Let it Snow(The Hope Falls Series)

Chapter Twenty


?


“You can lose the shirt now,” Tessa said as she pulled the oil from her bag. Turning, she posed the question to the now shirtless brown-haired, blue-eyed man standing in front of her. “Would you like to do the honors or shall I?”

He held out his hands and, with a flirty smile, answered, “I would never turn down the chance to be oiled up by a beautiful woman.”

Tessa laughed as she squeezed the plastic bottle and squirted some on her palms. Rubbing them together, she warned, “I have really cold hands.”

“I think I can handle it, sweetheart.” The too-smug-for-his-own-good cop winked at her.

His cocky expression vanished the moment her hands made contact with his chest. The big, tough policeman hissed and jumped back.

“Told you,” Tessa shrugged as she quickly made work of greasing up his muscled upper body.

In the last two days, she’d touched more men than she had in the previous thirty years of her life—combined. When she’d approached Mary for any extra work she might be able to throw her way, she hadn’t expected to be handed the annual policeman-slash-fireman calendar shoots. But Mary had said that she’d scheduled it the month before and had gotten ill. The proofs were due at the printers this Friday, and Mary had only shot March and June for the policemen’s calendar so far. That left twenty-two sessions between the two calendars that needed to be fit into a four-day window.

So of course Tessa had jumped right in. Not only would she do absolutely anything for Mary, but she also really needed the money. Lauren had gotten back to her with estimates on the roofing and plumbing. Even if she maxed out her credit cards, she was still about four thousand short for the bare minimum of contract work the house needed before they could put it on the market.

So for the last few days, she’d gotten up early—like four a.m. early!—worked on Gran’s house, and then come to Say Cheese at nine a.m. She would fit in as many sessions as she could before she headed to JT’s for her night shift. After her shift ended, she would rush home and edit until she couldn’t see straight.

She was exhausted and running on almost no sleep, but on the bright side, between this gig and bartending, she was quickly reaching her financial goal. Also she’d had hardly any time to think about Jake. Well, actually that was not true. She always thought about Jake, but she’d had very little time to dwell and overanalyze, which was working out well for her sanity and general wellbeing.

“All right, you are adequately oiled up.” Tessa crossed to the sink to wash her hands before taking her place behind her camera. She was old school and still looked through the viewfinder, although her camera did have the option of looking on the screen.

Stepping back, she adjusted her lamp reflector and looked at the readings. “Okay, so I just need you to give me your most badass-cop face.”

After getting a few shots, she saw that her subject was not as comfortable in front of the camera as he had been while he had been hitting on her when he first arrived. Part of being a good photographer was pulling out of your models what they needed to give you.

“So, Julian, do you have a girlfriend?” Tessa asked as she unscrewed her camera from the tripod.

“No,” he answered, the spark in his eye renewed.

“Really? That surprises me.” Tessa lifted the camera up, looking through the viewfinder, and she began snapping pictures.

Julian shrugged as a cocky half smile appeared on his face. And there it was—exactly what she needed. “Well, you know how it is. I work a lot.”

“Oh, I bet you do.” She kept snapping. “I can’t even imagine how dangerous what you do is.”


Sticking out his chest like a proud peacock, he hooked his thumbs on his Sam Browne duty belt and his fingers fell loose down his waist. It was a great pose for the calendar because he looked in charge and totally comfortable.

“It can be,” he answered proudly.

Two more shots and she had it. She looked down to check her screen. She flipped through the session, just to confirm that she’d gotten everything she needed. The one thing she absolutely adored about digital photography was that she didn’t have to wait to see what she had until the film developed. Just hoping against hope that she had, in fact, gotten amazing shots.

Everything was at her fingertips. And not only that, but through the magic of technology, she could basically tweak and twist her image any which way until she was happy with it. She loved it.

“Awesome job, Julian. We got what we needed.” Tessa moved to the Mac computer that was sitting on the back table in the studio to download the photos and get ready for the next session.

“So how does dinner sound? Friday night?” Julian moved beside her. Close beside her. Clearly he wasn’t a fan of personal space.

“Oh thanks, but I’m actually working this Friday.” Tessa tried to keep her voice as friendly and upbeat as possible. She hated awkward social situations, and she found that if she just stayed happy and clueless they would work themselves out.

