Chapter 29
LEXI
As we entered, I heard Sasha call out from the kitchen, letting me know she and Evie were there.
Footsteps followed as Sasha walked into the living room, when she spotted us and froze.
“Sasha, hi,” I said, my voice sounding high-pitched as I realized how strange this scene was. “I’m back.”
“I can see that,” she said with a surprised look in Jonah’s direction.
He must have looked odd. He was definitely older than us, and even though Sasha had seen Jonah’s pictures and warned me off him before, it looked like she’d forgotten him.
“This is …” I debated, wondering if I ought to tell her the truth.
Jonah beat me to it. “I’m Jonah,” he said, stretching his hand out to her.
Sasha turned to me, eyebrows raised, and I exhaled. Giving up, I nodded, answering her silent question.
“Jonah?” she asked coolly, shaking his hand like she was evaluating him and his age all over again. “I might have heard that name before.”
“Has Lexi been talking about me?” he asked, letting go of her hand and looking at me.
I shook my head just as Sasha snorted. “When has she not?”
“Sasha,” I warned her while Jonah’s eyes twinkled.
“I’d love for you to say more, Sasha,” he pushed while Sasha took a wary look at me and shook her head.
“I’d tell you, but going by Lexi’s dark looks at me, I’m sure you’d have to unearth my dead body later.”
“What a pity. I’d pay to know more about what Lexi says about me when I’m not around,” Jonah said with a smile.
“It’s nothing interesting,” I said, trying to steer Sasha away into the kitchen. “Just boring work stuff.”
Washing my hands, I peered into the fridge while Sasha gave me a thumbs-up after sneaking glances at Jonah.
Jonah turned as Evie pointed to a toy castle in the living room and asked him to play with her.
“He’s hot. I’d never believe he was a forty-year-old!” she whispered to me while I frowned.
“That he is, and he’s only …” I didn’t bother finishing that sentence. Thirty-nine was as good as forty, and one year wouldn’t make Sasha change her opinion of Jonah.
Sasha gave me a hopeless look once they were out of sight, reading my softened expression perfectly. “Is there any point in reminding you, my best friend, that there are plenty of men your own age who don’t come with HR complications?”
I shook my head. “It’s not what you think,” I reminded her. “It’s just … casual. Don’t worry.”
Partly comforted by that thought, Sasha disappeared to her room while I carried Evie up the stairs.
She’d been rubbing her eyes for the past few minutes.
I read her favorite book, How to Catch a Unicorn, and she fell asleep before I was done.
Turning out the lights, I walked back down to the stairs to the living room, finding Jonah waiting for me on the couch.
He had the most unreadable look on his face I’d ever seen. A look that was a cross between smugness and pride.
“Don’t give me that look,” I warned as he stood up.
I stopped just a few inches from him, the tips of my shoes meeting his. His hands went around my back, and I felt all tension leave my body.
“So, I’m all you ever talk about?” he murmured, bending down just as my hands went up and wrapped around his neck.
“Well, I’m cursing you half the time,” I lied when his lips came closer to mine.
“It’s the other half that I’m interested in,” he whispered back.
Jonah pulled me to him. My breasts touched his hard chest as his lips crushed over mine. His breath mingled with mine as he kissed me deeply.
When we broke off, I looked into his soft eyes. “The other half is filled with longing,” I said.
Without a word, he swept me up into his arms, carrying me toward the stairs. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my heart racing as we made our way up to my bedroom. His familiar footsteps sounded different now, charged with anticipation.
When he set me down on the bed, he leaned down, picking off my shoes with a tenderness that went straight to my heart. He set them aside before straightening up, and I reached for him, pulling him close.
It had been a long time since I’d felt both safe and wanted by the same man, and while my pulse pounded in my ears, I kissed him like I’d never get enough. My fingers reached for the buttons on his shirt as I got onto my knees to kiss him.
“Off,” I muttered between kisses, rolling my hips against him again, wanting to feel him down there.
“Slow down,” he muttered, and lifting me up like I was a feather, he put me down closer to the headboard. My dress bunched around my hips, and I watched as Jonah ran his fingers up my legs, stopping at my waist.
“Let’s get this off,” he muttered, lifting my dress over my head and off me. “I’ve been waiting forever to see you naked again.”
I had a memory of Jonah from that night, strong planes on his back, wide shoulders tapering down to a lean waist. I inhaled, my body tense with anticipation as I watched him toss his jacket and tie to the side before he began to remove the rest of his clothes.
