Chapter 24 #2
“Yeah, I know, pretty fucked up. It seemed like a good idea when I was eighteen for her to move with me to L.A. and help me start my career, but somewhere along the way, it changed her. It was helpful at first, but the work never ended. Every day, she had twenty more opportunities for me, and there was no time to relax or have fun. Even dating was a pre-determined, mutually beneficial arrangement. I couldn’t do anything for myself.
” I settle my hand on her waist, trying to infuse comfort into the touch.
She breathes in deeply, placing her own palm against my forearm, keeping me in place.
“The ironic part is, it worked. All her pushing, all her overbearing managing…it’s brought me here.
So I can’t be too mad, right? Where would I be without it? ”
“You would have made it here without her. Everything you have is earned because you worked hard for it. Every company, every investor, every person on the internet has backed you because of who you are and the name you built for yourself. You would still have everything without your manager. The reason she’s relentless is because she lives in fear of the day you realise she would have nothing without you. ”
Her gaze grips me as her eyes flit back and forth between mine. “We’re not that different, are we?” Confusion must register on my face, because she continues, “You’ve fought to get to where you are; you deserve to be where you are. I want you to have more—everything.”
I scoop her into a hug, arms wrapping around her waist, constricting in their grip but never wanting to let go. I can feel it course through me—love. The four letter word sits right on the tip of my tongue, begging to burst out.
The doorbell rings, breaking us out of the moment, lightening the heaviness in the air.
“That must be our food.” I pull back slightly.
“Finish putting the dishes away, and I’ll go get it.”
Jade turns to head towards the door, her hips swaying hypnotically beneath the short hem of my shirt, and the thought of a Deliveroo driver seeing her in a state of undress has my brain short circuiting.
It’s the only logical explanation for the caveman reaction my body has when it acts of its own accord by chasing after her, hands wet, wrapping around her waist.
Jade squeals when I lift her off the floor, hauling her over my shoulder, spinning around and walking her back into the kitchen. “What is wrong with you?”
The chime of the bell sounds again.
“If you think I’m going to let someone else see you like this, you’re sorely mistaken, love.”
“Oh my God, don’t be so territorial.” The crack of my palm against her arse causes her to yelp and squirm in my grip. “Set me down you brute!”
I place her gently on her feet until she’s stable.
“Ugh, now I'm all wet.”
“Isn’t that always the case when you’re around me?” I wink and step out of her reach when she tries to swat at me.
“Go get the food before I have a good reason to plead insanity at the trial for your murder.”
“You’re cranky when you’re hungry.” Jade grabs the kitchen towel from the counter behind her and chucks it at me. I dodge, narrowly avoiding the assault, and call out over my shoulder as I walk away, “I love learning new things about you.”
We’re sitting on the couch in my living room, takeout from Send Noods, a Vietnamese pho shop nestled around the corner from my flat, scattered atop my coffee table while the tv plays softly in the background.
Jade’s long bare legs are crossed over my lap, shoulders slightly damp from where her dark hair is still drying from the quick shower we took before sitting down to eat.
Not even five minutes can pass without my gaze scoring over her body or finding some excuse to touch her, and my mind keeps unhelpfully shuffling through images of her naked body covered in iridescent bubbles that sluiced paths down the peaks of her breasts, all the way down to the valley of her thigh crease as she lathered up her skin, steam fogging up the glass surrounding my shower.
It was indecent, and I desperately needed to get my head out of the gutter, but when I look over at Jade, her eyes are glazed, chopsticks halfway to her mouth, legs shifting like she’s trying to relieve some tension.
That look certainly isn’t helping to keep my thoughts respectable.
“Stop that,” I chide.
Jade snaps out of what I imagine is a very vivid, very dirty memory. “Stop what?” she says, feigning innocence.
“Stop thinking about what you’re thinking about, or I’ll slap your perfect arse raw.” I squeeze her thigh tight with the hand not holding a takeout container.
“Is that supposed to be a deterrent?” she retaliates by seductively wrapping her tongue around the noodles dangling off her utensils, letting me imagine her mouth wrapping around something else instead.
