14. Mia
14
MIA
J ason would always be my Achilles’ tendon. That sweet boy had mattered to me from the moment I met him. I couldn’t explain it. Maybe he was a projection of the kind of child I wished I could have of my own. He invoked maternal instincts in me, and I would never give up a chance to make him feel safe and happy.
Riding in Henry’s car again, for the second time within the hour, I felt each bump and dip in the road. Those vibrations somehow funneled to me, emphasizing the delicious soreness and tenderness I felt from coming.
He’d only fingered me. It was just foreplay, really, but he’d known precisely how to make me shatter and come so quickly.
“I…” I furrowed my brow, unsure how to sum up and convey what was on my mind.
I wanted to apologize that we’d been cut short. To express my disappointment that our fun was interrupted. To tell him that I didn’t know what we were doing either, but I was enjoying it while it lasted.
“Hmm?” He glanced at me, concern etched in the lines on his rugged face.
“I, um, hope he’s okay.” It felt like a lie. I was worried about Jason, but I wondered if I was using this as a deflection point, a diversion for speaking about the much bigger elephant riding along with us. This elephant of us both acting on our attraction when we shouldn’t have.
“I think it’s a bug. He was playing at James’s house, and I heard that he had something similar. A twenty-four hour thing, I bet.”
He wasn’t dismissing it. He was too logical to be in denial. Henry was always so practical and pragmatic.
Except when it comes to me.
We arrived quickly, and as soon as he parked in the garage to his building, we hustled inside. We didn’t have another chance to talk—about anything. And I was deprived from analyzing and second-guessing and fretting about how much things had changed between me and my boss tonight.
Laura opened the door to let us into his penthouse apartment. She looked stressed, but not overly so. “I think he’s just falling asleep now.”
“Poor thing,” I said as I set my purse on the table.
“Thanks for calling,” Henry told her. “I’m going to go check on him.”
As soon as he was gone, Laura yawned. “Picnic days always feel so long. Even without a puking boy at night.”
“I bet.”
“Pfft.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re used to these late nights.” Then she frowned. “Wait. Aren’t you supposed to be at the club dancing tonight?” She looked over her shoulder and lowered her voice, careful that Henry wouldn’t overhear. He was already down the hall in Jason’s room, though, so it was just the two of us.
“No. I asked for the night off.” It felt strange to do that, what with the need to make money. “Last year, I didn’t, and I was so damn tired doing a double. The picnic, then dancing.”
“I don’t know how you can do it.” She gathered her knitting bag and water bottle to walk over to her place down the hall. “I pray you don’t have to keep holding down two jobs like this forever.”
Me too. She wasn’t loaded, but after her divorce, she was set with the apartment in this building and a hefty alimony. Before that, though, she worked fulltime to simply be away from her ex-husband she fell out of love with.
“I’m going to head home,” she said.
“Have a good night’s sleep,” I told her. We hugged, and I sighed once she left.
Henry returned to me in the kitchen, where I tidied up a bit. I didn’t have to, but I wanted something to do.
“He’s asleep.”
I smiled. “Good. Rest will help him.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Guess we were a little rash in hurrying you over here. He asked for you, but he’s out now.”
I shrugged. “No worries.” If that boy ever thought he wanted me to comfort him, I wouldn’t hesitate to be present for him.
“I feel bad, though. All that urgency to check on him and he’s sleeping soundly now.”
I heard the regret in his tone. That maybe if we hadn’t rushed to come here, we could’ve continued with what we had been doing at my place.
“He could wake up yet and ask for me,” I said.
“Yeah. But don’t feel like you have to stay all night for him. I bet he’ll sleep well.”
I set the kitchen towel down on the counter and walked up to him. His stare stayed locked on me with every step I took. I had his full attention, and after his making me come earlier, I felt charged and wired to revisit that sensation. With him this time.
“Do you want me to stay for you ?” I asked. The second the words left my mouth, I felt slightly anxious. I was being as direct as possible, putting it all on the line.
He put his hands on my hips and pulled me closer until my chest was flush against his. “Yes.” He looked me dead in the eye as he stated that one word clearly. Then he followed it up with a heady kiss. “I want you to stay. For me.”
Oh, my God. I would melt. He was incinerating me, making all my dreams come true like this.
All I’d wished for was to stay with him, to truly, deeply feel like I was far more than “just an employee” for him.
As he led me toward his room, I held my breath and tried to bottle in all the excitement brimming over.
“I appreciate your even wanting to come over the way you did,” he said as he turned to close the door to his masculine room. It was huge, bigger than my teeny apartment, but it somehow felt smaller when I faced him.
Henry had always been larger than life, but in the private security of his room, he seemed to loom even bigger, more of a force to contend with.
“I know I’ve said it before,” he said softly as he walked up to me and backed me up to the bed, “but I’m very grateful for how you let Jason into your heart.”
