But after several minutes, as her stomach went from empty to full, she realized she was going to lose the battle with keeping her eyes open. She put down her knife and fork and yawned, big and long.
“You’re tired.”
Jake, she’d noticed more than once, didn’t waste words. But before she could do much more than nod, his arms were going around her and he was lifting her off the stool.
Her brain—and body—immediately flashed back to Napa, when he’d picked her up, naked and desperate for him.
“What are you doing?” She couldn’t hide the panic that underlay each word.
He didn’t break stride. “Taking you to bed.”
Her breath lodged in her chest. Even wanting him as bad as she still did, she couldn’t have sex with him tonight. Not when she was so tired and felt so weak, like every wall she should have up to protect herself was lying down taking a nap.
What would happen if she lowered the defenses she’d tried to put up? What remaining part of her heart—or worse, her soul—would she end up handing over to him on a silver platter?
“Jake, dinner was great, but I need to go home now.”
“No.” His bedroom was big and masculine, just like him. “Seven days, Sophie. You promised me the week.” He moved to take off her shoes and she was so stunned by how gentle he was being with her that she let him.
“I know I did,” she said when she found her voice. “But I thought they’d be like dates, that we’d meet up after work for a few hours.”
“I want you here. With me.”
It was everything she’d ever wanted him to say, and yet the words coming from her lips were, “What if I don’t want to be here?”
He looked up at her from where he was kneeling by her now bare feet, his eyes an unfathomable near-black. “Then I’ll stay with you.”
She swallowed hard, suddenly realizing his intent—and just what she’d signed herself up for.
Not just seven days, but seven nights.
Oh God.
He got up and went to the bathroom, but was back in seconds. “There’s a new toothbrush beside the sink. I’ll be back soon.”
Sophie knew she could put her shoes back on and leave, that she didn’t have to go into his bathroom and brush her teeth before slipping into his bed. But she also knew Jake well enough to know that if she did that, he’d just follow her.
He wouldn’t care about pounding on her apartment door loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood before she let him in. Not when he was so incredibly possessive, clearly wanting to take over her life by doing things like forcing her to eat dinner. It didn’t matter that she’d been hungry enough to eat a horse. She didn’t want anyone telling her what to do.
Especially not
him
.
But the craziest thing of all was that, instead of only being mad about his domineering behavior, she was aroused by it at the same time. So much so that she couldn’t stop her old favorite daydream from playing in her head, the one where Jake’s hard muscles were pinning her to the bed and he was looking down at her telling her exactly what he was going to do to her. And she was dying for it.
She shoved herself off the bed and went into the bathroom. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” She ranted at herself the entire way across the carpet to the tiled floor.
Her stupidity had already gotten her into this mess. She didn’t need to compound it further by actually falling for his seven-day “let me convince you I can be there for you and the baby” game. Especially since any guy who kept extra toothbrushes on hand clearly needed them for a parade of women.
Furious at herself, she brushed her teeth hard enough to take off the top layer of enamel, then washed her face. He hadn’t offered her any pajamas and she definitely wasn’t going to get into his bed naked.
Wouldn’t he just love that?
At least, she thought with a small measure of comfort, he didn’t keep women’s pajamas in his house to go with the toothbrushes. She’d never gone through someone else’s things before—Lori was the snoop in their family—but Sophie didn’t feel at all bad about opening his closet to look for a T-shirt. She hated sleeping in her bra, but she needed something to cover her in lieu of the white cotton she had on.
She found a black shirt and as she quickly pulled off her skirt, sweater, and bra, she tried not to appreciate the fact that the shirt smelled like Jake. A clean, masculine smell that went straight to her head.
Hearing footsteps, she all but threw herself onto his bed and beneath the thick covers, only to find his mattress deliciously comfortable. Clearly, from what she’d seen of his house so far, he bought the best for himself. She could only imagine how much a bed like this must have cost.
Oh, but it was worth every single penny.
