Worth the Risk: A Contemporary Romance Bundle, page 52
He nestled himself between her legs and slid inside her before she even had the chance to protest. By that time, there was no question she was awake and more than a little annoyed, but damn it, also aroused. He could do that to her with the simplest of touches.
“Jack.” She’d meant to scold, but his name came out in a breathy sort of whisper, cut off by his next kiss.
He rolled over, arms beneath her to support her, and she ended up on top. He thrust inside her, then pushed her back gently until she sat up with him still firmly seated inside her.
“I want to look at you. You’re so beautiful.”
She’d be a real bitch if she complained about him now, when he was being so sweet…and oh, with what he was doing with his thumb. Yum. Josie moved with him, her clit rubbing on his thumb with every thrust. Sweet tension coiled in her loins as Jack urged her toward orgasm.
He took his hand away to hold onto both her hips, keeping her steady while his thrusts got harder. “Touch yourself.”
She smiled as she slid her hand down between them to comply. “You love that, don’t you?”
“I love you,” Jack answered with another slow thrust. “I love to watch your face when you come.”
It had taken Josie a bit of time to get used to Jack’s penchant for talking dirty, but now she couldn’t imagine making love without conversation. Past lovers had been content with or even insistent on silence while fucking; not Jack. The more she said, the more turned on he got. It was just one of the many surprises she’d discovered when turning friendship into love. He’d led her down quite a few new paths in that regard.
“I love when you watch me,” is what she said in reply, and bit her lower lip because she knew he thought that was sexy.
Her fingertip found her clit and she rubbed it. She made a noise that Jack echoed, which made Josie smile. Sex noises always did. But her smile became parted lips when she gasped as his movements got faster and harder.
“I love it when you’re on top.” Jack’s hands slid up to toy with her nipples.
She’d closed her eyes to concentrate on the orgasm rushing toward her, but now she cracked one open to peek at him. “You do?”
He made a noise low in his throat. “Hell, yes.”
Her hesitation broke their rhythm for a moment, but Jack picked it up again with ease. “I don’t have to worry about hurting you.”
That sweet sentiment moved her to bend and kiss him. “You don’t hurt me, Jack.”
His arms came around her, clutching her so hard he almost did hurt her. He stopped moving inside her. “I don’t want to ever hurt you, Josie.”
Again, unease slithered through her. This was not like Jack, this ooey-gooey sentimentality. She had no time to dwell on it, though, because he started moving inside her again and, in this position, every time he slid in or out, her clit brushed tantalizingly against his taut, ridged stomach.
“Jack…” Her voice was just a shuddery, quavery whisper. Sparkles of pleasure built inside her, turning her to fire, making her entire body shiver with desire.
“Come with me, Josie. I want to feel you come with me.”
She did. Her orgasm washed over her like dawn creeping over a mountain, filling every nook and cranny on the face of her and chasing away all the shadows. She kissed him and he kissed her back, both of them gasping inside each others’ mouths, stealing each others’ breath and returning it with their own.
Silence, broken only by their breathing, surrounded them. Josie snuggled into Jack’s neck. His hands moved from her hips to cup her butt, and he rubbed her skin lightly, almost tickling. She sighed and wriggled, not willing to let the moment go, but a few seconds later she knew she’d have to. There were just some facts about making love that couldn’t be ignored. Like the fact if she didn’t get off him immediately, she was going to have to deal with a sticky mess.
“Gonna take a shower,” she murmured, “while you make me breakfast.”
“Me, make breakfast?” Jack grinned and ran his hand over her cheek. “You sure you want that?”
“You woke me up way too early. You owe me eggs, at least. And coffee.” She smiled back and kissed his fingers before getting out of bed to make the dash to the bathroom. “Toast. Not burned, please.”
He rolled his eyes. “You have so little faith in me.”
Something made her say, “I have all my faith in you.”
His grin, the one that could have made a nun open up her knees, faltered. “I won’t burn the toast.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but the phone cut her off. Its shrill ring made her wince as she looked at the bedside clock. “It’s your mother.”
