Chapter Seven

Joseph nerves grew more twitchy and agitated—and yes, excited—as the end of his guard shift approached.

Jenna wanted to see him…alone…in her bedroom.

He told himself it had nothing to do with sex, but seriously, what in God’s name would a woman want from a man in her bedroom? At midnight?

Knowing only one answer, his cock swelled and butted against his fly, struggling to break free so it could find a damn clock and manually force both hands up to the twelve.

When midnight came and went without a replacement guard arriving, Joseph nearly ground his molars to dust. Where the hell was Perrot? If he remembered reading the schedule correctly, the dumpy undersheriff was supposed to relieve him…five fucking minutes ago.

To keep from fidgeting, he opened Jenna’s back door and stepped out onto her deck that led to a spacious in-ground pool. The surface of the water glimmered against the moonlight. Joseph strolled around the edges, shining his flashlight at every deck chair and table to make sure no one was hiding under them.

When he turned back to the house, he noticed her bedroom light was still on, the glow muted by her window blinds.

His dick bucked yet again, ramming its head against his restraining clothes.

She was waiting for him. God damn, Perrot better show up soon, or he’d—

Car headlights and the hum of an engine pulled into Jenna’s drive. Joseph hurried in the back door, making sure to lock and secure it before he stormed to the front of the house, and threw open the main entrance.

He glared and propped his curled fists on his hips as he watched the tubby man roll out of his car and whistle softly under his breath as he moseyed up the front walk.

“What the hell took you so long?”

Perrot paused, zipping his head up. “You still here?” he asked, sounding surprised.

“Yes,” Joseph hissed. “Why would I leave without a replacement?”

Perrot looked clueless about an answer. With a shrug, he mumbled, “I don’t know. I just figured—”

“Well, you figured wrong. Miss Daggert and her mother have already gone upstairs for the night, so stay off the second floor. I checked the windows half an hour ago and just did a sweep of the back patio. But they’ll need to be checked again every couple—”

“I got it. Jesus.” Perrot rolled his eyes. “You’d think I’d never done this before.”

Joseph held his tongue, though there was plenty he could’ve snapped back. He’d only worked in Miners Bend for four months now, while Perrot was going on twenty years. Probably wouldn’t do to degrade a senior officer in his department.

After a brief clearing of his throat, Joseph mumbled, “She wanted my help with something, so I’ll be upstairs for a while.”

Perrot froze just before entering the house. “Say what?”

Joseph shrugged, not quite able to meet the other deputy’s curious gaze. “Probably just needs something heavy moved,” he guessed.

Perrot scratched his chin as he studied Joseph. “Well, I can move something for her if that’s all—”

“She asked me.” Joseph cut him off a bit too brusquely. “Besides, you’re busy with security now.”

With an arched brow, his co-worker waved him on. “Fine. Go show off your muscles for the pretty girl.”

Joseph scowled a moment, but finally turned and hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time. If his erection could’ve walked for him, it probably would’ve leapt them four at a time.

Once he reached the second floor, he paused a moment to regain his breath. She doesn’t want sex, he reminded his eager shaft as he bunched his hand and lightly knocked on her closed door, rapping twice as she had instructed.

“Come in,” he heard the call.

His penis only heard come and was more than ready to comply.

He eased open the door, already apologizing. “I’m sorry. My replacement was…” The words died in his throat, and the door fell shut at his back as he jerked to a stop two feet inside Jenna Daggert’s bedroom. She sat on the bed, at the edge by the footboard, wearing a silk jade wrap that fell to her knees and was held together by one very delicate, very bruised hand.

When she quirked a brow, he swallowed and finished on a croak, “…late.”

Her smile was soft and seductive. “No problem. I’m just now ready for you anyway.”

