by Jayne Blue
“I could get used to this,” he said.
“Which part?” I smiled and felt the heat of a blush creep into my cheeks. An odd reaction considering my position at the moment.
“The sight of you on top of me like this. I get to see all of you in action.”
I wanted Jack to savor his view. I braced myself putting my hands against his solid chest as I started my slow fuck and grind. His eyes were locked on my tits. A smile curved the corner of his mouth as I fucked harder; my nipples bobbed before him. Seeing how much he enjoyed watching me somehow aroused me even more. Watching me take my pleasure turned him on and that too was a new experience for me.
I tried to go slow, tried not to give into my shameless urge to fuck him like an animal. But the more he let me control the rhythm, with his cock rooted so deep, I lost myself in it. The room went away, my life went away. Everything became the feel of his dick buried in me and growing friction as I ground against him. I was so wet. I could feel myself pulse and throb as I fucked him so hard I started to bounce. Jack had his hands on my hips. If he hadn’t, I might have lost my balance. He loved watching me. I could feel him grow even harder between my legs as I rubbed myself over him.
As my orgasm built, it felt like I was outside my body for just an instant. I could see myself in my mind’s eye from a distance almost. It shocked and aroused me all at once. I was primal and out of control. I arched my back, making my tits jut out toward him and whipped my hair back. Bracing myself with one hand on the bed I fucked Jack Manning like with wanton lust. It was easy and it felt so good. That single thought is what finally shattered the last remnants of my self-control. I was Jack’s and right now that’s all I wanted to be. My orgasm rippled through me, making me arch back wildly. It was Jack’s strong hands on my hips that kept me from losing my balance. I cried out his name as my body bucked and shook on top of him.
Then I seemed to lose the strength in my legs. Jack sensed it and rose up. He lifted me, still impaled on him and turned me so he was on top of me.
“Can you wrap your legs around me?” he whispered against my ear. I tried but I was made of rubber. Jack smiled, put a quick kiss on my forehead and then reached back, drawing my thighs up around his waist.
Then Jack took his turn.
I thought my body was wrecked already. I thought I had given everything in me. I was wrong. When Jack started to thrust in me deeper still, he coaxed my body to respond to his again. As he set his own rhythm, the bed shook under us and I felt a new gush of wetness between my legs as my arousal started to crest again. Jack shifted and gripped my ankles in his hands. Carefully, he brought them up and around until he had them nearly up to my ears, spreading my legs impossibly wide for him. He drove himself even deeper and I grew wetter still. In that moment, he owned me and I wanted it.
Then, Jack started to come. His balls were heavy against my thigh as his thrusts slowed. I felt him seize up and I wrapped my hands around his shoulders so I could ride the wave with him. He kept my ankles firmly in his hands. He grunted something, maybe my name, as he finally gave in to his own release through clenched teeth and the punishing pace he set as he drilled into me.
I felt the first hot, sticky spurts as Jack came deep inside me and I took it. All of it. His grip loosened on my ankles and I found the strength to wrap my legs and arms around him, drawing him in as far as I could as he came. When he finally shuddered out the last drops, I felt his body go slack in my arms.
But I wasn’t done yet. My nerves still thrummed with arousal and I gripped his ass and squirmed beneath him. Jack raised his head. His brow went up and a slow smile crept into his face as he realized what I needed. He planted his feet into the mattress and drove himself up further into me. I twisted and thrust under him. My second orgasm came quickly then; I felt my lips quiver around him, milking his cock. With one final arch of my back, I found my release while Jack held me and whispered my name.
Chapter Twelve
Jack
Tora Blake snored like an asthmatic bulldog. She fell asleep in my arms after the second time we fucked and I held her like that for over an hour, just watching her. When she was awake, she was fire and fury with her flashing green eyes that seemed to penetrate me. When she slept, she had a different kind of beauty. Her black lashes were so long and thick they fell almost to her cheekbones. I wound silky strands of her hair between my fingers. It was that rare pure black, not dark brown as I thought.
She dreamt. A line of worry cut straight between her brows and then she twitched and smiled. I wanted to know what made her do it. What did she see?
“What are your secrets, Tora Blake?” I whispered against her forehead. I was careful at first, afraid to wake her and break the magic spell of watching her slumber. After a while, I learned that short of throwing an ice bucket over her, nothing stirred her. Tora slept like the dead and I loved the slight weight of her in my arms. I pulled the sheet back a few inches so I could look at the rest of her.
She had small hands and small feet and I ran my fingers along the curve of her shoulder and touched the slope of her breast. She shuddered beneath me then settled back down. For as small as she was, her breasts were full and round. I traced the circle of her areola and watched one perfect pink nipple rise to my touch. I did the same to the other. I had wondered the other day about her freckles – the ones I saw below her clavicle. It turns out they were everywhere: a perfect light dusting that covered the top of her breasts like tiny grains of cinnamon. I wanted to taste her again. I shifted her in my arms and reached down to place one kiss on the top of each breast. Part of me wanted her to wake. I was getting hard again. But the steady rise and fall of her chest let me know she was still deeply under.
