Macy’s Awakening (4 page)

Their fingers brushed, and a renewed awareness streaked through her. She had noticed his hands earlier today as he tended the barbeque. They were broad and strong, with a sprinkling of fine dark hair on the back. Very masculine hands. They reminded her of the naughty feelings she’d been trying all day to suppress, feelings of wanting those hands to touch her. Now she allowed those feelings to seep fully into her consciousness. Intensified by gratitude for her recent rescue, she was flooded with raucous sensations of sexual desire. She’d never felt anything as powerful or enticing.

He folded his legs and sat beside her. She handed him the cup of wine. Their eyes met above the rim of the glass, and this time she made herself hold his gaze. Letting her lips soften and open slightly, she dared to invite him into her imaginings.

His brows shot up.

* * * *

At the unmistakable come-hither look on her face, Jerrod’s primal instincts kicked in big time. Self-preservation warred with the raw urge to grab Macy Wilson, lay her back on the blanket, and ravish her right here. The girl was staring at him with her big gray eyes slumberous and inviting, her lush lips parted, practically begging for his kiss. There was no misinterpreting it. She was coming on to him.

Damn it! This was his own fault. He’d struggled all day to keep his cock out of the mix. He’d hoped she hadn’t caught on to his inappropriate feelings for her, but apparently he hadn’t hidden those feelings as well as he thought.

“Macy—”

“Yes?” She leaned toward him. He felt the brush of her breath on his cheek.

“We can’t do this.” He made his voice very firm, the way he would have talked to Allie.

“Do what?” Now she was toying with him, wasn’t she? Making him say it out loud. He realized with a jolt that he wanted to; he wanted to say her name and the word “fuck” in the same sentence!

With his admission, his cock hardened. He glanced around them. More people were finding seats on the grass nearby, the members of the band were taking their places onstage. He only had to hold out for another minute or so and the music would start. Any suggestive conversation would then be out of the question.

“You know what I mean,” he said. “Your dad’s an old friend of mine.”

“So?” Big eyed innocence, slow, alluring drawl. “I’m an adult.”

He shook his head. It was sad, really. He’d built his reputation on his eloquence in the courtroom, but here tonight it seemed he’d already run out of arguments.

She leaned closer and whispered, “Is there some big rule that says you can’t have sex with a client?”

Holy shit!
There it was. She was giving him an out, if he wanted to use it.

There weren’t any state statutes forbidding it, provided both parties were over eighteen and capable of giving consent, but she didn’t know that. He could lie and tell her there
were
laws against it. It might be enough to discourage her flirtations and allow them to keep things on a more professional basis.

Jerrod stared into her big, dark eyes.

He couldn’t lie to her. Hell, he didn’t
want
to.

“No big rule,” he whispered.

Her lips were right there, inches away, ripe and soft, and—God help him—he bent his head and took what she was offering.

Snaking his hand into the satin curls at the back of her neck, he brought her face up to his and brushed his mouth across her lips. Gently at first, barely touching her, feeling her excited breath mingle with his own.

On stage, the band led off with a classic piece of southern blues. A black female singer with a rich, strong voice began to wail about the treacherous heart of her lover. Feeling the plaintive tones of the song surging through him, he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue between Macy’s yielding lips. She opened to him, and he thrust his tongue inside her warm, wet mouth. Several bold strokes and then he withdrew, his blood racing. He heard her whimper above the music. Lifting his head, he glanced around again. No one was paying the least bit of attention. Though the stage was well lit, this grassy area below lay in shadow.

He lowered his mouth again, pressing little nips along her jawline, drawing away once more, teasing her with his lips until she put an impatient hand on his thigh. He froze. He glanced down. In the dark, he could barely make out the lighter tones of her skin against the indigo of his jeans. As he began to thrust his tongue inside her warm mouth again, her fingers inched up his thigh and cupped his erection.

A groan rose in his throat, but probably only Macy heard it. Her hand moved shyly over the sensitive bulge, pressing and molding it with her fingers. She squeezed him and put her little tongue into his mouth.

