Inked on Paper (25 page)

Chapter Forty-Eight

Jake

As I stood in Presley’s kitchen, looking at the sexiest woman alive sitting on the counter, wearing my T-shirt, I wondered how it was possible my head hadn’t exploded yet.

So, seriously … a sexy woman wearing your T-shirt… Hottest fucking thing in the world. But
this
woman wearing
my
T-shirt… Hottest fucking thing in the universe.

Christ Almighty, from the instant I’d noticed her coming down the stairs, I’d worried that I was going to be reduced to a horny teenager and come in my jeans. I hadn’t expected it, truly. And now, I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to see her wearing anything else.

From the moment I’d met her, she’d pushed me to the edge. I wanted her so fucking bad it hurt. Then, to make matters worse, I was at a point with Kora and Donovan that didn’t involve sex, so I wasn’t letting off any steam that way, which left me feeling as though I were hanging by a thin wire that was threatening to snap at any second. Wound so tight I was scared to breathe.

“Jake.”

I lifted my eyes to meet hers, noticed the heat there. She wanted this as much as I did. When she set her coffee cup down on the counter, I did the same, then moved to her again. My mouth found hers instantly, my tongue darting past her lips, mashing against hers while her hands found their way beneath my shirt again.

Though I’d managed to keep my hands out of the mix a few minutes ago, I couldn’t resist now. Placing my palms on her thighs, I slid them up, beneath the T-shirt—
my
T-shirt. Her skin was so fucking soft, so damn smooth. I worked my way higher, over her stomach, my thumb slipping over her belly button. That was when I realized she had it pierced as well.

Fuck. This woman was going to make me implode. I hadn’t yet seen her naked in the daylight and I was hornier than I’d ever been in my life.

“Keep going,” she mumbled breathlessly, her hands forcing my shirt higher while I fondled her.

Desperate to feel her hands on me, I thought about removing my shirt but decided against it, wanting to keep the focus on her. If she touched me too much, I would cave to the pleasure, and this moment was about her.

I planted my hands on her torso, noticing how one hand spanned the entire width of her. She was so damn small. My inner caveman was roaring, a primal instinct to stake my claim nearly overwhelming with its intensity.

“Touch me,” Presley whimpered. “Jake.”

I couldn’t resist her, didn’t want to. Palming her small breasts in my hands, kneading them as she moaned, her head falling back, I watched, enthralled by how damn sexy she was, how easily she was giving in to me. At least it seemed that way, but in reality, I knew Presley wasn’t the slightest bit
easy
, not in any sense of the word. I liked that about her.

My mouth went to her neck, my lips brushing the delicate skin, feeling her rapid pulse against my tongue as I lifted her shirt more. Once again, I pulled back as I revealed her dusky pink nipples to my hungry gaze.

“Fuck,” I growled, meeting her eyes. “Need to taste you.”

She nodded, a definite green light. I wanted to go full throttle, to sate this ache that was consuming me, but instead of diving right in, I planted my mouth on hers once again, kissing her as I leaned her back until she was flat on the counter, my body practically covering hers. My eyes closed when her nails raked over my back, one of her legs went around my hip.

The woman was trying to kill me, and I was ready to let her, because holy fucking shit … it would be one hell of a way to go.

Releasing her lips, I trailed kisses down her jaw, her neck, pulling the neckline of the T-shirt down so I could kiss her chest, all while I continued to palm her tits, loving the way her back bowed up off the counter. By the time my lips reached her breast, I was starving for more. Moving around to stand beside her, I pushed the shirt up to her neck, scraping my teeth over her pebbled nipple, trailing my palm over her stomach, my fingers sliding beneath the thin cotton panties she wore. When she moaned, I cupped her, caressing her smooth skin, trying to ignore the fact that it was evident she waxed. It dawned on me that there was so much about her I hadn’t realized during our first time together, and I wanted to slow down, to savor every inch.

However, I also wanted to strip her right there in the kitchen and devour her.

