Page 5 of Love Unbound
Totally harmless, he could definitely do this.
That was, until Jodi took a drink of her coffee and shrugged, and his totally harmless thoughts went straight to hell when her breasts bounced and then settled against his chest. He bit back a groan. “I told him I wanted to break up. He told me I couldn’t break up with him until he got what was owed to him after all that time dating.”
Free snarled, his fury with the stupid college kid back in full force. “So, he felt you owed him sex for having dated you for six months? He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.” Then, remembering what Will had shouted as he’d left, Free asked quietly, “What did he mean earlier?”
Free immediately regretted asking and silently begged her not to answer that question. He didn’t really want to know. He watched as a blush crept up her cheeks and his heart pounded in his chest, fearing what he had already had an inkling of.
Jodi closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering softly, “He was always jealous of you. He knew… he knows I…” Jodi peeked up at him through her lashes and whispered so quietly it was almost a breath, “I’ve liked you for a long time. He always thought I wouldn’t have sex with him because I was… because I wanted you.”
“Oh Christ,” Free groaned and let his head fall back against the cushion of the couch. It was worse than he’d imagined. “No, Jodi. You don’t know what you’re saying. You can’t say stuff like that to me.”
Jodi shifted her weight and set her coffee cup on the table beside her, turning until she was facing him. “Yes, I do. It’s the truth.” Her breathing was shallow and fast, coming in puffs against his face. She was so near, all he had to do with lean forward and press his lips to hers. She licked her lips and hiscock tightened: his mind doing terrible things to that mouth. “I think you like me, too. I’ve seen you watching me. I watch you, too, Free.”
“Jodi, stop,” he begged wretchedly, hating himself even as he reached out one traitorous hand to tangle it in her curls. “Stop me before I do this. Please. This is wrong.”
She shook her head emphatically, shifting her weight again, staring into his eyes. “No.”
Free groaned and swore, tugging her forward until their lips met. Her hands came up to press against his chest, catching herself as she fell toward him. Free moved his lips over hers, pressing hotly until hers opened for him. His tongue sank into her mouth, and they kissed voraciously. He guided Jodi over him until she straddled his lap, the junction of her thighs cradling his hardness. “Oh!” he felt the influx of air against his own lips more than heard her soft gasp.
Their mouths melded again, and his hand tangled more securely in the hair at the nape of her neck, guiding her head to one side to deepen the kiss. Jodi’s hands flattened on the slope of his chest before her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, and when she settled onto his lap more firmly, Free groaned gutturally, pulling her snuggly against him even as he rocked his hips upward.
Just then, the door of the apartment opened, and they heard a startled, “Holy shit!”
Free jumped like a gun had gone off, pulling his mouth from Jodi’s and looking around her toward the intrusion. His twenty-one-year-old brother, Shane, stood in the doorway, eyes wide. Shane’s eyes bounced between his and Jodi’s for a half a second before muttering, “Uhh, I… sorry,” and closing the door quickly as he walked back out.
Jodi lowered her forehead to Free’s shoulder and panted. Free let the back of his head rest against the couch cushion for onlya heartbeat before he grasped her by the upper arms and moved her off of him roughly, standing and striding away from her. His body was on fire, and all he wanted to do was to keep going. But he was grateful his brother had walked in when he had.
This was wrong.
He leaned with his hands braced on the counter and hung his head between his shoulders, his chin nearly touching his chest, taking in lungful after lungful of air.
What had he done?
“You need to go,” he barked roughly, not turning around. “Now.”
“Free—”
“Go, Jodi!” he shouted, angry at himself that he’d lost all control like he had. He knew better! She was still a child! He heard her footsteps as she crossed the small apartment in a hurry, and then cringed when the door slammed as she left. He heard her sobs as she raced down the stairs, fading as she crossed the wide yard to the main house.
Tormented, he whispered brokenly, “I’m sorry…”
Still lost in thought as he drove through the darkening back country roads, he remembered how he had packed his bags that night so many years ago and was gone the following morning, giving no one a heads up except Shane and Levi. Both tried to convince him to stay, but he couldn’t, not after that. He couldn’t look Levi in the face, knowing how he’d betrayed his best friend, his mentor. Once he’d known what Jodi tasted like, there was no going back. He’d had to go. So he’d loaded up his meager belongings and driven to Texas. Running as fast and as far as possible from Jodi Kendall.
Chapter 4
Free pulled into his brother’s driveway and parked the borrowed truck, then carried his one bag into the house, still preoccupied by thoughts of Jodi. Everything about her still tormented him. Her hair, her smell, those damn blue eyes. She called to him like a Siren and he was powerless against whatever intoxicating brand of magic she wielded.
He called his brother to let him know he had made it in, but it went to voicemail. When they had spoken earlier, Shane had told him that he and his fiancé would both be working late, but that a spare truck would be waiting for him at the airport terminal when he got in. He had said to go inside and make himself comfortable whenever he got into town. Finding a fresh case of beer in the fridge, he popped the tab on one and downed half the can in one swallow. He heard the door open and close and grinned when his younger brother walked into the kitchen. Shane smiled widely as he crossed the kitchen.
“Get over here and give me a hug, you bastard,” Free laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners he was smiling so broadly. The brothers embraced hard, and Free clapped the younger man on the back. “Good to see you, man.”
“It’s been way too long,” Shane agreed and walked to the fridge to grab a beer for himself. “Want another?”
“Sure,” Free said and finished the first. Shane tossed him the can and they migrated to the living room where they sat on the couch. “I can’t believe you’re getting married, Shane.”
“Sometimes I can’t really believe it myself,” Shane laughedand opened his beer. “But she picked me, and damn am I glad she did.”
“The last time I saw Cassie she was still in high school,” Free muttered and shook his head in wonder.
