Stare Me Down (Stare Down) (8 page)

That was the funny thing about needs. One could never predict them.

He didn’t say a word, just curled down over her. Bending her back, stretching her, forcing her hips to flex into his while he came in close. He felt the dig of the clamps and the pegs against him and when he pressed her into him harder and heard her moan, he knew she felt them too. This was wrong on so many levels but one, and that was the one he concentrated on now. “You promised I’d get a chance to do my show and tell. Are you reneging, Jaxx?”

She smelled like lemon with an undercurrent of ginger. He fucking loved ginger. He breathed in.

“It’s…‌it’s Dr. Gavin.”

“Not anymore.” He searched her face. “Tell me.” He kept his tone soft and encouraging, “Tell me you’re not going to break the promise you made to me.”

“I…”

He pulled her in even tighter, and she shivered. God, he liked the feel of that little shake against him. It reminded him of his dream. “Don’t break your promise to me, Jaxx. Don’t.”

She swallowed loud enough for him to hear and then closed her eyes, a sure sign she was giving in. “I won’t. All-all right. You can have your turn.”

The breath rushed out of him and an acute sense of pleasure stirred heating his blood. Christ, this kind of win was epic. How long had it been since he’d had to earn the right to a woman’s submission? He couldn’t remember. Especially from a strong and feisty woman like her.

She was so close to him. Only a mere inch separated their lips. His weight shifted and all he wanted to do was go with it. Dip down. Taste her, but he didn’t want to scare her too soon. She might be smart and strong, yet there was an underlying edge to her. She was a woman who needed to be pushed. Carefully. With that in mind, he straightened and before she had a chance to regroup or he could change his mind, he pulled her to the closet. He let go of her for just a second and opened the raised panel door to look inside. Spotting a lone pair of shoes, he grabbed one of them and wedged it under the door until the door was stable.

“What are you doing?”

“The show part before the tell.” He grabbed the hook and pulled.

“Wait, I‌—‌oh, no you don’t. I’m not going to be hung like some Christmas wreath.”

“Stop fighting. You’re going to hurt yourself.” He brought her arms up and gave her an encouraging push toward the door with his hip. “I’m not going to hang you. I’m placing you. See?” He set the hook over the top of the door so she was effectively captured and then stepped back. “You’re still touching the ground.”

“Barely,” she spoke against the wood. Her warm breath fogged the high polished grain, while she teetered on tiptoes. “You completed the sessions. You don’t have to do this. Really. I get the point. You can stop now.”

He wished he could. In fact, he really wished he hadn’t started this at all, but it was too late to turn back. Between him fantasizing about her and their conversation today, he was the one who was hooked. That brought him up short as he wondered what kind of psychoanalysis field day she’d have with that one.
Just get her out of your system.
And in the process he’d scare her enough that she’ll be forced to push back and they’d both be free of this odd attraction. It was as simple as that.

Simple?

It was this kind of spur-of-the-moment shit that got him into the numerous problems he currently faced. He should have participated in group sessions. He should have made shit up to satisfy her until the six sessions were up. That was what he should have done. One look at her squirming ass, and he was reminded why that wasn’t possible. From day one he wanted her all to himself.

Fuck.

Jaxx tried to stay focused on the moment, but remembering how he’d felt against her kept distracting her. She’d burned from the inside out. She’d never experienced anything like that before. Brief though it was, it had been an electric embrace that sent currents of lust through flesh, blood, down deep to bone. It had a power all its own that had wrapped around her. All consuming. She wouldn’t have believed the simple action could turn so complicated in the blink of an eye, but it had.

He might not be her patient anymore, so that was one huge stress over with, but now she faced another‌—‌her modesty being challenged at a time when she could least afford to be tested. And yet for all of that, her only thought was of how great he smelled and how good the hard parts of him felt when he pressed into her. Parts of him as hard as the door, only much warmer. Much more inviting.

“Stay still.”

She heard the screech of tape being pulled and automatically stiffened. “Now what are you going to do with the tape?”

“You’ll see. Lean forward.”

