Born to Be Wild: Welcome to Paradise, Book 3 (6 page)

The blonde faltered. And for the first time since she’d surprised him, he realized she wasn’t wearing her usual ice-princess getup. No skirt and blazer, no pantyhose, no heels, just faded blue jeans and a lacy camisole the same shade as her glacier-blue eyes. He was surprised by how pretty she looked in the casual garb. It made her seem much more approachable, as did the blush that splotched her flawless cheeks.

“I walked,” she said carelessly.

“All the way from your place? That’s like twenty miles from here.” His suspicions intensified. “The diner is halfway between our houses. Why didn’t you stop for sugar there?”

“I wasn’t at my house,” she admitted. “I was visiting a friend, okay?”

His brows furrowed. “What friend?”

“I do have friends, you know.”

He faltered, averting his eyes as he fumbled to unscrew the cap of his beer bottle. Damn, she looked wounded, as if he’d actually hurt her by insinuating she didn’t have friends, which hadn’t been his intention at all.

“I mean who do you know that lives around here,” he clarified. “Nate’s closest neighbor is old Britt Jansen, and she whips out her shotgun if anyone so much as steps onto her property. Unless you’ve been hanging with Cooper Grady—he lives half a mile east of here, so—” He halted when Lexie’s cheeks turned redder.

Unable to stop himself, Jake laughed. “No fucking way. You and Cooper? That’s…”

Lexie’s lips tightened. “It’s none of your business, that’s what.”

He sipped his beer, then set down the bottle, unable to contain his amusement. “You and Coop, huh? Whatcha doing, slumming it? Taking a walk on the wild side?”

Lexie stiffened.

“Or let me guess, you decided to stick it to your uppity parents by letting Cooper stick
you
.”

Lexie flinched as if he’d struck her. Without answering, she shoved the container of sugar into the leather purse slung over her shoulder and took a step to the door. “Sorry to bother you,” she said quietly. “I’ll be out of your hair now. Don’t worry, I won’t pay you a repeat visit.”

“Lexie.”

She stopped in the doorway. “What?”

I didn’t mean to put that hurt look on your face.

But he couldn’t voice the words. Evidently there was a lot more to Lexie Price than he’d ever imagined, but the two of them weren’t friends, and he couldn’t bring himself to act like it.

“Let me walk you out,” he said with a sigh.

He trailed after her, unable to stop his mind from conjuring up the image of Lexie in the arms of tough guy Cooper Grady. Coop worked on Owen’s construction crew, but although Jake didn’t know the man too well, he did know
of
him. Cooper had a reputation for sleeping around and being kind of an asshole. Which made him the last man Jake pictured Lexie getting involved with.

“Can we…keep this entire thing to ourselves?” Lexie asked when they reached the front hall. “Pretend I was never here.”

He stepped forward to open the door for her. “Whatever you want, sweet—” His words died when he spotted Bree on his porch, her fist poised to knock.

A smile stretched over his mouth just as a frown marred hers. Bree’s head moved from him to Lexie, then back to him. “Guess this is a bad time,” she said in a tight voice.

Chapter Four

Bree felt like a total idiot as she stood there on the porch facing off with Jake and Lexie. Neither of them looked guilty, or worse, sported that we-just-had-sex glow, but what else would Lexie be doing all the way out here?

The blast of jealousy that hit her was annoying as hell, but she couldn’t help it. She and Lexie Price weren’t friends, nor were they the enemies they’d once been in high school, but the idea of Lexie in Jake’s bed made her blood boil. It also surprised the hell out of her, since Jake had never been Lexie’s biggest fan.

In the doorway, Lexie looked equally surprised to see
her
. “Bree?” she said in perplexity, that regal neck stretching as she tilted her head to the side.

“Hey, Lexie. How’ve you been?”

The blonde still looked mystified. “Good. You?”

“Can’t complain.” Bree’s gaze drifted to Jake, who was watching her with twinkling gray eyes. “I’ll come back another time,” she told him, somewhat stiffly.

“Naah, it’s cool. Lexie was just leaving.”

