Hush (Just This Once)

by Deborah Bladon

  “That’s so fucked up,” I mumble as I walk away.

  I’d bail on that lunch but it was Jordan’s generosity that gave me the chance to hook up with Jane. I owe him a lot more than he asked for, but he doesn’t need to ever know that.

  ***

  “Thank you for the flowers.”

  I stare at her mouth. Jane is wearing a very light pink tinged lip-gloss this morning. It makes her lips look plump and kissable and if we weren’t standing in the middle of this crowded café, I’d be tempted to kiss her so I could get a taste of the gloss and her.

  “You’re welcome,” I answer as I trail my gaze up to her eyes. They’re outlined with less makeup tonight than the night we met. Her nose is red at the tip from the winter wind outside and the collar of her coat frames her delicate neck.

  I’ve never noticed the small details about any woman before, but with Jane I soak it all up and store it in my memory.

  “I’ll get you a coffee. What name should they write on the cup?”

  “Jane.”

  I arch a brow. “That’s not your name.”

  “You don’t know that.” Her eyes drop to my chest and the open top button of my coat. “For all you know my name is Jane Smith.”

  As much as I like the game, I need to know her name. “Your voice changes every time you say it. You know that, right? It’s higher. It’s a sure sign that you’re lying through your perfect teeth.”

  “Are you a policeman?” She tilts her head as she studies my face. “Is that why you had to take off yesterday? You had a big case to solve?”

  “You’re deflecting,” I avoid her questions with ease. “Tell me your real name.”

  She scans the space near us before she leans in to whisper to me. “Your note distinctly said that you were going to…well you mentioned a particular method for getting my name out of me.”

  I almost meet her mouth with mine when I move forward. I resist the urge to kiss her and instead I rest my lips against her ear so I can speak in a hushed tone. “I’ll clarify so there’s no misunderstanding. In the letter I wrote that I’m going to fuck your real name from you. I’ll hold you on the brink until you tell me and when you do, I’ll make you scream my name again.”

  “That won’t happen.” She inches back so she can look me in the eye. “You may be great in bed, but it’s just sex and I always keep my wits about me. I have more self-control than most people.”

  “Let’s test that now, shall we?”

  “Now?” Her gaze narrows. “I have a job to get to. I can’t just go to a hotel with you right now.”

  “Live a little, Jane ,” I stress the last word. “Push back whatever the fuck you have planned this morning and prove me wrong. Show me that you can walk out of the hotel room without giving me your name.”

  “That sounds like a dare,” she pauses. “Are you daring me to prove that I have self-control even during sex?”

  “I am,” I confirm with a nod of my chin. “Come with me now and when we fuck, we’ll see if your self-control is as strong as you think it is.”

  “This is insane.” She reaches into her briefcase and pulls out her phone. “I have to text my assistant to tell her I’ll be an hour late.”

  I stall her hand when I reach for her wrist. “Two or three hours late, Jane. Your self-control has no chance against me.”

  She yanks her hand free and types out a message. “You’re wrong, Evan. I’m stronger than you think.”

  Chapter 13

  Chloe

  “Chloe! Oh my, God. My name is, it’s, please. It’s Chloe.”

  Evan stops. He just stops mid-lick to look up at me. “Chloe? Did you say your name is Chloe?”

  I nod while I try to focus on his face. He’s been eating my pussy for the past thirty minutes.

  My god, he’s talented, or at least his mouth is.

  “It suits you perfectly.” His tongue swipes his bottom lip. “It’s as beautiful as you are.”

  I appreciate the compliments almost as much as I appreciate the two orgasms I already had. I was tearing toward a third when he decided to ask me what my name was for the fifth time.

  I gave in because I wanted to come again. Now, I’m aching for it and he’s resting his lips against my thigh. His mouth is too far from where I really want it to be.

  I wiggle my ass on the bed to try and draw his attention back to my core.

  He moves, not toward it but he pulls back and kneels on the bed. He’s shirtless, but still wearing the jeans he had on when we arrived at the hotel room.

  I waited while he booked us a room. It’s early, so the only people walking through the lobby were visiting business people with their eyes trained on their phones.

  It’s not as if I would have cared if anyone would have noticed me waiting for Evan. I’m single and if I want to start my day with a literal bang, I can.

  I might have to do this more often.

  This is the first time I’ve ever had morning sex and I don’t intend on it being the last time.

  “I brought some condoms.” Evan makes that announcement as he slides to his feet. “I realize that you need to get to work before the day is over, so we’ll use one today and save the rest for next time.”

  He strips his jeans and boxer briefs off quickly revealing his thick, hard cock. The man is rock solid in every way possible. His body is sculpted and strong.

  The empty condom package hits the carpeted floor as he sheaths himself.

  “How many times did it take, Chloe?” His voice is low and measured.

  I close my eyes to try and hide the unrestrained need that I know he can see in them. “How many times did it take for what?”

  I feel the bed shift under his weight. He crawls over my legs before he settles above me. “Open your eyes.”

  I peek out of the corner of my left eye. My God. The man is like a mythical beast whose purpose is only to draw pleasure from women.

