A little pleat forms on her forehead. Her fingers clench against my chest. “But there’s obstacles.”
“Obstacles like what?” I challenge.
She gnaws on her lip to keep from smiling. “Wyatt would kill you.”
I shrug, as though the idea of my best friend’s wrath doesn’t scare me. “Wyatt and I will sit down and have a grown-ass conversation.”
“Plus, I just got out of a relationship that ended in disaster.”
I smirk. “I’ll make you forget all about him.”
“But who knows? I might have a whole lot of residual crazy in me.”
“I can handle your crazy.”
Finally, she closes her eyes and flinches. “We don’t even have a prenup, Jason.” She rubs a palm over her forehead. “You’re worth a bazillion dollars and we don’t have a prenup. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“I don’t give a fuck.” I spit out. And it’s true. “Don’t tell me about the obstacles. Trust me—I know they’re there. But facing them is worth it if I know I get to be with you in the end.”
Swooning, she wraps her arms around my neck. I brush my lips over hers.
“I’ve decided that I want to be with you. I want this to work. Now, my only job is convincing you that we can do this.” I squeeze her within my arms. “I don’t expect you to give me an answer now, to decide right here on the spot that you’ll give me your happily ever after, but we don’t have to end things right now.” My biceps go tighter around her. “Sixty days. Hell—less than sixty days. That’s all I want from you. What do you say, Sera? Will you take a chance on me? On us?”
This time, she can’t bite her lip hard enough to fight her smile. She looks up at me with terrified, excited, beautiful eyes. “Yes. I want to give us a shot.”
I can’t help grinning my ass off. I grab her cheeks in my hands and I bring my mouth down on hers. I kiss the fuck out of her, dammit. I forget all about where we are and who might be watching.
Until I hear someone clearing their throat. Sera and I pull apart, dazed and grinning.
My eyes swing toward where a smirking woman with long dark hair, smooth golden skin and an impeccable power suit is poking her head out the glass doors. “So, I’m guessing we’re postponing the legal proceedings?”
Sera laughs.
I squeeze her hand. “Yeah. We’re postponing the legal proceedings.”
“Okay, well, get out of here with all that kissing and shit. You’re gonna put me out of business.”
When I glance into the waiting room, I see that the blubbering chick is no longer blubbering. Instead, she’s bundled up in Mr. Hawaiian Shirt’s arms. Mrs. Way-Too-Young is sitting on the bald guy’s lap. The two business suit guys are huddled close together and holding hands. They’re all looking at Sera and me, grinning.
“Oh, sorry about that,” I say to the lawyer.
The woman shoos us away. “Get out of here, people! Scoot!”
She doesn’t have to tell me again.
I grab my wife’s hand and, laughing, we run off down the hallway for the elevator.
Twenty-Two
Sera
I’m laid out in my sexiest lingerie—a lacy red cami set with rhinestones, satin ribbons and embroidered trims. I picked it up from the $12 sale basket the other day when I was out shopping with that gift certificate Jace bought me.
I prop myself up on one elbow and slide the covers down past my hips. I glance at myself in the mirror above the dresser adjacent to the bed. $12 has never looked so good.
Oh, yeah. He’s gonna like this.
My curves are on display. My boobs look inviting. My hair has that messy, ‘fuck me’ quality to it.
Wait. No.
On second thought, this doesn’t feel quite right.
I wiggle about in bed and change poses. I decide to pull most of the covers back up my torso and arch my back a little. Now, I’m aiming for a sexy, one-leg-out thing.
Okay. Better. This is better.
I’m totally overthinking this, but no one can save me now.
My body is full of fluttery excitement as I lie here, waiting for Jace to get out of the bathroom and come join me beneath the sheets. My mind is overwhelmed with naughty thoughts about what’s about to go down.
The drive home from the lawyer’s office had been quiet and fraught with sparkling emotion—my fingers playing in the soft hairs at his nape, his palm splayed possessively across my thigh—as we both silently tried to come to grips with our new reality.
