Burning Wild (45 page)

He moved behind her head, his impressive erection over her face. Her heart beat faster, her thigh muscles twitched with arousal and her mouth watered at the sight of him standing there, long and thick and so on fire for her. She knew what he was doing. Claiming her. Showing her who she belonged to. Feeling in control.

She had gone from simply going along with his silly domination routine to wanting his pleasure above all else, even above her own. Whatever he needed, she wanted to provide. Without her hands, Emma realized she had to really work at understanding how to please him—to pleasure him. And she never wanted him to forget this moment—or her, and what she could do to him. When he moved into position above her, she rubbed her face against him, all over him, almost purring like a cat. She saw his start of surprise and he stopped trying to take control from her, allowing her to nuzzle him.

Jake was shocked at the sensations exploding through him just at the feeling of her face rubbing along his shaft, at the sensuality of the act itself. He was shocked at how she loved him, never pulling away, never turning her face from him. Her eyes went soft, almost glazed, as if by giving him pleasure, she was enjoying herself, even delighting in her sensual play. His breath nearly stopped when she took him in her mouth, not deep, just enough to apply slow, wet heat and soft suction. Just enough for her tongue to curl and tease around and under the mushroomed head where he was most sensitive.

She made him soft inside—like mush—when his body was rock-hard. He looked down at her face, her eyes half closed, long lashes like two thick crescents fluttering against her skin, her mouth worshiping him.
Worshiping.
He had been with a lot of women and none had ever looked like that. Enthralled with giving him pleasure. Caring that she took him to another place. Other women had fallen under his domination and submitted to his will, wanting their reward—wanting
him
to pleasure
them
. Thinking they would come away with a ring on their finger and a fat bank account at their disposal.

She kissed the broad, flat head and then along his shaft before sliding her mouth over him again in a slow, loving movement that nearly had him on his knees. She sucked gently, the feel of her tight mouth sizzling along every nerve ending he had. Her mouth left him again so she could give the same treatment to his balls. He was already tight, boiling hot, and she nuzzled, kissed and licked him with that same purring vibration that nearly drove him wild.

He was melting, damn it, turning inside out. She was taking control of him again, making love to him. He felt the emotion wrapping around him like living silk, squeezing him, milking him, tightening around his heart the way her mouth tightened around his cock—strangling him until he couldn’t breathe for the pleasure.

He caught her long hair, wrapping it around his fists, startling her. His heart beat too fast, nearly exploding in his chest. His lungs burned for lack of air. He took back control the only way he knew how, taking over, forcing her compliance when she would have given it to him freely, because if he didn’t—if he didn’t—he would be lost for all time. Her mouth was tight as he slid deeper. Jake thrust his hips closer, his head thrown back in ecstasy.

“Come on, honey, you can do it. Breathe. Take me farther. I love the feel of your mouth and throat squeezing me like this. You want this as much as I do. This is one of those lessons that is very important. Relax your throat for me.” He didn’t want her to ever know that she had cut him off at the knees with her lovemaking. He couldn’t let that happen.

Emma wasn’t certain what happened. One moment she was thoroughly enjoying herself, loving him, feeling his response, and the next he was treating her objectively, as if her only reason for living was to service him. Was that his only way of receiving pleasure? She tried to please him, struggling to take his thickness, feeling the need in him, the pleasure bursting through him. Her throat was sore from his size and he controlled every move, which was just a little frightening, but also vaguely exciting to her. His fists were tight on either side of her head, as he slid in and out of her mouth, holding himself deep for a few moments and then pulling back just enough so she could breathe.

The phone rang and Emma froze. Jake released one hand from her hair and hit the speaker phone before gripping her hair again and thrusting more gently this time, urging Emma to continue.

“Yes?” His voice was gruff.

Emma smiled, relieved he wasn’t as casual and unaffected as he acted. Deliberately she swirled her tongue around the flared head, teasing the underside. If he could try to keep his mind on his business while she lay naked, sprawled out on his desk with his shaft sliding erotically down her throat, she was going to make certain it wasn’t going to be easy for him.