  His hair is a mess from where I tangled my fingers in it. His top lip is wet and I instantly wonder if it’s from his own perspiration or from me. He didn’t hold back when he licked and sucked me. He used his lips, his tongue, his teeth and three of his skilled fingers.

  “Open your eyes,” he repeats in a rough growl. “I want you to look at me when I fuck you.”

  Holy hell. This is so much better than gossiping with Gabi before my first appointment of the day.

  “Maybe I like to do it with my eyes closed.” I drape my hand over my eyes.

  I feel his breath skirt over my cheek before he kisses me softly on the lips. “You don’t. I caught you looking at me last time. Go ahead and pretend you’re shy. We both know you like looking at me when my cock is deep inside you.”

  I almost moan aloud.

  As he inches his cock closer to my core, I slowly open my eyes. He’s staring at me.

  My breath catches when he slides his cock inside. “You’re so…”

  “Deep inside of you,” he interrupts with a low groan. “And it feels so fucking good.”

  He thrusts even deeper and I raise my hips from the bed to meet his every movement. It feels like perfection. It’s as if we were meant for only each other.

  “God, Chloe, your body…” His voice is a strangled sound as he slams into me, over and over, harder and harder until I arch my back because I feel it coming. I shiver with the electricity racing up my body, capturing me, taking me closer and closer to the edge.

  “You’re going to come,” he whispers as he looks deep into my eyes. “Keep going. Just feel.”

  I do. I come hard and as when he hears me say his name, he loses all control and fucks me with long, solid strokes until he orgasms with a shudder and a grunt.

  ***

  “Where do you work?” He adjusts the collar of my white blouse.

  I stare into his face. He’s dressed now, but his hair still has that ‘ I just fucked Chloe look .’ It suits him. “At a place.”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re short
on the details?” He brushes his soft lips over mine. “Lick your lips and you’ll taste sweetness.”

  I smile. I like that he’s so comfortable talking about sex. “Where do you work?”

  He looks down his nose at me. “At a different place than you do.”

  “At a gym?” I pat his abs through his sweater. “You look like you could be a fitness model.”

  “Is that a thing? Do people earn money doing that?”

  I shrug. “You would. You’re in really good shape.”

  “I happen to like the shape of you more.” His large hands slide down my sides before he moves them to cup my ass through my black skirt. “I need to bite this the next time I see you. You have a perfect peach of an ass.”

  “Are you an ass man?” I wiggle mine against his hands.

  He moves to lower his mouth to mine again. “I’m a man who likes your ass and every other part of you.”

  We kiss. It’s slow and sensual. His tongue inches my lips apart and I taste him, me and every chance I’ve never taken until now.

  Maybe being spontaneous and adventurous isn’t that bad after all. How can it be when a gorgeous man is kissing me like the world outside this room doesn’t exist?

  Chapter 14

  Evan

  “You have something on your face,” Jack Pearce says as I lower myself into the chair across from him in the hospital cafeteria.

  I scrub my hand over my chin. “I ate a bagel twenty minutes ago. You’d think my best friend wouldn’t give two shits that I’m sporting a crumb or two. We can’t all look like we stepped out of the pages of GQ magazine.”

  He squints at me. “I was talking about the fact that you’re smiling. When’s the last time you had a grin on your face in this place?”

  It’s not often.

  My bedside manner is impeccable. I’m charming-as-fuck, and I try to keep things light between my patients and me, but I’m dealing with heavy shit on an hour-to-hour basis.

  Being cheery isn’t a job requirement when you work in Manhattan’s busiest hospital.

  “If I’m indeed smiling it has nothing to do with this place, and everything to do with Chloe.”

  He looks down at the paper cup in front of him that’s half-filled with coffee. “Who is Chloe?”

  “Chloe is Jane.”

  That draws his gaze up to my face. He’s clean-shaven, black-haired and his eyes have been called everything from piercing to intense. I’d call them green, but the women who have hit us up when we’re grabbing a beer often say they get lost in them. All I’m seeing in them right now is curiosity.

  “You finally got her name out of her?”

  I don’t dive into the details of how I spend the early part of my day. I’m still riding the high of my rendezvous with Chloe.

  I pushed her to give me her number once we were back in the hotel lobby, but she held firm. She’s wounded. I see it when I look at her. Some idiot fucked her over and made her wary of every other human being with a dick.

  After we’d played a back-and-forth game about whether she’d give me her number, I dropped it, kissed her and told her to keep getting her coffee at Roasting Point. My schedule is jam-packed for the next three mornings, but I’ll get back there to see her as soon as I can.

  “I got her first name,” I confess. “It’s a start.”

  “You like this woman, don’t you?” He tips the coffee cup toward me before he takes a mouthful.

  I shrug. “I do. I don’t know what it is about her, but I like being around her.”

  “Have you two been hanging out? I didn’t think your work would leave you time for a mistress.”

  That old fucked up joke about me being married to my work started the day I graduated from med school. When we met years before on a college campus, we hit it off even though I was knee deep in my studies and he was coasting through business school.

  Now, he runs a boutique financial services company.

  Jack keeps people’s finances fit, and I keep their bodies healthy.