“How about Saturday?” His voice dropped an octave.

Or not.

Okay, time to pull out the tried-and-true, old-faithful, get-out-of-jail-free-and-pass-go rejection. “Actually,” she said as she turned, “I’m kind of seeing someone.”

“Really.” Julian looked at her like her pants were about to burst into flames from lying.

Was it really so hard to believe that she might be seeing someone? Her brows lifted and she tilted her head at his challenging tone. “Yes, really.”

Julian backed away and held up his hands in mock surrender, perhaps sensing her irritation. He pulled his shirt back on and winked at her before leaving. “Well, if you ever want to give a real man a try, call me.”

Tessa turned back to her computer. She heard footsteps and then the door shutting.

“Right,” she mumbled under her breath as she pushed her camera’s flash drive into the side of the computer, “like that would ever happen. Seriously, why do guys think that’s even remotely attractive? News flash, Romeo. Girls do not like a*sholes.”

“Are you sure about that?” a deep voice sounded from behind her.

Tessa screamed as she jumped at least a foot off the ground and spun around to find Jake dressed in full firefighter gear, leaning casually against the closed doorframe.

“What are you doing?!” Tessa asked as she clutched at her chest.

“Listening to you talking to yourself.” Jake pushed off the doorframe and began walking towards her.

“When did you get here?” Tessa hadn’t heard him come in.

“Right before you shot Officer Douchebag down.” Jake stopped about a foot in front of her.

“Oh.” Tessa nodded, looking up into the dark pools of his brown eyes. Her heart beat began picking up for an entirely different reason than fear. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Clearly.” A smile tugged at Jake’s lips and Tessa felt it spread through her like cream in her coffee. “Where do you want me?”

“What?” Tessa wanted him naked and on top of her, but she didn’t think she should just blurt that out.

His brow lifted and a knowing look flitted across his eyes. She couldn’t prove that he could read her mind, but she had always suspected as much. As she tried to clear it of anything X-rated, he put his hand out towards the white backdrop beside him. “The photo shoot.”

“Oh right! That.” Jake was here for his photo session. Duh. Her only excuse for totally blanking on the fact that, of course, she would be shooting Jake was the fact that she’d barely slept and, as Gran liked to say, ‘had been busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest’.

Shaking her head slightly, she said, “So we’re gonna start with your full Bunker gear on. Then just your pants and boots. We’re doing side-by-sides of uniform and shirtless. Go ahead and stand there.”

Tessa’s hands were shaking as she pulled the now cleared flash drive from the computer. She wasn’t sure if they were shaking from nerves or arousal, but either way, she needed to lock it down and do her job. These calendars helped raise a lot of money for the city of Hope Falls.

Her heart was pounding and her mouth grew dry as she took her place in front of the backdrop. She began to lift the camera to her eye but realized that the shaking was getting worse. Tripod. Jake’s shoot could obviously not be done freehand.

“Are you okay?” Jake asked with amusement lacing his voice.

“Yep,” Tessa answered perhaps a tad too enthusiastically. She looked up to decide which pose to put Jake in and her breath caught in her chest. He stood totally naturally, his weight on his right foot, his left hand holding his helmet against his side. Not only was his body’s pose picture perfect, the look in his eye was…sizzling.

If it were possible to spontaneously combust from a look, Tessa would have burst into flames by now. Clearing her throat, she focused her attention on screwing the base of her camera onto the tripod. It was difficult when she could feel the heat of his stare all over her skin like she was lying on a beach and the sun was shining down on her.

Pressing her eye to the viewfinder, she began clicking. Jake didn’t need direction or emotion to be pulled out of him like the other models she’d been shooting. He naturally moved, just slightly every few moments, keeping the shots alive and full of life. Tessa adjusted her shutter speed and focusing ring and kept shooting.

“That’s great,” Tessa said. “I think we’ve got everything we need with that setup.”

Tessa was relieved when Jake began taking off his jacket. She wasn’t sure she could ask Jake to “lose the shirt” or “take it off” without her voice cracking, and as much as possible, she did want to at least have the appearance of professionalism.

