Chapter 25
Jason
I’ll be the first to admit that my sister’s wedding isn’t the highlight of my day.
Yeah, I know you’re judging me, and that’s okay.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I won’t soon forget the ceremony, which was as special and as romantic as Cami and Bryan’s relationship.
Plus, my stomach and feet are still recovering from the dinner and dancing during the reception.
But Vanessa’s coming to my home, and before long, we’ll be in my bed (and other places), where she’ll inevitably wreck me from head to toe. I can’t wait.
I take her hand as she climbs out of the town car.
She scans the street, then my apartment building’s redbrick facade, and nods. “Impressive.”
“Before you get any ideas, let me be clear: I’m not independently wealthy. TAG was the contractor that renovated these apartments, so I had an in with the landlord.”
“You’ve got friends in rent-controlled places. In New York, that’s like hitting the lottery.”
“Believe me, I know.”
“Let’s see the rest, Mr. Torres.”
I unlock the front door, then gesture for her to walk ahead of me.
“Elevator?”
“I’m on the second floor. It’s easier to take the stairs.”
“But my feet are killing me,” she whines. “The least you can do is offer to carry me.”
I stare at her. “Are you being serious?”
Her lips twitch. “Of course not.”
I pull her close and press my mouth against hers. “All that sass is going to get you in trouble someday.”
“Is that a threat?” she asks, her eyes flickering with naughtiness.
“It’s a promise.”
I like this new version of us. Playful. Intimate. Unconstrained.
Minutes later, Vanessa’s ambling through my apartment for the first time. She scans the kitchen, taking in the marble countertops, the white subway tiles, and my favorite feature, the midnight-blue shaker cabinets. “You did all this?”
“I did.”
“With a designer’s help, right?”
“That would be Eric. He has a gift for this.”
“Oh, you guys are a dream team, then.”
“I’d like to think so.”
She circles the island, her hand gliding over its surface. “This is gorgeous.”
“Thank you.” I set my keys on the counter. “Want something to drink?”
“Any chance that wine fridge actually holds wine?”
“I have cab, merlot, and chardonnay.”
“Look at you, being all worldly and shit.”
“I’m not a wine guy, so you know. They’re all gifts from clients. Figured since the apartments are outfitted with wine fridges, I may as well use mine.”
“Let’s crack open the chardonnay.”
“Coming right up.”
“While you do that, can you point me to the bathroom?”
“First door down the hall.”
She gives me a once-over, then saunters away, her ass and hips swaying seductively.
I take a deep breath, marveling that this same woman wanted to string my balls across a telephone line a month ago.
She isn’t acting outlandish. She isn’t engaging in any sabotage.
She isn’t even trying to annoy me. She’s just being herself.
This is almost everything I was hoping for.
After filling two glasses, I set them on the coffee table in front of my couch, shrug out of my jacket, and wait.
And wait.
And wait some more.
A few minutes later, Vanessa calls out to me. “Jason, can you come here a sec?”
I peek into the bathroom and find it empty, so I enter my bedroom and pull up short. My vision narrows on the gorgeous naked woman sprawled across my bed. “Fuck. Me.”
“That’s the idea,” she says, arching her back, her brown nipples hard and begging for attention.
I attack the buttons of my shirt as I continue to devour the visual feast before my eyes. “You cheated.”
“How?”
“I wanted to undress you.”
“Another time.”
“I like that you’re already thinking about next time. I like that a lot.”
She squirms on the mattress as I remove the rest of my clothes, and when I’m done, her gaze falls to the space between my legs, her eyes blazing with lust. “God, you’re so sexy.”
“You wouldn’t waste those words on me if you saw yourself through my eyes.” I crawl over her and place a kiss on her forehead. “Being this close to you feels like a drug. My heart’s racing, my body’s warm all over. I’m lightheaded, V.”
“Are you sure you’re not having a heart attack?” she asks, grinning.
I pinch her thigh, and when she yelps, I smooth my hand over the spot. “That’s for the sass. I gave you fair warning.”
“I’ll be good from now on, promise.”
My nose skims hers, and then I lick my way inside her mouth.
