Page 32 of A Dark Fall

Oh, good god. Did I just orgasm? From only those words? I honestly can’t be sure. My eyes flicker open to find him gazing down at where my hand rests over his jean-clad cock. He groans quietly, rocking our foreheads together.

“Tell me you want it, Alex. Say it,” he says.

I won’t say that. Ever. Could never. As though I’ve been burned, I draw my hand off him and give him an indignant stare.

“Don’t you have a business to run or something?” I try to sound bored again, but I don’t. I sound breathless and turned on, and I have the most vivid sense of déjà vu. Here I am again, wedged between the wall and his bloody hard place. The same as last Saturday night.

“I have good staff,” he says, and I almost want to ask if he means good staff like Gemma. “You know what I think, Doctor?” He sighs, leaning back, away from me.

Great, we’re back to “Doctor” again.

“What do you think, Jake?” I sigh. “Please, enlighten me.”

“I think you’re a cocktease.”

My mouth drops open, and I blink up at him as the word settles in.“A cocktease?” I flare. How dare he! When did I tease any cocks? Okay, maybe teasing Jake’s a moment ago was intentional, but he put my hand on it, didn’t he?Hestarted it. I look at him aghast. He looks pleased with himself again. “I have never ... Ugh, get the hell away from me.” I push at him, and this time, he steps back.

As I march away from him, Fred, who’s languishing on Jake’s floral chair, gets up suddenly and scuttles out of sight. He knows to run from my wrath when he sees it.

“So, let me get this straight,” I say, whipping around to face him. “You, a man I’ve met twice, turn up at my bloody house in the middle of the night—uninvited, I should add—barge your way in, and then, because I don’t allow you to fuck me hard and raw against my living room wall, I’m a cocktease? Is that it? That’s actually what you’re saying?”

He’s leaning against the wall as if he’s waiting on a bus, an out-of-place look of nonchalance on his face. Suddenly, he pushes up and walks toward me. I narrow my eyes at him, giving him the look I only reserve for figures of hate in my life. Of which, to date, there has been only one other. Another tall, arrogant male.

“Four times,” he says.

“What?” I snap, irritated.

“We’ve met four times. The first time when you fixed me. The club, the café, and then tonight. I’m a man you’ve met four times.” He dares to sound reasonable.

“I don’t care.” I shake my head. “It’s not the bloody point. How dare you say something like that to me in my own house? I am not one of your barmaids. Now, we’re done, and this little game of yours is finished. I want you to leave right now. I want you out of my house.” I point at the door in case he’s forgotten where it is.

“Okay, I was wrong. I fucked up. I’m sorry.” He gives me a wide-eyed look, genuine, innocent. “I was wrong about what I said.”

I narrow my eyes, setting my mouth in a straight, angry line. Oh, this had better be good. Really good. He had better grovel, preferably on his knees. Okay, maybe I like the idea of Jake on his knees a bit too much ... I’ll give him a bloody cocktease. And that doesn’t sound right even inside my head. I fold my arms, waiting.

“I was wrong,” he says again. “When I said before that you get more beautiful every time I see you, I was wrong. You get ridiculously fucking sexy. I mean, you’re beautiful too, but right now, utterly pissed off.” He whistles. “Fucking hell, you’re killing me here, Alex.”

I can only stare at him, wide-mouthed and speechless. Did he just ...? What on earth ...? The small, boyish smile tugs at the sides of his mouth, and it almost works. Almost.

No, I can’t listen to him. He’s womanizing me. That’s what he does. Of course it’s what he does.

“I am not a cocktease,” I hiss.

The smile widens over his pretty mouth as he adjusts the front of his trousers. “Oh, I beg to differ, baby.”

I make a frustrated sound and turn away, but he reaches out to grab a hold of me, turning me to face him.

“What are you doing, Jake? Let go,” I say weakly. His heat and smell are far too close, and they’re overpowering. I’ll succumb if he pulls me any closer to his body. I know it.

I’m weak. He makes me weak.

“Alex, please stop ... Please calm down, yeah? Let’s talk about this. It needs sorting, baby.” His voice is soft and soothing like a concerned lover now.

Oh, I really do like it when he calls me baby. I never thought I’d like being called that.

Womanizer. Be stronger, Alex.

As I make a last attempt at freeing my arm from his grasp, he lets go. I’m not expecting it though, and the release causes my arm to snap backward, my hand connecting forcefully with something fleshy and hard. As I look around at him in shock, I see the blood running down his face from his nose.