She couldn’t focus on his words, only the path of his thumb. She held her breath every time it started another upward arc, straining, praying he’d edge just a little higher, only to voice her protest with a whimpered moan when his touch receded again. Her fingernails dug into her palms as she struggled not to reach for him, not to reach for herself and seize her own release with a quick, rough touch.
Her pussy clenched hard around his intruding fingers. So close. So damn close—
He shifted his hand, and the teasing promise of his thumb on her clit vanished. Instead, he curled his fingers inside her and thrust his hips close to hers, and the length of his cock, steely but soft, glided over her clit. Not enough friction, not nearly enough, though that stopped mattering as soon as he ground against her with a delicious groan.
She came without warning, without realizing the tension had snapped until she heard her own voice bouncing off the stall walls, wordless, moaning cries that crested with every violent shudder.
Jasper didn’t stop. He pressed her against the tile, his hips still moving, his cock caught between his hand and her pussy. Her knees melted, and she clutched at his shoulders as the grinding pressure of his shaft set off another wave, little pulses of pleasure that peaked as her inner muscles gripped his fingers.
“Oh God.” Her voice, raspy and pleading, and she thumped her head back against the tile when he kept grinding, kept fucking them both, until she was so wet and hot that even four fingers didn’t hurt anymore, and she told him so in broken, sobbing gasps, begging him to shove them deeper, to give her everything, to make her feel it, to own her.
He bit her again, this time hard enough to bruise, his teeth sharp on the soft underside of her jaw. His groans intensified along with his thrusts, built until his fingers jerked and his body tensed, straining. He came, semen splashing hot on her hip as he pulsed against her.
“Jas…” She shivered and let her head fall forward, burying her face against his throat. Even that tiny movement shifted her body on his fingers, and she whimpered as the friction abraded hypersensitive nerves.
He distracted her with a kiss as he eased his fingers free of her body, his chest heaving. “Okay?”
Her nod rubbed her cheek over his shoulder, but she realized that might not be enough. She needed to find a verbal reassurance, but her tongue tripped over even simple words. “Better’n okay. Good. So good.”
“Mmm.” He guided her under the warm spray again and picked up the soap. In moments, she was soapy and slick, wallowing in the sensual glide of his hands over her skin.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, tipping her hair under the water before smoothing the heavy, wet strands away from her face. “Was that one of the delicious ways I can be opened?”
Jasper smiled. “One of them—though I didn’t take it as far as I could have.”
He’d taken it as far as she’d been able to handle, and Noelle doubted it was an accident. More like a carefully calculated advance, because she’d felt his single-minded focus as he pushed her past the boundaries of her experience.
What would it be like to follow him step by trembling step past every line she’d ever drawn and some she couldn’t imagine existing?
Beautiful.
Liberating.
She returned his smile and pressed a kiss to his chest. “Maybe next time you can take it further.”
His low laugh echoed off the tile, warming the scant space between them. “If you’re good.”
Chapter Seventeen
Instead of mandating the buddy system for leaving the compound, Dallas should have brought the whole damn market to them.
Jasper wrapped his fingers around the pile of money Rachel had handed him and peered down at her list. “Why don’t you come with us?” he asked.
“Insert myself into your quality alone time?” Rachel shook her head. “No, thanks. If the list is a problem—”
“It’s not,” he interjected.
“Well…okay, then.” She grinned and pulled the dish towel off her shoulder as she backed toward the bar. “Quit complaining and pick up my shit.”
“Smartass.”
Noelle arrived a moment later, pushing through the employee door in jeans and a tank top that showed off her tits and her ink. She was clutching a list of her own, which she waved at him with a smile. “Nessa asked me to pick up a few things for her.”
He held up the list in his hand. “Rachel’s.”
She reached his side and rose on her toes to brush a lingering kiss over his lips. “Hopefully we can carry it all back.”
Jasper caught her around the waist and held her, his mouth hovering close to hers as he drank in the sensation of her soft curves against his body. “If not, fuck ’em.”
With a teasing wiggle of her hips, she laughed at him. “That sounds fun too.”
“More fun than shopping, anyway,” Lex drawled from the doorway.
Noelle glanced over her shoulder without pulling away from Jasper. “Hey, Lex. I was looking for you earlier. Everything okay?”
“Peachy. Heard you were headed down to the market.”
“Right now,” Jasper confirmed. Rachel might have had qualms about intruding on their walk, but Lex wouldn’t.
She proved it with her next words. “Can I come along? Dallas has had me locked up tight.”
“Sure, that’s fine.” Noelle met his eyes, resigned but pleading. “Right?”
She looked so hesitant that he blew out a breath and smiled. “Orders are orders, right?”
Smiling, she kissed him again and eased away. Her fingers trailed down his arm to twine with his. “You can help us carry all of Rachel and Nessa’s requests back.”
Lex wrinkled her nose, but Jasper turned for the door, his hand at the small of Noelle’s back.
It was still early, and the sun hadn’t quite had time to burn the chill off the air. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around Noelle’s shoulders.
“Thanks.” She pulled the jacket tight and kicked an empty liquor bottle off the sidewalk. Her gaze jumped to Lex, then back to Jasper. “Do you know how long Dallas wants us going out in groups?”
Damned if he’d tell her they still didn’t know who’d bankrolled Trent’s attack—or what it meant. “Until further notice, sweetheart.”
“Just curious.” She bumped her hip against his. “I don’t mind the company, and I still get turned around in all these back streets. Though it would be fun to get a chance to test my cuffs.”
At the moment, the O’Kane ink could be more of a bull’s-eye target than a warning. Jasper opened his mouth, but Lex cut him off.
“Hey.” She stopped Noelle with a hand on her shoulder. “Testing your ink is a shit idea right now. Dallas is a prick, but he’s not stupid. If he’s restricting our movements, it’s about safety.”
Noelle studied Lex’s face as she rubbed her thumb over the sleeve of Jasper’s jacket. “Should I have covered it up?”
She shook her head. “If things were that dire, we wouldn’t even be allowed out with Jasper.”
Relief filled Noelle’s features as the tension in her posture eased. “Okay. I don’t want to do anything dangerous, but…” She shrugged. “I like showing it off.”
Jasper cupped a hand under her elbow. “I get it. We don’t hide our ink, Noelle. But smart is smart. Someone’s gunning for Dallas right now.”
And hurting Lex would be a prime way to kick him in the gut. Judging from the look on her face, she knew it. She crossed her arms over her chest, her gaze darting back and forth as they walked. Watching, assessing the potential danger.
Noelle seemed to realize it, too. Her worried gaze followed Lex as they rounded a corner, and her hand snuck out from under his jacket to find his. “I’m all for smart.”