Chapter 10
JAMIE
She doesn’t turn around when I shut the door behind me. The music drops to a low thump under the floor. For the first time since Autumn introduced us, we’re alone.
She turns and looks at me. I glance at the two drinks on the desk.
“Expecting someone?” I ask.
“Jameson Cross,” she says. “What was with the fake name?”
“It’s not fake. Jamie is what my family and very close friends call me.”
She grabs one of her drinks and sips it. “I have a lot of questions.”
I stay by the door because if I cross the room right now, we’ll never finish this conversation.
“Ask me anything. I’ll give you the truth.” Laughter takes over because I can’t believe any of this.
“What’s funny?” she asks, leaning against the desk.
“You. This. All of it. I feel lucky.”
Autumn has been threatening to introduce me to somebody since last week when I drove over to visit with her, Zane, Nick, and Julie. Had I known it was Blaire, I’d have told her to make the call right then.
“I don’t understand what you have to hide. Should I search for you online?”
I shrug. “If you want. But I’d prefer you judge me based on our time together. Not rumors and speculation and whatever else they’re saying about me on the internet.”
The opinions she has of me are ones she made on her own. I’d like to keep it that way.
Blaire is quiet for a moment, and I walk farther inside the library.
“I owe you an apology. I was trying to protect myself because I don’t want anyone to know I’m staying in Pine Haven. I have to stay off-grid and out of the limelight until November. I’m very sorry you were lumped into it. I wanted to tell you, and I would have if I had been given the opportunity.”
She downs the drink in her hand and sets the empty beaker on the desk. “Why Pine Haven?”
I move closer to her, making sure to leave a few feet between us.
“My brother bought a house on the ridge. The only friends I have here are Zane and Nick, who are forty minutes one way. That’s it.
Pine Haven was the only place I could be me.
Not being known is supposed to give me time to think about the things I’ve done without distractions. ”
“Ah.” She moves away from me and scans the bookshelves.
I continue, “The board that runs my hockey foundation gave me a choice to disappear for a season or lose the one thing I’d built that still mattered to me. So, I left the city, and I’m detoxing from my life. No one is searching for me here, so I’m taking the time to find myself. Find happiness.”
Her arms uncross. It’s not forgiveness, but she’s relaxing and letting me back into her orbit. It’s been too long. “Why did you walk into my shop?”
“Because my brother dared me.” I hold her eyes and let her have the truth because she deserves that much. “He wasn’t the reason I booked the private sessions. No one knows about that. No one can.”
She looks away first. Her thumb finds the ring and twists.
“What color is it now?” I ask, and she places it behind her back.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Autumn credits you for her and Zane. She says your love spells never miss.”
She continues to scan the bookshelves. “They don’t.”
“I’d like to book one,” I tell her.
“No.” She doesn’t hesitate. “I will never cast for you.” It comes out serious.
“Why not?”
“You don’t need it. I won’t, so don’t ask again.” Her words are final.
“Okay. Have dinner with me.”
“I can’t date you, Jameson.”
“Jamie,” I correct. “What you call me doesn’t change. Please.”
“I’m not in a position to jump into a relationship.” She shakes her head.
“I’m asking you to join me for dinner, not to marry me,” I say.
“I’m not looking for anything serious. I’m afraid you are,” she says.
I can’t help but laugh. “I’m actually living my life one day at a time and taking your advice by letting the universe decide,” I admit. “And here you are, dressed like you’re mine. What am I supposed to say about that?”
The smoke has gone thin over the beakers. Downstairs, the band plays a slow song. I swear I can hear my own pulse.
She moves toward me and kisses me like she’s furious about it. “The universe is so cruel,” she says.
My fingers find the black silk at her thigh, and I wrap my hand around to grab her ass.
Blaire shoves the jacket off my shoulders, and she pushes me against the shelves hard enough to rattle books.
I kiss her back, wanting to get lost in the sensation of this, of her, of us.
I’ve dreamed about doing this again, ever since we lost control in the cemetery.
“You give me too many mixed signals,” I tell her, tugging her bottom lip into my mouth.
“We need rules,” she desperately breathes against my lips.
I kiss from her jaw to her ear. “Make them.”
“Nothing serious. I have too much going on in my life. Taking over my aunt’s position. The house. It’s just—”
“Shh.” I suck on her ear. “I leave on November first. That won’t change.”
“We make a pact. Our last night together is Halloween,” she says. “I can fool around, but absolutely no falling in love. It would complicate things.”
“Halloween is perfect.” A raspy laugh releases from my throat. “Still not sure I’m capable of falling in love, Blaire. Also, that falls under nothing serious.”