Leaning down, she grabbed the oil out of her bag. When she stood, her eyes felt like they were popping out of her head, like in the cartoons when the wolf sees the pretty lady. Jake was pulling off his white undershirt, revealing his rippling abs and the hard planes of his muscled chest.

She walked slowly towards him, her heartbeat pounding in her own ears. Tessa knew that it was impossible for him to hear it, but it was so loud she felt like it was equally as impossible for him not to hear it.

Every other model had been given the option of whether or not they wanted to apply the glistening oil to their own bodies. Jake was not going to get any such option. Professionalism was one thing, but passing up a chance to touch Jake was just stupid. Or maybe touching him would be the stupid thing to do. She couldn’t really decide, but she knew one thing for certain—it was going to happen.

Taking in a calming breath, Tessa squirted some the oily liquid in her palm and rubbed her hands together.

“I like where this is going,” Jake said lightheartedly. Her eyes glanced up to his. The look in his eye betrayed his teasing tone. It was deadly serious.

Tessa smiled and let out a little nervous laugh as she rubbed her hands together, the slippery liquid causing them to slide easily. Her hands reached out and touched his body. The skin-to-skin contact sent a bolt of zings all the way to the top of her head and down to the tips of her toes.

Moving across his defined chest, she felt as her hands begin to tremble. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all. “Okay, okay, okay, okay,” she whispered under her breath, trying to get some kind of a reign on her raging hormones. It wasn’t really helping.

*

Jake knew that Tessa was just as affected by what was going on as he was. Her hands were shaking and he’d just heard her whispering barely audible “okays.” More than anything, he wanted to cover her mouth with his and swallow her nervous rumblings in a kiss that was sure to cure all of her anxiety.

He was doing the best he possibly could to remain perfectly still while Tessa’s soft hands roamed his chest and torso. There was one part of his anatomy that was not cooperating. His shaft was growing harder by the second and there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it.

The sensuous feeling of Tessa’s touch gliding across his skin was too much for Jake to handle. Add to that the visual of her face concentrating as she worked, her pale hands against his olive skin, and the hint of cleavage he could see from her V-neck sweater and he was toast. There was no way his body was going to listen to his mental “down boy” command.

Closing his eyes didn’t help matters. Just like before, all of his other senses became hyper aware. Her scent, her touch, even the nervous way she whispered “okay” were all sensual torment causing unrelenting desire to consume him.

“Done.” She stepped away quickly, and he saw her body tremble as a visible chill ran the length of her body. Turning, she quickly made her way to the small sink to rinse her hands. Jake’s attention was solely focused on her perfect heart-shaped ass as it swayed back and forth while she crossed the room.


A small smile tugged at his lips as he heard her whispering to herself while she wiped her wet hands on her jeans. He watched, mesmerized, as she moved behind the camera. Her slim fingers reached up, turning a few knobs, and then she pivoted and adjusted an umbrella-looking thing behind her.

Tessa was sexy no matter what she was doing. She could be doing absolutely nothing at all and easily be the sexiest woman Jake had ever laid eyes on. But watching her work, in her element, turned him on something fierce. The way her brows furrowed in concentration. The way her eyes narrowed until she found just the right angle to get the exact shot she wanted.

Jake remembered when he used to take her up to Mountain Ridge when she was just learning about photography. Jake could spend hours upon hours just watching her with a camera. He’d thought at the time that he would be doing that for the rest of his life. Things obviously didn’t turn out as planned.

Tessa cleared her throat bringing him back to the present. He looked up at her and she immediately began snapping pictures. Even though the camera was blocking Jake’s view of Tessa’s entire face, he could still see the smooth skin of her cheeks, her full pink lips, and the fine baby hairs that fell on her forehead. She wore her shoulder-length hair back in a ponytail, and wisps of fine tendrils framed her angelic face.

“Okay, chin down. Shoulders back,” she instructed as she continued snapping.

A need unlike any he had ever experienced before was raging through him like an inferno. He was burning up inside with heated desire. He knew that Tessa had a job to do, but if she came back to oil him up again, he couldn’t make any promises. He was holding on by a very thin thread.

