Page 29

Chapter Eleven

D inner was fine.

A little upmarket, lively enough conversation, damn good wine which she drank and Henry didn’t. It was nice . But dinner dates with good-looking men should be more than nice; they should be…

Something. More.

Or was she expecting too much?

Eden watched Henry’s tail lights drive away and tipped her head back to look up, and up, at the towering, too-dark manor house.

There was a light on in what she knew was Diana’s suite of rooms, but because Troyden was away, only the yellow spotlight outside the kitchen door pierced the darkness of the country night.

So, Henry…

After their ‘date’, Eden knew he didn’t make her sexual radar blip.

Jed did though. Grumpy, annoying, bossy, rude, totally off limits…

She’d thought about him far too often tonight, which was both unfair to Henry and bloody annoying.

She was both infuriated and wistful that he wasn’t the one sitting opposite her, pulling out her chair, topping up her wine glass, asking her questions about her childhood and life, few of which, if any, she answered.

Henry wasn’t the man she wanted to tell her secrets to.

And Jed wasn’t interested in hearing them.

Arrgh. Eden stomped her foot, causing gravel to fly and sting her bare calves.

It had been a long, long day; it was late, and she was tired.

She’d sneak a whisky from Troyden’s study and take it up to bed with her, drinking it in the decadent slipper bath with bubbles up to her neck.

Then she’d climb into that too-big, lonely bed…

She looked toward the cottages, seeing the lights in the houses glinting through the trees.

Al and Justin were back, and Mick’s bedroom light was on, but Jed’s cottage was in darkness.

Had he gone to bed already– it was past eleven– or was he out?

Oh, God, was he out on a date, in someone’s bed, naked?

With that thought settling in her brain, she was going to need more than one whisky. Maybe even a bottle.

‘Enjoy your date?’

His voice came from behind her and Eden slowly turned, her heart a wild drumbeat in her ears. She should have been surprised but wasn’t. She was simply happy to take him in, shoulders hunched, hands in the pockets of his jeans, his expression nothing short of a glower. He looked pissed.

She lifted one shoulder and tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘It was… nice.’ That word again. ‘Good wine, good company…’

‘I’m so fucking happy for you.’

He delivered the words in a monotone and even a toddler could pick up on his sarcasm. ‘You left at six and got home five hours later. What else did you do?’

She thought about lying, about telling him that they went back to the Hall and had rollicking, dirty, bend-her-over-the-sofa sex but she couldn’t.

Something in his expression, a vulnerability she didn’t expect, held her back.

‘We ate. He drove me home,’ she replied, keeping her voice level.

She felt compelled to add, ‘Not that it has anything to do with you.’

His ‘ really ’ was a low, intense growl, and then his mouth was on hers, and his hands lifting her butt had her standing on her toes.

His tongue invaded her mouth. She tasted need, desperation, jealousy and her old friend, frustration, in his kiss.

This– this– was what she’d been thinking about for most of the night.

Being with Jed. Touching his skin, allowing his heat to warm her, his scent to envelop her.

His hand snuck up under the hem of her dress and his fingers wrapped around her thigh, lifting her leg so that her mound pressed against his hard cock.

Stuff being sensible, there was nothing she wanted more than to have him inside her, rocketing her up and into the orgasm she’d been dreaming about for weeks.

He lifted her again, her back against the house’s cool stone wall.

The fingers encircling her thigh tightened and she understood what it meant to be branded.

Heat coursed through her, a raging wildfire, and the last silken threads of rational thought fled.

It didn’t matter that they were standing under a weak outside light, that they were out in the open: she needed her hands on him.

Eden didn’t know if she said those words aloud or if he heard her silent plea, but Jed yanked his shirt up and over his head and dropped it to the ground.

Entranced by his hot skin and hard muscles, she slid her hands over his chest and lightly bit down on the ball of his shoulder, the bulge of his bicep.

She traced the line of his collarbone with her tongue, her fingers dancing over his abs, teasing him by running her thumbnail over his long, delicious, denim-covered cock.

It had been a while, and he would be big for her, but she couldn’t wait to feel him inside her, stretching and pushing and sliding and…

Cool air hit her skin, and Eden looked down to see her dress in a puddle at her feet, lying on top of his shirt, her bra God knew where.