“Yep,” Lexie agreed, stepping onto the porch.

Bree’s eyes narrowed when she realized the other woman was wearing white Adidas. Since when did the ice princess wear
sneakers
?

“Jake,” Lexie added, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder, “I’d like to say it’s been fun, but it wasn’t. As usual.” She descended the porch steps. “See you later, Bree.”

Bree frowned as she watched the other woman veer off toward the cluster of trees on the edge of the property and disappear into the woods. Where on earth was she going? Though come to think of it, Bree didn’t see Lexie’s shiny BMW parked in the driveway.

She turned back to Jake, eyes narrowed. “What exactly did I walk in on?”

“Nothing,” he said with a shrug. “Lexie stopped by to pick something up.”

“And is now getting home via the forest route?”

“She’s an avid hiker.” Jake ran a calloused hand over his close-cropped hair. “And before you ask, I’m not sleeping with her. I prefer to make love to a woman, not a block of ice—too damn cold.” His gaze smoldered as he focused it on her mouth. “You, on the other hand, are hot as hell, sweetheart.”

The heat of his eyes made her swallow. Damn it. Why had she even come here? Last night, she’d been determined to keep her distance, ignore Jake’s ridiculous proposition and spend the week hanging out with her parents and working on her upcoming case.

But from the second she’d opened her eyes this morning, she’d been overcome with temptation. Sleeping with Jake again had been so incredibly amazing, yet her body was the furthest thing from sated. She’d been edgy and uncomfortable all day, squirming during her lunch with her mother, distracted as she’d tried scribbling notes for her opening statement. Every nerve ending had crackled, every inch of skin tingled, until she couldn’t concentrate on anything but the thought of having Jake’s hands all over her.

One orgasm from Jake Bishop and she’d reverted back to the girl she’d once been.

And as much as she hated admitting he was right, one orgasm hadn’t been enough.

Not by a long shot.

“That’s why you’re here, right?” he prompted when she didn’t speak. “To get me hot? To get us both hot?”

A sigh slipped out. “Yes.”

The smug expression that filled his handsome face should’ve annoyed her, but it only fueled the desire burning in her blood. Jake’s confidence in the bedroom was one of the reasons she’d been so drawn to him all those years ago.

“As long as we’re both in town, there’s no harm in having a little fling,” she admitted, albeit grudgingly. “But just for the week, Jake, and don’t get any ideas about continuing it when I go back to Denver.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said solemnly.

They eyed each other for several long moments, and then, before she could blink, Jake grabbed her hand and tugged her into the house.
 

He had her up against the wall in a nanosecond, his mouth coming down hard on hers, stealing the breath right out of her lungs. God, this man knew how to kiss. His lips were firm, unyielding, and his tongue didn’t seek permission before it plunged inside her mouth and teased her to oblivion. He devoured her, licked, sucked, nibbled, and she was gasping by the time he wrenched his mouth away.

“Hop up on the table,” he rasped, even as he lifted her up on the narrow cedar table spanning the hallway wall.

The second her butt connected with the solid wood, Jake dropped to his knees and bunched the hem of her white cotton skirt between his fingers. The calluses on his palms scraped a rough trail on her legs as he dragged the skirt up to her waist. His hungry silver eyes focused on her pink bikini panties, narrowing when he caught sight of the little white bow.

His hoarse voice rumbled over her heated skin. “Still wearing the good girl panties, I see.”

“They’re comfy,” she said defensively.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be much more comfy when I get these panties off you.”

True to his word, he got rid of the underwear, then planted his hands on her thighs and spread her legs. She shivered when the cool air met her fevered flesh. Anticipation gathered in her belly, throbbing in her muscles, tingling her breasts, but Jake didn’t make a move. He just knelt there, eyeing her exposed pussy like a man who’d just discovered a secret treasure.

“Fuck, you’re as beautiful as I remember,” he muttered, moving his gaze from the juncture of her thighs up to her face, which was flushed and scorching. “How do you want it, sweetheart? Slow and easy? Do I ease into it, or take it fast? I remember you always liked it a little rough…”

Bree squirmed, unbearable need building inside her. “Surprise me,” she choked out.

