Let It Snow (The Hope Falls Series) (25 page)

This had been too long coming. It was time. She wasn’t sure if this was the smartest move they’d ever made, but she knew she needed Jake and he needed her. And this was going to happen. Tonight.

Tessa assessed her freshly scrubbed face in the mirror and saw a woman who was surer of herself than Tessa could remember being in years. That was partly attributable to Jake’s influence, sure. But the strong, clear-eyed determination she saw in her own eyes came from deep within, and she was proud that she had that reserve of strength inside, just waiting to be tapped.

She smirked.
Speaking of waiting to be tapped.
She smiled as she dried off her face, immensely amused by her own pun. Then, as she reached for the doorknob, all of the self-assuredness and confidence she’d been so happy to be feeling vanished. Poof! In a span of three seconds, it was gone.

What if being with Jake tonight somehow further damaged their relationship instead of bringing them closer? They were just getting back to being friends. Yes, they’d gotten frisky in the studio, but this was different. And on the flipside of that coin, what if it did bring them closer? What then? It didn’t change anything. Right?

“Okay, okay, okay,” she whispered to herself, shaking her hands to try and release some of her anxiety. She knew that she couldn’t stand in the bathroom all night intellectualizing and overanalyzing her and Jake being together. So, taking a deep breath, she reached her now trembling hand out and turned the doorknob.

As she stepped out of the bathroom door, she saw that Jake was already waiting for her in the bedroom, sitting casually on the edge of the bed. He looked up as she walked towards him and the expression in his gorgeous big brown eyes stopped Tessa in her tracks. They were so full of emotion, but they appeared to be conflicted. She couldn’t quite get a read on what he was feeling, and it made her anxiety skyrocket.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” he rasped.

And just like that, Tessa wasn’t thinking about her nerves or anxiety. Jake’s compliment rushed through her like the raging white waters of the rapids. It had always been like that. Whether it was four little words, a touch, a smile, or a look, Jake affected her on a primal subconscious level.

Staring at him as his hungry gaze raked over her, she attempted to reply, but her voice came out as a whisper. “So are you.”

“Come here,” Jake responded, his voice growing thick with lust.

The sound of his voice like that, the sudden fullness of it, the catch in his voice, the rapidness of his breath—it washed over Tessa in a tidal wave. Suddenly, she was on fire from head to toe. She needed Jake. To be close to him. To feel his skin against her skin, his mouth on hers, or she felt like she would explode.

Spontaneous human combustion. Yep. She’d heard of it, and she didn’t think it could be caused by mere lust—but wow. After tonight, if she heard that such a thing were possible, she certainly wouldn’t question it.

She moved across the room in two steps on unsteady legs, her heart feeling like it would beat right through her ribs. She stopped only when she was standing in front of him, and his mouth turned up into a sexy half smile.

“Straddle it,” he directed, repeating the instruction she’d given to him earlier at the studio.

Tessa let out a little laugh, and the last tiny bit of anxiety and nervousness dissipated completely. This was Jake. Her Jake.

She placed her hands on his shoulder as she lifted one knee up on the side of his thigh. Before she could move the other one, Jake’s hands were on her, pulling her up on his lap, his mouth crushing hers in a passionate kiss. She could feel his hands roaming up and down her back, dipping down and cupping the firm globes of her backside.

Her hands moved over his strong shoulders and down his back. There was a thought in the back of her mind that there were too many layers of clothing between them, but Tessa couldn’t bring herself to break their kiss to remedy it. Even through the cotton of his shirt she felt his muscles rippling beneath her touch, but she wanted to touch skin.

So she moved her hands up and cupped his face. The bristly hairs of his panty-melting five-o’clock shadow beneath her palm sent a shock of tingles straight to her femininity. She gently dug her fingers into his skin at the powerful sensation.

Breaking their kiss, Jake’s mouth moved to the base of her wrist. He moved one of his hands and cradled hers as he lavished sensual attention on the sensitive area just beneath her palm. Tessa began feeling dizzy with arousal. The room was spinning so she closed her eyes. Then suddenly everything stopped.

Jake’s hand was no longer roaming up and down her back. His magical mouth was no longer kissing her flesh. He was perfectly still. The only movement she could feel was his chest rising and falling against her.

Opening her eyes, she found his jaw locked and fury in the eyes that had just been filled with lust and desire. His gaze was laser-focused on her hand that rested in his.

“Jake?” she spoke through choppy breaths.

“I’m so sorry,” he rasped.

“For what?” Tessa had no idea what he was talking about. Was he sorry they were about to have sex? Was he so sorry that he was putting a stop to it? Panic began to rise up inside of her.

“I should have got there sooner.” Jake closed his pained eyes and softly kissed her wrist again.

Okay, time out!

Tessa needed to know what the hell Jake was talking about. She pulled her arm away from his soft lips so she could talk to him and that’s when she saw it. There was a discolored, raised outline of fingers from where the a-hole Red Shirt had held her wrist.

Looking back at Jake, she tried to assure him. “I’m fine. Honestly. You know I bruise easily.”

He was breathing only through his nose, and if he were a dragon, he’d definitely be shooting fire out of his nostrils. “I should have killed him.”

“No you shouldn’t have!” she exclaimed.

He stared at her with all the pent-up anger of a bull ready to charge.

“Oh, stop it.” She smiled as her eyes widened. “And you say Nikki’s a drama queen. You trying to take her crown, killer?”

Normally, Jake was the first one to let something go or joke around about things, but he looked
far
from amused at her teasing comment.

Scrunching her nose, she tilted her head and asked, “Too soon?”