She hadn’t thought she’d be able to sleep a wink in his bed. But it was so comfortable...and she was so tired.
Before she knew it, Sophie’s brain turned off and she was down for the count.
* * *
Jake stood in the doorway, so struck by the picture of Sophie asleep in his bed that he couldn’t actually make his feet move forward. Yet again, he couldn’t do anything but stare at her, watch as her chest rose and fell slowly, her hair spread out across his pillow, her expression so serene.
His chest clenched tighter as he finally moved into the room. Her scent was already everywhere, wrapping around him, winding through him, drawing him closer.
Sixty seconds later he’d stripped his clothes off. All of them.
He wanted her. Badly. He hadn’t just wanted her since the moment he’d found her standing outside his front door, hadn’t just needed her for two and a half months, ever since they’d made love in the rental house in Napa. No, the truth was he’d wanted her so much longer than that.
He pulled back the covers, slid in next to her, and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her into him, her soft curves fitting perfectly against him, her hips a soft, warm cradle for the erection that wouldn’t go away. Jake slid one hand into her long hair, breathing in her sweet scent.
It shouldn’t feel right to have Sophie Sullivan in his bed. But nothing had ever felt quite so right before.
“Good night, princess.” He whispered the words against the top of her head, pressing a soft kiss there. Sleep claimed Jake long before he thought it would, with the one woman he’d never thought he could have safe and warm in his arms.
Chapter Twelve
Sophie felt so safe, so warm, as she floated in that in-between space between sleep and coming completely awake. She knew exactly where she was, knew precisely why she felt so good. Jake was holding her, his arms curled protectively around her shoulders, with one of his hands splayed flat over her stomach beneath the T-shirt as if he were trying to protect more than just her.
And he was completely naked.
She could feel the rigid flesh of his erection against the small of her back, the hairs on his thighs against the smooth skin of her legs, and as desire swiftly stole through her, she couldn’t stop her half-asleep body from wanting to get even closer.
She’d assumed night would be her enemy, those dark hours during the seven days she’d promised. But now she knew it didn’t matter whether it was day or night, light or dark.
She
was her own worst enemy.
Jake wouldn’t have to ask her for a darn thing. Just to be near him like this, if only to know the sweetness of his touch for a few seconds, she’d give up everything.
Obviously hearing her secret admission,
Nice
Sophie came completely awake inside of her and started yelling at her to protect herself from being hurt any worse than she already was.
Nice
tried to remind her of the pain she’d felt for two long months, tried to hold out those truths she’d made herself face the day before.
But
Naughty
Sophie, the part of her that had clearly been held down for way too long, wanted to go back to that place where Jake had been touching her, teasing her, taking her to heaven and back. She’d be careful this time. She wouldn’t be foolish enough to blurt out her love for him—or even to admit that she felt it—no matter how good he made her feel.
Of course, when Jake softly blew the hair away from her neck and pressed his lips to the sensitive skin there, it was inevitable that
Naughty
would win the battle over
Nice.
Rather than trying to fight it, knowing it was pointless to even try to pretend she didn’t want to be his lover for the next seven days, Sophie did what came naturally and arched her neck to give his mouth better access.
His low groan of pleasure rumbled from his chest to hers as he pulled her hips even more tightly against his, his hand never leaving her stomach. His tongue slid over her exposed neck and she shivered at the delicious sensation of being tasted. Savored. And when he blew over her damp skin, she felt the tips of her breasts become sharp points of need. Her breasts were more sensitive now, probably due to her pregnancy. And, oh, how she wanted his hand to move those few inches, up from her waist.
But then his mouth was back on her neck, nipping at her skin, causing a trail of thrill bumps in its wake before latching onto her earlobe, and the breath Sophie hadn’t realized she’d been holding whooshed from her chest as his teeth bore down on the soft flesh.
More ready for sex that she’d ever been in her life, she instinctively pressed her hips into his erection, trying to widen her legs for him, so that he could take her. But his thigh between hers held her captive.
