Chapter 16 Rosie #3
I think about that because he’s right: he lives and works right across the street from me. Even before we were working together, I’d still bump into or see him once a day at least.
If there was something between us, it would be awkward at best. If I got my heart broken, it would be a daily reminder of that pain. But I remember my conversation with Phillip the night I met him and shake my head.
“Your grandfather told me all of my previous lovers wouldn’t matter once the curse is broken. A clean slate.”
“So what, we hook up while we’re working together and then just… move on?”
I nod. “Yes. Exactly. It’s perfect. Then we can be friends.
Until then, we’re friends with benefits.
” A beat passes before his warm hand leaves me and he turns onto his back.
My heart falls to the ground, shattering as he clearly changes his mind.
I should be happy, especially if his rejection hits this deeply, but somehow, I can’t find it in me to be relieved. I—
Then I watch him take off his glasses and set them aside before turning back to me, a hand moving to my hip and tugging me close again before his lips are on mine.
This kiss is not sweet and gentle. It isn’t curious and tentative and intrigued like in the club.
It’s hot.
It’s intense.
It’s dark and quiet and way more than I expected, just like the man himself.
It’s hot and deep, his tongue sliding between my lips without the gentle prod of last time, his tongue touching mine.
I groan into the kiss, that ember of need that I’ve kept hidden for days, weeks, longer if I’m being honest, flaring to life and creating a blaze in my stomach.
His teeth nip at my lip as he growls against me, a hand moving to cup my ass and bring me closer to him.
I moan as I feel his hardness against my belly, turned on beyond belief at the idea that I’m making sweet, calm, nerdy Jack so heated and hot and possessive.
His hand moves again, sliding down the back of my thigh to hike it up over his hip as he settles between my legs.
His cock beneath his tough jeans grinds against my clit and a breathy desperate sound leaves my lips.
“Jack,” I whisper as the kiss breaks, as his lips leave mine to trail down my neck.
“Fuck, I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to hear my name on your lips like that,” he groans. I should wonder what he means by that, but there’s no time, no headspace left as his hand slides down my ass, grazing over the place where my thigh meets my center, and my breath stops.
Suddenly, I’m desperate. Desperate to feel his fingers against me, to know if the promise of him lives up to reality.
My hips move back toward his hand, and he chuckles.
I groan at the tease, then move forward again, grazing against his rough jeans once more.
My breath hitches at the pleasure, and I slide my hips back once more.
This time, his fingers are right where I need them, grazing along my thin leggings.
“Oh, shit,” I breathe, feeling the pleasure that usually only I can find on my own starting to build. “Oh, god.”
“That’s it, Rosie. Fuck, you’re so pretty.
” My eyes drift shut and my hand moves to his neck, pulling his face to mine once more, needing his lips on mine.
Each shift of my hips builds more and more pleasure in my core, my chest tightening with excitement and a hint of panic because somehow, I know when Jack finally makes me come, it’s going to be game-changing, expectation-shatteringly good.
It builds and builds and builds and soon the panic that I’m about to come from this and this alone starts to take over and—
Then the alarm I set goes off. I groan, pressing my hips up into his, and for a moment, I contemplate saying fuck it.
Fuck the flowers, fuck the curse, fuck Phillip.
Because my life can’t be that bad if I still get to feel this good, get to feel Jack’s thick fingers between my legs, get to have him give me that look while he watches himself build it up in me.
But then he’s sliding his hand away as he shifts my leg off his hip, rolling me to my back, and I think the moment is gone.
He sits up and looks down at me, still lying on the blanket, when he shocks me.
He reaches over to me, hand going between my thighs and cupping my pussy, a finger moving to my entrance and pushing my wet undies and leggings up into me a bit.
I moan as he does, but refuse to close my eyes and miss the look on his face.
“Fuck, I can feel how wet you are through these. Just from kissing me, baby?” The look he gives me is so hot, I might come on the spot. When he smiles, my pussy clenches, and I know he can feel it when his lips tip in a self-satisfied grin.
“Come on. We have to get the flowers, and then we have to clean this up.” Confusion and disappointment flood me at the thought of this being over, at the thought of him moving past this, but then he stands and smiles. “Then we can go back to my place and finish what we started.”