Summer Solstice (3 page)

Those long, long legs, the curve of her cheekbones, for God’s sake. Driving him mad. Making his cock twitch, begin to harden again already.

He didn’t want to think about why. He just needed to do it again, to come, thinking of her. And ultimately, he had to have her.

It wasn’t often he was denied a woman he wanted. He wasn’t being egotistical. That was simply how his life had gone. He wasn’t used to it. But being denied the satisfaction made her all the more desirable, if that was even possible.

His cock pulsed, filling once more. He ran his fingers along the shaft, watched it grow, lengthen at his touch. How much better would it be if it were her hands on him? He would have to find out.

Oh yes, he’d
have
to.

Leigh spent the early part of Sunday working on some sketches at the drafting table in her bedroom, but it soon became unbearably warm. She wandered into the tiny kitchen, moving listlessly as she pulled the big plastic pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator and poured it over ice. It was too hot to stay in the house. Probably too hot to go outside. She went out anyway, hoping for a small breeze in the shade of her front porch. Maybe hoping for a glimpse of Jared. He’d been out of town for a week, his car gone, the house quiet. She hadn’t stopped thinking about him. Hadn’t stopped getting herself off to an image of him in her head every night in her lonely bed, her sheets damp with sweat and desire.

She squeezed her thighs together, then pushed through the screen door and stepped out onto the front porch.

The glare of the mid-day sun made her wish for her sunglasses, but the heat made her too lazy to go back inside to find them. Squinting, she spotted Jared across the street with a bucket sloshing soapsuds in one hand and a long length of green garden hose in the other. He set the bucket on the ground, then turned on the hose and aimed it at his black SUV.

She almost called out a greeting, but something compelled her to watch in silence as he washed his car. He was dressed in khaki cargo shorts and a black tank. His feet were bare. Why did they look so naked, so vulnerable?

Leigh watched as he moved around the car, the muscles in his arms and shoulders flexing with every motion. He soaked a sponge in the soapy water then wrung it out, the suds spilling over the backs of his big hands in bubbling rivulets. It made her think of the shattering orgasm she’d had in the shower the night before, with the cool water running down her body, and desire stabbed through her once more.

Cold water had been her only relief from the summer heat lately, but her body craved something more. She bit her lip and shifted in her seat, squeezing her thighs together, her eyes still on Jared.

Almost as though he’d felt that same spearing heat, he looked up, turned and saw her. He smiled crookedly and waved. Leigh rose to her feet and waved back, her pulse fluttering and her sex throbbing.

“Hey, care to help me wash my car?” he called to her.

“Maybe.”

“Come on. It’s too hot out here to do anything else.”

She could think of something else. She smiled, stepped off the porch and crossed the street.

“Do you have an extra sponge?”

He handed her the one in his hand, his fingers brushing hers, soapy and wet. “Only this one. You can wash. I’ll rinse.”

“Oh, lazy, are you?”

He shrugged, his wide, tanned shoulders flexing, the sun glinting off the drops of water on his skin as he grinned at her. “You did offer.”

“So I did.”

She went to work, running the big sponge over the hot metal of the car. It felt good to work her muscles, to work off some of the lust burning through her body.

“So, why Santa Monica?” she asked him.

“I like the weather. The heat. The scent of the ocean. The fog in the morning. It’s moody. It feels like it gives me time to think. I love that quiet early in the morning, you know?”

“Yes. I like that, too. I like to get up at 6 a.m., when everything is still. Drink my tea. Draw. Or sometimes just sit and look out at the garden.”

“Do you ever walk on the beach in the morning?”

“Sometimes. Although I always wish I had a dog to walk with.” She laughed. “I don’t know why.”

“I’ve often thought of getting a dog, but I travel too much for work.”

“I’ve been thinking about it lately, too, now that I’m starting my own business and my time will be more flexible.”

“You’re not one of those girls who wants a tiny, rat-like creature to dress up and stick in your purse, are you?”

She laughed. “Not me. I much prefer big dogs.”

And big men, she thought, watching him rinse the car through the spray of water.