But, although hot as fuck, this wasn’t the place I wanted to be when I slid deep inside her again, so I settled for working my finger through her slit, brushing her juices over her clit, circling it with my finger tip. Her back bowed again, her legs spreading wide when I brushed my middle finger over the sensitive bundle of nerves, then slipped lower, finding the warm, wet entrance to her body.

I growled as I suckled her, nipping and licking while I pushed my finger past the slippery warmth that coated her pussy.

“Jake,” she cried out. “Oh, fuck. Yes. Don’t stop.”

I wasn’t sure I could’ve stopped. Watching her writhe, listening to her soft, pleading moans… I wanted to send her over the edge.
Needed
to send her over the edge.

This was what I needed. For her to give herself over to me. No holding back, no regrets.

Her fingers twined in my hair, holding me to her while her hips rocked. I covered her breast with my mouth, sucked harder, then trailed my lips back up her chest, outlining her tattoos with my tongue.

“That’s it, Pres,” I whispered, lifting my head so I could watch her. “Ride my finger.”

Her hips bucked when I curled my finger deep inside her, seeking her G-spot.

Presley cried out again, eyes closed, mouth slightly open.

Sexiest fucking thing I’d ever seen.

“More… Jake… I need more.”

I pushed two fingers inside her, increasing the tempo of the slippery slide of my fingers. “Come for me, Presley. Come on my hand. I want to watch.”

Her eyes opened, and she met my gaze briefly before her head tilted back, breasts thrust upward as her body bowed once again. When she screamed, her pussy clenching around my fingers, I thought for a second that I would come, too, but somehow—I wasn’t sure how—I managed to wrangle my self-control.

As much as my dick ached, as hard as I was, I wasn’t willing to come.

This… This had been all about her.

I slowly withdrew my fingers from her body, unable to resist licking them clean, tasting her on my tongue. That only intensified my craving for her, but I ignored it.

Taking her hands in mine, I came to stand in front of her again, pulling her up, then wrapping her in my arms and kissing her softly, cradling the back of her head in my hand. This woman had quickly gotten under my skin, and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do about that, if anything at all.

“You know…” Presley whispered. “This is starting to feel awfully one-sided.”

I stared down at her, frowning.

“I seem to be the only one who gets to come.”

“Yeah, well … we’ll get there. I promise.”

I nipped her lower lip, licking the ring running through it, then pulled back, staring down at her. She was smiling up at me, which did a weird number in my chest. Something about that smile…

“Thank you,” she whispered.

I chuckled. “No, thank
you
.” Since she’d effectively fried my brain and my dick had taken over, I just realized that I’d forgotten my manners. “I’d offer to make you breakfast, but…”

“Well, good thing we bought Corn Pops at the grocery store.”

What a way to start the day … watching a beautiful woman come on my fingers … and cereal.

I smiled and this smile was nothing short of all consuming. I could feel the happiness in my chest, which shocked me to the depth of my soul. This woman was doing something to me, something I didn’t completely understand.

“Well, I guess I should tell you to go get dressed so we can eat,” I told her. “Only that would be stupid of me because”—I let my eyes rove over her again—“because I fucking love looking at you just like that.”

“Well … why don’t I just keep wearing it, and you can do your best not to think about what’s underneath.” Presley’s grin was flirty and sexy. “Or, if you really want, I could get dressed.”

“No!” I said, chuckling at how quickly that one word came out. “You’re perfect just like that.”

“Okay, then. But if you’re not gonna keep me warm, we’ll probably have to turn up the heat.”

I could do that. If I could stop staring at her.

I knew it was rude to be ogling her, but I found I didn’t want to do anything else. I’d spent hours writing, starting shortly after I’d left Presley in her bedroom, only taking a break long enough to sleep for a few hours, then to make coffee when I’d woken before dawn. From there, I had jumped right back into it. And I hadn’t stopped until I’d realized I had drained the first pot.

That’s how I found myself standing here now, ready to put off writing for a little while so I could spend some quality time with this incredible woman who’d unknowingly managed to inspire me. In every sense of the word.

“About the heat…” Presley said.