He couldn’t stop looking at her. No woman wearing an air cast over her ankle and half of her calf, or with bruises dotting her skin from head to toe, or black rings around both eyes should look this beautiful. But the sleek sculpture of her form, revealed through the silk, accented a body that had him salivating. His rod pulsed inside his shorts, growing more pissed by its constraining binds by the second.

Here she probably only needed some piece of furniture rearranged and he was sprouting wood. Talk about humiliating. He hoped his bulky duty belt hid his pounding arousal.

Jerking his gaze away from her feminine features, he looked about her room. “Ready for what?” he asked, cringing when his voice rasped.

From the corner of his eye, he saw her rise but refused to look. No reason to torture his poor libido farther.

“I had nightmares about giving him a blow job,” she said, ruining his heartfelt attempt at not peeking.

His gaze flared to hers, sharp and alert. “You think he—”

“I don’t know,” she cut in. “And I don’t want to know. I just know I used to love giving head. I knew how to work my tongue, how to keep my teeth from scraping, all the while sucking with just enough pressure to make a man beg for more. I knew how to cradle his sac in my hand, barely squeezing, until his eyes would roll into the back of his head.”

Joseph’s eyes felt like they needed to roll into the back of his head just from thinking about it.

“And then I knew how to open my throat and take him deeper and swallow until I drained him dry. I’m a master at fellatio, and I refuse to be afraid of it. He will not take that away from me.”

“What…” He paused to lick his lips. “What does this have to do with me, Miss Daggert?”

But dear Lord, he had a feeling he knew, and he wasn’t sure if it thrilled him or scared the shit out of him.

Letting go of her robe, Jenna lifted her arms from the front of her chest to let the satin slip off her shoulders and pool down her arms until it drifted to the floor.

Underneath, she stood naked, and she’d shaved her pussy back to bald since he’d last seen it.

“You’re going to let me go down on you and suck on your cock over and over until I love doing it again.”

Eyes shooting open wide, he darted his gaze up to her face to keep from looking at her splendid form. He refused to lower his eyes. The woman was out of her mind; she couldn’t know what she was saying. Anything sexual had to be the last thing she wanted right now.

He began to shake his head, but she nodded, overriding him.

“Yes,” she insisted, continuing to stand across the room from him, her shoulders straight and proud. “I need to do this. I need to gain some kind of control over myself again. I refuse to live the rest of my life in fear, and the faster I get back on the horse, the faster I’ll recuperate.”

Knowing he couldn’t argue with her, not even sure why he’d want to, Joseph tried to swallow, but there was no moisture left in his throat to get anything down.

Dry as dust, his voice cracked. “Why me?”

“Because you want me.”

He tried swallowing again, hoping that would gulp down the desire that kept rising up his system. But God, Jenna Daggert stood naked in front of him. He wanted to lower his gaze and scope out the entire breathtaking picture all over again.

Resisting, barely, he kept his gaze level on hers. “That doesn’t answer why you want me.”

She quirked one eyebrow. “You don’t deny you want me?”

Hell, no. “Am I supposed to?”

Her lips quirked at his question as if she were amused by his confusion, but she didn’t fully smile that sweet smile of hers. “Tell me why you want me and I’ll tell you why I want you.”

“I’m a man,” he lied, hoping she thought his reason were purely physical. “I haven’t had sex in over a year. And you’re standing in front of me naked. And beautiful.” Not to mention he’d been obsessed with her for half a month now.

Her gorgeous lips tipped in amusement, that same smile she had in the pictures he’d first seen of her. “How do you know I’m beautiful? You haven’t looked yet.”

He kept his gaze locked hard on hers. Neither of them blinked. “You’re stunning,” he insisted.

“And that’s why I want you,” she said, drifting closer. “You see a woman, not poor Jenna Daggert that just survived hell. You won’t treat me like glass that will shatter at the slightest touch.”

