Take Me if You Dare (Entangled Brazen) (12 page)

Footsteps and a flash of a red jacket in her peripheral vision caused her to stop short of running into someone. She looked up and recognized the logo from the local pizzeria on the delivery guy’s cap.

“Sorry.” He did a double-take as he recognized her from the night of the fight. His face reddened.

Spotting Ethan’s guest apartment number on the tag attached to the thermal pizza bag he was carrying, she caught his arm before he hurried past her up the stairs.

“Great, our pizza is here. I’ll take it.” She quickly reached into her pocket for her wallet and slipped out an amount based on the previous two times she and Ethan had ordered his favorite from the same restaurant.

She held out the money, but the guy hesitated.

“Don’t worry. Ethan Worth is my boyfriend. He ordered the pizza, right—pepperoni, olives, green peppers, and sun-dried tomatoes?” She added in an extra twenty dollars. “Keep the change.”

A large smile broke out on the delivery guy’s face. “Thanks.” Taking the money, he handed over the pizza and jogged away.

Chapter Eighteen

Ethan dropped his second duffel bag next to the larger one he’d already put near the front door. A call to Devin had given him the information he’d needed. Jasmine was done with all of the tours and briefings at Bode-Wynn’s other facilities and was on her way home to Dallas. If the weather held out on this end, he’d beat her there.

Anger wasn’t pushing him as hard anymore, but he still wanted an explanation. She’d deliberately tried to hurt him with that note. No, not tried…had. It had taken a lot of manning up to admit, and it was probably going to take a lot for her to admit why. But if what she’d written under that photo was the truth, and she did care, then they needed to talk things out.

He reached for his cell phone lying on the arm of the couch and rechecked the time. He still had four hours until his flight. Anticipation gnawed at him. Before he put the phone down, he pulled up the picture of him and Jasmine. The honest smile on her face made her even more beautiful and he looked completely taken by her, but most of all they looked happy.

The doorbell rang.

Ethan tossed the phone on the sofa cushions and went for his wallet lying on the kitchen counter. On the way to the door, he counted out enough money for the bill and a generous tip, and then shoved his wallet into the back pocket of his jeans. When he opened the door, the scent of hot pepperoni wafted in along with the fresh scent of rain and a light, feminine fragrance. He stared at Jasmine standing in his doorway wrapped in a blue raincoat and froze.

She offered him the box and a tentative smile. “Pizza delivery.”

He accepted it, and the heat seeping through the cardboard box confirmed she was there. Irritation, happiness, wanting to pull her in and kiss her until they had to stop or pass out from lack of oxygen, it all warred inside him along with the uncertainty tightening his throat. He found his words just as her smile started to slip away.

“Are you coming in?”

“Yeah, if it’s okay.” A small frown creased the middle of her forehead and he resisted the urge to reach out and smooth it away.

He turned and took the pizza to the kitchen. As he took down plates and glasses from the upper cabinet, he kept his back toward her. “Should I even bother to offer you a plate or should I just wrap up a slice in some foil so you can take it and go on your merry little way?”

A long silence followed and heat prickled on his nape as he resisted looking back.

“I’d like to stay if that’s all right.”

The door clicked shut and his heart rate kicked up more than just a notch. His cock also perked up, clearly ready to skip the formalities. He blew out a frustrated breath. How was he supposed to keep his head straight when his brain was fighting against the hard-on from hell? Calling upon every mind and body tactic he’d ever been trained to use, he stood his ground. “I have water and one bottle of cola left in the fridge. I don’t care which one you choose. Just pick one.”

Fabric rustled behind him. “Can I choose you, instead?”

He flatted his hands on the counter. No. She couldn’t show back up and expect things to be the same. He whipped his head around, planning to give her his take on things, but most of the blood in his veins pumped furiously past his waist. Jasmine sauntered forward in nothing but her high heels and a lingerie set that was little more than a whisper against her skin.

Damn…
and she’d even remembered his favorite color.

That was the only thought he could form for a good long second. “Jasmine, why are you here?”

