Jessica E. Subject BUNDLE (Intergalactic Heat) (18 page)

Steam rose off the hot water filling the claw-footed cast iron basin. Paige took a deep breath, smelling more than the lavender she’d added to the bath. No, the memory of his masculine scent surrounded her, saving all that was Jared for this moment.

She shuddered, imagining his large, firm hands gripping her waist. With a firm hold on her dildo, she slipped into the water, ready for Jared to star in her fantasy.

She sighed at the gentle force of his lips touching hers. His tenderness turned to urgency as he trailed a finger down to her already slick folds. She rocked her hips against him. Forget the foreplay; she wanted him deep inside her. Too much time had passed since she’d been properly fucked.

Grasping the edge of his towel, she yanked it from his waist. The soft cotton pooled at their feet. Jared drew her closer, his erection firm along her belly. Her cream trickled down her leg.

“Now, Jared. Take me, now.”

He lifted her into his arms, lowered her into the tub, and then joined her in the warm water. The temperature of the liquid surrounding her served to amplify her desire.

Kneeling over her, his legs on either side of hers, he leaned down and captured her lips. But it wasn’t enough. She yearned to be filled. Reaching between her thighs, he parted her swollen labia with his fingers, and used them to penetrate her heat.

She bucked underneath him, taking him even farther inside. Still, desperate for more, she clutched his hips. “Fuck me, Jared. Shove that huge cock into my pussy.”

Nudging her legs apart with his knees, in one swift motion, he plunged deep inside her. Yesss.

He rocked in and out, hitting her G-spot with every thrust. Pressure radiated through her body as she joined him in the motion. Faster, faster….

She wanted the release, could think of nothing else. And in one blinding explosion, she climaxed, arching her hips toward the ceiling. Grabbing her dildo, she drove it in and out, riding the wave of her orgasm to the very end.

When she drew the rubber cock from her pussy, she wallowed against the emotional emptiness that consumed her. She pitched the faux penis across the room. She missed the way a lover could read what she wanted and needed even when she didn’t know. But her life didn’t allow for serious relationships. With so much money spent at the adult store over the past couple of years, she’d hoped the toys would be a suitable replacement. They had in the beginning, but now they no longer fulfilled her.

She left the tub, dried off, and then slipped into her silk robe.
Time to do something drastic.

***

Jared shucked his towel and stroked his rigid cock. That woman made him hard every time she came to the door, trying to persuade him to sign up for the Space Service. Her claims had seemed far-fetched when she’d first approached him, yet his commander had confirmed her credentials, having been approached to join by another many years ago. While Jared would never add his thumbprint to the contract he’d read, he wouldn’t mind if she stopped by to try and convince him again.

Ms. Brown, with her black blazer revealing a hint of cleavage and a skirt that showed the perfect curvature of her ass. When he’d answered the door fresh out of the shower and seen her on his porch, he’d gripped the door handle to hold himself back from yanking her inside and tearing off her fine-pressed suit.

He squeezed his balls—no time to jack-off. Dylan and Madison would arrive in an hour, and he had to take one last run through his house to get rid of any lingering dust bunnies before Children’s Services appeared. No obvious dirt in the living room, he headed toward the kitchen, but his mind kept flying back to Ms. Brown.

She had the whole librarian thing going on, with her dark hair tied up in a bun and glasses resting on the end of her nose. Though, none of the women who worked at the local branch made his cock throb. Perhaps there was some truth to the naughty librarian tale. He wished.

Most women’s version of naughty did not come close to his. While the whole BDSM club scene didn’t appeal to him, he enjoyed a little bondage during foreplay. He’d spent months at a time deployed in the Middle East. While home, he appreciated the opportunity to date the pretty women who found a guy in uniform sexy. But once he fetched the cuffs, they bolted. They hadn’t even wanted to use them on him.

Ms. Brown was no girl, though. No more than a couple years his senior, she exuded experience with her seductive glances, her posture that plunged her cleavage into his line of sight, and that damn wiggle of her ass as she sashayed back to her car. She could teach him a thing or two. He yearned for the chance to find out.