Joseph squinted. “Are you sure about that? I saw you at your most vulnerable. Not many others know he kept you naked and chained.” She winced at his words, making him wonder if this was news to her. It almost made him give in and provide her with whatever she wanted, but he needed to get his point across, make sure she truly realized what she was requesting. “Seeing you crying and tangled in that briar bush, a mangled, bloody, naked mess the day I found you would be in the back of my head the entire time.”

Her eyelids flickered with fear and revulsion, but her voice remained steady. “That just means you’ll stop if I need you to.”

“Miss Daggert, any man would stop if you grew too scared to contin—”

“No,” she insisted. “He wouldn’t.”

Joseph opened his mouth to argue, but her gaze grew fierce and her lips pulled taut as she continued. “And I know you’re not him. He could be anyone…but you. You’re too new to the area. You’re not the Snatcher.”

“That doesn’t mean—”

“I want it to be you,” she said, raising her voice. Her breathing picked up; he worried she might have a panic attack if he continued to argue with her. Her eyes misted as she finished, “Your voice calms me. Your smell soothes me. I didn’t flip out when you touched my cheek earlier, and I did when my own family hugged me.” She sobbed out a dry heave, quickly covering her mouth with her hand as if to shove the humiliating slip back down to her voicebox. “I want to hug my mother again. And if touching you will help me accomplish that, then I’m going to touch you.”

After her speech, Joseph wouldn’t have been able to deny her if she asked him to rip out his kidney with his bare hand and present it to her.

“Okay,” he rasped. “Okay.” His eyelids grew heavy and flickered as desire roared through his system. He was going to put his dick into Jenna Daggert’s mouth. Jesus, what if he came before she even spread her lips? “What do you want me to do?”

“Just stand there. I’ll take care of the rest.”

That he could do. He nodded.

She stepped toward him and he drew in a hard breath. Okay, maybe staying still might be harder than he originally thought. He wanted to tug her into his arms and hold on tight.

Reaching for his belt first, she unbuckled the notch, only for him to warn, “Watch out. It’s heavy.”

Taking over the task for her, he snapped off the keepers holding his duty belt to his regular leather belt underneath. Jenna watched, fascinated, while he unhooked the two belts from each other.

“You wear a belt under your belt?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She lifted her face. “Joseph, I’m my mother’s daughter and don’t want to be called ma’am any more than she does.”

He didn’t apologize, but stared at her with a gaze that was anything but gentlemanly. His hungry eyes finally roved down her body to settle on her breasts. As he watched them, the peaks budded and bloomed, hardening under his hungry gaze.

He licked his lips.

“Don’t touch them,” she said. Her voice was dark, causing him to lift his gaze. Her bottom lip trembled. “This time I will only touch you.”

Disappointment roared through his gut, but he nodded. Without speaking, he set the heavy duty belt aside, careful not to disrupt his weapon. When he turned back, Jenna slid her gaze up his legs and back to his crotch, where his polyester pants tented.

She unfastened his last belt and slipped it off. Holding his breath to brace for the moment she went for his zipper, he rushed out a sigh of relief and frustration when she unbuttoned his deputy shirt first. After sliding it off his shoulders and tossing it onto his duty belt, she then removed his under armor shirt.

He stood in front of her, wearing only his pants and combats boots, and felt more exposed than she actually was.

Her hand settled on him, high on his abdomen, low on his chest. Her touch was warm and light and complete heaven. He almost came, simply imagining what her fingers would do next. Hands fisting at his sides to keep from reaching for her, he ground his teeth to bite back a groan as she finally unbuttoned the top button on his pants. The rasp of his zipper lowering shot through him, making his entire body jerk in anticipation.

His knuckles grew so white they hurt. Hell, he was too afraid to even look at her in fear he’d haul her up and fling her onto her bed that was only four feet—

“Oh, dear God,” he groaned as her hand slipped inside his underwear.

She shoved off his pants and briefs together without preamble. He clenched his eyes closed to keep himself under control. She must’ve knelt in front of him, he suddenly felt warm breath on his pecker. His rod bobbed from his body, desperately seeking the mouth exhaling that delightfully humid air.