It was apparent she hadn’t kissed many guys. The explorations of her fingers and tongue were awkward and experimental. At nineteen, she probably hadn’t been with a lot of men. He wasn’t complaining, only noticing. But then she reached out and grabbed his free hand and brought it to her breast.

He had a brief impression of soft round flesh, topped with a firm protrusion, before he pulled his hand away. He had to. Things were moving way too fast and this was a public place. But God, yes, he did want to hold those sweet breasts of hers in his hands. And more. It was the “and more” that really worried him.

“Not here,” he said into her ear as he removed her hand from his groin.

“Then where?” Her breath tickled his cheek.

“I thought we came to hear some music.”

“I’m ready to leave now.”

“Are you sure? The band’s just getting started,” he hedged, giving her every chance to back out.

“I don’t care.”

In ten minutes they were back at his car on the second floor of the parking garage. He unlocked and opened her door, but instead of getting in, she reached up for him, weaving her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her.

“Tell me you want to touch me again,” she said, her voice low and provocative. Her gray eyes searched his face. She rubbed her breasts against his chest and then she leaned back, giving him access.

“Oh, God. I do want to touch you, Macy.” He moved his hands up her ribcage and closed them over the firm mounds. Through her soft t-shirt he could plainly feel the excited tips pressing into his palms. He licked his lips, yearning to taste her.

“Go ahead,” she whispered, reading his desire. She leaned back against the side of the car, stretching her arms above her head. She gave him a lazy, sexy smile.

He stood for a moment, at war with himself, and then he shoved her t-shirt up, baring her breasts. They were perfect, as he knew they would be. Her dusky nipples stood at attention, offering him sweet bits of turgid flesh to suck. He lowered his mouth and ran his tongue over the warm, pebbled surface.

God.
She tasted like vanilla.

He closed his lips on her nipple and began to suckle and tug at it gently, using the edge of his teeth on her silky flesh. She gave a husky little cry.

“Ssh.” He put his finger to her lips. Her tongue flicked out, licking the length of his finger suggestively.

Damn.
He wanted her. Right here in the parking garage. Wanted to drag her jeans off and take her on the edge of the front seat, facing him in the open doorway. She’d spread her legs for him and he’d plunge his hard cock into her hot pussy.

Oh yeah.
Here and now.

The images cartwheeled in urgent flashes through his head, exciting him further.

He suckled her breast like a starving man, using his fingers to tease her other nipple. He pinched the little bump of warm flesh, kneading until she cried out again. Then his other hand dove for her crotch.

Just then the squeal of tires on concrete told them a car was coming down from an upper floor of the garage. He jerked her shirt down and herded her into her seat as a police cruiser rounded the corner and came toward them. Jerrod gave a short wave to the officer as he closed Macy’s door and sauntered around to his own side. The officer nodded and drove on.

Jerrod collapsed into the front seat, leaning his forehead on the steering wheel. Had he gone completely crazy? Exposing her that way when anyone could have walked through! They’d come damn close to being caught. How could he ever have explained that to Chuck? His old buddy would pummel him to a bloody pulp. And God knows he’d deserve it.

He felt her hand close on his thigh, stroking up toward his groin.

“Hey,” she said softly, “let’s go back to your house.”

He covered her hand with his own, trapping it before she could touch his cock.

“Like I said earlier, Macy, this is not a good idea.”

“But I want you to make love to me.”

He turned and looked at her. In the shadowy car her face was open, trusting. So sexy. His cock lurched, still wanting to find its home inside her warm body.

“You don’t want someone like me.” Using his last scrap of self-control, he picked her hand up and moved it back to her side. “I’m a middle-aged man, Macy. You should be with someone your own age. A guy who would take you out dancing, do fun, crazy, young-people stuff.”

She shook her head and smiled.

“You don’t get it, Jerrod. You’re exactly what I want right now. Someone with experience. Someone to teach me everything.” Her fingers strayed up and touched the side of his face, smoothing his hair back and feathering against his temple like moth wings.

