Dating Impossible (8 page)

The fact that he remembered she loved all sorts of trivia
turned her insides to goo. She sighed. “Can’t argue there,” JJ agreed. “And
your wine beats mine hands down.” She slipped her bookmark between the unread
pages and tossed her book onto the countertop. “I was enjoying the sunset out
back. Do you want to eat on the patio?”

“Sure.”

JJ handed him a couple of paper plates from the pantry, an
empty wine goblet, and the corkscrew then went outside to retrieve her own
glass of wine before returning to the kitchen to grab her slice of pizza and a
couple of napkins.

All set, they returned to her patio and sat at the picnic-styled
stone table and benches which were inlaid with different tile pieces of rose
quartz, turquoise, and copper. Cruz fingered the intricate pattern on the table
top. “This is very unique. I like it.”

“Thanks,” JJ said, pleased. “A friend of mine out in
Malibu
made it. I have
several of his furniture designs throughout my house. I was relieved that the
movers did a great job. Everything made it in one piece.” She finished off her
wine and Cruz refilled her glass with some of the Lafite he’d brought and
swirled the contents around before sniffing the exceptional bouquet.

“So, are you re-acclimating to the
Arizona
weather?” Cruz asked. “You took off
after high school and never came back except for short visits. It’s a lot
different than
California
.”

Her eyes widened. He’d noticed, huh? She smiled. That was
nice to know. Especially since she’d always avoided those places she knew Cruz
would be when she’d visited. “It’s fall which is the perfect time to ease into
the
Arizona
weather.” She lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug. “Sure, the days are still
warm, but it cools off at night and the nights are perfect.”

Her little shoulder lift drew his attention to the cleavage
on display from the deep V of her thin tank top. The heat in his gaze hardened
her nipples and she suddenly wished she’d worn a bra. She hoped he hadn’t
noticed her physical reaction to him. But damn it, she hadn’t been expecting company.
Especially not for Cruz to show up on her doorstep unannounced. And bras were
so uncomfortable she went without whenever possible.

Small talk
. Small talk
was good. Continue on and get him out of her house.

“What have you been doing with yourself these days?” she
asked.

Cruz wiped his long, lithe fingers free of sauce on a napkin
and toyed with the stem of his wine glass. He looked a bit lost and JJ’s heart
went out to him.

“Not much,” he admitted. He lifted his sad gaze to her face.
“Been trying to figure my life out. Ever since Jett got married…” The corners
of his lips turned up in a half smile, but the sentiment didn’t quite reach his
eyes. “I don’t know. Just feeling restless, I guess.”

JJ knew the feeling. Too well, she admitted to herself. The
depression she saw in his demeanor and on his face was one she was very
familiar with lately. Softening toward him, she reached across the table and
placed her hand on his. Heat and electricity ignited and the sensation sped up
along her arm and deep into her core. She gasped and pulled back, but Cruz’s
fingers wrapped around hers and he stood, smoothly navigating around the table.
He gave a gentle tug and they stood nose-to-nose.

“JJ,” he murmured. He leaned in just a bit and his lips
caressed hers.

The power of those lips combined with the need in his voice
rushed to her head. He tugged her closer. The thin cotton fabric of her shirt
stretched across her taut nipples. A soft moan rumbled through her. His hands
clutched at her back and held her tightly—desperately—as if he would collapse
if she were to step away. Her clit tightened and the schoolgirl butterflies
were back along with her own raging need. Her pulse thudded so hard, she could
hear the sound in her ears. Her hands shook as she held on as their combined
lust became an animal within. She had a deep longing to belong to this man and
to this man alone.

Cruz deepened the kiss and she opened her lips. Their
tongues joined, tasted, and lingered, gentle at first. Then the firestorm
combusted and all thoughts of staying back and protecting her heart flew out of
her mind like paper in the wind. His hands slid down her waist and he clasped
her ass, melding his hard cock against her. She rubbed him back, loving the
feel of how thick he’d grown already. He groaned against her mouth, the sound
adding to her own arousal. His groan, his stiff cock and perfect touch were all
for her.
Thrilled, she reached for the
top button of his shorts.

