She let a beat go by, then slipped her hand from his and slapped it against her thigh. “So, enough of the tragedy talk,” she said, deliberately lightening her voice. “Are there any other DVDs besides the soft porn and the hard horror?”
“But what about you?” Con said, his voice low. “What happened to you, Jojo, when you lost Simon?”
No one had ever really asked her that question. Her immediate family had been wrapped up in their own grief and also deeply concerned about her mother who had been nearly catatonic for months and months.
“I was in my last year of college,” she said. “I just…carried on.”
“Your last year of college,” Con repeated. “That same last year of college when you got a restaurant job and then said ‘I do’ to the chef who wanted a green card marriage?”
So damn smart. Jojo shrugged.
Con took her hand again. Cradled it, making her feel small and fragile and vulnerable, everything she tried to hide. “After Simon died, kitten, what did you want? What did you need?”
Nobody had ever asked that either. She turned her head to stare at Con and lost herself in the steady blue of his eyes. He was so beautiful, this man.
Her husband.
And maybe she was acting on impulse again, or ducking his intense regard, or some of both, but in any case she kneeled up on the cushion. “I know what I want right now,” she said.
Then kissed him.
Con’s hands curled around her biceps and his lips moved on hers, but then she realized he was speaking. “Jojo, we don’t—maybe we shouldn’t—”
So she only pressed harder on his mouth because this felt like something they definitely should do. Definitely. No more talking about the past, or past mistakes, or thinking about the future. Not now. Not tonight.
“I want you,” she said, sliding her mouth to his ear. She bit the lobe. “I need you.”
He groaned. “Kitten…”
“That’s right,” she said, reaching for the hem of his shirt. “I’m going to curl up on your lap and you can pet me as much as you’d like and if you don’t please me—” she ripped the fabric over his head “—I’ll let out my claws and scratch you.”
“Oh, fuck,” Con said as she drew her nails over his heavy pectoral muscles and across his tight nipples. They beaded to hard points that she flicked again. “Baby, you don’t play fair.”
“Yeah, I do,” Jojo said, and swept the straps of her overalls off her shoulders. In the next breath she flung off her own shirt.
Con divested her of the thin bra beneath, his reluctance clearly having evaporated. His hands banded her rib cage below her breasts and he held her still, just looking. She could hear his ragged breathing and saw his nostrils flare.
“You go to my head,” he said. “I can’t think around you.”
“Good,” Jojo said, shifting to straddle his lap. “Because I just want you to feel.”
He groaned, then urged her up so he could reach her breasts. “Taste,” he muttered, then latched onto one nipple.
Jojo’s head dropped back and she moaned. She loved the forceful suction of his mouth followed by the small nip of his teeth. With his hands cupping her ass, he held her in place, moving between her breasts until the tips were wet and reddened.
Her hands were in his hair and he looked up, his gaze heavy-lidded as he continued to torture her with his lips, his teeth, his tongue.
“My turn,” she said, when he came up for air.
“Yeah,” he said. “But I want you naked first. You promised me lap time and petting.”
A shiver ran down Jojo’s spine as he lifted her and put her on her feet. Then he shoved the overalls down. “Beautiful,” he said, running his hands over her panty-covered hips to her flanks. His palms were hot and slightly callused. She shivered again as he edged his thumbs in the elastic of the last garment covering her.
Then she was naked and he pulled her into his lap, her back to him, and her legs spread on either side of his. Exposing her wetness to the air.
“Hey, I thought it was my turn,” she protested, turning her hot face into his chest.
“Petting time,” he growled, then ran his hands down her breasts, her belly, over her thighs and back up again, touching her everywhere but where she was throbbing with want of him.
“Con,” she whispered, lifting her mouth for a kiss that was more maneuver than it was fun. His tongue flicked her bottom lip and she squirmed against the hard shaft she could feel beneath his jeans.
“Wiggly kitten,” he said, covering her breasts with his hands. Then he plucked at her sensitized nipples until she squirmed again. “Be still, little one, or I’ll come in my pants.”
This time she writhed intentionally and he punished her with hard pinches on each tip. It only caused her to moan and move again, her arousal rocketing.
He chuckled, the sound just a little dirty as he pinched again. Harder. “There we go, that’s the sound I’ve been looking for.”
“I want to do something too, Con,” she complained, even as her head dropped back to his chest. His rougher touches felt so good.
“Reach back with each hand and hold onto my belt,” he said.
“Con…”
“Do it, baby. Then I’ll reward you.”
Her arms moved and her fingers found the leather of his belt, slipped beneath so she could get a grip. “Good,” Con said, then shifted his legs to open hers wider.
Jojo squeezed her eyes shut and it only served to make her more aware of him, big and hot beneath her. One hand left her breast and she felt him tease down the center of her body until his fingertips found the folds of her sex.
He groaned. “Wet. Drenched. Look how easy I slide in.” One finger glided into her body. Her back arched as he pumped in and out, the touch tantalizing but not enough.