“Jake,” she pleaded, barely awake and already begging.
“Shhh,” he soothed, and she might have pressed her case for quick and fast if not for the fact that he finally started moving his hand.
Sophie went completely still, not wanting to do anything that would make him stop the sinfully slow press of his fingertips over her belly button and then her lowest ribs. But even as she tried to hold still, she could feel herself trembling.
How long had she dreamed of Jake touching her like this? Like she was the most precious thing in his world? Like he’d never let anything hurt her? Like he’d slay all her dragons just for one more moment with her?
As his fingers skimmed over her skin, it didn’t matter that
Nice
Sophie was screaming at her to know better, to wake up and face reality.
Naughty
Sophie promised that reality could wait, and it would have to, because there was no way she could leave Jake’s arms now, not when he was so close to touching her—
His hand stilled just below the swell of her breasts and she nearly groaned with disappointment.
“Soon,” he promised her, and the wicked intent in his voice—along with the shocking tenderness of his promise, had her toes curling against the tops of his feet.
Her breath came fast as he rained more kisses and soft little bites down from her ear, over her neck, then across her raised shoulder. She could have sworn his erection was actually throbbing against her back by that point, that he was teasing himself just as much as her, but his own clear desire for her didn’t make him move any faster. If he kissed his way up and down her body like this he would drive her nearly insane...every press of his lips on her skin taking her closer to the peak, but never all the way there.
At long last, his fingers recommenced their erotic journey, lightly brushing over the curve of both breasts until his hand was in position to touch both at once. The taut peaks ached from the slightest touch of his palm and she arched into his touch to try to get him to take more from her.
Everything.
Jake could have everything from her in this moment. It didn’t matter what it was, she would give it to him, just as long as he made good on his promise of pleasure.
“So soft.” He cupped one breast in his hands, so gently she gasped at the sensation of his slightly rough skin against her. And then he was pressing his mouth into the curve where her shoulder met her neck and her gasp turned back into more begging she couldn’t control.
“Please, Jake.”
From the way she couldn’t stop her hips from rocking into his, he had to know what she wanted. Just to be taken like this, while he was holding her and she was in the sweetest heaven anyone had ever known.
But when her begging didn’t get her any closer to her goal, Sophie realized Jake would always be in control when they were together like this. The thought shocked her, but not as much as the realization that she loved it.
And oh, to be his princess, if only for a little while in his arms like this...even her
Nice
inner voice had no choice but to go quiet. A moment later, even the newly unmuzzled
Naughty
voice was silenced as Jake’s tongue slid against her skin again, moving slowly down her spine just as he shifted his hand to fill his palm with her other breast and slowly pressed his thumb and forefinger over one taut peak.
Her insides felt like molten lava and even though he hadn’t touched anything but her neck and back and overly sensitive breasts, Sophie felt herself going over the edge, hurtling toward an unexpected climax that claimed her breath, her thoughts, just as Jake had claimed all of them.
“Oh, oh, oh!”
As the gasping little noises left her throat, Jake’s thigh muscles bunched and pressed between her legs and she rode him like a woman possessed. There was no room for embarrassment here. Nor was there space for the anger and hurt she’d felt earlier.
All that remained in the in-between early morning of his bed was exquisite pleasure. Pleasure that ran so deep, she was powerless to do anything but let it take over every cell, inside and out.
He slid his hand down from her breasts, thankfully moving faster on the way down than he had on his earlier trip up from her belly. “I need to touch you.”
The unexpected climax only ratcheting up her need, this time when she moved to spread her legs, he let her. And then his hand was moving over her pelvic bone, softly sliding over her damp curls, not stopping like he had before when she’d been dying for him to caress her breasts. She could feel a slight tremor shake his arm as he came closer to her core, almost as if the self-control he’d had earlier—his obvious intent to torture her with slow, with gentle—was slipping.