Chapter 6 #2
“No, we don’t.” The words felt wrong in my mouth. “Do we?” I leaned slightly, searching her face for an answer. As I got closer, her scent hit me—chamomile. For fuck’s sake. It was like flipping a switch in my body, and suddenly, I was on autopilot, moving toward her.
We were so close now that I could see the golden flecks in her brown eyes.
“Chloe mentioned you needed something.” Her voice was softer, and her breath hitched a little. But I caught it. She was also affected. “How can I help?”
“Yes,” I answered, and none of us dared to break eye contact.
It was… electrifying. “I’m leaving for a meeting in a few minutes.
Traffic is insane at this hour, so it should take me about…
an hour or more to get there.” She raised a brow, curious about where I was going with this.
Daring me to keep talking. “I’d like you to accompany me. ”
She tilted her head. “You want me to go with you to your meeting?”
“I want you to accompany me on the drive there, yes.” Yes, it sounded insane. I knew that. Still, I stood by it.
She grinned, and I knew that look. It was the one people gave me when they were trying really hard to say no, but already halfway into yes. This pretty boy face had a track record, and apparently, I still had it, even while being completely weird.
“I’m not doing that.”
Or… maybe not.
She said no, but she was still smiling. Okay, I’ll play.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not getting in a car with you.”
“Why not?” I asked again because, frankly, her answer was not convincing enough.
She blinked like she couldn’t believe I was still going.
“Because… I don’t know you.” She dragged the last words out. Our eyes hadn’t moved. Locked in. Like they were off having their own private moment. The silence that followed wasn’t awkward.
I chuckled because I noticed her inching closer. She wanted to say yes as badly as I wanted her to.
So, like a complete idiot, I opened my mouth.
“But you do. Know who I am. I’m… Chris Jones.” I heard how conceited and gross the words sounded the second they left my mouth. My stomach had been screaming at me the whole time to watch my tone, but did I listen? Of course not.
Her lips thinned. I couldn’t tell if what I saw was annoyance or amusement. Maybe both. Either way, the comment was enough to make her look away, breaking our eye contact. Then she took two steps back.
No. Come back.
I had to stop myself from grabbing her by the waist and keeping her right there.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Jones,” she said, drawing out my last name like a little jab. Her eyes found mine again, but the spark was gone. “I have to go back to my son…” she added with a small smile. “It was…” Then, it grew a little, reaching her eyes.
Her hand lifted toward my chest, and my breath hitched.
I hoped she would grab my collar and kiss me, but no.
She plucked a random piece of tape off my shirt and gave a soft little pat to smooth the fabric back down.
The top of her fingers brushed the skin on my neck.
It was the slightest of touches, but it was enough to send a shock through me so strong it made my hands clench, among other…
bodily reactions. And I think it hit her too, because her smile faded immediately.
Her voice dropped, almost too low to hear.
“Nice to meet you.” She cleared her throat and looked away.
Two more steps back, and now she was turning toward the door. I couldn't let her go, but what the fuck could I say? I could pretend that the cocky comment I made wasn’t exactly who I was. But what would be the point? Everyone knew it was.
Her fingers reached for the doorknob, and my heart—the one that was full of that weird, fuzzy calm moments ago—suddenly clenched. It literally skipped a beat.
“Jules, don’t go…” The words slipped out without my permission. It sounded almost like a beg, and the overconfident part of me wanted to shove them right back in. But she stopped and slowly turned around.
Fuck it. Since my body was clearly acting on its own, I would go with it. I walked toward her, and she nervously rambled.
“My son doesn’t do well with crowds. I really need to get back before—”
“Can I just…?” I interrupted, but the rest of the question got stuck. I didn’t even know what I was asking for. Couldn’t figure out how to put it into words.
We were so close now. Closer than before.
Her eyes softened, and I took it as a yes to whatever question I didn’t finish asking.
I leaned in, and the second our lips met, it felt like my whole body sighed in relief.
It was not just a kiss, it was a crash, a collision, like I’d been underwater way too long, and she was the first breath of oxygen I’d had in years.
I wanted to pull her closer and lose myself completely in her.
Some tiny part of my brain was screaming, “She’s going to slap you into next week, dumbass,” but my body was all in, and it knew I wasn’t in it alone. The way she kissed me back—hungry like she needed this as much as I did—made everything else disappear.
We broke apart, breathless, our foreheads still touching as we made sense of what had happened. The words came out of me before I even realized I was speaking.
“You taste like home.”
I was sure that slap would come now, but she instead brought her fingers to my face and brushed over my beard. When her eyes met mine, there was no hesitation. Before I could overthink it, we were kissing again, this time even more urgently.