She immediately massages my back, sinking her fingers into the muscles there.
Wanting to play with her tits, I slowly pull away, then straddle her hips as I place her arms above her head.
My chest squeezes at the sight. The heady mix of confidence and vulnerability in her expression humbles me.
She’s trusting me to give her pleasure, and I intend to deliver.
I caress her face, then snake my hands across her neck, down to her belly, and back up to her breasts. “What do you like? Soft or rough?”
“Both,” she says. “Soft in the beginning, rough when I’m coming.”
Her words supply my brain with wicked images of what soft and rough look like, and my cock hardens even more. I toy with her nipples, lightly, leisurely, as if I don’t have anything else in the world to do but play with these beautiful peaks.
“Oh God, yes,” she says, pressing her tits together and squirming beneath me. “They’re so sensitive. That’s perfect.”
I lift myself to a sitting position beside her and tap her arm. “Move to the left, baby, and raise your knees. I need a little more room.”
She stares up at me as she complies, her expression dreamy.
Just you wait, sweetheart. In a minute, you’re going to be so blissed out you’re going to forget your name.
After positioning myself perpendicular to Vanessa’s body, I stick my head between her thighs.
Making space for me, she spreads herself wide and gently rests her left leg across my back.
I place a hand against her stomach and drag my mouth along her inner thighs.
I kiss her mound, breathing in her scent. This is heaven. Plain and simple.
“Sideways oral?” she says, her torso rising as she digs her fingers into my scalp. “Ten out of ten. Would recommend.”
My dick is rock-hard against my belly, and I have to shift to gain relief from the friction. And then I dive in, trailing my fingers all over her cunt, gathering the wetness and spreading it along her folds.
“Jason, please,” she begs. “I need your mouth.”
“Can I play a little? With my fingers?”
She throws a hand over her face. “Oh God.”
I lift my head. “Oh God, bad, or oh God, good?”
“Oh God, I don’t think I’m going to survive this, and I really don’t care.”
I place my mouth on her thigh and smile against it. “Maybe I should get going so I don’t create unrealistic expectations.”
Her belly shakes under my hand. “Nope. Too late. Expectations have been set and must be met. I—”
A long, side-to-side lick against her inner lips silences her.
“Shiiiiit, that’s so good.”
She’s so damn wet I have to pull her hood back so I can focus on her clit.
Then I lick her in earnest, alternating between soft and hard flicks as I press two fingers inside her pussy.
Vanessa’s murmuring nonsense, gripping the sheet as she writhes against the mattress.
Her clit becomes more engorged the longer I lick.
“Yes, that’s it, Jason. I’m close. So close.”
I hover against her back hole, waiting to see if she’s cool with my fingers there.
“Yes,” she pants. “I want that too.”
I’m determined to make her see stars, so I lick everywhere—her lips, her clit, her soaked opening—and then I press my hand against the skin above her hood and suck her clit like a man possessed.
Within seconds, Vanessa’s torso shoots off the bed as she arches her back and comes as if she’s been rocked by an explosion.
Fuck, that’s sexy.
She blinks her eyes open and takes my hand. Giggling, she traces something against her mound with my finger.
“What was that?” I ask.
“Your signature. If I had spray paint, I’d let you tag your name on it.”
Before today, I would have told anyone who asked that I don’t have a possessive bone in my body, but the idea that Vanessa would metaphorically sign over her pussy to me awakens feelings I never imagined having this soon in our relationship.
But I want more. I want to know that I’m giving my heart to someone who won’t crush it on a whim.
Telling me about her initial plans to date me for her sister would help quash my misgivings.
Am I being unfair? Unrealistic? Who knows.
This is all uncharted territory for me. But if I think too hard about all this, I’ll spiral.
Tonight is about letting go. About releasing everything that’s been pent up inside us.
The hard stuff can come later. Vowing to live in the moment, I bark out a laugh and pull her up.
“Don’t sign off so fast. We’re not done yet. ”
She sighs happily. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Enough,” Vanessa groans out as she collapses against the pillow. “I’d like to be able to walk tomorrow.”
