Chapter 13
JILL
“I’m sorry, Grayson,” I babble the moment we get back into our room.
There’s a heaviness pressing down on my chest. I’ve felt it from the moment I slipped out before so much as a good morning and was helpless to its growth when he appeared downstairs and handed James his ass without breaking a sweat.
I can still hear all of the things he said .
. . all the little pieces of me that I hadn’t realized he was collecting along the years.
Flattered doesn’t quite cut it. It’s more like complete and utter shock that a man like Grayson Pierce, in his confident, powerful glory, was paying that much attention to me and the inner workings of my brain.
He doesn’t say anything as he moves past me and kicks off his shoes.
It’s rare that I see him dressed in anything besides black dress pants and a button-down.
The whole jeans thing is working for him far too well to be so rare.
His ass is thick, and in a pair of well-fitted denim, I think it may be the nicest one I’ve ever seen.
I’m getting distracted.
“Are you upset with me? I know this all must feel so juvenile,” I add with a swallow.
Grayson’s wide shoulders fall back an inch as he runs a hand over his head and cups his nape. The veins in the back of his hand tense, and I gulp this time.
“I’m not a man Niko’s age, Jill. Juvenile occurrences do happen to me, despite popular belief.”
Ivy’s husband is much older than we are.
He’s thirty-eight to her twenty-two, which is a large gap, but it works for them.
Grayson’s only twenty-eight, which makes him a mere three years older than I am.
Still, he doesn’t act like he should still be in his twenties.
His maturity could put men older than Niko to shame.
That’s why I’m so nervous that I’ve scared him away with all of my drama.
When he turns to face me, I hold my breath.
He doesn’t look mad, but I doubt he’s the type of man to glare and mouth off when he is.
No, everything I know about this man tells me that he’s the silent, “I’m going to spank your ass until you’re red and sore” type, which I maybe shouldn’t like as much as I do.
There are a million ways I could earn forgiveness if that really is the case, all of which I fear I’d be more than willing to offer.
“I was worried more than anything when I saw you weren’t in bed. There were things I wanted to do before getting up and ready for the day, all of which involved you still naked and bleary-eyed.”
My skin heats as flames singe my insides. “Oh.”
“Instead, I went downstairs to see him with his hands on you. I just need a minute to calm myself before I push you too hard, too fast,” he says, voice tight and deep.
“What do you mean?”
Wetness pools between my legs, dampening my sweatpants. If I’m not careful, he’s going to be able to see the wet patch in the grey fabric. Maybe I should let him. I’m curious what he would do if he took one look down my body and saw exactly what he was doing to me.
“It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that I’m incredibly possessive. It’s something I’ve always struggled with when it comes to those I care for. I can be intense. Both emotionally and physically,” he explains, his dark eyes piercing into me.
“I’m starting to piece that together, yeah. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. As long as it isn’t suffocating.”
“What would you consider suffocating?”
It isn’t a poke at me. He genuinely wants to know how I feel, and that’s refreshing. I’ve always thought this about him. Even before we had begun to get to know each other as friends. He’s never been anything but straightforward and honest, and that makes it easy to open up.
“I just mean that there’s a fine line between possessive and controlling. The former, I think, can be sexy. The latter is a no go for me. I have no interest in being controlled.”
He tilts his head and tightens his gaze, like he’s trying to flay open my mind with it.
“Unless we’re in the bedroom. Then, Jill, I’d say you like being controlled very much.
If I’m wrong, then tell me now, because I’ll need clear boundaries if you’re willing to give this a real shot, this charade be damned. ”
“Are you asking to be my boyfriend right now?” I blurt out, my cheeks feeling hot enough to burst into two balls of fire.
Humour flickers across his face. “That’s a very simple way of describing it.”
“Then yes. Yes, I want to try this for real,” I declare, not even a minuscule doubt in my mind.
If there’s anything I’ve realized over the last two days, it’s that I was so utterly blind to not only his feelings but also mine. It hasn’t been “just” friendship in a very long time. At least not once he started playing a more pivotal role in my life outside of work.
“And what I said before?”
I lift a sweaty hand to my hair and tuck a few messy pieces behind my ear. “I do like it when you’re controlling in the bedroom. That’s been new for me. I’ve never been with anyone who’s been dominant the way you are, but it doesn’t scare me. It actually feels . . .”
Embarrassment floods me. I’m no prude, but this feels like I’m showing him who I am in a way more intimate way than I’m used to. There’s nowhere to hide now. Not from him. If I ran, I know he’d follow.
He closes the space between us and takes my hand in his, stroking my knuckles. “You don’t need to shy away from how you feel with me. I want to know everything in that beautiful head of yours, sweetheart.”
“That’s a big promise.”
“One I intend on keeping.”
“I believe you,” I whisper, swaying closer, letting our fronts brush. “It’s freeing when you take over in that way. Like I don’t have to do anything but focus on how you make me feel.”
“Good. That’s the way it should be for you. It’s how I like it. Bringing you pleasure makes me hard beyond belief, Jill.”
My eyes fall to where our bodies are pressed together.
The air thins around us, and I inhale the faint scent of his cologne mixed with clean linen.
His black T-shirt is tight around his torso, making it that much harder not to notice the flex of his abs leading down to where the telltale bulge where his cock digs into my hip.
“You mentioned something about me being naked and bleary-eyed,” I murmur, slowly forcing my eyes back up.
I’m lost to the intensity of his waiting gaze. It hooks into me, and I make no move to fight.