“So, do you like it here, other than the fog?” she asked him, dropping the sponge into the bucket.

“I like it better now.”

She turned to find him grinning at her.

“Are you flirting with me, Jared Townsend?”

“Most definitely. Do you mind?”

She paused, watching him for a moment. “No.”

“Good. Because I intend to keep doing it.”

He stepped closer until she could smell the sun on his skin, the water evaporating in the heat of the day, and that faint scent of
him
, pure and masculine.

Her body went soft and loose all over.

His gaze was on hers, a small smile tilting the corners of his mouth. “You have soap on you, Leigh.”

“So do you.”

“Do I?”

Still watching her, his dark gaze never leaving her face, he took the hose and let the spray wash over his chest, soaking him. He let the water pool in one big hand, then splashed it over his head, slicking his hair back from his face.

A small trickle of moisture glided down between her breasts. They ached. And between her thighs heat blossomed like the rays of the summer sun.

Jared held the hose, the water surging between his fingers. She wanted to feel that cool water almost as much as she wanted to touch him.

“Are you hot, Leigh?” His voice was low, quiet.

She nodded.

He reached out, lifted her hair off her neck and moved the hose so that the water sluiced over her neck and down her back. She closed her eyes and shivered in delight, her whole body instantly cooling, her flesh prickling with goose bumps. Her white tank top and denim cut-offs soon became soaked.

It felt good—the cold water, the sensation of it on her skin, standing next to this man whose sun-heated skin smelled like pure sex to her. She let her eyes flutter open, and found his were still on her. It made her shiver deep inside—that sense that he could see into her, knew her darkest secrets. And liked what he saw.

She reached out and covered his hand, guiding the hose so that the water poured down the front of her body. His eyes widened a bit as her tank top soaked through and became opaque, but they never left her face. She knew her nipples were hard as two small rocks, could feel them straining against the wet, cool fabric. She wanted nothing more than for him to touch them.

He dropped her hair and it fell in a damp curtain against her neck, but it was nothing compared to the wet heat collecting between her thighs, along with an insistent ache that demanded to be sated. The seam of her denim shorts rubbed teasingly against her full pussy lips as she shifted from one foot to another. She had to do it again. And again, she thought of Jared’s hands there instead.

He was like a statue, watching her face, his gaze hot with lust. It poured off him like his scent did, danced in the air between them, daring her. Tempting her.

“I’m all wet.” She managed a smile, even as the words came out in a voice too rough to be her own.

“Yeah. So am I.”

She blinked, her body surging.

Touch me…

His hand loosened on the hose sprayer, the water shutting off. His voice was rough as he dropped the hose, reached out and brushed his fingertips over her shoulder. “Come inside with me, Leigh.”

It was a command issued and impossible to disobey. Leigh didn’t mind, maybe even liked it. She didn’t want to think too much about it, didn’t want to think about anything right now. Jared held open the screen and she moved past him into his living room, heard a soft click as he closed it behind him, then the muffled thud of the front door. She took a deep breath as he came to stand behind her, wrapping a heavy arm around her waist, his scent wrapping around her senses. She inhaled, held her breath, held the scent of him inside her. It made her want more of him inside her. Quickly.
Now.
But she would wait, savor the waiting and each exquisite moment which would inevitably lead to what she craved.

Jared moved her wet hair aside to kiss the back of her neck, his lips hot, seductive. She shivered, a chill of pleasure running down her spine. He traced his lips over the sensitive skin there, then lower, between her shoulder blades. Strange that he was kissing her neck, her back, even before he’d kissed her lips. But purely erotic. Moving his free hand down her body, over the curve of her hip, it came to rest on the delicate flesh of her inner thigh. When he tucked his fingers beneath the hem of her shorts it was all she could do not to buck her hips forward.

The skin of his fingertips was silky and rough at the same time as they teased her heated flesh, taunting her. Close, yet not quite touching the part of her that wept with need, literally wept and threatened to run down her shaking legs.

“Jared.” She moaned his name, but he didn’t stop to answer, his mouth warming her skin.