The crisp shirt came off first, and I licked my lips. He was certainly something. Muscled, tall, and all male. He then dropped his pants, and I ran my tongue over my lips as I watched, a smile taking over my lips.
“I’m all yours,” he said, lying down next to me, and I was suddenly aware of something. What if this wasn’t as good as I’d built it up to be? What if today was a disappointment and—
“Stop thinking,” Jonah said with a chuckle as he looked at me.
He reached up to kiss my lips, his hand moving to cup my breast. At the touch of our bodies, my worries flew out of my mind. It was as if my body remembered everything. My hands flew around his neck, and my lips parted to let his tongue in.
This was familiar. This was perfect.
His fingers caressed the curve of my breast before pinching my taut nipple. “You’re so beautiful; it’s brutal—you know that?” he asked in a low voice. “I get rock hard, just thinking about you naked.”
A thrill coursed through me.
“I’ve never seen such tempting curves,” he said, bending to place a kiss on my shoulder and dipping down to the swell of my breasts.
His lips made a path around my plump breasts before his tongue traced a tingly, cool path around my nipple. I edged closer, feeling the need build up within me.
I wasn’t going to be mistaken for a Dolce & Gabbana model anytime soon, and I was glad Jonah appreciated my body, even after having a child. He was licking a path in the dip between my breasts, his hand stroking my stomach seductively.
He dipped his head, taking one nipple in between his teeth while his tongue swept over the tip brazenly. A moan escaped from my throat.
“God, Lexi, I need you so bad,” he muttered, stroking my thighs as I spread them apart.
His touch was soothing, and I spread my legs wide.
“And I need you,” I replied, feeling breathless already. I ran my fingers in his tawny hair while his fingers traced the outline of my lace underwear.
“Let me see how ready you are,” he said, and his lips spread into a grin as he felt how wet I was for him.
He pulled my underwear down and put two fingers in. I gasped at the sensation. My hips lifted of their own accord as he added another finger, stretching me out.
“Oh my God,” I muttered at the sensation. “That feels …” I stopped speaking and gave myself over to the sensation, my lips parting in a silent gasp.
His other hand teased my nipple while his fingers stroked me in a steady rhythm. It felt delicious, satisfying, and agonizing. I rolled my head back as I writhed against his hands, back arched, mouth partly open while Jonah’s fingers were in me.
Jonah’s forehead shone while he placed one hand on the headboard.
And I bit my lip just as my hands lifted up. When his fingers curled inside me, finding a tender spot, a moan tore from my lips.
My moan was unnaturally loud when his eyes flashed and he bent his head, clipping the rest of my words with his lips.
His teeth and tongue found the other more sensitive nipple, and a helpless whimper escaped me while he sucked and nibbled on it.
My body tingled as my swollen clit throbbed.
He thrust his fingers deeper and faster.
My inner muscles clenched, and my legs trembled.
I was close. I writhed against his hand, my skin warm and flushed.
His thumb rubbed my clit, pressing down on it just as I moaned Jonah’s name as my eyes squeezed shut.
Sensations built up in me from my very core, threatening to come to a delicious, pleasurable end.
I was so close.
“Jonah,” I gasped, and he groaned.
“Don’t come yet,” he warned.
My breath caught, and I froze. Jonah looked strangely determined as he looked me in the eye.
His lips stretched, and I rolled my hips closer to him, feeling vacant.
“Jonah,” I said, a pleading note to my voice.
He leaned down, his lips grazing my ear. “Do you want me to make you come?” he growled.
I nodded.
“Ask, Lexi,” he growled. “I need to hear you beg.”
“Jonah, please,” I managed, “I need you to make me come.”
“How bad?”
“So bad that I feel like my body is on fire, but you’re the only one who can put it out.”
His teeth scraped the side of my neck, and before I knew it, he was kissing me hungrily.
“Hold it,” he commanded.
I bit my lip, shaking my head. There was no fucking way I could hold off my—
Smack.
Oh.
He had withdrawn his fingers from me and brought his palm down on my swollen pussy with a light smack, sending threads of pain shooting through me. Tears pricked the edges of my eyes, and he paused to kiss them away.
“Was that too hard?” he asked just as the orgasm rolled in, sudden and fierce.
