25
MELANIE
For a long while afterward, neither of us moves.
Jared kisses me again and again, his hands rough in my hair, infinitely gentle when he caresses the side of my face. I encircle my arms around his shoulders, not yet ready for our connection to end. Maybe he feels the same way, because instead of pulling out of me, he rolls onto his back, taking me with him until I’m settled over the top of him.
His heart thuds heavily beneath my cheek as he strokes my bare shoulder. We lie in contented silence, suspended in a moment neither one of us seems eager to break. His erection is still firm inside me, still pulsing with aftershocks. I don’t want him to withdraw, but eventually Jared kisses the top of my head and moves to get rid of the spent condom in the adjacent bathroom.
I hear the water run in the sink for a moment, followed by the soft hiss of the shower turning on. He strides back out to the bedroom like a big cat on the prowl, all gorgeous muscles and athletic motion. His mussed, golden-brown hair completes the effect, grazing his broad shoulders like a wind-tossed mane.
He meets my appreciative gaze and gives me a slow, lopsided smirk. “That looks says you’ll be thinking about me for more than a few days.”
He’s right, and I don’t even try to contain my satisfied smile. “So arrogant, Mr. Rush.”
“Confident,” he counters, grinning now. “Big difference.”
“Mm, so I see.” My eyes travel to the jutting, bare length of him as he approaches me on the edge of the bed. His erection grows even harder in the few steps it takes for him to reach me. I want to lick him so badly, I practically groan. “Jared, I should go.”
“Go?” Frowning down at me, he palms the back of my skull, his strong fingers playing in my loose hair. “Darlin’, I’m not even close to finished with you yet. Besides, if you were on your way to work, you’re already late.”
God, I’m tempted. I look up at his devilish gaze and shake my head. “A coworker picked up my shift. It’s my mom I’m worried about. I should be with her.”
“She’s got someone with her,” he reminds me. “I reviewed the nurse’s credentials myself before the agency sent her over. They assure me Rosa’s the best they have on staff.”
“Jared, about that . . .” I slide off the mattress to stand with him. “I appreciate the gesture, but what just happened between us doesn’t change my mind. I can’t accept your help with my mom’s care. I’m going to pay you back.”
“I won’t take your money. Not before I was inside you, and sure as fuck not after.” He kisses me as if the matter is settled. “Come on. You can argue with me some more in the shower.”
I follow him into the bathroom, then into the glass-walled shower that’s already filled with billowing steam. We don’t continue our argument under the warm spray overhead, but instead take our time soaping each other. We kiss and stroke every inch of each other’s bodies until the water runs cold and we’ve both come multiple times.
It wouldn’t have taken much convincing at all for him to get inside me again, but the fact that he didn’t even try without the benefit of protection only makes me want him more now that we’re out of the shower.
With a towel fastened around his trim hips, Jared wraps me in another one, then draws me against him. I am blissfully caged within the circle of his strong arms as he brushes his lips over mine in a tender, yet hungry kiss. He groans as he pulls back, both of us breathing heavily. I feel boneless and loose, but he’s a coil of tension against me, the ridge of his cock nudging into my hip.
“I knew you were going to be a problem for me,” he murmurs as he stares down into my heavy-lidded eyes. “I just didn’t realize how much. I can’t get enough of you, Ms. Laurent.”
My smile is slow, seeming to curl up from the very center of my being. “That’s only going to be a problem if you think I’ll be able to get enough of you.”
He arches a brow. “You will, eventually. I’m still the same insufferable prick I was when we met. The only difference is, now I know how to make you come.”
“Yes, you do.” I want to keep the moment playful and light, but I’ve never been more serious in my life. “You’ve ruined me for anyone else, Jared. I knew it that first night I came here with Daniel. I wanted to despise you, but instead I just . . . wanted you.”
He makes a low, approving sound in the back of his throat, his gaze burning with desire and a fierce tenderness that astonishes me. “You are unlike any woman I’ve ever met. So genuine and honest. Tenacious and loyal. Stubborn as hell, too.”
“So I’ve heard, once or twice,” I admit, smiling.
“And you’re beautiful,” he adds, reaching up to caress the side of my cheek in his palm. “You’re more than beautiful, Melanie. Your goodness glows from inside. You take my fucking breath away.”
A soaring kind of warmth opens up in my chest at his words, and at the earnest way he says them. His name is a sigh, my breast too full with emotion to form any true sound. I turn my face into his gentle hand, pressing my lips to the center of his palm. I can feel the throb of his pulse there, beating strong and heavy.
But I feel something else, too.
His fingers tremble against my cheek. More than tremble, they’re shaking.
He draws his hand away from me, letting it fall slowly down at his side.
“Jared.” I look at him in alarm, realizing the