“They’ve come back with a counteroffer, Mr. Bannaconni, one I think is really exciting as well as advisable to take.” Dean Hopkins, the manager of his real estate business, once again called to persuade him to sell. “I took the liberty of beginning to draw up the papers so you would just have to sign them.”

“No.” The word was clipped, harsh. Jake threw back his head and moved his hips, so close to ecstasy his ears were ringing.

“But, Mr. Bannaconni, we’re losing money every month. It’s pouring out of here, covering the mortgages on all the property you’ve bought up, and nothing is coming in. We’re not going to get another offer like this.”

“No.” His voice was hoarse.

Emma flattened her tongue and stroked, humming softly as Jake slid deeper, increasing the vibration, going back to her way of making love to him. He gave a soft sigh of pleasure and she relaxed, focusing completely on his erection, making it her entire world, a playground of sensual pleasure where nothing else mattered to her. She used her lips and tongue and the gentle edge of her teeth, used her throat and her mouth, pouring her love into, around him, so that the world surrounding her receded and even the sound of his voice drifted far away.

She reached her head back farther and the position caused her to be aware of the stretch of her arms and legs, of her neck, and she moaned. She knew he felt it from his reaction. She felt him swell more.

“We’re done, Hopkins,” Jake hissed and abruptly leaned over to punch the button on the phone again, disconnecting. The action caused her muscles to squeeze him tightly. She didn’t fight, although it must have hurt, must have been frightening, the loss of breath and complete control. He hadn’t meant to do it. He withdrew, hardly able to breathe himself, let alone walk with his body full and hard and pulsing with desperate need. Her eyes watched him, sparkling emerald jewels, just watched and waited, never condemning, never hating, her body lying open and ready and willing to do anything for him. Not for money. Not for her pleasure. Simply because she loved him.

“Damn you, Emma,” he said softly, moving around to position himself between her spread thighs. “You’re killing me slowly.”

“Maybe I should give
you
a safe word, Jake,” she answered, her voice soft.

“What would it be?” He caught her foot and tugged it out of the loop, wrapping her leg around his waist and then repeating the action with the other one.

“Love.” She smiled at him, that slow, gentle smile that left him weak. “I know you won’t use it and we can go on like this forever. I want you to be inside me forever.”

“What the hell am I going to do with you?” There was soft despair in his voice, a strangled note of love that rasped over his skin like the caress of her fingers.

He thrust into her body, driving through her soft folds, needing to be deep within her, to feel her surround him, skin to skin, the hot flames licking up his legs to his thighs, centering in his shaft as he welded them together. “Stay with me, honey. Right with me.” He kept his pace slow, savoring the heat of her, the way he moved inside of her, the way he felt in that moment, almost as if their souls slid against each other. “Give me your hands.”

He bent his body over hers, and when she held up her hands, he wove his fingers tightly through hers and stretched her arms over her head, holding her beneath him, covering her, blanketing her, his body driving deeper, wanting to touch her inside as deeply as she touched him.

Her hips picked up his rhythm as he rode her, rising to meet each hard thrust. He was big and he could feel himself bumping against her cervix, pushing deeper, insisting she take all of him. And she did. No matter how much he asked of her, she gave him more. This time he was the one who needed to see into her soul.

“Look at me.” He had to know it was there, real or not. He didn’t even give a damn anymore, he had to see her looking back at him with love in her eyes.

Her gaze met his and he was lost again. Drowning. Whatever he had been before her was gone and only this man—both man and cat; he didn’t know anymore—looked back at him.

“Who am I, Emma?” he challenged softly. “Who’s inside of you so deep I’m part of you. Who am I?”

He surged forward again, plunging through the tight muscles, feeling the fire spread up over his belly, threatening to consume him. Her breath hissed out between her teeth and her eyes glazed, but she didn’t look away. She kept her gaze locked with his.

“Jake. You’re Jake. The man I love with every breath in my body.”

“Can you really love who I am, Emma?” He took another dizzying stroke, watching her eyes go opaque.

“Yes.” Her hips rose to meet him.

“The man and the cat? The rage? The domination? Can you live with that?” He slammed into her hard. Aggressively. Tearing through her silken sheath to bump hard against her cervix.