As she walked into the kitchen, he took in every delectable part of her, starting from her smooth, toned bare legs up to the triangle of lace held up by satin bows on each of her hips. His mouth grew dry at the sight of the dark, shadowed line between her thighs.

She stood a few short inches away from him. “I’m here to tell you I’m sorry,” she whispered, “and to ask you to forgive me.”

It was as if the plea in her soft voice wrapped around his length and squeezed.

He gripped her shoulders, finding it hard to believe that he was holding her away from him. “It’s not that easy, Jasmine. You can’t just waltz in here with a pizza, ask for my forgiveness, and think that makes your little repeat disappearing act okay.”

“I know it’s not okay.” She laid one of her hands on his chest, and he diverted the pleasure it brought him into the tension gathered in his shoulders. “It’s just that…” She paused. “When I agreed to Tab’s dare in Miami, I didn’t think I’d meet someone and develop such a strong connection.”

“Dare?” A spark of irritation hit him. He couldn’t have heard that right. “What dare?” Her soft skin cushioned his fingers as he gripped her harder, and he reminded himself to loosen his hold.

“No—wait, it’s not what you think.” She laid her other hand on his chest as words rushed out of her mouth. “When Tab and I were eight years old, I dared her to kiss Teddy Gibson on her birthday because she had a crush on him, and then on my birthday she dared me to eat a cupcake with hot sauce sprinkled on top of it.”

Seeing her so flustered eased some of his doubts, but it wasn’t enough.

“Jasmine, I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“Tab and I have dared each other to do something on every birthday, and she thought me having a one-night stand would help me get past Greg.” She sighed and as much as he tried, he couldn’t stop his gaze from straying down to the swell of her breasts. “I was just about to give up on the dare when I met you.”

The sincerity in her eyes almost melted him.

“But we didn’t have just one night,” he said. “We lived together for eight days and it wasn’t just about sex.”

“I know.”

“So why did you leave me a note saying that’s all it was to you?” Remembering what she’d written fired him up again and he tightened his hold. “Why would you send an email with the picture we took at the track the day before saying the exact opposite? It can’t be both. Which is it?”

“I meant what I wrote in my email. It was the best day ever, best week ever.” Her expression grew even softer. “And to me you are the most wonderful guy in world.”

Hearing her say that eased some of the tension from him. “Then why did you write that note?

She started to look away, but then she met his gaze. “I left it because I was afraid. When it stopped being just sex between us, the lines got blurred.” She offered up a delicate shrug. “I knew if we kept going, we were headed toward what scares me the most, a long-distance relationship.”

“And now?”

She audibly swallowed. “I’m still scared, but I want us to find a way to work it out.”

Ethan gazed down at her, wishing he could tell her something to ease her fears, but all he had was the truth. “Jasmine, you have to understand. I can’t be in Bumfuck, Nowhere, on assignment worried if the woman I care about is still going to be there when I get home. In my line of work, distractions get people hurt.” He felt her fingers curl slightly into his chest, but she didn’t back away. “I know you’re scared—hell, I am too—but I think what we have is worth something, and I’m willing to try. I know not having me around won’t be easy for you, but even though I won’t always physically be with you, you have to trust that I’m always here for you, and when it gets hard, you have to be tough enough to fight for us and not run away.”

“I understand.”

He released an unsteady breath. “Are you sure you’re ready to commit to that? Because if you’re not, you can’t stay.”

She dropped her head and stepped forward until she molded against him from full breasts to luscious hips. “I’m sure.”

His thin line of control was almost breached, but he wanted to see her face, needed to see more than just physical desire for him in her eyes.

Testing his sanity, he skimmed his hands up her arms and gently held her away again.

“Jasmine?”

She raised her head and looked at him with hope in her eyes. “I want us to try a long-distance relationship. I know it won’t be easy, but —”

Breathing in relief, he pulled her to him and devoured the rest of her words. His hands roamed over skin and came to an abrupt halt when his fingers brushed over two condom packages folded over the start of a satin G-string threaded down the center of the sweet globes of her ass. He picked her straight up, moving fast, and headed for the bedroom.

Laughing, she fell over his shoulder and hit him on the butt. “Put me down.”

