I nodded, not sure I could trust my voice. I bypassed my wine, grabbing my water glass, taking a long drink, waiting for my heartbeat to return to normal.
“Yes, Jake. I did. Very much so.” I turned to him, taking his hand. I held it to my lips for a moment.
“You were a very good girl, Abby. You deserve a reward.” Jake caught the waiter’s attention, got the check and paid in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t much longer before we were heading out of downtown Houston in his car.
“We’re going to your house?” I turned to him, his face inscrutable in the dark.
“You deserve a reward and I’d like to give you that tonight. I don’t want to delay that in any way.”
We drove in silence, the city giving way to the suburbs. A soft rain had started to fall, the wipers sweeping intermittently across the windshield. I felt safe and comfortable and extremely curious about the rest of our evening.
I recognized Jake’s neighborhood and then the gates to his home. We drove up the curving drive, bypassing the front door, pulling beneath the portico, out of the rain. Jake opened my door, helping me out of the car.
He took me to the tower room side of the portico, unlocking the door, leading me up the dimly lit stairs. I hesitated, remembering the last time I’d been here. It seemed like ages ago, but it had only been yesterday. It seemed like so much had changed between us, but maybe it was only my view of this relationship that had undergone a change.
Jake opened the door to the tower room. I expected the stripped down bed from the day before, but instead I saw he’d made the bed with sheets and pillows, a richly colored comforter folded across the foot of the bed.
“Oh, Jake. It’s beautiful. When did you do all this?”
He was moving around the room, lighting fat pillar candles, turning down the lights. Soon the room was lit by the flicker of dozens of candles. He took off his jacket, tossing it over the back of a chair.
“After you left yesterday. I thought it needed a little…more…for tonight.” He came to stand in front of me, looking down at me, his blue eyes soft in the candle light.
“I was hoping that tonight would go well, so you could claim your reward.”
“Am I still in my sub role at the moment?” I resisted the urge to touch him, not wanting to break the spell of the moment.
“No, Abby. Not now. You’re free to enjoy your reward, without restriction.”
I took a step toward Jake, breathing deeply. I put my hands on his chest, feeling the warmth of his body through his shirt.
“And what is my reward?” I looked up, into those eyes. I wanted to hear him say it, needed to hear him say we would make love, have sex, f**k each other’s brains out. Whatever terms he wanted to use, I didn’t care. But I wanted him to say it.
His hands went around my waist, pulling me lightly against his body, holding me as if I were spun sugar and I’d break if he held me too tightly. He bent his head, his lips brushing not my mouth, but over my closed eyelids, down my cheek, his breath warm against my ear. I felt the flick of his tongue against my neck, in that place where I knew he could feel the pounding of my heart with his lips.
“Your reward…” he murmured the words into my hair. “I want to devour you, every inch, make a feast out of you.” He pulled back, looking down, eyes dark.
“And I want you to devour me.”
And that’s what we set out to do. His mouth descended on mine, claiming my lips, his fingers making quick work of the buttons on my blouse. His hands slid underneath the blouse, cupping my br**sts, his thumbs sliding slowly back and forth across my n**ples, little snaps of electricity traveling outward from his hands, moving through my body, coalescing in the pit of my stomach.
I’d managed to pull his shirt free of his pants, getting the top few the buttons undone, but I was distracted by his hands, and then his mouth, on my body. The blouse slid from my arms, landing in a silky puddle on the floor. Jake was kissing the exposed tops of my br**sts, moving from one to the other, lips firm and hot on my skin. I wound my fingers through his dark hair, holding him to me, arching my back, pressing myself shamelessly against him.
Better at multi-tasking than me, I felt him pull down the zipper on my skirt. It joined the blouse on the floor.
His hands moved behind me, fingers playing over my skin on my shoulders and back, and then my bra was relieved of its duties for the evening, landing with a soft sound on the floor. I was nak*d in front of him, in just my heels.
He stood, looking down at me, breath moving through lips parted. “You are a most beautiful woman, Abby.” His voice was low, that velvet sound making my heart skip a beat or two.
In one graceful movement he scooped me up, carrying me to the bed, laying me down gently across the sheets. I looked up at him, his hair a bit messy, opened shirt revealing a expanse of smooth chest.
His eyes never left mine as he quickly unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, pulling it off. It fell out of sight on the floor. He unbuckled his belt, fingers working the button and zipper of his pants. I broke eye contact, looking down as he slid his pants over his narrow hips.
I knew what he looked like nak*d, but the physical beauty of his body still took my breath away, maybe because this time he was all mine, in any way I chose to have him. He was all lean muscle, long and powerful looking, wild-cat graceful. I tried not to stare at his erection, but my eyes wanted to stray back. It was long and thick, curving, and at this moment very hard.