She didn’t even wince. Instead, she smiled that slow, gentle smile that turned his heart inside out.

“I love everything about you, Jake.
Everything.
But can you live with me—with this? With me loving you? With you loving me back?”

His eyes burned and his throat closed. He held her pinned beneath him, his body thrusting in and out of hers, while his blood sang and the fire ran up from his belly to his chest, burning over his lungs and heart to consume him. He heard his hoarse shout. Her name. Emma. His life. His world. Emma. That was all. That was everything.

Her muscles clamped down on him, raw silk, alive with heat and fire and something much, much more. He didn’t know what she did to him, only that when he was deep inside her she took him all the way in, to someplace far beyond what he’d ever known or imagined. He heard her soft cries, knew there would be no holding back, and he let himself go, giving himself up to the sheer ecstasy her body provided. He emptied himself into her, feeling the earth-shattering orgasm ripping through her body, through his, so that for that never-ending moment stolen in time, they were one body, one soul.

Jake stayed draped over her, still deep inside her, spent, fighting for air, his body sated and limber, stretched out across hers, his arms caging in her head while he buried his face in the softest part of her neck. His eyes burned, his body shuddering. He held her tight to him, his lips pressed against her pulse while she wept for him. If this was love, whatever was between them, he had no intention of ever losing it.

“Jake.” Emma untangled her fingers from him. His face was wet against her neck. She stroked caresses over his head, not wanting to make him move, but barely able to breathe with his weight pressing her into the wood of the desk. “Are you all right?”

He lifted his head, his hands framing her face. He looked stricken and his eyes seemed wet, but she couldn’t tell if there were tears.

“I swear, Emma, every time I’m in you, the fucking earth moves.” He lowered his head and kissed her. Not one of his usual demanding, take-charge kisses, but a long, lingering, tender kiss that left her weak and shaken.

Jake carefully slid his body from hers, helping her to sit on the edge of his desk. His hands steadied her as she swayed a little. “Can you stand up, Emma?”

“Jake?” Emma wrapped her arms around his neck and used him to pull herself into a standing position. She stood, swaying against him, afraid her legs wouldn’t hold her. “Next time, I want a bed. I mean it. No floors, no outdoors, no desks—an actual bed.”

He laughed softly and hugged her to him. “That’s a promise.”

She lifted her face for another kiss. “Sex with you is an adventure, but I’m thinking I might be getting too old for it. Give me a mattress and I’ll be a happy woman.” She looked at the bathroom door. It seemed miles away. “You’re going to have to carry me.”

“What makes you think my legs are working?” he demanded, cautiously straightening to his full height. His golden eyes searched her face. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

She smoothed the lines of anxiety from his face. “I’ll let you know when you’ve hurt me, Jake.” She slid her arms around his neck and held him to her. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“You should, Emma.” He buried his face in the fall of silken red hair. She smelled of sex and essentially Emma. She smelled like
his.
“Why don’t you want to marry me immediately?”

Emma sighed, savoring the feeling of his body against hers. “Because you still think you have to trap me into staying, Jake. How are you going to believe I love you and accept who you are if you can’t trust in me? If you can’t accept who you are and believe you’re worth loving?”

He swung her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. “You don’t have their blood running in your veins like I do. It’s hard to trust myself when two monsters made me.”

She tilted her chin at him. “Yes, I do have bad blood running in my veins. My father was Trent’s nephew. He went to the rain forest to find a woman, seduce her, bring her back to the States and sell her. I don’t really think my bloodline is all that much better than yours. And as Trent was very willing to rape me that night, and watch someone else rape me, I’m thinking he’s right up there with your enemies.”

She smoothed his hair and leaned into him to brush kisses along his jaw and the corner of his mouth. “You made something of yourself, Jake, because you had a code and you’ve always lived by it. You’re strong and you’re good and so is that part of you that is your cat. The traits you don’t like in yourself will always be there, and like the rest of us who have undesirable traits, you’ll have to find a way to overcome them on a daily basis. That’s what the rest of the world does.”