“JJ,” Cruz repeated against her mouth, roughly. The kiss
turned frenzied as their need for each other spiked another hundred degrees. If
she could have, JJ would have whooped for joy. As it was, her mouth was far too
busy eating and tasting what JJ believed was her own personal paradise. One
she’d been dreaming about since high school.

“I know,” she gasped as he pulled her shirt over her head
and let her bare breasts spill into the smoothness of his open palms. Cool air
swept across her sensitized skin a mere moment before he squeezed her needy
mounds, flicking a tongue over one nipple, creating a fire bolt of passion that
travelled all over her body until it throbbed hotly in her core. His mouth
consumed the hard peak and he sucked hard. An involuntary guttural moan escaped
her lips as her legs nearly buckled. If he didn’t do something more soon, she
would surely combust. “Hurry,” she urged.

Her own shorts and panties slid around her ankles and she
kicked them loose. Now free of his own clothes, Cruz palmed JJ’s perfect ass
and lifted. She spread wide, wrapping her legs around him tightly as he slid
his stiff cock deep into her slick pussy.

“Fuck!” he said through gritted teeth. “You feel so fucking
good.”

JJ gasped at the feel of him so deep. She traced his ear
with her wet tongue, licking and sucking as he pushed strongly into her.

****

The pure ecstasy of having this one woman in his arms made his
gut clench. He cleared the table top with the sweep of his arm and laid her
back on the smooth mosaic tiles. Somewhere in the back of his mind was the
crash of glass hitting cement, but he was too centered on the siren before him
to care. Again and again he pounded her wet pussy as his thumb fingered her
clit in fast, frenzied strokes. JJ moaned, bucking against him. She looked like
a fucking sexy sacrifice laid out just for him. She writhed below him, her tits
stealing his gaze as she panted for air. She clutched his shoulders, pulling
herself up enough to snatch his tight nipple between her teeth and
—fuck!—
gave a gentle tug. Her tongue
lapped and swirled and the pace of his thumb and his cock both quickened.

Cruz closed his eyes for a moment, so deep in the zone of
pure feeling, when JJ mumbled something near his shoulder, he couldn’t make out
the words, but the urgency in her voice had him slowing down.

“What?”

“Condom,” she gasped between pants.

“Oh, shit,” he said. “In my wallet.”

With a moan he pulled out and rummaged around for his shorts.
Finally he grappled with the end of the foil packet and ripped the rubber free,
sheathed himself and entered her slick heat once more. If he thought that the
mood would be diluted by him forgetting his condom, he was wrong.

Oh, so very
wrong
.

JJ seized him and opened her legs wide—welcoming— and Cruz
shoved back inside, his passion barely dimmed by the short break. A few quick desperate
strokes and JJ shuddered. The muscles of her honeyed pussy clenched around the
hard length of him. She cried out Cruz’s name as she came and he held her in
place as he wound tighter and tighter, pumping her harder, faster. The tiny
aftershocks of her release pierced through him as he let loose and came. His
entire body trembled with such force the air rushed from his lungs.

Skin slick with sweat and panting hard, neither of them
moved for several minutes.

“Jesus, fuck,” JJ gasped. “What the hell was that?”

“That’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Cruz
chuckled and licked JJ’s cherry-shaped belly ring before slowly disentangling
their limbs. He scooped her up into his arms with one fell swoop and walked to
the edge of the pool.

“Cruz,” JJ said, a clear warning in her voice. “Don’t.”

****

The moonlight shined on his sculpted face, distracting her
from his intent. He was so damn handsome. Cruz planted his full lips on hers
and stepped off the ledge.

