The Guy Next Door. Victoria Dahl
wanted to touch him. She wanted to feel him alive, throbbing in her palms.
“Not yet.” Holding both her hands loosely in one of his, Jett fiddled with the headboard—and then she felt the smooth, braided rope slipping over her hands, felt it pull taut with a gentle tug from him, closing around her wrists like a noose.
Alarm slammed into her.
She jerked her arms, but they remained secured over her head. “Jett?”
He surveyed her upper body, his face taut with lust. “Relax. You’ll like this.”
“But…” Again she pulled, and accepted that there was no way for her to break the hold. Her heart began pounding for an entirely different reason.
Satisfied, Jett stretched out next to her, propped on an elbow and rested his free hand low on her belly. He looked from her bound hands down her arms, over her face and to her chest. “Even like this, all stretched out on your beautiful back, you have an impressive rack.”
Natalie tried to calm herself. She wanted Jett. But…she just didn’t know about this.
Trying to decide what to say, she whispered, “I’m not sure…”
“Trust me.” He bent and drew one nipple into his mouth, shattering her thoughts. She felt the gentle pull of his mouth everywhere: on her nipple, in her stomach, between her legs. It was a potent mix—sharp pleasure with an edge of uncertainty. Danger. Lust.
Again she tested the restraint, and this time, the feel of being powerless, at his mercy…excited her. She’d never been one to live on the edge; never, ever had she had this type of purely sexual encounter.
She remained nervous but not really afraid. However, she had to know.
“Jett?”
“Mmm?” Leaning over her, he switched to her other breast, licking, nipping with the edge of his teeth until she gasped and then enclosing her in the heat of his mouth.
Natalie moaned before managing to say, “I…I need you to tell me what you’re going to do.”
Movements unhurried, he sat up beside her and looked her over. “All right.” His dark brows puckered, and then, as if making up his mind, he parted her thighs and knelt between them.
Before Jett had accustomed her to his unique brand of earthy sexuality, she would have felt exposed. Now, she just enjoyed his attention and the fact that he took so much pleasure in looking at her—in every way.
He trailed his fingertips down her inner thighs, tickling, adding to her tension.
“You and I are going to talk.” He used his thumbs to part her, opened his big hands wide on the very top of her thighs.
The way he looked at her in such detail would have been distracting enough, but he…wanted to talk? “Jett?”
Giving up the perusal of her body, he raised his gaze to lock onto hers. “We’ll talk, and when we’re done, you’re going to come for me.”
CHAPTER TWO
NO WOMAN HAD EVER LOOKED more delectable than Natalie did right now.
Worry softened the lust in her big brown eyes. Her keen intellect cautioned her of his intent, but her sensual nature was game for some risqué play.
In the dimmer light of his bedroom, her lashes left long shadows on her velvety cheeks. From her slender throat to her soft belly, heat flushed her fair skin. Her rosy nipples were drawn tight, her thighs open to him, her pink sex already glistening and swollen.
She chewed her bottom lip even while breathing hard. She wouldn’t be able to free herself, and still she strained against the special restraints. Her legs, opened wide around his hips, flexed when her back bowed.
“It’s all right, you know.” Keeping his hands off her proved impossible, so he smoothed them down her ribs to her hipbones. Spreading his fingers wide, he used his hands to frame her sex. “Why are you worried?”
Her heavy-lidded gaze went smoky; she pulled at her restraints.
Damn, but he liked this. Too much. “You look sexy as hell like this, Natalie.” He drifted his thumbs back and forth, brushing her pubic hair.
Closing her eyes to regain her wits, she took a deep breath then asked, “What do you want to talk about?”
Watching her was a unique pleasure. As he touched his thumbs to her vulva, he whispered, “Everything.”
Breath held, she tipped her head back and concentrated on the way he made her feel. To most of the world, Natalie presented a modest sense of decorum. In bed with him, she became a complete hedonist.
Jett smiled at the sinuous movements of her perfect body.
Natalie might not realize it yet, but they were totally in sync. He was experienced enough to know it, even if she wasn’t. Sexually, they were a perfect match.
It’d be interesting to see how they matched up out of bed too, but he had to tread lightly with that idea. If he came on too strong, she might mistake his interest for a commitment.
Looking at her voluptuous body, he told himself that he should take what she so freely offered and enjoy it while it lasted.
But deep down, he knew that someone in her past had hurt her.
Whether that person was still in the picture, Jett didn’t know. He did know that Natalie wasn’t married and never had been, wasn’t engaged and wasn’t seeing anyone other than him. But maybe the guy who’d hurt her was an associate or a family friend.
Jett scowled. Eventually he’d uncover all her secrets.
One thing at a time.
As a teacher, Natalie got extended time off for spring break. That meant plenty of grown-up time away from kids and papers, without the administration keeping tabs on her. No way in hell would he let her hit the dating scene without him.
Not without a fight.
And God knew, he never fought fair. Soon enough, Natalie would know it too.
“Honey, look at me.”
Warily, she brought her gaze back to his, uncertain yet willing. “What?”
Jett kept one hand on her right leg, on her inner thigh. The other was still between her legs, playing with her ever so lightly. “I overheard you on your cell phone last week.” Beneath his palm, her thigh felt sleek and soft. “You were coming into the apartment, talking about spring break.”
She went utterly still, her eyes widening with caution. “Spring break?”
He narrowed his eyes at that evasive reply. “I know that you teach middle school, Natalie.”
She shook her head but asked, “How?”
To distract her from what he had to say, Jett draped her legs up and over his, widening her even more and scooting in closer to her body. He was so hard that he hurt, but for now he could ignore his own need.
He heard her sharp inhalation at this new position, and he said, “You told me that you teach.” Back before she’d decided she had to keep him out of her life. “Don’t you remember?”
“No.”
To keep her just as he wanted her, he put both hands on her thighs. “You didn’t give me any details, but I have ways of finding out things.”
Though he didn’t look at her face, he felt her new nervousness, the burgeoning suspicion. Any second now, she’d demand that he let her go.
And of course he would. She needed to know that she could always trust him, and that for him, no meant no, period.
To keep her from calling it quits, he cupped his hand over her mound again. “You are so hot.”
She