12. Jordan
Chapter Twelve
Jordan
I didn’t know what time it was. To be honest, I didn’t care.
The laughing had quietened, but the way I felt around her hadn’t.
If anything, it had only intensified. Kate twisted the hem of her dress again, like it was a nervous habit or something else.
Whatever it was, I felt the change in her before she even looked up.
Her eyes were softer now, but I could tell she was mulling something over in her mind.
“Can I ask you something?” she said.
“Anything.”
“Why me?”
The words hit like a slow punch.
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
She gave a half-smirk, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m sure you’re not short of offers, Jordan. Models. Younger tennis girls with longer legs and less sarcasm. You could literally have anyone up here right now. So why am I the one sitting in your flat?”
Her words hit me sideways. Not because it should have inflated my ego, but because I could tell she meant it. This wasn’t about me. This was about whatever damage some prick had left behind. And I hated how fucking familiar that sounded to her.
I shifted toward her on the couch, arm slung along the back. “Is that what you really think?”
She shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but she couldn’t look at me.
I watched her for a second. When I’d first met her, I’d pegged her at late twenties.
She seemed so confident and put together.
The kind of woman who knew what she wanted.
Now I knew she was older than me, and suddenly a lot of things made sense.
The way she could read people without even trying.
The way she held herself like she’d learned the hard way not to give too much away.
The way she clearly didn’t see half the good things I saw in her.
And that? That pissed me off.
“Kate.”
She looked up.
“You’re beautiful,” I said, quiet but firm. “Properly. Ridiculously. Make-me-forget-my-own-name beautiful.”
She blinked and looked down again, like she didn’t know what to do with that. Like being complimented made her want to run.
And fuck me, if that didn’t make me want to say it again and again. Until it stopped surprising her. Until she accepted it.
“But that’s not even half of it,” I went on, my voice dropping low. “You’re sharp. You’re hilarious. You see people. You cut through the bullshit without even trying. And you’ve got this way of making me feel…seen. Not just as the tennis guy. As me.”
Her eyes flicked up. And there it was—that flash of disbelief. That hesitation, like someone had made her feel too much or not enough, and she’d never quite shaken it.
I reached out, fingers brushing her jaw gently. I tilted her face toward mine, because I needed her to hear this and actually believe it.
“Kate,” I said, low. “I told you, I don’t do this.”
Her brows pulled in. “Do what?”
“This. Sitting here, telling a woman why I want her. Why she’s in my flat instead of anyone else.”
I let out a rough breath.
“But you’ve got it backwards. It’s not that I could have anyone, it’s that I don’t want anyone else.”
Christ, she still didn’t get it. She was still looking at me like I was just being nice, like I’d pat her knee and change the subject.
Who the fuck made her think she wasn’t enough? Who made her think she wasn’t the best thing in the room?
That was it. The line in the sand.
Before I could think any further, I kissed her.
Slow at first, because I needed her to feel every ounce of what my words couldn’t touch.
Her lips were soft, yet a little hesitant.
But the moment she fisted my shirt, pulled me closer, I felt her hesitation snap.
She kissed me back as if she’d been holding her breath for years. That was the moment I was gone.
I pulled back just enough to breathe, to see her cheeks flushed. She looked completely done for in the best way.
“We can stop,” I said, my thumb brushing her cheek. Searching her eyes for any glimmer of response. “If it’s too fast…if you’re not sure…”
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
Christ.
That did it.
I dove back in, needing her lips on mine again.
Her mouth opened for me, greedy and desperate, and I groaned into her like a man starving.
Her fingers found my hair and tugged hard.
The sound that broke from me wasn’t a word; it was need.
My hand slid under her dress, up her warm, smooth thigh until I found the lace and heat between her legs.
The second my fingers pressed against her, I nearly lost it.
“Jesus, Kate,” I growled, my voice gravelled and rough. I couldn’t hold back with her anymore. “You’re dripping for me and I’ve barely touched you.”
Her gasp was pure fire. "I got wet the moment you stepped on that court."
“Fuck,” I muttered against her jaw, sucking hard enough to leave a mark as I hauled her up into my lap. She clung to me, her dress riding high, thighs gripping my hips like she was never letting go.
“Jordan…where…” she tried to say against my mouth.
“Bed,” I told her, voice rough with want. “I need you spread out in my sheets, Kate. I’ve been aching for this. I want to ruin you properly.”
The bedroom door was barely open before I had her pinned against it, kissing her like she was the only thing that made sense in that moment.
She rolled her hips into me and I swore, because fuck, she could feel how hard I was for her.
Her fingers fisted in my hair again, tugging just enough to make me groan.
She moaned into my mouth, grinding harder against me, and I swear to God, I was on the verge of losing it right there.
But I had plans. Not polite ones, either.
By the time she’d crawled backward against the duvet, I was feral. She spread her thighs like an invitation, daring me to come closer.
The dress never stood a chance. Control had already left the room.
My fingers clawed at the straps, shoving them down, greedy to get her bare beneath me.
