Rules of Entanglement (11 page)

“Baby, I want you so badly,” he said as he fondled her heavy breasts, “I’m afraid if I go any faster I’ll blow like it’s my first time.”

“I’m so close I’ll probably go with you.
Please, Jax!
”

“Ah, fuck. Hearing you beg is going to be damn addicting.” Banding his arms around her body, he said, “Hold on.” And with that he flipped the switch from slow-and-steady to fast-and-faster.

In and out, he pistoned his hips, filling her completely on every stroke. Sweat dripped from his brow over his temples. The slapping sounds of flesh against flesh filled the room. He could feel the juices from her pussy coating his balls as they drew up tighter to his body. White-hot heat pooled at the base of his spine, growing more and more with every passing second.

Vanessa wasn’t much of a talker during sex, but she made plenty of noise. A chorus of moans, heavy breathing, mewls, and whimpers became his new favorite playlist.

Taking things up a notch, Jax moved his hands. One captured a breast and tweaked the hard bud of her nipple, the other snaked down to run circles over her clit. Now they raced headlong toward the finish line. Gritting his teeth until his jaw felt ready to snap, he made sure he didn’t cross it first.

“Omigod, yes,” she cried on a gasp. “I’m gonna come, Jax. So. Close!”

He loved that she used his name. That he knew she wasn’t imagining anyone else. “Do it, Vanessa. I’m right there with you.”

A strangled cry escaped her lips as her sex quivered and convulsed around his cock. And with a few more strokes, he tumbled after her, filling the condom as her body milked him dry.

He wasn’t sure how long they lay there in a sweaty heap, but eventually he maneuvered her to the side so he could go take care of cleanup in the bathroom. He returned to the bed with a warm washcloth to find Vanessa passed out cold and snoring softly. Jackson supposed that meant an all-night sex fest was out of the question.

Chuckling to himself, he cleaned her as carefully and quickly as possible. Then he chucked the rag back in the general direction of the bathroom and slid in behind her before lifting the covers over them. He kissed the back of her shoulder and tried to get some sleep himself.

Day 3: Tuesday

“Rise and shine, V.”

Vanessa felt the warm rays of the sun stream across her face, causing her to squinch her eyes tight and moan into her pillow.

“Come on. I gotta get to the gym, and you’re coming with me today, remember?”

Remember? She couldn’t remember anything past the feel of his arms around her and the way he felt deep inside her. Even now her breasts tingled with the memory of his touch.

“Give me ten more minutes,” she muffled into her pillow.

His shadow fell over her face as he moved in front of her, his voice rumbling through her body and landing deep in her belly. “I usually prefer to go much longer, but considering our tight schedule, I’d be more than happy to give you a ten-minute wakeup call.”

Her eyes flew open to see Jackson’s wicked smile as he began to untie his white athletic pants.
Holy mother of God.
As much as she was tempted to let him make good on his promise—or maybe it was supposed to be a threat—she wanted to get her bearings with him before their next encounter. She wasn’t used to being caught off-guard, and considering how last night went down, off-guard was a major understatement.

When his thumbs hooked into his waistband and began tugging the material down, she bolted upright in bed and held a hand out to hopefully prevent any further exposure that would change her mind. “I’m up! I’m up. Just…uh…” She tried to think, but her brain felt steeped in a fog worse than a London morning. “Let me get some coffee in me, and we can go.”

“I already made it for you.” With a triumphant smile, he righted his pants and hauled her out of the bed by her waist. “It’s in a travel mug over on the counter.”

It was then she noticed she was standing stark naked in front of him in the garish light of day. Gasping, she yanked the sheet from the bed and clutched it to her chest. He chuckled and stepped waaaaay into her personal space. Unfortunately, if she backed up, she’d only succeed in falling back onto the bed, so she lifted her chin and stood her ground.

“What’s so funny?”

He placed those large hands on her hips. Since she hadn’t wrapped the sheet around her, his long fingers reached past where the material draped her frame, branding her skin with their rough heat and memories from the night. “The fact that you feel the need to cover up when hours ago I had free rein to do whatever I wished to this very naked body.”

“Yeah, well, there’s a huge difference between seeing something by moonlight and seeing it in sunlight. So if you don’t mind…”

Storm clouds rolled over his features. “I sure as hell do mind,” he growled. “I can’t believe a woman as strong and beautiful as you has body image issues. Now I
know
you’re crazy.”

She scoffed. “Every woman has body image issues, Jax. It doesn’t matter if you’re an average girl or Kate Moss.”

“Then I’m going to make you the first woman in the world to lose those issues.” Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he dipped her back slightly as his mouth took hers in a fevered kiss, damn near making her forget her name, much less her nitpicky self-image complaints. When he finally broke away, they were both a little out of breath. “But not now. Now we’re going to the gym, so get your cute ass in gear.” He pushed her toward the bathroom with a slap on her ass that made her jump and squeal in surprise.

