Page 19 of Training Rain
Rain sat carefully, keeping the blanket covering her. “Why then?”
She might have asked more, but Jess’s body hovered over hers. He loomed and the air between them crackled with energy. “I can’t be your teacher because all I can think about is how soft your lips look, how the curve of your hips would feel under my palm and how perfect it would be to bury my cock deep inside you.”
“Oh.” Her nipples hardened to pebbles and the sheets felt as if they were sandpaper on the sensitive tips. Moisture pooled between her legs with every word he said. The stupid one-word response left a yawning gap in the awkward conversation.
His lips were barely visible in the dim room, but he was close enough to feel his warm breath just before his mouth brushed hers. “I shouldn’t be your instructor because I want you. When I almost lost you, my focus was not on my work, only on you. That’s not good.” He rubbed his lips back and forth across hers.
She responded to the kiss, her mouth opened for him and he tugged on her bottom lip. Warmth spread throughout her body in spite of the chill in the room. She cursed the layer of heavy blankets between them. Every naughty thought she’d entertained and then brushed aside during the past few days bounced happily around in her head once again. He wanted her. The idea alone was sensual. Jess’s weight pressed her into the mattress.
“It’s too much of a distraction to care about you in this way. My instinct is to protect you and I can’t separate the woman from the agent.”
She managed to get her hands free of the blankets and cupped his face. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? I thought you hated me.”
A sharp, short laugh cracked the air. “I definitely don’t hate you, Rain. I pushed you harder so you wouldn’t see how much I needed you, to prove to myself I could overcome my feelings. It nearly got you killed today. I’m sorry, but it made me realize I have to ask for a reassignment.”
His sweet admission had her body humming with sympathy and need.
She had gone to bed with damp hair and now the mass was likely knotted and nesting around her face. He pushed a wayward strand away from her cheek and kissed the spot where it had been. “I know you’ve had a rough day and you’re tired. I know I should get us out of here tomorrow and never see you again. But if you’re interested, I’d like to make love to you. I want to make you forget the terrors of the day if only for a little while and give us both a night of pleasure.”
Every word he said pushed her excitement higher. “Yes.”
His mouth devoured hers. He kissed her as if he was a starving man and she was the first food he’d seen in weeks. His tongue plunged and plundered hers. He explored her lips and teeth. When he pulled back, she gasped for air.
He kissed her cheek, jaw and chin. “I want to go slow. I want to cherish you,cher, but I’m so desperate to have you.”
She pushed his shoulders back and he moaned and moved away.
Jess sat down on the edge of her bed and put his head in his hands. “I’m sorry. I should not have come in here.”
She pushed down the covers and got out of the bed. Her bare skin prickled with goose flesh as the cold air hit her. She padded over to the dresser where she’d left a lantern. She lit the electric lamp and a warm golden glow filled the room. She adjusted the light to bring it up a bit more, then turned to look at Jess.
His head was still low, but he’d raised his eyes and they followed her in the light. “You’re naked.”
She didn’t hide from his gaze, rather she reveled in it. All week she’d wanted him, but thought him indifferent to her. Now she knew he was behaving under some code of his own. “I don’t want this to be in the dark. I want to see you and I want you to see me, Jess.”
He sat up straighter and his eyes darkened. “Turn around.”
Her heart raced and she complied with his command. She hadn’t heard him get up or move, but his fingers traced the tattoo that stretched across her shoulder blades and down past the middle of her back. His touch radiated heat along her skin in contrast to the chill in the room.
“I saw a hint of this the other night when I carried you in here. It took all of my will not to strip you down and get a better look.”
She wanted to tell him she wouldn’t have minded if he had. She also wanted to tell him to get naked and fuck her before she came just from him lightly tracing her spine. “I’ve had that for a long time.”
The flat of his palm brushed along the horn of the buffalo. She closed her eyes, imagining his hand along the red and black lines of a bird’s wing. The tattoo was made up of many different animals put together artfully to create the image of a buffalo.
“Is this a regret?”
She turned to face him. Her heart pounded. “I could never regret that ink. It’s who I am.”
His fingers traced the curve of her breast, down to her waist and up again. “Who you are? I don’t understand.”
“Maybe someday you will.” She touched his cheek and it surprised her how much she hoped that was true. She wanted someone to know her, she always had. It was shockingly clear to her, she wished Jess could be that person.
He wore jeans and the top of long underwear. She ran her hand over the silky material of the state-of-the-art thermal. His nipple pebbled under her touch. He hissed through his teeth.
“I’m freezing,” she said.
His bright smile could have lit the room without the help of the lantern. “Get back in the bed and if you want, I’ll keep you warm.”
