Chapter 23 #2
I want to close the distance between us, to be able to touch her and wipe away all the hurt in her eyes, but I’m just not that good.
I settle for a hand on her arm, and when she doesn’t slap it away, I move closer.
I tuck her long hair over her shoulder. When my fingers graze the soft skin on her neck, her eyes close.
“We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to,” I tell her. “I shouldn’t have pushed you to.”
“No.” She turns around to face me. “I want to. The last thing I want is for you to think I still have feelings for Sam. I couldn’t be happier he’s out of my life.”
“Then why are you mad at yourself?”
“Because I let myself believe that relationship wouldn’t end until I said so.
Sam always used to tell me I was out of his league.
Being with him was like being worshipped.
I know that sounds insanely conceited, and the only reason I’m admitting it is because, well, you’re you. You understand conceited.”
“Guilty as charged.” I like how she’s not even the slightest bit apologetic with her insults.
“So that was our dynamic; I thought he got off on it as much as I did. It wasn’t until the day he broke up with me that I had any idea he wasn’t happy. I was totally blindsided.”
“Were you happy the way things were?”
“I guess I was. It felt safe, at least. I thought as long as he loved me more than I loved him, I couldn’t get my heart broken. In the end, he told me he wasn’t sure he ever loved me . . . that it was only infatuation.” Her eyes well up with tears again, but she doesn’t try to hide them.
“Total. Dick.”
She nods as a few more tears trickle down her cheeks. I want so badly to wipe that hurt clean off her face.
“I’ve never been in love,” I say without thinking. “But being rejected by someone I trusted? I feel that in my soul.”
Jade looks as surprised as I feel by that revelation. “You do?”
I nod. “I’ve known that hurt as far back as I can remember.”
Her gaze softens, and a wave of embarrassment comes over me at how much I just overshared—how did she get that out of me without even trying?
But she moves past it quickly. “Sorry for being so emotional. When I’m tired, I really can’t hold it together.
It’s not right for me to put this all on you.
” She reaches for a tissue and wipes away her tears.
“God, I’m going to have a raging headache in the morning. ”
“You can put anything you want on me, Jade. No rules, remember?”
She looks up at me, searching my face. I know she’s not ready to trust me—why should she? But I’ve never lied to her before and I’m not starting now. “I guess that was our deal, wasn’t it?”
I nod and move closer to her. Her scent is spicy and dark and has the same effect on me as every other time I’ve been close enough to smell it: instant hard-on.
She doesn’t back away. Her eyes are red-rimmed and still smudged with makeup, but damn if it doesn’t make her sexier.
Her face is straight-up raw beauty, and she looks up at me, defiant, daring me not to touch her.
I put my hand under her chin and tilt her head back. She complies, her eyes half closed. “You know what?” I whisper. “I’m glad Sam turned out to be such a prick.”
She holds my eye, questioning without speaking.
“Because now I can do this.”
I claim her mouth in a deep, searing kiss.
The taste of her hits my brain like a drug, and immediately I’m out, on another planet where only she and I exist. Our tongues tangle and I think there’s no way she can want me as much as I want her, but she gives as good as she gets, inviting me in and kissing me deeply.
When I wrap my hands around her hips, the feel of her body in my grip throws me into overdrive.
From the back of her throat comes a tiny noise that makes me think she’s about to tell me to stop, but when I pull away, she’s not having it; she grips my shirt and pulls me to her again.
My body strains with need, my cock threatening to bust through my jeans, but I don’t want to be selfish. Not yet. I want this to be about Jade. I want to chase the ghost of her asshole ex out of this room. I want her to think and feel nothing but me.
With the mirror behind her, I find the zipper of her dress easily.
When I unzip it, the flowy material immediately falls to her waist and I’m frozen, staring at her small, perfect breasts like I’ve never seen a pair of tits before.
I let out an involuntary grunt at the sight of her hard pink nipples pierced by matching silver bars with a half circle of tiny opals ringing the bottom of each nipple.
Fuck, this is better than Christmas morning.
She laughs softly, amused by the sight of the slack-jawed caveman in front of her. I can’t even think straight.
So maybe when I lean down and suck her nipple into my mouth, I’m thinking of my pleasure as much as hers.
You can’t blame a starving man for feasting.
She lets out a long, moaning breath as I flick my tongue over her nipple and the warm metal of her piercing, and she sinks her nails hard into the back of my neck.
I love the way she asks for what she wants.
