Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
JUMP YOUR BONES
James
The woman’s lips traced a path down the man’s neck, teasing as she licked over his collarbone.
“Are you ready for me?”
“Feel me. Find out.”
At his plea, she continued her journey south.
Sweat beaded at the big man’s brow, and the camera panned to show him toss his head in ecstasy, his jaw tensing before he gave a long groan.
Sweat beaded my brow, too, and I sank deeper into my seat, the pile soft under my neck.
My second film of the day was an eye-opening choice.
Beth had brought me into the cinema where she worked, but she had no time to talk.
After the first film, a World War II epic, she’d collected me, given me a wicked grin, and led me down a staff corridor connecting to the second screen.
Then she’d shrugged and said there were few options this early in the afternoon.
An erotic arthouse romance played, and Beth had whispered in my ear before she’d gone about her work, “Think about me.”
No trouble there. I’d done little else since we’d met.
Left alone, I’d chosen a seat as far from the other cinemagoers as possible. Half a dozen couples dotted around the rows and, awkwardly, I was the only lone man.
Except I wasn’t alone. Not truly.
In the plush darkness, I watched for Beth. The movie, with its pulsing music and half-naked people, couldn’t hold my attention. Every movement in the black room had my head turning. Looking for her.
I’d told her I’d stay all day and, though the drive here had been quiet with Beth musing over something she hadn’t wanted to discuss, when I’d parked, we’d shared a moment in the car. No words, just watching one another. I was pretty sure she understood that I was in deep.
Beth Grace was an amazing woman. Selfless and kind, beautiful, and so hot I was dying to show her how I felt.
At her foster home, I’d been interrogated by Jessie, one of the girls who lived there. While Beth had been outside the room, the teenager had swung her mascara-laden gaze at me then launched into rapid-fire questions, first asking if I was Beth’s boyfriend then if I was rich.
I’d struggled to answer, but she’d been happy to continue without needing my input.
Her eyes had gleamed with intrigue as she’d told me a fact about Beth, staggering though not surprising.
I knew she worked hard, and I admired it, but I hadn’t known why.
Until Jessie quipped that if I married Beth, she wouldn’t have to stress about paying the bill for their support worker.
The secret payments her foster mother knew nothing about.
The other girl had told her to hush, and a new argument had flared over which of them could keep a secret better. Neither, apparently. They happily gave me the details Jessie had overheard when Beth had approached the woman who helped out in the mornings.
In that second, I fell so deeply head over heels for Beth Grace I knew I’d never get out.
Not that I wanted to. I only wanted her and, if I admitted it to myself, I had from the moment I’d first seen her.
Now, waiting in the dark, all I desired was to drag her onto my lap and kiss her until I forgot how to breathe.
On the big screen, the couple teased some more, and I laid my head back and let the story unfold. Maybe I’d learn something.
Watching Callum, my mentor, fall for Mathilda had taught me much.
I’d thought it easy for him, falling in love and going after his choice, until he’d set me to rights.
There had been nothing straightforward for them, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were right for one another. Their lesson gave me hope.
The actors stepped up their game, and their lovemaking scene had me heating up. Then their writhing bodies had me begging for Beth’s return. Movement to my right and across the aisle caught my eye—one of the couples pawed at each other, not caring who could see them.
Christ. The guy had his hand in the woman’s shirt. I twisted in my seat so I couldn’t see them. Beth, Beth, Beth, my body chanted, and I flexed my muscles, wanting my fingertips digging hard into her skin, and her bare breasts against my chest.
“Hey. Sorry I took so long.” Beth arrived at the end of my row as if summoned. In her hands, she held a large drink and a tub of popcorn.
She passed them to me one at a time, and it was all I could do to keep my hands steady.
“Enjoying the show?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with mischief in the reflected light. Behind her, the screen made a halo around her curls, the lush velvet softness of her skin luminous.
I placed the items in the holder a seat over then, without pause, reached out to claim Beth. I found her waist under the cool material of her blazer and pulled her to me. Beth gave a small squeak as she landed on my lap, straddling me on the wide, two-person seat.
“I am now,” I murmured then tipped up her chin and crashed my mouth onto hers.
Gunpowder ignited in my veins.
At my back, the chair dipped and rocked with our combined weight, and Beth’s hands found my chest, instinctively curling into the material of my shirt.