We're doing this. Jace and I are doing this.
We're giving ourselves until the annulment deadline to try and make our marriage work.
The possibilities fill me with excitement, nervousness, hope, straight-up anxiety. I want so much for this to work but I know that we have to proceed with caution. Jace has never even had a girlfriend. As for me, I'm slowly coaxing my heart back open after the way my last relationship ended.
Basically, we both have shit to work through. But we’re committed. We can do this.
On the way home, we grabbed burgers at a drive-through and ate in the car. We’ve shared a hundred meals together over the course of our friendship. But now it feels like we’re learning how to do everything together—how to be together—in this whole new way. As husband and wife.
I keep telling myself that this is crazy, that this is not how relationships are built but what do I know? Everything I thought I knew about love and romance recently went up in flames on the front steps of the Sin Valley Courthouse. So I’m willing to try something new. For once in my life, instead of following the rules, I want to make them. Instead of taking directions from the life map society set out in front of me, I want to get in the driver’s seat and take control and decide the direction that’s best for me.
When I hear the faucet water shut off, I snatch up my copy of Blakely Hamilton’s new release, Taken by my Bad Boy Veterinary Surgeon, off the bedside table. Biting my lip, I focus my eyes on the page. I’m going for an aloof but irresistible vibe.
Jace steps out of the ensuite bathroom, looking like a snack in his thin white T-shirt and light gray athletic shorts hanging low on his hips. He throws one look at me and he trips over his own feet.
The expression he’s wearing looks a whole lot like his pre-sex face. Eyelids hooded, nostrils flared slightly, supple bottom lip caught between his perfect teeth.
Okay. This is good. This is the effect I’m going for.
I casually glance up and flash him a seductive stare. His eyes do a full sweep of me before zeroing in on my satin-cupped breasts.
When our eyes meet, he swallows. “Uh, hi…”
“Hi…” I casually bring my eyes back to my book, pretending to be deeply immersed in the story.
He discreetly adjusts the bulge at the crotch of his shorts and recovers his footing. But instead of leaping on the bed and having his way with me like I’d hoped, he rounds the foot of the bed and carefully climbs in on his side of the mattress, sitting on top of the comforter.
I don’t have to look at him to feel his eyes working their way down my body again. But when I meet his hungry stare—again—he gets that guilty look and glances away.
Okay…What’s going on here?
He picks up the remote on his bedside table and flicks on the TV. He starts flipping through channels until he settles on an episode of Seinfeld. The sudden crackle of the sitcom’s jarring laugh track causes me to jump in my skin.
“Am I disturbing you?” His eyes fall to the book I’m fake-reading.
“Huh?” I glance up innocently.
“Am I disturbing you with the TV?” Using the remote, he gestures to the television set.
“No. No.”
“—Because I can turn it off if—”
“—No, it’s fine. I—”
“—You’re reading. Let me turn it off—”
We bump and tumble clumsily into each other with our words. Jace aims the remote and the TV screen goes dark with a click.
“Yeah. That’s good.”
He stealthily checks me out one more time before focusing his eyes on reading.
We sit side-by-side, the room silent aside from the screaming tension and the occasional flutter of a page turning.
Oh god. This is not going as planned.
Does this lingerie look stupid? Or is it my hair? Or does he just not want me?
Oh god.
Maybe I should take it up a notch.
I inch closer to him. And I do it again. And again until my right boob is squished up against his arm.
He sucks in a shallow breath when our bodies make contact. He glances at me with eyes hot enough to melt tooth enamel.
“Sorry. Just a little chilly.” I bat my lashes at him.
I’m batting my lashes. Who exactly have I become?
Jace hastily flings his legs over the side of the mattress and jumps to his feet. I barely keep from falling face-first into the pillows. “I’ll turn up the heat.”
I manage to grab him by the wrist before he gets too far away. “Or maybe, you could just put your arm around me…?”