Leigh pressed her body back into his, into the solid strength of his big frame. He felt like a wall of heat behind her. A wall with an impressively large erection pressing back into the top of her buttocks, at that point at the base of her spine that was so sensitive. She needed to touch him. Needed to hold his throbbing cock in her hands, to run her palms over the smooth planes of his body. Needed with a force she would never have been able to resist had he not held her so tightly, locked against him. He continued his assault of kisses, nipping and sucking at her neck and down over her shoulders as his fingers teased at the edge of her denim shorts. Did he know he was driving her crazy?

Yes, this man knew exactly what he was doing to her. He was completely in control. Of himself. Of her.

When the arm he’d been holding her with so firmly loosened a bit, she thought he’d turn her around to face him. Instead he slid his hand up to cover her breast, so gently she thought she might scream with the need for more. He cupped her full flesh in his hand, moving it a little, as though testing the weight of it. Then his fingers took possession of her nipple through the cold, wet fabric of her top.

She bit back a moan as he rolled it between his thumb and forefinger and a bolt of heat lanced through her. She pushed her backside more firmly into him, his erect cock pressing against her, harder than ever. He really was huge—his body, his cock. She wanted all of him inside her. Wanted him to fill her to bursting. She didn’t care that it might hurt.

“Do you like it when I touch you, Leigh?” His voice was a low growl in her ear.

“It feels good, your hands on me. So good. But I want more.”

“And I intend to give you more. But a little at a time.” His voice lowered an octave and she almost had to strain to hear him, even though his lips were next to her ear, his breath warm on her skin as he spoke. “I’m going to go slowly. So slowly that by the time I’m ready to fuck you, you’ll be begging for it. And when you come, I want you to scream.” He paused and took a nip at her neck, then gave her nipple a sharp pinch, making her gasp.

“Oh…”

“I want to hear you scream with pleasure. Scream my name. Scream for more.” He pinched again, hard.

“Oh God.”

Leigh was ready to scream already. With wanting him, needing the pulsing length of his cock inside her. But she felt limp and helpless in his arms. All she could do was moan and grind against him.

“You excite me, Leigh.” He arched against her, pressing his swollen cock against her body. “Can you feel what you do to me? I can hardly stand to wait to be inside you. But I will. It’ll be well worth waiting for. Come with me. I want you in my bed.”

He took her hand and led her upstairs. There was a big bed against one wall of the room. Light shone dimly through heavy linen curtains, casting a warm glow. Overhead, a ceiling fan made lazy circles.

But she didn’t have time to take anything else in. Jared slid his arms around her waist, turning her, then backing her toward the bed. He paused to pull her tank top over her head, his own shirt following. His chest was all hard muscle, his dark nipples as hard as her own. But she barely had time to admire his wide shoulders, the ripple of his abs, before he put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her down onto the mattress. There was something commanding about his touch. Purely male. He bent over her, breathed onto the naked flesh of her breasts.

This is it. This is where I scream.

She arched her back, trying to get her full, tingling breasts closer to his mouth.

Jared’s tongue shot out, flicking at one hardened tip, and she sighed, snaking an arm around the back of his neck to pull him closer.

He pulled away and dislodged her hold on him. “No, darlin’. Lie still.”

“Jared, I can’t wait.”

“Ah, but you
will
wait. I’ll not have it any other way.”

Her sex pulled tight in a sharp spasm at his words, the tone of his voice. She rubbed her thighs together to ease the sting of blood pounding there, but it did no good. She needed his hands there, his hot mouth, his throbbing cock. Nothing else would do. She held her arms at her sides and resigned herself to waiting, shivering all over.

“Better.” He smiled up at her approvingly and his eyes, dark and bottomless, beautiful, glinted with lust.

He bent his head and she waited for the exquisite torture to begin again. But instead of teasing her this time he immediately pulled her nipple into his mouth.

“Ah, that’s good…”

His hot tongue swirled over the tip before he began to suck. It was almost painful, yet exquisitely, sharply, arousing. His hand came up to cover her other breast, cupping it, squeezing gently. When he crimped her nipple between his fingers and tugged she nearly came up off the bed. Nearly
came
,
was surprised to find she had to hold her orgasm back.