“Gladly.” I plopped down on the incredibly comfortable sofa he’d put against the far wall. “It’s been a weird day.”
“Tell me about it.” When I looked at him, he clarified, “Really, tell me about it. I can listen and work at the same time.”
“All right,” I said, “but remember, you asked for it.”
By the time I finished, Jalen had stopped working and given me his full attention. Judging by the dark expression on his face, this was one area where he and Clay, agreed.
“He let you drive over here by yourself?”
I tried not to be offended at the question since I knew it came from a place of concern, but I couldn’t quite keep all the bite out of my voice. “No one let me do anything. I’m twenty-two and have been on my own since I was nineteen. Plus, I went through FBI training.” He opened his mouth, and I held up a finger, knowing what he was going to say. “I know I didn’t graduate, but I’m pretty sure the last week didn’t have any super-secret-ninja classes I missed.”
He stood and came over to where I was sitting. Taking my hands, he crouched down in front of me and kissed my forehead. “You’d be worried about me if some crazies had my name and address, right?”
I sighed and leaned into him. “I just hate feeling helpless.”
He smiled and tucked some hair behind my ear. “Helpless is the last word I’d use to describe you.”
“Good answer,” I said.
He stood, helping me to my feet as he went. “We don’t have to go to the party tonight if you’re not feeling up to it. People will understand if we stay in and have our own celebration.” He wrapped his arms around me, his hands resting on the small of my back. “Champagne, a fire, no clothes…”
“I like the way you think,” I said, going up on my toes for a quick kiss. A pleasant shiver went through me at the contact. “But you’re the boss. You should at least make an appearance.”
“You’re more important,” he said, brushing the back of his knuckles across my cheek.
The warmth working its way through my body had as much to do with that statement as it did his proximity.
“Let’s put in an appearance and see where things go from there,” I suggested. “After all, I bought a new dress just for the occasion.”
“Did you?” Desire flared up again in his eyes.
“And there might just be a late Christmas present for you under it if you play your cards right.”
His mouth crashed onto mine, one hand moving to the back of my head to brace me as his tongue plundered my mouth. Deep, possessing, hot…it was the sort of kiss women swooned over. I wasn’t much of a swooner but that didn’t stop my knees from going weak.
Only after I was good and thoroughly kissed did he relinquish control. We stood there for a minute, the only sound being our ragged breathing, and I was tempted to ask him to take me right there. If we hadn’t needed to go back to my place for me to get the things I’d need for the next few days, I would have done just that, but I wasn’t going to inconvenience him anymore than I already was by making him late to his own company’s party.
“We should go,” I said when I could finally form words. “We have some things to do before the party.”
We linked hands as we made our way to the elevator, the tension between us still there, pleasantly simmering below the surface. I could relax with Jalen, feel completely and utterly safe, but I had yet to be around him and not want him. Even when he pissed me off, I was drawn to him. I kept waiting for this thing between us to fade and fizzle, but it didn’t. If anything, it was hotter and stronger than ever.
“Would you mind leaving your car here?” he asked. “I have an outside company doing security for the lot, and we’ve never had any issues with people leaving their cars here for a while. There’ll actually be a few people leaving their cars here overnight, so they can drink at the party.”
“That depends,” I teased, “is it some macho thing?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of it being easier for someone to link it to you, but sure, we can go with ‘some macho thing.’” He smiled and held open the door for me.
“Mr. Larsen.” A prim-looking woman with dark hair and pale skin approached.
“I don’t do direct holiday handouts,” Jalen said, stepping forward to put himself between her and me. “I have a foundation that handles–”
“She’s not here for money,” I interrupted. When he looked back at me, I gestured to the stranger. “That’s a fifteen-hundred-dollar purse, a two-thousand-dollar jacket, and I don’t even want to think about how much those shoes cost if they’re what I think they are.” At his look of surprise, I added, “How were you married to a model, and you don’t know this?”
“That’s why I’m here,” the woman cut in. “Elise Marx.”
That got both of our attention.
“Your friend is right that I don’t need, much less want, money from you. My name is Adeline Fowler now, but it used to be Adeline Cornell.”
“Any relation to Bernard Cornell?” Jalen asked.
“He’s my brother,” she said. The hand on her purse tightened. “We’re both originally from here. I married an oil man and moved to Texas, but Bernie took over the family business and stayed.”
“He’s done well,” Jalen said. “Last I heard, stock was on the rise.”
“Which is, I’m sure, what drew your ex-wife to him,” Adeline said, her mouth twisting as if she’d tasted something sour. “He’s always spoken highly of you, which is why I came to warn you. Elise came to Bernie about three weeks ago and told him that she was pregnant with his child.”
Jalen visibly tensed. I stepped up next to him and put my hand on his arm.
Adeline continued, “He called me because that’s what he does when he’s in trouble. He told me he’d had a fling with Elise and that they’d used protection, but that it was entirely possible that the child was his. I’ve met her a time or two at various functions, and I’ve never liked her. Naturally, I hired someone to look into things for me.”
