by Olivia Brynn
"Jade, we need one of these House Manager things." Dean leaned against the carved high-backed chair. "That was delicious."
When their plates were cleared, Adam took them on a tour of the house, with a promise to Elaine that they would have dessert and drinks in the game room.
The first stop was the nine-car garage. Dean pushed by her, and she turned to glare at Adam. "What was that about your car in the shop?"
"I never said my car was in the shop. I specifically remember saying 'I should be able to drive mine again soon'." He hooked his arm around her shoulders, and walked with her into the garage that could easily have housed a small family. "You must have just assumed the part about the shop. I've never lied to you."
Jade looked down the row of vehicles, one in each stall, and was reminded about her offer to drive him on their dates. She shook her head, and stepped into the pristine space. The limousine they'd ridden in from the marina. Two motorcycles—one Ducati and one Harley Davidson. A sleek black Porsche, and a white Escalade. Good lord, this man liked cars!
Jade followed Dean through the luxury vehicle line-up, listening to his questions and answers by Adam about each car's specs. She almost ran into Dean's back when he stopped dead in his tracks. His excited chatter stopped.
She touched his forearm. "Dean? What is it?"
"It's a 1969 Camaro."
"Oh." Men.
Dean bent over to study the back panel.
"You like it?" Adam joined them by the glossy red muscle car.
"A Yenko?" Dean's mouth dropped open. Jade didn't know what a Yenko was, but the car was either in mint condition, or restored to its original luster.
Dean reached out to touch the fender, but pulled away, almost as if he didn't find himself worthy. In a trance, he walked around the vehicle, and peered into the driver's window. "Automatic? You know Yenko only made thirty of these?"
Adam nodded, then opened the door. "Have a seat."
Dean's eyes grew wide, and Jade thought he was about to faint. "Are you serious?"
"Of course," Adam laughed. "Go on, start her up."
How did Adam know what a muscle car aficionado Dean was? Maybe all men had the Camaro gene, but to Dean, this had to be heaven.
The engine roared to life, then purred to a gentle rumble, filling the huge garage with a satisfying hum.
"I could die happy right now." Dean stroked the leather interior.
"But you haven't even taken it for a drive." Adam closed the door, leaving Dean to look at him with disbelief.
"You mean…you want me to—"
"It's a car, man. Made to be driven, not just sit in a garage and look good." Adam reached through the window and pushed the garage door opener, then he backed away and slipped his arm around Jade's waist. "Make sure you take the interstate and let her loose, but I'm not paying for any speeding tickets. Keys to the front gate are on the key ring."
"I know you're just trying to get rid of me so you two can be alone, but I'm not about to argue." Trancelike, Dean fastened his seatbelt just as the garage door completely opened, and as if the darkness beyond beckoned him, the Camaro rolled out onto the driveway.
Before Dean even disappeared through the front gate, Adam took her hand and pulled her through the garage and into the house.
"Adam!" She stumbled to keep up with him, but she had high hopes he was taking her to his bedroom to try out that sinfully opulent bed.
As soon as the door closed behind them, he pushed her against the wall of a dark hallway, and hissed in her face, "Shut up."
Chapter Nine
She didn't know where they were, but his harsh tone stilled her racing heart. "What…"
He clamped his right hand over her mouth, and leaned against her. The molding of the wainscoting dug into her back. "I told you to shut up, lady."
She squeaked from behind his hand, not sure if he was seriously assaulting her or not.
"You're in big trouble," he whispered against her cheek. "You know why?"
She shook her head, and reached up to move his hand. He deftly took both of her hands in his left and pinned them against the wall above her head. "You've been driving me fucking crazy all night. Don't try to deny it," he growled.
She tried to say his name, but his hand smothered any noise.
"Didn't I tell you to shut the fuck up?" He turned her head to the side to force her eyes away from his, her ear now flat against the wall, and she couldn't see anything but a long empty hallway.
Jade's heart hammered like a hummingbird's. Deep down she knew Adam would never hurt her, but his harsh words and restraining hands confused her.
"Now, I'm about to fuck you up against this wall. Right here in the hallway, and you're gonna like it. Understand?"