“I need more,” she said, no longer caring about how desperate she might sound and look. He breached her with two long fingers and Jojo arched again.
“Such a good kitten,” he said against her ear. “Can you take three?”
She moaned in answer and then he was inside her again, making her full and so damn needy as he pumped his fingers and rotated his hand. His knuckles every so often brushed her clit, and she whimpered, the climax just out of reach.
One hand released his belt so she could touch herself but he said, “No, bad kitty,” and pinched her breast again while covering the whole of her sex with his palm. “This is mine to pet and play with tonight.”
Her frustrated sound didn’t move him and so she returned to the original position. “Good,” he said, nuzzling her hair. His fingers pierced her again and her lust spiked. She thought she might go mad with the need to come.
“Con,” she said. “Please.”
“Yeah, kitten,” he said. “Here’s what you need.” His fingers plunged, his thumb rubbed her clit, his other fingers clamped down hard on her nipple.
Jojo opened her mouth but no sound came out. Her body arched and her inner muscles grabbed onto his fingers, pleasure sparkling across her skin as bliss rolled through her in waves.
As she came back to herself, she realized she was draped, boneless, over Con and he was petting her again, his touch gentle, not sexual. His fingers still penetrated her sex and her body twitched in another sexy aftershock.
She liked that he didn’t immediately withdraw or demand his turn after her climax. She twitched again, more pleasure rolling up from her toes.
“You okay?” he said, against her temple.
“Mmm,” she said and sighed as he tenderly left her body. The sight of his glistening fingers stirred up her desire again. Mmm.
Then he brought them to his mouth and licked them clean.
“Oh, God,” she whispered, her entire body flashing hot.
“So good,” he said. “I love the way you taste.”
And then she was up and dragging him to the nearby bed. He laughed as she tugged, the sound holding that down and dirty tone she so liked. “Kitten
’s turn?”
“Yes.” She might even be purring as she stretched onto the mattress and watched him step out of his boots and socks and then shove down his boxers and jeans in one go.
Her hand reached out to him. Instead of dropping down, he stood and looked at her, his hand sliding down his cock and lower.
“My balls have never been so full,” he murmured. “All for you.”
And instead of blushing at the raw intimacy, it only fueled her need to feel him against her, skin-to-skin. When he finally came over her, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, reveling in the heavy weight of his sex against her belly.
I’ve never been this close to another person in my life, she thought. And for the moment could only be glad for it.
Chapter 7
Jojo knew he’d found her. Even before she turned and looked over her shoulder, she sensed it. At the first sound of tires on asphalt, she felt certain Con had managed to track her down.
The passenger window of his SUV glided open as he kept pace with her brisk strides. “Want a lift?”
“No, thanks,” she said, with a jaunty wave. No duh. At dawn, she’d awoken beside him in bed, run over to the main house to ensure Regina and friend were already preparing breakfast, and then started down this road after a brief chat with Aunt June.
“Your aunt told me you decided to go to some coffee place?”
Jojo slipped her cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans and held it up. “Looking for strong and steady cell service. And a morning beverage I didn’t make myself.”
“Well, get in, and we’ll get a double order of that in half the time.”
Why did he have to sound so reasonable? And why did he have to appear so unreasonably handsome with that morning stubble on his hard jaw and that soft look in his eyes that her sappy side wanted to interpret as breath-stealing, belly-warming affection? Surely it was mere sexual satiety.
He better be sated. Because she was sore between her thighs and the cups of her bra rubbed uncomfortably against her chafed nipples and if he wanted another go-round after the three last night…
She would so probably fall in line. Sigh.
He was that good.
“Baby,” he said. “Get in.”
Her glare should have melted the metal surrounding him. “Why are you still around? Your services are no longer needed at the B & B.”
“I’m not here to service the B & B. It seems I’m here to service you.” He started laughing at her sputter of outrage. “C’mon, you walked right into that one.”
She stomped a few more feet down the road, with Con’s car right beside her until she swung toward it and yanked on the passenger door’s handle. “Oh, fine. Drive me to coffee.”
The car picked up speed and she pretended a fascination with the scrub and oaks on the side of the road. “Sleep well?” he asked, all innocence.
He had to know…but maybe he didn’t. Maybe he didn’t realize when she’d opened her eyes this morning that they’d been tangled together. It was only the necessity of putting distance between them that had her slipping from his cozy hold. He’d not stirred.
Yes, maybe he didn’t know how closely and contentedly they’d shared sleep.
“Jojo?” he prompted.
“Hmm, yeah. Just fine,” she said, then directed him to the freestanding, cottage-like structure up ahead and on the right. Three of the four parking spaces were full but they managed to squeeze into the last free one.
“Popular spot,” Con observed.
“Only spot for miles,” Jojo said.
Inside, there was a short line at the order desk. They took their place behind a couple who stood waiting their turn, arms around each other. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he pressed a kiss to her temple.
They both wore wedding rings.
Maybe they were married to other people—no, Jojo wasn’t going to ruin the moment with as cynical a thought as that. People could love and be married and get coffee together every morning for the rest of their lives.