“All right, we’ve got that.” Tessa moved from behind the camera and grabbed a chair that had a wooden frame and an open back. She set it down directly in front of him with the seat facing him. “Straddle it,” she said as she scurried quickly back to her camera.

“I like it when you talk dirty,” Jake teased as he watched her move with lightning speed. She obviously didn’t trust herself to be close to him any more than he trusted himself to be close to her.

She let out a puff of breath that sounded like a forced laugh and dismissively waved her hand at his comment. When she turned, he saw that a light pink blush had crept up on her cheeks.

While she adjusting the lighting and her camera, he pulled the chair slightly towards him and did as she asked. Placing his legs on either side, he straddled it and sat down, leaning his forearms on the frame.

“Good,” she said, her voice sounding strained. “That’s perfect.”

She snapped several more shots and moved the tripod to the left. Jake assumed it was to get another angle of the pose. He could hear more mumbling under her breath and she sounded a little frustrated.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

Jake was pretty sure that he wasn’t doing anything that would cause her aggravation. He’d been doing these calendar shoots since he’d moved back home from college and they were pretty straightforward. Take your shirt off and look into the camera like you want to have sex with it. Normally, with Mary standing behind the lens, he had to do a bit of acting. But not today. With Tessa as photographer, he would have a harder time looking into the lens and not looking like he wanted to have sex with it.

“Yep. Everything is fine,” Tessa said a little too brightly through clenched teeth.

His brow rose in question. “You sure about that?”

Pursing her lips, she nodded her head determinedly. She dipped her head, looking at the base of the camera, and Jake noticed her unscrewing something, then pulling the camera off the tripod with purpose. Jake saw a fire in Tessa’s eyes that made his body stand even higher at attention and salute. Luckily, in his new seated position he didn’t think it would be quite as obvious. Not that he really gave a damn.

Jake watched as Tessa alternated holding the camera in her right hand then her left, simultaneously shaking the hand that was empty. Then, taking a deep breath, she knelt to the ground. His eyes followed the lens. He saw the shutter closing and opening rapidly as she tilted her head and spread her legs farther apart, moving lower towards the ground. Her action caused Jake’s dick to twitch in his pants, begging for attention.

After another torturous half hour or so Tessa pulled the camera from in front of her face and smiled as she looked down at it. Her thin finger swiped the flat screen on the back as she announced proudly, “Got it.”

As she continued looking, her eyes widened. “Wow, Jake. I’ve been tempted to tell every other guy I’ve shot over the past few days not to quit their day jobs. But holy smokes! If you ever wanted to change your profession, you could definitely be a model.”

She crossed the room, heading towards the computer he’d seen her standing at when he’d come in, just in time to witness her shooting down Julian the wonder cop. As she passed by him, the sweet scent of fresh flowers drifted through the air. Tessa always smelled good. Sometimes she smelled like vanilla or watermelon. Other times, it was flowers or just pure clean and fresh. And somehow, no matter what the scent, she smelled uniquely like…Tessa. Jake had no idea how she managed to do that.

Standing, he followed her like she was the Pied Piper and her ass was the flute. He mindlessly crossed the room, Tessa only a few steps in front of him. She stopped and pulled out a small card before feeding it into the side of the computer. He continued, only stopping when he was directly behind her. He wasn’t touching her but he was so close to her that he’d be surprised if a piece of paper could fit between their bodies.

Jake noticed her hand shaking as her fingers moved over the mouse and she clicked the right side. She stood a good foot shorter than him at five foot two, but he could still smell the flowery scent of her shampoo. His fingers itched to reach out and stroke her silky hair, the same way he had when they’d spent the night on his couch. He’d stayed up the entire night just watching her as she slept.

It was still so unbelievable to him that she was actually back in Hope Falls. Even if it was just for a short time. He hadn’t wanted to waste a moment he had with her sleeping. Like his dad always said, “You can sleep when you’re dead.” Jake had always considered that a morbid saying, but that night, with Tessa lying in his lap, he’d understood it perfectly.

“See?” She looked up at him and sucked in a breath of awareness when she saw how close he was standing. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. She swallowed audibly and then looked back to the large screen.

Tearing his gaze from the sweet spot in her neck, Jake forced himself to look at the pictures.

