A Bit of Sass Read online

  His hand slipped between her breasts. A quick flick and that fast, her bra was gone and he was looking at her. Sass closed her eyes, and thought she’d drown under the weight of each stretch mark, each imperfection. The mattress shifted beneath her as Jacob leaned forward. His hair brushed her arm and then, with a caress as tender as the touch of a butterfly’s wings, he kissed the outside of her breast. She opened her eyes and looked down. He caught her gaze and held it as he repeated the caress. Once. Twice. Three times. Once for each stretch mark.

  “You’re beautiful, baby. Always.” His words seeped into her soul, warming that cold kernel of insecurity that said her prime was long past. That she couldn’t measure up. Her breath caught on a sob.

  He shook his head at her, pulling her chest to his with one hand as he scooted them back until the headboard supported his back, and he supported her. His lips whispered across her eyelids, soothing the burn of tears she wouldn’t let fall. “You have the prettiest breasts.”

  She had to ask. She’d spent too many nights dreading this very unveiling not to. “You don’t think they’re ugly?”

  Jacob blinked. She had to be kidding. She was in his arms—sweet, hot and willing—and she thought he could possibly find one single thing about her ugly? He brushed the hair off her cheek and tipped her chin so she couldn’t avoid his gaze. “There isn’t a damn thing about you that isn’t beautiful.”

  Some of the fear left her gaze, but a niggle of concern still hovered in the flutter of her fingers on his arm, and the nervous flick of her tongue over her lips. He leaned forward. Her tongue flicked out again. He tagged it with his, feeling the jolt go through her as they connected. He took her gasp into his mouth. He loved those little betrayals of surprise that overtook her when the passion flared between them. No matter how often they made love, she always reacted like it was the first time.

  “I tell you what,” he countered, shifting her above him so his cock notched securely against her pussy. Through the thin silk, the searing heat of her sheath beckoned. She was always so tight. So eager. So perfect. “You don’t make fun of my bony hips, and I won’t lie and say I find you anything but the most desirable woman I’ve ever seen.”

  “You don’t have bony hips.”

  She was talking in that measured, soft tone that meant she was still worrying. He tucked the persistent fall of her hair back behind her ear so he could see her face. “Uh-huh.” He touched his finger to the faint frown between her eyes. “You’re worrying again.”

  She blinked. The frown disappeared, to be replaced by a very shaky smile she no doubt meant to appear confident. “I’m sorry.”

  “You have nothing to worry about.”

  Her gaze bounced off his. Her lower lip disappeared between her teeth. “I have a lot more on my stomach.”

  The utter vulnerability exposed in those few words squeezed his heart. It had been a mistake letting her call the shots for the last few months. Instead of calming her, his cooperation with her wishes had just cemented in her mind the validity of her worries. And one thing Sass was very good at was worrying.

  “Your stomach, huh?”

  She nodded.

  “I guess I’d better check it out.”

  He let his fingers ride the ridges of her vertebrae until he got to the high waist of her French-cut panties. No doubt purchased because they both concealed what she wanted hidden and accentuated the full curves of the hips he loved. He watched her face as he tucked his fingers under the smooth elastic, watched how her full lips pursed to a pout and the deep amber of her wide-set eyes darkened to golden brown in anticipation and uncertainty. Another of those telling stiffenings and then a cautiously whispered, “Maybe we’d better turn out the light.”

  He shook his head, kissing her delectable mouth. “Uh-uh. You promised me no darkness and no hiding tonight.”

  “But—”

  He stilled her panic with a finger over her lips and a string of kisses down her throat. The shallow valley between her breasts beckoned with an enticing scent. Even her perfume drove him wild. His fingers found the crease of her buttocks and slipped between, easing downward. “Not until I see these supposed imperfections.”

  The smoothness of flesh beneath his fingertips gave way to the crinkle of muscle. Her body jerked against his as he tested delicately. “And probably not even then.”

  “Oh, God.”

