Taking the Heat (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 3)

“Mmm.” The sound vibrated against her.

“And I’ve done things.”

“What things?” he whispered.

Oh, God, she couldn’t say any of this out loud. It was too much. She didn’t want to tell; she just wanted to do. With him.

He drew back a little, and she followed him, her body leaning closer, chasing after his mouth.

“Come ’ere,” he murmured. She wasn’t sure what he meant until his arm slipped under her knees and he lifted her up and onto his lap.

She grabbed on to him in shock, feeling as if she’d slide right off his knees, but his legs were strong, and his arms stayed around her to hold her steady.

She wasn’t sure that sitting on his lap was quite...appropriate. But when his mouth settled into the crook of her neck and he tasted her again, any thought she’d had for returning to her own side of the boulder vanished. She didn’t want to go anywhere. She wanted to be right here on his hard thighs, with his hands spreading over her back and his mouth creating magic on her neck.

“Oh,” she sighed, settling more comfortably into his chest.

“You’ve obviously kissed before,” he said. “You’re very good at it.”

He kissed his way up to her jaw, and when she turned toward him, his mouth caught hers.

Was she good at it? She had no idea, but he made her feel hungry and languid and right. But she got to kiss him back for only a brief moment before his mouth left hers. “Have you come before?” he asked, his voice a little rougher than it had been.

Oh, God. She closed her eyes. “Yes,” she answered.

He kissed her lower lip. Bit it gently. Let it go. “With a man?”

She didn’t want to say. She couldn’t. She was a challenge. Hard work for a guy. No one wanted to be hard work in bed. But she finally shook her head. “No.”

He exhaled deeply. One of his hands slid up her back to cradle the nape of her neck. His fingertips felt textured against her skin. Calloused. “No?” he murmured against her mouth.

She shook her head, the tiniest movement, letting her parted lips brush over his. He kissed her again finally. An urgent, dark kiss, his hand still on her neck, keeping her close.

Wanting to be even closer, she twisted toward him, sliding her knee up, and then his hand was on her leg, lifting it over his thighs so that she straddled him.

Veronica held him now. Her hands slid up his shoulders and his neck, and she cradled his face and kissed him more deeply. His hands went to her thighs, and his fingers rubbed slowly up and down, up and down, from her knees to the tops of her legs. She wanted him to go higher. She was spread open, straddling him, and she wanted him to rub her there. Right there. She wanted it to feel the way she’d always hoped it would. But his hands stayed on her thighs.

When he raised his head, she followed him, and he gave in and kissed her again. Triumph flared bright inside her. He wanted her. He couldn’t resist her mouth. His fingers tightened on her thighs. Yes.

When he pulled away this time, his breath was rough. She stroked her fingers down his beard and put her mouth to his neck. She wasn’t done tasting him. She wanted more. She felt his moan through her tongue and teeth and she dragged her hands down to his chest and the hard muscles there.

“Tell me what you’ve done,” he groaned.

“No,” she whispered against his neck. She didn’t want to. It was all silly. She’d done things that everyone else had done; it just hadn’t been good.

One of his hands slid up her hip, her waist, her ribs. He cupped her breast through her shirt and slid a thumb over her ni

pple. Veronica groaned with sharp need. It felt so good and it was torture. A small, stingy promise of what she’d feel if he touched her clit.

But then he rolled her nipple between his thumb and finger and she hissed at the pleasure.

“I just want to know,” he said. “I don’t want to shock you. I don’t want to move too fast.”

“Shock me,” she urged.

He tugged her shirt up and her bra down and he closed his mouth over her nipple.

Veronica cried out. She couldn’t help it. The pleasure was so sudden and sharp that it nearly hurt. She threw her head back as he sucked at her. When she opened her eyes, she saw stars. Stars just starting to shimmer above them in the purple sky.