Chapter 23 #2
Jordan wanted to crush her against him and tell her she didn’t have to keep talking if she didn’t want to, but somehow, he knew she did.
“I missed him, and he said he missed me. So, I made a video for him. Ugh,” she groaned, rubbing the heels of her hands against her eyes. “I hate thinking about it. I made that video in less than five minutes, and it’s ruined my fucking life.”
Anger burned in Jordan’s chest.
She took a deep breath and looked at him. “I made a nude video for my boyfriend, and I trusted he’d keep it for him only, but of course he didn’t. He shared it with his friends, and they shared it with theirs. And within a week, anyone who was on the internet had seen it.”
Words backlogged in his throat. His fists clenched and unclenched beside him. “Vanessa, that’s—”
“Awful?” She huffed a laugh, but it didn’t carry humor.
“Yeah, it’s pretty much haunted me ever since.
Kurt got his tech people to take down as much of it as they could.
At first I adored him. He was older, and he took care of me.
I thought he was my savior. I let him flirt with me, even though I knew he was married.
” Her tears hadn’t fallen, but Jordan could hear them in her voice.
“We never crossed any real lines, or so I told myself. He made me feel special. But that whole time he was getting inside my head. Making me think I owed him, that he owned me. It was a big power play. I ignored the red flags. He’d kept copies of the video and used them to control me.”
He should’ve fucking killed Robertson in the hallway.
“Things got bad. By the time Joel came to Vancouver, I had lost myself. He ensured all of Kurt’s copies were destroyed, and I came here.
” She shrugged casually, like this story wasn’t heart-shattering.
“I assumed everyone and their dog had seen that video, but I guess his wife hadn’t.
Or maybe she thought I’d filmed a new one.
Whatever the case, someone sent it to her and had it look like I’d created it for Kurt.
She kicked him out. That’s why he was here.
He thought I sent her the video to get him back. ”
The only words circling in his head were all fucking bad. What fucking world did they live in that a private video created by a nineteen-year-old was made public and then never went away? Not even after six fucking years?
“Vanessa, I’m so sorry that happened to you. I wish—” What did he wish? That he’d known her when she was nineteen? That she’d been his girlfriend instead of Noah’s, because he would never have fucking treated her like that? He would’ve put her on a pedestal and worshipped at her feet.
Or maybe he wouldn’t have. Six years ago he’d been in prison, a different man completely.
Her gaze met his, silently asking him to finish the sentence. “I wish you were always treated like you deserve.”
Her expression softened. “Thank you for saying that. And for helping me, in the kitchen and…in the hallway.”
He nodded, then silence stretched between them.
He should leave and give her privacy. He’d already decided he’d be sleeping on her couch, and if she fought him on that, he’d sleep on the floor in the hallway, but he wasn’t leaving her tonight.
The way he was feeling, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to leave her again.
He turned to leave, intending to run across the hall to get Nigel.
“Did you—”
He froze a step away from the doorway. The words filled the quiet room. He knew what she was worried about.
“Is he—”
Dead. The word hung silently in the air. That’s what she thought his monster heart was capable of. She wasn’t fucking wrong, because he regretted now that he hadn’t ended the asshole when he had the chance.
Slowly, he turned back toward her.
“Robertson’s at the police station. Gabe wants him charged with breaking and entering on top of everything else.
He smashed the doorknob on the door from the bar to the apartments when he came up to this floor.
He said he’d been watching you in the bar and saw you leave through the back, so he followed when no one was watching. ”
“But you hit him.” She swallowed, the delicate column of her throat working its way up and down. “Many times. And hard.”
“I did.” He might have done much worse if Dex hadn’t arrived when he did.
“Did he press charges?” She was talking to her hands, occasionally peeking up from beneath her lashes to glance at him. “He would. He would do that, you know. He could send you back to jail.”
A low rumble filled his chest. “Let the fucker try.”
She surprised him by sitting up ramrod straight, a fresh wave of panic darkening her expression.
“No, I’m serious, Jordan. You can’t go back there.
I know what it did to you. If he has it out for you, he’ll stop at nothing.
He has money and power, and—” She shook her head forcefully.
“I’m not worth it. You can’t go back there. I won’t let you.”
When had things changed between them so that she would move heaven and earth to keep him out of prison? And he would willingly walk right back in if it meant protecting her?
“Don’t you get it yet, princess?”
Her eyes widened at the sharpness of his tone.
“For you, I would.” He took a few steps back inside the room but stopped midway, because if he touched her now— “For you, I fucking would.”
Tears rushed in like a river, and she made a choked sound before covering her mouth with her hand.
“I mean it, Vanessa. What happened tonight was my fault.” He thumped his fist against his chest. “All mine. But I promise to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I’ll cross every line, fight any fight, go back to prison.
I’d fucking crawl to get to you. I won’t let anyone touch you like that again.
” His chest tightened as the weight of his words settled over them.
It mattered more than anything right now that she believed him.
As long as he was breathing, she wasn’t alone in this, and he needed her to trust that he’d do anything to keep her safe.
She sat on the edge of the bed, her gaze fixed on his chest. When it finally came back to meet his, her eyes were dark, pupils blown wide with something that made his stomach tense, and all his blood rush straight to his groin.