She’d fucked me with such wild abandon and I wanted to make her do it again. I wasn’t her first, of course. But something happened with her tonight that I guessed was new for her. I saw a wicked, delicious spark come into her eyes when I took control of her body and made her obey me. She wanted me to. Rose to it. Burned for it. I could take her so much farther, I thought. I suspected that Tora could be trained to play my kind of games. My cock stirred as my thoughts spun.
Except there was no way I could act on any of them. This was just for tonight. A revenge fuck for me and a wild night out for her. Tomorrow we would go back to our real lives. I looked out the window. Tomorrow was today. The rising sun made the sky pale pink and gray.
I should leave now. Wake her and tell her to leave now. We both had to get back. I had to go home and so did she.
To Seth.
Carefully, I rose from the bed so I didn’t disturb her. She murmured something and shifted to her back. The sheet was tangled around her legs so she lay almost spread eagle and naked in the center of my bed with her hair fanned out so it looked like wings. My dark angel.
Shit.
I couldn’t think like that. She wasn’t my anything. She was a means to an end. A momentary fix to a fucked-up situation. Except I didn’t want her to be Seth’s either. God, this seemed like such a good idea at the time. But staring at her in my bed ... she was unguarded and beautiful and still smelled of sex.
I turned, grabbed a clean towel out of the closet and headed in to take a cold shower. It helped a little. When I came back out, Tora was awake; there was a split second that I glimpsed her before she saw me. She sat hugging her knees and staring out the window; there was something so sad in her eyes and it cut through me.
“Good morning,” I said, my voice hoarse.
Tora’s face changed. The chameleon was back. A blush colored her cheeks and she smiled, hugging her knees closer as a lock of hair fell over her eye. She was stunning like that, I wished I could photograph her.
“I didn’t mean to sleep so long,” she said, suddenly shy.
“It’s early,” I said. I went to the closet and pulled out a black suit, still wrapped on the hanger from the dry cleaning service. I peeled back the plastic and started dressing.
“What’s on yo
ur plate for today?” Tora asked through a yawn.
I had the impulse to answer, you are. I said nothing for a minute as I slipped my arms through the sleeves of a newly pressed white dress shirt and began buttoning the cuffs.
“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” she said.
I stopped and went to her, stood over her as she looked up at me with those luminous green eyes. “I have to go home. My business is in Virginia. I’ve been gone over a week.”
“Of course,” she said. “I’m surprised you stayed out here this long.”
I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She stiffened for an instant and then relaxed, giving me her chameleon smile. I ached to know what she masked.
“I had a reason to,” I said looking her straight in the eye. If her shields were up, I decided to give her a sliver of honesty. She flinched.
“When are you coming back?”
I think I flinched this time. “I don’t know.”
Tora moved to the other side of the bed and slid out. She didn’t try to cover her nakedness. She simply walked to the center of the room where she’d cast off her clothes ... where I’d ordered her to strip for me.
“You made a promise to Seth,” she said as she slipped on her panties first, then her jeans. It was just as much of a turn-on watching her put clothes on as it had been when she took them off. “You’re in the wedding, remember?” her tone a skewering deadpan.
The laugh that came out of me was more of barking snort. “I think this makes me the worst best man ever ... or maybe the best worst man. I think that’s kind of out of the question now.”
Tora hooked her bra and reached down to grab her tank top and jacket. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“You’re sorry?”
“A little, yeah,” she answered. “I get that this whole thing is fairly fucked up. I’m not sorry for all of it ... but I’m sorry if it messes things up with you and Seth.”
“We’ve been messed up forever. And it hasn’t messed things up with you and Seth?”
Tora stiffened; her eyes flashed something I couldn’t quite read. If I had to name it, she had a moment where she looked like she was getting ready to confess something but thought the better of it. “I’m not going to say things aren’t complicated ... but my plans haven’t changed, if that’s what you’re asking me.”
“I wasn’t,” I said. “It’s just ... are you sure you’re okay? You just ... I don’t know ... I guess it’s none of my business. You’re a grown-up.”
She nodded as she slipped her arms into her jacket sleeves. She was standing right in front of me and without thinking, I put a hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her thick hair out from under the back of the jacket. The blush came into her cheeks again as she shook it out and ran a hand through her dark locks from crown to end.
“I love this,” I said, capturing a hank of it gently between my fingers. “It’s the darkest I’ve ever seen that I don’t think came out of a bottle.”
She smiled. “Black Irish.”
“What now?”
When she laughed, her smile finally reached her eyes, making them sparkle. “It’s like my dad’s ... I mean ... that’s what I was told. My grandparents emigrated from Ireland. Instead of red hair and freckles ... black hair and green eyes.” She made a gun with her hand and pointed to her eyes. “Black Irish.”
“Ah. Is he coming to the wedding?”
The smile vanished, and she flinched again. She shook her head and then put the mask back up. She bit her bottom lip and shrugged.
“I don’t have any family left. It’s just me.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I guess that’s something else we have in common.”
“Right.” Tora went over to the bureau and slung her purse over her shoulder. She turned back to me. “I’m really sorry that happened to your mother and your sister. Seth told me.”