They could be as close as she’d felt with Con last night and as contented as she’d been upon waking in his arms.
People could have that, long term.
But she didn’t believe she could.
With their beverages in hand at last, she led Con to one of the small free tables. “I don’t know how they do it, but I can always manage to get a cell signal here.” She retrieved her phone before taking a seat. Con did likewise.
After taking a swallow from their cups, they both turned on their phones.
“Oh, crap,” said Jojo after a moment, just as Con muttered, “Shit.”
Their heads came up and they looked at each other. “What?” they said together.
She pointed at him. “You first. Emergency?”
“Not really,” he said, though grimacing. “My mom’s after me to talk some sense into my sister. My parents think I’m at the Hathaway with her—I still have my room there.”
“Is Audra okay?” Jojo knew his sister had retreated to the resort a couple of weeks ago after being rejected at the altar. “Not having that wedding must have been a blow.”
“Yeah.” He glanced down at his phone. “And now she has some wild idea to quit the family business in LA and become a florist in Santa Barbara.”
“Whoa. That’s a big change.”
“Yeah. Spur-of-the-moment style, which doesn’t make my mama all too happy.”
“She’s against impulsive decisions, is she?” And what would she think about a woman who would decide on a whim to marry her gorgeous son?
Con gave her a considering look. “We’re not talking about you and me right now.”
But they would have to. “Con—”
“What’s your breaking news?” he asked, nodding at her phone.
She sighed. “My ex needs to meet at my storage unit where he’s just sure he might find a binder of recipes he’s misplaced.”
Con snorted. “Ignore him.”
“I really can’t.” She sighed again. “It’s taken a long time to untangle our lives—I had at one point invested in the original restaurant which has now sold but he’s opening another, hence the need for the recipes. It’s just easier to give him what he wants.”
“What do you want?”
He’d asked that last night, too. Jojo couldn’t stop her gaze from sliding to the couple who’d ordered ahead of them. They sat at a nearby table, knees touching, laughing quietly together.
Looking away from them, she gave her attention back to her coffee. “I want to clone my car. Aunt June’s old truck is a manual and she wanted to borrow my automatic for the day so her left ankle won’t be taxed when she heads into Santa Ynez for several appointments.”
“Where’s your storage unit?”
“Santa Barbara. That’s where the ex lives and works. Me, too. I rent a pool house in Goleta.” She didn’t tell him she was currently unemployed now that the restaurant had shut down. Maybe living in limbo was partly to blame for her hasty decision to marry.
She got a husband to give herself direction. Some sort of purpose.
Yeesh, that didn’t sound any better than just succumbing to a crazy whim.
“You want to go there today?”
“I should.” She could get at least one unpleasant task off her plate before taking up the business of the latest divorce. Closing her eyes, she shoved her hands through her hair, trying to erase her sudden misery. “But I can’t take the truck because I don’t know how to drive a stick shift.”
“Cheer up, kitten. We’ll take my car. I’ll go with you and tick off the Look-in-on-Audra box.”
“But I…” Another wave of misery threatened to swamp her. Oh, what did a little more time spent with him matter?
As the hours wore on, she realized what mattered was how often her mind kept asking one simple thing. Why couldn’t it be like this?
Upon returning to the Blue Jay, they found the Statler family packing up and she and Con helped the
process by giving piggyback rides to the littlest kids as their parents stuffed belongings into their cars. It did something painful but sweet to her insides to see an adorable poppet strangling the big man as he loped along, still able to taunt Jojo into increasing her speed. The rides turned into races after that and he even let her win once.
The kids went wild, screeching and laughing until Jojo collapsed on the ground, laughing along with them.
And for a moment she pretended those joyful kids were her and Con’s kids. Why couldn’t it be like this?
Later, as they headed toward Santa Barbara, she discovered that the long drive and the soft music from the radio lowered her guard and goosed her curiosity. Wanting to know more about the man she married wasn’t wise, but she couldn’t help herself from questioning him. “So…” she began.
He glanced over, smiled. “Yeah?”
It hit her then, sharp and right on target. Center chest. That question. Why couldn’t it be like this? Relaxing drives and easy smiles and trading confidences.
“Have you ever been in a long-term relationship?” she heard herself ask him. “A romantic one?”
“Nope,” he said, still easy. “Bachelor to the bone.”
Until that night in Vegas. “How does that work?” she asked. “I don’t believe for a second you’ve been celibate, so you just…”
“I want sex, I find a woman who wants sex too.” He glanced over at her. “There’s plenty of females who aren’t looking for commitment either.”
“There’s signs you can read? Or signs you send out?”
“When I tell a woman I’m only in the area for a couple of nights, she immediately gets the picture. She either wants a short ride, or she doesn’t.” He shrugged. “Nobody is trying to deceive the other person.”
“Timothée didn’t marry me to get a green card,” Jojo confessed. “I say that, but…he cared for me at first.”
My Quickie Wedding (Heartbreak Hotel Book 3) Page 5
