she wanted that finger inside her ass, not just stroking. Deep inside as his tongue lashed her pussy
.
Her ass cheeks clenched involuntarily, unclenched. Clenched again. Pulling at his finger.

Garreth gave a satisfied growl and buried his head between her legs again, gratifying her with delectable licks along her pussy and clit. He tapped his finger against her pussy and anus, drawing cream from one to wet the other. He teased, tempted, drove her wild.

Oh, God. She wanted more. Needed more.

“In, in, please God, just stick it in,” she begged, and Garreth complied with a moan.

Holy shit, it felt so good. So good and so bad all the same time. The stretch hurt and pleasured. It had her pussy pulsing in massive bursts of tension.

His name burst from her lips in gasps. Prickles spread from her clit through her pussy and streaked up her ass. She couldn’t stop the bliss as it ruptured through her, throwing her hips into helpless bucking motions.

The relief of the rupture was so intensely beautiful and satisfying it brought tears to her eyes. She’d asked for this. She’d wanted this. And Garreth had helped her to see that. Helped her to stay with him, in the moment. To be honest with herself and with him. She’d openly acknowledged her needs to the man she’d loved, refusing to slip back behind her defenses, and he’d rewarded her a million times over.

Chapter Six

When Garreth was sure the last shiver of her passion had passed, he released her from her bonds. Hell yeah, he wanted to keep her tied up in his room for the rest of time, but she’d been sitting in the same position for far too long. She needed to move, stretch her legs, her arms.

Carefully, he freed every knot, unraveling the rope from around her wrists and waist. Then, knowing her muscles must be stiff, he picked her up, tucked her against this chest, and lay down with her on the bed, holding her very, very close.

“You did good, Jenn. Damn good.” For someone who had no idea how to be herself, Jenna had come through his little exercise with flying colors.

“I’m still scared to be me though,” she told him. “And I’m still a little scared of you.”

For the first time he understood what she meant. “You know what? I scare myself. I’ve wanted to make love to you for so damn long. But getting this close, knowing you trust me? Christ, Jenn, I don’t just want to fuck you. I want to possess you. Make you mine. Become a part of you. Make you a part of me.”

“You want that from me?” She looked up at him. “You’d take me, knowing how screwed up I am about relationships and sex?”

Garreth shook his head. The woman did not have a clue how much she meant to him. “Don’t you get it yet? I love you! I have since the first time you came to see Jack after I moved in. Since we debated everything from the politics of prime ministers being ousted by their deputies to Shane Warne’s text messages. I love you despite the fact that you’re a Trekkie fan.”