Jordan Reclaimed

by Scarlett Cole

  “Hey, Aleksandra. How was Ottawa? I saw the reviews. You certainly impressed them.”

  Lexi smiled graciously at the compliment. “It was really good, but my ankle flared up again. Just trying to nab some time slots to see if I can’t get it fixed before we start to ramp up again.”

  Peter looked at the sheet and saw what she saw. The slots were few and far between, none of which would work with her rehearsal schedule.

  “Listen,” he said, “I know Lizzie and Beth from the corps can be flexible, so why don’t you assume you can take Beth’s spot tomorrow, and I’ll fit her in somewhere else.”

  Lexie hated bumping a more junior member of the company. “As long as she agrees. I don’t want to take her spot.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll clear it with her. And I’ll switch Lizzie’s for Thursday so you can come in then, too.”

  “Thanks so much, Peter,” she said. “I really appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome. And you remember what you need to be doing to it between now and tomorrow?”

  How could she forget? “Yes, oh sadist master,” she said. Peter laughed as he walked back into the physio rooms.

  Her phone vibrated.

  Meet me at the bar in Holt Renfrew at 6 pm.

  It had been years since she’d set foot inside the high-end luxury store on Bloor Street, and the thought of meeting him there was as exciting as it was daunting. She laughed at the lack of pleasantries, used to Jordan’s brusqueness. He’d finally told her during one of their many late-night conversations that he’d never owned a phone until the night he’d messaged her for the first time. She’d always remember the way his cheeks had heated at the confession.

  Hello Jordan, how are you? I’m fine, thanks for asking! Lexi typed quickly, teasing him about his message etiquette.

  Oh, yeah. Small talk. Fuck. I forgot. How was the trip back from Ottawa sexy Lexi?

  Much better. You’re a quick study. Trip was good. Just booking physio.

  WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE HURT?

  His use of capital letters made her smile. I’m always hurt somewhere, Jordan. It’s nothing serious. How are you?

  We’re still talking about you. Promise me you’re okay.

  I’m fine. Honestly. So what’s happening at 6 pm at Holt’s? She wandered back to the dressing room and debated whether to go home before meeting him.

  It’s a surprise. Later. A second message followed immediately. Sorry, Lex . . . I gotta go. See you later, Angel x

  Can’t wait <3

  Lexi looked at the time on her phone. Three p.m. She ran through her options. The first was to head home to get ready before she left to meet Jordan. If she went home, she could find that pretty new dress she’d bought for Christmas and something a little sexier to wear underneath. But going home would mean seeing her father. And he had pestered her over and over by text message since Friday’s schedule had come out to see when she might be able to go to New York. The more she thought about it, the more she didn’t want to go. Ballet companies held annual auditions for new dancers, and if she was really serious about transferring, she’d need to go line up with everybody else. While there was no hard, written rule, it was frowned on for one director to poach the staff of another ballet company. So Lexi wasn’t even sure what her father thought the outcome of the meeting would be.

  The second option was to use one of the clean outfits in her suitcase that would work to meet Jordan. For sure, the underwear she’d taken with her on the road wasn’t the sexiest, but it was clean and would do in the event he asked her to go back to his home with her. Her luggage would be fine. She could find somewhere to lock it up overnight. And it would give her the time she needed to pull on some warm-ups and go loosen up and stretch. Then ice her ankle before she showered and headed out. With a plan in place, Lexi began to change.

  Three hours later, she stepped into the bar on the third floor of Holt’s. Her hair was blow-dried and straightened, and she’d applied makeup—a sexy cat eyeliner and a dash of red lipstick. She had to resist the urge to run her fingers over the fine fabrics as she walked by the racks of beautiful clothes. While they were managing financially, her budget rarely stretched to Chanel or Fendi.

  She spotted Jordan immediately, and her heart raced a little. For some reason, she knew tonight was when she was finally going to sleep with him, and the thought made her tingle. Broad shoulders were hunched over the bar. His hair was tied back off his face, and he stared out of the windows that looked over Bloor Street.

