Too Hot to Handle (Romancing the Clarksons #1)(20)

Her honest reaction sent a delicious throb straight to the base of his cock, making it grow to the point of agony. So acute he felt liquid spill from the tip. Condom. Where were his condoms? Were they even in date? He had to get inside her and ride out the pleasure their bodies were begging for. No. There was a reason he couldn’t be inside Rita, but he just needed longer to remember why. Why? His mind questioned while his mouth worked on its own. “You like hearing what I want?”

“No.” Her eyes were closed as he worried her clit. “Yes.”

His wrist was loose, his fingers working her in light circles, but he felt anything but loose and light. He felt like a dying man who would receive a free pass to heaven if he could relieve the pressure he felt inside Rita. Her hot body was whip-tight, her need obvious in a way he knew all too well mirrored his own. “I want to treat this tiny bud between your legs so special that she pays attention when I walk into a room. I want her to remember my tongue so well you have to excuse yourself when you see me coming because she needs a rubout.”

Rita’s eyes flew open at that—whether in shock or in the hopes of encouraging a more detailed explanation—and those glazed, golden-brown orbs slammed him back down to earth. He regained a slight handle on reality just in time for her to say, “I w-won’t be here long enough for that.”

“That’s right, isn’t it? You won’t.”

The ugliness from before began crawling out through the crack in his foundation, even though he wanted to stomp on it, keep it at bay.

Jasper took a pull from her offered mouth, drawing deeply of her healing balm, but that somehow only made it worse, as did the slickness coating his fingers. So delicious, so fucking ripe. But she wouldn’t be here past tomorrow. Hell, she didn’t want to be. Everyone thought of him as a fucking truck stop, but it was too much coming from this woman he’d been dying to convince otherwise. One shot, one failure. “You came here tonight for your turn with the town tramp,” he said against her mouth, steel in his tone. “That’s all this is. Good ol’ Jasper, at your service. Just filling a need.”

Her gaze cleared faster than a summer storm, parting for sunshine to break through. There was a dawning understanding in her eyes, tempered with denial. Alarm, even. He’d said too much. Way, way too much.

“No.” She shook her head. “That’s not right at all.” Before he could process her apology or her devastated expression, she shoved his hand from between her legs and zipped her pants with shaking fingers. “I’m sorry I let you think that.”

Then he remembered. Remembered why he shouldn’t have allowed himself to be pulled under by her kiss. Why do you want to know? So you can laugh at me? His throat dried up at the memory of how she’d said it. Ah, Jesus. How was it possible they’d both gotten the wrong idea when his intention had been to finally behave right with a woman? Were they fighting different versions of the same demon?

When she plowed both hands through her dark hair, he reacted to the misery he sensed. “Hold on, now, beautiful Rita.” Fuck, he was practically wheezing with the need for more of her taste. More of her skin beneath his hands. More, just more. “We got ahead of ourselves and that’s my fault.” Desperate for contact, he gripped her hips, positioning her back against the wall. “Let’s just stand here a minute while my brain remembers how to operate—”

“No, I have to go.”

She knocked his hands free and lunged for the door, but he beat her there. Her stricken face brought him up short. What do I do here? He’d never distressed a woman before, never felt like the ground might open up if he didn’t coax a smile, make her happy. So he fell back on what he knew, even though he suspected he was damning himself in the process. “Rita. Two more strokes of that sweet clit and I’d of had you shaking in my palm. You walk out of here hurting because of me, I might die.” He slid a hand over her pussy and rubbed. “Don’t take this away from me, beautiful. It needs me.” And I fucking need you.

When the door banged shut behind Rita a moment later, he slammed his head against it. Only a few seconds passed of him courting denial before he went after her. But she was gone. No way that just happened. No way in hell. Had he forgotten how to treat a woman in the last two years? Even as his mind posed the question, he knew the answer was moot. Rita wasn’t just another woman. A reality he felt in the marrow of his bones, no matter how soon into their acquaintance. And she was leaving. Before he could correct his massive fuckup. God, he would no sooner laugh at her than he would go canoeing into an erupting volcano. He had to make sure she knew. Once he made it clear to her tonight had been about his own hang-ups, he would formulate his next move.

Ignoring the voices calling for him at the bar, Jasper turned on a heel and strode back to his office to make a phone call.





Chapter Ten



Rita could hear Peggy huffing along behind her, struggling to keep up, but her feet wouldn’t slow down. At her behest, they were intent on getting inside their motel room as quickly as possible. Oh God, her cheeks had to be stained bright red. Mortified. She was completely mortified.

Honestly, where was her self-respect? On top of being laughed at by two strangers, Jasper had goaded her, all but forcing her to admit she was in the midst of a dick drought, and then—then he’d had the nerve to throw his own self-loathing in her face. Would he do something like that with a normal, socially well-adjusted girl? Nope. He hadn’t even bothered with the charm once his hand was down her pants and she’d all but begged him for sex. Then she’d just been a convenient place to pour his issues.