Jack also looked at the time as he hooked his fingers over the phone. “I’m sure you’re right.”
“Going to shower,” Josie said hastily. “Give my love.”
Jack rolled his eyes but grinned as he punched the phone’s talk button. “Hey, Ma.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Jack’s mom. Francine Gold was, in fact, like a second mother to Josie. Which was the problem. One mother was plenty. With two of them, both with plenty of opinions on the upcoming wedding and not afraid to share them, Josie’s life was rapidly becoming a nightmare. What one mother didn’t request, the other one did. And while, so far, the pair of them hadn’t argued with each other about any of the plans, they’d both done plenty of arguing with Jack and Josie.
She ran the shower as hot as she could stand it and got in, letting the spray pound away the ache in her neck and back that even glorious morning sex hadn’t relaxed. Soaping her net sponge with ginseng-scented shower gel, Josie scrubbed her body, covering all the places Jack had so recently fondled. She washed her hair and used conditioner, rinsed, then added her special once-a-week heated oil. She squirted facial scrub onto her palm and massaged her face, then used a moisturizing cleanser guaranteed to get rid of crow’s feet. With the wedding only four months away, she wasn’t taking any chances.
By that time, the bathroom had filled with steam so thick she could barely see, but she was pretty sure Jack would have gotten off the phone by now. As she turned off the water and grabbed a towel, however, she heard his voice, still talking. He didn’t sound happy.
Avoiding the bedroom seemed the prudent thing to do. Breakfast didn’t seem likely just yet either. Josie flossed her teeth, brushed them, rinsed twice. She plucked her eyebrows and smoothed on facial cream. She even took the time to file and trim her nails…all twenty of them.
Jack was still talking. His voice had risen. He sounded mad. Now she paused in the bathroom door, towel tucked around her, trying not to listen, but unable not to overhear.
“No, Ma. Of course not. I’m sorry you think that, but…No. For crying out loud, Ma, no! Selfish? What’s so selfish about it? It’s my wedding, isn’t it? Mine and Josie’s. Not yours. And I’d like…Ma, don’t. Don’t cry, Ma! I’m sorry. Yeah. I’m sorry you’re upset, but not about…Ma, if you’re just going to keep arguing with me, I’m not going to talk about it with you. Goodbye.”
He clicked the talk button and tossed the phone onto the night stand, then rolled back onto his pillow, arms behind his head. He scowled. Josie had never seen him look that way.
“Did you just hang up on your mother?”
He looked up as if just noticing her. “Yeah.”
“Jack, why?” Josie came to sit beside him, half in awe and half in envy. Heaven knew she’d wanted to hang up on Mrs. Gold herself. More than once.
“Wedding stuff. You know how she is. She wants her own way, and nothing else is all right. You know my mother.”
Josie also knew Jack, and up until now, the wedding plans hadn’t bothered him at all. He was just as happy to have a sit-down dinner as he was to have a buffet meal. A band or a DJ, he didn’t care. Bridesmaids’ dresses? As long as they wore them, it didn’t matter to him what color or what style.
“What did she want that made you so mad?”
He sighed, and Josie was even more startled to see his scowl become a sad frown. He rubbed at his face, then took her hand. He kissed it, holding her fingers to his lips for a long moment before answering. “Just problems with the guest list.”
“Again? I thought we went over that with her. And my parents, too.”
He shrugged. “Like I said, you know my mom.”
“Who does she want to invite this time? The paperboy’s second cousin’s sister’s college roommate?”
Jack laughed, which eased the anxious ache in her stomach. “Something like that, yeah.”
“You told her the guest list had been finalized, right? We already ordered the invitations and everything. We barely have room for the people already on the list. We can’t add more.”
He nodded slowly. “I know. I told her.”
“Okay.” Josie sighed and flung herself onto the bed beside him. “Can’t we just elope?”
He laughed, sounding more like his usual self. “Vegas?”