Our lips became reacquainted, and Beth stretched up and wound her fingers into my hair, tugging me closer, deepening our kiss. We moved tentatively on one another. I’d already got hard, thinking of her while the movie played, now I was made of steel.
“Fuck,” Beth whispered. “I didn’t expect—”
I cut her off with another kiss, needing her taste. We sank into slow, wet kisses, and I copied her moves, learning fast. Sliding my tongue against hers and becoming more and more delirious, thoughts of pleasing her driving me on.
A sound of pure need came from me.
Beth moaned, a tiny echo hidden in the dramatic music of the film, then she abruptly broke the kiss.
“Can’t believe I’m going to say this, but slow down. I’m going to get fired if this goes any further, and I really, really want this to go further. God, James.”
Lust-filled, I stared at her from under heavy eyelids, managing a nod. Fired. This was her workplace. Yet she didn’t climb off me, and I didn’t remove my hands from where I gripped her waist.
Electricity crackled around us, fuelled by the dark and the atmosphere of pure sex. In the centre of the room, the kissing couple now made raw animal noises, scandalous in how they attacked one another.
Beth rolled her hips, grinding down on my hard cock. “Guess you liked the movie.”
Sparks flew behind my eyes.
I sucked in a breath, needing oxygen. “Got to learn somehow, but this is all for you.”
Then I realised what I’d said.
Beth stilled and regarded me curiously. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Yes.”
“When I first saw you, you know, looking like you do, I thought you’d be all over the ladies. A real player. But now I know you better…”
“You know how far from the truth that is,” I finished her statement. “I’ve never been interested in anyone before.”
“Before me.”
I adjusted her on my lap, and Beth didn’t take her eyes off mine.
“No one. Ask your question,” I prompted, knowing exactly what she wanted to hear.
“You’ve never slept with anyone?”
Raising my hand, I traced the outline of Beth’s lips.
My heart hammered, but I wanted her to know this so badly.
“The first person I ever kissed was a few days ago in Castle McRae. This wildly beautiful woman who drives me crazy and has my heart beating like I’m in a race for my life.
She let me kiss her, even though I behaved horribly, and it was imperfectly perfect.
So no, I’ve never had sex and, yes, you are the one and only person I’ve ever kissed. ”
From the back of the room came a small blaze of light. Beth’s widened eyes flicked up then back down. “That kiss, by the fire. The romantic scene when I told you I felt alone.”
“That’s the one.”
She gaped, swaying backwards an inch. “Why didn’t you tell me? And I was about to drag you to a backroom to jump your bones. God, James! We can make you losing your virginity so special. Like it should be. Just think of what we can do!”
Now I gaped, as I really wanted to find that backroom. Special be damned, I needed her now.
“Come home with me,” I asked again. Desperation rose in me. Losing my virginity, taking Beth to Belvedere, making love to Beth at Belvedere.
“You come home with me. Tonight,” she countered.
I inclined my head, willing to take anything she wanted to give.
Footsteps sounded in the aisle at the top of the room, and a woman’s voice complained, “…been at it the whole movie. It’s off-putting. This is meant to be a romance, not a porno.”
A deeper murmur answered her, then the footsteps descended farther.
We both froze.
In the aisle, a uniformed man stopped, a torch in his hand. He watched the amorous couple in the central block then chuckled and pulled at one of his ear lobes. I held Beth closer, trying to conceal her.
The doors at the top of the aisle whooshed open again, and another pair of feet descended—the manager, I guessed. The man nearer us glanced around. Then the cinema screen blazed brightly, and his attention settled on Beth.
His eyes widened in recognition, and his gaze flew to the person descending. Subtly, he flapped a hand, then pulled a face. A clear gesture for her to go.
“That’s Gareth.” Beth put her lips to my ear. “I think the two people screwing over there are about to get kicked out. I can’t be seen.”
She slid from my lap and crouched between my knees, hidden now by the row of chairs. With a glance between my crotch and my face, she grinned and mouthed, “Staff corridor. Five minutes.”
A fuss broke out in the middle of the room, the couple loudly denying their accusers, and Beth snuck out the opposite end of the seats, disappearing into the dark.
While I blew out a heavy breath, focusing all my willpower on not running after her and staying in my seat for those damn five minutes.