Jesse by Kathi S. Barton Read Free Book Online Page A

after her? Me. I did that. If that wasn’t being nice to her, then I
don’t know what the hell you want.” She’d backed him against the wall and when
he’d flipped her around so that she was now backed up and he in front of her,
she saw that the room was empty. She closed her mouth with a snap. She was so
dead.
    “May I speak now?”
    She nodded, afraid to say anything more.
    “Thank you. You were right. I was an
asshole. And a moron, and everything else you called me. Including a prick.”
    “I didn’t call you a prick.” She didn’t
think she had, not to his face anyway. “I said you were the other things, but not
that.”
    “I am, though, aren’t I?”
    She didn’t answer, thinking there was a
catch somewhere. She pushed at his chest. She thought he was simply too close
for comfort. He, however, didn’t move. “You’re going to have to back up.” He
spread his hands wide against the wall on either side of her waist. She
swallowed hard and tried again. “I can’t breathe when you’re this close to me. Please
back up.”
    Instead of moving away he seemed to move
closer. Her heart felt like it was pounding and she was sure he could hear it. She
tried again to push at him and, when she put her hands over his chest, he
covered her hands with one of his.
    “I’d like to show you how sorry I am.”
His voice had taken on a different timbre, low, soft, and a little sexy. “Will
you let me show you, Josephine?”
    “It’s Joey, and you’ll have to back up
if you want to show me anything. Right now you couldn’t get a piece of paper
between us.” She barely recognized her own voice as it sounded a lot like his. “Please?”
    “Gladly.” His mouth swept over hers
softly. His touch was so brief and soft that if she couldn’t still feel his
breath on her lips she’d swear it never happened. The second time he did it, he
nibbled on her lower lip, worried it a bit before he pulled back. She heard a
small whimper and thought it was her, but wasn’t sure.
    “Mr. Hunter, you need to back up. I
don’t think this is a good idea.” This time when she touched his chest she
didn’t push at him. In fact, she seemed to have no control over her fingers
wrapping into his jacket. “You have to…you need to…”
    “I agree. It’s time to finish…or start.”
His mouth took hers. And when he wrapped his fingers in her hair and tilted her
head she felt his tongue enter her mouth and devastate her, taste her and,
Christ, it felt like he claimed her.

Chapter 6
     
    The kiss wasn’t enough. He’d had no idea
a woman could taste so delicious and sexy at the same time. Moving himself more
flush with her body, he groaned when she rocked her hips into his. Jesse cupped
her ass and brought her against his cock.
    He’d only meant to kiss her, a simple
brush of his mouth over hers. He’d been an ass, the jackass that she’d called
him, and he wanted to tell her that he wasn’t. But her mouth looked so lush and
inviting that he’d not been able to stop himself from having a taste. But a
taste wasn’t enough.
    Jesse wanted to tell her he was sorry,
that he’d been more worried about her than he’d been about any living thing in
his life. He wanted to help her, hold her, and mostly he wanted to bury himself
deep inside of her. Shifting again, he palmed her breast and felt her heart
pounding. He captured her moan and her soft sigh.
    He lifted his head when he felt
something. His belly lurched, then his breath. He tried to let go of her, but
his fingers suddenly wouldn’t cooperate. Even when she whimpered he simply held
on. Taking a step back, then another, he knew she’d kneed him; his balls and
cock knew it too.
    Even as he dropped to the floor, his
body curled around itself. His hand instinctively cupped his now softening
erection, trying to protect what she’d already injured. He looked up at her as
pain exploded over him, from the top of each hair follicle to the tips of his
toes.
    “Why?” he