Forbidden Fruit (11 page)

When it means something.” He paused, laid a smallkiss on her forehead, then said quietly, “What does it mean to you, Mia Rose?”

She shook her head again. God, she couldn’t tellhim! Couldn’t talk about Ben, about how this had allstarted.

“Do we have to go there right now, Jagger?”

“No. We don’t have to talk about it at all. I just wanted to let you know you can, with me.”

“Okay. Okay.” She nodded, let her gaze fall to the shower floor, watching the pattern the water made as it hit the slate tiles. She pulled in a breath, waited for the familiar knot to form in her chest, was surprised when it was nothing more than a faint tightening sensation.

Maybe it was the soothing warmth of the falling water. Maybe it was Jagger’s arms around her.

Maybe she would tell him everything, at some point.

But not now. It was too much to think about: Ben and what had happened to her body tonight. To her mind.

Her heart.

She’d spent years learning to forgive Ben. And years hiding that part of herself that wanted food with her sex. She’d studied sex and fetishism, knew allabout the body chemistry and the brain chemistry of sex. The psychologicalltheories regarding fetishes. It all made sense, as long as she didn’t apply it to herself. Jagger was right. That’s when it all melded together and all she knew was what she
felt.
After allher years of collecting data, analyzing, she understood
why
she craved the things she did. But other than those empty nights with her cooking shows and her vibrator, she hadn’t been able to go there with any man. She hadn’t felt safe enough.

Untillnow. She could still hardly believe it had happened.

“Come on, Mia Rose. Let me wash your hair.”

“No one has ever done that for me, other than my hairdresser.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing. Here, turn around.”

She did as he asked, stood quietly while he soaked her hair, squeezed some shampoo from a bottle, and began to work it in. It smelled a little like incense, but mostly just clean. It smelled like Jagger.

His hands on her hair were so lovely, his fingers massaging her scalp, the back of her neck, then down to her shoulders. There was something so intimate about being in the shower with him, something more than being naked anywhere else.

She had a strange sensation of safety, with the warm water coming down, the scented, steamy air.

And his hands working their magic on her, washing the tension from her body.

He moved in closer behind her, and lust shivered up her spine as his wet skin made contact with hers.

His soapy hands slid around the front of her body, over her breasts. Her nipples hardened into his palms, her sex swelling, growing damp with need.

Her mind let go, and she let herself be in the moment, enjoying his touch.

His hands were so slippery; it was the most amazing sensation. Almost as good as it had been with the strawberries and the sugar. She moaned.

He pressed in tighter, his cock hard against the small of her back.

“Have I told you about my fetish, Mia Rose? Really told you?” he asked quietly, right next to her ear.

“Yes…no. Maybe you haven’t, not in detail,” she murmured, hoping it had something to do with his soapy hands caressing her breasts, because she really didn’t ever want him to stop.

“I have a thing for water. I’ve told you that. For seeing a woman wet. Feeling wet flesh. You feellten times more naked to me, wet like this. But I don’t think I’ve told you how crazy it makes me to see you this way.

Totally out of my head.” His fingers played over her nipples, rubbing, twisting.

“Oh…”

“Can you feellhow hard I am? How much I need you?”

“God, Jagger.”

He slid his hands down farther, over her belly. She arced into his touch, gasped when he slipped one hand between her thighs and over her aching cleft.

“Yeah, just like this, Mia Rose. So hot and slippery.”

He pressed his cock into her back untillshe could feellevery ridge against her skin. “Do you see what this does to me? I could come just like this. I think I will. And you’re going to come, too.”

With one hand he spread the lips of her sex; with the other he rubbed against the tight nub of her clitoris.

Pleasure shot into her system, hard and fast. And somehow the water made it better; she was hyperaware of it washing over her skin. Of the heat.

Of that gliding sensation everywhere their bodies met.

Jagger shifted downward, his cock sliding, pumping in between her buttocks, then upward against the small of her back. His hand pressed into her hungry cleft. When two fingers dipped inside she cried out, tilted her hips into his hands. Something about the way he held her wide open made her feellraw, wanton. And his cock rubbing against her back, her buttocks, so hot and hard, driving the wicked heat deeper into her system. Lust, burning hot, flowed from his fingers pumping in her sex, pressing onto her clit, through her body. Soon she was shaking, needing to come.

“Jagger…don’t stop.”

“Ah, baby girl, I won’t stop…can’t stop.”

His fingers worked her mercilessly, milking her for pleasure while his cock thrust hard against her back.

