What He Bargains (What He Wants, Book Nineteen) (39 page)

What if he’s not going to let you down?

So they sat together in the living room, telling old and harmless stories, staying away from the bad times. Jake talked about his simple upbringing and his younger brothers, and it was just a wonderful time and Raven wished it could have lasted forever.

I
n the guest
room at the end of the night, Raven undressed while Jake was in the bathroom.

She took off all her clothes and then put on just a long t-shirt again. It hung over the tops of her thighs and she felt very vulnerable but sexy wearing it for him. She liked the feeling.

Raven turned off the light and climbed into the bed, sliding under the covers, and waiting for Jake.

She was tired, but she was also adrenalized from imagining Jake in bed with her, his body so close, smelling him, feeling him.

She wanted to taste him too.

For a little while, as she waited, her thoughts took an unfortunate turn as she thought back to Andre and Caleb coming into the bar. Remembering the way Andre had spoken about her—the lies he’d told again after all this time—it made her want to scream.

Why did he seem to want to ruin her life?

What had she ever done to him?

And then Caleb—still the same old Caleb—unwilling to stop his best friend from acting terribly, unable to stand up for himself or for Raven. He was just the same as he’d been in high school, looking terribly uncomfortable with how things were playing out but still refusing to stand up for anything or anyone.

How did you ever think you loved him?

But she had thought it, and as a result she’d trusted him, she’d allowed him to record her that night of the party.

And then nothing had ever been the same.

The door creaked open. Jake’s silhouette was illuminated by the light from the hallway and Raven saw him pull off his t-shirt and then close the door. She heard him undoing his belt buckle, heard what sounded like his jeans falling to the floor.

And then he was climbing into bed next to her, the mattress settling beneath his weight.

Raven felt her nipples stiffen and between her legs it was moist and hot.

“Hi,” she said softly.

Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness, and she could see him turning toward her, but she couldn’t quite read the expression on his face. “So we got through the first day,” he said.

“Just barely.”

“Sometimes that’s the best you can do,” Jake said. “But I’ll take it.”

“Me too.” She smiled. She could hardly talk. Just feeling his warmth was intoxicating. “You really stood up for me, today. You were very brave.”

He laughed. “What, standing up to a few dumb hicks who didn’t know their ass from their elbow? That wasn’t anything.”

“Yes, it really was. It was something to me.”

He got quiet and then his hand touched her cheek, and a chill went through her entire body.
Don’t take it away, ever
, she thought. But then his hand withdrew.

“What happened with you and those guys?” Jake asked her. “How did they know you?”

Raven took a long, shaky breath. “One of them was my ex-boyfriend from high school.”

“Which one? The dickhead who threatened me with the broken bottle?”

“No, he was the best friend of my ex.”

“So which one was your ex?”

Raven didn’t even want to talk about Caleb. “He kind of stayed out of it.”

“Oh, that guy,” Jake said in a flat voice. She could sense him tensing up, could feel his energy shift.

What had he seen about Caleb that instantly upset him? Raven wondered.

“I hate them so much, you’ve no idea,” she told him.

“So what exactly did they do to you back in high school?” Jake asked. He sounded a little suspicious. “You’ve never really told me the story. Not in any detail.”

She did want to tell him the story, but not now. If she talked about it, she would relive it, and it was awful and she would break down, probably. Then she’d be useless and she didn’t want to be useless, not tonight.

Raven reached out and touched Jake’s bare chest, caressing it with her fingertips. “I could talk to you about what happened to me in high school, but I’d rather focus on you.” Her hand slid down to his stomach, and then he was grabbing her wrist.

“What if I want to focus on you?” he said.

“There’s a lot of different ways to do that,” she said, smiling a little in the darkness.

“I want to know what happened between you and those guys.”

“Why, you believe what Andre told you about me?”

“I didn’t say that,” Jake replied. “The point is, he didn’t tell me anything concrete. But he insinuated some stuff. I’m just curious what actually happened.”

“Maybe you’ll have to guess,” Raven said, knowing that she was starting to infuriate him.