He couldn’t believe what he saw. “What the—”

“Don’t worry,” she quickly explained. “I can Photoshop it out.”

“I hope so,” Jake said. He wasn’t sure if he should be embarrassed or proud. Since it was Jake, he went with proud. His pictures looked more like they’d be featured in Playgirl than a community calendar. He was standing at full attention, tenting his turnout pants something fierce. “My mom buys this calendar.”

Tessa giggled a little as she scrolled through the shots. “I know. I’ll take care of it. I promise.”

Jake placed his hands on Tessa’s jean-clad hips and pulled her against him. Leaning down, he whispered suggestively in her ear, “You promise, huh?”

Jake knew that this wasn’t the time or the place, but at this moment, neither of those things really mattered to him. He gripped her hips tighter as her backside pressed against his throbbing manhood.

“Jake.” His name came out as a plea, her voice threaded with need.

His body immediately recognized hers. His responses had always been and still were so much more intense with Tessa than any other woman he’d touched. This was the real thing. Everything else had just been a cheap, not even remotely satisfying imitation.

“God, you feel so good.” They were fully clothed and Jake felt more connected to her than he had with hundreds of women when he’d been naked and inside of them.

Tessa whimpered and she melted back against him. Her fingers reached up and wrapped around his biceps as if to anchor herself to him. Feeling her holding on to him as her nails dug into his skin caused Jake to feel a primal surge of arousal spread through him. So much stronger than merely being turned on.

He needed to touch her. Skin to skin. His palms slid to her stomach as his fingers dipped beneath her jeans.

“Jake…my…next appointment—” Tessa feebly protested through choppy breaths.

“I locked the door when I came in,” he growled.

Her head fell to the side against his shoulder, and he took the opportunity to press his lips to the soft spot on the base of her neck. She moaned as his lips grazed her sensitive skin. Needing to taste her, he gently licked and kissed a trail up the side of her neck.

She gripped him harder as she moaned, “Are you sure…we should… Is this…a good ide—”

“Do you want me to touch you?” Jake interrupted, getting right to the point. That was all that mattered in this moment.

During these past few days that he’d been at the station house, he’d had a lot of time to think. There was nothing Jake or Tessa could do to erase the past. And he knew that he had no control over the future. All he had—all they had—was right here, right now.


“Yes,” Tessa whispered as her body melted against his.

“Tell me,” Jake demanded. He wanted to hear her say it.

“I want you to touch me,” she said breathlessly.

Urgency swept through Jake as he made quick work of her button and zipper. The second it was down, his fingers slid beneath her satin panties. He felt a sprinkling of hair at the top of her femininity, sending a jolt of need to shoot through him.

“Spread your legs,” he commanded roughly as his fingers continued their erotic path to her core. Tessa whimpered as she did as he’d asked. His fingers dipped lower and he groaned as they glided against her soft, moist lips. “You’re so wet.”

“You’re so hard,” she moaned in a soft, anxious sigh. As the candid words left her mouth, she tilted her hips back, pressing her ass into his erection and almost causing him to come in his pants.

The motion also caused her distended nub to brush against the pad of his finger. She cried out at the contact. He moved his finger in a circular motion, spreading her wetness as he slid over her nub again and again until he felt her legs begin to shake.

“Oh God…Jake…I’m gonna—”

“I know.” Jake’s finger moved at a steady rhythm as he felt her growing wetter and wetter. His other hand slid beneath her sweater. His palm grazed over her ribs and continued up until he felt the bottom of her bra. His hand cupped her breast beneath her bra and he felt her hardened nipple rubbing against his palm.

Squeezing her plump flesh in his hand just once, Jake removed his hand from beneath her sweater and bra knowing, exactly what he needed to do to send Tessa up and over the edge.

A small smile of amusement spread across his face at her sigh of disappointment as he pulled his hand back. Didn’t she know him better than that?

Her body pressed against his hand moving faster and faster, seeking release. His fingers were covered in her growing arousal.

Moving his large hand to her collarbone, he trailed his fingers down over her chest, slipping beneath her sweater and pulling it down, taking her bra with it. When he looked over her shoulder at her now exposed breasts, his breath caught in his chest. She was just so damn beautiful. Her rounded mounds, the pale pink areola that surrounded her hardened nipples. His heart beat erratically in his chest as desire spiraled through his body like a hurricane.

