Alicia, on the other hand, didn't expect any of that from me and was giddy with excitement over the fact that I had bothered to pull out some stops. My heart did the turny thing again. I was starting to think there was something wrong with me, only it didn’t happen when she wasn’t around.
Clasping a hand over her mouth, her wide blue eyes darted to mine. "When you do dates, you really do them well, don't you?"
"Told you. I don't do dates. Since this is a first for me, I figured I might as well see what all the fuss was about." The driver was waiting to open the door for us, but I told him it was okay and pulled on the handle to open the door for her myself.
"And gentlemen Jared's back," she muttered with a smile as she gracefully lowered herself onto the seat. I knew what she was thinking about as the memory of our first dinner together and how surprised she had been when I'd pulled out her chair for her jumped into my mind.
I smirked, joining her in the back seat. "I don't know whether I should be hurt that you’re surprised. You've seen what I can do before."
"I wasn't sure if that was a one-time only thing," she joked and took my hand when I reached for hers again as I sat down.
My body was doing all this stuff without my permission. It was like I couldn't stop touching her, whether I wanted to or not.
"Nothing with you seems to be a one-time thing." I didn't mean to say the words out loud, but since they were out there, and there was no taking them back, I owned them. "It doesn't matter what I tell myself. Just once with you is never enough."
She opened her mouth to say something, but she seemed to think the better of it and smiled, saying only, "Ditto."
The restaurant I made reservations at was set in the garden area of one of the city's luxury hotels. We were shown to a private table nestled in a copse of trees among the greenery. Lanterns were strung above our heads, providing soft, yellowed lighting along with a variety of handblown crystal oil lamps and candles on the table.
After taking our seats, ordering drinks and appetizers, Alicia looked around us with wonder in her eyes. Her hair was swept back into a bun at the side of her neck and her hand rested on the exposed skin at the other side. "The limo, a rose, the garden. What next?"
"You'll have to wait and see." For our main meals, I'd gotten the chef to prepare a dish Alicia mentioned once she'd give anything to try.
We were sitting in her office waiting for an interviewer who was running late one day, and she was reviewing catering options for a dinner for the execs she was helping Gerry with. She came across a picture of the seafood paella this chef made and turned her screen toward me, saying, "Isn't that just the best-looking food you've ever seen? There’s nothing I wouldn't give for just one bite of that."
Amazing how I remembered all these little comments she made and still had trouble remembering huge interviews or about vital paperwork Gerry needed signed.
She smiled from across the table and reached for my hand, apparently as unwilling to go for any extended length of time without touching me as I was her. "I look forward to it. Until we see what else you've cooked up, how about we get some of the first date conversation out of the way?"
"I think we're past that." We'd been sleeping together for months, and at this point, she knew me better than any woman had known me before. There was, however, something about her I remained curious about. "You told me once you got into the business because you loved music and to sing, but you realized you weren't very good at it."
Surprise sparked in her eyes over me remembering, a giggle escaping her full lips. "That's an understatement. I sucked at singing, but I'm sensing that was more than a statement. What’s the question?"
My lips pulled up into a grin, and I squeezed her hand, amused by her easy candor about her lack of musical abilities. "You said you wanted to help people who could make music, but why public relations?"
She didn't answer immediately, thinking the question over. "I could say because I'm good at it, but I guess I didn't always know I was. To be honest, I can't remember the exact day I decided this was what I wanted to do with my life. I just remember reading an article about a band and thinking 'if they were my clients, I never would have let the magazine go to print with that in it.' The rest is history."
"And now you're working your magical powers for us. We’re grateful, you know?"
"I wouldn't have it any other way, though of all the dreadful and hilarious things I've seen from my former clients, you guys definitely take the cake."
"Dreadful?" I teased, grasping my chest in mock hurt. "We're not that bad."
Alicia laughed and launched into a list of reasons why we were both her most rewarding and most challenging client yet. We talked throughout dinner, only briefly interrupted with Alicia's squeals of excitement when she saw what we were having for mains.
Talking to Alicia was always so easy. There were never any awkward silences or random bouts of small talk to pass the time. All too soon, dinner was over, and we were back at her house. Alicia was toying with the red rose between her delicate fingers as she looked up at me. "I have to admit, that was some first date."
"Glad you liked it. And while we're admitting things, I should admit that I haven't been as nervous about a date since—" Alicia stopped my sentence with a deep kiss, winding her arms around my neck.
I heard a low creak, and it must have been her nudging her door open with one of her feet because the next thing I knew, I was being pulled inside her house with her lips hungry on mine. Looked like the date wasn't over yet. I internally crossed my fingers and hoped to my getting-lucky stars I was finally going to get to unzip that dress now.
It wasn’t just my dick making plans for what to do with her once I got her inside. It was growing harder by the second under her fervent kisses, but the rest of my body was reacting to her too.
My heart was throwing itself against my ribs, and every fiber of my being rejoiced that she was pulling me inside her house rather than saying goodbye. We’d just spent the whole night together, and I wasn’t nearly ready to let her go.