Her low chuckle of amusement followed, scorching a hot path through his body and making his erection strain toward her again.

“Someone looks glad to see me,” she mused just as five smooth fingers wrapped around his body part aching for an introduction.

She squeezed him tight and pumped without mercy, the very brand of handshake he’d been dreaming about giving her, making the pressure in the tip almost unbearable. Then her mouth tested him, tongue first, before she sucked him in deep, all the way to the back of her throat.

He choked out a sound of surprise. The lady certainly didn’t beat around the bush and toy with her victim before draining them of semen. She came on vacuum-strong and kept on without pausing for air.

Joseph tried to think of work, wanting to draw out the pleasure for as long as possible. But she sucked the cells right out of his brain and down to the very edge of his cock, where she kept every molecule of his sanity trapped at the very precipice of pleasure.

She gripped him snug within the heated cavity of her mouth, working her tongue snake-like over his hard length.

So wet, so much suction.

Oh God.

When her free hand cupped his sac and rolled his testicles around like a pair of Chinese stress balls in her palm, he couldn’t take it any longer. He looked down.

And shot into her mouth with a surrendering moan.

Shit. He’d wanted to warn her when he was getting close. Okay, fine, he’d been close since the moment she told him she wanted to go down on him. But he’d at least wanted to warn her when he was about to come.

Except there had been no warning for him. He looked down, saw those red lips wrapped around him and the crown of her dark hair bobbing as she swallowed him in deeper, and that was that. He was done. Ejaculation time.

It took all his willpower to keep his hands fisted and not clasp the back of her head to hold her deep. Not that he needed to. Fortunately, Jenna didn’t gag on his surprise orgasm. No, she closed her eyes and groaned in ecstasy, drawing his shaft down her throat and swallowing his thick cream.

He gasped as the last of his seed filled her. “Jesus,” he rasped, whipping a hand through his hair. But, really. “Jesus.”

Jenna’s eyes sparkled as she lifted her gaze to him. Slowly, she pulled free, licking up every last drop as she went.

“Did you like that?” she asked as she stood.

He almost snorted. Like it? Fuck, no. He loved it. But ever the somber fellow, he nodded a needless affirmation.

Her smile was slow, and damn, her lips were still bright red. “Good. I’m going to get a glass of water from the bathroom; I’ll be right back.”

Like a mute idiot, he only dipped his head yet again.

Her fingers trailed across his chest as she brushed past. He wanted to grab after her, haul her back into his arms, but wasn’t sure if he was allowed to touch yet. He frowned as she carried an empty cup into the bathroom and shut the door.

Maybe he shouldn’t have heeded her no-touching rule. Because for some reason, he felt used and dirty, like he hadn’t helped Jenna Daggert get over her fear of fellatio at all, like he’d only made things worse.

He’d expected his first sexual encounter with her to be, hell, sweet maybe. Innocent. Soft. Not some hyped-up rendition of a corny porn. But she’d come onto him so quickly, he hadn’t had time to think, or slow her down, or yeah, think. He glanced at his body in her full length mirror. He was naked save for his white tube socks still pulled halfway up his calves, making him look like a total dork.

Shit, he would’ve taken off his socks if he’d had the time. And cuddled. Yes, that’s what had been missing. Cuddling. The emotional aspect. Jenna hadn’t let him get emotionally close to her. And for the past eight years, he hadn’t wanted to get as close to a woman as he wanted to get to Jenna Daggert.

He felt as if she’d just deprived him of the best part. Pounded a big, red “denied” stamp against his forehead, because Jenna had totally rejected him from getting inside the head of the woman who’d haunted him for weeks. Frowning, he wondered why it’d been so important to her to make things completely physical, until he heard retching through the bathroom door.

Fuck. Now he felt like a total tool. Cursing, Joseph tugged on his pants and hurried toward the closed door.