Wanna Play (Ghost Unit, Book Three) (24 page)

Blaster relaxed, propped up on elbows. “No. We never fight for
it
, Jas. Sex isn’t a competition, a bargaining chip or any other damn thing.” He sat up and pulled his shirt out of jeans, unbuttoning and shrugging out of it. “We can’t go for a run, there’s no gym. I’m offering my skills as a wrestling partner because you damn well need to relax.” Blaster reached down, unlacing his boots, pulling them off.

“You’re stripping though.” Hands on hips she watched him suspiciously.

“Yep. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Standing, he shoved down jeans, stepping out of them. Gathering clothes, he took them to the little clothes rod and hung up his shirt, folded the jeans and placed them on the rack on top.

Turning back to her he raised a brow. “What are you waiting for, Carson? You that sure you can’t pin me?”

Clothed only in hard, rippling muscle and a lazy smile, Samuel Callaway was a beautiful beast. He strolled toward her and there was no mistaking how much he liked looking at her.

Jas waved a hand at the thick erection swaying in front of him. “I might hurt you.”

Blaster chuckled. “Well, that’s a reason to chicken out. But I promise, if you hurt me, I’ll deserve it. I’ve got a weight advantage as well as experience. Now strip down and show me how wicked an opponent you can be.”

“Take the clothes off me,” Jas challenged with narrowed eyes.

Blaster froze and held up his hands in a flash reaction. “No. Baby, if you don’t want to wrestle, just say so.”

Jas breathed out a scoff. “I never said that.”

Blaster cocked his head. “Okay, leave bra and panties on. I stripped because I don’t want to hurt you with rough jeans. I’m not going to force a shred of clothing off you. Ever.”

“All right, stud.” Jas shrugged out of her shirt and sat on the bed to remove boots.

Blaster calmly lay down on the bed, stacking his hands behind his head as he watched her push off jeans. Jas straightened in bra and panties, hands on hips she again regarded his relaxed body.

“You giving up already?”

“Come here, I’m handicapping myself by starting on my back,” he murmured as his eyes roamed over her body.

“Doesn’t look like you have the proper head in the game,” Jas chided.

“That’s the other half of the handicap. My libido is on your side.”

Jas chuckled and leapt on him. He’d already moved before she landed, but she’d expected his move. Hard and fierce they grappled. He’d almost had her in a pin and she twisted out. Her skills in the eastern discipline coupled with extreme flexibility enabled her to elude him. They rolled off the bed and somehow Blaster was the one who hit the floor first, cushioning her fall.

The room was filled with low grunts and hissing breathing as they rolled across the floor. Jas scrambled up but he had her cornered against the sink vanity. Her body appeared to contract as she was suddenly crouched on the countertop and then launched into the air in a jump that allowed her to tackle him almost from behind. Her body weight descending as she would have wrapped an arm around his neck should have taken down an opponent who was shocked at her aerial attack.

Blaster was countering it as she flew at him. Again they landed on the floor, wildly thrashing across it.

“Nice,” Blaster complimented as he eluded her.

“Glad you liked it.”

Jas was an eel. Her firm body always twisting out of reach while coming at him.

“You’re not fighting me,” Jas snarled.

They were on top of the bed again, writhing in conflict.

“Bullshit.”

Jas was on his back as his body twisted in a swift jerk to throw her. “This is pansy crap,” she accused as she countered.

“I’m not using strength. Makes us more even,” he panted as they rolled off the other side of the bed.

Jas intensified her attack and they were silent except for the heavy breathing and grunts of battle.

“Dammit.” Blaster laughed as five minutes later she eluded him again but did it with a sharp slap to his ass.

Jas grinned and used his surprise to gain advantage. Blaster had to concentrate and they were locked in a hold that gave neither the advantage.

“Winning isn’t playing fair,” Jas gritted out. “You’ve been playing fair.”

Blaster immediately released his hold, surrendering to her pin as he laughed in short gusts. “We’re not training,” he reminded the woman looming over him.

Jas immediately straddled his hips, grinning at the laughing man. “We need a gym,” she informed him. “This place is too small.” She sprang off him and backed up. “So is that a win for me?”

“What do you think?” Blaster stood slowly and prowled toward her.

Jas backed into the door, chuckling as he walked into her body.

“I told you I’m easy,” he continued softly, pinning her with his weight against the hard surface behind her. His body was aggressive, but no longer challenging as the thick, hot weight of his erection pressed into her abdomen.

Whatever the hell he’d done to deserve this woman, he wanted to assure the gods that he’d really meant it. Didn’t matter if he couldn’t remember the good deed, it was done and he’d be keeping this woman. Thank you very much.

Halfway drunk on the feel of her every minute she was within touching distance was an illness he didn’t want to recover from. He slowly unhooked the front clasp of her bra and slid the cups off her in an open-handed caress.

Jas’ chest was still heaving in deep gulps of air. “And you said you weren’t gentle.”

Blaster’s mouth crushed down on hers, taking a brief kiss. “I don’t take what isn’t offered. Remember that part?”

Jas grasped both sides of his head to pull him back for another sucking kiss. Thrusting into his mouth with her tongue before responding, “I’m offering. I don’t want gentle.”

Both his hands shot down, jerking her legs up around his waist. “Using me to work off the rage at Kauffman?” Blaster thrust into the panty-covered crotch spread around his cock, rubbing with brutal intensity.