He smacked her back.

“Hey,” she squealed out. “What was that for?”

“Running away again, leaving that tacky note, driving around Florida half naked—take your pick,” he growled out.

They reached the bedroom, and he lowered her onto the bed. As she lay across the mattress, she skimmed her hands between her thighs and over the triangles barely covering her breasts.

More blood rushed from his head, and Ethan pulled off his clothes in record time.

When he lay down beside her on the bed, she reached for his cock, and her touch made him lift up from the bed. He was hard and aching with the need for release, for the ease only she could provide him. Sweet agony built up inside him with the stroke of her fingers, pumping slowly at first, and then harder and faster with each rise and fall of her hand. She leaned over, torturing him with kisses and soft bites to his neck and chest. Her lips closed over his nipple and his balls tightened. As she continued downward and traced her tongue along his abdomen, his cock pulsed and leaped in anticipation.

But as much as he wanted her warm mouth wrapped around him, burying himself inside her called to him even more. He pushed himself up and rolled Jasmine under him.

As he crushed his mouth to hers, too many hours believing he might not see her again fueled his kiss. He moved his hand to the front clasp of her bra, his whole body shaking as he fought to slow down, but Jasmine’s moans spurred him on. He tugged impatiently on the front clasp of her bra, and his fingers tore into the fragile lace, but she didn’t seem to care. She kissed him harder, sucking his tongue into her mouth, and ground her hips up against him.

Once he freed her breasts, he trailed kisses down her neck and pulled her nipple into his mouth. He pressed his length against the barrier that kept him just short of paradise.

“Condom,” she panted out, rising up her hips to give him access to the packages still tucked in the back of her G-string.

He tore one of the packages open, took out the condom, and tossed the remaining one aside. He rolled it on and turned to Jasmine. Her eyes met his, soft and slumberous with desire, as she took his hand and guided it to the bow at her hips. He tugged the end of the ribbon and it slid apart. Reaching for the other side, he did the same and slowly peeled away the sheer lace triangle revealing a sight that made his heart beat so hard it echoed in his ears.

As he glided his palm over the thin strip of hair covering her sex, Jasmine’s belly quivered with uneven breaths. Mesmerized, he slid one finger, then two, into her silky heat and grazed her clit with his thumb. He continued stroking inside her until she cried out her orgasm, eyes closed, her small hands fisting tighter and tighter into the comforter as dewy wetness bathed his hand.

She was sweet and generous, and seeing her come apart in front of him heightened his need to be inside her, loving her. He stretched his body over hers and let her guide him home. His brain went numb for a second with the feel of her silky channel surrounding him. She moved underneath him, and he grasped her hips, setting the pace at a pounding rhythm that she matched with each quick rise and fall of her hips.

Thighs gripping around his waist, she clung to him in the midst of another orgasm. Her nails raked his skin; her high heels spurred him low on his back, her pussy clenched around him like a vise. Ethan willingly endured all of it in exchange for the sweet pleasure mounting up inside him until his release blinded him with sensations that stole the breath from his lungs.

The rush subsided, and he collapsed down but saved her from taking most of his weight. The air conditioner kicked on and cold air dried the sweat from his back, while her palms soothed away the chill. He rose up to his elbows, and she looked up at him from underneath her long lashes. He watched as her mouth, still swollen from his kisses, curved up into a contented smile.

Spotting her bra lying next to them on the bed, he reached for it and held it up by one of the straps. “Tell me where you bought it, and I’ll buy you another one.”

Hell, maybe he’d buy her a dozen of them.

She plucked it from his fingers and tossed it aside. “Don’t worry about it.” Her smile eased something open in his heart. “It was just a little something I picked up on a dare.”

As he looked down at her, a sense of realization brought a strong swell of emotion into his chest. He’d thought he saw regret in Dario’s eyes that day, but he’d gotten it wrong. His friend had found a sense of peace in that final moment because he’d been looking at all he’d loved. Ethan blinked back the moisture in his eyes. And if there was a chance for him to find that type of love with Jasmine, he was willing to take the risk.