I nodded. It was all I could do.

An hour later, we were sitting on the screened-in porch, Presley covered in one of the blankets she kept in the closet along with my T-shirt—which was now her favorite—or so she’d informed me.

Breakfast had been more difficult than I’d anticipated, but only because Presley had sat on the island, eating Corn Pops while I downed eggs, bacon, and toast, watching her and thinking about how she’d looked when I’d made her come with my fingers.

While I’d cooked, in an effort to keep my focus, I’d filled her in on a few details of my story, about Kora and Donovan, where I saw their relationship going. And while we’d chowed down, she had told me about an art contest she was considering entering. That was when we realized we were both working toward the same deadline: February twenty-second. Hard to believe that was sixteen days away, but at the moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care that I might possibly miss it and have Liz threatening to castrate me.

Right now, Presley was the only thing that mattered.

Once we were finished eating, I’d poured more coffee, then she brought me out to sit on the porch so we could see the lake. Cat had joined us shortly thereafter, making himself comfortable in Presley’s lap. Strange that I was jealous of my cat.

And now, as we sat quietly, the sun blazing overhead, I couldn’t think of anyplace I’d rather be than right here with her.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Presley

Turned out that sitting still wasn’t something that came naturally to me or Jake. So, once we’d finished our coffee, we’d spent most of the morning walking around the lake, hiking up into the trees, making out like teenagers a few times, then coming back for lunch.

In a true test of my willpower, I’d managed to keep my hands off Jake for most of the day. Even when we’d napped on the couch for a couple of hours. When I’d woken, I’d been alone and I’d found him on the porch, writing away in that notebook. Rather than bother him, I’d cleaned up the kitchen, spent some time with Cat, and even read more of one of his books while I sat on the couch with a blanket.

By the time we’d lost most of the day’s light, I was exhausted. Having only slept a few hours last night, plus the mind-blowing orgasm on the kitchen counter that had zapped all of my strength, I was able to keep my eyes open solely due to caffeine and the fact that I didn’t want to close them and miss anything that might happen.

I had offered to make dinner, but Jake refused. I wasn’t sure whether that was because he feared I wouldn’t supply him with a healthy dose of meat or if he simply preferred to cook, but either way, he fixed me a salad at the same time he cooked a hamburger on the stove. We ate on the back porch, listening to the sounds of the night all around us.

We’d been talking about some of the tattoos I’d done, what the craziest one someone had asked for was, the most absurd, whether or not I’d ever spelled anything wrong, and if inking people was really my passion when his cell phone had rung.

It had been Josie, letting Jake know that the painters were moving right along and that two people would be stopping by on Monday to check out a few pieces of furniture he was giving away, and that she’d also found a local church that wanted the extra furniture.

While he’d talked to her, I’d taken the time to text Gavin and Gil, warning them that if they had another orgy in my living room, I would strategically place Icy Hot in places that would result in them doing some serious damage to themselves.

They hadn’t found that amusing. Then, of course, they had proceeded to give me shit.

I’d managed to shoot them both a text last night, letting them know we’d made it to the cabin, then another this morning so they knew I was alive and well, and at that point, I’d received a short response from Gavin telling me to practice safe sex.

Their other texts hadn’t been quite so PC.

All in all, it had been a good day and I was ready to sleep for a solid twelve hours. But I was suddenly inspired to do something, but I wasn’t sure what. While Jake took a call from someone else—it sounded as though it could’ve been his editor—I settled for crumpling into a heap on the living room floor and rolling onto my back while I watched him pace the room.

As I lay there in his T-shirt once more—an outfit I’d learned really did make it difficult for either of us to focus—I noticed he continued to look down at me while he finished up his phone call.

“I hear you, Liz. And I’m doing what you told me to do.” There was a lengthy pause. “Yes. I’ll have more for you by Monday.” Another pause. “I can’t promise it’ll be finished, but I’ll have more, yes.” Another pause, and I smiled. “Okay. Talk to you later.”

“Are you done yet?” I asked, laughing when he finally hung up the phone.