My husband watches me intently and slowly lowers back onto the bed. “Right. I could just put my arm around you.”
His eyes tell me he wants more than to just put his arm around me. But I don’t understand why he’s not making his move.
I nestle into his side and his thick muscled bicep comes stiffly around my shoulder. We sit like that for maybe four or five minutes but it feels like an eternity. I flip through my novel without even seeing the words and Jace stares at the same page of his magazine without moving. In fact, I don’t even think he’s breathing anymore. Meanwhile, his cock is fully erect and every time I move or shift or breathe, it does a jumping jack. I swear, it’s looking for an escape route, ready to force its way out of Jace’s pants by any means necessary.
What the hell is happening here?
Sitting side by side in the dim light, I study his profile. Confused, frustrated and horny as hell, I nuzzle against his shoulder and breathe him in. God—I’m acting crazy. Still, he smells amazing and I just want his body on mine. But he’s an unmoving pillar of stone. He doesn’t react.
Is he rejecting me? None of this makes sense. What about all the things he said at the lawyer’s office. Does he not mean them anymore? Did he change his mind? Is he backing out?
There’s a strange expression marring his gorgeous face. Seemingly at his limit, Jace snaps. He flings his magazine off his lap, grabs me by the hips and pulls me onto his thighs so I’m straddling him. I yip.
“Sera…” he groans in torment, resting his forehead on mine. His voice is nothing but pure gravel.
“What?” I ask. “Am I doing something wrong? Because…” I don’t know what to think.
He runs his big palms up and down my bare arms. “I know you’re just lying there being your gorgeous self, trying to read your book in peace but you’re literally ripping my self-control to shreds. Especially in that sexy little lace thing you’re wearing.”
“My book?” I laugh, my heart beating quickly. “I don’t even care about the book. I was lying there hoping that you’d notice me.”
“What?”
“I was waiting for you to make your move on me.” I titter at how ridiculous I sound. “I was starting to think you didn’t find me sexy.”
“Jesus, Sera.” Jace groans and grabs the back of my neck. Electricity buzzes down my spine. “I’m trying to straddle the line between being a respectful gentleman and chewing you right out of that fucking lingerie with my teeth.”
That’s not what I was expecting he’d say. I bust a half-giggle, half-moan. “What do you mean…?”
His hips buck. I’m not so sure the movement is voluntary. “I want to fuck the shit out of you, Baby Girl. I’m trying to hold myself back…but I want to do the right thing.”
My pussy clenches. I rock my pelvis, grinding along his thick, throbbing mega-erection. “And why does fucking your horny, horny wife have to be bad?” I lean forward and nibble on the corner of his mouth.
He lifts his head up to the ceiling like he’s summoning all his strength. Knowing he can barely resist me only turns me on more. “I’m serious about making this work between us. I want you to see that we can just have a normal Wednesday night. You and me, hanging out in bed without me pawing all over you.” He takes a breath. “I want there to be no doubt in your mind that this is more than just a ‘sex-thing’ to me.”
Hearing him say that makes my heart feel dizzy and floaty. Unfortunately for the argument he’s building, now I want to fuck him even more.
“I want to show you we’re compatible.” His gaze skates down to my lips and his hips lift off the mattress again. “I want to show you we could have a future. And the fact that we’re already married and living together sort of complicates that. So I don’t mind depriving myself of sex for a while to show you what my intentions truly are.”
“Oh…I see…”
This man wants me. I mean, he really wants me. He can have his pick of women any day of the week. Yet he wants me. Enough to give up sex. Indefinitely. That is such a turn-on. My inner sex demon growls and I thrust my hips on him again.
He chuckles. “Baby girl, please.”
He’s right. I know he is. But this is no fun. Especially when I’m feeling so frisky.
I squirm and whimper in his arms. “Just ballpark—how long do you think this sex deprivation thing is supposed to last?”
He eases back so we’re eye-to-eye. “I have less than sixty days, Sera. Less than two months to convince you to give me the rest of your life. That’s a lot of fucking pressure. I need to get this right.”