Lifting his fingers to her mouth, he traced her lips before slipping his index and middle finger inside. “Suck,” he harshly instructed.

She moaned as her lips covered his fingers and her soft, wet tongue licked along the length of his digits. He moved his fingers in and out of her hot, wet mouth several times and could feel her body shaking at the erotic act. Then, pulling them out slowly, he spread the moisture from her mouth over each tight peak of her breasts.

Jake’s balls tightened at the sight of her glistening nipples. His mouth covered her neck as he alternated rolling first her right nipple then her left between his fingers.

Tessa’s entire body was shaking now as came she apart in his arms. Her fingers clutched him even tighter as she muttered words of encouragement. Saying how good she felt. How good it felt for him to touch her.

His fingers continued their erotic caresses until he felt her body go limp against him. He might still be strung tight with need, but he hadn’t felt this sexually satisfied since…the last time he’d made love to Tessa.

*

Tessa could only hear the loud pants of her breath and a faraway ringing sound in her ears as she came back down from her earth-shattering release. Jake’s arms and body were the only things that kept her from falling to the floor. Her legs felt like wet noodles. She felt like all of her strength and stress had just drained out of her.

Never before in her life had she experienced such a powerful orgasm. It didn’t surprise her at all that it would be at Jake’s hands. As a teen, she’d enjoyed sex with Jake, and he’d always made sure that she’d had at least one orgasm, but it had never felt like the one she’d just had. At the time, she’d been young, and even though she’d always felt completely safe and protected with Jake, she’d had insecurities like any teenage girl and had been inhibited.

But she wasn’t anymore.

A second wind of desire swept over her as she drifted back into the present. Tessa could feel Jake’s rock-hard member pressing firmly against her butt. Not suffering from any of the shyness that she had when she was younger, Tessa turned in Jake’s arms, excitement and anticipation flooding her system. Looking up into his gorgeous, heavy-lidded brown eyes lined with dark, thick lashes, Tessa sweetly smiled. “Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” he repeated as he grinned down at her, his thumbs sensually rubbing up and down her lower back.

Standing in front of him, breasts hanging out, pants unzipped after just coming at his touch, Tessa would have thought that a small bit of embarrassment might have tried to creep in. But the opposite actually occurred.

She felt sexy. Powerful even. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to the strong plane of his chest. He took in a deep breath through his nose, and his palms moved down, cupping her rear and kneading it in his hands.

Peppering kisses across Jake’s muscular chest, she stopped to pay extra attention to each one of his nipples, her tongue passing over them before lightly nipping each bud with her teeth. Then she moved lower, sucking and licking her way down his ripped abdomen. Tessa felt her sexy-slash-powerful energy increasing by the second.

She’d never done what she was about to do with him before. Sure, as an adult, she’d gone down on the few boyfriends she’d had. And she’d enjoyed it. But she’d always regretted that she hadn’t experienced this with Jake.

Time to put that regret to bed, so to speak, Tessa thought as she bent down on her knees and her fingers grazed the top of his turnout pants.

“Tessa,” Jake gritted out in what she assumed was meant to be a warning, but his deep, gravelly voice came out sounding hotter than a firecracker lit on both ends.

As she ignored his wannabe warning, a thrill raced through Tessa as she unzipped Jake’s pants and saw the outline of his impressive length in his black boxer briefs. Her hand moved over it like metal drawn to a magnet.

Jake moaned and his head dropped back as her fingers molded around his erection, stroking up and down his length. Tessa was almost giddy at the thought that she would finally be able to do this with Jake.

Somewhere in the back of her consciousness, she was aware that they really didn’t have much time, so as much as she would like to draw this out, to explore every inch of him, she knew that if she wanted to do this she needed to move things along.

So without further ado, she slipped her fingers beneath the elastic waistband of his BVDs and pulled out his shaft. Firmly wrapping her fingers around it, she felt him throbbing in her palm and the sensation sent a burst of bliss exploding in the crux of her thighs. Her mouth watered as she watched her hand move up and down his heavy, rock-hard member. The smooth silkiness of the skin felt like it was covering a steel rod. She loved the feeling of her hand gliding up and down him.

