Someone knocked on his door, and he kicked the heater against the wall in case his father came in and saw what he was doing. He didn’t want him to know. Didn’t want anyone to know that he hurt himself when no one was looking.
“You want dinner?” his dad called.
“No.”
“Suit yourself.” His footsteps faded down the hall.
Sometime later, Jason heard a car with a big engine pull to a stop outside his house. He went to the window to gaze into the darkness. Across the street, Kara had parked. She honked her horn and sat there, waiting for him with the engine idling. She would think he stood her up. That he didn’t want her.
He fought with the window for several minutes, knowing it wouldn’t budge. Desperate for freedom, he grabbed a boxing trophy from his bookshelf and smashed it against the corner of the window. The sound of breaking glass was louder than he expected it would be. The pieces rained down on the porch roof. He paused, waiting for his father to come charging up the stairs to permanently put him out of his misery, but he never came. He must’ve fallen asleep in front of the TV.
Jason threw his blanket over the broken glass in the window frame. His stepped on his space heater to help himself over the windowsill. He dropped onto the roof, paused to make sure his father wasn’t coming to kill him, and then shimmied down the porch post and into the bushes. He fled across the yard and raced toward Kara’s car. Before he could climb inside, she sped off.
Jason watched her retreating lights—heart simultaneously thudding and sinking.
Her taillights brightened, and then her reverse lights came on. She almost ran him over as she backed up the car at a high rate of speed. She stopped, not looking at him. She stared out the windshield and wiggled in her seat. Jace climbed in beside her, and she sped off into the night.
“I thought you weren’t coming,” she said breathlessly. “At first, I was mad, and then a little relieved. When I saw you climbing down from your porch, I got scared. Sorry I took off.”
“It’s okay. If you’re not ready…”
“I am ready,” she said. She reached across the car and squeezed his hand. Her hand was damp, but he didn’t mind. He was pretty nervous himself. “My parents will be at a party until late. I thought… I thought we could… in the pool house.”
He lifted her hand to his lips. “Whatever makes you happy.”
She smiled, looking timid and shy. He’d never seen her this way. He liked this side of her. Maybe even more than the reckless and wild side. He wasn’t sure.
When they reached her house, she took his hand and led him to the pool house. His heart thudded with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. She opened the door, turned on a light, and they entered an open seating area flanked by two doors, one labeled ladies, the other labeled gents. There was a sofa and two chairs in the common area, but no bed. Not exactly what Jason had envisioned for their first encounter, but he could improvise.
She looked at him, and her eyes widened. “What happened to your face?” She touched the bruise on his cheekbone with her fingertips. “Did you get into a fight?”
“Something like that.”
She smiled, her nose wrinkling as she gazed into his eyes happily. “Oh, Jason, you are so bad. Kiss me.”
He drew her against his body, and she wrapped her arms around him. Pain snaked through his bruised body as she clung to him. He gasped slightly, and when she looked at him in question, he kissed her. She stiffened in his embrace, so he kept on kissing her until her body finally relaxed.
“Can I touch you?” he asked. He wouldn’t really mind if she slapped him again, but he didn’t want to push her if she wasn’t ready.
“You can touch me anywhere you want.”
His breath caught. “Anywhere?”
“Anywhere.”
“And can I kiss you anywhere?”
She shuddered against him. “Yes.”
He cupped her cheek and shifted his lips to her jaw, her throat, her ear. She sighed, submitting to his questing mouth. Her fingertips dug into his chest, finding bruises he didn’t know he had, sending him to a strange place between pain and pleasure. When his hand found her breast, she inhaled and then drew away. She surprised him by tugging her T-shirt over her head and then unfastening her bra at her back. She looked at him. He could see her pulse thrumming fast and hard in her neck. Blushing, she let the undergarment fall free, leaving her perfect breasts naked to his eager gaze. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He traced one pink nipple with his fingertip, fascinated by the response of her flesh as her nipple grew harder with each stroke.
“Jason.”
He lowered his head and flicked his tongue over the pebbled peak. She shuddered and buried her fingers in his hair. She managed to find a bruise on the back of his head, but the pain she unknowingly inflicted fueled his fire.
He eased her toward the sofa. When she tried to remove his shirt, he pulled away and shook his head. “This is for you,” he said, but in reality, he didn’t want her to see his body and the ugly black and blue marks.
“Jason?” she whispered uncertainly.
“It’s okay. I want to make you feel good.” He didn’t care about his own enjoyment. He wanted to show her how strongly he felt about her by pleasuring her body. He’d have to show her, because he knew he couldn’t say it. He caressed, kissed, and suckled every inch of her silky skin above the waist, paying close attention to her reactions, seeking the spots that brought her the most pleasure. When she tugged at his shirt, he moved out of her reach and removed her jeans and sandals. Her body grew stiff with anxiety, so he left her panties in place, giving her time to grow accustomed to his touch. He found kissing the insides of her legs made her moan and writhe in delight. He caressed the backs of her knees while he suckled the flesh of her inner thighs.
“Jason, please.”
Please what? Was she ready for him to remove her panties? He covered her mound with his mouth and blew a hot breath through her last scrap of clothing.
“Ah God,” she gasped and grabbed his right wrist, squeezing the studded bracelet in a solid grip.
He almost lost control when the pain she inflicted on his burns registered. He grabbed her wrist and forced her to release her hold on him before he made a mess in his jeans.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m so hot and achy I can’t stand it.”
Her black lace panties joined the rest of her clothes on the floor. Jason knew the names of her female parts, knew what they did, how they looked from pictures. Nothing had prepared him for her scent, however. He inhaled deeply, his eyes drifting closed. His cock protested its neglect, his balls ached. He wanted to bury his face between her legs and breathe her essence, but he didn’t think she was quite ready for that, so he stroked the slick, swollen flesh of her inner folds with two fingertips. The texture of her exposed flesh fascinated him. It was smoother than regular skin. Slippery. Hot. He watched her swell and redden and moisten beneath his persistent touch. Her hips rocked, and she called to him in her excitement. He sought her clit, having heard that a woman’s greatest pleasure was centered in that tiny spot. He found it hard to believe until his fingers brushed the small, swollen bit of flesh, and Kara cried out in delight. Her back arched off the sofa.