I’m not convinced the curse is broken even though Blaire is. It’s easy for me to agree to not falling in love. Usually, after thirty days, the fun is over, and the newness wears off.
Crush. Crush. I keep hearing that word repeat in my mind.
She drags her mouth down my throat.
“No more lying. Not to each other. Not after this,” I say.
She freezes for a few seconds. “Okay. But know there are some things I cannot discuss with you.”
“I understand.” I meet her eyes. “So, what do you say?”
Blaire licks her lips and watches me intently, like she’s working out the pros and cons of this. “We tell no one about this fling. If my best friends find out, they’ll try to push for more, and they won’t drop it for the rest of my life. This is easier.”
“Okay. I can’t be tied up in anything either. If I’m involved in any scandals, I’ll lose my position. It’s important to me.”
She blinks up at me and smiles. “That’s fair.”
“Will you be my flirty fall fling?” I ask, already knowing her answer but wanting to hear her say it.
“Yes,” she says, leaning her head against my chest as I run my hand up to the high slit of her dress. “Please don’t make me regret this.”
I pull away from her. “We can end it here. Tell me to stop, and I will,” I say, tucking her hair behind her ears.
“Don’t you dare,” she says against my mouth, pulling me closer so she can kiss me again.
We’re ravenous, like we’re starving for the other.
I turn her and press her against the bookshelf, then slide my hand higher up her thigh.
Black silk gathers around her waist, and her breath goes ragged against my mouth.
Two weeks of her denying herself of me, and this is where we’ve ended up.
No fucking regrets. I brush my hand across her, and she’s soaked through the lace.
“Mmm,” I growl into her ear, and she grabs my shirt like she’s holding on for dear life. “So fucking wet for me.”
“I want you,” she admits.
“You need this, darling.”
I move over her again, and she lets out a little whimper.
“Quiet now. There’s a full house. Don’t want them to hear you.”
I peel her panties down her body and slide my fingers between her slick slit.
Her knees nearly buckle on my first real touch of her hard little clit.
I want to learn what makes her thighs tense and what makes her whisper my name like a swear.
When I circle her clit, she bites down on her bottom lip with a moan.
I slide one finger inside her, and she gasps.
“Fuck, that feels so good,” she says, her eyes squeezed closed.
“Enjoy it.”
I memorize her pussy with my fingers as the band plays below us. This is the same woman I haven’t been able to get off my mind since the moment our eyes met. Now she’s letting me learn her and have her in ways I’ve only fantasized about.
I give her another finger, and she rocks her hips, riding my hand. Her mouth falls open, and I capture her lips, needing more of her. I curl my fingers, and she makes a sound the band barely covers up.
I kiss down her neck, down her chest, and my other hand moves into her dress.
I kiss the top of her voluptuous tits, popping one out and taking her peaked nipple into my mouth.
Her skin is sweet and soft. My cock is so hard that it might burst the seams of my pants, and I ignore it because tonight isn’t about me.
Her hands are in my hair, and she’s shaking as I slowly lead her to the ledge.
Her body moves like she’s chasing it, so greedy, and if I keep going, she’ll jump with me.
I’ve closed nine-figure deals and skated in front of twenty thousand people.
None of it ever gave me satisfaction like pleasing her does.
“Come for me.”
“So. Damn. Close.” Both of her tits are out now, and she’s bracing herself on the bookshelf with one hand and trying to balance herself with the other hand.
Then her name travels down the hallway.
“Blaire? Are you up here?”
It’s Autumn’s voice.
I don’t stop.
She’s past the place where that’s even an option.
Her eyes widen, and every muscle in her pulls tight.
She groans against my chest and crumples under my touch.
Her pussy squeezes my fingers tight as she loses herself.
I hold her through it with one arm locked around her back.
It’s the loudest but quietest moment of my life as she gasps for air.
Autumn’s voice gets closer. “Blaire?”
I place my fingers in my mouth and suck. “Mmm. You taste so fucking good. I can’t wait to have more.”
“Hide. Now,” she says with swollen lips, trying to quickly re-situate herself back into that dress that fits her like a second skin.
I grab my jacket and move behind the desk and duck down just as the door swings open.
“Blaire,” Autumn says, moving inside.
My heart races, but I’m so fucking elated.
“I’ve been searching everywhere for you. I thought you’d left.”
I peer around the desk and find Blaire, who’s searching the bookshelf.
“No, just clearing my mind.”
Thirty seconds ago, she came apart in my hands.
Now I’m crouched on the floor of my friend’s library, hiding like a teenager, holding my breath with the taste of her on my tongue.
Six months ago, had anyone told me this is what I’d be doing in September, I’d have called them a liar. I never predicted any of this.
I’ll agree to her rules, but I’m letting the universe decide our fate.