27. Aurora
27
AURORA
READY OR NOT, HERE YOU COME
“A nd that’s time. Hands up, ladies,” Willow said through the computer screen.
I had been writing with Whitney and Willow for the better part of the day. We would work in silence for twenty minutes, then shit-talk for five, and go again. It was entertainingly effective.
The two of them had been updating me on all the drama I was no longer privy to. I had to admit, it was delicious.
It felt like summer camp all over again, spending our days working, then getting together to mull over whatever the rumor mill was churning out.
“Do you still talk to April ?” Willow asked.
Whitney pretended to gag.
“Do you think I still talk to April ?” I muttered. Flashes of anger snaked around my throat and started to strangle the relatively decent day I’d been having because of a single mention of my former agent.
Whitney raised an eyebrow. “ You haven’t told her about your new book?”
“I’m not writing a new book.” The white lie was easy. Or maybe it was a perpetual delusion. “ I’m just messing around for fun.”
“Sure. Okay ,” Willow said. “ Go on with your totally plotted and outlined fun.”
“Have you thought about looking for another agent to shop your work around?” Whitney asked. “ I can have Ophelia put some feelers out.”
“Why would I need an agent?” I said as I scribbled through a note I had left on my outline and drew an arrow to rearrange the thoughts. “ I’m not writing a book.”
Whitney and Willow shared a look through the screen.
They knew me too well. Sure , I had been . . . dabbling. Maybe a little intensely. But I had no intention of putting myself through that gauntlet again. I wanted to write to get the story out of my head, but I didn’t want anyone else to have it.
I barely made it out alive the last time. I wasn’t ready to be thrust back into that world. Frankly , I didn’t know if I ever would be.
Footsteps thumped up the stairs, and Jack appeared at the landing of the widow’s watch. “ Hey , sweetheart,” he said as he bent and kissed my cheek. “ How’s it going?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. “ I’m just hanging out while they work.”
Jack glanced at the webcam and winked at Willow and Whitney . I didn’t even want to know what that was about.
“How was lunch with Drew ?”
Jack and Drew had gotten together to grab a bite since Jack was still on medical leave and Drew had a day off.
“It was good. I grabbed some takeout for you. Threw it in your fridge.”
I clasped my hand over my heart. “ My hero.”
The girls laughed.
“I don’t want to mess with your progress. I was just dropping in to let you know I'm back.”
“It’s fine. I was done anyway.” Frankly , I was just done with the conversation, not with the story that had been flowing out of my fingers faster than ever before. “ I’ll talk to you guys later,” I said to the girls before signing off.
Jack frowned. “ You didn’t have to do that.”
I let out a long, slow breath as I worked my neck back and forth. “ Oh , but I did. They were going on about me getting a new agent.”
Jack adjusted his sling. “ Why can’t you just use the one you had before you quit?”
I tapped my chin dramatically. “ I know you don’t date a lot, but imagine the worst breakup you ever had.”
Jack stuffed his good hand in the pocket of his shorts and shrugged. “ They were all pretty amicable.”
“Of course they were,” I muttered before pushing my hair out of my face. “ Imagine Drew’s worst breakup.”
He winced. “ She set his car on fire.”
“Jesus!”
“In the fire department’s parking lot.”
I blinked. “ Yep . That’ll do it. So , imagine that, but with my agent.”
“Geez, did she slash your tires or something?”
“Nope,” I said, popping the letter p. “ She just sent me a scathing email full of corporate jargon that said I was a disgrace and made a farce of her in the industry. I’m pretty sure she pulled a thesaurus out to write it.”
“So, one mean email? I’m not seeing how that equals felony arson auto.”
I laughed as I closed my laptop and stacked it on top of my notebook. “ April bought every copy of Petrichor she could find and burned them in my front lawn while screaming in my windows until the cops came.”
“Yep. That’ll do it,” Jack said, mimicking my first response.