  He tightened his arm, keeping her groin pressed into his erection as he pressed into her tender ass. She moaned and twisted, clearly not knowing which sensation to follow. He nuzzled his lips beneath her hair until he found the curve of her ear and took the decision out of her hands. “Push back.”

  “I thought you wanted to see my stretch marks?”

  The sentence ended on a high squeak.

  “In due time.”

  “But—”

  He nipped her earlobe. She jerked back and the tip of his index finger entered her heat. Surprise wrenched a high-pitched whine from her throat. Her muscles clamped down.

  “That’s it,” he whispered, keeping his voice level and calm as he felt her uncertainty in the tensing of her body. “Right there, baby. Just hold right there.”

  A flush rose in her chest. Her respirations increased, but she didn’t move. Didn’t blink. He kissed her softly parted lips, studying the emotions chasing across her small, triangular face. Fear. Indecision. Eagerness. He pressed a little deeper. When she still didn’t move, just held perfectly frozen in breathless anticipation, he had his answer. No one had ever had her ass before. Lust rolled over him in a relentless wave. He pulled his finger free. The delicate tissue clung as reluctant to let go as he was to leave. He swirled his middle finger in the juices coating her bare pussy. When it was good and wet, he seated it against her anus. It entered that first tiny bit. The blush in her cheeks intensified. That innate shyness that was so at odds with the boldness he could coax from her always fascinated him. He rubbed his fingertips across the arc of her collarbone. She was such an intriguing mix of passion and hesitancy.

  “Now, kneel up.”

  Lust and pride along with a stronger emotion he avoided naming rose along with his arousal as she slowly, carefully did as he asked. He stayed with her, not increasing the pressure nor decreasing it. He tugged the panties down as far as they would go. They hung up halfway to her knees.

  “Brace yourself on my shoulder,” he tapped her right leg, “then pull this leg free.” In order to do what he required, she had to sit back. Her eyes flew wide as his lubed finger probed the small tight ring. He held her gaze as she debated the sensation. “Feel good?”

  She didn’t answer right away. Just froze where she was, head titled slightly to the side, and then finally, “Yes.”

  “I can make it even better.”

  Uncertainty clouded the desire in her gaze.

  “Trust me.”

  Her lips slipped between her teeth, but then ever so slowly she nodded and ever so carefully sat back. Her cry reverberated around them, binding them together in a shivery echo of desire as his finger sank to the first knuckle. He caught the back of her head in the cradle of his hand as she shuddered, steadying her. “That’s it, sweetheart. Just a little at first. Let yourself get used to how it feels.”

  Tiny muscles fluttered in silent entreaty around his finger. Her body stilled as she focused on that nerve-rich point of connection. Then her forehead dropped against his and her body relaxed into his, accepting him a little more.

  “Okay?” he asked as she tensed at the deeper intrusion.

  “Yes.”

  The skin of her cheek was smooth under his lips. A drop of moisture seeped along the seam of his lips. He touched it with his tongue. Warm and salty.

  He leaned back. “Tears, baby?”

  She ducked his gaze, leaving him looking at the sheen of light flowing through her deep brown hair as she shook her head. “I’m such an idiot.”

  “Am I hurting you?”

  She brushed away his concern with
a flick of her hand. “You’d never hurt me.”

  He tipped her chin up. Her gaze revealed only an indecipherable something he didn’t trust. “Then why?”

  “Sometimes…” She shrugged. “Sometimes, I think too much.”

  He couldn’t argue that, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t telling him everything. “And that’s all?”

  Her answer was to wiggle her hips down on his finger, working him deeper, the familiar heat of passion replacing the strange emotion shadowing her gaze. “I thought you promised to make me feel good?”

  “I did.”

  She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and thrust her breasts up and out. “You’re a little slow in the making.”

  He raised his eyebrow, watching her breasts shimmy with the force of the move. “This isn’t good?”

  This was a crook of his finger deep inside. Her lids drifted down, the sexiest sound he’d ever heard purred in her throat.

  “I’ll take that little moan as a yes.”