His lips quirk at the corner before he brings our hands to his lips, dragging them across my fingernails. I sigh, my muscles turning to goo at the soft gesture. I’m completely unprepared for when he spins me toward the dresser and bends me over it.
My chest meets the top of it, and I nearly flinch as the cool wood soaks through my sweatshirt, drifting across my tight nipples. Grayson places the back of my hand against my lower back, partially restraining me while leaning down to murmur in my ear.
“You’re neither, but I have new plans. All of which involve you right here, with these pants at your ankles.”
He grips my waistband and with one firm tug has my sweatpants pooling at my ankles. Without panties, I’m bare between my legs, wet and exposed. There’s a low groan from behind me and then two fingers running through my lower lips, teasing me.
My mouth pops open, and a soft moan slips free. “Don’t tease me.”
“No? Why not? I think you prefer a bit of teasing, considering I woke up alone with my cock ready to sink back into this pretty pussy. You took away that chance when you disappeared to go speak with your ex-boyfriend.”
The first crack of his hand across my ass stings like a motherfucker. I jerk against the dresser, making the hotel phone rattle and the complimentary bottle of water fall to the floor. My vision flashes white as my core throbs, squeezing around nothing.
“That’s better. I’ll give you pleasure until your knees give out and you don’t remember your name, but I’ll punish you for stealing the chance for me to do so this morning, Jill. If you want to be mine, you’ll have to accept this part of me. Can you do that?”
I feel the heat of his palm hovering over my burning ass cheek. I bite my lip and nod, not needing to think about it.
“Say the words for me,” he pushes, his voice gravelled.
“I want this, Grayson. I want you. All of you.”
The second slap comes quickly. My eyes roll back into my skull as the pain scatters across my skin and dips between my legs. I’m so wet I can feel the slickness gathering on the insides of my thighs. That only makes the need in my belly spread, spiderwebbing through every inch of my body.
“Good girl, baby. Just a few more,” he purrs before adding another red-hot handprint to my flaming skin.
“I’m going to make you feel so good, sweetheart.
You’ll be so stuffed full of cock you won’t be able to stand at the altar today without feeling the lingering sensation of me buried deep inside of you.
And every time you do, you’ll look out at me, won’t you?
I’ll be the only one who knows that you’re standing up there with a cunt full of cum that’s been soaking into your panties all day. ”
My eyes cross, the weight of his filthy words pulling on the thread keeping me together.
I press back against him hopelessly, but I don’t know what I’m asking for.
More pain or pleasure, or both? It doesn’t matter.
The pain is pleasure, and before I can tell myself not to, I’m reaching behind me with my free hand and gripping the inside of his thigh, searching.
He slaps my ass again, harder than every time prior. I cry out before he twists his hips, and I feel his cock settle beneath my hand.
“Is that what you were looking for, baby?” he grunts, taking a handful of my sensitive cheek and squeezing. “Do you want it inside of you?”
I nod quickly. “Yes.”
He hums low in his throat and pulls away from my touch, grinding against my ass instead. I chomp down on my tongue and shiver, wiggling my hips.
“Where are your manners?”
My whimper is high-pitched and needy. “Please. Please put it inside of me.”
I hear him pull down his zipper and then feel the hot press of his cock against my lower cheek. He brings it to my crack and presses inside, running it up and down. With every press against my asshole, I choke on incoherent words that I don’t realize I’m speaking.
“Not yet. We’ll need to stretch you there first. I don’t want to hurt you,” he says, his words caressing me while he lines his tip up with my pussy, getting it wet. “I’m still working on this dripping hole right now.”
He pushes every single inch inside with one sharp thrust. I snap my hand out and slap the dresser as I cry out, choking on a breath that’s stuck in my throat. His throaty growl pierces through me as I throb around his shaft, struggling to accommodate his size.
“You’re so snug, baby. This pussy’s strangling my cock. You’re being so good for me, taking every inch like this. I can feel you fluttering around me, Jill. Are you going to come already?”
I press my cheek to the desk and nod as my hips rock against the edge of the dresser in time with his deep thrusts.
Every plunge of his cock has me that much closer to the climax that’s already swelling.
My nipples rub against the rough fabric of my sweatshirt, adding just the smallest bit of pleasure to the world of it exploding between my thighs.
“Once we’re done and you’ve got a pussy full of cum, I want you to go into your bag and pull out the panties you’re going to wear with your dress today.
You’re going to put them on before even one fucking drop can leak from these puffy lips and wear them the rest of the day.
If you clean yourself, I’m going to take you in the middle of the reception and give you another gallon of it before pulling you out onto the dance floor,” he grits out, bending his knees and thrusting up into me harder.
He slams against my G-spot, and I see stars.
My limbs turn to stone as I come, exploding around him as time stills.
For what feels like hours, I see and hear nothing before suddenly, I’m staring into Grayson’s eyes as he fucks me, my hair wrapped tightly around his fist. There’s something about seeing him like this, wearing his big-rimmed glasses like a goddamn filthy professor while fucking me like a savage that keeps the pleasure buzzing inside of me.
He takes my lips in a brutal kiss and groans loudly enough that I know everyone on our floor must hear it.
His cock throbs as he starts to come, filling me with warmth. I close my eyes when his thrusts start to slow, until a moment later, they stop completely. Blissful disbelief rattles my mind as he drapes his body over mine and drags his lips across to my cheek, then buries them in my hair, inhaling.
“I was serious about the cum,” he teases, smirking against my temple.
I laugh, unable to help myself. “I had a feeling.”
“You’re mine, Jill.”
And for the first time, I admit to myself that he’s mine, too.