“At least I got the royalties from her buying all of them to burn. See ? There’s a silver lining to everything.” I scooped my things into my arms and settled them on my hip. “ Now , what’s rule number one of a breakup?”
“Don’t get back with crazy exes just because you’re lonely?”
I pointed a finger gun at him and clicked my tongue. “ You got it.”
“So what are you going to do with it if you’re not going to publish it? Seems like a lot of work for nothing.”
I clenched my jaw. “ I had a bad breakup with the love of my life. And I’m not talking about my ex.” I looked down at my notebook. “ This is my rebound. And rebounds aren’t supposed to go anywhere. They’re necessary, but not permanent.”
I attempted to walk past him to go downstairs, but Jack stopped me with his hand on my throat. Slowly , he slid it up until he was cupping my jaw. I swallowed, feeling my throat constrict in the confines of his grip. “ Jack . . .”
“Allow me to make something crystal clear for you, Roar . That book might be your rebound, but I’m not.”
My gaze fell to the floor. “ We’ve talked about this. I’m not staying. Don’t expect me to change my mind.”
“You’re not the only stubborn one around here.”
Jack made my blood sing. He turned my spine into a lightning rod. I was drawn to him like a sailor to the sea.
He was an apex predator, wild and untamed. But I was safe with him. I belonged to him.
“Have I made myself clear?” Jack whispered against my mouth.
My lips parted for his.
“Yes or no?” he pressed.
“Yes,” I said as I tipped my chin up.
“Are you going to let me read what you’ve written?” he rasped.
A slow smile spread. “ No .”
“Then you better run.”
The moment his grip released from my throat, I bolted. Jack was fit and fast, but he was also bulky. In an old house with tight corners and narrow staircases, he was at a disadvantage. Having one arm in a sling threw off his balance. I could hear his off-tempo gait as he clobbered down the stairs while I dropped my notebook and laptop on the couch, then slipped from room to room.
A few of the bedrooms had adjoining closets or bathrooms, which made hide-and-seek all the more fun.
I dove into a closet full of drop clothes and paint rollers and waited as my heartbeat kicked like a drum. Each breath sounded like it was a thousand decibels. Jack’s heavy footfalls neared, and I froze, holding my breath.
His shadow filled the narrow gap between the closet door and the frame.
The moment he whipped the door open, I bolted, knocking into him as I darted out of the room.
Jack scrambled to catch up to me, but he wasn’t fast enough. I careened down the stairs to the main floor and darted to the kitchen without thinking.
"There are no doors here,” Jack said with a maniacal laugh.
Shit. He was right. Fucking open-concept houses . . . I hated them.
I circled the kitchen island and darted into my bedroom. Maybe I could pull the closet trick on him, then run outside onto the beach.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Jack teased as he went straight for the closet. He opened the door as I sprinted out, but a thick arm caught me around the middle and lifted me off the ground.
“You’re going to hurt your shoulder!”
But he didn’t pay any attention to that. I was unceremoniously flung over his good shoulder as he marched across the room.
“Jack!” I shouted as I kicked my feet to try to get him to put me down.
Then I was falling. My ass hit something hard and unforgiving.
The drafting table.
It was enormous; something like six feet long and five feet wide. It was a little bigger than a twin mattress. Jack sat me down on the drafting surface, then unlocked the tilting mechanism and pushed the edge closest to him down. My back pitched up as my ass slid down to the edge.
Jack locked the tilting mechanism, then stood in front of me with predatory eyes. He flicked open the button on my denim shorts and yanked them down with one swift pull.
“You wet for me, Roar ?”
Was I ever.
Jack sat in the desk chair, putting him eye-level with my pussy. He trailed his fingers over the gusset of my panties, teasing me through the fabric. A deep groan dripped from his mouth. “ That’s all right. You don’t have to tell me. I can see it.”
He pressed his thumb into a quarter-sized wet spot that was quickly growing, rubbing the fabric into my pussy.