“Mmm. I was thinking more like the Bahamas. Someplace nice and warm.”
“Barefoot on the beach?”
“Ahh. Perfect.”
He knuckled her side through the towel’s thickness. “No choice of fish or chicken, just a pu-pu platter and a glass of coconut juice.”
“I’ll pu-pu platter you, you big lunk.” Josie pinched his nipple lightly, making him laugh and squirm away from her. “I spent hours…no, days, weeks already, planning this stupid menu. Do you know how many times my mother had to call me back just about whether the garlic dip should be served with pita triangles or toasted wheat crackers?”
“Don’t talk about it any more.” Jack stretched. “I think I owe you some eggs.”
“Oh, hell,” Josie said. “Let’s just go out for breakfast. Someplace that serves mimosas. I could use a drink.”
“Me, too.” He kissed her forehead and looked into her eyes. “You know I love you, don’t you?”
“Yes.” She kissed him back. “And I love you, too.”
When he left her to take a shower, Josie lay back on the pillows for a few more minutes before getting dressed. Something was going on with him. She’d never have thought Jack could have the same pre-wedding jitters she did, but it appeared she was wrong. She only hoped that was what was bothering him, and not something else.
Chapter 4
“But you have to have your cousin Myrna’s daughter.” Ava Levine crossed her arms over chest and lowered her glasses to look at Josie. “You were Myrna’s flower girl.”
Josie still had nightmares about it. “Mom, no. I told you already. We’re limiting the bridal party. I’m having Mim and Jack’s having his best friend Scott. It’s simpler that way.”
“But…” Ava threw up her hands “Fine. Be that way. Embarrass me in front of the family.”
“Mom,” Josie said warningly. “You’re really starting to tick me off.”
Ava looked stunned. “Josephine Minerva, I can’t believe you just said that to me. I’m your mother!”
Josie had just about had enough. Between her mom and Mrs. Gold, she was ready to forget the entire wedding altogether. Added to that was the strange way Jack had been acting, and she was tenser than usual.
“And this is my wedding,” Josie replied evenly.
Ava gasped. “I just want to be included!”
“Mom, you’ve been included in every single decision we’ve made so far. The problem is not that you want to be included. The problem is you don’t just want to offer your opinion. You want to make the decisions! You and Mrs. Gold, both of you, seem to forget Jack and I are adults. And this is our day.”
Josie didn’t think she’d ever seen her mother speechless before, but she was proud of herself for saying what she felt without raising her voice or bursting into stressed tears. It was too good to last. In the next minute, her mother stood and grabbed her sweater from the back of the chair, then snatched up her purse.
“And I can’t believe you won’t have Myrna’s daughter in your wedding when you know how important it is to me!”
Josie tossed up her hands, well aware that was her mother’s gesture. “Why? Why on earth is that so important to you? Jack and I are getting married, Mom. Planning our lives! Don’t you think there should be something a bit more important about our wedding than whether or not we have a flower girl?”
Josie’s mom took a deep breath. “You wouldn’t let me invite the Solomans either.”
“I don’t even know the Solomans.” Josie bit her tongue to keep from shouting. “I’ve never even met them. And to tell you the truth, I don’t really care if they invited you to their grandson’s bar mitzvah, Mother. They don’t know me, and they don’t know Jack.”
“You and Jacob are practically breaking our hearts with this wedding,” said Ava, sounding like she was ready to cry.
Oh, shit. Not only was she being called Josephine, but Jack had been upgraded to Jacob. That was really bad. Josie tried to soften her voice, to soothe her mom. “We’re not trying to.”
Her mother sniffed. “I don’t understand either one of you. We’ve given you everything, Francine and I. Honestly, I think she’s spoiled him. Maybe that’s why—”
“Don’t you dare.” Josie got up from the table, too. “Don’t you dare blame Jack for any of this. If you want to be mad at me, fine. But don’t you dare accuse Jack of being spoiled!”
“I think I’d better leave.”