“How could I not? He’s a great kid.”
“He is.” He set his hands on my sides and lifted me to toss me on the bed. As I bounced a bit on the mattress, smiling up at him, he joined me. Leaning on one hand, I watched as he crawled closer to relax with me. “And you’re a great woman to be so inclusive and welcoming of him.” He dropped closer, kissing me tenderly. “It wasn’t easy to give up what we were doing at your place to rush here.”
“I would always rush to help him,” I said, meaning every word.
“I know.” He smiled, gazing at me with so much adoration in his eyes. “It’s meant a lot to me. Being a single parent isn’t easy.”
“You’re doing the best you can, though.”
He sighed, lowering his gaze. “I try,” he admitted.
For the next hour or so, we talked. And talked. He explained all the ways he worried he wasn’t doing a good job of being Jason’s parent, and that segued into talking about his dad pushing him to find a woman to settle with. That opened up a line into a conversation about Ann, and even his ex, Jason’s mother. Late into the night, we simply lay there, content with each other’s company, and talked. About everything and anything, but not us .
“I’m not sure about opening Fifty now.” He lay back and rubbed his face.
“The club in Miami?” I asked, leaning over him more to see his face. I rested on my right elbow to watch his expressions.
“Yeah. If opening it now will prevent me from giving Jason what he needs, maybe it should wait.”
Henry did travel, but overseeing a new location opening in Florida would require more trips.
“Ever since Ann made that fucking comment about a boarding school, he’s been more anxious.”
“I bet Jason could come on some trips. And when you’re gone, Laura and I could keep him company.”
He nodded but didn’t smile. “I know. But…” He shook his head. “I can’t even find the dancer I want to hire. The dancer I saw who could star there.”
Mentally, I cringed. He was saying he couldn’t find me . This should’ve been a moment where I could open up and tell him the truth. That it was me he wanted to hire for Fifty. But I didn’t want to throw in the complication of having to own up to lying to him for so long.
“You can find other dancers.”
“No.” He frowned, looking up at me. “I want her.”
Oh, boy. Pride filled me, but the funk of lying to him soured it.
“What’s so special about her?”
“I can’t put my finger on it,” he admitted. “She was good . Really good. And something about her just impressed me. Drew me in.”
Because it’s me. Because you want me .
I laughed, though, because if this were happening in any other circumstances, the irony of it would be hilarious. “Oh, come on. Anyone can dance.”
His responding smile was slow and sexy. “I like the way you dance.” He sat up, leaning with one hand behind him as he cupped my cheek and kissed me hard.
Then I’ll dance. For you.
Inching away from him, I kept my gaze locked on his blazing blue stare. I crawled back, getting off the bed. “Is that so?”
He nodded. Liquid heat swirled in his eyes as he reclined back on the bed, both hands on the mattress behind him.
I moved to an imagined tune in my mind, being careful not to use too many of the parts of my routines at Danger. As I began, he reached for his phone and used the app to lower the lights and turn on low music. It helped, since I’d never, ever done something like this for a man before. When I was on the stage, I numbed myself to simply feeling the beat and letting my body vent out my creative energy.
For Henry, here in the privacy of his room, I danced for his pleasure. I taunted and teased, stripping my clothes off as I went. Dragging my garments off felt like a slow agony, the caress of fabric tickling my skin. Then the burn of his stare on me heated me up faster in kind.
He remained still, breathing faster with his nostrils flaring as he watched it all. That big bulge grew beneath his shorts. His erection was more prominent as I stripped and danced. Already dark with desire, his gaze became tenser.
Need crackled between us, and it aroused me to the point I worried I wouldn’t last. I’d started this. I initiated this little game, but I wasn’t so sure I wouldn’t survive the torture of teasing us both.
Down to my panties and bra, I felt exposed and too covered at the same time. I wanted to feel him, skin to skin, and relish in the hard heat of his body sliding against mine. I wanted to experience the perfect union of his kisses with his mouth so hungry for a taste of me.
I crawled onto the bed, still dancing slowly. Before he could stop me completely with his hands, I turned over his lap. Straddling him, I ground back against him and moaned at the promise of pleasure his hard dick would give me. He was thick and solid, jutting up from beneath his clothes.
“Mia…” He kissed my shoulder as I slowed down in my gyrations on his lap. “Please.”
Hearing him beg for me was my undoing. With his arms wrapped around my waist, one of his hands coming up to cup my breast, I turned my face until I could kiss him. As he pressed up at me, thrusting his hips up so I could feel his need, I dropped my hand to unzip his shorts.
“Please what?” I teased between slow, drugging kisses.
He hissed as I reached for his thick cock and pulled it out.
“Please put me out of my misery.” He bared my breast, tugging the cup down so he could capture my nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
“Only if you put me out of mine, too,” I negotiated before kissing him again.