If she was reading me as hard as I was trying to read her, she would pick up on my balled fists and clenched jaw. “Seth has no idea about what happened. He only knows what Miranda chose to tell him.”
“I know your mother and your sister were killed when a drunk truck driver hit them. It’s horrible and I’m sorry it happened. Really.”
I nodded. “Thanks. Like I said ... it looks like we have more in common than I thought.”
“Look.” Tora came to me and put a light hand on my chest. “I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for you. And with your dad marrying Miranda less than a year later. I don’t blame you one bit for resenting the shit out of her even if she had acted like Mary Fucking Poppins. That’s all I mean.”
“Thanks.” I leaned down and kissed her. She responded to my touch as if by instinct. God, what would it be like if I had more time with her? She tilted her head up and parted her lips. What I meant as a more or less chaste goodbye kiss turned more sensual. For once, I managed to rein myself in.
“I’ve got to go,” she said when we parted, her breath coming hard. “Goodbye, Jack. I ... I hope ...”
“I want to see you again.” I blurted it. “I’m serious.”
Her step faltered as she backed toward the door. “I know. I mean ... I don’t know.”
“I want to call you.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Seth will get suspicious.”
I wanted to scream how much I didn’t give a fuck what Seth did. But that wasn’t fair to Tora. I got into this knowing what the deal was with her. I should respect it. Instead, I found myself reaching into the wallet I’d left on the dresser. I pulled out a business card and handed it to her.
“My private cell is on there. Call me, Tora, if you ever want to even just talk. I’d like to hear from you, at least.”
She nodded and closed her fingers around the card. She took it and slipped it into the back pocket of her jeans.
“Are you coming back?” she asked.
The answer was no. At least, it was supposed to be. That’s not what came out of my mouth.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll be here for the wedding. No matter what else I am ... I do keep my promises.”
Tora tilted her head to the side and gave me a thoughtful smile. Again, I wanted to know what she was thinking. But she turned and walked out the door and I let her.
Chapter Thirteen
I caught the first puddle jumper out of O’Hare I could find. Tora was on my mind the entire time. Home. I told her I was going home. The truth was, I hadn’t had a traditional home since I was sixteen years old and opened the door to two Illinois state troopers standing on my dad’s porch, the lights of their patrol car streaking their somber faces in flashes of red.
I lived in hotels mostly and that’s the way I liked it. No cooking, no cleaning, no hassles. I had plenty of money to buy a place; in fact, my accountant was damn near apoplectic about how much I’d save if I did. But it’s never been about the money. I can make more if I need to.
I made two calls when I got back to the Arlington Hyatt. First, I called Vince, my assistant. I only had about sixteen messages from him – two for every day since I left for Chicago. He answered on the first ring.
“You’re a real asshole,” Vince said in lieu of hello.
“Relax,” I said. “It’s people like you who make me a better asshole. I had every confidence you could keep things running smoothly while I was gone.”
Vince sighed on the other end of the phone. “Send me flowers and tickets to whatever’s next at the Kennedy Center and I’ll forgive you.”
“They’re already on their way,” I said, making a mental note to send them. “Two of them. Front row center. You and Kevin will be able to see Bocelli’s nose hairs. Promise.”
“It’s a start.” I could tell by the tone of his voice that Vince was smiling. One fire more or less put out.
“You can’t leave for that long ... or you can’t not answer your phone for this long ever again. You know how crazy everyone gets? Apple’s trading all over the place. Chinese solar stocks are in the
wind ... it’s a mess.”
I laughed and felt like a dick all over again. I knew exactly what Vince had been putting up with. I manage portfolios for hundreds of clients but when anything big fluctuates, about twenty of them go Chicken Little and blow up my phone – in this case Vince’s phone.
“And I’m sure you handled everything like butter, Vince. You can do it again when you need to.”
“Which better not be for a loooong time, Jack,” he sighed. “I need my own fucking vacation. I hear Fiji’s nice this time of year.”
“Fiji’s nice every time of the year,” I said. “We’ll talk when it’s time for your Christmas bonus. What do you have lined up for me today?”
“Relax,” Vince said. “I’ve kept your schedule light. You’ve got a conference call with Mrs. Vallin at four o’clock. She just wants to liquidate some things for some kind of capital investment for her company. That’s been a whole other crisis what’s going on with her ... ugh ... you don’t even know.”
Vince’s voice went into overdrive. I put him on speaker, set my phone on the dresser and went into the other room to put my suitcase in the closet. I was gone for probably two full minutes and when I walked back in, he was still going. I picked up the phone.
“Vince,” I said. “Vince! I’ve got it, okay? Everything’s under control. Thank you. I’ll stop by the office after I take care of Mrs. Vallin and check in. Goodbye.”
I hung up on Vince in mid-sputter, but he was used to it by now.
The next call I made was to R.J. back in Chicago. He answered on the first ring the same way he did since he was a kid.
“Yello!”
“You at work?” I asked.
“Yes,” he answered. “Unlike some people, I have to put in at least sixty hours a week. I can’t just fire up my laptop for two minutes, make a million dollars and go to the bar.”