It was pleasure amplified like never before. My body trembled as waves of pleasure took over, coursing down my spine and tingling all the way to my fingertips.
I slumped against him, feeling spent and so beautifully relaxed. Like I was simply floating like a cloud on a warm sunny day.
My voice dropped to a softness as I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t. But it was certainly new.”
This time, when he reached for a condom, he put it in my hands. “I want to see you putting it on me,” he said. I couldn’t stop smiling. This was a change. When I put it on his thick dick, and lay back down, he came on top of me, supporting himself on his hands.
I ran my hand over his jaw, feeling his rough, stubbled skin. I liked this version of Jonah, the kinder one. The one I’d seen on my very first night. If only I could hold on to this one.
“A white dress and almost virginal,” he said, his eyes hooded as he kissed my palm. “That’s how I’ll always remember you. From our very first night.”
I gazed up at him in surprise. He was remembering that night too.
“I haven’t been able to forget that night either,” I breathed out, as he parted my legs and slowly slid in. Inch by inch, while he maintained eye contact with me.
“I thought I’d seen it all, but with you, that night in the hotel room, things were different,” he said, going down on his elbows and brushing hair out of my eyes.
He was completely inside me, and for a moment, we were lost in each other’s eyes, reliving our first time together as we prepared to re-create it again.
I shouldn’t be reading more into this. Shaking off the thought, I smiled up at him. “I would never have guessed you could get all sentimental about that night.”
He frowned at that, and then pulled out and slammed back into me, hitting me with thrusts that were hard and rhythmic. “When it comes to you, I find myself getting sentimental over and over again,” he breathed out, pumping into me harder and faster.
Every time he thrust in deep, my body shuddered, my head hitting the headboard while I lost myself in this frenzied, frantic lovemaking. His head dipped, his breath falling on my ear as my body began to tremble.
“Jonah,” I said, abruptly, wanting to see him as he came, and he came into focus, his eyes half hooded as he circled inside me.
He found a rhythm, going deeper, and harder.
Soon, he was lifting my legs and hooking them over his shoulders.
He was so deep inside me that I started trembling, and I put my arms around his neck, steadying myself against his frantic pace.
“Fuck,” he gritted out as I feel his cock jerk inside me. He stopped, his body stretching taut as he spilled into the condom. We lay there, sweaty and out of breath, just looking at each other. Without a word, he bent down and pressed feather-light kisses on my arms and then on my lips.
“You did good, sweetheart. You were so good,” he said, and with one last kiss, he pulled out and rolled over to take the condom off.
He came back and pulled me against his chest, holding me so tightly I could hear the powerful rhythm of his heart. For a moment, I was still, my breathing evening out with his.
He then lifted my face to his. “Lexi, I can’t stay away from you. Don’t say this is a one-time thing, please. Not when I can see how much happier you are.”
I sighed. “I don’t want you to stay away either.”
“So, we aren’t just a one-time thing?”
I looked deep in his eyes for a few moments before I nodded, my hand tracing his temple and cheek. “I want to see you as often as I can, Jonah. I want to be greedy with you and your time. But I can only give you Friday evenings, Jonah. The other days of the week belong to Evie.”
His eyes grew hooded, as though he wasn’t entirely pleased with the idea of one night a week, before he conceded.
“Alright. But, Lexi,” he breathed out, “I can spend the night with you, but I can’t give you anything more than that. We can meet every Friday, but we keep it casual. I don’t want to pretend it’s something else. Do you understand?”
I met his gaze, my heart picking up pace. He didn’t want me to fall for him. He wouldn’t do relationships or love.
I thought I didn’t want them either. But lately, I wasn’t sure.
I kissed him back, determined to not show him that I was disappointed.
Why was he so determined to not have a relationship at all?
What was it about relationships that scared him more than he cared to admit?
I knew he wouldn’t answer that now. I just needed a little more time to find out.
Previously, I would’ve been sure I could find out and not break my heart in the process.
Now? I wasn’t so sure.
“I understand,” I lied between kisses, distancing myself from that little ache in my heart that had just blossomed.
There was something in his eyes. A desire that spoke volumes about how he wanted me, a desire that went beyond sex. That expression stayed for a moment before it was gone. Then it was just the old him beside me, pulling me into his arms and holding me right where I belonged.
There was nothing else but him and me. Our bodies joined together so perfectly, and he held me so tenderly, that it hit me that I was developing feelings for Jonah.