Loving the Wild Card (12 page)

Fork in hand, Jake began to eat as he watched her undress. There was no
getting away from it; she looked like seduction itself as she dropped one
garment after another. Finally naked, he looked down at his lap and then back
at MacKenzie with a suggestive expression.

Barefooted, she strolled over and straddled him. But she did it so
slowly, Jake had time to take in the beauty of his wife. He was so hard he could
feel the pulse that ran through his shaft. When she finally came to rest on his
lap, his nostrils flared as the smell of her arousal assailed his senses.

Food was no longer a priority. All his attention focused on his wife as
she braced her palms against his chest and leaned forward. The meeting of their
lips and the play of their tongues was something he would never tire of. Jake
groaned as he allowed her to take the lead.

When she pulled away, he opened his eyes, to see MacKenzie holding a
piece of fruit. Expecting her to feed it to him, Jake smiled when she dropped
it and it landed in his lap.

“I’m so clumsy, I’ll just have to get that.”

Sliding back on his thighs, she ignored the bite-sized piece of fruit.
Instead, she took him into her mouth. The touch of her tongue against the
smoothness of his cock caused Jake to push forward.

“How much can you take, MacKenzie?” A heartbeat later he found out.
“Take more, I know you can take more.”

Jake suddenly wished he’d kept quiet because she released him with a
pop; gathered up the piece of fruit into her mouth and sat up.

“I love pineapple,” MacKenzie said after she’d finished chewing. “Do you
like pineapple, Jake?”

“Umm, yeah, I guess so,” he replied, still distracted by the abrupt end
to their foreplay.

“Well, seeing as you’re not that sure, how about we test it out and then
you can give me a more definitive answer.”

Jake watched her every move as she took another piece of pineapple
between her fingers and moved it towards her lips. Halfway there she changed direction
and rubbed it around her nipples. When she finally popped the morsel into her
mouth, he was already licking and sucking the juices from her breasts.

Busy with her breasts, his hands weren’t idle. A hand was between her
legs stimulating her with a deft touch. When he inserted a finger inside her,
he moved and gathered the sounds of her indrawn breaths into his mouth.

Trailing his tongue across her jaw, Jake whispered into her ear. “Put it
in but make sure you do it slowly. I want to watch the way I slide into you. I
want to see how you take me inside you.”

“Wow, seems to me that you do like pineapple!”

“Do it MacKenzie!” Jake ordered, all signs of playfulness gone.

The touch of her cool hand surrounding him felt wonderful. The feel of
her taking him into her body as he watched produced a hiss of sheer pleasure.

“Take what you want, my lovely MacKenzie. Anything and everything I have
is yours.”

“Jake,” she gasped already riding him hard and fast.

Gripping the cheeks of her ass, Jake used his strength to guide their
bodies. When she contracted around him, he threw back his head and allowed his
release to shoot inside her.

Holding her close, he voiced his thoughts aloud. “I think we just about
have enough time to take a shower and then I’ll accidentally drop a piece of
your favorite fruit on your lap!”

Chapter
13

Josh was preoccupied when he finally left his father. It was a rare
occasion that they crossed words. However, this was his life and he would live
it as he pleased. Though given his family, he knew he wasn’t going to have
everything his own way.

Standing unobserved, he watched as Lux stood facing the portrait Aviva
had presented to his father on her wedding day. Walking towards her on silent
feet, Josh sensed when she became aware of his presence. Looking over her
shoulder, he too stared at the portrait.

“Where did he come from?”

“Same place as Jake,” he quipped, his answer a safety mechanism to hold
his anger at their mother at bay.

“Don’t do that. I know how much you love Jake and your father. I can
tell you feel the same way about Jason; so why the anger at my question?”

“It’s a long story and right now you’re the last person I want to share
it with.”

“That was mean,” Lux said just above a whisper.

He knew her feelings were hurt, but he couldn’t muster up the words to
retract them. He needed to get some rest, but before he could, he had to settle
her in and then pay a visit to some acquaintances.

“Come with me, I’ll show you to your room.” Josh threw over his shoulder
as he walked away.

“My room?”

“You sound surprised, do you want to share a room with me, Luxandria?”
He asked turning back to face her.

“No!”

“Really, because you sound disappointed,” he said, strolling toward her.
Josh wanted to laugh when she began to back away. With slow deliberation, he
moved closer; almost as though he were on the prowl. With each step, his gaze
raked her body from head to toe.

All notions of amusement left his thoughts when his eyes landed on her
chest. She still wore the summer dress from the beach; having long discarded
the coat he’d provided.

“Are you cold, Luxandria?”