Whatever noise and doubt were still living in my head were now gone.
There was just her. Just us.
My hands moved instinctively, sliding from her back to her waist. I wanted to memorize every curve. When my hands found the back of her thighs, she moved with me, wrapping her legs around my waist. I guided us to the vanity and sat her down.
Her skin felt like silk. I let my fingers roam before I cupped one of her deliciously generous tits. She let out a soft moan against my lips, and it went straight to my head. And… other places.
Fuck. Game Over. Sex in a Comic-Con dressing room. That would be a first.
I slid her shirt up slowly, teasingly, kissing her harder as her hands tangled in my hair. She shifted closer, her legs wrapping tighter around me. And then, right when I thought I might completely lose myself in her, reality was the one to slap me in the face.
An abrupt knock on the door was followed by Vanessa’s impatient voice.
“There was an accident on the 495. We need to leave now if we’re going to make it to the meeting.”
Our kiss broke and I rested my head on her shoulder, catching my breath, letting her scent calm me even as my pulse raced.
“I’ll be right there!” I called out instead of using all the profanities that were rolling in my mind.
I lifted my head and met Jules’ flushed cheeks and eyes that shyly asked for more.
“I’m sorry…” I scanned her expression, searching for something to give me a clue on how the hell I was supposed to react to what happened.
“Tick tock, Mr. Jones!” Vanessa’s voice came again. Sharp and smug as ever. I held my breath, caught between waiting for Jules to say something and firing my manager straight away.
But then… she laughed.
Holy shit, I wanted to take a picture. Frame it because it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I didn’t even know why she was laughing, but I found myself laughing too. And that warm feeling in my heart was right back.
“I really have to go. If it were any other meeting. I’d blow it off, but…” I ran a hand through my hair, trying not to let it drift back to her body.
“It’s okay, Mr. Jones.” She said, still teasing when saying my name. But her voice was a little shaky, as if she was trying to pull herself together as much as I was.
“Don’t.” I reached out and gently pressed a finger to her lips. “Call me Chris.” My finger didn’t move. Neither did my eyes that were locked in, staring at her mouth.
She moved her head in agreement.
“Come on…” I whispered. “Say it. Chris.”
She took a deep breath and whispered it like she knew exactly what it would do to me.
“Chris…”
My fingers moved slowly from her lips to her neck, then to her collarbone.
“Better,” I muttered.
I wanted to keep going, but before I got completely sucked in, I forced myself to take a hesitant step back. She slid off the table, but our bodies were still too close. Way too close for comfort and for my self-control.
I shook my head, trying to physically break whatever spell this woman had on me, then held out my hand.
“Give me your phone.”
She blinked, clearly caught off guard, but after a beat, she pulled it from her pocket and handed it over. I quickly typed my number and sent myself a text. I handed it back to her, our fingers brushing for a moment longer than necessary.
“There,” I said, the faintest smile creeping onto my lips. “Now we’ve got each other’s numbers. Text me your address, and I’ll pick you up at eight.”
“I have plans tonight,” she said, trying for firm but landing somewhere between flustered and adorable.
“So do I,” I shot back, letting a little grin sneak through. “Reschedule.”
Her eyes narrowed, and I could practically hear the “Excuse me?” she was holding back.
Crap. I was coming off like an entitled prick.
Again. Old habits die hard, apparently. Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about my tone—hell, I’d leaned into it most of my life.
But I didn’t want her to think that was all there was to me.
She didn’t deserve that version of Chris Jones.
I softened, taking her hand, my thumb grazing her skin.
“I’d really like to see you tonight. Please? Just… try to make it work.”
Her expression shifted like she wasn’t sure whether to roll her eyes or let herself smile. She let out a little breath, and I could see her walls coming down, just a crack.
“Fine. Eight o’clock.”
“Yes!” I grinned like an idiot and, without even thinking, brought her hand to my lips for a quick kiss. It wasn’t a calculated move—just pure instinct. “See you tonight.”
But I didn’t move. I stood there, frozen, staring at her still slightly flushed face. Then came a furious knock on the door, snapping me out of the trance.
“You should go. That woman is… scary.” She said.
I smiled at the way her face twisted dramatically.
“You have no idea.”
She smiled back, and I wanted to say, “Ma’am, you need to stop being this adorable if you actually want me to ever leave this room.” It took everything in me to move, but I did.
I took a few steps back, still watching her. Finally, I turned around and rushed out, leaving the door slightly ajar behind me, knowing tonight was going to change everything.