In the back of my mind, I was starting to realize what it all meant, the fact I couldn’t get enough of her. Couldn’t stop touching her and didn’t want to leave her side. Soon, I was going to have to face facts.
Moaning as she parted my lips with her tongue, I pushed all thoughts of my pathetic feelings aside, I could face those later. All I wanted right now was to be with her.
CHAPTER 60
ALICIA
Jared was sitting at the end of my bed, his eyes following my every move. I reached for my curtains, still wearing the super fancy dress I’d borrowed from Kelly for the occasion, flicking them closed with a tug of my hand.
The room fell into darkness, only to be lit again with the soft glow of my decidedly unenthusiastic bedside light. I’d had the thing forever, and though it hadn’t come with a dimmer switch, the light it gave off was almost like a dimmer stuck on low.
The privacy of the curtains and the low light made it feel like we were in the shadows, totally shielded from the world outside. It created a little cocoon where it was just me and Jared in our own world.
Somehow, my room managed to recreate the intimacy of the setting we’d had at the restaurant.
I stood before Jared when the curtains were drawn, and he rose, wordlessly bringing his arms around me to undo my zipper. The dress fell to the floor, and I stepped out of it, compelled by the heat consuming me from his eyes to simply stand still before him.
Reaching for his jacket, I pushed it off his shoulders, and he shrugged it off, letting it join my dress by our feet. His belt was next, and he toed off his shoes so his pants and shirt could follow.
When he was left only in tight black boxer briefs, he sat down on the bed again and lifted me onto his lap, straightened his legs, and had me straddling him in a matter of seconds. His hands tunneled into my hair, his lips curled into the sexiest smile before he guided my mouth to his.
Kissing me with
the passion of a dying man whose life only I could save, his tongue danced with mine, sending bursts of pleasure to my extremities. I ground against him, moaning as his erection rubbed against my core.
Strong arms surrounded my waist, flipping me over onto my back. His delicious weight pressed me deeper into the mattress. When his lips met mine, his kiss went even deeper, more passionate. I could feel him pouring everything he was into me and by extension, my very soul.
This kiss was so much more than anything we’d ever shared before.
Surrendering to his ardent kisses and whatever was passing between us with them, I rolled my hips against him and turned off my brain. He swallowed my groans of pleasure at finally getting the friction I desperately needed between my legs.
His lips felt like heaven under mine, soft and determined at the same time. Low sounds escaped from the back of his throat as I ground against his hard cock. Those combined with the blatant passion of his kisses were driving me crazy. His hips bucked up against mine, his need as obvious as mine.
The man was too sexy for his own good or for mine. My panties were drenched, my muscles already tightening in anticipation of him.
I broke our kiss to gaze into his dark eyes. They were lit in the dim light with a kind of peaceful happiness I didn’t associate with him, and his eyelids were at half-mast with lust.
“You okay?” I asked breathlessly, noticing something else lurking in his eyes. Something darker, more intense than happiness or desire.
“No,” Jared grumbled. I started to scoot back on his muscular thighs, but he gripped my hips to hold me firmly in place. “Not unless I get inside you very fucking soon.”
He glanced down, and I followed his gaze. His cock was already protruding from the waistline of his briefs, but his eyes caressed mine gently. “I didn’t do all that tonight just to get here, you know?”
“I know,” I told him, peppering his jawline with kisses.
Jared was trying to appear as controlled as he always was, but his eyes screamed, “Now.” He bucked his hips again and pleasure rocked through me. I couldn’t help pushing my hips against his. He grunted with me as if he could feel my pleasure. His hips jerked, and his breathing grew ragged, his chest rising and falling fast.
Hard length throbbing and hot against my core, he leaned back until his head rested on my pillow, but he pinned me with his dark eyes. Very slowly, he brought his hands to my face and let his fingers stroke my face before lifting one hand to the nape of my neck and bringing my mouth down to his.
Kissing me gently yet insistently, he pressed down on my back so my body was flush with his ripped abdomen. I could feel his muscles bunch and tighten as we kissed, his body as tightly coiled as mine was. His hand went to the elastic of my panties and then pushed past them and stroked me until I was breathless and panting against his mouth.
He kept stroking, dipping the tips of his fingers into me, and then withdrawing just in the very nick of time. Again and again and again.
“Jared, please,” I pleaded. I trusted him to undo the enormous knot he was tying in me, winding it tighter and tighter until it felt like I was going to implode, making me need him more than I’d ever needed him before.
He kissed me deeply as he slid two fingers into me and pressed his thumb to my clit. A couple more strokes later, I was writhing and moaning, my hips bucking as he finally started pulling on the string holding those knots together.
He broke our kiss to smile faintly at me. “I got you. You can let go now, Alicia. Come for me.”
And so I did, powerless to resist his deep, sexy voice or the strokes of his talented fingers. He played my body as though it was his piano, the instrument he’d mastered and had been playing for years. I should’ve been used to what he could do to me, but tonight felt, in a way, like the first time we were together.
The way he was looking at me, the way his every movement seemed to have the singular purpose of bringing me pleasure, I’d never had him, nor any other man for that matter, be so completely focused on me.