“Don’t question me!” She flung back.

He was baiting her and she knew it, just as he knew her body could never
lie to him. Folding her arms over her breasts, Lux glared at him.

“It’s way too late for angst Lux, your body’s reaction to me says all I
need to know. Okay, you win. You can share my room. Is that what you wanted?”

“No, it is not. I want, no… I demand my own room!”

“There you see, if you’d ask nicely, I would give you whatever you want.
But because you couldn’t help your mouth–”

“Boy, from what I remember, you used to love this mouth all over you!”

“Hell yeah, you know I love it when you talk dirty to me. Tell me what I
used to love...” As he paused, Josh’s whole demeanor changed to one of intense
seriousness. “…I dare you.”

When she remained quiet, he bent and spoke into her ear. “I thought so,
you talk a good talk, but when it comes to actions, that’s something entirely
different. I thought you said you were all grown up.”

“I know what you’re trying to do.”

“What would that be, Luxandria?” Josh all but purred enjoying himself.

“Goad me into doing or saying something so you can back me into a
corner.”

Josh laughed, the sound a deep rumble in his chest. “Not so much a
corner but I think this bureau will do just fine.”

One blink later and it was too late. Large, strong hands had already
hoisted her up and he was standing between her legs. Their current position
hadn’t been his intention. He just couldn’t ignore the puckered points of her
nipples that seemed to be begging for his attention.

Never one to deny a woman what she wanted, Josh acted on her body’s
demand rather than her halfhearted attempts to pull away.

With deliberation, he stopped before his mouth made contact with her
breast. Looking up, he peered at her through his thick black lashes and waited.
He’d never forced a woman in his life, and he wasn’t about to start now.

Taking his head between her hands, he allowed her to move his mouth to
where she most wanted his touch. At the last moment he stopped. Knowing Lux,
his hesitation could blow up in his face, but he was willing to take the
chance.

“I want to see you. Undo your top for me, Luxandria. You want my touch
and I want to see you.”

Josh felt her jerk at his words and held his breath to see if she would
comply with his request. He tracked her every move as with slow deliberation
she reached up and untied the halter straps behind her neck.

When she shrugged her shoulders, he sucked in a breath. Perfect, she was
perfect. The globes of her breasts, although not large, were round and full and
Josh remembered how they felt as he held, rubbed and sucked them.

Lowering her hands, Lux cupped her breasts and held them up to him in a
blatant invitation. Then she eased back and he knew she too remembered how much
he loved to kiss and run his tongue against them.

“If you want them, come and get them,” Lux dared him.

It was a game. It was their game and he’d missed it. The sight and aroma
of her pulled him.

He struck without warning, his mouth all at once surrounding one of the
nipples that begged for his attention. Drawing the surrounding flesh deep into
his mouth, his tongue reacquainted itself with her taste and texture.

As he sucked and rolled his tongue around her flesh, Josh didn’t break
eye contact. He wanted to see her reaction, gage how his touch affected her. He
wanted the assurance that he could turn her on to the point of abandonment.

His hands moved to the hem of her dress and slowly moved it up. His
fingertips a light caress as they moved ever upwards. Without his urging, she
opened her legs even more, and his heart began to thud in his chest. He’d
wanted answers and he got them when she threw back her head and groaned in
pleasure.

Moving up her chest, Josh stroked his tongue in one continuous move.
Without warning and the use of only one hand, he lifted and pulled her forward
until she was flush against his engorged cock. The feel of her elevated breath
turned him on more than he could have imagined, and he knew he had to break the
spell she held over him.

“Are you still going to try to tell me you don’t want to share my room?
Hell, my bed, my room or even a tree!”

He anticipated what was coming and even with his natural speed only just
managed to avoid the hand that shot out to grab hold of his dick.

“You’re lucky, if I caught you I would break you like a piece of dried
up old driftwood!”

“Hey, come on now, I can assure you my wood is anything but dry. I bet
you’re the same.” Josh teased wiggling his eyebrows. “Don’t lie now, or I’ll
have to prove my point?”

“If you so much as touch me again, I’m going to scream bloody murder in
this house?”

“I’m looking forward to it, but I have to tell ya, you’re going to have
to compete with Aviva and MacKenzie. That’s just how we Kingdoms roll,” Josh
laughed at her outraged expression.

“Did I just hear my name mentioned?” Aviva asked from the doorway.

“Indeed you did,” Josh answered, angling his aroused body as he moved
further away from Lux.

“Lux, why on earth are you sitting on top of Jackson’s most prized item
of furniture with your skirt up and your ta-tas on full display?”