Luckily, that comment was rewarded with Jake’s mouth twitching at the corners and his eyes softening as he said, “You’re a brat.”

“I know,” Tessa said as a sense of pride welled up in her. She loved that she too could affect Jake. Maybe not as much as he did her, but she would take it. Leaning forward, she softly kissed the corners of his mouth that had just turned up.

He let out a small sound of resignation. “Are you trying to distract me?”

She continued pressing kisses along his jawline. “Yes, I am.”

Her lips trailed down to his neck and she felt his vein beneath her kiss. True, it could be protruding because he’d just been angry. Its appearance didn’t necessarily mean that he was still turned on, but she figured either way she would enjoy it.

Slowly, she licked from the base of his neck where the vein began, all the way up to the sensitive spot just beneath his ear. A moan vibrated through his chest, and she felt his hands move back down to her butt, his fingers kneading her.

Leaning back, she asked as innocently as possible, “Is it working?”

A fire of arousal once again sparked in Jake’s eyes as he picked her up and flipped their positions. She was lying flat on her back on the bed now and he hovered over her.

Then he moved to her side, Jake’s hand roaming up and down her body as he leaned over and whispered, his lips brushing against her ear, “Yes. It is.”

Tessa took in a deep, shuddering breath and reveled in the sentiment, loving the feel of Jake’s hands on her body and the sound of his voice in her ear. On so many nights over the past thirteen years, this was a scene that had played out in her dreams. It had seemed too much to hope or imagine that it might one day come true. But now, that was exactly what was happening. Her dream, her wildest fantasy, was coming true at last. She was making love to Jake Maguire again.

Tessa felt Jake’s hand slip under her shirt, caressing the smooth, flat skin of her belly. Tingles exploded throughout her torso, zipping out to her extremities with the power of electric charges, until her body felt like one giant fiery mass of charges.

“Good. I’m glad.” Tessa’s strained voice was threaded with need.

She felt his tongue on the skin of her neck as he trailed his mouth lower and sensed his intensity increase with each kiss. Tessa felt totally consumed. She was torn between the impulse to slow things down to stretch the encounter out as long as possible and the equally strong drive to rush headlong through the building intensity and the explosion that would inevitably occur. The tension between these two mutually exclusive desires had stretched her taut, like a rubber band about to snap, but it was the sweetest torture she could imagine being subjected to.

In reality, she did not surrender herself to either one of the conflicting impulses, deciding, rather, to simply surrender herself to Jake. As difficult as it was, she forced herself to lay back, relax, and just enjoy the sensations that the touch of this deliciously sexy man was sending through her body.

She felt alive for the first time in a long time, and Jake was the reason. When it came to taking good care of her, Jake was a master. It had always been that way.

Tessa threaded her fingers through Jake’s hair as he moved his head lower and lower, kissing down her neck as he went. She felt his hands slide behind her back and unhook her bra. Then he slipped her shirt up and brought them off together in one fluid movement. She moaned as his rough palms traversed her smooth skin, and she pushed her body even harder against him, needing to get closer, closer—as close as she possibly could.

Jake rose up on his elbow and surveyed her now-bare torso. His gaze caressed her, moving slowly from her smooth, flat belly up to the plump, round mounds of her breasts. She felt her nipples harden under his scrutiny, which she felt like a physical touch. Jake must’ve seen this as well because she heard his breath draw in sharply as he eyes landed on her hard, pointed nipples. Then he dove for them hungrily, enveloping first one and then the other in his hot, wet, mouth.

Tessa could feel the intensity of his need for her like a physical force the instant his tongue made contact with the tight, hard peak of her nipple. The sheer power of it was so strong that it caused her to arch her back and let out a cry. It was more than the pure physical pleasure of having his tongue caressing the sensitive nubs that caused her to cry out, although the pleasure was fierce. It was the connection, the electricity that was flowing back and forth between them, not just within their bodies, but also within their souls. That was what really got to her and made her lose control.

She could have handled the pleasure. Pleasure was wonderful and she enjoyed it, but she had been given pleasure by other guys. She had also given herself pleasure on more than one occasion. Simple pleasure was a cheap imitation of the soul-consuming sensation that was currently streaking through her entire being, and that sensation could only be imparted to her by one person—Jake. That was the way it had always been, and it was abundantly clear to Tessa that that was the way it still was.

She tangled her fingers in his hair, pressing herself even harder into his mouth, unable to get close enough to him to satisfy the white-hot fire that was burning within her belly.

“Jake…” she whimpered as she reached for his shirt. She wanted to feel him. Skin to skin. “I want this off…”

Jake lifted his head and looked hungrily into her eyes, the naked lust she saw there, stoking her inner fire to even greater heights. He reached one hand behind him and yanked his shirt up and off of his body.

Then, moving over her, he covered her mouth with his, plunging his tongue inside. Tessa thought that she might explode from the burst of white-hot electricity that surged inside of her at that moment. She wrapped her legs around his waist, feeling her core tighten at the touch of his hardness through the layers of fabric that still separated them. The bare skin of his chest rubbed erotically against her sensitized peaks, only increasing the pleasure bursting between her legs.

She had forgotten how powerful this was with Jake. She had forgotten what it felt like when she wasn’t just having sex, but when she was making love.

She never wanted to forget again.

*

Jake kissed Tessa with all of the pent-up sexual energy that had been building, on some level, for the thirteen years since she had left. Sure, he had had sex since then. But those girls hadn’t been Tessa. None of them had mattered. He hadn’t
felt
anything except the most fundamental biological response to the act of two people having sex. It had felt empty and lonely.

Not like this. Not like he felt with Tessa. She was a part of him. When they were together he didn’t know where he stopped and she began.