Chapter Ten #2
Avery snagged Jo’s jacket off the chair she’d occupied earlier and stuffed it into her bag, then slipped out of his thicker sheep-skin lined coat. Should be nice and warm.
“Here.” He held it out for her. “No buts.”
Poised to argue, the mouth he wanted to kiss snapped shut, and she stuffed her arms into sleeves that hung past her fingertips.
“See, I know you, too,” he whispered into the hair at her temple, relishing the way she trembled before he turned her around to roll up the sleeves. “There.”
Charlotte handed Jo her bag. “I’ll talk to my realtor and schedule a meeting. We’ll make a day of it—lunch, shopping. Melody could join us later for a side trip to the spa.”
“Sounds lovely, thank you.” Jo pulled her hair from under the collar of his coat, sending the sweet scent of cookies wafting around him.
This couldn’t be good. “What’re you two up to?”
“I told Jo she needs to start looking at the best locations for her patisserie.”
“I already talked to Linc about it. He’s putting together a list. I thought I told you.” He was lying out his ass, but he’d make it happen if it kept Charlotte out of the mix. Wedding business was one thing, but the beginnings of a friendship… He couldn’t let that happen.
“Oh well,” Charlotte said, “we can still plan a girl’s day out.”
“Even better.” Jo turned to him, her eyes sparkling, and he felt like a dick, but hopefully, she’d understand.
After a round of hugs and goodbyes in the foyer, Avery walked Jo down the porch steps toward his truck.
“I feel funny leaving without boxes,” she said, her voice light and airy. “I’m used to carting tubs of leftovers back to the shop.”
He released a billowing cloud of steam on a long breath, and along with it, his resolve to caution her about spending time with his family. No need to spoil her night. Or his. Tomorrow would take care of that. “I’d call that a sign of success.”
“You’re mom’s sweet.” She glanced over her shoulder, and her small hand slipped into his. “She’s watching through the side light.”
“I’m surprised she’s not on the porch.” He brought her hand to his lips, a thought taking hold. “She’s sappy like that. Always watches us until we’re out of sight.”
“You’re lucky to have that.”
“I am.” He was pretty sure they’d put his mom’s suspicions to rest but just in case… “We should give her one last show.”
Spinning her around, he walked her against the side of the truck, his back to the front door. His hands snaked inside his coat, finding warmth along the flare of her hips. Her hands landed on his shoulders, applying pressure when he lowered his head. Hers reared back.
“Relax. I’m not going to kiss you.” As much as he wanted to, she’d probably start quoting her damn rules again and kill the vibe. “But if you angle your head a little to the side, it’ll look like we are.”
“You really are bad.” But she leaned into him, anyway, and tilted her head just so. “Like this?”
In the glow of the fairy lights in the front flower bed, blue eyes met his for confirmation, and for a moment, he fell into them. He’d never noticed the ring of gray around the edges. “Yeah, just like that.”
Her quick breaths turned to fog on each exhale and mingled with his slower ones. “Should I do something else?”
An X-rated string of porn flicked across the screen in his mind, Jo as the star. Fuck, but he wanted to do every single one of them to her…with her.
He cleared his throat. “Like what?”
“I could play with your hair.”
“Sure.”
Warm fingers sifted through the hair at his nape. Involuntarily, his arms banded tighter around her. “You’re warm.”
Her knowing smile slammed into his balls. He should stop this now before he tossed her into the backseat of his truck and fucked that smile from her blow-job lips.
“What if I did this?” She closed what felt like a canyon between them. Her mouth brushed his, light, hesitant, like a timid rabbit cornered by a wolf.
Avery groaned and went in for the kill. He slanted his mouth across hers, swallowed her whimper, and licked at her tongue. She torched him with hers. He felt the tentative stroke all the way to his straining dick. That backseat scenario was feeling more and more like a risk he was willing to take.
The porch light went out, breaking them apart before he was ready. Her raspy laugh held a nervous tinge as she leaned back. He followed, resting his forehead on the passenger window while he tried to catch his breath.
“Well,” she said on a sigh, “at this rate, we’ll be married before you know it.”
The fuck?
His head jerked up, caution sliced through him. He stepped back and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Listen, um—”
She laughed, the sound richer, more intoxicating now as it loosened the knots in his guts. “Relax. I’m kidding.”
Avery blew out a long breath of steam and chuckled. “Funny, aren’t you?”
“It’s just that we’ve gone from fake dating to me being your fake girlfriend, according to that picture last week, and now, we’re fake kissing.” She angled her head to one side. “Hmm, does that mean I get a raise?”
