She smiled, her lips curving to fit the shape of the wine glass rim.
‘What for?’ she asked, teasingly.
‘What do you think? What do you think was on my mind while I was lying on my hard prison bunk for twenty-three hours at a time?’
‘Justice?’ She wanted to eke out the predatory glint in his eye so she could gorge on it for as long as possible. ‘Escape?’
‘Escape, so I could get my hands on you again,’ he said. ‘Now, are you going to come here, or do I have to go over there and get you?’
‘I thought about you,’ she said. ‘But I couldn’t think about not being with you again for years. My brain wouldn’t let me.’
‘Mine neither. And we can be together whenever we want now. For example, this very minute. Are you coming, Jen? I warn you, I’ve got a lot of frustration to work out.’
‘Sounds dangerous.’ But Jenna put down her wine glass and pushed back her chair.
‘Oh yeah, it’s dangerous. Come and see how dangerous.’
She stood up and feinted a move around the table, changing her direction at the last minute, just as he lunged for her, to dodge out towards the hall door.
‘Oh, don’t you dare!’ he cried, leaping up and chasing her to the bedroom.
But she had not been escaping at all. He found her sitting on the bed, her back arched to offer her neck and breasts to him.
‘Why would I run from you?’ she asked softly. ‘When all I’ve thought about since you went away is having you back?’
‘Yeah?’ He pulled off his trainers and came to kneel opposite her, taking her hands and putting them on his chest, covered with his own fingers. ‘I thought of you too. All alone in my cell. Nearly killed me to think of you, on your own, here, and to think of all the men, better men than me, who’d be round you like flies. I told myself I had to say goodbye to the idea of ever seeing you again, but I couldn’t.’
‘You don’t have to,’ she whispered, removing one of her hands from beneath his to stroke his cheek. ‘You never have to worry about that. I ached for you. Nobody else would do for me.’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t understand it, Jen. But I’ll take it. I’ll take you, and I’ll work for you – to deserve you.’
‘You do, already.’
There could be no holding back the kisses after that. They fell against each other, wrapped around each other, a vampiric embrace that sought to drain the other of their deepest essence so that they could become one.
‘Lie on your back,’ he murmured into Jenna’s ear. ‘I need to pace myself. Need to calm down or it’ll all be over too quick.’
‘We can do it again, if it is. We can do it as many times as we like,’ she reminded him with a catlike smile.
‘Oh yes, that’s going to happen,’ he said, watching her lie down, in the light cotton shirt dress she had chosen to wear for their reunion. ‘But there’s no rush, is there? Just …’ He settled himself in between her ankles and stroked her newly waxed legs lightly on both sides. ‘Settle in,’ he whispered. ‘Get comfortable. And don’t expect to be able to walk, tomorrow.’
‘Is that a promise?’
‘Hmm. But I know what’s missing.’
He climbed off the bed and went to the drawer where they kept the sex toys she had bought. He took out the purple cuffs and brandished them at her.
‘Oh,’ she squeaked, her body’s excitement – already considerable –intensifying at the sight. ‘Now I’m nervous.’
‘You should be. Give us your hand.’
He cuffed each wrist to the bedhead then resumed his position, lifting one of her legs so that the hem of her dress rose to the top of her thigh, and bringing her foot to his lips. He kissed it in random places: heel, instep, big toe, ankle. Then he laid it down and did the same with her other foot. She congratulated herself silently on the pedicure she’d self-administered that morning.
‘I can see your knickers,’ he said, still holding her left foot high, massaging it in strong, capable hands. ‘You naughty girl. Do you show them to all the boys?’
‘Only the ones who know what to do with them,’ she said, squirming a little and trying to close her legs, which Jason would not allow to happen.
‘Good answer. Well, I’ll get to that. But first …’