No, his next lay could no longer be at the forefront of his mind. In less than an hour, he would become the father figure to two impressionable young children. His sexual urges would have to take leave for the foreseeable future.

He’d been in his last month of deployment to Afghanistan when the call came in. And it took another day for his commander to reach him with the news. His brother-in-law had been killed in a car accident, leaving his niece and nephew orphans. And as much as he loved the Marine Corps—Semper Fi—he couldn’t let the kids be raised by strangers. They had no other family left.

So, after he returned to the States, he contacted his lawyer and spent a couple of weeks obtaining guardianship of the children. He’d received his discharge papers, found a civilian position working as a desk jockey for the CIA through his contacts with the Marines, and bought a house suitable to raise two growing youngsters. After months of preparation, they were coming to live with him.

He glanced at his watch. Ten minutes until they arrived.

Shit!
He’d wasted precious time thinking about Ms. Brown and his new life.

Grabbing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, he yanked them on. Screw the boxers; his niece and nephew wouldn’t notice. He peeked into their rooms to ensure they looked somewhat presentable. Would Children’s Services take them back to California if his new living space didn’t meet their standards?

He groaned. They weren’t even at his house yet, and he’d been distracted. No more. Nothing would come before them. The children would be his priority. Everything he did would be for them, for the rest of his life.

***

One month later….

What have I done?
Jared yanked Dylan off the top of the fridge, holding him under his arm as the kid tried to wiggle free. “Superman can fly. You can’t. If you jump from that high, you’re going to get hurt.”

Once the boy stopped squirming, Jared set him down and rushed over to his niece, who had decided to scribble on his white cell phone with a marker. “Madison, I know you love everything pink, but my phone does not need a makeover.”

He grabbed the marker and she squealed, escaping under the table and down the hall clutching his phone. His morning had just begun. He couldn’t even take a leak without the kids finding some kind of trouble. Yes, they went to daycare while he worked, but beyond the hours of nine to five, they were all his, and on weekends, he had no pardon. Why on Earth had he thought he could raise two preschoolers on his own?

The doorbell rang.

He glanced down the hall toward the bedrooms, where an ominous silence reigned. With the children quiet, they had to be plotting their next mission to destroy his sanity. Or perhaps they’d already started. Shrugging, he headed for the door, risking a future disaster to see who stood on his porch.

Dylan came charging at him, his dark eyes wide, reminding him of his sister when she was a child. “Someone’s at the door. Who is it, Uncle Jared?”

The boy skidded straight across the slippery linoleum, his body slamming into Jared’s knees.

Jared stumbled back, trying to regain his balance, and grasped the doorknob. The latch clicked open. Losing his footing again, he stumbled to the floor, his nephew landing on top of him. Groaning, he glanced up at the woman standing above him; his former commander’s wife. “Can I help you, Mrs. Collins?

She lifted Dylan and balanced him on her hip. “From the look of things, I think I can help you.” Slipping off her shoes, she lined them on the mat beside the rest of the footwear and continued into the house. “I’m giving you the day off.”

What?
He’d dreamed about time to himself since the day after his niece and nephew had arrived, but had accepted that would never happen. Not until the preschoolers were old enough to stay on their own, anyway.

He hopped to his feet, shut the door, and followed them into the living room. Madison had materialized out of nowhere, to join her brother, the pair of them sitting on either side of Mrs. Collins, their lopsided halos balancing atop their horns. Why couldn’t they sit as still when no one else was around?

Slumping onto a chair, he leaned back and sighed. “How do you do it? How do you make them turn off?”

She chuckled. “I’m a guest. Trust me when I say kids always behave better around people they don’t see every day. Back to why I’m here. My daughter says every time she sees you grocery shopping, you look ready to explode.”