I stifled a small gasp: it suddenly occurred to me Jake’s self-control tonight must have been incredible. He’d sat through our dinner, teasing me, touching me—watching me—taking me over the cliff edge, but had had no outlet for his own arousal. For some reason, that obvious fact had totally escaped me.
My eyes flew to his face and I saw in his eyes the same barely contained arousal I’d felt during dinner.
I reached for him then, pulling him down to me, opening myself up to him. At that moment, as much as I wanted him to rekindle the fire he’d started in me during dinner, to devour him as he’d said, I wanted him to take his pleasure in any way he wanted—he needed—with me.
I held his face in my hands, looking into the bottomless blue depths of his eyes, seeing the intensity of his desire—and his nak*d need for me at that moment—along with that hint of something unreadable that always seemed to lurk just beneath the surface. I ran my fingers down his cheek, across those chiseled lips. He kissed my fingertips.
“I’m yours, Jake. All yours.”
He held my gaze for a moment. “And I’m yours, too, Abby. But this is your reward, not mine.” There was a hint of a frown on his face.
I nodded. “I know; it’s okay,” I whispered.
Jake may have needed me more than I did him at that moment, but he swept me along with him, his body awakening sensations in every nerve ending of my body, his hands and mouth touching every inch of my flesh.
When he finally thrust into me, it was with an uncontained fierceness, a wildness that would have scared me in any other man. But in Jake, I realized it was what I wanted; no restraint, taking me completely, giving me the freedom to give myself fully…and respond in kind.
And I did respond in kind, my response to him surprising myself. I met him thrust for thrust, our bodies moving together, no matter if I rode him or he held me pinned to the bed. The edges between our bodies seemed to blur; we were truly one for a time.
When he came, buried deep inside me, the power of his release was almost overwhelming. He was between my legs, body tensed above me, his hard thighs braced against mine. My hands were everywhere on his body, racing over his chest, brushing back the hair from his face, sliding down over his ass. I could feel his h*ps flexing in that certain way only a man’s h*ps can, as they hang balanced, just before that explosive leap off the edge.
His cry was so primal that it startled me, the realization I’d been holding my breath, that my body was as tense as his, breathlessly waiting for this moment.
But when he came, as he filled me with heat, my body went with him, surprising me with the strength of my orgasm. I arched against Jake, my cry was almost as primal as his, pulling him down to me with my arms and legs. We were shuddering, twisting and grinding against each other in mutual ecstasy, our bodies taking and giving simultaneously.
Finally, Jake collapsed next to me, wrapping his arms around my body, pulling me close against his chest. I could hear his heart pounding, feel the muscles slowly soften as his body relaxed, as his breathing slowed.
He untangled the sheets from the end of the bed, pulling them up over our cooling bodies, and we stayed in the bed together for a long time. We were quiet after that; words would have been meaningless. In silence, he helped me dress, ran his fingers through my hair in an effort to restore some semblance of order to my tangled locks, smiling at his attempts. We were gentle with each other, pausing to exchange lingering kisses, taking every opportunity to touch and be touched.
***
It was very late when Jake drove me home. The rain had stopped and a moon was playing hide and seek in the clouds. We were close to my apartment when I spoke.
“Thank you for tonight, Jake. I had a wonderful time.”
Jake’s hand left the steering wheel long enough to caress my leg.
“I had a good time too, Abby.”
There was a beat of silence, then Jake spoke. “I’d like to have a session on Saturday afternoon.”
I felt more than saw his glance in the dark. My heart started to thud.
“I’d like that. Do you have a plan?”
There was a smile in Jake’s voice. “I do, but you’ll have to be surprised.”
Jake walked me to my apartment door, leaving me with a lingering kiss. I watched him walk down the hall to the elevator before I let myself into the apartment.
The cat met me at the door, complaining loudly about his missing dinner.
“Sorry Big Guy. And I didn’t even bring you a doggy bag…er, kitty bag, did I?” I dumped a scoop of food in his dish, headed to my bedroom, stripping my clothes off along the way. I glanced at the clock; I was going to get maybe four hours of sleep.
But I didn’t care. I wanted to think about Jake, all the different facets of this complex man I’d experienced in one evening: his complete control—of me and himself—during dinner; his primal passion—and subsequent tenderness—in the tower room.
But the scent of us, of our evening together, wrapped around me like Jake’s arms. I inhaled deeply and was asleep instantly.
***
I’d plunged myself into work that week, which wasn’t too hard with my new client. Leslie had been inquisitive at first and then disappointed with the lack of certain details she deemed crucial. We’d finally had time for lunch later in the week.
“At least you can tell me about the non-bondage sex, can’t you?” We were back at the Italian deli, this time sharing a stromboli. Leslie was practically drooling; I wasn’t sure if it was over the spicy food or the anticipation of some juicy details about Jake.
“Well, yeah. I suppose.” I chewed for a minute. What the hell. I really do want to talk about Jake.