I could practically feel Jalen vibrating with tension.
“My investigator turned up four other men who she’d all told the same thing, including you. They each slept with her over the same two-week period, as did a fifth man, an old boyfriend who doesn’t have much in the way of money. I confronted Elise yesterday, and when threatened with a lawsuit, she admitted that the baby is most likely the former boyfriend’s. She also told me that if I shared this with anyone else, she’d make me regret it.” A tight little smile appeared on Adeline’s face. “I’ve never responded well to threats. And, as I said, Bernie has always liked you, so I decided to make a little side trip before heading to the airport. No one deserves to be blackmailed into a relationship, let alone one with that woman. Happy New Year, Mr. Larsen.”
Thirty
When Jalen first told me about the New Year’s Eve party he wanted us to go to, I’d planned on buying a new dress for the occasion even though he said there wasn’t any specific dress requirement. The lingerie, however, had been more of an impulse buy while I’d been out, something I’d seen and immediately known Jalen would love.
Sheer black thigh-high stockings connected to black garters. A tiny bra and panties that barely covered anything. The fabric slid like liquid silk against my skin, every movement sensual. My nipples hardened, and I knew that by the end of the night, my panties were going to be soaked.
The dress was simple, a midnight blue that bordered on black. Three-quarter sleeves and a mid-calf hem, a neckline that kept my scar from being visible. It was brushed velvet, and I kept running my hands over it, enjoying it almost as much as my underthings. I’d never been a huge fan of dresses, but this one was surprisingly comfortable.
And it didn’t hurt to have Jalen looking at me with that gob-smacked expression on his face either.
“Are you sure you want to go?” He traced my bottom lip with the tip of a finger. “I think we could find something else to occu
py our time.”
“As tempting as the offer is, we need to go for at least an hour.” I kissed his cheek. “Do you think you can wait that long?”
His eyes narrowed, and he caught my chin. “I’ll do my best, but no promises.” He kissed me, brief but hard, then stepped back, the heat in his eyes making me want to reconsider my position.
The party was in full swing when we arrived even though it had technically only begun a half hour ago. Jalen had gone all out with a live band, open bar, and tables packed with all sorts of food. Not that pretentious stuff most rich people ate, but not that cheap shit that companies generally pawned off on their employees.
And I was pretty sure that was a chocolate fountain.
“Are you okay?”
“Hmm?” I looked up at Jalen.
“You have this weird look on your face,” he said, leaning down so I could hear him. “Is everything okay?”
I pointed. “You got a chocolate fountain.”
He shrugged. “I can’t take the credit. My assistant did the planning.”
“Two words,” I said after licking my lips, “big bonus.”
He laughed, the skin at the corners of his eyes crinkling. He’d have laugh lines there when he got older, but I pictured it in my head, him as a middle-aged man. Wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, some silver in his dark hair. He’d be like Harrison Ford, hotter than hell no matter what age.
And, based on the way most of the women were looking at him, I wasn’t the only one who thought that way.
“I feel like dancing,” I said, surprising myself. “Do you feel like dancing?”
“I’m not really much of a dancer,” he said.
I smiled up at him and took both of his hands, walking backward to pull him with me onto the dance floor. “We have reason to celebrate.”
He put his hands on my hips, and I put mine on his shoulders, then I followed him as he took a few steps. We kept some space between us, aware of the eyes on us, but the distance did nothing to dissipate the energy surrounding us. I felt like a huge weight had lifted off my shoulders, and the ease with which Jalen was moving made me think that he felt the same.
A part of me wanted to ask him if he was as relieved as I was that he wasn’t going to be a father, but another part of me wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. We hadn’t talked about kids. Hell, we hadn’t talked about the future much at all. Everything between us had been so punctuated by the craziness that there’d never seemed a good time for the serious things.
And I hadn’t been ready for the serious things.
Now, I thought I was, but I didn’t know if he was, and I didn’t want to force it. I didn’t want to risk losing him if he didn’t want the same things I wanted. Like kids. I wanted kids. More than one so they’d have each other. But what if he didn’t want kids? What if the reason he looked so relieved was because he never wanted kids at all?
He buried his hands in my hair, the rough touch pulling me out of my own head. His eyes were blazing as he kissed me, his teeth worrying at my bottom lip until everything else faded and all I was aware of was the feel and taste and smell of him.
A wolf whistle cut through the music and the haze, and we broke apart. Before I could step away, he grabbed my hips and pulled me to him. The smile on his face was a new one, and it took me a moment to place it.
Joy.
Real, genuine joy. Also, happiness and love and desire, all without a trace of shadow.
I wanted to see that look on his face more often. All the time.
I pulled his head down, but not for a kiss. I put my lips against his ear and whispered, “Let’s go home. I want to show you what I’m wearing under this dress.”
Thirty-One
“You were wearing that under your dress?”
I did a slow turn, letting him see the whole thing. By the time I was facing him again, he’d removed his shirt and had taken two steps in my direction. I reached behind me to unhook my bra, but a hoarse command stopped me.
