Chapter 9 Jane
NINE
JANE
I can’t do this. I can’t be near him without my body betraying me.
I need to get a grip, get some air, get some fucking perspective.
“Excuse me,” I say to the three ridiculously gorgeous men at table nine, and make a beeline for the ladies’ bathroom, bursting through the door as though the hounds of hell are nipping at my heels.
I brace my hands on the sink and stare at my reflection.
My face is flushed from the things Chance said to me.
I was so rattled that I didn’t even remember to take my apron off, which violates the health code.
Up until now, I’ve never forgotten to remove it before entering the restroom.
My reaction pisses me off, which doesn’t help matters.
He shouldn’t affect me like this. I mean, yeah, okay, the man is the sexiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Even with a faded green T-shirt, holey jeans, and his hair pulled back into a short ponytail at his nape, he still manages to look Hollywood beautiful.
And, apparently, his deep voice was now the trigger for my libido because as soon as he spoke, my panties became damp.
I don’t think it would matter if he innocently recited the entire menu.
Everything he said would sound like a sexual innuendo.
Sure, he gave me the best sex of my life—better than I ever thought possible—but he’d ruined it by acting like a dick.
I’m not an idiot. I wasn’t expecting, nor wanting, expressions of adoration or devotion. I wasn’t planning to cling to his leg and beg him to stay. But it wouldn’t have killed him to be a mature adult about it, either.
Top Ten list? Ha! As if I care.
It’s not like I obsessed all weekend about where on that list I might be, or what the other girls who made the list were like, or how many girls he’d been with total (a hundred…
two hundred…five hundred?) in his man-whorish life.
Nope. Absolutely zero obsessing happened since he left my apartment Friday night.
I’ve also recently taken up the hobby of lying to myself profusely. Ugh.
“Maybe if I stay in here long enough,” I say to myself in the mirror, “they’ll just go away.”
That actually doesn’t sound like a half-bad plan.
They’re my only table, and all my prep work is done.
If Sally comes looking for me, I’ll say I don’t feel well and ask her to cover for me.
I can’t really afford to lose this shift, especially after I took the weekend off to celebrate my mom’s birthday with the family, but I’d rather eat Ramen noodles for the next week than go back out there and face Chance.
Decision made, I turn to go hibernate in one of the stalls when the door to the restroom flies open, scaring me half to death.
Chance storms in, a scowl on his face as he grabs me by the arm and pulls me into the stall, and now my pulse is racing for a different reason entirely.
He slides the lock home and then traps me between his arms against the metal door.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re avoiding me, Jane?”
“Why do you say my name all the time?” I ask, hoping to distract him from his own question. But I’m also genuinely curious. No one has ever said my name like he does.
“I like your name,” he says, his deep blue eyes penetrating me. “I like the way it sounds, the way it feels when I say it.”
“Me, too.” Too late, I realize I said that aloud instead of in my head where I’d meant it to stay.
Damn it, this man makes me crazy. Crazy mad, crazy turned on, and crazy frustrated.
Every time he says my name, it makes my stomach turn inside out and my knees go weak.
My parents nicknamed me Janey, and it’s pretty much what everyone calls me, with the exception of my professors and other official-type people.
But when Chance says it, it sounds anything but professional. He makes it sound like a dirty command, one I want to obey with every cell in my body.
He smirks at my admission, which only serves to piss me off. “You can’t be in here. You need to leave. In fact, you should leave leave, as in, the restaurant. I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I don’t find it amusing in the least.”
“I’ll leave as soon as you agree to see me again.”
My jaw drops as I try to process his words… Nope. It’s not working. I must have misheard him. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me. I told you before, I don’t like repeating myself, Jane.”
Yes, he did tell me before, and the memory of it causes a rush of warmth between my legs. “I don’t understand. You want to date me?”
“No,” he says, pressing the front of his body to mine so I can feel his erection before he speaks in my ear. “I want to fuck you.”