And soon the sensation spiraled, flashing behind her eyes, filling her head, her body, and she was coming into his hands. Pleasure spread, her legs going weak. Then he shuddered, tensed, and cried out as his hot come flooded over her skin, making her come even harder.

“Jagger!”

He buried his head in the back of her neck, bit gently into the tender flesh there. She leaned her weight into him as she tried to catch her breath.

“Mia Rose.”

“Mmm…”

“I want to do this again.” His voice was low, sleepy.

“Again and again and again.”

“Yes…”

Sex with Jagger was so utterly sensual. The food, the shower, the way he touched her, spoke to her.

Amazing. It had never been quite like this for her before. She felt so good at this moment, she didn’t want to think about anything else. She couldn’t even care that he knew that secret side of herself, the side she’d kept locked away for so long. But no, that wasn’t true. It seemed important, him knowing.

Perhaps she would feelldifferently tomorrow, when this aura of sensuality wore off and she was alone, with time to think. But for now, she was content to be here, just like this. Their bodies pressed together, while all around them the water fell, the heat and the steam like a veillover their naked skin.

KARALEE GLANCED UP FROM THE PAPERS

ON HER DESK AT the knock on her office door.

“Come in.”

The door swung open and Gideon walked in, closing it behind him. He was dressed in black slacks today, a blue oxford shirt. He almost looked like the academic he was, except that she knew there was much more to him. That thoroughly wicked side her body was responding to already, simply seeing him walk through the door.

She smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

He smiled back at her, that predatory smile of his that went through her like a hand stroking her naked skin. She shivered as he moved closer.

“I had to see you, Karalee.”

“About what?”

He was right next to her now. He swung her chair around, grabbed her, and lifted her to her feet. She was wet with need before he even kissed her. And when his lips came down on hers, his tongue thrusting into her mouth, she started to shake. How could he do this to her so easily?

But she didn’t have time to think about it. He turned her in his arms, hiked her skirt up around her waist, and was pulling her panties down a moment later.

“Gideon—”

“Shh.” He bent her over the desk, and she heard the now-familiar sounds of his zipper sliding down, the tearing of a foillpacket. Then he had his hand on the back of her neck, bending her forward, untillshe had to rest her hands on her desk, bracing herself.

“Spread, Karalee.”

She did it, weak with lust, wanting to do whatever he asked of her.

Gideon gripped her hips and slid right into her wet heat. She felt herself clamp around the thick length of his cock, pleasure surging into her. He began to pump right away, fast and furious, his arm tightly clasped around her waist. She could barely breathe, stab after stab of sensation knifing into her body. It was too much, too fast. She started to come almost immediately, her system flooding with pleasure.

“Gideon!”

She was still shivering with her climax when he pulled out, spread her buttocks with his hands.

“Wha…? What are you doing, Gideon?”

“Quiet.”

Then one hand was running over her jaw, his fingers sliding into her mouth. She took them in, sucked.

“Yes, that’s it, Karalee,” he murmured.

He pulled his fingers away, slipped his hand between her thighs from behind her. He swiped at her sex, rubbing over her wet slit, then moved back, to that other tight hole. A new surge of need went through her.

She’d had anallsex before, enjoyed it. But never had she wanted it like this.

“Yes, Gideon,” she whispered. “Do it, please.”

He slipped one fingertip in, using her own saliva, her own juices, as lubricant. Pleasure moved through her as he pushed it in a little farther. And with his other hand, he teased her clit, slid into the folds of her pussy. She was soaking wet everywhere, it seemed.

Shaking. Backing into his hand.

“More, Gideon.”

He pushed his finger deeper, and she took it right in.

Her sex clenched hard as he plunged the fingers of his other hand inside her, impaling her from two directions at once.

“Oh my God…”

“Ah, you’re too good, Karalee. You can take anything, can’t you?”

“Yes. Please…”

He added a second finger to that tight hole. She was ready for it, forcing the muscles to relax, to take him in. And he was fucking her with his other hand, in and out. She moaned.

“More, Gideon.”

He pulled his hands away, used them to spread her cheeks wider. Then she felt the head of his latex-sheathed cock behind her.

“Oh, yes…”

“I’m going to fuck you now, Karalee.”

“Yes!” She could hardly wait.

He used his finger to moisten that tight opening once more, then he slid the tip of his cock in. She took a deep breath, let her muscles relax to take more of him into her. He moved a little deeper, passing that tight ring of muscle.

