Chapter 7
7
JASMINE
“ T aste this.” Alex holds out a spoon, slipping it into my mouth.
The four-cheese blend melts on my tongue. “Amazing.” My eyes fall closed for a split second, then snap open. “Wait. You put oregano in with the cheese?”
He smiles, returning to the huge marble island to continue grating and mixing. “One of my chemistry secrets. Untested in the lab, of course,” he says with a wink. “But I feel having a fragrant herb mixed right in with the cheese makes it… punchier.”
I laugh while stirring the sauce. “I don’t know if punchy is an approved cheese-related term, but I get what you mean.”
Cooking dinner together was a great idea. Even though Alex’s kitchen is huge, we have plenty of excuses to bump into each other, touch each other’s arms or get close.
Plus, the tour of the main floor of this house left me dazzled. So much space for one person! I like that his study looks lived in, with a worn blue corduroy armchair that apparently used to belong to his grandfather. Stacks of books and notepads. Two unwashed coffee cups.
The rest of the space is pristine. Not one speck of dust anywhere. Everything in alignment. Even the bowl of fruit looks so perfect I’m never going to touch it for fear of moving a grape by mistake. If Alex and I are going to have a chance, I need to know if there is any flexibility in his clean freak nature. Otherwise, I worry my career spent in dirt may push him away.
Over an incredible dinner, we loop through conversations about the perfect holiday souvenirs, weekday versus weekend coffee, and why it is that both gardening and scientific magazines just feel better on paper.
It’s not Earth-shattering conversation, but we’re both opening up. Letting our walls down. Testing whether this relationship could be real.
“I’ll clear the table,” Alex says. As he stands up, he slips a hand along the back of my neck, turning my lips up to his for a light, tender kiss that feels…different. Acknowledging the potential of what could happen tonight.
His strong fingers move upward, tangling into the waves of my hair. “Still damp?” he chuckles. “I guess you shower right after work, given what you do.”
“If I’ve been potting all day, yes. Or woodworking – the sawdust gets everywhere and I hate being itchy.”
“I like that you make things with your hands. It must be very grounding.” He releases me to pick up the plates. “I need to work on that. Carol keeps sending me links to yoga and meditation walks and stuff.”
I follow him into the kitchen with the glasses. “You know, if you walk around the block while concentrating on your breathing and let all other thoughts fall away – that counts as a meditation walk.”
He looks up from loading the dishwasher. “Really? You don’t need to…I dunno, chant or something?”
I love that he seems amused when I laugh at him. “Maybe you should actually read those articles that Carol sends you. I think she’s onto something.” My hand reaches out to skim along his shoulder blade. “You spend a lot of time hunched over your desk. I can feel it right… here .”
My firm squeeze triggers a long, shuddering exhale. “You’re right.”
I wait until we’ve cleaned the kitchen to take his hand and lead him to the couch. “Can we move this coffee table so you can sit on the floor in front of me?”
He realizes what I’m trying to do and nods. Once he’s sitting on the thick rug and I’m sitting behind him, I spread my hands across his shoulders. “I come from a long line of tight-shouldered women,” I explain, as my thumbs dig into his muscles. “Mom, Violet and Iris are all often hunched over at work. So I’ve learned how to unlock things.”
My original intent honestly had been just to relax his tight shoulders. But my body takes over from my brain, my inner thighs pinning his arms, my hands reaching forward to undo the top three buttons of his dress shirt. It’s not exactly stripping him, yet it feels intimate as my hands slide down into the back of his shirt.
His breath hitches, then he shudders as I dig my fingers in, trailing up either side of his spine. “Mmm, thank you.” His shoulders drop half an inch. “You have amazing hands, Jasmine.”
There’s something in the tone when he says my name. In the way he leans back against me, using his arms to very subtly brush against my inner thighs. It’s much warmer today, so I’m not wearing leggings. When I pulled on this short-sleeved, knee-length dress a few hours ago, I didn’t realize he would be sitting between my legs like this.