  “Is this seat taken?” she asked, boosting herself up onto the tall stool.

  Jordan turned to face her and slipped his hands on either side of her face. “Fuck,” he said, staring into her eyes. “I missed you.” Lexi sighed as he pressed his lips gently to hers. It was restrained, controlled, respectful of the fact that they were sitting at the bar. “I’m seriously thinking of banking parts one and two of tonight and going straight to part three,” he said gruffly.

  “Can I get the lady a drink?” the bartender asked.

  Jordan moved away from her. “What would you like, Lexi?”

  “Something sparkly, please. A champagne cocktail or something.” She’d squeeze some extra cardio in the following morning to burn off the calories, but for tonight, she wanted to enjoy herself.

  “Leave it to me,” the bartender said with a smile.

  “Are you sure you’re okay, Lex?” Jordan asked, looking her up and down as if scouring her for signs of injury.

  “I dance for hours and hours every day, contorting my body in positions it wouldn’t normally want to be in. Any dancer is usually dealing with something that doesn’t work properly. Things tear, fracture, and break all the time. So we do a lot of preventative physio and very detailed recovery physio.”

  Jordan studied her closely. “I don’t like the idea that you’re hurt.”

  Lexi leaned forward and kissed his lips. “I can tell. And I like it that you care about me so much.”

  “Enjoy,” said the bartender as he placed a champagne and muddled strawberry cocktail in front of her.

  “Cheers,” Lexi said, lifting the glass and clinking it to Jordan’s beer. She took a sip of the cocktail, and bubbles exploded all over her tongue. “So there are three parts to tonight? Do I get any clues?”

  “In fifteen minutes, you have an appointment with a personal shopper. While you always look beautiful, Lex. I want to spoil you. Pick whatever outfit and shoes you want tonight. The shopper knows the budget, so she’ll steer you. She’ll have what you’re wearing shipped home.”

  “Oh my gosh, Jordan. You so don’t have to do that. I’m fine in—”

  “Yes. You are gorgeous in what you are wearing. But this is about giving you a wonderful night. And this is step one.”

  Lexi reached for his hand. “Will you help me pick?” she asked, uncertain how it would work.

  “No. I want you to wear whatever you feel good in. This isn’t about me trying to change you. I’ll be right here waiting when you are done.”

  “This feels like too much, already,” Lexi said. “I don’t need you to buy things for me, Jordan.”

  “I know you don’t. I’m doing it because I want to. I want to show you in all the ways I can how much you are coming to mean to me.”

  “Well, in that case, I accept your incredibly generous gift,” she said, determined to blow him away with her choices.

  Two hours later, after the whirlwind shopping experience that had landed her a new dress and shoes, Lexi sat at the horseshoe-shaped marble counter at the exclusive Shōtō in the impressive three-story Momofuko restaurant waiting for the ninth and final course of the tasting menu.

  Discreetly, she’d limited what she’d eaten by offering Jordan food from her fork, and piling and rearranging the food on her plate so that it looked like she’d eaten more than she had. One course she’d pretended not to like, even though it had tasted divine, but she’d been proud of her self-control.

  Jo
rdan’s hand was on her thigh, where it had been for most of the evening, creeping higher and higher until it was about to pass the point of common decency. Exhibition laws be damned, she was so turned on by the way his fingers stroked the inside of her thigh and the way his knuckles encouraged the split in the dove gray silk dress to open wider that she didn’t want him to stop.

  “I feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.”

  “Why?” Jordan asked between mouthfuls of cavatelli.

  “Have you seen the movie?” Surely there wasn’t a single person alive who hadn’t. “Julia Roberts’ character, a hooker, gets picked up by Richard Gere’s lonely businessman character on Hollywood Boulevard?”

  “Nope. Guessing it’s a chick flick.”

  Lexi shook her head. “It’s more than a chick flick. It’s like a grown-up Cinderella. Poor girl, rich prince. Buys her nice clothes, and she scrubs up real nice. Everyone starts to fall in love with her.”