“Leave it.”
I dropped my hands and waited for his next instruction.
“Sit.”
I sat on the edge of the bed, and he went to his knees. The hands that skimmed my calves up to my thighs were hot, but it only added to the fire already burning my skin. My pulse raced as he pressed his lips to the side of first one knee, then the other. He took his time trailing tickling kisses up my thighs, then across my stomach and up to my breasts. He gripped my waist as he latched onto a nipple through my bra, and I cried out as a jolt of electricity went straight south. I squirmed, the suction and pressure nearly too much, but he held me tight, took me right to the edge.
“Fuck,” I groaned, digging my hands into his hair.
“Soon,” he said with a smile. “I fully intend to make you come this year and next.”
My nails scratched his scalp as he turned his attention to my other breast. He worried at the tip with his teeth, the sensation intensifying until I wasn’t sure I could handle any more. Unable to articulate what I was feeling, I tugged on his hair until he raised his head.
Wickedness gleamed in his eyes as he stood. “Do you remember your safe word?”
I nodded, everything in me clenching in anticipation.
“Up on the bed.” Once I obeyed, he followed and pulled off his belt. “Let’s get those hands out of my way.”
Less than two minutes later, my hands were tied together and lashed to the headboard as I knelt facing the back wall.
“Now what?” I asked.
“Now I get back to where I was before I was so rudely interrupted.”
I almost asked what he meant, but then I didn’t need to because he was under me and pulling me down until he could run his tongue along the already-wet fabric.
“Shit,” I gasped.
He didn’t say anything, but his tongue was busy. It caressed my skin, slipped between my lips, danced over the abundance of nerves that throbbed and pulsed under the oral assault. I came once with a shudder, but he didn’t stop. I closed my eyes, my hips moving in short jerks as another wave of pleasure rolled over me. As if from far away, I heard soft whimpering sounds that, on some level, I understood I was making, but I couldn’t stop myself.
“Had enough?”
“J…” I grabbed onto the headboard.
“One more, sweetheart.”
I shook my head but didn’t say the word I knew would stop him. My muscles trembled, and I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t going to happen, but if I’d learned anything during the time I’d known him, it was that he could do anything he put his mind to.
I cursed as I came again in an explosion of ecstasy and color. For a moment, I thought the latter was in my head, but then I heard loud pops that my brain registered as fireworks in the distance.
“Happy New Year,” Jalen said breathlessly as he moved from underneath me to behind me. He leaned over and kissed my shoulder. “Ready to help me ring it in properly?”
Thirty-Two
“All right,” I said as I set my plate aside. “Your turn. What was your worst New Year’s resolution?”
“That’s not fair,” Jalen protested. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I did,” I countered. “I can’t help it if you didn’t like my answer.”
“You can’t really expect me to believe that you’ve never broken a New Year’s resolution.”
I grinned at him. “It’s not hard when you don’t make them in the first place.”
His eyes narrowed, and he rolled over me, bracing himself on his elbows so that his body was a comfortable weight on mine rather than suffocating.
“I make you breakfast in bed, and you take advantage of my trusting nature?” He kissed my chin. “I think I’m going to need to punish you for that.”
I reached up and linked my fingers together behind his neck. “Did you have something particular in mind?”
The hot length of him hardened against my leg, and I shifted, eager to have him inside
me again despite the twinges and aches from our previous activities. We’d made love until we’d both passed out from exhaustion and our skins bore the evidence of our passion in teeth and nail marks. I’d also spotted a few bruises on my hips and on Jalen’s arms from where we’d gripped each other too hard.
“I have a lot of things in mind,” he said, his knee pressing between my legs. “But for right now, I just want to be buried in that hot, wet cunt of yours.”
The doorbell rang, ruining the mood.
“Dammit,” Jalen growled. “Maybe if we ignore them, they’ll go away.”
The bell rang three more times in quick succession.
“I’m thinking not,” I said with a sigh.
Two more rings.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Jalen rolled off me and onto his feet in one smooth motion. I had a moment to appreciate his firm ass before he yanked on a pair of jeans. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
I reached over to the bedside table and snatched the last bite of his chocolate chip muffin. Desertion resulted in the forfeiture of all delicious breakfast rights, I decided. Besides, he was already going to torture me. I might as well have made it worthwhile.
I was still deciding whether I wanted to play contrite or rebellious when raised voices came from downstairs.
“Get out of my way, Jalen!”
Shit. Elise.
I grabbed one of Jalen’s shirts and a pair of his boxers, pulling them on as quickly as possible.
“Not today, Elise,” Jalen said. His voice was even, but I knew he was pissed. “We’re going to talk, but not today.”
“Is she here? Is that why you want me to leave? That home-wrecking slut is here.”
I stepped into the front room just as she finished. “Present.”
“You don’t need to be down here for this,” Jalen said. “Elise was just leaving.”
“Like hell I am,” she snapped. “This is my house!”