by Cassie Cross
“I thought you would’ve TP-ed some houses or something. But where you guys grew up, the TP budget probably would’ve been massive.”
That gets Jason interested. “What would you know about TP-ing houses?” he teases.
Kaia innocently shrugs. “Not much. I never did it myself,” she continues, even though Chase and Jason are giving her their best disbelieving looks. “But my sister dated this guy in high school who was a master at it. He was like a TP ninja; so stealthy.”
Kaia looks over at Jason, and she swears he almost looks a little jealous that she’s complimenting another guy’s TP-ing skills.
Men.
“If you weren’t doing that, then what was your poison for a little mischief making in high school?” Chase asks her.
“I grew up in Iowa. There was only so much mischief to be made. We did pretty low-level stuff, what I would consider to be typical teenaged troublemaking.”
“Like?”
“Like getting drunk under the bleachers. Making out under the bleachers. Doing other stuff under the bleachers,” she says with a laugh.
Chase leans forward, resting his elbows on the table, completely interested in the turn this conversation has taken. Jason’s hand stills on her back. She turns and gives him a soft smile, then rests her hand on his thigh, not wanting him to get too uptight over things that happened years ago.
“Sounds like those bleachers saw a ton of action.” Chase says.
“So did the people under them.”
Chase lets out a loud laugh. “I like you,” he says to Kaia. Then, he turns to Jason. “You hang onto this one.”
Jason gives Kaia a soft, smitten smile. “I’m planning on it.”
A swarm of butterflies slams right into her ribcage, knocking the breath right out of her. She’s never wanted to be held onto so badly in her entire life.
“Being from Iowa, did you ever go cow tipping?” Chase asks.
Kaia shakes her head. “No way. Not all of Iowa is desolate farmland, and that’s a total bumpkin stereotype! How would you like it if I did that to you?”
“Stereotype?”
Kaia nods. “Yeah, like, assumed that you two…I don’t know, stole a Lamborghini or something.”
Jason barks out a laugh. “No, no Lamborghinis.”
“We did take Kyle’s dad’s Maserati out once though, remember that?”
With a soft laugh, Jason’s hand resumes its comforting circuit, up and down her spine. Kaia leans into it.
“Guess they’re stereotypes for a reason, then,” Chase laughs.
“And look at you now!” Kaia raises her hands, gesturing to both Chase and Jason. “You’re both fine, upstanding citizens. Who would’ve thought?”
“It’s amazing what growing up will do for you.”
Kaia looks over at Jason, and smiles. “It is. Really amazing.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Jason sits on the edge of his bed, watching Kaia through the open bathroom door. She’s standing in front of what he’s quickly starting to think of as her sink, brushing her teeth. She’s wearing nothing but a bra and a flimsy pair of underwear. Her hair is down, and she looks as gorgeous as he’s ever seen her.
He likes knowing that after she puts the toothbrush down, she’s going to tie her hair back, and rub a cloth across her face that removes all of her makeup. After that, she’ll carefully pat moisturizer into her skin. Jason likes the way it smells when he nuzzles up close to her when they’re trying to sleep.
This, he realizes, is intimacy. It’s something that he’s run away from for almost his whole life, and now he finds that he craves it.
With Kaia.
When Chase left this evening, Jason walked him out, as Kaia started clearing the table. Once his old friend was in the elevator, before the doors closed, he leaned forward and said, “Don’t you dare fuck that up.”
Jason wouldn’t dare. He wants Kaia with him always, and he feels that down in his bones.
He knows that’s a feeling he probably wouldn’t have if the heaviness of the past were still weighing on him. As angry and as shocked as he was when Elise told him the truth, he finds that it quickly fizzled out. In a perfect world, he’d still be able to think about his mother and father and feel unwavering pride and respect. Knowing what they did is troubling, to say the least. It would be so easy to let that infect his memories of them, and he’s entertained that more times than he cares to admit. But he believes what Kaia told him is true. Jason is their son, and despite what deception they were involved in professionally, they loved him, more than anything.
He felt loved and protected as a child, until it all fell apart. He’s hung onto that pain and fear for so long, he wants to let it go.
It’s time to let it go. To imagine a future free of the burdens of the past. That’s what Elise gave him when she decided that the present and the promise of the future was more important than keeping his mother and father up on a pedestal.
Jason thinks it’s about time he thanked her for that. She’s given him more than she even realizes.
And there isn’t a single part of him he’s afraid to let Kaia see. He’s spent so many years hiding, keeping himself covered up and closed off. It’s so freeing to be able to sit here in his boxers, not worried about what Kaia will think when she sees them.
She treats his scars (both the physical, and the emotional ones) with the care they deserve, but she doesn’t let them define him.
Jason never thought he’d ever want to have this, much less be lucky enough to actually find it. Now, he doesn’t ever want to let it go.
He’s so lost in thought—in revelation—he doesn’t even notice Kaia standing in front of him.
He spreads his legs, and she steps right into the space he’s made for her, then runs her fingers through his hair. He sighs, and closes his eyes, enjoying the way her nails lightly scratch against his scalp.
He wants to spend every night like this. With her.