When he reached around her and took her clitoris between his fingers, rolling, pinching, she shuddered, desire surging through her from every direction. It was all so damn good, his clever hand on her clit, his cock moving, inch by lovely inch, into her ass. It seemed to take forever before he was buried deep inside her, but every moment was exquisite. Lust, that anticipation of being filled in this way. And the sound of his deep, panting breath.

Finally, when he was buried to the hilt, he paused.

“Tell me what you want, Karalee,” he demanded.

“I want you to fuck me. Fuck me hard. I can take it.

Just do it.”

“You are something, Karalee.”

He tangled a hand in her hair, grasping untillit hurt, pulling her head back. But she loved it. And then he started to move, his cock slowly pumping in and out of her ass, his fingers sinking deep into her sex. She was filled in every way. Sensation, intense, nearly overwhelming, stabbed deeply into her body, made her shiver, made her whimper. Made her feellthat sense of his utter command over her body. Over her.

The edge of the desk bit into her hands as she held on tight. Didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but Gideon’s cock, filling her so completely, sliding in and out of her, while his fingers worked her sex mercilessly.

Soon she was coming again, harder this time, so damn hard she was sobbing, shaking. Gideon grunted and plunged deeper.

“Christ, Karalee.”

He pulled out of her with a groan, let her hair go. She leaned against the desk, shivering, weak, her skirt still bunched around her waist.

She expected him to zip up, to walk out of her office.

But instead she felt his hands on her skin, stroking gently: her buttocks, her thighs. Then he leaned over her, smoothed her hair aside, and kissed the back of her neck. Goose bumps moved over her skin. And that strange sensation she’d felt with him in the park came back once more, filling her chest with a gentle, seeping heat.

No.

She heard the soft whisper of his zipper and her chest tightened before he pulled her skirt down, turned her around in his arms, and kissed her mouth gently. She felt shocked by it, the tenderness of it after what they’d just done. Her heart was beating like mad.

His lips were so soft; he just kissed her, over and over. Then he stroked her hair from her face. She didn’t understand. When he pulled away she looked up at him, into his dark eyes. And she found something open in them, something she’d never seen before. Something that made her chest tighten, pull.

“I have to go,” he said quietly.

“Yes. Sure. I have to…I think I have a class soon.”

He nodded, let her go, stepped back. He stood there for a moment, simply looking at her, making her pulse race even faster. Her head was spinning.

Then he left, shutting her office door behind him.

She felt absolutely dazed. By the sex, yes, but even more by what she was feeling. By what she thought she’d seen in his eyes, in his touch.

Impossible.

Maybe. She wasn’t built for this part of a relationship. She preferred things short and sweet, then to back away before anyone got serious. She knew damn well she wasn’t the kind of woman to be tied down in a relationship. To spend years with someone, only to end up as miserable as her parents. She’d spent her life avoiding that sort of thing. But something was definitely different with Gideon. Different for her. And different for him suddenly, as well, unless she was imagining things.

Something that was scaring the hell out of her.

She sat down in the chair behind the desk, smoothed her skirt down over her thighs, realized vaguely that her panties were still on the floor.

This man was really messing with her head.

Gideon was a player. She’d known it going in. The perfect partner for her: uninvolved, a little dirty. Just have their fun together, then part ways with a smile.

The problem was, she wasn’t sure she was ready to get rid of him. Not now.

Maybe not ever.

Don’t be a fool.

She never had been before, not over a man. She wasn’t like other women, always chasing after a commitment, and most men loved that about her.

Maybe even Gideon, so this was a really bad time for her to change.

She shook her head, grabbed her purse from the floor beneath her desk, and dug for her hairbrush.

She was being a fool. She was still herself. No man was going to change who she was on the inside, what she believed about relationships, about herself.

Not even Gideon Oliver.

But some small part of her knew that if any man could change her, he could.

She ran the brush through her hair in hard strokes, pulling through the tiny snarls.

Don’t be stupid!

She yanked through a knot in her hair while her heart hammered in her chest. With fear. With dread.

Because she knew she was losing her head over Gideon Oliver. Her head, and maybe more.

Jagger had left his Monday night class early. Too awful, trying to watch Mia Rose up there talking, teaching. His concentration was totally blown. And he kept getting hard watching her, listening to her voice, remembering the way her breasts felt in his hands, how hot and tight she was inside. He’d actually gotten up and left the room before the class ended, which he never would have done if she hadn’t said in the message she’d left for him earlier that she needed the night to herself to think, get her head straightened out.