I shake my head, smiling to myself. “I’m going to need to hydrate if I’m supposed to keep up with you.”
“Would you like an electrolyte packet? I have one in my bag.” Jade moves to get up off the couch, acting like she’s going to get it for me, but I wrap my hand around her waist, tugging her back down to the couch.
The takeout container of noodles she was holding tumbles to the floor, and Pebble wastes no time jumping on the scraps.
“Don’t be a smartass.” I lean forward and pick up the fallen to-go box, but Pebble nips at my hand, trying to steal it back from me, grumbling loudly when I hold it out of her reach.
Jade lets out an effervescent giggle, shifting forward to help me clean while also sneaking noodles to my dog and patting her on the head as they beam at each other from ear to ear.
It makes something in my heart squeeze and then lift, seeing her so carefree and at ease here in my home—like she belongs here.
My body pulls towards her like a magnet until I’m kissing her, taking her by surprise before she melts into it, body softening into me.
That is, until Pebble nudges her way between us, trying and failing to get to the noodles on the coffee table before trotting away.
Jade laughs against my mouth, and the sound leaves me utterly defenceless.
“I love that sound,” I say, breaking for air and peppering playful kisses up her neck before biting her earlobe.
Gooseflesh breaks out all over her soft skin, only exacerbated when my palms skate a path up her tanned thighs and under the hem of her shirt—my shirt. My hand settles on her hip as my thumb finds home in the crease of her thigh and digs in.
Jade groans in my ear at the soft pressure I place there.
I pull back slightly so I can stare into her eyes, letting that bright spot of blue sear into my soul like the hottest part of a flame. Defenceless. I am utterly defenceless when she looks at me like that.
“Your laugh, your voice, the greedy, husky little noises you make for me—I could get drunk on every single one.” I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, and she nuzzles into the touch.
Her eyes jump back and forth between mine, and then she’s pulling my face down to meet hers, kissing me with the understanding that this is so much more than either of us bargained for.
She shifts, pushing me back so I’m sitting straight, giving her the opportunity to swing her leg over my waist and straddle me.
Slowly, so slowly I might lose my goddamn mind, she eases down onto my growing erection.
She’s bare underneath my t-shirt, and I can feel the heat of her through the polyester blend sweatpants I'd currently like to set on fire.
Jade flips her hair over her shoulder, grinding down on me as she leans forward, licking up the side of my neck before latching on to my ear and making my dick twitch.
“Should I get you that electrolyte packet now?” she teases, pressing down.
I grunt at the pressure. “If you leave, I'll die.” I dig my hands into her thighs, making it clear she’s not going anywhere.
The light from the television dances across her features like light refracting off the seafloor.
I feel like I’m dreaming, because there’s no way she’s real, no way she’s on top of me, no way she’s mine.
But she’s here, and she looks like a siren, ready to lull me to my demise, and I’m only too happy to follow her when she strokes a hand over the material covering my aching cock before she plunges her hand beneath the waistband and grips me firmly.
My hips buck up involuntarily, and my mouth bites down on her t-shirt-covered nipple in delicious retaliation.
Her pressure doesn’t let up, though, and she continues to jerk and twist me in her hand, resting her forehead against mine.
“You could never die.” She shakes her head vehemently, like the very idea disturbs her.
“You’re the most alive person I’ve ever met.
Larger than life.” She pulls me out of my pants and starts teasing me through her slick folds, breath hitching when the head of my cock hits her clit.
“You make me feel alive too,” she says and sinks down on my cock, the stretch making both of us groan as I fill her up, inch by blissful inch.
My head falls back on the couch, a deep sigh of pleasure falling out of my mouth as she envelopes me in her tight heat sinking down slowly until I bottom out entirely.
Jade rocks once, twice, her walls loosening further to accommodate my size.
I’ve never felt anything better in my life, and I don’t think I ever will.
Being with Jade is not a feeling that can be replicated or chased after; nothing could ever compare to this—to her.