The icy water electrified her and jolted JJ back to reality,
breaking the sexual haze she’d been swallowed up by. She swam to the surface
and gasped for air at the same time as Cruz. His full rich laughter made her
insides quiver. She smiled despite the fact she wanted to be pissed at him for
dunking her in the water. With a few quick strokes and kicks, she splashed him
as she sped by to the side of the pool and hauled herself out. In October,
pools, unless the heater was on, were always freezing. Especially at night.

With her hand on her hip and what she hoped was a saucy grin
on her face, she turned to him as he treaded water. He wore a pleased
expression and absolutely nothing else. She struggled with that lonely teen
girl that still lurked deep inside of her that was begging her to jump back in
the pool and play.

“Sex two nights in a row doesn’t mean we are dating. Or in a
relationship,” she said. With all her willpower, she turned and carefully
navigated around the broken wine glass on the patio.

“Hard-ass,” Cruz said.

“You betcha,” she replied with a chuckle and, dripping wet,
went inside to find a towel. Dread slowed her steps.

What the hell
was she gonna do now?

Chapter Nine

Cruz drummed his fingers on the hard oak of his desk,
completely and utterly distracted by a five-foot-ten strawberry red, hard-headed
doctor with a rack he absolutely craved.
Shit!
She wasn’t even at work today and her tight pink-tipped titties that fit
perfectly in his mouth were the only thing on his mind. Roxanne’s Dating
Manifesto popped into his thoughts and Cruz knew he’d been tagged as a
“Boob Man”
and for good reason.

But his thoughts shouldn’t be on JJ’s boobs right now. What
he should be thinking about was the interview with the chief of staff of
Phoenix General for the ER medical director position. Besides Cruz, there were
two other candidates for that job that he knew of. That’s why he’d cleared his
schedule for the afternoon and was in his office in the middle of the day. He
needed to prepare. Cruz glanced at the black face of his white gold Panerai
Luminor Marina wristwatch. An hour to get his mind out of the gutter…
Christ! He was fucked.

Last’s nights events replayed themselves once more. He
hadn’t planned on having sex with JJ. He’d only wanted to get on her good side
and ask her out on a real date. The pizza and wine were his peace offering for
being such a dick yesterday afternoon. No wonder she didn’t want to date anyone
she worked with. Who needed to deal with drama at work? Unable to resist
finding JJ, he’d bribed Ambra with any weekend off she wanted once he got his
new position as director for JJ’s home address. And if he didn’t get the job,
he owed her a bottle of Patrón. That was a small price to pay for worming his
way into JJ’s life as far as Cruz was concerned.

There was something between the two of them. Something real
and tangible. Being with her, earth-shattering sex aside, felt different. Like
the lost piece he’d been searching for in his life was…little Josephina Jo.

But damn if she wasn’t all prickly one minute and hot and yummy
in his arms the next. His cock hardened and he shifted in his chair. Large almond-shaped
green eyes, pink pouty lips, and that sexy belly button ring and tattoos. Cruz
shook his head. JJ was definitely a mix of contradictions. She was all
innocence and badass rolled into one.
And
smart.

None of his usual bullshit lines would work with her. So how
was he going to get past her no-dating-a-co-worker rule and find out if they
had the possibility of a real future together? Christ, she was making this
entire dating thing impossible. He rubbed the tense muscles of his neck.

Sex two
nights in a row doesn’t mean we are dating. Or in a relationship.

Her words looped over and over against his skull and were
the other reason why he couldn’t concentrate on jack-shit today. What he needed
was a plan.
But what?

He sat up straighter in his leather chair. The kernel of an
idea blossomed.
What if she didn’t
realize they were going out on dates? Yeah, baby.
He liked the notion already.
But he’d have to tread carefully. JJ was a clever girl. Cruz would just have to
be one step ahead of her in order to make his plan work. And once she was
hooked on him… He glanced at his reflection in the full-length mirror that hung
on the back of his office door and pointed to himself. His lips curved into a perfect
smile and he winked.