He’d gone home, run the shower, stayed in there untillthe water went cold, stroking himself to one orgasm after another. He would have done it a fourth time if he’d been capable of getting hard again, if he hadn’t run out of hot water.

He’d wanted to call her, even though it had been nearly midnight. She was probably asleep anyway, her cell phone turned off. But now it was Tuesday afternoon and he hadn’t heard from her. And he was moping around his apartment like some lovesick kid, hardly daring to let his cell phone out of his sight.

He still couldn’t concentrate on anything. He’d tried doing some homework, but that had been a bust.

He’d tried watching a movie, but he couldn’t focus even on that. Frustrated, his body too jacked up to sit still any longer, he got up off the couch and headed into the kitchen. Without thinking too much about it, he started pulling things out of the refrigerator, the pantry, lining everything up on the counter.

He wanted to make crêpes again. But only if Mia Rose was there with him to eat them. No, it would have to be something else or he’d have to cook with a raging hard-on. Hell, he’d had to do nearly everything with a hard-on ever since the weekend.

Since he’d known what her body felt like, tasted like.

After talking with her so intimately, he almost felt guilty about the way his body was responding. It didn’t seem appropriately sensitive. But even though he was totally out of his head over her, he was still a man. He couldn’t help it.

“Fuck.” He pressed a hand to his half-hard cock, took in a long breath, then turned to the sink, washed his hands in cold water.

He went back to the counter, opened up a package from the Cuban butcher shop down the street, took out his favorite knife and began to bone the chicken, then cut it up into pieces. With a small mallet, he hammered out the breasts untillthey made a pair of tender fillets. He breaded and seasoned them while he heated a sauté pan.

He started to get hard again while he was working on the sauce. All he could think of was pouring it over Mia Rose’s naked body, licking it from her skin.

She would love it. And he’d love it: his mouth on her, hearing her moans.

Soon he had a small pile of chicken piccata waiting on a platter that he didn’t want to eat. And he didn’t feellany calmer than he had before.

He washed his hands again, grabbed his cell phone from his pocket, and dialed his neighbors. Leilani picked up after the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Leilani, it’s Jagger. Are you hungry?”

“I’m always hungry. And you know you’re the only person who can cook as well as I can. What are you making?”

“I have chicken piccata, and I was about to put on some rice.”

“I made a nice minestrone last night. I’ll bring it up.

Jean should be home any minute. I’ll leave her a note.”

“Okay, great. See you in a few.”

He flipped his phone shut, a little relieved. Company would get his mind off Mia Rose. Maybe.

Jesus, he was screwed up. Over a woman. Again.

His gut tightened.

It was too damn late, so why was he fighting it? He was in deep. All of this anxiety over it was ridiculous.

He may as well give in to the inevitable.

He filled a pot with water, added a little salt, a pat of butter, poured the rice into a measuring cup. The kitchen windows were getting steamy, the air warm and soft, reminding him of Mia Rose in the shower.

All that hot water coursing down her naked skin. The feellof her, slick and slippery, her breasts filling his hands…

He groaned as his cock came to life, filling, throbbing. He shook his head. He had to calm down before Leilani got there.

He poured a glass of wine for himself, took a long swig, then spent a few minutes wiping down the counters, putting away some of the ingredients he’d pulled out to cook with.

The doorbell buzzed and he found both Jean and Leilani at the door, dressed in their standard jeans, black T-shirts, and heavy black boots.

“Hey, come on in.”

He stepped back. Jean let her partner go in first.

Leilani, a petite Hawaiian woman with her black hair in two ponytails, carried a large pot in a pair of pot holders to the kitchen counter. Jean, a tall, athletic woman with a short crop of white-blond hair, followed her, giving Jagger a squeeze on the shoulder as she passed.

“What are you up to, babe? We’ve hardly seen you.”

“Yeah, I know, Jean. I’ve just been…I don’t know.”

Leilani lifted the lid off the rice, sniffed, set it back on the pot. “When are you going to tell us what’s wrong, Jagger?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” He rubbed at his jaw, went into the kitchen, poured some wine for the women.

Jean took her glass from him. “We’ve hardly seen you lately, after you’ve been like our adopted son since you moved in.” Leilani rolled her eyes and Jean interjected, “Not that we’re old enough for you to be our son. Happy, Leili?” She turned back to Jagger. “You’re not going out anymore. And don’t think we didn’t notice that chick in your apartment last weekend.”