“I can be,” he said, sliding his cell phone onto the coffee table before he came to stand near my feet, his sexy blue-green eyes fixed on me.

“Did you get it all worked out?” I asked him.

I could feel his eyes as they raked over me. “Yeah,” he said, his voice a deep rumble. “I did.”

“Just to be nosey, what is it that she told you to do?”

Jake cocked an eyebrow at me.

“You told Liz that you were doing what she told you to do. And that was…?”

He smiled. “To find the girl who inspired me to write and do whatever it took to have her.”

That hadn’t been what I was expecting and the sinking feeling in my gut returned. So, I really was his inspiration for writing and now he was what? Using me to progress the book?

I shook it off and forced a smile, staring up at him.

Knowing this was about to go in a direction that we wouldn’t be able to come back from—a place that quite frankly scared me because I could feel my heart getting too invested when it seemed this was possibly one-sided—I held up my hand. “I need my journal.”

Jake’s forehead creased momentarily as his gaze slid up to meet mine.

“The pink book I sometimes draw in,” I told him, chuckling at the lost look on his face.

“Right.”

I watched as he disappeared from the room, returning a minute later with my sketchbook and a pencil.

“Thank you.” I took both from him, then rolled over onto my stomach and started to draw.

Sometime later, Jake startled me by clearing his throat. I honestly couldn’t say whether he’d been in there with me the whole time or not, but I looked up to see his wide grin.

“Your cell phone rang,” he told me, his eyes raking up and down my body as he held out my phone.

I took it from his hand, noticing the time. I’d been right there on the floor for two hours and hadn’t even realized so much time had passed. It was strange how comfortable I was, being there with him. Like two friends who’d been together for a while. Easy, comfortable.

On top of that, he had inspired me to draw for the first time in months. Nothing major, but it was progress and I was happy with the result.

Sitting up, I pulled up my call log to see that I had missed a call from Gil.

My roommate was probably making an attempt to ensure me that they weren’t having an orgy, though in reality, they probably were. Rather than call him back and listen to him give me a hard time, I shot him another text, letting him know everything was good and that I’d be home tomorrow night.

“You hungry? Thirsty?” Jake asked, holding out his hand and helping me to my feet.

Once I was vertical, I looked around, noticing for the first time that Jake had started a fire in the fireplace.

“Wow. When did you do that?”

“About an hour ago,” he said with a smile. “You were a little busy, so I didn’t want to bother you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“No apologies,” Jake said, erasing the distance between us, his hands sliding up to my hips, beneath the shirt. A tremor danced down my spine as his warm hands brushed my skin. “I understand all too well what it’s like to be in the zone.”

I forced my eyes up to meet his, noticing the heat blazing in the blue-green depths. “Am I distracting you?”

Jake grinned. “Definitely.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not at all.”

“Because I could always lock myself in a room and—”

“As long as you know I’ll be in there with you,” he said with a sexy smirk.

I didn’t know what to say to that, but I knew I had to say something. “Sixteen days,” I blurted.

Jake frowned.

“Until your deadline,” I reminded him. “The last thing we need to do is get something started that might interfere with that.”

There, I’d said it. Not the easiest thing to do, but I’d given him a valid reason as to why we shouldn’t pursue this just yet. Did I want to? Fuck, yes. But I knew what happened in a new relationship. Everything else fell to the wayside, and Jake had a book to write, and I had a contest to enter—maybe.

“You’ve been thinking about this,” Jake muttered, leaning down closer.

I nodded.

“That’s a very interesting reason,” he said.

“
Valid
reason,” I added.

Jake leaned in again, his breath fanning my face. “
Stupid
reason.”

Well, there was that.

Before I could come up with an excuse, his lips brushed mine and I sighed, giving in because it was futile to resist. This man did something to me, something I wasn’t sure I’d ever experienced before.

And I wanted more.

A lot more.

“I hope you know I’m not waiting sixteen days,” he whispered against my mouth. “You’ll be lucky if I can wait sixteen more minutes.”

