Worth the Risk: A Contemporary Romance Bundle, page 53
He closed his eyes, leaning back against the tub’s rim. “You never know when things could change. I could do something awful. You could find someone else.”
The water had cooled, but that wasn’t why Josie’s skin went cold. “Are you planning on doing something awful? Do you think I’m looking for someone else?”
“No!” His eyes flew open, and he gripped her tightly. “No, Josie.”
“Then why say it?” Tears thickened her voice. “Are you having second thoughts?”
“No.” He shook his head slowly, then grimaced. “Of course not.”
She put her hand to his cheek. “I love you, Jacob David Gold. I’ve loved you since we were eight and you dared me to eat a worm.”
That made him smile. “You ate it.”
“And you puked, watching.” Josie slid closer, moving onto his lap to straddle him, knees pressed against the tub’s hard porcelain sides. “And when we were ten and you fell out of the tree in Mrs. Dunwoody’s yard, who ran for help?”
“You.”
“And when we were thirteen, who beat up Sheldon Spankowicz for snapping my bra straps and calling me Plumpy?”
“Me.”
“Jack, we’ve been there for each other forever. What makes you think any of that could change?”
He sighed, his eyes shuttering against her again. “I don’t know. Nothing, I guess.”
His grin was at half-wattage, and while it was a smile that could still make ladies swoon, it didn’t fool her. She kissed him, teasing his full lips open with nibbles and the tip of her tongue.
“I have not suffered eight months of wedding planning hell for anything to go wrong now.”
He opened his mouth under hers, his tongue dipping between her lips to stroke hers. “Ah. Right.”
He hardened against her, and she rubbed herself along his cock. “You’re stuck with me, Jack. Like apples and honey, like chicken and soup, like bagels and lox.”
“Like matzo and balls?”
She wrinkled her nose, but kissed him again anyway. “Like that, yeah.”
His arms came around her. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Forehead to forehead, they stared at each other for a long moment. He brushed her lips gently with his. His fingertips traced light circles on her skin, making her nipples perk.
“Josie?” he murmured.
“Mmmhmm?”
“My balls are shriveling in this freezing water. Let’s get out.”
She laughed. “Heavens, we don’t want your balls to shrivel. You might need them.”
“Yeah?” He nipped her chin before kissing her lips again.
“Oh, yes. For the sex.”
“Yeah? The sex?”
“The multiple orgasm part especially.”
“You’re going to give me multiple orgasms?”
She nodded, putting on a serious face. “I was thinking of myself, but sure.”
“Selfish minx.”
“Not selfish. Just…expectant.”
Josie got out of the tub and handed him a towel. Watching him get out of the water, she couldn’t help the thrill seeing his naked body always gave her. Jack was perfect in every line. Broad shoulders, muscled arms and chest, tight eight-pack abs. An ass just made for grabbing, strong thighs, long legs. Nice toes. He grinned and slid his tongue along his lips in the gesture that never failed to make liquid heat puddle in her pussy.
“Last one to the bed goes down on the other.”
“Hey!”
But he was already off, barreling through the doorway, leaping over the cat and landing on their bed. He grinned as he lay back against the pillows, stroking his erection lightly, waiting for her. Josie took her time, ambling over to the bed and staring down at his body with one eyebrow raised.
“Very nice, Agent Gold,” she said in a British accent. “But I fear I must insist upon further negotiations to our contract.”
He played along. The game was one they’d played for years, begun one day on a long bus ride home from college. Since becoming lovers, they’d incorporated it into their lovemaking.
“Gold does not negotiate with criminals.” He stroked his cock more firmly. “You should know that by now, Agent Levine.”
Josie licked her lips and let her gaze travel the entire length of his body before responding. “I was granted a full pardon, Agent Gold, as you well know. I’m no more a criminal than you are.”
He paused in his stroking. “A criminal is merely a spy who works for the wrong side, Agent Levine.”