  Jordan put his hand around the back of her neck and squeezed gently. “You think you’re a hooker?” he asked gruffly. “Because I bought you that dress and I can’t wait to get you out of it? Because you’re wrong. I did buy that dress. Because you look like the fucking angel when you are in it. It’s been impossible to keep my hands off you,” he said, leaning close enough to her ear to whisper. “And I can’t wait to get you out of it because it hugs your ass in a way that makes me want to bite it and presents those perky tits of yours in a way that makes it really hard to focus on whatever the fuck it is I just ate. It also reminds me that I’m going to get to slide it up over your head later and fuck you senseless. But that doesn’t make you a hooker.

  “It makes me the luckiest man alive.”

  * * *

  Jordan watched the way Lexi’s eyes widened as her breath caught. She was as aroused as he was, and if he hadn’t arranged for a nine-course tasting menu, he’d have grabbed her hand and dragged her the fuck out of there as fast as she could go in those hot-as-hell Jimmy Choo shoes she’d picked out to go with the dress that had blown his mind.

  Not that he could leave until the hard-on he was rocking had at least dropped down to a semi. Being big had obvious advantages, but unplanned boners never went unnoticed.

  Lexi bit her lip. “You’re turning me inside out, Jordan,” she said against his ear, her warm breath tickling it as she spoke.

  “Good. I’m glad it’s not just me,” he said, pulling away to sit back up straight.

  They were getting curious looks from diners, and he couldn’t tell if it was because they recognized him or the way Lexi looked in silk that hugged her like a second skin. It could be a combination of the two. In her pretty dress, she couldn’t look more different from him. Or perhaps the diners were just slightly appalled, or turned on, by the obvious sexual tension between the two of them.

  Lexi grinned at his comment, and he winked.

  They finished their dessert—at least he did. Lexi took two bites and declared herself full. Jordan paid the bill, generously tipping the chefs who’d prepared their meal.

  After helping Lexi into her coat and putting on his own new down coat, he took her hand and led her outside. “You have a choice,” he said when they reached the street.

  Lexi turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He placed his arms around her shoulders, holding her tight. “I do?” she asked.

  “So your options are this. I flag a cab and take you home with a date booked for when I’ll see you next. I was serious when I said I’d wait for this, Lex. Or we can walk next door. I booked a suite at the Shangri-La. I live with the guys. You live with your dad. I just wanted tonight to be about you and me. So which do you choose?” Pick the hotel, Lex. Pick me. While he meant every word, it would kill him to walk away from her tonight.

  Lexi grinned. “You must know my answer.”

  “I sure as fuck have a preference, but I need to hear you say it, Lex.”

  “I pick the Shangri-La,” she said confidently.

  He pressed his lips to hers triumphantly. “Thank fuck.”

  Once inside the luxury hotel, he checked them in and led her to their room. When he opened the door and they stepped inside, he saw everything had been organized just the way he wanted it. Champagne, the one Dred had told him to buy, was on ice. And several bags from Holt’s sat on the bed.

  “Jordan,” Lexi gasped. “What did you do?”

  Suddenly it seemed too much. He’d overwhelmed her, which was the last thing he wanted. A heavy weight settled in the pit of his stomach. “I’m not trying to buy you. Honestly. I just thought you might like this.”

  Silently, Lexi opened the first bag and pulled out a short, lacey nightgown. In another was more underwear. A third contained an outfit for her to leave in when they finally crawled out of bed tomorrow. He’d bought them all to help her feel comfortable.

  He walked up behind her and smoothed her hair over one shoulder. Her scent teased him, and he placed his lips against her skin. She tilted her head to the left to give him better access, and Jordan took full advantage. He wrapped his arms around her front, pulling her flush against him.

  “I know I’m crap at texting,” he said, moving his lips along her skin. “And I can be gruff sometimes. And I get that I haven’t even begun to share with you the worst of what happened to me as a kid. But I can take care of you, Lexi. I just wanted you to have nice things. I’m sorry if they aren’t right.”