  He trailed his finger down her chest, over those proudly thrusting breasts with their hard tips, stopping to pinch the nipple the way she liked, holding the compression, waiting for that melting little whimper she made as the sensation shot through her. When it came, her internal muscles clamped his finger hard, bringing out a new note in her repertoire.

  She was such a hot little thing, she made him burn. He released her nipple, smiling as she panted in his ear, and continued his journey down to her belly. Beneath his fingers he could feel the furrows that had her so worried. He turned his palm, cupped the slight curve of her stomach. And that fast she went from relaxed to tense.

  “No tensing and no worrying, sweetheart.”

  “They’re ugly.”

  “Nothing on you could be ugly.”

  “You can’t…”

  Since she couldn’t seem to come up with the words, he filled in the blank for her. “I can do anything I want. And I do. I find you gorgeous, sexy and perfect.” He tapped her ass with his pinkie. “Kneel up again.”

  She frowned suspiciously down at him but did as he asked.

  Before she could change her mind, he scooted down under her until he was face level with those marks she so feared. There were six of them, stretching up from just above her mound to just below her belly button. He’d felt them before. They were neither ugly nor pretty. They simply were. He pulled her into his mouth, licking and kissing along the widest one’s length until she squirmed and pushed at his shoulders. He paused, looking up between her breasts, cocking an eyebrow at her. “Is there a problem?”

  “That tickles.”

  He hitched down a hair’s breadth more, until his mouth was even with the half moon of her C-section scar. His own little private smile above his own private gate to paradise. He rubbed his tongue along its length, scooting over to tease the left corner, steadying her as she lost her balance when the mattress shifted. “Then I guess you’ll have to stop worrying about my reactions to these little marks.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m fond of everything that makes you laugh.”

  She made a funny sound he couldn’t decipher. He took it as approval. A little jostling and she fell forward. She caught her weight on her palms above his head, bringing that sweet little pussy directly over his face. The outer lips were hair free the way he liked and glistening with her cream. The inner lips were swollen and red, flowering outward in invitation. His cock jerked and pulsed with anticipation. He inhaled her scent deep into his lungs, holding his breath a few seconds, savoring her essence, letting it wind its way down to his core. He loved the way she smelled, tasted. Like sweet honey mixed with exotic spice. He was going to enjoy her tonight. All of her. Top to bottom. Bottom to top. No more shyness. No more hesitation. Son of a bitch, he couldn’t wait.

  He nuzzled into her folds, seeking the sultry moisture spilling from her body, licking the sweet juice from the engorged inner lips before working upward, nudging her clit with his nose as he swirled figure eights on the silky smooth flesh. Her nails scraped the sheets in a soft hiss of delight. Her breath left her lungs in a sexy bleat of anticipation as he nipped the base of that knot of nerves with his lips. She bucked at the surge of sensation. He caught her retreat with his palm in the hollow of her spine, holding her steady for his attention as he wrapped his tongue in a welcoming hug around that ultra-sensitive flange.

  “Please…”

  He might have mistaken the broken whisper for a plea of mercy, except the muscles under his hand were taut with desperate need, and within the moist caress of his tongue, her clitoris pulsed its own demand. Damn, he loved her like this—hot and needy, eager to come. For him. He sawed the rough surface of his tongue across the imprisoned thrust of flesh, smiling at her moan and the hot liquid spill of joy that accompanied it. Very eager. He released the breath he’d been holding, angling his mouth so the warm moist air blew across her sensitive point. Her whimper made him smile. He rewarded her with a small thrust of his finger. This time she gasped. He liked that little sound, but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. He wanted more from her. Her total submission. Everything she tried to hold back. And before the night was over, he’d have it. Her screams, her pleasure, her surrender.

  But first they needed her clothing out of the way. He turned his head and kissed the inside of her thigh, taking that softer-than-soft flesh into his mouth, sucking hard. Hard enough to leave a mark. Lately, he’d been marking her a lot. Hot sensual reminders of whose bed she was sleeping in, but it was never enough. It never satisfied the restless need prowling through him.

  Her fingers, as slender and feminine as the rest of her, fluttered over the spot. He wove his tongue between. When he looked up, she was looking down. He tugged the panties with his teeth. “Let’s get you free of these.”