She stuck her tongue out at him over her shoulder as she crossed the room, making sure her hips swayed, hoping it tortured him on some primal level. He more than deserved it for the stunt he pulled last night. Not that she was complaining. Him waking her up had been hot as hell. But now she knew she had to be careful, or Jax would end up taking a lot more from her than just her control.

…

Jackson ran a hand through his hair and let out the breath he’d been holding since he saw the red mark of his hand on that pale ass walking away from him. Fuck, he was in trouble. She was feisty as hell when she had her wits about her. It surprised him to find it was just as fun being on the receiving end of that arrogant attitude as it was to rid her of it with some well-placed kisses.

He wished he could say he’d slept as well as she had, but the small taste of her had only made him want her more. Most of the night was spent rocking in the hammock and convincing himself to leave her be for the remainder of the night instead of starting a sex marathon to rival the days of the Romans.

By the time the sun peeked over the horizon signaling the time for his morning run, he’d probably only gotten a couple hours of restless sleep. Now his eyes felt scratchy, and he hadn’t mustered the energy to shave, so he was sporting a day’s worth of stubble.

He wasn’t sure what the rest of the day would bring, but one thing was for sure. He needed to get some alone time with Miss MacGregor as soon as humanly possible.

She showered and dressed in record time and a half hour later, they arrived at the gym just as his other teammates were trickling in. He introduced her to his coach, Frank, and explained that she was a guest of his and would be sitting in as a spectator for the workout.

The guys gravitated to her like a
Playboy
bunny in a monastery. Frank brought out his “nicer than those damn metal things” leather office chair, and she had her pick of the Powerade Zero flavor rainbow from the guys who always brought coolers full of the things.

As he stretched on the mats, Jax looked on with amusement as she laughed at their antics and they dubbed her team mascot for the day. He couldn’t blame them for their good-natured flirting. Even with her hair in a ponytail and her simple outfit of khaki shorts and teal halter top, she made a damn pretty picture. Add in her outgoing personality and infectious smile, and there wasn’t one of his teammates who wasn’t smitten with her.

If they’d been anywhere else and random guys were paying her the same attention, Jax had a feeling he’d be a lot less amused. But his boys knew she was there with him, and regardless if he and Vanessa were openly dating or just friends, they wouldn’t break Guy Code by seriously hitting on her.

Soon Frank broke up the group and harassed the guys into starting their warm-ups. They did a bunch of jump-roping and jumping jacks, then dove headlong into suicide sprints. The entire camp of men worked their asses off, giving their coach one hundred and ten percent of their effort, and sweating enough to soak through their clothes five times over.

They took a five-minute break to rehydrate before they split into groups. Jax was in the group to hit the cardio circuit first. After that he’d move on to agility, strength, grappling, striking, and sparring. Leaning on the wall across the gym where he’d stashed his gear, he chugged his Powerade while trying to figure out why every cell in his body urged him to go to Vanessa and spend the few minutes of break he had left with her.

For that reason alone, he stayed right where he was. Enjoying her company and being eager to get her beneath him for some more fun between the sheets was one thing. But the need to take whatever opportunity he had just to be on the receiving end of that smile was a foreign feeling he wasn’t sure what to make of. So he’d prove to himself he
didn’t
in fact need it. That he was fine right where he was.

The double doors leading to the parking lot swung open and a lean kid barely old enough to drink legally sauntered through with a heavy gym bag slung over his shoulder, pushing his mirror-black sunglasses onto his head.

Coach glanced at the clock on the wall then glared at the kid sharply enough to cut right through him. “Akana! Who in the hell gave you permission to walk into camp whenever you damn well please?”

Chewing on gum like a cow with cud, Danny Akana offered an apology about as sincere as a lion to a zebra before his first bite. “Sorry, Coach. Overslept. Won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t,” Frank said with a finger jabbing the air in the kid’s direction. “Or next time you’ll be scrubbing everyone’s jocks after practice.”

Akana held both palms out in a sign of concession, but as soon as Frank turned his back, the punk made a jerking-off motion with his hand.

The kid was the son of one of Frank’s oldest friends, which explained Frank’s leniency with him. If any of the other guys had pulled that shit, they’d be punished physically until they puked, passed out, or both. Jackson didn’t know Akana well, as the kid had only been with the gym for a couple of weeks, but he knew enough to know that he didn’t like him. He was cocky and disrespectful, and Jax couldn’t wait for the day when someone knocked him down a peg or two. Or out.

“One more minute, fellas!”

Jax drained the rest of his drink, then crossed to the water fountain a few feet from Vanessa to fill the bottle before heading to the treadmill. She’d kicked the flip-flops from her pedicured feet and brought a foot up to rest on the chair with her arms wrapped around her bent leg. She looked like a pixie princess in casualwear perched on her leather throne while overseeing her subjects.