Pleasure crashed into me, rolling from my pussy to the tips of my fingers and toes as my orgasm ripped through my body. He stroked me through it, pressing gentle kisses to my neck and the tops of my breasts.
I came twice more before he finally withdrew his hand, my bones too languid and jellylike to move. Jared’s dick was almost totally out of his briefs by now, fully engorged with moisture leaking from its tip. The veins in it pulsed and throbbed, clearly betraying his need for release.
He didn’t say a word, but he’d been writhing beneath me seconds ago, the muscles in his throat working as he fought his own needs to give me mine. “Ready for one more?”
His voice was rough and course, breathy. I nodded, my muscles straining from my two previous orgasms as I lifted myself onto my knees. Kicking my panties free, I realized Jared had unhooked my bra at some stage without my even noticing.
My nipples were hard and begging for his touch as I pulled his briefs from his legs and lined myself up over him. “More than ready.”
Jared grasped his cock with his hand and placed his other on my hip, guiding my slick wetness to him easily. As he positioned me above his throbbing heat, he captured my mouth for another hot kiss.
Slowly, even though I was so ready for him I was aching, he edged my pussy onto him. I lost myself in the glorious sensations rocketing through my body. His fingers might’ve known how to play me, but it was still nothing compared to this.
He filled me so completely, so deliciously that I had no choice but to scream when he started moving. His arms tightened around my hips like vices, as if he was trying to hang onto me to ground him. Then he lowered his head to my breast and took my nipple into his warm mouth. I whimpered and squirmed, so completely consumed by him, I could hardly breathe.
Jared was staring up at me with the same intensity, that same emotion in his eyes that’d been there almost all night but was now amplified by about a thousand. I bit back a series of loud moans, thought blurring and flying into the four corners of the galaxy. Try as I might, I couldn’t hold onto a single thought long enough to make sense of it.
One word rattled around my brain as I climbed to another peak. Simple and yet so complicated: love.
I exploded onto Jared’s cock, my walls clutching and clenching and milking him dry as I lost track of even that one thought. He tensed beneath me, his hips jerking as his features tightened. “Fuck, yes. Alicia. Yes!”
Following me over to the blissful abyss, Jared groaned loudly and held onto me as he thundered through his own release. Breathing heavily, I collapsed onto his chest, my muscles refusing to hold me up any longer.
Jared shifted on my bed when we were done, rolling me off him and pulling me close to him. I rested my head on his chest and listened to his heart race in time with mine. We lay like that for a long time, in complete and total silence.
Something was clearly on his mind. I wasn't used to him being contemplative after sex, and I almost asked him what was going through his mind, but I stopped myself. I wasn't going to put pressure on him to say anything about what I thought I saw in his eyes earlier.
Settling in against his warm chest, my breathing evened out, and my eyelids were growing heavy when I heard him mutter something under his breath. Lifting my eyes to his, I blinked at the intensity of the emotion I saw there. "Did you say something?"
"No." I could see the battle he was fighting with himself. He both want to tell me what he was thinking more than anything and wanted to keep it from me with a passion. "Alicia, I …"
My heart skipped a beat, knowing without a shadow of a doubt he was trying to tell me he loved me. Inhaling a deep breath, his eyes closed and opened again. "I've been thinking. You make me feel things I never thought I could … I mean, I think I'm …"
I'd never seen him as conflicted or as unsure about how to say what he needed to in my life. This was Jared Larsen we were talking about. Supremely confident, live life balls to the wall, and nev
er regretting a thing. Censoring his mouth wasn't something he did very often.
He stammered out a few more sentences along those lines before falling silent. Each time, he stopped just before he told me he loved me, but I didn't need him to say it. I knew now that Caleb had been telling the truth and that what I saw and felt when I was with Jared was real.
Without a word, I wrapped my arms tighter around him, hoping it brought him some measure of comfort. I'd never held onto anyone like this. He was unlike any man I'd ever met, and my feelings for him matched that sentiment. Especially now that I knew his did too. I planned on hanging on to him as tightly as I could for as long as he would let me.
CHAPTER 61
JARED
My mind was a clusterfuck of all the things I nearly said, should have said, and probably would regret not saying sooner rather than later. As it was, I'd given too much away with Alicia that night after the most intense, mind-blowing sex of my life.
Sex, fucking, making love, I didn't even know what to call it anymore.
Telltale blue and red lights flashed in front of Alicia's office building when I got there for a meeting, instantly focusing my mind on the here and now instead of the confused ramblings of a horny brain. I'd concluded the only thing that really made sense about the cascade of strong emotions I felt when I was with Alicia was probably only because I wanted her so damn much.
It didn't really make sense, but that was my story, and I was sticking to it. Tires skidding to a stop as I braked hard, I parked in the nearest available spot and jumped out of my car.
If the police were here, it was never good news for the band. Fuck, what could it possibly be now?
I sure as shit had been keeping my nose clean, and I was pretty sure the others had been doing the same, which begged the question, why were the cops here this time?
My One and Only: A Bad Boy Secret Baby Second Chance Romance Page 93