For a split second, my gut twists at his immediate dismissal—like he’d never even consider dating me—but then my libido dropkicks my fragile ego and jumps in its place.
Yes! Fuck me, fuck me! Wait, no, what am I thinking?
This guy is no bueno. Bad Janey. Giving myself a mental smack upside the head, I gather all the bravado I can muster.
“And what makes you think I want to fuck you?”
I draw in a sharp breath when he pulls my apron aside and dips down enough to grind his cock against my clit.
“I’ve had your scent in my nose all goddamn weekend.
I can smell your arousal, Jane, and I’d bet both of my companies that if I slide my hand into your khakis right now, you’d soak my fingers. Wouldn’t you?”
Oh God, if he kept this up I’d be humping his leg like a dog. His words are fogging up my brain like the windows of a car at Lookout Point.
Hold on, what did he say about companies? “You own two companies?”
“Don’t change the subject.”
The door to the restroom opens, and we listen as a woman heads to the double vanity.
I peek through the crack of the stall door and silently curse.
It’s Darla, another of my co-workers coming in for her shift.
She’s a single mom, and is always too tired to do her makeup before she takes the baby to daycare, so she does it in the bathroom before work.
Darla puts some music on low from her phone and starts taking things out of her cosmetic bag.
I look at Chance, expecting to see an “oh shit” expression to match mine. Instead, he might as well have horns sprouting from his forehead to complement the devilish glint in his eyes and the wicked curve of his mouth. He wouldn’t dare…
Oh, yes, he would. My stomach drops when his hand presses between my thighs and moves up to my sex. I push his hand away and shake my head, but he retaliates by pinning my wrists above my head with one large hand and then returns the other to where he’d had it.
He places his lips next to my ear and whispers so quietly that there’s no way Darla can hear him.
“I’m gonna make you come, sweetness. Right here, right now, with that woman only a few feet from us.
” Chance’s deft fingers undo the button on my pants and slowly slide the zipper down.
My breaths grow shallow. “She could catch us at any minute, peek under the stall to see what’s going on if she hears something strange.
So you have to be absolutely silent. Nod if you understand. ”
I shouldn’t. I should wrench myself from his grip, shove him away, and get the hell out of here. I can think of something to tell Darla and everyone later, and hopefully Patrick, my asshole boss, won’t fire me.
Just when I think I’ve worked up enough resolve to carry out my plan, he slips his hand into my panties. “Nod, Jane.”
Game over. I nod.
“Good girl.”
He pulls back and watches me as his fingers slip between the folds of my pussy, spreading my wetness from front to back.
When his touch glances over my clit, my entire body jerks and my mouth opens, ready to betray me, but I bite my lip at the last damn second.
He almost looks disappointed, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if his goal is to get me to cry out as he finger-fucks me in a bathroom stall at my place of employment.
Well, I’ll be damned if I’m going to give him that satisfaction. I focus on my body and try to get it back under control. I slow my breathing, taking deeper breaths through my nose to prevent myself from panting, and I force my muscles to relax.
Chance narrows his eyes at me, my resolve evidently a challenge to him.
One he gladly accepts as he pushes two fingers so deep inside me that I rise up on my toes.
He releases my wrists and my hands automatically fall to his powerful shoulders, my nails digging in for purchase through the soft cotton of his shirt.
He starts fucking me with his hand, pumping in and out, and if it weren’t for Darla’s music and my clothes muffling the sounds, she’d be able to hear the wet suction of my channel gripping his thick fingers.
The band in my stomach starts to twist, signaling the beginning of my climax.
My slow breathing is shot all to hell, and the smug look on his face confirms that he enjoys making me lose control.
As though proving my point, he does something I’m in no way prepared for and slips a well-lubricated finger into my ass.
My eyes grow big in shock, and I forget all about being quiet.
But Chance must have been ready for that because he claps his free hand over my mouth before any sound escapes.
His wicked smile causes a shiver to race down my spine as he finger-bangs both of my holes while thumbing my clit.