With a grin, he dipped his head and drove his tongue into her wet channel.

“Oh…
God
, Jake!”

Yep, he’d made the right choice, going for rough and dirty. No man had ever made her scream the way Jake Bishop did.

Bree’s eyes slammed shut as he feasted on her. He replaced his tongue with two fingers, pushing them deep inside and wiggling them around until she was moaning with abandon. Then he flattened his tongue and swiped it over her clit in fast strokes, summoning an orgasm from her in thirty seconds flat. A burst of pleasure exploded between her legs, ripping through her body like a tornado. Black dots flashed behind her closed eyelids. Shallow pants burst out of her lungs.

Jake didn’t give her any time to recover. The moment her moans subsided, he slowed the pace, licking her damp folds with the feather light flicks of his tongue then dipping lower to lap at the juices coating her opening.

“Jesus, Bree, you taste like heaven.”

His tortured voice caused her inner muscles to contract and clamp around the fingers still buried inside her. He gave a resounding groan and continued to work her into a mindless frenzy, swirling the tip of his tongue over her aching clit.

Bree’s head lolled to the side, her neck too heavy to support it. She was in real danger of passing out, and she sucked in a deep breath, trying to clear the sensual fog clouding her brain.
 

“Jake.”
 

His name came out on a sigh, and she lowered her hands to his hair, loving the way the short bristles abraded her palm. She was totally digging the buzz cut, and as a mental picture of Jake in uniform floated into her mind, a fresh wave of lust slammed into her.

“Come for me,” he mumbled. “I wanna feel you come again before I fuck you.”

Dirty talk had always been his forte—those raw, husky demands that left her hot and breathless. As he tongued her clit, she teetered on the brink, then toppled right over the edge as a second climax shuddered through her.

She’d barely had time to take a breath when Jake bounced up to his feet, unzipping his pants with his right hand while reaching into his back pocket with the left. He removed his wallet, then a condom, then his jeans.

Bree’s mouth filled saliva as she laid eyes on his cock. He was hard, thick, the circumference of him bigger than that of her wrist, and his tip was engorged and beading with precome.

He caught her staring and chuckled. “Up for one of your infamous Bree Lockhart BJs?”

She slid off the table, fixing him with a seductive look. “Always. Question is—are you?”

Jake leaned against the table, one hand reaching down to circle his stiff shaft. He gave it a firm pump, those gray eyes burning into hers. “Always,” he mimicked.

The male arrogance and smug glint in his eyes only fueled her determination to make him come apart. She’d always loved watching him unravel, reducing him to a cursing, groaning mess as she had her way with him.

It didn’t escape her that they were still in the hallway, that the hardwood floor beneath her knees wasn’t a soft mattress. Even back then, she and Jake had rarely made it to a bed, so not much had changed.

Bree kept her eyes locked with his as she leaned forward and got her first taste of him in twelve years. His entire body jerked when her tongue glided over the pearly drop forming at his tip.

“Slow and easy?” she taunted, then darted her tongue out for another fleeting lick.

“Fast and hard,” he choked out, his voice so hoarse it sounded like someone had shoved a handful of gravel in his mouth.

She shot him an evil smile. “Slow and easy it is.”

Jake wasn’t a man who liked being teased, which made teasing him all the more satisfying. She braced her hands on his muscular thighs and slowly took him into her mouth, sucking gently on the head of his cock. He twitched again, letting out a ragged expletive.

“More,” he demanded.

“No.” She tilted her head up. “Now be a good boy and put your hands on the table. No touching. No trying to control the situation.”

A husky laugh slipped out of his throat. “Jesus, Bree, I’ve missed you.”

She refused to let the remark affect her, ignoring the way her pulse sped up. She wasn’t about to say it out loud, but she’d missed him too. Missed the confidence he seemed to inspire in her. Missed the way she transformed when they were alone together. Jake made her feel bold and wanton. She could do anything and everything and he didn’t even bat an eyelash. He’d always been a more than willing participant when it came to her need to explore her sexuality.