  Her amber eyes searched his. Her teeth bit into her full lip, leaving a white impression in the brighter red. Then slowly, gingerly, she raised her leg, impaling herself on the full length of his finger as the panties slid free.

  Shock and pleasure warred for dominance in her expression. Her thigh muscles quivered against his sides.

  “Okay?”

  She didn’t answer. He leveraged his way back up, until she was once again straddling his hips, and they were face-to-face.

  He brought her brow to his chest, holding her close, absorbing the shivers flowing though her. Her hands hovered over his pecs before landing on his collarbone, the fingers stretched wide.

  “Answer me, Sass. Are you okay?”

  Her response was a sharp little nod and a curling of her nails into his skin.

  “Does it hurt?”

  The slight movement of her head could have been another nod.

  “God damn it!”

  She caught his hand before he could pull his finger free. This time there was no mistaking the shake of her head.

  “Look at me.”

  He had to wait two heartbeats for her to bring her gaze up. Her lips were red and swollen. A subtle frown pleated her brow. He skimmed the back of his fingers down her flushed cheek. “Is it too much?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Son of a bitch! His cock jerked in excitement to the warble of lust riding that little confession. He rubbed his cheek against the fragrant softness of her hair, relief battling with elation. An “I don’t know” that hopeful and that hot just begged a man to be convincing. “Ah, that kind of ‘I don’t know’ I can work with.”

  “You can?”

  He couldn’t suppress a smile at her small start. “Oh yeah.”

  With a nudge of his finger, he pulled her onto him. Her panties fell over his thigh as the wet heat of her pussy enveloped his cock. Desire rocked his control. No one affected him like Sass did. Only she could make him lose control and not give a damn. Only she could wrench a groan from his throat with nothing more than the touch of her flesh on his. What she did to him was more than lust. More than friendship. More than scary. And he was defi
nitely going to have to do something about it. Later.

  He tucked his lips against her ear. “Slide yourself along my cock. Let me feel every inch of that sweet pussy caressing me.”

  Her grip on his shoulder tightened, the sting of her nails bleeding into the power of his arousal, driving it higher as a shiver took her from head to toe. Oh yeah. He did enjoy a woman who responded to direction with a creamy pulse of pleasure. She slid herself forward, her tender clit stroking his cock like a firm little tongue. Her ass pulled free of his finger. Her pussy clenched on his shaft as the head caught on her clitoris, flicking it once on the way up and then again on the way down. Midway down his shaft, he had his fingers waiting. Two instead of one. She stopped dead as the blunt pressure changed. Her gaze locked with his. He dipped his free hand between her legs, gathering her cream and spreading it backward, around the tautly stretched ring, around his fingers, smiling as she bit her lip and her eyelids drifted down. She had a sensitive, responsive ass and he was a very lucky man.

  He grazed his left hand down her back. Goose bumps broke out over her skin. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Nice and easy.” He pushed gently with his palm, directing her back. “Just a little at a time. Just…like…that.”

  Her ass was tight, gripping his fingers on a hungry suction, fighting the stretching at first, then slowly giving way. Tiny whimpers that went straight to his cock burst from her throat. “A little more, Sass.” He pushed. She clenched. “Easy, baby. Just relax and take a little more.”

  She had to take more. She had to take him. All of him. No holding back.

  There was only the slightest of hesitations before she pushed back. Come seeped from his cock as she took him to the hilt, her cry jerking another spurt past his control. She knelt there for a moment, quivering, his fingers buried in her rear. A glance at her face showed that full lower lip locked between her teeth, her expression fierce with the intensity of the moment. The novelty of the sensation. Son of a bitch, she was beautiful.

  He cupped his hand behind her head and dragged her mouth to his, kissing her hard and deep, as deeply as he wanted to be buried in her, reluctantly breaking it off as she twisted against him, her body instinctively searching for more stimulation. More pleasure. Finding it in the glide of his shaft along her clit, the friction of his fingers in her back passage.