His lips closed around her nipple, and he tugged it against the roof of his mouth, before rolling it between his teeth and swirling his tongue around her.

There was so much pleasure here to be explored, so much to be felt, so much that could go wrong.

She took a mental step back, wanting to remind him that she wasn’t staying, that they were playing with dynamite with lit fuses, that the complications weren’t worth the pleasure. That she was taking too big a risk…

But tonight she didn’t care about the future, not when his mouth was trailing over her ribs. He dropped to his knees, and his fingers pulled her panties to one side and then his mouth was there…

And… God , that felt good. He knew exactly how to suck her, how to tease and to make her tremble, when to increase pressure, the right time to pull back.

Eden lightly banged her head against the wall behind her, and pushed her fingers into his hair, holding him to her, praying he wouldn’t leave her hanging. She wanted this. She wanted him .

One long, thick finger slid into her, and she gasped at the intense intrusion but lifted her hips in a silent request for more. She whimpered when his hand retreated, and sighed when one finger became two and he licked her clit with perfect pressure and precision.

‘I’m so close, Jed, you’ve got to give me this…’ she panted, feeling like she was standing on the beach, arms stretched out wide, waiting for the tsunami to sweep her away.

In a blur of movement, too fast for her to comprehend, Jed was on his feet, his jeans around his knees, and he was ripping open a condom.

He grabbed her hand and roughly ordered her to put it on.

Eden swore… How could he expect her to do complex tasks when her entire brain was a gooey mess?

Somehow she managed, and as soon as the latex hit the bottom of his shaft, he cupped her elbows and lifted her off her toes.

‘Look at me, Eden.’

It was both a demand and a plea, and Eden lifted heavy eyes to meet his. His cock was at her entrance so why was he hesitating? ‘Jed…’

‘Do you want this?’ his voice rougher and deeper than normal. ‘Do you want me ?’

She was panting, on fire, about to scream from undiluted frustration. How could he ask such an inane question when she needed him more than she needed the world to remain spinning on its axis?

‘Eden? I need an answer.’

Then it dawned on her that he was checking that being with him was what she wanted, that he needed her reassurance that he wasn’t the only one drowning in need.

Lifting her hands, she held his face, her thumbs stroking his cheekbones, sliding through the soft stubble on his cheeks and jaw.

‘I’m naked against the stone wall of a stately house, Jed,’ she murmured, dropping a kiss on his lips, ‘begging you to do me. Yes, I want you.’

He stiffened and horror flew over his face. Oh, God, what now? ‘Shit, what am I thinking taking you here, like this?’

Oh, damn, she hadn’t meant for him to start thinking, to start second-guessing where they were and what they were doing.

She wiggled so that he just penetrated her, smiled when he sighed and closed his eyes.

‘I don’t do this. I rarely have sex,’ she told him, her voice a little dreamy.

‘And I never have it in such a wild, exposed place.’

‘Yeah, I got carried away.’

Yet again, he was taking responsibility for something that wasn’t his fault. Or not wholly his fault. ‘That’s not what I meant. I like it.’ A little deeper, and she felt him harden. Damn, that felt so incredibly good.

‘And if you do not take me now, up against this wall, I will stab a fork in your eye,’ she told him, not joking.

The corner of his mouth pulled up in that, rare sexy smile. ‘Are you seriously telling me that you, at five foot nothing, are tall enough to stab me? And where would you get a fork?’

Why was he still talking? Why wasn’t he doing ? She lifted her hips, shimmied, just enough to create some friction, and was rewarded with a little gasp, the smallest expulsion of air against her lips. His little loss of control was a balm. And a victory. ‘Are you telling me you could walk away?’

His answer was to drive into her in a hot, wild slide that suspended her heartbeat and heated the air in her lungs.

She stared into his bright, wild eyes, wanting to hold on to this moment, this first time– there was only one first time– but she also wanted more.

She needed everything he could give her: his soft, infrequent smiles, a sense of safety, his intense loyalty, his heat and power and strength…

He scared her, but she needed him. In ways she’d never thought she could need a man.