I cant my hips, testing a shallow stroke up into her, and she whimpers.
“Fuck. The way your slick cunt is gripping my cock makes me so insane, I want to trap you here and fuck you until you beg me to stop.” I emphasize my point by slapping my hand down on her ass.
Hard. “Now finish what you started and ride.” Her walls clench around my words, and it solidifies my gut instinct that this confident, powerful woman likes to be bossed around in the bedroom. Needs it.
Pure devilry crosses her angelic face. Balancing her hands on my chest for leverage, she pulls her feet under her thighs so her ankles rest on top of my quads.
Then, she begins to wreck my world, lifting herself up and dropping back down my length, over and over and over, until I’m close to passing out from the sensation.
My cock throbs, growing larger with every rise and fall of her perfect cunt.
“Doing okay there, Captain?”
“Fuck,” I grit out, shifting my hands from her thighs over to her waist, my fingertips leaving dents in the top of her arse. “I’m going to blow my load if you keep calling me that.”
She wouldn’t be my Jade if she didn’t take that as a challenge. All-out war begins as she starts bouncing on my cock, and I’m of half a mind to send a very large gift basket to her Pilates studio for the feat of endurance she’s displaying.
Jade’s head falls to the side, her damp tresses falling into her face as the light from the hallway creates a halo of backlight around her in my dimmed living room.
She looks like a goddess.
She fucks like a demon.
I grasp the round globes of her arse and help lift her, the friction of my cock dragging in and out of her tight channel sending fireworks across the base of my spine.
An involuntary groan crawls up my throat, and Jade’s hands dive into my hair, pulling taut while she holds on for dear life as I begin to buck up into her.
The crack of my palm smacking against her arse reverberates throughout the room, and her walls contract around me, squeezing impossibly tight.
“Oh my God, Tieran. Oh my—yes, fuck me, just like that. You’re doing so good, your cock feels so—fuck.” Her words are slurred with pleasure, barely coherent as I pummel into her, balls slapping against her ass, drawing tight with the need for release.
“It's you, Jade. Only you make me this hard.” I punctuate it with a harsh thrust. “Only you drive me this out of my goddamn mind with need.” I slow my speed a fraction. “Look at me, baby,” I command.
She doesn’t hesitate to obey, eyes locking with mine.
“Yours. I am yours—” I thrust for emphasis— “and this pussy is mine. You are mine. No more depriving me, or yourself, of this. Do you understand?”
She mewls needily as she rocks against me, greedy for friction. “Yes. Yours. Mine.” She whimpers in agreement, half out of her mind with pleasure. I’m not sure if she even realises what she’s saying, but I pick up pace again.
“Need this—need you. Every day. As much as you’ll give me.” My tone is desperate and guttural, like her agreement, her admission that what we have can’t be ignored, cured an affliction I've been suffering from for eternity.
Her walls grip me tight as her orgasm tears through her, and she shakes wildly on top of me, forcing my own movements to slow but sending me headfirst into my own climax, as I spill ropes of hot cum into her only moments after her own release.
Jade collapses onto my chest, our limbs tangling as I slowly move in and out, pushing the release that threatens to slide out back inside.
Wrapping one arm tightly around her, I place the other on the back of her head, lightly raking my fingers through her hair.
“Hey.” I tug on a strand until she looks up at me with a lazy, happy smile on her face.
“I want to make sure you know that when I said you’re mine, I mean all of you, not just this.
” I indicate to our partially naked bodies, still connected, and covered with sweat.
I can’t describe the look on her face. Contentment, maybe? That’s what I want it to be, at least—happy, settled, at home with me.
“You’re mine too,” she says before softly turning her head into my hand and kissing my palm.
My mind is quiet in a way it only ever is when she’s around as we hold each other. When she looks up, the smile she gives me is brighter than the sun breaking over the dawn of a new day: beautiful, with the promise of more.
As I lean forward and kiss her brow, I think, if all it took was my world turning inside out, public humiliation and endless nights tossing and turning in a cyclone of self-doubt, I would do it all again, as long as it led me to her.