Suddenly, Jake had pulled her close to his body, and she could feel his breath on her cheek. “I don’t play guessing games,” he said, his voice gravelly.

She arched her body into him, feeling her t-shirt ride up on her legs as she pressed against him and realized he was completely nude, not even wearing boxers. And he was hard as a rock. His cock slid against her upper thigh.

“You don’t have to play any games with me, Jake,” she whispered.

“I’m not so sure about that,” he said. “Because you won’t tell me what I want to know.”

“That was a long time ago—this is now,” she said.

“What’s his name, your ex?” he demanded.

“Caleb,” she said, starting to feel annoyed. “But I don’t want to talk about him.”

“Caleb,” Jake said, his tone dismissive. “Did you love him?”

“I thought I did.” She tried to pull free from Jake’s grasp but he wouldn’t let her.

“Do you still have feelings for that guy?” he said, becoming insistent.

She laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Don’t call me ridiculous, Raven,” he said, and she could hear from his voice that he was charged up.

“Are you jealous or something?” she laughed again.

And then he was using her wrist, twisting it until she turned away, and then he grabbed her other wrist and pushed her onto her stomach on the bed. He had her arms pinned to the mattress and he was straddling her legs.

Her t-shirt had pulled up to her hips, exposing her lower half completely.

Jake flattened his body down on top of her and his lips were against her ear. “I don’t like that guy, Caleb,” he said. “I don’t like that you were even in the same room as him tonight.”

“During the fight?” she said. “All he did was pull me away when I was trying to get involved.”

“How nice of him,” Jake said sarcastically. “He must have been really concerned about you, after his sidekick talked all that shit.”

“I don’t care about Caleb,” she said. “I don’t care about him at all.”

Jake let go of her wrists and sat up. And then he was grabbing her butt cheeks with both hands. “You won’t tell me what I want to know, Raven. You won’t fucking tell me what I want to hear.”

And then he spanked her ass.

The sound was loud, like a gunshot in the tiny room.

“Jake,” she whispered. “Someone’s going to hear.”

“I don’t care.” His breathing was heavy.

Slap.

Slap.

Slap.

He spanked her bare ass hard. She moaned, as the beautiful sexy pain made her shiver with the intensity of it. She grit her teeth.

“Jake,” she moaned.

“You shouldn’t keep things from me,” Jake said. Slap. His hand crashed into her bare buttock and then he held her ass, squeezing it tightly. “It makes me crazy.”

She couldn’t believe what he was able to do to her. “I don’t want to think about my past,” she moaned softly to him.

And then he was grabbing her hair with one hand as his other hand spanked her ass cheeks, and he pulled her hair. “Then let’s focus on you,” he said. “Let’s focus only…on…you.”

Her pussy was wet, soaking wet, as he pulled her hair and spanked her bare bottom.

Suddenly he pushed further up on her, and his cock was sliding up, almost touching her pussy. His stomach pressed against her lower back, and then he was lying flat against her, and his lips were on hers, greedy, his tongue entering her mouth.

His cock felt incredible, warm and hard, like a hot iron rod, and his hand slid beneath her hips, circling around until his fingers were gripping her bare pussy.

His chest was flat against her back, his tongue in her mouth, and his other hand was pulling her hair.

Jake began carefully finger fucking her pussy, working his two fingers inside, one rubbing her clit while the other dove deeper into her wet hole.

This was what she’d wanted, exactly what she wanted.

Jake was holding her tightly, wrapped around her like a blanket, his muscular strong body plastered to her, glued together so closely that it was like he’d become part of her.

He slid his cock ever closer to her wetness, and she could even feel the slickness of his excitement.

His tongue dove into her mouth, exploring her, tasting her, and she could taste him too. He was minty and fresh from brushing his teeth, but he was still completely him. She could taste Jake, the manliness of him, the strength of him.

She wanted to taste his cock, too. She wanted to taste every part of him, lick his entire body, taste the salt of his sweat.

Meanwhile, he fucked her pussy with his two fingers, and she tried not to make so much noise, but it was getting almost impossible.