I fall back on my pillow and tug her close. “If you’re able to walk tomorrow, then I’m not doing my job as well as you claim.”
“I promise you, you’re doing an outstanding job. Ten out of five stars. Guaranteed promotion. With benefits.”
“Oh yeah? What kind of benefits?”
“Blow jobs, rimming, and pegging, oh my!”
I look down at her and she returns my stare, her expression serious. Seconds later, she lets out a high-pitched cackle. “You should see your face.”
I’m grinning so hard, and I can’t imagine a more perfect way to end the night. Except there’s the small matter of her and Lisa’s scheme that keeps coming to the forefront of my mind. “Are we going to talk about it?”
She sobers, peering at me as if she’s trying to gauge my mood. “Talk about what?”
“Lisa and Denise.”
“Who conveniently scrambled away every time we tried to approach them tonight.”
“You noticed that too?”
“For sure. Maybe they’re still trying to work it out in their own minds. I know I certainly am. Where the hell did that pairing come from?”
“No idea. I’ll confess, I always thought Lisa had a crush on me. I guess I was wrong.”
I’m serving up an opening for her to tell me the truth, just as I did in the library at the 3 West Club. I hold my breath, waiting to see how she’ll respond.
“Lisa’s a hard one to read when it comes to everything, including her love life.”
A nonanswer if ever there was one. She certainly isn’t confessing anything tonight. But I don’t want to end the evening on a sour note, so I’ll let it go for now.
“I just hope they don’t hurt each other,” I say softy. “Heartbreak isn’t fun.”
With her head resting against my shoulder, she rakes her nails across my chest. “Tell me about the woman who broke your heart. What’s her name?”
“Elyse.”
“Is she still in your life in some way?”
“Not even a little bit.”
“So what happened? Who was she?”
“We dated for a year and a half, and then I proposed.”
“Did you love her?”
“I did.”
“So where did it go wrong?”
“You remember when you asked me whether I saw myself having kids someday?”
“I remember.”
“Elyse asked the same question. On our second date.”
“What’d you tell her?”
“The same thing I told you. It didn’t seem fair to hide my feelings. If she wanted kids, and not having them was a deal-breaker, I wanted her to make that decision before we got serious.”
“Since you dated for almost two years, I’m guessing she said it wasn’t a deal-breaker.”
“Exactly.”
“And then she changed her mind?”
“No.”
Vanessa lifts her head and slips me a curious glance. “What am I missing?”
“Elyse had a kid already. Hid him from me for a year and a half, and only after being engaged to me for six months did she clue me in.”
Vanessa’s mouth falls open.
“Yeah,” I say. “I had the same reaction.”
“Where was her son the whole time?”
“Her mother was taking care of him. I mean, can you imagine the lengths someone would have to go to to hide a child?”
“A whole-ass child? Honestly, I can’t.”
“Me neither. It wasn’t that I couldn’t love the kid as my own. It was the deceit that burned me up. Essentially, she fabricated this version of herself she thought I would fall in love with, and then she sprung a child on me as if it was no big deal to hide an essential part of her life.”
“You broke it off immediately?”
“No. I couldn’t turn off my feelings that easily, so I tried. We tried, I should say. But I was so pissed off and hurt, those feelings ended up bleeding into every aspect of our relationship. I couldn’t let it go, and eventually we admitted defeat.”
She’s quiet for a moment, and then she caresses my jaw. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“For so long, I told myself I wouldn’t put myself in that position again. Open my heart to anyone. But I’m realizing that isn’t fair to the people in my life. Or to myself. Maybe my heart was supposed to be broken so I could recognize the person who’s meant to heal it.”
I sense the moment she freezes, but then she recovers quickly, snuggling into me with a deep yawn. “Goodness, these postcoital deep thoughts are frying my brain.”
Yeah, she’s definitely not ready to reveal any truths tonight. Guess I’ll play along, then. For now. “Just go ahead and admit it: I tore your ass up, didn’t I?”
She laughs. “You did.”
“Good night, Vanessa. I’m really happy you’re here.”
“Good night, Jason. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.”
She’s going to be my undoing. I can sense it in my core. Problem is, I feel powerless to stop it.