Jayson: A New Adult / Coming of Age Romance

by Hughes, Nicole

  “I have to admit,” he rumbles in an amused deep voice, “after everything that happened between us—you know last night and all?—I didn’t think I’d wake up to you glowering at me like I screwed up somehow. Kinda stings the ego…‘Course, if I didn’t handle my business, just tell me. I’m completely fine with a do-over.” I can tell he’s teasing by the way he nudges me with his knee under the cover and grins at me playfully. He tugs on a strand of my hair. “Is it safe to ask what’s on your mind?”

  I shrug, relaxing my furrowed brow and sheepishly sliding a hand up my arm to hug myself. With effort, I manage a smile. “Just wondering if you want breakfast. I don’t usually do this. I didn’t know if you planned on sticking around for a while or…”

  Jayson makes a noncommittal sound and reaches for his jeans to get dressed, I guess in answer to my question. I take that as a “no” as I get dressed too, as if unbothered by the letdown. Last night he was gung-ho to stick around. Now, he’s rushing to leave. It’s just like I feared. In my head, Mom’s voice reiterates, “What’d I tell you? Bad decision.” Now she sounds critical. It’s impossible to conceal my hurt feelings, no matter how hard I try to keep my expression placid. My shoulders slump and my eyes sting with unshed tears. I snort, shaking my head at myself for being so naive. Pull it together, Kit. I’ll be damned if I let him see me cry or let him think he got the best of me. If he can be urbane and unfeeling, then so can I.

  “I’m sure you’re more familiar with the protocol for a one-night stand than I am. Forgive me if the offer to linger wasn’t in the script,” I grumble bitterly.

  “Hey, what are you talking about? Where are you going?” Jayson grabs my arm when I try to push past him.

  “Showing you to the door!”

  “I know my way out, thank you.”

  I tremble with fury at the reminder. Putting my hands on my hips, I stare him down.

  “Is that what you call what happened last night? A one-night stand? Well, since you yourself admit you don’t know the protocol for that, let me help you out. If I considered you a casual lay, I wouldn’t have spent the night,” he said, suddenly seeming very serious and concerned.

  “Then, why did you?” I fire back, angry and confused.

  Jayson laughs without humor and says, “Unbelievable. I’m not good with words and I don’t want to botch this. I’ll give it a shot anyway ‘cause the last thing I want is you pushing me away just because you misread the situation. Point blank, Kitrina Schneider, I like you a whole lot.” He looks uncertain as he glances away from me. “I told you before that I wouldn’t seduce you if I didn’t think there was a chance for us to actually be together. Now, I understand your qualms about us getting involved with me on account of your mom and your busy lifestyle, but…I want to be here as long as you want me here. What happened between us? That wasn’t a one-night stand for me. It’s up to you what it was for you. But don’t kick me out on my account.”

  I stand there huffing, trying to catch my breath past the lump in my throat. A teardrop falls. I swipe it away, overwhelmed with feelings. He’s telling me I got it all wrong. Damn, it feels good to be wrong this time.

  Jayson takes a step closer and caresses my cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Don’t cry, darling. I want to wake up next to you a bunch of more mornings. Does that make any sense to you? I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it, myself. I’m not used to this.” He smiles lightly. I nod in agreement. No, it doesn’t make sense to me either, but I understand perfectly. I giggle in relief as I gaze into his mesmerizing honey-brown eyes. Damn, he looks good in the morning!

  The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach disappears. Jayson slowly drags me into his arms. My hands thoughtlessly slip around to the back of his neck, and our lips come together in a languid exploration as if we’ve got all day. I breathe him in and exhale my doubts. In his embrace, there’s no question about it. This feels right. “I didn’t want it to be a one-night stand,” I say in a small voice. “I didn’t want to read too much into it either.”

  He kisses the tip of my nose. “Let’s get to know each other.”

  “How do you propose we do that?”

  He kisses me more fervently. “One day at a time. I don’t want you assuming the worst of me. I want to show you there’s more to me than this rough package you’re seeing, just like you’re more than the sheltered rich girl that first meets the eye. I don’t come with a lot of money or an Ivy League education, Kit. I’m not the kind of man your mother would pick out for you; we both know that. But, please don’t assume the worst of me. Gimme the chance to show you who I am.”