Josie reached into her nightstand drawer and pulled out a long crimson scarf, then a black one, both silk. “But who’s to say which side is the wrong one?”
She almost cracked up, but kept on her agent face. This game was fun, more so because Jack was a complete James Bond maniac and could not only do the accent of a British spy, but the attitude as well. Even bare-ass naked. She, on the other hand, couldn’t manage to keep a straight face, even when Agent Gold wasn’t trying to torture information out of her using his classified sexual techniques. The game also became a challenge to see who’d break character first. She usually lost.
“What’s that?” Jack asked, hitching higher on the bed.
“Something to keep you still…while I get the information I need.”
He laughed, low and throaty, and, damn him, still in character. “Try as you might, Agent Levine, you won’t get me to talk.”
“No?” She raised a brow at him, trying for Lara Croft instead of Mary Poppins and finding herself sort of in the middle. “We’ll just see then, shall we?”
He didn’t protest when she tied his hands to the headboard with the red scarf and used the black one to cover his eyes. She’d never done that before. His cock, if anything, got even harder. Her nipples were like iron spikes, her pussy slick with arousal.
“Now, Agent Gold, I demand to know where you’ve hidden the information.”
“You’ll have to try harder than that, Agent—” His words cut off into a gurgle as she took his entire length down her throat.
Josie let his cock slide out of her mouth almost the whole way, sucking gently on the tip before sliding her lips all the way down to his balls again. His dark pubic hair brushed her nose and she inhaled the scent of him, bath oil and that musky, perfect smell that was simply Jack. She stroked his sac all along the seam and his hips lifted.
“I still won’t tell you.” His voice was strangled, the accent slipping just a bit.
She grinned around his dick and sucked it again, letting her teeth scrape a little along the thin skin. He groaned. She looked up at him, the black cloth obscuring his eyes.
“Talk,” she demanded. “Or the results won’t be pretty!”
For one moment she thought she might actually have made him forget to play the game because she stroked his cock in one firm fist as she spoke and he hissed, arching into her touch. But the next minute he’d recovered. He was too damn good.
“I’ll never reveal the location of the Tit Top Diamond!”
That made her laugh. She’d never heard of the Tit Top Diamond. Jack was quick. She thought fast. Winning wasn’t everything—it had been quite some time since they’d won points for predicting how they’d get hit on in bars. But winning was awfully fun, and Josie intended to take every advantage she could.
“Talk!” she ordered before she went back down, opening her throat to take his entire length. Down to the base, then up, adding an extra bit of suction at the tip, using her teeth, following every suck with a stroke of her hand.
His cock got even harder under her tongue and lips. She paused to breathe, using both hands to stroke downward, one after the other, so that it felt, for him, as though he were constantly entering her.
“Where is the diamond?” she demanded, forcing her voice to be stern, though it still came out throaty. She was so wet for him. Sucking him off always turned her on because he was so appreciative of it. Hearing the noises he made and watching his face could almost make her come from that alone.
“…never…tell…”
Ooh, he was good. She bent back to take him in her mouth, her fingers stroking the base of his balls again. Her fingers drifted a bit further back, and she was struck with a sudden inspiration.
“I think I know where you’ve put it,” she said between licks and nibbles on his prick. Her fingers circled gently on his perineum. She grinned, knowing he couldn’t see her.
“I won’t—”
His words became a gasp that ended in a strangled cry as she slid her mouth along his erection, working her tongue against it and sucking. At the same time, she pressed her finger against his anus, not entering him, just creating a firm pressure that rocked in time to her mouth’s movements.
“Josie!”
She’d won, but Josie didn’t take the time to congratulate herself. His cock had swelled in her mouth and she worked it faster, suckling, licking, nibbling and stroking as she continued to press her finger against him in the rhythm that matched his thrusting hips.
