He leaned over her and spoke. “You know that this is just the beginning, Jewell. I missed you. My body missed you, and I feel as if I can’t get enough of you. I’m not sure right now whether I ever will.”
He took the utmost delight in the widening of her eyes, in her shocked intake of breath. Then he looked down at her hardening nipples and felt pride in knowing he could turn her on with nothing but words.
He caressed her nipples with his palm, felt them harden even more under his touch. “You are mine. You have to know that. I’m the only one who’s ever brought you this pleasure, and I’m the only one who can.” He lowered his head, and when his mouth took the place of his hand, her exquisite flavor made his taste buds explode. She gasped as he moved his hand down her stomach and ran his fingers along the outside of her core.
“No. I…uh…I have to leave…,” she gasped, shutting her legs weakly and trapping his hand.
He knew how easily he could pry her legs back open, and how quickly he could have her begging him to take her, but that’s not what he wanted. He wanted her to initiate this too, wanted her to need him as much as he needed her. He wanted her to give herself freely, without any coercion on his part. He didn’t want to remind her that he’d bought her and he didn’t have to let her go. What in the world was wrong with him?
“I don’t want you to leave,” he said, removing his hand and resting it on her shaking stomach.
“I…I can’t think, Blake. Please stop touching me.”
The hint of desperation in her voice made him pause. Though it pained him to pull back, he did, but only after thrusting his tongue out to get one final taste of her nipple before he released her.
“You don’t need to think, Jewell. When you’re in my bed, all you need to do is feel.” Okay, he could admit that sounded corny! To save face, he was left with no choice but to accompany his words with a cocky smile, one that instantly irritated her.
For some reason, he couldn’t seem to stop pushing her buttons, even when he actually wanted to stop. Maybe it was because the fire in her eyes turned him on, and maybe it was his armor locking into place, but whatever the reason, he could see that she was pulling back from him. He refused to show her that it mattered to him.
“I came here for a reason,” she said, reaching for a blanket and covering herself, much to his disappointment.
“And that reason was accomplished,” he told her with another confident smile.
“I didn’t come here to screw you, Blake,” she told him, scorn dripping from her tongue.
He leaned in even closer, making her eyes fly wide open and her breath hitch. “Oh, Jewell, don’t lie to me or to yourself — I won’t allow it. You can’t honestly tell me that you didn’t come here knowing you’d end up in my bed.”
When her breath caught in her throat and she was at a loss for any comebacks, only then did he sit up and fold his hands behind his head as if he had nothing more important to do than hang out in his bed with a raging erection while the two of them chatted.
Blake had to grin when he noticed her eyes straying to his arousal before darting back up to his face. “You can climb on and take me for a ride if you want to,” he remarked, and those words earned him a glare.
“How can a person think about nothing but sex?” she said with a frustrated sigh.
“I find it very easy when I have such a captivating partner, Jewell.”
“We have to talk,” she told him.
“That is the last thing I’m in the mood for right now,” he replied.
“You can only keep me in a sex coma for so long, Blake.”
Throwing up his hands in defeat, he backed off, which surprised him. This woman made him do things he wasn’t willing to do, and what bothered him most about that was that it didn’t actually bother him.
“So, what do we need to discuss?” Blake finally asked her.
“My brother. What else?” she said as she gripped the blankets tightly against her luscious breasts. He’d so hoped that she’d let the damned covers slip.
“I told you I’ll help you get him back.”
“But how? I want to know how.”
“I know people,” he said. He couldn’t tell her his plans yet, couldn’t make things happen too quickly, or she would be gone the minute she had her little brother in her custody. That he couldn’t allow. Not yet, at least.
His arousal died down as the depressing topic drove away any thoughts of sex. Blake stood up and yanked on his sweats, frustrated that his evening wasn’t going the way he had hoped.
“You got your sex. Now give me my brother,” she demanded, her words stopping him where he stood at the foot of the bed and causing his eyes to narrow briefly.
He carefully turned his face into a blank so she wouldn’t see what her words were doing to him. He did want sex, that was true, and for her to trade her body for her brother is what he’d asked of her. So why did he feel as if he’d been punched in the gut?
Ridiculous. That’s what it was. He wouldn’t tolerate weakness in himself. If she wanted to play dirty, then dirty is what she would get.
“Do you really think I’m that easy, Jewell?” he asked in a deadly cold voice. She flinched and he refused to let it make him feel a single thing.
“Yes. I think that you’re an emotionless drone and you’ll do anything it takes to get what you want. You wanted sex. You got it. I want my brother. I think I’ve earned the right to get what you offered.” Her chin tilted up in the stubborn way it did when she was terrified but trying to hide it. How was it that he knew so much about her when he’d spent so little time with her?
He couldn’t answer that question. Maybe it was because he hadn’t seemed to be able to think of anything or anyone else but her since the moment he’d walked into that sleeping area at the escort agency and seen her sitting up in that small bed.
“Do you really think you’ve done enough for me to let you go? I have you for an entire month, Jewell — at least.”
Again she flinched, and again he refused to back down. If she saw how weak he really was when it came to her, she would be the one with all the power. That was simply unacceptable.
“I do,” she said, the words barely above a whisper.
“You aren’t a stupid woman, Jewell, not at all. So why do you want to act like one?”
“I’m not acting stupid. I’m trying to get you to honor your word,” she replied.