“Maybe,” Jas conceded as she pulled his head down to her again.

Both of them undulated, rubbing bodies in fierce demand as the kiss burned between them.

Jerking away from her mouth, Blaster glared at her through narrowed eyes. “I’m not that bastard. What we’re doing has nothing to do with him.”

Jas bared her teeth in frustration. “You wanted to know how that night affected me? Here it is. I need something and I don’t know what it is. I fucking know you’re not doing what he did.”

Blaster was still, panting as he glared into tilted eyes that spat back at him. They were crushed together, straining when there was no need and she wanted more. “I will not play rape games.”

Her elbows and forearms were abruptly against his chest as her legs dropped to the floor. Shoving off him was easy. He let her go. Jas paced away, hands on hips, head down. She drew in air as if she’d been running. The bed blocked her pacing and she stopped with her back to him.

“Is that what I’m asking?”

“Yeah.”

Her hands came up to rub down her face in fatalistic frustration. “Wow, I didn’t know I was still fucked up over this.”

It was difficult to stay away from her. Blaster leaned against the door and crossed his arms over chest to keep from reaching for her. “What made you think you were past it? Have you had a sustained relationship since that night? Ever been with a man more than one night?”

“No, I thought I was busy.”

He nodded seriously and was silent, hoping she’d find a way to get her feelings out. Talking about them, acknowledging the issue was the only way to deal with it. It’d been with her too long. Twisting her emotions to fit a box that guaranteed she was never comfortable. Never relaxed.

“I don’t like to feel trapped. Yet I’m always setting someone up to trap me so I can escape. Aren’t I?”

“Wouldn’t have said it quite that way, but yeah.”

“You’re refusing to play my favorite game.”

“Damn straight.”

Jas swung around. Her face was twisted in a bitter mask. “What the fuck do I do now?”

“Trust me.”

Deep and calm, his voice washed through the choking panic that suddenly gripped her. With the realization of her game had come knowledge that she’d be in Kauffman’s grasp every day of her life since she left the cabin. He’d dictated her relationships as surely as if he were standing beside her.

The only relationship he hadn’t infected was the one he’d created. She and Liana had been such good friends. Now they were sisters because of Kauffman. He had become a suffocating fungus that coated everything. Just because she hadn’t been aware of his putrid influence didn’t make the realization less revolting.

“How do I get him off me? I need to get him off!” Jas wanted to bathe in bleach, anything to get the feel of his ugly influence off.

“Come here. Trust me,” Blaster encouraged her steadily.

Jas launched herself at him, half leaping half running. Blaster stepped into her, catching her flying form as she clamped around him. Legs around his hips, arms clutching his neck. She fastened on to his mouth in frantic need as if his touch could erase the feel of cold fingers she didn’t know she’d remembered.

Blaster kissed her, holding her in steady arms but not letting her drive him with the panic she was feeling. Through the deep kiss he stroked her back, barely having to hold her on him as she strained to get closer. They stood for a long time kissing, Blaster supporting her weight effortlessly as she calmed to his touch.

Jas broke the kiss to bury her face in his neck, fighting sobs she didn’t want to give the monster in her mind.

“I’ve got you,” Blaster crooned, and began walking to the bed. “It’s just you and me, baby. No one else is involved with what we have. How we are.”

Lowering himself to the bed on his back, he held her on top of him, stroking down the curve of her spine in gliding encouragement. Jas held on tightly. She’d straightened her legs when they lay down, but they still bracketed his hips. Her body pressed into his as closely as she could. Shuddering, she fought the emotional meltdown churning inside.

How could she have been this weak, this stupid? Had she been intentionally blind? Questions were bitter-bright barbs, hooking into every aspect of her life.

“Let him go, baby,” Blaster commanded softly. “Feel me. Feel us.”

Jas lifted her head to look into his eyes. “How?”

“Like this.” Blaster reached up to her lips. Sucking her into his reality with soft kisses and rumbling approval as she pressed into him for more. Soon his head relaxed on the pillow and she followed him down.

The kisses intensified and Jas gripped his shoulders to roll them over. Blaster only let her roll them halfway, stopping on their sides. Refusing to roll on top of her.

His mouth moved down her neck, nipping and licking the salty spice of their wrestling match off her. Jas relaxed onto her back and he let her. Leaning over her to eat her taste. But he had to stop to watch his hand frame luscious globes, gently caressing sensitive undersides. He was fascinated as the firm points of her nipples swelled in engorged demand.

He hadn’t even touched her there and her body was shooting fire through his balls. The burn in his body didn’t matter.

“Damn I love these,” Blaster growled. “Look how perfect they are. Just looking at them and I want to touch. Always.”

“Always?” Jas murmured. “Why? Every woman has breasts, ya know?”

“Not like these, heavy and firm at the same time. Not tipped with perfectly formed nipples that beckon a man’s mouth like that. If I could stand behind you and hold your breasts all the time, I’d be a happy guy.”

“Why are men so fascinated with breasts? Is it some childhood fetish?” Jas wanted to know. Mostly she needed to hear him. Let him surround her in every way.

Blaster chuckled as he fondled her with soft touches, not going near her nipples, just softly running his fingers around sensitive undersides and cupping them occasionally. “Does this feel like a child’s touch?”