She toed off her sexy shoes, letting them fall to the rug with a thunk-thunk, and she slipped under the covers. He slid in beside her and moved over her. Her hands reaching for him, her soft murmurs of pleasure, had heat pouring over his body, liquid pleasure running through his veins.
Her body rippled under his hands as she gave herself up to him, and he got lost in it, in the sensation, in the heat, in the unbearable sweetness and erotic pleasure, but also in the emotion of it, swelling inside him, powerful and huge.
They rolled and twisted together, mouths fused in long, endless kisses, hands all over each other, sliding into a hazy, erotic dream. She bit his shoulder softly, licked his skin, made him burn. He worshiped her with his mouth, his tongue, his hands, everywhere, slipped his hand between her legs, found her soft, wet center, and rubbed his thumb over her clit until she vibrated.
He shifted away from her to reach for a condom beside the bed, and her hand on his shoulder stopped him. “No,” she whispered. He met her eyes, huge and shadowed in the dim room. “I don’t want that tonight. I want to feel you inside me—just you.”
He nodded. They’d danced casually around the subject one night, knew they were safe with each other. And he so wanted to be inside her, bare, flesh to flesh, feeling her sweet heat. He fell over her, buried his face in the side of her neck, breathed in the familiar peachy-pear scent of her. He felt something clench in his chest, struggled to breathe, then levered himself up above her.
The pearls lay at her throat, creamy and gleaming softly in the low light. Her lips parted, her eyes gazed up at him, her hands on his chest. Their gazes held for a long moment while heat built and shimmered around them. His heart beat in a slow, heavy rhythm against his ribs at the raw emotion on her face, her shining eyes, soft mouth.
He twined his fingers into the pearls once more, made them a snug collar, the gesture utterly dominant, possessive and claiming. And still she held his gaze, submitting to him, surrendering to him, allowing him to claim her and in doing so, completely captivating him and making him hers.
He lifted her thigh, pushed into her body, and as his bare flesh met hers, scalding hot and wet, as she surrounded him and tightened around him, sensation poured over him, and the overwhelming intimacy of it made him feel like he was dying and flying up to heaven, lost, completely lost. He slid in and out of her silky heat as she squeezed around him, her small hands pressed to his chest.
“Jake.”
He gazed down at her, riveted by the sight of her beautiful face, his hand holding the pearls at her throat, her bare shoulders, as he thrust deeper, harder, felt her lift into him. He watched her eyelids drift closed, her mouth open, drank in her hot little whimpers and soft sighs that built to a climax of pleasure, her fingernails digging into his pecs in a sweet bite of pain. He’d never seen anything as beautiful as watching her come, her body tightening, her pussy rippling around him, and it undid him, the surge of sensation and emotion inside him almost unbearable.
This was what he wanted, what he needed, what he wanted to give, this was everything. It was sex. It was life. It was love.
His thighs quaking, his balls tight, the tension at the base of his spine sizzled painfully. His vision darkened, electricity sparked up his spine, frying his brain, singeing every nerve ending in his body. He dropped his head between her breasts and he came, his cock jerking with every wrenching pulse inside her, so hard and violently, he was afraid he’d completely lost his mind.
And his heart.
Chapter Seventeen
A melting sweetness throbbed through Shelby as Jake’s heavy weight pressed her into the mattress, and tears welled in her eyes at the perfection of it, the overwhelming intensity of it, the rush of emotion inside her so strong, so sweet.
She wrapped her arms around his back and held on tight, as tight as she could. His face buried between her breasts, he drew in long, ragged breaths. He had to feel it too. It was too powerful not to.
Oh dear lord. This wasn’t supposed to happen to them. This was a deal. A sweet deal, yes, but a deal nonetheless, both of them on the same page about not wanting a relationship, not wanting anything more than hot sex and a fake boyfriend for her.
There was nothing fake about the emotion swelling in her, so achingly lovely, so terrifyingly real. He consumed her, he took possession of her, and she’d willingly let him, given herself over to him completely, and not just her body, knowing that giving herself to him was not only what he wanted and needed, but was what she wanted and needed. He was what she wanted and needed.
She was in love with him.
She sucked in her bottom lip, eyes stinging, heart constricting. She knew he’d felt something, but he was a guy, and maybe it was just his orgasm that had made him look so…what? What had that look in his eyes been? It looked like tender possession, like worship and devotion, but was it really love?
“Oh, Shelby.” His murmured words had her blinking tears as he moved on her, lifting himself so he could kiss her. A long, tender kiss that had her heart turning over. “You undo me, baby. Completely undo me.”
She blinked up at him and gave a shaky smile as he rolled to his side, pulling her with him, still inside her in the most intimate of connections. He pulled her thigh over his hip and tucked her head under his chin.
She wanted to talk. She so wanted to talk, to ask him a million girlish questions about his feelings. But she’d done that before—asked all those questions right after sleeping with a guy, a guy she probably shouldn’t have slept with, then felt him withdraw and cool off. Never to be seen again. So she kept her questions to herself, snuggled into Jake. She loved how he felt against her, big and hot, hair roughened and masculine. She loved how his hand stroked absently up and down her spine, sending a torrent of tingles over her when he reached that sensitive spot at the base of her spine and lingered there.
“Back to work tomorrow?” he asked her, his hand sliding back up her spine.
Okay. So this was where the after-sex talk was going to go.
“Yeah.” She sighed. “Thanks for your help with my project stuff. I’m going to have to meet with Andrew and go over it all.”
“You’re welcome. I like doing stuff like that. Better than my own job, in fact.”
She lifted her head. “If you don’t like your job, you should quit. Life’s too short to be miserable all day, every day.”
“I guess.”
“The economy is picking up. Are you sure you couldn’t do it?”
“I need a partner.”
“Why?” She rubbed her hand over his shoulder. “Really, why? You’ve got everything you need. Look how you helped me with that problem. You know your stuff. That wasn’t even your company and you knew how to help me. You didn’t make me feel like an idiot. You even came up with a great idea for how to fix things.”
“No. You came up with the great idea.” He smiled at her. “Maybe my suggestions sparked something, but you came up with it on your own, and I have to say, it’s brilliant.”
Warmth spread in her chest. “I’d hire you.”
“Thanks.” His smile deepened.
“Seriously, Jake. Is it the money? Do you need someone else to make it work financially?”
“No.” He ran his hand over the curve of her butt and she wriggled against him in response. “I have enough money put aside. There aren’t huge start-up costs for a consulting business. I could even work from home at first.”
“You might need to tidy up a little.”
For that he gave her a little swat on the butt, but he smiled.