“I think you’d better.” Josie could tell her mother had expected a different answer, but the truth was, she was as angry as her mom. Probably more. “I’ll call you.”
“Will you?” Ava paused in Josie’s doorway, looking back at her daughter.
“Of course I will.”
“And won’t you just—” she broke off when she saw Josie’s expression. “Fine.”
“Fine.”
“You’re too stubborn,” said her mom.
Josie raised an eyebrow. “Wonder who I got that from?”
That, at least, cracked a smile from her mom. “Your father.”
“I’ll call you,” Josie said again, and closed the door behind her mother. Then she went and took a long, hot bath.
Chapter 5
Josie was still in the tub when Jack got home three hours later. She’d refilled the tub twice in that time, depleting their supply of hot water but not caring. Soaking in the tub with a warm washcloth on her face and the scent of lavender and peppermint mingling, the bathwater slick with oil, she tried, without success, to relax. The tub was one of the best things about their apartment. An old, cast-iron claw foot, it was big enough to hold two and kept the water hot longer than newer tubs did. Filled to the rim of the overflow spout, it was deep enough Josie could submerge to her chin and float. It was the only thing she’d miss when they moved from their apartment.
If they moved, she reminded herself as Jack came into the bathroom, stripping off his tie and unbuttoning his shirt. So far, they hadn’t even begun looking at houses. He tossed the shirt toward the hamper, but it missed. Leaving it on the floor and hanging his tie on the back of the chair, he knelt next to the tub to kiss her.
“How was your day?” he asked.
“It was so not worth taking a personal day to stay home.” Josie sank down more into the hot water. “I thought I’d work from here, but my mom’s visit totally blew that.”
“That bad?” Jack made a sympathetic noise and dipped his hand into the water rub her stomach. “What was it about this time?”
“What wasn’t it about?” Josie closed her eyes, relaxing under his skilled touch. “I’ve been living on my own for years now. I mean, holy hell, I plan events for a living, Jack. I think I can manage to plan this wedding.”
“They need to know ahead of time so they can analyze it five hundred ways. Preachin’ to the choir, babe. I know.”
And it’s worse for him, she thought. With no brothers or sisters to diffuse the situation, Jack got all of his mother’s attention. Josie sighed. Jack grinned.
“I’ve been in the tub since one o’clock,” she confided.
He lifted her hand. “Wrinkled fingers.” He kissed each one, drawing the forefinger between his lips to suck it gently. “Nice and clean.”
“I thought you liked it better when I was dirty,” Josie breathed, his mouth sending instant arousal flooding through her.
“Just one more thing I love about you,” Jack said, doing the same nibble-suck to her next finger. “How well you know me.”
“The water’s still warm. Want to join me?”
He took off his pants and got in. The water level rose to the tub’s rim, then sloshed over. Josie rolled her eyes.
“You’ll clean that up, I presume?”
“Your wish is my command.” Jack slid down along the tub’s opposite side, his long legs sticking up. “Come here.”
She turned to float toward him. More water splashed out. He gathered her against his chest, tucking her head against his shoulder. It wasn’t comfortable, really, but worth the cramped knees to be so close to him.
His hands smoothed over her oil-slick skin. The double-thump of his heartbeat pulsed under her palm, and in seconds, it seemed as though her own pulse timed itself to his. Breath in, breath out. Thump-thump. Like clockwork dancers, always moving in time.
“You’re not going to change your mind, are you?”
A flippant reply rose to her lips, but stilled when she heard the real concern in his voice. “Of course not. Why would I do that?”
His broad shoulders shrugged, moving her with them. Water splashed. “Sometimes I worry you’re going to leave me, that’s all.”
That made her sit up so fast she slid. “Why, Jack?”
His dark eyes looked guarded. When had she ever looked into them and not been able to know his thoughts? But now she couldn’t glimpse them, and it scared her.
“I’ve known you since we were kids,” she said. “There isn’t anything about you that I don’t already know. I’ve seen you at your worst and your best, Jack. I love you. What on earth could possibly change that now?”