A shocking thought caromed through his head.

“Oh my God. Are you a virgin?” It was worse than he had imagined. Thank God he’d stopped himself when he had.

She nodded. “Please don’t say no. Please.”

“No,” he growled, and shoved his key into the ignition.

Chapter 4

They rode in silence through the city streets, the windows down, the night air cooling Jerrod’s face. His pulse had almost returned to normal. After a few minutes Macy gave a heavy sigh.

“Please don’t tell my dad.”

He twisted his head toward her and scowled. “Why in God’s name would I do that?”

Her fingers fiddled with the little handbag she carried. Finally she answered in a small voice, never taking her eyes off her hands. “Because I threw myself at you. You were just trying to help me, and I totally took advantage of how nice you were being. I’m so sorry.”

She looked up, and her big gray eyes sought his face.

Was she serious?

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about, Macy.”

Guilty relief flooded his body. He was off the hook! The girl thought it had been all
her
idea. Not only that, but if she would just back off now, he just might be able to keep his hands off her until the trial.

“Then you’ll still be my lawyer?” Her voice quivered.

“Of course I will. We’ll just remember to keep things a little more professional between us from here on, won’t we?” He heard the patronizing tone of his own voice. God, he was an asshole! Again he was speaking to her as he would to an errant child.

“Oh. Good. I’m so relieved. I don’t know what I’d do if you fired me as a client.”

He chuckled. “I’ve never fired a client, and if I was ever going to, I wouldn’t start with you.”

“Good.” She sent him a tremulous smile.

Silence descended again. He began to feel more expansive now as his guilt lifted. He was eager to make her feel comfortable again.

“Tomorrow’s Sunday,” he said after a moment. “Would you like to go shopping or see a movie? Maybe go to the art museum? We have a good one here.”

She was thoughtful for a moment.

“Could we just stay home? Maybe just watch a movie on TV or something?”

He hesitated. Being in the close confines of the house with her would test his mettle.

“Fine,” he said after a minute. “I have quite a bit of paperwork to catch up on, so I may spend part of the day in my home office. But you can order any movie you’d like on pay-per-view.”

“You won’t watch with me? It’s always more fun to watch with a friend.”

A friend? Is that how she wanted to think of him now? He wasn’t her friend. No true friend would have such raunchy urges warring in his body. But “friend” was certainly better than where they had been heading.

“Maybe. I can’t promise.”

“Oh.” Her face fell. He longed to reach over and squeeze her hand, but knew that any body contact between them would just be asking for trouble. He wouldn’t want her to misinterpret something meant as a comforting gesture.

When they got to his house she opened her own car door and walked beside him toward the gate.

“I’m pretty tired,” she told him. “I think I’ll just go up to bed.”

“All right. Good night.” He really should leave well enough alone, but her somber expression moved him. He still felt responsible for what had gone wrong that evening. “Macy—”

She turned on the stairs and looked down at him. She appeared so small and vulnerable, clutching her little purse. From behind, her porch light made a gold halo around her soft curls.

“Yes?”

“Sweet dreams.” It was the last thing he had always said to Allie at night.

A hint of a smile curved Macy’s lips. “Thanks. Same to you.”

* * * *

Macy turned on her side and stared at the LED readout of her bedside clock. It was after 2:00. She’d been lying there awake since she’d crawled into the bed at eleven. Every time she’d begin to drift off, she’d remember the way Jerrod’s mouth had felt on her breasts. The tug of his lips, the scrape of his teeth had created the sweetest little pain she could imagine, nothing at all like the awkward way Perry White had touched her last year when they made out after the football game.

She reached up under the sheets and covered her breasts with her hands, rubbing her nipples roughly, tweaking them the way Jerrod had. It wasn’t the same at all. His lips had been searing, demanding, yet gentle. His fingers has known exactly how hard to pinch to send thrills of pleasure from her nipples to her—

To her
pussy
.

There. She’d said that word again to herself. A little coil of tension tightened inside her. She licked her lips and dared to whisper it out loud into the dark empty room.