  “I’ve seen her a couple of times now.” I nod. “We both go to the same coffee shop.”

  He looks around the crowded hospital cafeteria. “I thought you got your coffee here. You seem fond of this particular blend of swamp water.”

  I laugh. “It’s not that bad, Jack. I don’t meet Chloe here. It’s at a Roasting Point Café uptown.”

  “She has excellent taste.” He pushes back from the table. “I came down here to see if you were still alive and kicking. You could answer your phone sometime.”

  I stand because I know he’s got a meeting three blocks away in ten minutes. He told me as much when I finally answered his call an hour ago while I was between patients.

  “We’ll get together for a beer when I get a night off.” I round the table to hug him. “You’ve fallen a notch or two on my priority list, Jack. Don’t take offense, but you’re not as pretty as Chloe.”

  He pats me on the back as we break the embrace. “I worry about you. I have to say I’m glad you finally have your eye on something other than your career. Maybe I can meet Chloe sometime?”

  Considering the fact that I don’t know her phone number, her surname or where she works, I doubt like hell I’ll be setting up a meet-and-greet with her and my best friend anytime soon.

  “I don’t want to scare her away.” I step back. “I’m letting Chloe set the pace on this, so I’ll take it as slow as she needs me to.”

  “You’re smarter than you look.” Jack buttons his suit jacket.

  “Fuck you too, Pearce. Fuck you too.” I wave a hand as I walk away.

  ***

  I step into my apartment after midnight. It’s cold, so damn cold because I turned the heat down when I left this morning. I see no reason to pay to heat this space when I’m not in it.

  I toss my coat on the back of my worn leather sofa and walk toward the radiator. I live in a pre-war building. In this city that can mean one of two things; the first is that you’re paying too much rent on a space that someone has invested a lot of money in to fix up.

  In my case, it means that a shitty landlord did bare minimum repairs before he rented the apartments out for a little less than premium.

  The building is what it is. I knew that when I moved in. I’d rather sacrifice luxury for less debt and a savings account. I’m comfortable here. It provides me a place to come to where I can be at peace.

  I need that. I especially needed it today after the afternoon I had.

  Complications in surgery are never a good thing. I prefer the coast from incision to last suture, but today wasn’t like that.

  I spent three hours trying to save the leg of a woman with diabetes. I didn’t win this one and fuck if that still doesn’t piss me the hell off.

  She’ll learn to adapt and I’ll come to accept that you can’t always get what you want in life.

  The patient knew the chances of success were slim but she trusted me to do my best. I did. Fuck, if it wasn’t enough today.

  I toss my phone on my bed before I strip out of my clothes so I can hit the shower. I wish I had Chloe’s number. I want to call her even though she knows nothing about me other than how I fuck.

  I scowl and curse under my breath as I walk out of my bedroom and leave behind the regret that I didn’t push harder for her number.

  Chapter 15

  Chloe

  I look at Gabi. She’s dressed impeccably tonight. Once a month we go on a ‘friend date.’

  We always pull an idea out of a coffee cup that sits on Gabi’s desk. It’s filled with small pieces of paper that are labeled with different activities.

  Two months ago we went bowling. Last month we saw a romantic comedy at the movies and tonight we’re out for dinner.

  It’s Gabi’s treat and judging by the prices on the menu; I’m paying my assistant a very generous salary.

  “What do you want to drink, Chloe?” Gabi eyes me over the top of the menu. “I’m going full-on Cosmo tonight.”

/>   “I’m good with the water.” I look up at the server standing next to the table. He’s been back twice to get our drink order and each time Gabi has waved him away with a swat of her hand while she debated between a Cosmopolitan and a Martini.

  “Water?” She rests the menu on the table. “I thought we’d share a toast. You have to get something stronger than water.”

  I shake my head. “I need to be in court first thing tomorrow morning. You know how I get when I drink. I’ll feel groggy and I have to be on my A-game.”

  “That’s a valid point.” She tosses me a curt nod before she looks at the server. “One Cosmo for me and my friend will nurse that glass of water.”

  He smiles before he takes off toward the back of the restaurant.

  “Did you get laid before work yesterday, Chloe?”

  I drop the breadstick that I just picked up. Crumbs scatter all over the pristine white linen tablecloth and tumble onto the lap of my navy blue dress. “What? Why would you ask me that?”

  “You were all…” Her voice trails as her hand waves in the air in front of me. “You were all flush and glowing when you got into the office and I didn’t have a chance to ask you about it before you left for your meeting with that new client.”

  I tried to avoid eye contact with Gabi yesterday morning after I slept with Evan. She can read me like a book and the last thing I wanted was to waste the day away gossiping about my early morning rendezvous in a hotel room.

  “I’m not dropping this.” She eyes up her freshly manicured fingernails. “I want to know. Were you late yesterday because you were in bed with some guy or not?”

  I’m saved briefly when the server arrives with her drink. She takes a tentative sip before she gifts him with a brilliant smile. “This is the best Cosmo I’ve ever had.”

  He winks as if he’s responsible for it. He picked it up from the female bartender before heading over here. “Maybe when I get off work I can buy you another one?”