When his hand slid down to my bare thigh, I stopped him. “I need a shower.”

“Me, too,” he said, his lips brushing mine. “What do you say we conserve water?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer because he kissed me. His mouth moved slowly over mine, making my head spin. His tongue slid along the seam of my lips, and I opened for him, kissing him back.

When his hands slid down my back, over my ass, I moaned. And when he lifted me up off the ground, I shrieked, quickly throwing my arms around his neck, my legs around his waist.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Carrying you upstairs.”

Yeah, well, I had nothing to say to that, so instead, I kissed him while he carried me through the house, up the stairs, through my bedroom, and into the bathroom, before depositing me on the bathroom counter.

“Don’t move,” he ordered, pulling back and going over to the shower, turning on the water.

I had a full two seconds to make up my mind on whether or not I wanted to do this. It wasn’t that I had any doubts; I was honestly worried that if we did, it might screw up Jake’s deadline, and the last thing I wanted to do was give him a reason to want to stay away from me.

When he turned back around to face me, the heat in his eyes made my decision for me. I couldn’t resist this man any longer, no matter how many excuses I tried to make.

I pulled his T-shirt up and over my head, tossing it to the floor. Yep, decision definitely made. His eyes widened, and that look… It made my pussy clench with the need to feel him inside me.

As he moved closer, I fought the urge to cover myself as his eyes left a heated caress over my skin.

“You are a very bad girl, you know that?”

“You make me want to be a bad girl,” I told him.

The rumble that vibrated in his chest made me laugh. I reached for him, helping him out of his shirt, then reaching for the button on his jeans. I managed to work it free, lowered the zipper before Jake wrapped his hand around my wrist, stilling me.

“If you touch me, I’m gonna go off like a rocket.”

I smiled. “Then we should prepare for lift-off.”

Jake laughed, his eyes dancing.

“Too corny?” I teased.

His eyes glittered with heat. “Honey, I’m not sure what to do with you.”

“I can think of a few things. And they require you to be naked.” Hopping down from the counter, I removed my panties, fighting off the modesty I felt as he watched. As the last of my clothes dropped to the floor, his quickly followed.

Then there we were, facing one another, both of us completely naked in the middle of the bathroom, which, thanks to the shower, was quickly steaming up.

Jake held out his hand, and I placed mine in his palm, watching as it disappeared completely within his. When he tugged my arm, I followed him into the shower, shamelessly looking him over, admiring every inch of him.

The first thing I noticed was the tattoo that spanned his entire back. My eyes fixed on the details, noting the lines, the shading, the depth to the two-headed dragon that looked incredibly real, the thick body and the narrow neck running up his spine, the heads covering his shoulder blades. At one point, I would’ve been able to draw that, even inked it on him. A strange part of me—an oddly possessive side—wished that I had.

He was eye candy. A visual feast for the senses. From his broad shoulders to his well-defined chest, narrow waist, rippling abs, powerful thighs, and
mmm
, that incredible ass … I couldn’t get enough, content to simply stand there and ogle him. And his cock. It was beautiful. Long and impossibly thick, heavily veined and standing proudly out from his body, practically begging for my touch.

That was when I remembered what it’d felt like when he’d been inside me. A tremor of need shot through me.

I allowed him to pull me under the rain shower spray, leaning my head back as the water drenched my hair. He came to stand behind me, his erection pressing against my lower back, his hands sliding around to my stomach. For a minute, we remained like that, the warm water cascading over us, doing nothing to stifle the desire I felt for him.

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t scared of what we were doing, wasn’t worried that we didn’t know each other well enough, that we hadn’t had the required number of dates that made sex—
not
a one-night stand—socially acceptable. This thing between us … it was irrational in its intensity, something that I’d never even imagined in my wildest dreams.

And when I turned to face him, looking up into those beautiful green-blue eyes, I knew that what happened from here wasn’t something we could control or monitor. We couldn’t keep it from occurring even if we wanted to.

No, what was happening between us … what had been happening between us since the first day we’d met in that coffee shop three weeks ago…