Forward? If she went any more forward, the computer clips and clothes pegs would make perfect impressions into her skin, despite the material between them. “I can’t‌—‌hey!”

His hand splayed flat on her ass and he pushed while he stretched a length of tape from the edge of the door across the empty width to her right, over her ass, to the width of door on her left until he reached the other edge.

“You can’t tape me to the door.”

“I think I can.”

“But‌—‌ow.” She’d tried to turn her head to see if he was getting another length of tape and banged her chin so hard her eyes watered. Then she heard the tear of tape being unwound and forgot about her pain. “I’ll scream.”

“No, you won’t.” He spoke low from right behind her. She felt him stick this second length of tape right over the first one. “You’re going to be good.” That soft statement made her shiver. “Besides, your neighbor, Dr. Dragon Lady might hear. I’m no expert, but it could be awkward for you both.”

She frowned. “What about you?”

“I’m pretty much shameless, so no need to worry about me. Scream away. You wouldn’t be the first female in my company to make noise.”

Closing her eyes, she pressed her cheek against the cool wood and tried again. “Okay, like I said before, you made your point.” More tearing. “Oh, for the love of God, stop with the tape already.”

He didn’t, and by her count there were five lengths pinning her tightly into place.

“One more for good luck.”

“Seriously?”

He got the last length stretched over her, patted it into place on the door but smoothed it with a lazy and intimate hand-drag over her ass. “There. Now what do you think the point of me doing this is?”

Finally, he was going to be reasonable, and maybe she wouldn’t wind up doing something with him she’d regret. “I’m insecure, which makes me a poor therapist. That’s the point of this, isn’t it? I let you control the sessions, and now you’re driving your point home. In your mind, if I weren’t so unsure of myself I would have stuck with my original answers and called bullshit on you. Like I should have done.” The last part of those words came out in an unintentional grumble.

He remained silent while he rubbed his hand back and forth over the tape on her ass several times. Heating her up so badly, if she weren’t glued into place like a bug on a pest strip, she would have shifted into his touch.

“
Tsk, tsk.
You give me far too much credit. Those are valid thoughts, but they’re not mine.”

“No?”

“No.” He pressed his body against her, the heat of his chest branding her back. “The point of this little show and tell was to render you helpless. Do you want to know why?”

She swallowed hard as her mind raced with possibilities. “Why?”

The whisper of his breath against her ear sent a shiver skating through her. “So I can make you come.”

This time, when she turned her head and banged her chin on the corner of one of the raised panels in the door, she didn’t even blink. He didn’t really just say that, did he? He couldn’t be that bold‌—‌her heart pounded‌—‌maybe he was, or… “Come where?”

“Here.”

She gasped when he slid the barrel of the electric tooth brush between her and the door. Pushing it down and down some more until it was wedged tight and horizontally across her groin. The tops of the three inline clothes pegs acted as shelf. He was clever and creative, and bold didn’t even begin to describe what else he was.

“You coming for me wasn’t far from every thought during group sessions. But now that we’re alone? You coming for me again and again is all I can think of.”

“Y-you can’t do this.”

“By now you should know I’m a can-do kind of a guy.”

He sure was. In a flash he found the on switch and flicked it. She was shocked, outraged, speechless and instantly aroused. The heavy vibrations beat straight through her. Right to the core.

She tried to move to dislodge it but couldn’t. “Turn it off.”

“Say please,” he breathed into her ear.

“Please.”

“No.”

No?
He was denying her after he’d told her to say it and she did? “B-but I said please.”

“Yes.” The heat of his lips penetrated the skin at her nape. “And I loved hearing it. Say it again.”

“No…‌I—”

“Stop thinking. Stop fighting your instincts. Just breathe. Relax and breathe.”

He pushed into her in such a way that her breasts rubbed against the computer clamps and her nipples tingled and puckered even harder than they were before.

“I shouldn’t—”

“Shhh.”

When he pressed his mouth into the fine hairs at the back of her neck, just below her upsweep, her knees almost buckled. Her legs shook and before she could stop herself, she moaned. The desire she’d be denying for so long was dying to show itself.

