Captive Audience by Chloe Cole

felt like jelly…and she felt wonderful, like an eighty-pound weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Years worth of tension, gone. The sex had been unreal. Just what she had always hoped and dreamed it would be before her mother had convinced her otherwise. Now, she felt skittish. Like a schoolgirl with her first crush or something equally silly. She clamped down hard on her emotions, mentally chastising herself. Romanticizing this encounter was not the way to go.
    She moved to face Jake, taking a deep breath. “Listen, we don’t want to make more out of this than it was…” She looked into his eyes for confirmation.
    “Whatever you say,” he drawled as he cleaned up and slid his pants back on.
    She tried not to look at his body, but it was an exercise in futility. His bare stomach and chest were so strong, so defined. Her face heated as his nimble fingers maneuvered his still hard cock into his jeans before he buttoned his fly. As she flicked her tongue out to moisten her dry lips, she looked up and realized he was watching her. His eyes were molten as he stared, electricity arcing between them.
    “You sure you can’t stay until morning?” he asked, his voice sounding like he just swallowed a shard of glass. “I’ll even make you breakfast.”
    Damn it, why did he have to be so sexy and sweet? She could’ve held strong against one or the other. But tonight he had proven he was special. He’d put himself on the line, been willing to risk another bar fight to defend her honor, but was secure enough in his manhood to step back and let her defend herself when she wanted to. Then, he had blown her mind in the sex department. And now he was offering to cook for her. What was not to like?
    But he was a bad boy. Mickey knew that as sure as she knew her own name. Love ’em and leave ’em Jake. And damned if she was going to fall for him and let him leave her. She would rather be the one doing the leaving, and she’d better do it now while she still had the willpower.
    “That’s a great offer, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass.”
    “All right then, how about a kiss goodbye before I walk you out?”
    Against her better judgment, she found herself nodding. “Okay. One kiss.”
    Her hair was tousled, her cheeks rosy, her lips swollen. And something in him had clicked as he watched her putting her clothes on, preparing to walk out of his life. He wasn’t going to let her go. Mickey wasn’t going to be on board with that plan of action. In her mind, they had their fling and they were done. She’d have to have some major willpower if she hoped to blow him off, because he was going to pull out all the stops to get her to change her mind. He would do whatever it took to ensure that he could spend more time inside Mickey Grace. Not only was he drawn to her physically in a way he had never experienced with any other woman before, but he genuinely liked her. She was funny, ballsy, and a good person to boot. He would be a fool to let her get away. And Jake Thompson was nobody’s fool.
    She walked toward him for her goodbye kiss and he pulled her close. Cupping her chin in his hand, he kissed her lightly on the forehead, then brushed his lips against her eyelids, her nose, and both corners of her mouth. She let out a soft hum. He pressed his lips to hers and she melted against him. Sliding his hands down over her shoulders, he skimmed past her collarbone, over her breasts. He paused for an instant, thumbing her nipples into peaks before moving to her waist, then allowing his hands to settle on her hips. He arched forward, grinding his rapidly thickening cock against her pubic bone and groaning into her mouth. She pressed back and whimpered as he bent to slip his hands under her knees, scooping her into his arms.
    “Jake…” she whispered.
    “I know you have to go, Mickey, but just a little longer, okay?”
    Relief winged through him as he felt her nodding into his shoulder.
    He laid her back onto the bed