“Always ready for me,” he said as he grabbed one ankle and pressed my foot flat to the top of the drafting table, forcing my knee to bend.
“Lie back,” he ordered as he did the same to the other leg. “ I caught you. Time for me to enjoy my winnings.”
The sharp click of a pocket knife opening made my breath hitch. I peered through heavy lids, watching as he hooked two fingers in the gusset of my underwear, protecting my skin from the blade of the knife.
“Don’t you dare ruin my underwear.”
He chuckled. “ Too late, darling.”
The slice of fabric paralyzed me.
Jack hummed to himself. “ I think you liked that,” he said as he sank two fingers deep inside me. “ You’re fucking soaked, greedy girl.” He pressed his thumb to my clit. “ I can feel your pulse.”
I lay back against the tilted drafting table and stared at the molding along the edge of the ceiling.
“Open those legs wider for me,” Jack said as he nudged my thighs. “ I need room to eat.”
“Jack—” But I couldn’t finish the word. Not when his mouth sealed over my soaked pussy. “ Ohhhhh . . . Fuck . ” My toes curled around the edge of the desk as he lapped at my clit like a man starved. “ Jack .”
Those stupidly talented fingers curled inside me, stroking in time with each hard pull from his mouth. I clawed at the surface of the desk.
“More,” I begged. “ Please , more.”
His thumb prodded at the tight ring of muscle between my cheeks. I gasped at the breach, feeling the hot, blazing pressure melt into indescribable pleasure. Jack never let up. The two fingers in my cunt, his thumb working my ass, and his mouth teasing my clit filled me in the best and most desperate ways.
Still, I needed more. I needed his hands on my breasts, toying and tugging on my nipples. I needed his hand in my hair, yanking and controlling it. I needed his mouth on my throat. I needed his filthy vocabulary whispered in my ear. I needed him holding me, talking me through each soul-snatching orgasm. I needed his hand circling my throat like a priceless necklace. I needed his arms around me, keeping me safe in the crash.
Fragments of him would never be enough. He was all-consuming and exhilarating like the coastline he had convinced me could be my home too.
Pinpricks crept up my thighs and arms as he edged me closer and closer to an orgasm.
My breathing became ragged as he slowly pumped his thumb in and out of my ass. It felt like I was filled with lightning. His tongue circled my clit, teasing it in a predictable rhythm that ratcheted up the impending orgasm.
I opened my mouth to warn him that I was about to come, but the warning fell short. I shattered, arching off the drafting desk as he sucked on my clit through wave after wave of bliss. With his fingers still deep inside me, he squeezed my pussy, making me cry out as aftershocks pulsed in a steady rhythm.
“Keep going, baby girl,” he soothed. “ Give me all those little flutters. You’re not done yet.”
I whimpered as he started stroking again. My body was hypersensitive and overstimulated, but Jack was a man on a mission. The flat of his tongue was soft against my clit, massaging it until the sensitivity passed and ecstasy began to build again.
“Come for me, Roar . Don’t fight it.” His teeth grazed my clit. “ I can feel your body begging for another one. Your ass is so fucking tight around my thumb and your cunt is choking my fingers. Goddamn , I wish you could see what you look like right now. You’re a fucking sight to behold, baby. I want to see you like this again, but I want your tits out. I want your arms and legs spread and tied down so I can play with your body as long as you can take it. I’d make you come over and over until you beg me to stop.”
“Yes,” was the only syllable I could get out as the second orgasm rushed in without warning.
Jack pulled his fingers from my pussy and licked my release from my skin like he was parched. “ You taste so damn good.”
My chest heaved as I caught my breath. Jack peppered my inner thighs with minuscule kisses and murmured praises. He pulled my sliced underwear off my hips and tossed it in the direction of the bed.
“So, that was amazing,” I said with a dry laugh. I needed water STAT . “ Count me in for sexy hide-and-seek anytime.”
“That isn’t even close to everything I want to do to you, Aurora .” Jack kissed my knee. “ Not even close.”