He grinned as he studied her profile from the corner of his eye.
A pixie
. That’s definitely what she reminded him of with her wild hair, pale skin, and graceful willowy frame. Even her facial features gave her an elfin look. Her pert nose turned up ever so slightly at the end, her lips were full but not overly wide, and her ears had the slightest of rounded points at the top.

But her personality was anything but delicate, and anyone who got in her way learned real quick the age-old lesson of never judging a book by its cover.

Just as he turned to head to the treadmill, Jax caught a sight that held him in place. Akana had approached Vanessa and was now flirting with her. But it wasn’t the harmless kind. He was actually making a play for her.

Jackson’s muscles clamped down on his bones. Unable to stop himself, he strode over, prepared to send Akana off with a threatening glare every man understood meant
back the fuck off
.

“The kid bothering you, V?”

She glanced up at him with a smile and said, “Not at all. Danny here was kind enough to offer me his
services.
He said he could show me how the local boys
do
it
around here,” she said with enough sarcastic innuendo to choke a donkey. Or embarrass the hell out of a dude who’d obviously been a little crude with his come-ons.

Jax glanced at Akana, gauging his reaction. “Awfully neighborly of him.”

V nodded. “Wasn’t it, though? Unfortunately, I was just about to inform him that I don’t do anything with
boys
, local or otherwise, and I already have a man for the job.”

Well, color him shocked as hell. The kid’s jaw shifted back and forth, no doubt grinding his molars into a fine dust, and his face looked a little too flushed, considering he hadn’t done even a single jumping jack.

“You heard the lady, junior. Job’s taken,” Jax said. “Now go start your block training before Coach has you scrubbing my jock with your toothbrush.”

Akana didn’t say anything with his mouth, but his eyes said a whole lot of
fuck you
. Jax just raised an eyebrow in a silent challenge, daring the kid to start something, but soon he spun around and stalked off in the opposite direction.

“Nice work,” he told her with a wink. “You doing okay?”

“Are you kidding?” she said as she stood and stretched. “If I’d have known watching sweaty men with gladiator bodies could be so entertaining, I’d have done this years ago. Next time, I’m bringing popcorn.”

He chuckled and stepped in to her. He couldn’t help himself. The hand not holding his water settled in the dip of her lower back as he bent his head to her ear, using the pretense of needing to whisper so he had an excuse to feel her skin and inhale her citrusy scent. “We can leave whenever you want. Say the word and I’ll pack my gear.”

“Aw,” she said with a pout in her voice. “Are you tired already? ’Cause that’s okay if you are. You shouldn’t feel like any less of a man for it.”

His head fell back on his shoulders as he let out a quick
oh no she didn’t
laugh. Then he sobered and gave her his warning with his lips brushing her cheek. “That’s the start of your punishments for later, woman.”

Making a sound like she’d just bit into a Godiva truffle, she took a step back and gave him a saucy wink. “You might just wanna keep a running tab for those, stud.” Then she smacked his ass before walking away and loudly informing the entire gym they’d be “eating their junk for lunch” if they stepped foot in the locker room within the next five minutes.

A dozen men froze in place, suddenly wary of their pretty mascot and no doubt afraid for their “junk.” Realizing her casually tossed threat turned out to be quite the showstopper, she laughed, the tinkling sound echoing on the tile walls as the door closed slowly behind her.

Every other man in the room may want to turn tail and run from a bold and sassy woman like Vanessa, but Jackson had the exact opposite reaction. He wanted to tackle her to the nearest surface, strip her naked, and make her scream his name.

And he would, too. Maybe not now and maybe not in the next few hours. But soon.

He felt his boxer briefs shrinking and huffed a sigh of frustration as he headed to the cardio area. “Wonderful,” he muttered. “Now I have to do a ten-mile run with a hard-on.”

Fucking hell.

He was in so much trouble.

…

Vanessa felt like a complete ass.

As Jax worked through his training routine, her jaw worked at not gaping in awe. She wanted to kick herself for not paying better attention when Lucie had talked about her brother’s and Reid’s fights over the years. She hated being ignorant in any situation, and at the moment, she felt like the biggest ignoramus on the planet.

He’d already done so much in the first couple of hours: sprints with bungees attached to him, swinging a sledgehammer onto a gigantic tractor tire, and flipping said monstrous tire end over end for what seemed like an eternity.

With each exercise, his muscles flexed and rippled as he isolated them in different motions. They reminded her of the waves rolling and undulating toward the shores. His body was a beautiful machine and though he poured with sweat and his chest heaved with labored breaths, he never once slowed down or even complained when given a task. Instead, it seemed as if he pushed himself harder with each new session.