When he says that, my heart strings get all tied up like a ball of yarn. There’s a kaleidoscope of butterflies taking flight in my belly. “Oh my god, Jason. You cannot. You cannot keep saying those sweet things to me and expect me to suddenly change my mind about jumping your bones.”
He laughs, his hands moving up and down my back. “I’m serious. Now that I’m your man, I can’t risk screwing up and having you kick me back into the friend zone.” He frowns. “It sucks over there.”
I laugh. “Okay, okay. But you’re right…We can take it slow.”
Smiling, he traces a path of wet kisses across my shoulder. “Good.”
On a tortured exhale, I swing myself off of his lap and plop down onto the bed. “But in case you change your mind, just know that I’ve started planning out a sex bucket list in bullet form. I can share the Google doc with you whenever you’re ready.”
Chuckling, he drops a hard kiss on my forehead, bruising me with his sexy stubble. “I will give you everything on your bucket list…and more. In time. Just have some patience, baby. A little self-restraint is going to pay off in the long run.”
Jace squeezes my bare thigh and scoots across the mattress, putting space between us and looking just as pained as I feel.
I glance at him, trying not to pout. “By the way, as cute as you are right now, just know that you’re way cuter naked.”
He chuckles. I get one word from him. “Patience.”
Fine. Be like that.
We sit in silence, both glancing around the room. I chance a peek at him. He chances a peek at me. I think we’re both trying to figure out how married people might spend a regular Wednesday night.
“So…so what do we do now?” I ask, brow knitted.
Boy, we really are clueless. We have no idea what we’re doing.
But we’re invested. So I believe that we can figure this out. Together.
“Um…we could…watch a movie?” Jace suggests.
“Yeah, a movie sounds good.” I titter, my heart feeling so full.
With a dimple-faced grin, he drops the remote in my lap. “You pick something. I’ll go get popcorn. Be right back.”
; I flip through the romcom selection on Netflix, trying not to split my face apart with a grin. Jason Bellino just offered to give up sex for me, to prove how much he’s into me.
Add that to his willingness to let me pick the movie—you know we’re about to watch Bridget Jones’s Diary—it just makes me even more eager to put out for him.
I manage to get my grinning under control by the time he comes back into the room, carrying fresh-out-the-microwave popcorn with whatever other snacks he was able to dig up in the pantry. He sets the snacks onto the side table before dimming the lights further and flicking on the gas fireplace.
The mood is set.
The opening credits start up and Jace scoots close, getting under the blanket next to me. His hand slips beneath the fuzzy wool comforter and it’s not long before his fingers graze the side of my leg. Totally seventh grade. Still, a chill skitters up my thighs.
I glance at him. He gives me an innocent dimpled smile.
I sneer. “Creeper.”
He grins. “You love it.”
Now, I’m laughing. “Spoken as a true creeper. What happened to keeping our hands to ourselves?”
His eyes scan up and down my half-dressed body in my lingerie. His throat bobs. “With you sitting there, wearing that little outfit, I feel like I set myself up to fail.”
I lift a brow. “Weren’t you the one just preaching about patience and self-restraint?”
“Fine then.” Jace shuffles over to his side of the bed, taking the blanket and his body heat with him. “You don’t want me. You don’t get my blanket.”
“Fine,” I say, folding my arms over my chest, acting like I don’t need his blanket anyway.
Instantly, a chill is sweeping over me and the room grows cold. And I can’t hold out for long. In about a minute, I roll over and snuggle up into his side.
Jace flashes a smug grin in the dark. “As if you could resist me…” He reaches over and yanks me into his lap, enveloping me in the fuzzy warmth of the blanket. “Get your sexy ass over here. I can’t resist you, either.”
I yelp and giggle. “Well, you know what happens with the best laid plans…”
Playing House: A Small Town Brother’s Best Friend Romance (The Playboys of Sin Valley Book 1) Page 16