Jack muttered a string of curses, the words tumbling out garbled and jumbled, and interspersed with hissing breaths. She kept the pace steady, following the clues his body gave her. The curling toes, the bucking hips, the beat of his pulse. He was going to come. She knew his body’s responses as well as she knew her own. The way he’d responded to her pressing finger surprised and pleased her that she could so surprise and please him.
His cock swelled just one bit more and he came. Her named echoed in the room as she took all of him, loving him with her mouth and hand until he’d spent himself and twitched beneath her.
She gave him one last, gentle lick and withdrew, moving up the bed to pull off the blindfold and the scarves. He blinked and fell onto the pillows, still breathing hard.
“Damn,” he said after a minute. “You got me.”
Josie giggled. “The steadfast Agent Gold succumbed to Agent Levine’s torture, huh?”
“Hey, I still didn’t tell you where to find the Tit Top Diamond.”
She tapped his chest. “I found it anyway, didn’t I? Who’d have thunk a special agent would put it up his—”
“Damn, Josie!” Jack stopped her with a kiss. “You got me, yes. Okay? Satisfied?”
“Are you satisfied?” she teased.
“Hell, yeah.” He grinned and leaned back. “I’m not going to ask where you learned that.”
“I told you, those magazines in the doctor’s office,” she replied without hesitation.
Jack sighed, one hand flung up over his eyes. “Damn, damn, damn.”
That made her laugh.
He peered at her. “Don’t laugh. You’re going to get yours in about two minutes.”
“Ooh, I hope so. Not sure I can wait two minutes—”
He growled and rolled over on top of her, pinning her arms above her head. His kiss left her unable to speak, and when he pulled away, his smile made her grin in return.
“You going to tie me up?”
“No. I want you wiggling.”
She smiled. “I’ll do my best.”
He kissed her mouth, then trailed his lips down her chin, her neck, over the slopes of her breasts. He paused to suckle each ripe nipple until she writhed, then left the tight nubs to slide his tongue down her stomach. Sometimes he liked to tease her, kiss her everyplace but on her clit, but he didn’t do that today. He centered his mouth directly on the tight flesh, kissing then licking it in the smooth, regular strokes he knew she loved.
Josie parted her legs and lifted herself to his mouth. Jack’s hands gripped her hips, controlling her movements to coincide with his magic mouth. He alternated between flat, smooth strokes and quick, flicking licks, until she was shuddering on the edge of orgasm.
Then he eased off, breathing on her. He slid a finger inside, then another, and bent back to suck gently on her clit while he stroked her inside. Electric pulses of climax crackled through her. She felt like she could have lit up the room like lightning. She said his name, found the top of his head with her hands, urged him to finish her.
He did, sending her over the edge with one last tweak on her clit. He kept his mouth pressed to her, but didn’t move it, letting her orgasm fill her without trying to further stimulate her. He knew just how to touch her and when to stop, how much to give without making it uncomfortable. It was skill and experience, but more importantly, it was love.
Jack loved and wanted to please her, so he learned how. The same as she did for him. As her body’s tension released, she relaxed, surprised tears leaking from her eyes.
She wiped her face, not wanting him to think she was crying. The love of her life noticed anyway, and cradled her in his arms immediately.
“What’s wrong, Josie?”
“Nothing.” She couldn’t quite explain that her tears came from a joy so deep and profound it made her want to cry. That didn’t make sense. “Just loving you, that’s all.”
“Loving you, too,” Jack answered, and pulled the covers up over both of them.
Cocooned in the warmth, snuggled against his heat, Josie slept.
Chapter 6
Rabbi Zendel shuffled through the paperwork on his desk, then looked over his half-glasses at Jack and Josie. “I’ll need both of your Hebrew names for the ketubah, the marriage contract. And Jacob, I’ll need your conversion certificate. You have one, right?”
Jack nodded. “I’ll get it from my parents.”
The rabbi gave him a look. “You do realize that if you don’t have one, I won’t be able to perform the ceremony.”