And once I did, I couldn’t help but stare because fuck, she was unreal.
Pale skin, perfect tits, curves that made me want to mark her everywhere.
And she still didn’t see how beautiful she truly was.
“Look at you,” I said, my voice rough, dragging my shirt off and shoving my jeans down impatiently. “Hottest thing I’ve ever had in my bed, and you don’t even fucking realise.”
I caught her biting her lip, eyes raking over my body. “You’d better cancel that Uber,” I said, breathless.
She met my eye with a fire that made my blood burn. “I never ordered it.”
Fuck. She’d just flipped the whole thing on me, and I’d never wanted anything more. She was going to ruin me, and I was going to thank her afterward.
I found the delicate scrap of her lace thong between her thighs, and tore it clean off with both hands. The sound cracked through the air, sharp and filthy, and she gasped. For a second, I just looked at her, bare for me, wet for me.
I leaned down, hand sliding up her inner thigh until I was palming her bare pussy. “You’re mine tonight,” I said, my voice darkening. “Every inch of you. Do you understand?”
Her eyes blazed. “Then stop talking and fuck me already.”
She grabbed me by the waistband of my boxers, pulled me between her thighs as if distance had become unbearable. My mouth found her neck, her collarbone, her perfect, round tits. I couldn’t stop. Didn’t want to. She was fucking everywhere, under my skin, in my veins.
“Do you have a condom?” she asked, her voice breathless.
“In the drawer,” I said with no hesitation. I leaned over, grabbed one out of the box, pushed my boxers down, and I rolled it on fast. I was so hard I could barely think straight.
She raised an eyebrow as I knelt between her legs.
“I thought you didn’t do this kind of thing,” she teased.
I gave her a dark grin. “I don’t. But when a smart-mouthed, fuckable little blonde wrecks your whole damn life plan…a guy needs to be prepared.”
I lined myself up, and pushed in with one long, deliberate thrust, relishing in the way she gasped sharply. Pleasure pulling her under completely. I felt the way her back arched, her legs trembling around me—it nearly undid me.
“Fuck, Kate,” I breathed, my forehead dropping to her shoulder as I gave her a second to adjust to my size. “So fucking tight. You’re shaking for me already, sweetheart.”
She shuddered. “Jordan…Jesus, you’re—”
“I know, babe,” I said, kissing her throat as I started to move. I didn’t want to rush this. I gave her long, deep strokes that had her moaning into the darkness of my bedroom.
I braced her knee up by my hip, burying deeper, and she broke apart. She clawed at me, panting my name like it was the only thing she remembered. I wanted to wring every single ounce of pleasure from her.
“That’s it,” I growled, fucking harder now, the sound of our bodies slapping together filling the room. “Take it. Take my cock like you were made for it. You gonna come for me, Kate?”
“Yes—fuck—don’t stop…”
“Look at me,” I demanded, gripping her jaw until her eyes snapped to mine. “I want to see it. Want to see you come undone around my cock.”
Her whole body went taut, trembling around me, and then she shattered with a moan that would change me forever. Clamping her legs around me so hard I could barely control myself. She gasped my name, her back bowing, legs shaking as I fucked her through it. “Oh God… Jordan…”
“Good girl,” I rasped, pounding into her harder, chasing my own release. “So perfect. So fucking perfect.”
I hitched her leg over my shoulder, allowing me to drive into her deeper. I thrusted once, twice, and that was all I needed for me to lose it. I groaned into her throat as I spilled inside the condom, body shaking, chest heaving, like she’d just torn me down to the studs.
For a long moment, neither of us were able to move. I could barely catch my breath. Her pulse thudded against my lips where they rested between her neck and shoulder. I was still inside her, still gripping her like if I let go, the whole moment might disappear.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, half laughing in breathless disbelief. “That was…Fuck.”
She gave a shaky laugh, brushing my hair back from my forehead. “Yeah.”
I looked at her then, really looked. Her flushed cheeks. The way her lips were swollen from kissing me. That little crease between her brows, like she was just as wrecked and confused by how good this felt as I was.
And it hit me, hard.
I didn’t want her walking out the door and pretending this was just a one-off. I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night wondering if I’d imagined how much she’d just given me.
I cupped her face, my thumbs skimming her cheekbones. My voice came out rougher than I meant.
“Stay tonight.”
Her eyes searched mine, and for a second, I thought she’d say no. That she’d retreat behind whatever wall she’d built to keep herself safe. But then she nodded, and relief slammed into me so hard I had to close my eyes for a second.
I kissed her once more, more tender this time. I had nothing to prove. I just needed to show her I meant it.
When I finally eased out of her, I reached blindly for the condom, tugged it off and knotted it, dropping it aside before sliding down on the mattress.
I lay down beside her and pulled her into me, one hand in her hair, the other splayed over the warm, bare skin of her back.
I wasn’t ready to let go of her, of whatever the hell we’d just started.
Neither of us spoke. But I swear, I could feel her heartbeat slowing with mine. And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like I was standing on the edge of something I’d lose.
Tonight, she was here.