“Chase loved you,” he tells her, pride lacing his voice.
“Yeah?”
His eyes are still closed, but he can imagine the sweet smile on her face by her tone.
“Mmm,” he agrees. “In the elevator, he told me that I better not fuck it up.”
Kaia laughs. “I agree with him there.”
Jason’s eyelids flutter open, and he looks up at Kaia with unguarded affection written all over his face. He reaches out for her, placing his hands on her hips, where they fit perfectly, and he pulls her closer.
“I’m not going to fuck it up,” he says, his voice a little broken, but full of promise.
Kaia smiles at him, then cups his face. “I know you won’t.”
He turns his head, and kisses her palm. “I love you, Kaia.”
Her smile broadens till it’s brighter than the sun. “Yeah?”
He nods. “So much.”
“Then I suppose it’s a good thing I love you, too.”
His heart? It’s flying. “Yeah?”
She nods. “So much.”
Jason’s hands slide up Kaia’s sides, and he smiles as he watches the goosebumps bloom across her perfect skin. He leans forward, and presses a kiss right next to her belly button.
“I was kinda hoping you’d let me show you how much,” he says.
“Yeah?”
He reaches up and unclasps her bra, then hooks his fingers in the waistband of her panties before slowly sliding them down her thighs.
“Mmm-hmm,” he says, tilting his head up and taking one of her nipples into his mouth. He runs his tongue across the pebbled flesh, relishing in the shiver that reverberates throughout Kaia’s body when he does it.
She lets out this hot, breathy moan, gripping the hair at the nape of his neck. She presses one knee into the mattress beside his hip, then the other, until she’s straddling him, hot and ready against his rapidly hardening cock.
He wants her so badly, and even though he’s impatient to be inside of her already, he wants to bring her t
o the brink, wants her to beg for him.
With his arm wrapped tightly around her waist, Jason flips her, so she’s on her back, and he’s on his knees, hovering over her. She lets out a delighted, surprised giggle, then pulls him down for a kiss.
He continues with the kisses. Down her neck, across her chest, along the length of her stomach. He nips at her hip bone, then slides his hands up the insides of her thighs, opening her legs for him.
Jason gets down on his stomach, wraps his arms around Kaia’s thighs, pulling her closer to him. He leans in, and licks a stripe along her slit, making Kaia slide her fingers into his hair, gripping it tightly.
Her breathing hitches as he circles her clit, then sucks it into his mouth. She lets out a soft, breathy moan, and Jason smiles against her. He wants more of those little noises, so he reaches up and pushes two fingers inside of her, making her gasp.
“Oh god,” she whines, rocking her hips as he curls his fingers up, hitting her in that place that makes her toes curl.
He doesn’t have to ask her if she likes it; he knows she does. He works his fingers and his tongue in tandem, winding her up tight until she’s chanting a soft, steady “please” over and over again. Jason slides his free hand up her body, tweaking her nipple as he gives her clit one last suck and flick of his tongue, and she falls apart beneath him, muscles clenching and relaxing around his fingers.
He steadily strokes her as she comes down, then kisses the inside of her thigh when she looks at him with that happy, sated look in her eyes.
“Love you,” she says.
He can’t help but smile at her as he crawls up her body. “I love you.” He feels so good saying it, he doesn’t ever want to stop. He knows he won’t ever tire of hearing it.
“C’mere and gimme a kiss.” Her words are a little slurred, and he can’t help the rush of masculine pride that fills his chest. He made her look and sound like this, and he knows he’s going to be doing that for the rest of her life.
He does as she asks. Their lips move together languidly, and Jason gets impossibly harder when Kaia sucks his tongue into her mouth.
She gently presses on his shoulder, and even though it isn’t nearly enough pressure to actually move him, he does what she wants him to anyway. She straddles him, then works her way down his body, until she’s sitting astride his legs.
Kaia leaves a trail of kisses along the band of his boxer briefs, then cups him through the fabric. She rubs his cock through the fabric, and he bucks his hips, chasing her touch.
He’s so hard that it hurts. He’s aching to be inside her.
Kaia slides his underwear off, tossing them somewhere on the floor. Then she sits back on his calves, and gives him a devious smile. Her hair is a little wild, falling in waves over her breasts.
She’s fucking gorgeous like this.
“C’mere,” he says roughly, crooking his finger towards her. All he wants is to bury himself deep inside her, to feel the weight of her on his body as she rides him.
Kaia, however, is in the mood to tease him.
She bends at the waist, letting the ends of her hair tickle his upper thighs. He can feel every breath of hers across his skin, and it sends shivers up his spine.
Whatever she wants to do to him in this moment, he’s going to let her. Gladly.
She licks along the underside of his shaft, before she takes him in her mouth, all warm and wet. She works him just the way he likes, sucking and licking until he’s reaching over to brush her hair out of the way so he can watch the way her lips slip up and down his sensitive, overheated flesh.
Each movement pushes him closer and closer to the brink. He’s going to come soon, and he wants to be inside of her when he does.
“Kaia, please,” he manages. “I want inside of you.”
She must see the desperation in Jason’s eyes, because she lifts off of him with a quick pop of her mouth, then gives him a long, slow kiss, grinding against him right where he wants to be.