A small white bead of liquid appeared on his engorged tip and Tessa leaned forward and licked it off. A deep groan ripped from his chest, and she felt his fingers thread through her hair. God, she loved it when he ran his hands through her hair.

Just as she was about to open her mouth and take him inside, he fisted his hand and tugged so she was looking up at him. The sensation caused her to cry out as pleasure washed over her, emanating from the sting where his fingers were knotted.

Tessa thought there was a very real possibility that she might come again. Kneeling before Jake while holding his manhood in her hands, her breasts exposed as she looked up at him, his strong chest heaving, his abs tense and showcasing his rippling muscles, the primal look in his eye as he gazed down—all of this was hands-down the most erotic experience she’d ever had.

“You don’t have to do this,” he said with an almost tortured look in his eye.

She knew that he was just trying to protect her because when she was younger she’d never been interested in doing this. But she was all grown up now, and he might not know it but she absolutely had to do this.

She felt a wicked smile spread across her lips as she held eye contact with him and opened her mouth over the large head of his hardened groin. A guttural sound filled the air as she pulled him into her mouth with a wet suction. She slid her tongue up and down his length as her lips tightened around him.

With one hand, she held on to his hip for balance as the other stroked the base of his erection, her fingers clasped around it. His fingers spread out as he guided her head up and down. She felt his fingers tense, and his member began growing larger and larger in her mouth.

Picking up the pace, Tessa tightened her lips and fingers around him as she bobbed her head up and down.

“F*ck, that feels good,” he groaned as she continued her sensual assault. She tasted the salty goodness of his arousal just before he warned, “Tessa, I’m gonna come.”

He might have thought that would cause her to pull away. But it had quite the opposite effect. She wanted Jake. All of Jake. Instead of backing off, she doubled her efforts, squeezing him tighter and swirling her tongue in a suctioning pull.


She felt his entire body tense with release as he came. He jerked his head and it fell back as his fingers clenched tightly in her hair. Tessa rode out his orgasm until she had sucked the very last drop of his arousal from him.

Just as he leaned forward and held the desk for support, Tessa heard a knock at the door. Standing, she smiled up at a still-recovering Jake.

“Perfect timing.” She patted his chest and began adjusting her sweater as she moved under his arm to make her way to the bathroom. Calling over her shoulder, she said, “Can you get that? I need to freshen up.”

She didn’t know how he did it, but the next thing she knew, she was turned around, being held in Jake’s arms, and pressed flat against his half-naked body. The corners of his mouth turned up and he had a look in his eye that reminded her of a predatory wolf. “This isn’t over,” he stated.

As much as she wished they could continue this afternoon delight, she had a job to do. “Jake, my next session is here,” she explained as she tried to pull out of his hold.

“When are you done here?” he asked, not letting her go.

“Around six, but then I have to be at JT’s ’til at least midnight.”

“Fine. I’ll see you at JT’s, and I am coming home with you tonight.” His voice sounded like he was trying to lay down the law or convince her of the inevitable.

What she wanted to tell him was, “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.” But she decided her behavior today had been shocking enough, so instead she just said, “Good.”

His eyes filled with even more fire at her easy acquiescence. Releasing her from his grasp, he swatted her rear playfully as she hurried to the bathroom.

“Hey, Tessa.”

She stopped and looked over her shoulder.

“I’m gonna kill this. I don’t think anyone should see these until you Photoshop Mr. Happy.”

Tessa burst out laughing at the nickname he’s chosen to give his junk. She nodded as she went into the bathroom and closed the door. Just like the first night she’d been in town, she almost didn’t recognize the image staring back at her.

Her face was flushed, her lips were swollen, her clothes were rumpled in undress, and her hair was a mess. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as the realization of what had just occurred sank into her.

She’d just had a sexual encounter…with Jake…at Say Cheese…in the middle of the day. Tessa waited to see if she would feel regret. Embarrassment. Shame. Nope. Nope. And nope.

All she felt was excitement and happiness. She had about eight more hours until she and Jake could finish what they’d started in the studio and Tessa couldn’t wait.