  I sway in his arms to music nobody but me hears. Again I nod my understanding. There’s nothing I want to do more than to take the time getting to know the fascinating contractor that my mother disapproves of so intensely. Jayson Zephyr is turning out to be nothing like what Candace warned me about. There’s so much more to him. “I want you,” I tell him honestly.

  “I’m yours for as long as you’ll have me.”

  Jayson tugs me by the hand and leads me from the bedroom to the bathroom, both of us laughing for no good reason other than the joy of each other’s company. With the ugly misunderstanding out of the way, the wonder returns. The voice of doubt in my head is drowned out by lyrics to a love song, and I know for sure I’m a hopeless romantic. I sing a few lines. Jayson snickers at my terrible singing, and I punch him in the shoulder. He picks me up and kisses me, singing a few lines back to me, and he sounds just as bad. I burst out laughing.

  “Is this how it’s gonna be between us? Everybody makes relationships sound like such hard work,” I say in awe. It’s fun. It’s fun to have someone to laugh and joke with.

  The dawn sends buttercream sunlight flooding through the window to create the perfect setting for my mood. Jayson reaches into the shower he helped restore to turn on the water with a hiss of steam and the sweet rush of droplets falling. Within moments, we’re wrapped in a misty wonderland, caught up in the magic of desire, miles away from reality.

  “I hear they’re hard, but rewarding,” he assures me about relationships. I don’t argue. What do I know? I don’t want to name what we are to each other.

  He takes his time undressing me and has no trouble at all coaxing me to follow his godlike naked body into the shower. I lift my eyes to boldly look Jayson over, feeling not an ounce of shame over his nudity or mine. When he presses me against the lapis lazuli tile wall, he whispers past my lips, “This time I want to show you what it can really be like…no barriers.” I greedily flick my tongue into his open mouth, eager to learn.

  “Show me.”

  Tangling his hands in my slick, wet hair, he cups my face. His lips descend to mine and swamp my mouth with a torrent of kisses. He relentlessly delves into the deepest recesses to taste every inch of my mouth. I’m left feeling faint and aroused, slightly weak in the knees. It’s a wonder I’m still standing. I brace myself against the wall and keep upright by gripping the handrails of the shower. It seems to be exactly what he wants me to do because Jayson Zephyr just keeps getting wickeder. Naughtily squeezing my breasts together, he turns his attention to licking and suckling each rosy peak. His kisses are hot and wet, especially combined with the drenching spray from overhead.

  There’s none of the hurry of last night to just get it done. He takes his time. His teasing tongue expertly elicits wanton moans that escalate to full-fledged screams, and I distantly wonder how any woman survives this. Waves and waves of pleasure strike. There’s so much to take in. I cling to his shoulders as he lifts me in his arms. My body is a flower spread wide so the honey is exposed. I watch him kiss lower and lower. “What are you doing?” I moan. The water beats down his back, drenches me too. My head lolls to the side, nearly drowned in enjoyment.

  When he dips to his knees and places his mouth daringly to my womanhood to lap away at the sweetness, I let go of my inhibitions and cry out loudly. Jayson’s head dances between my legs as he tastes every in
ch, darting from my labia to my clitoris and back again. I squeeze the handrails, panting breathlessly. My hips move of their own accord. My whole body turns liquid. I thrust instinctively, chasing his velvety tongue. The sounds of my ecstasy echo through the bathroom, along with the hungry sounds of his pleasure.

  Jayson lifts my legs so my thighs can rest on his shoulders, elevating me above the floor. I look down at the water swirling around the kneeling figure. There’s something so captivating about the sight that I can’t look away—not until he circles the nub of sensitive flesh nestled between the folds, not until he makes me squeeze my eyes shut with the buildup of pleasure, makes my jaw drop with amazement. Lust spirals through my torso until I explode with a climax that rips from my core and shivers through every inch of me. Holding his head against my body, I squirm and writhe with release, pouring out all of it…all of it.

