Chapter 31
AJ
It wasn’t good to force things.
But I’d tried it.
I’d smiled and flirted. Told myself I like the way this man looked. He was polite and courteous. Interesting. He did his best not to look when I shed my blazer, but I could see in his eyes, in his smile that he liked the way I looked in this dress. Maybe even as much as Adam did.
But probably not.
I’d felt his eyes on me as soon as I’d gone off with Holland, having her introduce me before she got whisked off for work. His attention had been so rapt on me that I’d felt it practically sizzling on my skin, making me so hot that I reasoned it was his fault.
A part of me had decided to keep the blazer on the whole party. To stay covered up since I’d only gotten dressed for Adam.
But then I was burning up. From his stare.
From my own anger. So off went the blazer, but somehow, it only made me feel hotter.
It made me feel urgency spiking the air.
From Adam. From Gavin. He’d been reserved with his flirting before, but once I had all that bare skin showing, he kicked it up a notch.
When he slid his hand along my hip, I actually felt Adam’s fury.
Mine too.
Because it was at that very second that I knew this was pointless. That I felt nothing here. Wanted no part of this man. I wasn’t going to succeed at forcing anything here, which meant I was leading someone on, and even if it was for just ten minutes, I hated that.
I hated this whole situation. That his touch had only made me crave Adam’s.
There was no shortage of things to be pissed about, and I did such a bad job of hiding it that Gavin noticed. Asked if I was okay.
Then he touched my hip again, and I felt my heart leap out of my chest.
Because I knew Adam was coming.
From which direction, I wasn’t sure, so I excused myself. Heart pounding, I angled through the crowd, my heeled feet clacking against the floor as I made my way to the downstairs restroom that Holland had told me about when the line for the regular one was too long.
I was pretty sure it was for Minx employees only, but I didn’t care. I needed somewhere to go to catch my breath and force my thoughts to settle, because they were on a rampage right now, fully and furiously realizing something that I wished I could know with full happiness.
That he was the only one.
That there was no one in the world who could make me feel as good, as whole. As alive. Everything in my heart and my mind pointed toward me being with Adam and nobody else, and all I wanted was to feel the joy of all this without feeling the hurt of his secret as well.
I just wanted to love him without feeling stupid. And lied to.
“God,” I hissed under my breath despite the fact that I was alone once I got downstairs.
At least I was in this area. It was a small room separating the hall and the restroom, with just a long table and mirror on one wall and a tufted satin bench against the other.
I plopped down on the bench for a little, staring at my own flushed reflection for about ten seconds before I realized I had no capability whatsoever to sit still.
My skin was hot, my muscles were restless, and my blood was thrumming in my veins.
The stark silence of the room made the sound of my pulse unbearable so in a flash, I was on my feet, taking two hard strides toward the door before it flew open, forcing me to stop so hard in my tracks that my heart threw itself against my chest.
I reeled from the thump of pressure as I stood there frozen, staring at Adam, my eyes wild but my throat unmoving as my breath stayed hitched inside.
The only movement came from the door falling shut behind him as he stood before me, fury emanating from his visibly tense body.
His jacket was off and his shoulders looked rigid, ready to bust the seams on his shirt.
Fire lit the deep blue of his eyes as they fixed tightly on me.
But when he spoke, his voice, albeit steely, was firm. Controlled.
“I met her today,” he said as the door clicked shut behind him.
“I’ve never met her before. I don’t know her.
I don’t think about her. She’s not the reason I went after Knox.
I understand what you think you saw, AJ, but you have to know it isn’t that, because I would never in my life do anything to betray your trust. I would never do anything to embarrass you or hurt you. Ever.”
The certainty in his voice made my heart pound.
“There’s no one in this world I need like I need you, AJ. There’s nothing that matters the way you matter to me. You’re the only one I’m ever going to want or need. You have to know that.”
My heart ached and soared at the same time.
I wanted to believe him. In fact, I already did. But my pride knew I needed to demand some kind of proof. A better explanation. “Why did you need to sign Knox then?” I asked, my voice firm despite the slight tremble. “And why did you have those tabs up if not for her?”
The hollow of Adam’s cheek flexed as he clenched his teeth. “It’s a long, complicated explanation,” he said as he took a step forward. “And I’ll give you every word of it tonight. Once we’re alone.”
“We’re alone right now,” I said, solely to be resistant. But I could see the way it backfired as Adam’s wolfish eyes dropped down to my dress.
“I’m aware,” he said, his husky voice forcing a hammering in my heart, an unwanted throbbing between my legs.
My pulse jumped as he took another step forward, forcing me to back up. “I don’t want you right now,” I blurted.
He lifted his hard stare. “Who do you want then? Him?”
I swallowed. I knew who he was talking about but I’d already forgotten that guy’s name.
I shook my head. I didn’t know what I was saying no to anymore.
I wanted Adam. I wanted answers. I didn’t know what I was thinking.
I just knew I had every emotion inside me crashing together, bubbling to the surface and forcing hot anger and need to burst from my lips as Adam pushed me up against the wall and jerked my hips into his body.
I gasped as his tongue licked a torrid line up my neck, and though I struggled against him, trying to push him off of me, I couldn’t resist once his hands dropped down and ripped my dress up, exposing my bareness to the cold air and making me immediately ache for his touch.
“Tell me who you want.” Adam’s fingertips parted my folds, teasing the length of my wetness, drawing his touch gently back and forth before pushing his fingers inside and muffling my cry with a kiss.
“Tell me the truth,” he hissed, our lips brushing together, moving against each other as I confessed.
“You.”
I moaned as my answer deepened the stroke of his tongue in my mouth and his fingers in my pussy.
My arms clung tight around my neck as I both gasped for breath and kissed him back, feeling the hot pleasure flood my body, my brain, till I couldn’t think about anything but him.
His touch and his taste, and the hot desire thickening the air in the room.
It made it feel like a sauna as Adam tunneled inside me, forcing me to moan into his mouth as he fucked my pussy with his fingers while rubbing my clit with his palm.
I was so wet I could hear it and as my walls contracted around him, I felt Adam groaning from the sheer pleasure of knowing he had me.
I was warm all over, seconds from exploding as I grasped him tightly.
“Let me hear it,” he whispered, so I gave it to him.
My cries were muffled against his mouth as my orgasm rocked through me, making me crumble against his hard body.
And as he held me tight, he murmured against my mouth, into my skin, telling me everything I wanted to hear. That I was his and nobody else’s.
That he was mine and nobody’s else’s.
He kissed me as he pulled my skirt back down over my thighs, and I lost track of how long we stayed there with our lips locked, my palm flat on his chest and my other hand in his, our fingers locked tightly at our sides.
There was one more thing I wanted him to tell me before we left, and considering we hadn’t been at this party for long, I didn’t think I would hear it. But when Adam was finally able to tear his lips from mine, he looked me in the eye and said, “We’re going home.”
I didn’t argue.