She thought that kiss was fake? Granted it only lasted a few seconds, but fuck, she’d stirred a wildfire inside him that just might burn out of control if he wasn’t careful.
Which kinda scared the fuck out of him. Sex was fun, wild, and back in college a bit dark, but not once had he been so out of his mind to have a girl.
But it had been too long. A whole fucking month. He’d never gone that long without pussy. Life hadn’t made room for it lately. He’d either been at the office until midnight every night and too exhausted to hit Pulse or avoiding a crazy stalker chick when he was there…or with Jo.
Yeah, that’s it. That’s all it is.
A night out at Pulse would cure him.
Yet as he opened the passenger door, he couldn’t resist one last tease. “A raise, huh? Only if you let me past first base.”
“Hmm, I dunno, fuckboy,” she said, shucking his coat just inside the door and handing it to him. “We’ll see.”
****
We’ll see? We’ll fucking see?
Whispered like a promise, the words stayed with Avery long after he walked Jo to her door, bouncing around in his head, shattering logic, crashing into lust, and fucking with a well-made plan.
After dropping her off, he’d gone home to shower and change into something club-worthy. A stiff drink and a cunt hunt. That’s what he needed. And when he was balls-deep and railing into a hot, willing pussy, maybe he’d fuck her out of his head.
But the closer he’d got to Pulse, the slower he drove. He wasn’t even inside, and he didn’t want to be there.
Is she trying to fucking cock block me?
Unfolding from the car, he handed the keys to the valet, hunched his shoulders into the bitter wind, and crossed the street.
“Hey, Mr. Preston,” the bouncer, built like a linebacker, greeted him and opened the sleek black door to Pulse.
“Roman.” Bypassing the long line, Avery slipped into the club and headed toward the stairs leading to the VIP level.
At the bottom of the steps, he heard someone call his name. Blaze waved to him from a sectioned-off alcove where he sat with two girls kissing each other across his lap.
Sinking onto the sofa beside one of the blondes, Avery asked, “What’s up?”
“Me.” Blaze grinned. “Met ’em on my flight home today.”
“Since when do you fly commercial?”
“Some malfunction on the jet. I didn’t want to wait.” Blaze sipped at his drink. “We’re about to leave. Wanna join?”
Avery watched the tongue fest going on beside him for a minute but couldn’t muster much interest. His mind was somewhere else. With someone else.
We’ll see.
Jo had back pedaled as soon as the words were out of her mouth, apologizing, saying she was only kidding again, then shutting down—shutting him down—when he tried to cajole her into a follow-through.
The rest of the ride to her apartment and the walk to her door had been silent. He might as well have been talking to a brick wall.
Brick wall or not, he couldn’t shake the way she’d come alive in his arms. The way she’d arched into him in the hall and moaned into his mouth during that searing kiss against his truck.
The memory curled his fingers into his palm, his jaw clenching as heat chased low through his balls.
She had stoked a hunger in him that needed quenching.
Just not by anyone he’d find at Pulse.
“Nah, I might go up and hang out for a minute, but I have an early morning.”
“I wouldn’t go up there.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t you get Kade’s text?”
Avery fished his phone from the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
Kade: Heads up. Your stalker is here asking about you.
“Fuck me.” This was getting old.
The girls broke apart, and the one next to him swiveled to face him, her eyes glazed with something other than lust, probably pharmaceutical, as they flitted over him. Her hand landed on his thigh and slid higher. “Oui, joli garcon—preety boy—I weel fuck you.”
He sighed, stopped her hand before it reached his dick, and scooted off the couch. “Another time perhaps.”
“We’ll walk out with you.” Blaze stood, bringing the girls with him. “If she sees you, she’ll think we’re leaving together.”
They went their separate ways at the curb as the valet brought his car around, and he jumped back on the interstate, frustrated as fuck, and trying to figure out how to get Tits to back the fuck off.
What a huge fucking mistake. He should never have let his dick do his thinking the night of Marcus’ engagement party. He should have kept walking, straight past that exit sign.
But then he’d never have met Jo. And she was wrecking his world with her rules and her kisses and her goddamn cock-teasing we’ll-fucking-see.
He was nearly home when a text pinged his phone. He sat up as he read the name on the screen.
Legs.
What the hell? Other than her first text asking if his offer was still on the table, she never initiated their texts.
Thump, thump, thump, thump. Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Shouldn’t she be asleep by now?