Free A Jar of Hearts by Clarissa Cartharn Page B

his hands in defeat. “Just my luck. Have a good one then.” He winked. “ Tomorrow, esé. ”
     
     
     

     
     
     
    “It’s okay. You can come out now,” he said as he helped her out of the car.
    “Who were they?” she asked somewhat stiffly.
    “Just some people I do business with.” He glanced back up the street to make sure Juan and his men had gone. They could return and in such case he needed to get Anne out of plain sight as soon as he could. “I’ll walk you home.”
    She clasped his arm, stopping him short by her slightly tight grip.
    “Let’s go to your house,” she muttered. “I don’t want to go home just yet.”
    Had Juan’s visit scared her? He studied her carefully but she showed no signs of worry. He sighed. He probably was just being too cautious.
     
     
     
    “Can I get you something to drink?” he asked her as they entered his living room.
    “No, I’m fine.” She licked her lips nervously. “Umm… you don’t mind me here at such an hour?”
    “Anne, of course not,” he said, bringing her hand to his lips. He breathed in the scent of her palm. She always smelled so sweet. “I’m glad you came.”
    “Thank you for dinner. I may not have been ideal company but I did appreciate it.” She cupped his face, her fingers tracing his contours, sending heat rapidly down his body. “James, could you…?”She hesitated.
    “Hmm?” He lifted his eyes to gaze into hers; delirious of the sensations she was arousing in him. Common sense warned him to break away from her or he would just have to…
    “Could you kiss me again?” she asked, raising her long eyelashes up at him.
    He stared up at her, uncertain if she had meant what she had said. He let her hand fall off from him as he tried to determine why she would ask him that. Hadn’t she been trying to fend him off all this while? Just a day ago, she had hated being in the same room as him. Why then?
    She palmed her face and shook her head. “This is embarrassing. I shouldn’t have asked you something like that. I don’t know what I was thinking. I may have now officially lost my mind. Just… just forget-”
    Fuck the analysis! He grabbed a fistful of her hair and tugged her up against him, bringing his mouth heavily down on hers. She curled her arms between them and for a second, he felt she was about to push him away. But then she relaxed them, snaking them up his torso and winding them around his nape.
    She pulled herself closer up to him until he could kiss her deeply, deftly moving his tongue into her mouth to play and tease hers. She groaned as she gently nipped at his lips, bringing him to an unbearable hardness. She was his manna from heaven and he didn’t realize how much he was starved of her until now.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    He cupped her bottom to press himself against her core, his length jutting aroused and hard into her. She threw back her head, delirious with the pleasures he was creating in her. He felt so familiar. He felt like… Eric.
    He kissed her down the side of her neck, taking time to nip at her flesh. So like Eric. If she imagined this was him… he was Eric… She moaned as his head dipped further down to her cleavage. He cupped her breast, kneading it, feeling for her nipple through her dress.
    “Anne,” he rasped. “If you want me to stop, do it now. But don’t torture me anymore.”
    “Don’t stop,” she managed to mutter. But he did, she thought disappointedly as she felt him step away from her. Did he not want her anymore? Her dejection began to knot in the pits of her stomach. “James?”
    Her legs gave way as he swept her into his arms. She tugged at his head and he eagerly bent down to kiss her wildly, all the while carrying her up to his bedroom. He wanted her, she thought dazedly. He wants me .
    He steadied her on her feet, his thumb fiddling with the strap of her dress. “Is it okay if…?”
    She pulled the straps of her dress down her shoulders, letting the dress slither down