He didn’t remember seeing the commander’s teenage daughter, but any out-of-the-house excursions with the kids resulted in him trying to get back home as soon as possible. He tried to avoid running into anyone he knew. “I’m still getting used to having Madison and Dylan here. It’s been quite a change.”

The woman wrapped an arm around each child and snuggled them closer to her. “I always found I was a better mother when I had time away from my kids. I came back to them with a new focus and less stressed. But I had family around to take them here and there. Since you don’t, I’m here to give you a break.”

As much as he needed the respite, he worried about leaving his niece and nephew with someone else. What would they do to poor Mrs. Collins? “I don’t know….”

“I raised three kids with Ernie in the Marine Corps. Two are away at college, and my baby is a senior in high school. I’ll be fine.”

He stared at the children, resentful of their sudden change in behavior. He needed to get away for a couple of hours. “Okay, you’re right. I’ll go get groceries and return right after.”

She shook her head. “Not today. You’re taking the rest of the day off. You need it.”

“No, I—”

“Think of me as part of your team, Jared. That means you have to show some trust. I’ll be by every Saturday to give you some time to yourself. Today, though, I’ve planned something extra special for you.”

Oh God, what had she done?

The woman rose from the couch and handed him an envelope. “Ernie said you liked hockey, so we bought you a ticket to go see the hometown play this afternoon.”

All right!
He hadn’t been to a match in…forever. But
a
ticket? “I’m going by myself?”

Her gaze shifted to the left before she returned eye contact.

Deception.

“No, your ticket will take you to a suite, and you’ll have a space in the underground parking garage. Others will meet you there.”

His heart raced in anticipation. Would he enjoy the game with his former squad? It had been so long since he’d seen any of them. “Okay, I’ll go.”

Mrs. Collins grinned. “Great. Go get ready. And be sure to dress nice.”

Nice? For the guys? Yeah, right. It was hockey.

Chapter Two

Paige grabbed her shoulder bag from the passenger seat, and exited her car. The private parking pass she’d been granted added to the perfection of her date. A private suite at a hockey game, where she’d meet a—hopefully—gorgeous man for an afternoon of sexual pleasure. Could Madame Eve have delved any further into her mind in planning her ideal afternoon?

And the best part? She’d shed the confining black suit for a little red dress and matching stilettos. Though she’d left the daring and dangerous shoes in her bag to wear when she reached the suite. Running shoes suited concrete floors much better, and she had no idea how much walking would be involved on her way to her destination.

Closing the car door, she spun around to find a uniformed female concierge standing in front of her.

“Ms. Brown?”

She nodded, cringing inside. “I prefer Paige, but yes, that’s me.”

With a brief smile, the woman shook her hand. “Welcome to the Snyder Center. I have been asked to escort you to your suite. The other member of your party has not arrived yet.”

Exactly as she’d wanted. She needed time to gain her bearings, assess her surroundings before her one-night, daytime stand arrived.

She’d learned to seek out possible breaches in security as part of her Space Service training. The last thing she needed was an overheard conversation between her and prospective recruits. Aliens and traveling through space using portals were subjects most of the population wasn’t prepared to learn about. An all-out panic would not help the cause. As much as she yearned to be released from her contract, protecting herself and the organization she worked for from possible moles was one aspect of her job she would never be able to leave behind.

She dashed behind the concierge as the woman clip-clopped in her heels across the parking lot. Did the woman walk around the stadium every day in those things? Paige tried to avoid wearing anything higher than an inch. Today was special.

They reached a bank of elevators, and the concierge slid a keycard through the reader and the doors opened. Stepping inside, Paige clasped her stomach as it lurched. What had she been thinking when she arranged this date?

Jared.

Yes, the hunk of a man who’d increased her longing to leave the Space Service and have a normal life. She sighed. The star of her fantasies would not be her date. Would she be disappointed with the man Madame Eve chose for her? As long as he showed her a good time, made her forget her lack of a life for one day, she’d leave satisfied. And if all else failed, she’d watch the game, cheering for the visitors, her favorite team, a safe distance from the hometown crowd.