Gone was the panic. Gone was the fear. Replaced by—
“Vanessa—” A hint of warning lingered in his tone, but instead of heeding it, her teeth dragged across her lower lip.
“Do you mean that?” Her voice was raspy, two octaves lower. A sultry hum, and not a goddamn single drop of blood was staying north of his dick.
“I mean every word I say to you,” he whispered.
She arched one eyebrow. “Even when, not long ago, you called me a pretentious princess?”
One side of his mouth quirked upward. “If I said it, it must have been true at the time.”
“Mmm,” she rumbled, and the look she gave him next sealed his fate. She owned him, and this was his last chance to walk away, because whatever happened if he stayed only spelled trouble for them both.
“Van—”
“Crawl.” This single word from her was all it took to complete the stiffness inside his pants.
“What?”
“You said you’d crawl to me, and I want to see you do it.”
He watched her carefully, searching for any sign that they were not on the same page.
Vanessa held his stare, gaze glittering in challenge. “I want you to get on your knees and crawl to me.”
He’d never had a woman take this kind of control before, but after the night she’d had, he knew she needed this.
So, with one last, hard look, he sank to his knees, planted his palms on the floor and crossed the short distance to her, never breaking eye contact, giving her all the time in the world to change her mind.
Instead, her mouth parted, and she delicately licked her lips, leaving them glistening by the time he arrived at her feet.
“I can’t believe you did that.” Her breath caught on the last word. Heat now came off her in waves, and her scent with it. Warm, sweet, and calling him.
“I said I would. I don’t go back on my promises. The sooner you understand that, the better.”
She nodded, inhaling sharply, as if he’d touched her, and he inclined his head in question. If she wanted him to do what he was prepared to do, he was going to need words.
Her tongue slipped out again, tracking across her bottom lip. Then, her teeth sank into the soft pink flesh. A signature move he’d become addicted to.
She was killing him. He was dying kneeling there, so close to her sweet pussy, the scent of her heat clouding his brain. He wouldn’t touch her until she asked, but, fuck, he was salivating for her. “Vanessa—”
“I want you to stay tonight,” she whispered huskily.
“Okay.” Relief that her plans aligned with his eased the tightness in his chest.
“And…” Her eyebrows rose a fraction as if to say, you know, but if she wanted him to fill in the blanks, she had another thing coming.
“I need to hear you say it, princess.”
She made a frustrated noise. “You’re impossible, Zeus.”
He let out a deep chuckle. “You know, Zeus was the god of thunder.” He flashed her a devilish grin. “You want me to be your god?”
“Was that—?” Her lips twitched, eyes sparkling with that joy he loved so much. “Did you just make a sex joke?”
He let his smile loose. “Guess you’re getting to me.”
“I like it.”
“I like you.” He said it without thinking, heat rushing to his ears. Switching gears, he concentrated on the apex of her thighs. “And I’d really like to get my tongue on your perfect little pussy.” He glanced up at her. “If that’s what you want?”
Her breath caught, and his hands rose, then halted, his fingers an inch from her calves.
“Do you want that, Vanessa? For me to eat you out until you don’t remember anything but my name?”
She whimpered, breath shuddering as her eyes closed. “Please, yes.”
It was invitation enough. Gripping her behind the knees, he tugged her to the edge of the bed, making her yelp. When he ran his hands up the outsides of her thighs, under the robe, she sighed, pliant.
Christ, this woman. Her skin was softer than the cotton of her robe. The noises she made soothed his agitated heart.
How long had he been waiting for this? Weeks, months? Somehow, in the deepest part of his soul, he knew he’d been waiting for her forever.
“Are you going to spread these pretty thighs for me?”
She nodded, her breath coming in needy pants. But when she did as he’d requested and the robe parted, he was left equally breathless.
“Fuck me,” he whispered, unable to take his eyes off her.
She was bare. Her smooth sex glistening with her need, wet with her desire. For him.
“Oh.” Her voice was soft, shy. “Body hair is frowned upon in the modeling world. I had it all lasered off years ago.”
When he glanced up at her, her eyebrows drew together with uncertainty.
“I hope you don’t mind it,” she murmured.
Fuck. He was so incredibly, royally fucked. “I definitely don’t mind.”
With his index finger, he traced her slit, and she trembled. The moan that slid from her was something he’d remember the rest of his life. Unable to wait a second longer, he brought his finger to his mouth and licked it clean, groaning. “Just like I imagined.”
They locked gazes, and her mouth popped open. Had no one ever tasted her this way before?
“Sweet like sugar.”
Her shock turned to something more desperate, and she inched closer to the edge of the bed, closer to his face. “Oh my god. Jordan, please, please. Please.”
Laughter rumbled out of him. “Princess, if I had known this is what it would take to make you say please, I would have given you what you needed back in Vegas.”
The first time they’d really spent together was at Joel and Lucy’s Vegas wedding and they’d almost killed each other, but if he’d known they could be doing this…
“Give it to me now then,” she begged. “I don’t want to waste any more time pretending I don’t want this. Jordan, please.”
He couldn’t agree more. When he finally let his tongue swipe the length of her sex, he made the silent promise he’d never again waste another moment with her.