  “Give it to me,” he urges. Licking, nibbling, suckling. I groan in the final throes of ecstasy before slipping weakly from his shoulders. Jayson doesn’t stop. He stands to kiss my lips. I taste myself on his tongue. It seems wicked for us to do, but it’s insanely arousing.

  My nipples harden as they skate over his hairy chest, and he repositions himself against me. “Wrap your legs around me,” he instructs. A peek down shows me his massive erection spearing insistently against my stomach. No man should be so big. In wonder, I delicately clasp my fingers around the turgid hardness. Jayson moans deeply, closing his eyes.

  “Did I hurt you?” I ask in alarm, pulling back.

  He grunts, shaking his head. He puts his hands under my butt, and he pushes his fingers over the hill to the place between my legs he just made erupt with climax. Jayson strokes me with careful, feather-light touches, causing the temperature to rise once again. The ticklish sensation sends shards of pleasure splintering through me and my head spins. I can’t tell where the shower ends and my wetness begins. All I know is that I’m drenched for him. With another grunt, Jayson easily hefts me up off the floor, and I twine my legs around him like he requested. “Guide me inside,” he tells me.

  I hesitantly fondle his manhood once more, grasping around the hilt, enjoying its velvety weight in my palm, and slowly bringing my hand up and down. Jayson swears softly. His arms tremble with the strain of holding back. I suddenly realize I have the same power over him that he has over me. I can make him feel good. I can make him explode.

  “You don’t want to wait?” I tease softly. I close my hand over the tip of his hardness and roll my palm around and around in tantalizing circles. Jayson’s forehead drops to my shoulder, and I hear him exhale shakily. He nuzzles my neck, kissing my throbbing pulse. A droplet of moisture bursts from the tip of his hard-on and wets my palm. I didn’t expect that but I like it. It’s a signal. I massage up and down, circling with my wrist to heighten the sensation. He nips at the side of my neck, biting down harder with each circuit.

  “Damn it, Kit,” he growls. “I’m trying to hold out for you.” He gasps. I feel his cock get even harder in my hand. I didn’t know that was possible. It’s like steel wrapped in silk. My clit throbs in response, and I finally take his swollen member and guide it into my slick flesh. At first there’s a sting. I brace myself for the pain of last night, but it doesn’t come. He slips the rest of the way inside without any trouble although I feel myself widen, taking him. A languorous moan spills from my lips as he pushes his erection deeper inside of my receptive body as if he was made to fill me and only me, as if we were one being. As he moves, he seems to touch every erogenous zone.

  My nails dig into his back and shoulders, and my legs tighten around his hips, the heels of my feet pressing into the back of his thighs. I strain forward, delirious with sensation. My back rolls away from the cool tile wall as my hips push forward to accept him. Then, we dance the dance that takes us where we both desire to go. My sheath swallows him, releases him, sucks him back inside. It’s like every fantasy, every dream of desire, but so much better, so much richer and more surprising. “Yes, Jayson!” I scream. “Yes!”

  Sobbing with rapture, I explode yet again. My body shakes uncontrollably, thighs tightening around his hips as my hot, throbbing womanhood jerks and spasms. Crumpling with weakness, I go limp in his arms. He batters my body, pumping faster and harder, deeper. The movement teases my still-pulsating sex to come again at the very same time he lets out a primal growl, mad with pleasure. I gasp his name as he tears away from me. My feet fall to the floor. I hold myself up by the rails, reach out a hand to cup his. His hand and my hand squeeze down his shaft, and he collapses against me, spewing his seed against my stomach. It’s hot and copious. He keeps coming, and as he comes undone, he hoarsely yells my name over and over. I feel possessed by him. I feel like I am his—and there is nothing sweeter in this world.

  * * *

  “Do you like your eggs scrambled or what?” I ask. I think I already mentioned to Jayson I suck at cooking, but since he gamely asked for breakfast, I decide to give it my best shot. I turn around, holding up the whisk I’m about to use to scramble the eggs.

  “Surprise me,” he replies with a grin.

  I giggle. “Okay, but I don’t want to hear any complaints when you get your plate. It’ll be a surprise, alright.”