“Please,” he says again, not missing the fact that even though he wanted her to beg him for more, he’s entirely happy that the tables have turned. “Ride me.”
Blessedly, she gives in, and Jason’s head lolls back as she slowly lowers herself down onto him. He lets out a long, unsteady breath. Thinks, finally. This feels like home.
He pushes himself up, and sits cross-legged, wrapping Kaia’s legs around his waist until she’s comfortable situated in his lap. He can’t get as deep in this position, but the intimacy of it is what he’s craving. Kaia rotates her hips, sometimes alternating the motion as he gets lost in the paradise of her body. She wraps her arms around him, their chests rubbing together as they move, his thumb rubbing quick circles on her clit, making her back arch and her breathing ragged.
Jason kisses her breasts, up the valley between them, before settling on her perfect lips.
Neither one of them is in any particular hurry to come, but eventually it becomes impossible not to chase the pleasure that’s building up inside of them.
“Jason,” Kaia breathes, as she presses her forehead against his. “I need…”
“What? What do you need?”
“More,” she begs.
She rocks against him desperately, and he picks up the pace to help her along. He’s steadily losing the thread, but he’s going to hang on until she comes.
“Come on,” he whispers, his lips brushing the shell of her ear. Then he sucks on the sensitive part of her neck, and she’s coming, holding onto him for dear life as her hips rock onto his. He fucks her through it, unable to hold on much longer, burying his face in her neck as he spills into her.
They collapse onto the bed, still tangled around each other, Kaia’s head pillowed on his chest.
“Wow,” she says, smiling.
“Wow,” he replies, because he’s too blissed out to think of any other words right now, and that one covers it just as well as any others would.
She grins, and snuggles up closer.
“Thank you,” he whispers, leaning in and pressing a kiss to her forehead.
“For what?” she asks, eyebrows drawn together.
“For being here. For loving me.”
Kaia balances herself on her elbow, then slides her hand up his chest until she’s cupping his cheek. She leans in and gives him a soft kiss.
“There isn’t anywhere else I’d rather be, or anything else I’d rather be doing.”
He smiles against her mouth.
“Would you do something for me?” he asks.
Kaia nods. “Anything.”
“Come to California with me. I need to go and talk to Elise.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“So, you’re not ever coming back, right?” Janine asks, as she fiddles with the zipper pull on Kaia’s suitcase, which is lying open on top of her bed.
“What?” Kaia asks. Her voice is muffled from somewhere in her closet, where she’s trying to decide whether she should bring the red dress, or the blue one. Then she realizes that she and Jason are flying to California on his private jet, so she can bring whatever in the hell she wants.
She takes them both off of their hangers, and tosses them over her arm before walking back into her bedroom.
“You’re not coming back, are you?”
Kaia laughs. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Janine reaches up and twirls a lock of hair between her fingers. “Cause a hot, rich guy who’s totally in love with you is taking you to San Francisco on a private jet. Why would you come home after that? He’s probably got some ridiculous, to-die-for oceanfront mansion that you’re going to fall in love with and never come back.”
“Wow,” Kaia says, carefully folding the dresses and placing them in her bag. She walks over to Janine, and makes a show of putting her hand on her forehead, like she’s checking for a fever. “Are you feeling okay?”
“No!” Janine says with a laugh. “It’s happening. I mean, I’ve been prepared for this for a while now, but…it�
��s really happening.”
Kaia is completely lost. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Janine shakes her head, and gives Kaia a soft, sad smile. “Don’t mind me. Just having some weird best-friend-slash-roommate separation anxiety. It’ll pass.”
“What’s really going on?” Kaia asks, as she takes a seat next to her friend.
“I’m just sad,” Janine says with a little shrug. “You’re leaving.”
Still completely perplexed, Kaia says, “Yes. To California. But it’s just for a few days. I’ll be back on Monday.”
“But you won’t be back here.”
“I’ll stay at Jason’s for a while, yeah.”
Janine gives her a sideways glance. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
“That I’ll be staying at Jason’s?”
Janine laughs. “No, that you’ll start staying at Jason’s more and more, and then you’re basically just paying rent for a place to keep your stuff. It’s like…it’s like a really expensive closet.”
“You’re getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”
With a little shake of her head, Janine says, “Nah. I think you’re a little behind. It’s already started, Kaia. And I’m happy for you, I really am. I’m just…it’s totally selfish, and I get that. I’m not trying to be a jerk, I’m just a little sad for me. I feel like I’m losing you.”
“You’re not losing me,” Kaia says emphatically.
“The last time we had a movie night was when Jason fucked up and you found out he had secret security guards tailing you.”
Surely that couldn’t be right. But when Kaia stopped and thought about it, she realized that Janine was right.
“Oh god. Janine, I’m-”
“It’s okay,” she says, finally smiling. “I don’t know if you’re in some kind of denial, or just really incredibly dense, but you and Jason, you’re…you’re it for each other.”
Kaia is neither of those things. She’s just been afraid to talk about everything that’s going on because it’s perfect right now. And she’s worried that if she voices how perfect it is…something will go wrong.
