Page 19 of Loving Jake
Jakes eyes narrowed. “Of that, I have no doubt. You have clung to him for the past hour like you couldn’t wait for him to take you home. Be grateful that I saved you from embarrassing your family any further by interfering when I did.”
“I have not embarrassed my family this evening,” she snapped. “You don’t know what you’re talking about?—"
“Really?” he interrupted. “Why don’t you take a look around you. More than a few people are staring at us right now.”He nodded to several groups of people in various places around the room.
“If anyone is causing a scene, it’s you, and I refuse to let anyone think I’m to blame for your rude behavior.”
Jake’s eyes narrowed into mere slits as he enunciated each word in a deadly calm voice, “You’re damn right you’re not, because I’m not giving you the chance. We’re leaving. I’m telling Carly that I’m taking you home. She’ll understand that you have had far too much to drink and will be grateful to me. Don’t even try to argue with me.” Jake clenched his hands into tight fists at his sides.
Kimberly opened her mouth to protest and then snapped it shut. “Fine,” she agreed in an indignant huff. He stared at her for several moments, daring her to say anything else, before he turned and walked away.
“Let’s go,” he said a few minutes later after helping her find her purse from underneath a table.
“Jake,” she began once they were driving down the highway.
“Forget it, Kimberly. I refuse to argue with you while I’m driving.”
Clearly frustrated with him, Kimberly stared out the car window for the remainder of the trip home.
Once inside the house, they each went their separate ways. Kimberly intentionally pounded up the stairs in her high heels, while Jake went into the living room.
Jake threw his blazer down over the arm of the couch and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt with a long sigh. He put some music on, and the mellow jazz filtered throughout the room, its soft melody instantly relaxing him. He sat down on the couch and removed his boots, carelessly tossing them aside without a thought. He was angry, angry with himself for allowing Kimberly to affect him the way she did, angry that he had expected, hell, he didn’t know what he had expectedtonight, but it hadn’t been to find her with another man at the party.
Edgy and sorely in need of a drink, Jake decided to prepare himself a healthy glass of scotch. Hopefully, with any luck, he would pass out on the couch, blocking all thoughts of Kimberly from his mind. He heard a movement by the bar just as he leaned his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. He turned swiftly in the direction of the noise and saw Kimberly.
“Why aren’t you asleep?” he asked irritably. She was still in the little black number she had worn to the party, but had removed her heels. Additional strands of her hair had escaped from her chignon to lay softly against the base of her neck. He took a deep breath of air as he allowed his eyes to travel over her legs, their slenderness accentuated by the dress swishing against her skin.
“I couldn’t sleep. I thought I would have a glass of wine before I went to bed.” She held up her hand to stop him. “Before you say anything, don’t bother. I’m thirty-one years old. I’m allowed to drink if I want, to get rip-roaring drunk if I choose to.” She glared back at him and then reached for a bottle of wine off of the rack in the bar.
“The hell you are.” He shot upright and stood up. “If you think I’m going to sit and watch you drink a bottle of wine and then stay up babysitting you for the rest of the night, you can forget it.” He breached the distance between them with two powerful strides. He reached across her, his hand brushing against the bare skin of her arm as he wrenched the unopened bottle of wine from her hands.
She trembled at his touch, and he felt a similar shiver travel up his own skin from their brief contact. She was practically sober now. Her previous slur was absent from the lecture she had just given him, which rattled him even more than if shewere drunk. Sober, there was no excuse for her actions or her reaction to him.
She turned to look at him. “Don’t try to bully me, Jake Taylor.” She lunged for the bottle of wine. “Just give me the damn bottle,” she lashed out.
Jake watched the fire glowing from her dark eyes as she struggled against him for the bottle of wine. The air around him grew warm as he glanced at her heaving breasts, much of them exposed in her low-cut dress. The moonlight streamed through the window and shone on her creamy shoulders, begging him, he swore, to taste them with his lips. He released his hold on the bottle of wine, and his gaze traveled upward to look deeply into her eyes.
Jake watched her reaction, the slow realization that he had stopped fighting her finally dawning on her. Her dark eyes searched his for answers. “Jake?” she asked hesitantly.
“Kim,” he whispered before bending his head toward her. He took the wine bottle from her hands and placed it down on the bar as his mouth brushed against hers. His lips moved softly against hers, and he gently eased them open with a slow devouring of her mouth. His hands held onto the sides of her waist, crushing her to him as he deepened their kiss with exhilarating momentum.
His hands caressed their way up her back until they reached her hair. With one swift motion, he removed the clip from her hair and the dark mane cascaded down her back. She pushed her pelvis into his pounding arousal, and he growled with satisfaction.
Kimberly moaned with pleasure when he released her lips to allow his mouth to explore the pulsing hollow at the base of her throat. Her body trembled under his fingers when he pushed the tiny straps of her dress from her shoulders. He eased the zipper of her dress down her back, and she groanedevocatively into his ear. The dressed slipped away from her skin, landing in a soft puddle at her ankles.
Jake groaned with pleasure upon the discovery that she was braless, his breath a series of short, raspy gasps. Her rosy nipples were hard and pointed when he brought his hands between their bodies to cup each of her full, milky-white breasts.
She trembled under his touch, and he realized that he went too fast, much too fast with her. This is Kimberly, he reminded himself, when she dragged her nails over the front of his chest, and an unexpected rush of pleasure flowed through his veins. She wasn’t a one-night stand on which to take out his pent-up frustrations. She was a beautiful, elegant woman, a woman he laid awake thinking about at night, envisioning himself taking her into his arms as he did right now.
Taking a deep, tortured breath, he forced himself to slow down, despite the wild pounding of his heart. His tongue traveled in slow, rhythmic circles down her neck and over her breasts until he took a pink tip into his mouth. She squirmed beneath his touch, and he felt her knees go weak in response.
Swiftly he released his hold on her and reached for a blanket from the back of a chair, spreading it on the floor next to them. Slowly, gently, he lowered her to the floor with him. He lay down next to her, propped up on his elbow. Kimberly lay on her back wearing only a pair of black lace panties, her eyes glazed with passion as she looked up at him.
He ran his finger along the flat contours of her stomach, reveling in the tiny shivers her body released each time he touched a sensitive area on her skin. He leaned over her and placed soft kisses on her face, along the fine bones defining her cheeks and brow. His hand continued to caress the hollow of her abdomen as he nuzzled her earlobe.
He felt her fingertips tremble against the skin on his neck until they wound themselves together at the back of his headand, released his hair from its confining leather band. His hair dangled wildly to brush his shoulders, and she ran her fingers through the loose strands.
Pleased by her initiative, Jake raised his gaze to stare directly into her eyes. He searched her face for any sign of rejection, anything to indicate that he should put a halt to their lovemaking.