He stopped kissing her long enough to whisper in her ear while he fucked her pussy with his fingers.

“You’re so goddamn tight,” he said. “And wet.”

“I want to come,” she told him.

“Not yet. Don’t you dare come yet.”

“Please,” she begged.

He pulled her hair until her head came off the bed and then he was sucking on her neck as his cock slid over her mound from behind. He stopped just before entering, though.

She would have let him do that. She would have let him do anything.

His hand massaged her pussy, now. He was rubbing her folds so fast, so fast, so fast, and she was churning, every nerve was ready to fire, and he pulled her hair.

Then his mouth was on hers again and his fingers went inside, three fingers this time, deep into her.

And she came, a gushing geyser, came hard, her body stiffening.

It was incredible. It was sweat and heat and perfection. It was release.

“Oh my God,” she gasped, when it was over.

“Turn onto your back,” he commanded.

She did as he told her, and then he slid between her legs, his cock stroking her bare pussy, but not entering.

“Inside me,” she gasped.

“No,” he told her. He grabbed her wrists again and pressed her hands flat to the bed.

Raven’s legs were spread wide and she opened herself as fully to him as she could.

She wanted him to plunge inside, but he stayed out, stroking his huge shaft along the folds of the outside of her.

She was wet, and her juices were still flowing.

He pushed his hard cock against her. “Damn you feel amazing,” he said, throwing his head back.

And then the top of his cock was starting to push her folds aside.

“Fuck me, Jake. Please. Please.”

But he didn’t go in. At the last possible second, he slid up and over her mound and then he was shooting his come all over her stomach. Some of it sprayed her breasts, hot and warm and dripping.

There was a lot of it.

She came again too, just from the excitement of it, of being so close, of feeling Jake Novak’s cock up against her, pushing over her slit.

Jake let out a shaky breath and rolled off of her, lying on his back.

The two of them lay side by side, catching their breath.

“Do you think we were quiet enough?” he asked her.

“Not even close,” she whispered, and then they both started laughing.

“Yeah, I don’t think so either,” he agreed.

T
hey slept naked together
the rest of the night.

Raven had run to the bathroom and cleaned herself off, and then she’d come back to bed and Jake had been waiting for her, opening his arms and inviting her in.

He’d held her close all night, and despite being home, despite seeing that her father was ill, her brother sort of hated her, and the bullies had yet again lied about her and tried to ruin her life—despite all of that, she slept like a baby.

She was safe.

The next morning, she opened her eyes and found Jake staring at her.

“Hey,” she said, smiling, a little self-conscious.

“Hey,” he said. “I was watching you sleep. You’re beautiful, you know. Like, exquisitely beautiful.”

“Thanks,” she said, unable to believe he’d said it. Especially in the morning, when she so clearly did not look all that great.

“I used to wake up sometimes and look at Peyton, my fiancé,” he said thoughtfully. “And I never felt the way about her that I feel when I look at you.”

Raven was shocked to hear him say that, on so many levels. “You loved her, though.”

He was quiet for a long time. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. “I thought I did at the time. But we were young, and things weren’t as great as they paint it in the media. Nothing’s the way the media tries to make it out to be, but then, I guess I don’t have to explain that to you anymore.”

Raven couldn’t comprehend what she was hearing right then. Jake had suddenly, out of the blue, just opened up to her about his life. And she didn’t know quite what to say.

“What happened?” she said. “I mean, what went wrong between you two? Did you argue?”

“Yeah, sometimes. But it went a lot deeper than that.” He didn’t say anything for so long that Raven thought he was done talking about it. But then, finally, he said, “Trust was broken.”

“Oh.” She wanted to ask who broke the trust, and how, but she sensed it was very delicate. He was staring at the ceiling and his body was rigid, like he’d been carved out of stone.

She reached out to touch his shoulder and he flinched as if she’d burned him, and then he was sitting up in bed. “I should get up,” he said, suddenly. And then, just like that, he was putting on his jeans and a shirt. “I’m going to go have some coffee. Sounds like your folks are already awake down there.”