  It’s late Sunday morning after our tryst in the shower, and I don't have a single thing planned for the rest of the day. I don’t have to go to work. I don’t have to go to school. And, even though I have a little studying to do, that can wait. Instead, I look across the bar and study the man sitting there. His hawkish nose casts a shadow over his shapely lips. His almond-shaped eyes are the color of whiskey. His skin is deeply tanned, and his dark crewcut gives him a military look, supremely confident and competent. He’s all male and yet still, somehow, gentle. I trust him. It’s hard to believe someone I’ve only known about a month and a half can make me feel like this. I shiver deliciously.

  “Jayson, I hope I’m not holding you up from anything important today. You don’t have to stay if you have things to do.” My hurt feelings of earlier got salved in the shower. I can let him go now, if he needs to go. I just want to make sure we’re on the same page. No point in planning a lazy day in his company if he’s not free to linger.

  Jayson arches a brow. “Hmm, I’ve always got something or other to do, what with work and my younger brothers, my mom and all that…but it’s nothing Cast or Dev can’t handle. Ashby stayed over at my place last night to be with Momma, who I’m sure is tickled pink that I didn’t make it in last night. You’ll have to meet her. She’s a big fan of us seeing more of each other.”

  “You told your mom about me?” I ask in surprised pleasure.

  “Technically that big mouth, Cast, told her.” He chuckles. I try to picture Jayson and the rest of the Zephyr brood together under one roof. Jayson would be the sober, serious one trying to take charge of everything. From what I know of Castiel, he’d be the joker of the family. I don’t know Devon well, and I haven’t met Ashby at all.

  “I want to meet your family,” I say wistfully. Then I wonder if I’m taking things too far too fast. But he did say I’d have to meet his mom. I push aside my fears.

  Jayson snaps his fingers, as if remembering something he forgot. “Hey, that stuff we bought at the estate sale is supposed to be delivered today anyway.”

  “Perfect! With you here, I won’t have to throw my back out trying to put everything in place.”

  Jayson moves away from the counter to step up behind me at the stove. He pulls aside my white blond hair and nuzzles his face against the pale curve of my neck. We’re almost the same height. I thrust my buttocks back against his pelvis and feel the growing ridge of his erection. Delicious, tempting thoughts of making love again surface.

  “There are perks to having a guy like me around.”

  “I’ll be sure to list each and every perk off to my mother when she finds out about us. She seems to think I can do better than you.” I grin as he pulls away. I notice his pained expression and
realize I spoke out of turn. “Wow, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” I try to explain.

  Jayson puts up his hands, smiles at me. “It’s cool. I have a pretty clear idea of what your mom thinks of me.”

  I look around. It’s funny how life works. If it weren’t for the charming house in Western Addition, I probably never would’ve met Jayson. This is the house that bad decisions built, if you ask my mom. Now, everything is changing. I started out keeping Jayson at a distance because I knew my mother wouldn’t approve. I was going to follow her orders and sell my house. It took my best friend Grace to show me what a big mistake I was making. If this was supposed to be my chance to prove I could do things on my own, then why let my mother dictate everything? I decided to keep the house…and after last night? I’m deciding to keep Jayson, too.

  “It doesn’t matter what my mom thinks of you,” I say as I set his plate in front of him. “She thinks I won’t make it over here on my own, too. She’s wrong. We’ll prove it to her.”

  Chapter 18

  KITRINA

  Professor Schwartz lectures from the podium, displaying an obvious fascination with the subject of Monday’s lesson. It’s one of the reasons she’s my favorite teacher; the woman knows her stuff. Making obscure weaving techniques come to life with a flick of her wrist and point of her stylus, she enthralls the rest of the class with a slideshow. At least, they remain more convincingly attentive than I do, for a change, even though I’m arguably the teacher’s pet. Ordinarily I would be hanging onto her every word. She’s my mentor, my design and décor idol, my favorite professor in the whole university. But, at my table in the front row, I have a hard time paying attention to a word she says. When she mentions the section she’s currently covering will be on the final, I studiously snatch my wayward thoughts away from my amazing, unforgettable, life-changing weekend with Jayson to take notes.