to her skin, enjoying the calming scents. Her phone dimmed a bit, and she knew she was losing the charge, so tried to finish her ministrations in the dark.
Peering out the window as she was slipping on a pair of light capris and a tank, she couldn’t see a thing. Rain hit the glass so hard that the entire view was obscured, and everything was pitch-black, including the streetlights.
She wasn’t sure how she was going to make it through this night. She wanted Jonas, but he clearly had no such intentions toward her. They were stuck together, and she’d make the best of it, but she ached inside and wished things could be different.
Making her way back out to the main room, she did as he instructed and walked slowly forward, until she caught the edge of the flip-flop she wore on the throw rug, pitching forward and landing with a thud on the hardwood floor.
A lamp fell from the table beside her and she cursed loudly. That was her favorite lamp, a one-of-a-kind that she had handmade by a glassblower in New York.
“Are you okay? Where are you?” Jonas called, emerging from the bathroom.
“Yeah, I just stumbled over the rug, and I think I broke a lamp.”
“Don’t move, you could cut yourself on broken glass.”
The next thing she knew, he was there, his hands finding her in the dark.
The scent of sweet-smelling lavender and sage lotion on her skin rose between them as he helped her up and over to the sofa. As he sat down with her, he didn’t let go.
She’d dabbed some patchouli oil on her pulse points earlier in the day. The sweet, earthy scent was traditionally one used in erotic ceremony, and connected historically to sensual practice. Right now, combined with the humidity in the room and Jonas’s manly scent, it was a heady mix.
Or maybe it was the way one of his hands lingered on her back, and the other on her wrist. The storm raged outside, but Tessa hardly noticed.
“I shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“And yet here you are.”
She saw the green light in the tense posture of his body, as if he was using every muscle he had to hold himself back.
Time stopped. The world outside the window was invisible, everything was swallowed by the storm. It was only the two of them, here, alone, and suddenly nothing else mattered.
“Jonas,” she whispered, but it was all he allowed her to say before his mouth was on hers, and they fell back to the soft cushions of the sofa, forgetting everything else.
4
7:00 p.m.
JONAS KNEW HE was playing a dangerous game, but when he had Tessa in his arms, her scent intoxicating him, he couldn’t stay away.
He didn’t ask for this. If James hadn’t called, he wouldn’t even be here. But he was, and being this close to Tessa without touching her was proving impossible. It had been a mistake of grand proportions to accept this job from James, but it was too late now.
He wanted her more than he wanted his next breath, and in one move, he slipped off the thin tank she’d put on, and pressed her bare flesh to his. They both groaned as she twined her arms around his neck.
“You’re not dressed,” she said, rubbing her mouth against his collarbone.
“Not completely, no,” he said, absorbing the sensation of her soft skin and pebbled nipples pressing against his chest, almost making him think he was dreaming again. “I was interrupted by you wrecking your apartment.”
“Good timing on my part, then,” she said, offering her mouth to him. His hands drifted up and wove themselves into her hair, but alarms went off in his head.
What did she mean? Did she fall on purpose? Was Tessa playing games again?
He deepened the kiss, realizing he didn’t care.
“You feel good,” he said, though it was a radical understatement.
“You, too,” she whispered.
The kiss went on and on, and he pressed his erection against her belly with a groan. He ran his hands and lips over her everywhere, committing every curve and shallow of her form to memory. Rolling her nipples between his fingers, he liked when she cried out, gasping in pleasure, and he did it again.
Her responses to him, at least, were real, and that’s all that mattered to him right then.
Jonas gently pushed her breasts together and sucked in both tender nubs at once, feeling her entire body tremble under his. He’d always been one to enjoy sex with the lights on, but his blindness made everything more intense, and this was no exception.
She ran her hands down his chest, unzipping his jeans. He sucked in a sharp breath when her hand closed around him, stroking lightly, running her thumb over the broad crown of his cock.
“You’re killing me, Tessa,” he managed to choke out.
“I haven’t even started. There are so many things I’ve thought about doing to you,” she said on a whisper, sliding downward so that she could taste him, taking his length into her mouth. Jonas took a deep breath then released it, letting her do whatever she wanted.
He set his hand gently on the back of her head, holding her there for a long moment as she drew on him. Not sure he’d last much longer, he pulled her back up against him and, quickly, silently, slid the bottoms she wore off, and then the slight, silky panties, as well. He lay over her, his shoulders nudging at the insides of her knees.
Oh, yeah, his body hummed.
Tracing a line down from her navel to the slick, hot flesh of her sex, he spread her wider, and only wished he could see. She arched, wanting more, quivering.
He flicked his tongue lightly against her clit. He relished the hot, womanly taste and abandoned the light touch to go deeper, rolling his tongue around her, parting her folds and seeking the ways to make her cry out. He had no idea how long he stayed there, the intimate kiss pleasing and arousing him as much as it seemed to please and arouse her.
She bucked her hips against him, but he held her in place, one climax triggering another until she was left spent and panting beneath him.
“Jonas,” she said his name on a breath, the satisfaction evident in her voice.
Masculine pride suffused him, inciting the urge to take her and please her even more deeply. For the first time in weeks, he didn’t feel at a disadvantage. He moved up, he planted his hands on either side of her shoulders, holding back.
“I don’t have protection, sweetheart,” he said. “Do you have anything here?”
She paused and then moaned one of frustration.
“No, and I don’t take birth control. I’m healthy, but I don’t want to risk other consequences.”
He agreed, and backed away, though his body tensed in objection. So close. Like his dream coming true, much to