  Lexi wiggled around in his hold to face him. “It’s beautiful, Jordan. All of it.” She looked up at him, her beautiful eyes focused on him. “But the truth is, there’s only one thing I actually need in this room, and it’s something money can’t buy.”

  It felt as though someone had wrapped guitar wire round his heart and pulled it tight. Jordan reached for the zipper on the back of her dress and lowered it slowly, savoring the way her skin shivered under his touch. It was the softest skin he’d ever felt. Suddenly, nerves flooding him, he had the most stupid thought in the world. It was like being a virgin all over again because this was going to be the first time he’d ever made love. He’d done more than his fair share of fucking, perhaps way more than he should have, with women he likely shouldn’t have. But standing here, about to undress Lexi, had the energy of something new. Something precious.

  Gently slipping the dress off her shoulders, he watched it slither its way down over her hips and drop to the floor. Lexi stepped out of it with such fucking grace that he barely knew what to do next. She looked perfect in her gray lace bra and panties. And she wore those stockings that defied gravity and stayed up on their own. Her body was flawless, every inch of it toned and beautiful.

  “Jordan?” she asked quietly.

  His eyes met hers, and he rubbed his hand over his chin. “You’re so goddamn perfect, I don’t know what to do with you.”

  Lexi grinned shyly and stepped toward him. “You have me at a disadvantage,” she said, reaching for the buttons. “I like this black shirt on you,” she said, popping the first few buttons, “but I have a strong suspicion that I’ll like you out of it more.”

  Jordan watched as she concentrated on the rest of the buttons and helped her pull his arms out of the sleeves.

  “When I saw you like this in the movie room, I couldn’t believe how good you looked,” she said as she ran her hands down his abs until they reached his belt.

  Lexi jerked the belt a little as she opened it, and it only brought them closer. Fuck. He couldn’t wait. He crashed his lips against hers and ran his tongue along the seam of her lips. Done playing, and teasing, he simply wanted her with every fragment of his broken being. It was the only thing he could imagine that would make him whole again. Her tongue brushed against his, dueling with his, reassuring him that they were on the same page.

  He stepped away from her for a moment and swept his arm across the bed, knocking all the bags and packages to the floor. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Lexi to stand between his legs. He placed a row of kisses alon
g the waistband of her underwear, then up over her stomach. Carefully, he undid her bra and slid it down her arms, exposing her breasts and the sweetest pink nipples that puckered at his touch. Leaning forward, he licked one before sucking it into his mouth.

  “Oh, God, Jordan,” Lexi cried out, her legs shaking, as he wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her upright.

  She was so fucking sweet, but he sucked harder, shifting to her other breast to pay it the same attention. Lexi’s fingers dug into his hair, holding him against her, and he chuckled. “Fuck, Lexi. It’s going to be incredible. Can’t you feel it?”

  “I feel like I’m going to explode, Jordan. Please. Touch me again.”

  He stood, enjoying the way he towered over her, even in her tall heels, and picked her up to place her on the bed. Lexi bit her lip and ran her hand over her stomach, settling just an inch inside her own underwear.

  “Do you know how hot you looked doing that last night? Teasing me, without showing me exactly what you were doing. Do it for me now,” he instructed.

  “Like this?” she asked, sliding her hand in further, her back arching off the bed.

  Fuck, yeah. Just like that. “In less than one minute,” he said, sliding his belt out of its loops, “I’m going to join you on that bed.” He unbuttoned his jeans, and his cock groaned in relief. He rubbed it twice. “I’m going to rip those panties off you,” he added as he slid his jeans and boxer briefs down his legs and discarded them along with his socks. “And I’m going to bury my face deep between your legs until you come.” With a fleeting moment of forethought, he grabbed his wallet, which contained a stash of condoms, and threw it onto the bed. “You ready for me, Sexy-Lexi?”

  “Yes,” she gasped.

  Jordan was done playing. Quickly, he jumped onto the bed and made good on his promise. The underwear ripped apart with his first pull, and then she was exposed to him. Practically fucking bare, and he loved it. He settled between her legs and flicked his tongue against her clit.