7. Jessica
Chapter 7
Jessica
They keep Harrison in the hospital for two nights before they release him. I check into the hotel we stayed at the night of the fundraiser so I can be close by. I don’t question my actions too closely—I just know I want to be near him. I thought love at first sight was for other people, but I’ve been hit square in the chest by Cupid’s arrow.
And then there was that kiss—a kiss that had me wanting to straddle him and rub myself against the huge erection tenting the hospital bedsheet.
I’ve never felt this way for anyone, and it’s a little scary, but everything in me wants to see where this goes with Harrison. I sense he’s been fighting this connection between us, and I’m not sure why. He’s been hurt. I could feel his reluctance to trust again, but something changed before we kissed—I saw it in his eyes. I hope he comes to trust me enough to share whatever hurt him because he’s it for me. Mack has always said when I love, I do it with everything in me, and he’s not wrong.
Some of Harrison’s teammates visit him in the hospital, cheering him up with their easygoing banter. They won the game in which he was injured, and the Ice Giants are now the Stanley Cup champions. I know how hard it must be for Harrison, knowing he didn’t get to finish that game with his teammates. It’s clear he hasn’t told his them he’s been fired when they reassure him he’ll be back fighting fit next season. It’s not my place to question why he’s kept the news quiet—I’m sure he has his reasons, and he’s still coming to terms with it himself.
“. . . no drinking, no strenuous exercise,” the doctor is saying, pulling me from my thoughts.
He looks at me, and I nod. “I’ll make sure he gets plenty of rest.”
Satisfied, the doctor leaves Harrison and me alone.
“I’ve called an Uber,” I tell him, suddenly feeling shy.
He’s dressed in the sweatpants and T-shirt Noah brought from his apartment when he and Elli visited. The T-shirt hugs his flat abs and broad chest, and it’s all I can do not to climb him like a tree.
“You don’t have to come with me, Jessica,” he says softly.
“You don’t want me to?” I ask uncertainly.
He closes his eyes and his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “More than anything, but I don’t trust myself to keep my hands off you.”
My heart stutters in my chest at his confession. I move closer, coming to a halt before him, and capture his eyes with mine. “Maybe I don’t want you to keep your hands off me.”
He cups my face in his big hands. “Fuck, angel, you may just be the death of me.”
I smile. “Hope not. I have plans for you.”
“Oh? What kind of plans?” he asks, brushing his mouth over mine.
“The kind that involves us naked in bed,” I whisper, shocked at my forwardness. It seems shy Jessica has left the building in favor of a woman who knows what she wants. And she wants Harrison.
He growls, and the next thing I know, he has me pressed against the wall, his mouth on mine. I open up for him with a moan, and his tongue sweeps inside, sliding against mine. His cock presses against my stomach, igniting a fire between my thighs that I know only he can extinguish. Breaking the kiss, his mouth burns a trail down my neck, nipping at my flesh and making me shiver with need.
“Harrison,” I breathe, wanting more, needing more.
He drops his forehead to mine with a groan. “I touch you, and everything else fades away. We need to stop, or this will end with me fucking you on that hospital bed with the door unlocked.”
His words bring me back to the present, and my cheeks heat. He’s right. One touch and I lose myself in him.
I’ve known this man for a week, but my heart has known him for a lifetime.
Traffic is heavy, and it seems to take forever to get back to Harrison’s apartment in Manhattan. We take the elevator up to the top floor, and I gasp as he opens the door.
Harrison shucks off his shoes, and I do the same, leaving them beside his as I follow him into the open-plan living area.
“Wow,” I breathe, taking it all in.
I’m immediately struck by the coloreverywhere. The white walls are covered with landscapes of New York, close-ups of vibrant graffiti, and bookcases loaded with books. A corridor leads to what I assume are the bedrooms.
“Are you hungry?” Harrison asks.
“Starving,” I reply, having skipped breakfast.
“Want takeout? I’m certain there isn’t a lot of food in the fridge.”
I grin. “Sounds good.”
We settle on Chinese, and Harrison puts the order through, telling me to make myself at home. I perch on the edge of the sofa and fidget with the hem of my sweater.
But Harrison’s having none of it. “What are you doing all the way over there?” he grumbles, sitting next to me and tugging me against him.
I bury my face in his chest, inhaling his masculine scent. “Sorry, just a bit nervous.”
He tips my face with a finger beneath my chin so I look into his deep brown eyes. “If it’s any consolation, you make me nervous too.”
“I do?”
He nods. “Never felt anything like the connection I have with you, angel.” He smooths his thumb over my cheek. “Tell me about yourself.”
“What do you want to know?” I ask softly.
“Everything.”
“Not much to tell. Mack put his career on hold to take care of me when our mom died. He’s ten years older than me. I was fourteen when cancer took her. Mack stepped up and became mother and father as well as my brother. He never knew his father, and mine took off when I was young, leaving Mom with a baby and a ten-year-old to raise alone. She had shitty luck with men,” I say sadly.