Josie frowned and put her hand over Jack’s. “Rabbi Zendel, I’m sure the Golds have all of Jack’s paperwork.”
Not that he should need it, she thought with a scowl. Jack had been raised Jewish since his adoption by the Golds when he was an infant. Sure, neither she nor Jack were particularly religious, but they were having a religious ceremony, weren’t they? Making the effort?
“I need it by the end of the week.”
“I’ll get it to you,” Jack said, unperturbed. His fingers twined with Josie’s, keeping her still. “Not a problem.”
The rabbi looked at both of them, then back at his papers. He shuffled them for a bit, then looked back at them again. “Is there anything else you want to ask me?”
Josie looked at Jack, surprised by Zendel’s brusque attitude. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay, then, I’ll see you two in a couple weeks to go over the ceremony. You’ll be having the bedeken de kallah? The veiling of the bride?”
“Sure, yes.” Jack shrugged, looking at her. “If Josie wants it.”
“It’s part of the ceremony.”
“Then we’ll have it.” Josie got up to shake his hand. The rabbi didn’t stand, just shook her hand half-heartedly and went back to looking at his papers.
Josie tried not to let the rabbi’s attitude bother her, but Jack must have sensed some of her agitation because, when they got home, he bustled her into the bedroom and lit a few candles in her favorite scent, then handed her the remote control and tucked the covers under her. In a few minutes he was back with a tray holding a mug of hot tea and some chocolate cookies. He settled it on to her lap.
“Cookies? Do you want me to not fit into my dress?” But she ate one anyway, relishing the sweetness mixed with the tea’s strong flavor.
“Fuck the dress.” Jack stretched out beside her. “Fuck the wedding. Fuck the reception. Let’s run away to the Bahamas, like you said.”
His head rested on her shoulder, so she couldn’t see his face. Josie stroked his head. “We can’t.”
“I know.”
“Believe me,” she whispered, her lips against his head, “if I thought we could get away with it without a million years of guilt, I would.”
“I know.” He snuggled closer, rocking the tray.
The tea spilled, but it was no longer hot so it didn’t burn. She wiped at the spot on the comforter with her napkin. Josie stroked his head, feeling the scruff under her palm. He needed to shave again.
“Will you call your mom for the papers the rabbi needed?”
She felt him tense briefly.
“Yeah. I’ll get them.”
“Want me to call?”
He looked up at her and grinned. “Now, that’s how you know it’s true love. When someone offers to face your dragon lady of a mother.”
“She’s not the dragon lady.” Josie laughed. “I believe that title goes to my mother.”
“Nah. Gorgon. That’s your mom.”
Together they laughed, and she was reminded once again of how much she really did love this man. No wedding hassles or arguments over catering or bridesmaids could change that. She put the tray aside and slid down in the bed to kiss him soundly on the mouth.
“What’s that for?” he asked, expression pleased.
“For being my best friend.”
Jack pursed the mouth that had made so many ladies swoon, but now belonged to her alone. “That’s it?”
“And my lover.” She knuckled his side. “And my future husband.”
Jack pretended to shiver, but drew his finger down her cheek. “That sounds awfully serious.”
“It is.”
He rubbed his thumb against her lips until she bit at it playfully. “Maybe we should serve worms at the reception.”
He cut off her laughter with a kiss that turned hot, fast. He pulled her on top of him, his large hands cupping her ass and pressing her into his erection. She wriggled on top of him until he held her still, growling and nibbling. He positioned her so his dick thrust upward between them and rubbed against her clitoris. Her slickness coated both of them, making it easier for him to slide her along his length, back and forth.
After a bit she lifted herself as he thrust upward, and when she came down she slid with ease onto his cock. As always, it fit her just right. “Like Goldilocks,” she murmured, a little hazed from arousal.
That made him laugh. “What?”
She laughed, too. “Goldilocks…this one is just right.”
“You’re comparing my cock to a bowl of porridge?”