I move between her breasts, my fingers playing with them, my mouth tasting and sucking until her breaths turn warm and shallow at the back of my lowered head.
She’s watching me with glassy eyes, lapping up the sight of my lips on her bare flesh.
My hands slide down her thighs to lift her dress. I kiss her neck but it’s a selfish move—I’m ogling her almost-naked body in the mirror as I hike her dress higher, revealing smooth ass cheeks in a satiny green thong.
“Fuck,” I mutter, my cock painfully hard. It takes every ounce of resolve I have not to bend her over the bathroom counter and take her right there. “I knew you’d be perfect, Jade, but I had no idea how perfect.”
Then she makes it that much harder when she takes my hand and slides it down into the tight space between our hips. “Touch me, Reeve,” she whispers.
Well, shit. I’m not playing now. One of us needs to come, and I’m going to make sure she goes first. I push her panties down, hook one of her legs around my waist and lift her onto the counter, the cool tile clashing with her hot skin.
Her dress bunches around her waist and she lets her legs fall open, completely uninhibited, her pussy glistening.
She gazes up at me from under her lashes, begging me to take what she’s giving, and I wonder whether the look in my eyes is as hungry as the one in hers.
I slide one finger into her, and she lets out the breath she was holding as she looks down to watch me work her body.
“Is that what you wanted?”
“No.” Her chest rises with another breath. “I want more.”
And I thought her mouth got me hot before.
I move slowly inside her, teasing her, savoring the sensation of her body tightening around my finger, but her impatience is plain.
I’ll give her what she wants, but I need the satisfaction of watching her react, so I take her face in one hand, forcing her to look at me.
Her gaze is dark with need, but she looks right back at me as I push two fingers inside her.
I wonder whether that bold, defiant streak of hers can ever be softened.
Her brows come together as her expression turns needy.
When she finally moans and lets her head drop back, my dick somehow gets harder.
My fingers take a steady rhythm inside her while my free hand strokes her clit, trying out my signature tapping move, playing with speed and pressure until her face contorts and I know I’ve got it right.
This isn’t a slow seduction. I want to drive her wild as quickly as I can, want my name on her lips right now.
I don’t want to wait another second to make her forget that he ever existed.
It’s not hard to do. Jade is so free with her pleasure, so sure of what she wants. She puts her hand on mine, demanding more. Her legs are wide open, giving me an unspoiled view as she rides my fingers.
“Reeve,” she keeps panting, half pleading, half breathing.
I watch her in the mirror as she teeters on the edge of control, her elbows trembling.
The sight of her pink parted lips and her ragged chorus of little cries is threatening to make me come right in my pants.
I can’t remember anything sexier. Finally, her hips jerk and she lets out a short cry.
Her body convulses around my fingers while I soak in the tiny movements of her pleasure.
I watch her lips form a soft smile, her eyes still closed, and something in that smile burns itself into me.
I can’t look away from her. Something in the intimacy of that brief instant leaves me totally shook.
When her dress is back on, Jade looks at me with a drowsy, post-orgasm smile that, despite me blue ballin’ hard, is pretty damn cute.
“Thanks. That was . . . fun.” She plants a kiss on my lips, and our hips press together. She looks down to where I’m obviously still rock hard. “Just give me a couple minutes,” she says. “Maybe we can take this to my room.”
“’Kay,” I say, grinning as I watch her walk away and down the hall. I try not to imagine what she might mean by that or what she needs a couple minutes to do . . . get out the whips and chains, maybe?
I check my reflection. I look good—a little guilty but in a good way. My hair’s messed up, but I earned it so I leave it alone.
After a few minutes pass, I head to Jade’s bedroom .
. . and find her asleep on top of the green-and-black-patterned comforter.
Her room is art and color everywhere, neon posters covering the walls, a dartboard with pushpins in it to hold masses of necklaces and earrings, and the entire space lit in hot pink from the colored bulbs in her bedside lamps.
I clear my throat, but she doesn’t stir.
Unbelievable. With any other girl, it would have to be an accident, but I wouldn’t put it past Jade to tuck herself right into bed knowing I’m ten feet away with a raging boner.
Not that I can be mad. She’s cute when she sleeps.
You’d almost think she’s not a total ballbuster.
For a hot second I think about lying down next to her for the night, but then I catch myself. That’s way too much. I don’t do sleepovers. Anyway, Jade would just accuse me of angling for morning sex.
At home in bed, the last thing I remember thinking about is that little smile I put on her face.