“Close your eyes. That’s right. Breathe.”

She quivered as he dipped his head and licked the pulse point at the base of her throat. And when he opened his mouth and softly bit her there, she lost what little control she had left.

“Please…”

The vibrations skittering through the muscles between her legs, combined with the heat of him pressing into her back was bad enough. But then he forced her legs to spread and used the dowel. Rolling a glassy end up, from the inside of her one knee to her upper thigh, before he switched sides and did the same on the other limb. Going so slow and coming so close to her center on each upward draw that she trembled and ached with anticipation of that touch arriving higher. Over and over he stroked in an unhurried pace, melting her insides as she burned. And when his mouth opened again and he tasted her skin and his teeth softly bit into her…‌she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. All she could do was sink deeper. Fall faster toward the craving of wanting, no needing more.

Her pulse raced and her heart beat just as furiously against her rib cage. A flutter that turned more to an ache rolled up from her toes, to her knees, landing in a crash of mind-blowing euphoria deep inside her. Deep, but low in her belly, where it spread and stroked until she let go of every thought, every care, and rode the swelling wave upward as it pushed her higher and higher.

“Oh, God…”

“Breathe, honey. Don’t forget to breathe.”

His husky whisper sounded like a dream. The words penetrated her consciousness, making her shiver and then, when she did comply and drew in a rush of air, her whole world opened up. Light came into her from all sides warming her. Until a swell of raw lust crested, causing her breasts to tingle almost as if they were being stroked by his hands. The flesh between her legs ached and wept, wanting‌—‌dying for his touch.

“That’s right.”

He used his hand, the flat of his palm against her bottom, and pushed in a motion that mimicked a pump or a flex. Whatever it was, it was enough. Too much. On the third press, her tightly wound muscles were ready to unravel. They convulsed once, twice and then let go.

“Ahhh…” It felt good to give in. To breathe. To let nothing in but the light and the pleasurable sensations as her whole body shook. And when she came, it was hard. Hot. And very, very wet against the satin of her panties.

She didn’t want the floating sensation to disappear as she drifted back to earth, so she kept her eyes closed and continued to relax. Enjoying the ebbing tide of adrenaline as parts of her sputtered and sparked with need of wanting more. Those lonely parts of her still ached to touch and be touched by him, despite the release he’d just given her. And she was so caught up examining those things she barely noticed he’d unwound her hands and taken away the hook until her arms slid down the cool wood. Until her fingers laced together, and she tucked them under her cheek as cushion.

With the computer clamps and clothes pegs gone, she sank fully against the door. Sighing with a mixture of relief and despair as the steady vibrations suddenly ended. She didn’t even protest from the zip of the tape being removed. She was too caught up in amazement. She’d just had an orgasm with a man‌—‌a staggering enough occurrence, because she had difficulty bringing herself to orgasm‌—‌but more stunning was the fact that Ramsey had gotten her off in less than five minutes. Probably closer to three.

“Are you all right?”

Her eyes snapped open, and the one word that came to her was no. Because now that she knew it was possible, she wanted more.

Chapter Six

Aries forced himself to turn away. He had to put his stuff back in the trunk. Fast. And when he did, he noticed how steadily his hands shook. The urge to get them back on her was nearly killing him. None of this was supposed to have happened. Not him staying. Not him pushing and certainly not her allowing him to push her. She submitted and so beautifully too. Just like in his dream.

But this wasn’t a dream and if he weren’t careful it could turn out to be a nightmare. Right.
Deep breath and deal with this the way you should have from the beginning.

He turned, expecting to be greeted by a confused and possibly pissed off woman, so when he saw Jaxx still hugging the door, he frowned. Come to think of it, she hadn’t answered him either. That wasn’t good.

“Jaxx?”

Not good was the perfect description of the intense expression on her face when she pushed off the door and came at him. Her slight frame crashing into him barely ruffled his shirt, but when he realized she was trying to be amorous, he had no choice. Fuck choice. He had no strength to deal, so he went with it. He fell back against the desk and pulled her with him. Which was a good thing, because she began climbing him.