The scramble that ensued would have been funny if Josh hadn’t felt more
than a little sorry for Lux’s embarrassment at her compromising position.

Turning to Aviva, he attempted to give her a stern look that failed
miserably. “That’s not nice, Vee.”

“Whatever!”

Her clothes once again in order, Josh watched as Lux jumped to the floor
and gave Aviva a dirty look. Almost from the first moment they’d met, he sensed
that Aviva didn’t like her. Seeing her and Lux glaring at each other finally
brought home why that was. Physically they were completely different, but their
personalities were almost identical. That being the case they were bound to
butt heads.

“What my
husband
and I do is none of your business!” Lux snapped
back.

“Come on ladies, play nice.”

“Whatever Josh,” Aviva replied before turning her attention back to Lux.
“I thought you might be able to use these.” Placing an armful of clothing on a
chair, Aviva turned to leave.

“Thank you for the clothing, I appreciate it.”

“No worries,” Aviva told the other woman as she left the room.

“Why doesn’t she like me?”

“She likes you well enough.”

“Is she attracted to you, is that where all this hostility comes from?”

“Aviva is a loyal, compassionate, beautiful woman. She also happens to
be married and very much in love with my brother. If you understood that you
wouldn’t ask that question,” Josh responded unable to keep the censure from his
voice.

“So, the inference is that I’m none of those things, is that what you’re
saying?”

Josh was tired of the conversation. Choosing not to answer, he picked up
the pile of clothes and headed for the door.

“I’ll show you to your room.” He wasn’t ready to share his intimate
space with her. One moment he wanted to make love with her and the next he
wanted to wring her neck. He knew which feeling would win out if they were
alone for a prolonged period of time; and she just wasn’t ready.

****

After he showed Lux to her room, Josh left the house. When he arrived at
his destination, he parked and reclined his big body into the seat of his car.
His family thought him a hothead and he couldn’t blame them, but he wasn’t a
fool. Delphine having to bail his ass out of jail yet again wasn’t something he
was up for, so he waited.

An hour later he saw the men he’d been waiting for. Leaving the car, he
dodged traffic and cut them off as they approached their vehicle.

“Gentlemen,” he greeted officers Saunders and Bonetti. “I use the term
loosely you understand, but I didn’t want to address you by the names running
through my mind,” Josh grinned around his insult.

“What do you want, Kingdom?” Saunders, always the more vocal of the two
asked.

Pretending to check around as though he gave a damn who was listening,
he turned back to the officers. “I’m here to do you a favor.”

That was all it took to have their full attention. “We can’t speak here
though, follow me,” Josh commanded. Knowing instinctively they wouldn’t like
his tone, he was equally sure they would follow him like two puppy dogs.

Ducking into an alleyway, he kept walking until shadows swallowed them up,
and the stench of rotting garbage and urine turned his stomach.

When they finally stood before him, Josh moved with lightning speed. His
first punch was at Saunders in the hope that a busted lip would shut him the
fuck up. Bonetti rushed him, spinning he extended his leg and scored a direct
hit to his gut.

Josh used more force than intended but felt no remorse. Squatting down
beside the sprawled men, he pointed his index finger at them. “That was just
for starters. Don’t you two pieces of shit ever come to my father’s house again
uninvited, and seeing as an invitation will never be issued; if you show up, I
will really hurt you!”

Getting up, he straightened his winter coat and looked down at them.
“Hell, if you two are New York’s finest, I pity the people of this city!”

With nothing but contempt, he turned his back on them and walked away.
Even if he hadn’t sensed their movement, he heard it. Feigning to the side,
Josh avoided the punch Bonetti threw at him. In one continuous move, he
surrounded the tall officer’s fist in his hand. He then twisted it into an
unnatural position and shoved him into his hapless partner.

Somehow both detectives managed to stay on their feet. Josh saw
Saunders’ hand hovering over his firearm. “Go on and try it, but you better
make sure you don’t miss because if you do, I’m going to shove that gun down
your throat.”

When Saunders’ hand moved away from his side, Josh laughed in their
faces. “Just what I thought, you’re a pussy and so is your partner,” he mocked.
“Oh, and one more thing; give your other
boss
a message from me. You
tell him if even the air around my wife is disturbed, I will find him, and I
will kill him. Then, I’ll come for the both of you and hurt you in ways you’ve
never imagined.”

The look of fright on their faces told its own story; he wasn’t their
only cause for concern. If they failed in their off the books job, questions
would be asked; and Josh knew he was the least of their worries. He’d shown
them his hand because he had no choice. Now he would just have to wait to see
how everything played out.