I already suspected that Alex wants me. It’s pretty clear in the way he holds me, kisses me. But now I’m beginning to see that it goes beyond that: Alex needs me. He has no warmth in his life.
Could I be that for him? Do I want to be?
Oh heck, yes.
My thumbs run up the back of his neck, then move across the top of his shoulders, squeezing and digging and massaging. His entire body sags, like a three-day-old balloon.
“I think you really needed this.” I lean in, my breath grazing his ear. “Feels good to let go, doesn’t it?”
“ Yeah… ” Alex drawls. He actually drawls . This crisp, buttoned-up man is finally lowering his defenses.
I shouldn’t be enjoying the strangled noises he makes when I grind two knuckles into a particularly tight spot. Shouldn’t be adoring the feeling of power surging through me from having such a huge man practically trembling under my hands.
Not to mention, it’s tricky to stop my thighs from clamping too tightly around his arms. To stop thinking about the fact that if he simply tilted his head back, it would be rubbing against my…
Oh boy. Now it’s my turn to shudder.
Alex turns halfway around, looking up at me with a dreamy look in his eyes. Wait… No, he’s not blissed out. He’s as aroused as I am.
“Jasmine.” There’s a dark edge in his voice. “That felt so good. May I massage you, now?”
“Sure.”
His dark eyes blaze as he turns, the palms of his hands on my knees. He studies me carefully, as if I were one of his experiments. His hands slowly move up my inner thighs beneath my skirt. His fingertips play with the edge of my panties. “Your shoulders look fine to me. I’d really love to massage you somewhere else.”
I’m already nodding. Anything that puts that sort of gleam in his eyes, that saucy tilt on his lips, I am definitely on board. Especially when I stare open-mouthed at his chest. If there was a contest for sexy men who look like a lumberjack and act like a sweet nerd, Alex would be going home with first prize.
He pulls me gently, nudging my legs together so he can slowly slide my panties off. Then he hitches up my dress at the bottom and pulls the top down to admire my breasts. “Luscious,” he mutters, half to himself. “So beautiful.”
Before I can think of what to say, his hands stroke up my hips, pulling me down closer to the edge of the couch. I’ve never had anyone spread my thighs and stare into my pussy before. It’s kind of unnerving. But then he smiles. “Gorgeous.”
Tingles zip through my entire body as he squeezes my hips, getting me in the perfect position before leaning forward. I feel surrounded by his heat, his faint pine soap scent, that dark rumbling grunt. His long arm reaches out, sliding a hand behind my shoulders to support me as we lean close together, our mouths meeting in an explosion of fireworks.
I’m dissolving. Like I’m high on his energy and about to float away.
“I need to taste you,” he murmurs before consuming my mouth again as his tongue slides against mine. It feels like he’s starving for me, for my touch, for my essence. “You feel so good,” he mutters in between kisses, nibbling along my bottom lip. “My delicious sweet, earthy girl.”
He lays me back on the couch, propping me up with a cushion. Then his thumbs trace the crease at the top of my thighs before slowly moving inward. My breath catches as he leans forward, licking a slow line as he discovers every pulse point.
Although I’m still getting to know Alex, it’s clear he’s a stickler for details, and has studied anatomy. But he’s also studying me – every gasp, every whimper. Every time my fingers tighten on his shoulders, or my breath almost stops for several heartbeats.
As his tongue drags along my seam, I feel like I’m sinking deeper into the couch. Falling deeper into his world. Deeper in… Is this love? It’s probably too soon for that, but I think the seeds have been planted. It’s just a matter of time.
For once…and I’m glad when I notice it…Alex is happy to become messy. His mouth is shiny with my arousal as he uses his tongue and fingers to explore every fold, every sensitive spot.
“Mmm…delicious,” he murmurs, the vibration against my clit ratcheting everything up several notches.
I’m about to have the orgasm of a lifetime right here in my new client’s living room, all the while desperately hoping that he is the man I truly belong with.
What an evening.