Chapter 28 #2
Somehow, he does it so smoothly that when I glance around the table, no one has noticed. Each time I look at him, his head shifts to mine, and he smiles.
Smiles.
He knows exactly what he’s doing to me, and I can’t find it in me to hate it.
Halfway through dinner, I set my hand on his leg beneath the table, and for a moment, his entire body tenses, pulling a smirk to my lips. I’m talking to Nat when I feel his gaze burning on me, and even though Nat gives me the most sly, skeptical look, I ignore it.
Ten minutes later, his fingers gently move over my earlobe, the backs of them brushing over my earrings, sending a shiver through me, and I wonder how the hell I’m going to survive this trip.
When dinner ended, we all decided to head to the hotel bar and hang out. On the way over, I stop in the lobby bathroom, tell everyone to head over, and I’ll meet them there.
Leaving the bathroom, I step out into the dark hallway, and in a moment, there’s a hand around my wrist, and I’m being tugged, moving until I’m in a hidden alcove, my back to a wall, a body over mine.
I open my mouth to scream, but then a familiar woodsy scent, pine and leather and whatever body wash Jesse uses, fills my senses.
I relax but slap at his chest. “What the fuck, Jesse?”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” His hand is warm on my waist, and suddenly, my pulse is racing, but not because of the panic of being potentially kidnapped. It’s from something altogether different.
“Are you trying to drive me crazy, Hallie?” he asks, dropping his head and pressing a kiss to the pulse in my throat.
“How am I driving you crazy?” I ask, my voice sounding breathy.
“Existing for one.” Despite my irritation, I can’t help but let out a small laugh as he kisses up my neck, then to my jaw, before pressing another kiss on the side of my lips.
“You’re out of your mind.”
“For you.”
“You’re the one who refuses even to touch me,” I ask, lifting an eyebrow.
“What do you call this?” His hand tightens on my hip, his hips pressing into mine.
I shift my hip against him, and heat rockets through him.
Just like last time we were in Vermont, the need between us strains tight.
It seems once Jesse gets away from his responsibilities, he untethers a bit, his restraint slackening as he becomes more carefree, if only for a weekend.
I wonder for a moment if I can use that to my advantage.
“Not touching me. You’re teasing me, which you’ve been doing for a while. I’m tired of it,” I pout. Something flashes in his eyes, and before I can say anything else, his words fill the small space between us.
“Fuck it.”
Confusion settles over me, but it’s fleeting when his mouth drops, moving to press his lips to mine.
Then he’s kissing me, hard and deep, nothing like our late nights on the couch.
It’s not slow, hot kisses, but needy, consuming ones: ones that say so much, a promise for what I might get sooner rather than later.
My hands move to behind his neck, my fingers moving into his hair to hold him to me, to get more.
As he kisses me, he shifts, his thigh moving between my legs, and a hand moves to my hips, tilting them so I grind against him.
I gasp at the sensation, at the way it sends heat spiraling in my belly, curling in on itself.
“Jesse,” I whisper.
“You’re mine, Hallie. The sooner you admit that, the sooner we’ll both be a fuck of a lot more satisfied.” His hand moves me again, grinding me, muddying my mind as I try to grasp a response, to even begin to process his words.
I open my mouth to argue, to tell him he’s wrong, to say to him that I can’t take that risk, but my brother’s words move through my mind in place of my usual common sense, soothing over my typical panic.
What if he’s right?
What if it’s not nearly as much of a risk as I think it is? If things ended messy, the Kings wouldn’t just toss me aside. That’s not their style, and if it were, I wouldn’t have them on such a pedestal, right?
And in a dark hallway in the hotel where things started a year ago, I give in. “What if you’re mine?” I murmur.
He grins wide, his smile lighting up the area. Somehow, as he always seems to, he knows exactly what I really meant with my words.
I expect him to take the olive branch. To toss me over his shoulder and bring me to his room or, at the very least, kiss me.
Instead, he steps back then, leaving me feeling cold, needy, and frustrated.
“Then you’ve gotta claim me, baby.”
Jesse walks off, leaving me in thought and stewing for a moment before, dazed and turned on, I make my way to where everyone is.
Despite the buzzing bar, as if he senses me, Jesse’s head swivels, and the most handsome grin spreads on his lips.
I roll my eyes, but approach our group to get on with the night.
Right now, it's about hanging out with our friends and family.
What’s a few more hours stoking the heat burning in my belly going to hurt? We have all night to enjoy each other.
Hell, I’m starting to believe we’ll have the rest of our lives.
brEAK tk
We’re sitting without drinks at a bar table an hour later, when Madden turns to his brother, determination evident on his face.
“Come on, Jess. Let’s go scouring.”
Jesse’s brows furrow as he stares at his brother dumbly. “Scouring?”
“For ladies! You don’t have a kid tonight, and you don’t have to rush home tomorrow to get back to her. It’s the perfect time to find someone to get that pent-up sexual tension out of your system.”
There’s a moment of hesitation before Jesse scans the table where we all sit, settling on me.
“Come on, Jesse! I need a wingman,” Madden says.
“He really does,” Nat says. “Madden’s shit at picking women.”
The table laughs, and Colton stands.
“Come on, let’s go help him out, Jesse.” Then my brother gives me a knowing, challenging look before guiding the King brothers toward the bar.
“Looks like the guys found their marks,” Wren says with a smile ten minutes later.
I’ve been diligently ignoring them, not wanting to be too obvious and have to endure questions, not with a long weekend ahead of us. I also, despite everything, trust Jesse. He might tease and fuck with me, and he might be willing to help Madden out, but that’s it.
“She’s cute,” Wren says, but there’s something in her tone, something I can’t quite pinpoint. Until I look at her face, that is. “Don’t you think so, Hallie?”
That’s when I see it. Wren, my sweet best friend who is always worried about everyone and always concerned with making everyone feel loved and included, is teasing me.
Adam’s grin is just as wide as Wren’s, and when I turn to Nat, she has a "told you so" look, and I realize that all my weeks of trying to be sneaky and stealthy may have been for nothing.
Or, more likely, I am not nearly as sneaky as I thought.
I don’t respond. Instead, I watch as one of the women they’re standing with reaches out and touches Jesse’s bicep. He steps away, giving her a polite nod, but the suddenly very possessive part of me doesn’t care.
“Fuck it,” I say under my breath, then slide off my stool and head in their direction, my shoes clicking against tile as I do.
I think I hear Wren, Adam, and Nat laughing behind me, but I can’t focus on that.
Suddenly, I have tunnel vision. All I can see is Jesse standing with another woman, one who is very clearly into him.
It’s polite laughter, and Colt and Madden are with him, but I do not care.
It’s time to claim him.
“Excuse me,” I say, pushing my brother aside. The grin on Jesse’s face is megawatt-level when he sees me.
“Hallie,” he says, all casual and coy as if he has no idea what he’s doing.
“Shut up,” I say, taking the final step to him until our chests are touching, placing my hands on his shoulders, moving to my tiptoes, and pressing my lips to his in front of everyone.