“Shit, that’s rough,” Harrison says quietly, running his fingers through my hair.
“Yeah. I miss Mom every day.”
“I’m glad you had Mack. He’s a good man.”
“The best.” I smile. “A little protective, at times, but I know it’s because he loves me.”
“I’d be protective, too, if I had a sister who looks like you.”
I flush at the compliment. “What about you? Do you have any brothers and sisters besides Noah? Are your parents around?”
“Nope, just Noah. Mom and Dad are very active and enjoying their retirement traveling the world. They’re rarely home. Married for thirty-five years and still like newlyweds,” he says affectionately.
I smile. “I love that. It’s good to know relationships can last.”
“You’re mature for your age. You had to grow up fast, huh?” he says, surprising me with his insight.
I chuckle. “That’s me. Twenty-one going on fifty.”
“I’m ten years older than you,” he comments.
I raise an eyebrow. “And?”
“And you should be running as far and as fast as you can in the opposite direction.”
“Are we back to the running thing again? Because you should know, running is not my thing. They haven’t made a sports bra yet that can tame these.” I grin, dropping my gaze to my generous boobs.
His eyes kindle as they drop to my chest, and he mutters, “Beautiful.”
He trails his fingers down my throat and over my collarbone until he’s cupping my breast. My breath freezes in my lungs as I hang suspended, waiting to see what he does next. When his thumb skims over my nipple, I bite my lip to hold back my moan.
Sexual pleasure isn’t something I’m very familiar with, and I’ve never been touched by a man. Sure, I’ve touched myself and brought myself to orgasm, but Harrison is sparking sensations I’ve never experienced before. A tingling spreads to all parts of my body, and a ball of heat is grows between my thighs.
My lips part and my back arches as I press myself more firmly into his hand. “Please,” I whimper as lust takes over.
“Ah, fuck, angel. I need a taste,” Harrison growls, peeling my sweater over my head. He yanks down the cup of my bra, and then his mouth is on me, his tongue sliding across my nipple.
“Oh, God,” I choke, holding him to me.
Unclasping my bra, he tosses it aside, and his hot mouth finds my other nipple, sucking and rolling it with his wicked tongue.
“Need to touch you, Jess. Will you let me touch you?”
“God, yes! Please,” I pant, lying back on the sofa.
His hand goes to my jeans, unbuttoning them, and I lift my hips so he can shove them down my thighs, along with my panties.
I suck in a breath as the edge of his knuckle brushes my curls, and a jolt of pleasure races up my spine as it nudges against that perfect spot. My sex throbs as he runs his knuckle along my wet folds, coaxing them to open for him.
I swallow hard, trying to find my voice. “I-I’ve n-never done this before, Harrison.”
His head pops up and his intense gaze settles on me. “Never done what?”
“Any of it,” I confess.
He nods as if I’ve confirmed something he already knew. “I’m going to be your first, Jessica. I’m going to make you come on my hand, my mouth, and when you’re ready, on my cock.”
Oh, shit. “Okay,” I huff, liking the sound of that.
He chuckles a deep, throaty growl that rumbles through me. “Hold tight, angel.”
A ragged sound escapes my throat as Harrison’s knuckles slide back and forth over my clit. Deep, pinching lust blooms in my belly as he presses his fingers inside me, trapping my clit gently between two of his knuckles.
His wonderful, masculine scent is everywhere, all around me like an aphrodisiac as he strokes me slowly, languidly. He finds my clit, pressing and rolling it with the rough pad of his thumb.
“Oh!” I rock my hips against him as a heady pleasure builds between my thighs.
Harrison is watching me, his dark eyes a little wild and untamed. “Fuck, you need this, don’t you, angel? Need to come.”
I shiver. “Yes. Please, Harrison.”
He renews his efforts on my clit, continuing to stoke the fire deep inside me that’s threatening to erupt. Ducking his head, his mouth finds my nipple again, drawing it deep into his mouth.
I whimper, trembling beneath him as his warm tongue and talented fingers take me to the edge. My hands fly to his thick biceps as he switches to my other nipple. He bites down gently, and I splinter into a million pieces of pleasure.
“Yes, yes,” I moan as my orgasm washes over me, stretching from one moment to the next. I come so hard that I see stars, lost to the world as time seems to cease.
Harrison claims my mouth, swallowing my moans and gasps as I slowly resurface, trembling and holding onto him for dear life. A tear slips down my cheek, and he pulls back to look at me.
“Hey, what’s up? Did I hurt you?”
His expression is so full of concern that more tears slip down my cheeks. “No. That was . . . it was the most precious experience.”
He smooths my tears away with his thumbs. “Jesus, you’re gonna wreck me, angel. That’s only a taste of the pleasure your body is capable of.”
I beam at him. “I’m not sure I’ll survive. But I’ll die a happy woman.”