She nodded, breathing hard against his hand. Damn, she was turned on. His dominating treatment sent tingling desire to her already dripping center. Her legs trembled, and if it weren't for his body holding hers up, she probably would have collapsed.
"I'm going to move my hand from your mouth, but you'd better not move a muscle or make a sound, unless you're begging me for more. Got it?"
She nodded again, and with her hands still pinned over her head, her body secured to the wall with his, and his harsh words, any thought of escape was stifled. He released her mouth, and she licked her lips, trying to get blood back into them. He kept her still with his forehead against her temple. Air rushed against her cheek as he breathed.
She heard the familiar crinkle of a condom wrapper, felt it against her cheek when he used his teeth to tear it open, and then the movement as he released his belt buckle, and pushed his slacks down past his hips. "You come to my house in that sexy dress…flirting with me all through dinner…you didn't think I would try anything with your friend here. You were wrong, weren't you?"
She nodded, and tried to turn her head. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to see him, reassure herself he wasn't deranged. He would have none of it. She was held immobile. Not only by his body against hers, but his words, his obvious desire, and her thickening blood all made it hard to even think about getting away.
"I told you, you don't move unless I tell you to," he hissed. "And you don't look at me. Keep your head turned, and your eyes closed."
She let her eyes drift shut. It was easy when passion coursed through her veins making her think of nothing else but Adam. She could smell his breath, the cologne that drove her wild, even the faint scent of male arousal tickled her nose, and she took a long greedy breath.
"Good girl." He let go of her hands, and passed the condom to her. "Put it on me, and do it fast."
While she fumbled to do his bidding, made more difficult with her eyes closed and around his shirt tails, he pulled the hem of her dress up to her waist.
"I knew it." He sunk a long finger inside her without so much as a gentle sweep. "You come to my house without panties, and you're asking for it. You knew that didn't you…you knew this was coming." He kissed her jaw, and nibbled his way to her ear. "You knew someday I'd fuck you against a wall, but that didn't stop you…shit, you're so wet baby." His voice dropped an octave, and he adjusted their clothing before taking her in a long thrust.
She squealed like a teenager on a rollercoaster.
He took both of her hands in his, and twined their fingers together, again drawing them over her head until she was one long graceful line.
"Waving that saucy ass in front of me all night," he admonished in between thrusts. "Giving me those sexy eye-batting smiles. Damn you, you should have known what it would do to me. You knew you were making me hard as a fucking iron pipe. This is all your fault…all your…God, Jade."
She moaned, and moved her legs apart. She waited for him to reprimand her for her movement, but he must not have been paying attention; his thrusts only grew more frantic.
"Are you sorry?" He nipped the cartilage of her ear, hard enough to make her jump. "Promise you'll never do it again?"
She shook her head. She wasn't sorry;
she was a woman drowning in fiery desire. She bit her lip to keep her words of lust from escaping.
"You'll do everything I say, Jade. I told you to fuck me in a hallway, and I told you to like it." His cock dragged along her channel, the friction spreading warmth through her loins. "Do you like it, Jade?"
She moaned, a long rumbling noise that sounded sinister in the dark wing of Adam's house.
"Damn it…kiss me." He let go of her hands, and cupped her face in his. He kissed her with a hunger she'd never felt before. His tongue raped her mouth, darting, plundering, taking all she had to offer. The atmosphere in the hallway intensified, and Jade could feel sparks of passion zipping against her, and bouncing back to him. She used her permission to move to grind against the invasion of his erection inside her, tilting her hips to ride her clit against him with each long drag. When her pussy swelled, opening more to him, he swore into her mouth.
"Come, baby. Do it now, damn it." She smothered a smile when his words that were supposed to be a command came out in a begging whine. Still, always the obedient one, she took a hold of his bottom lip with her teeth, and succumbed to a full-body orgasm, one that sent hot shards of pleasure through every vein. She humped against him, not caring how silly she must look, knowing only the need to milk his cock with her cream.
"Fuck…Jade…" He swelled impossibly thicker, and she reveled in each one of his pulsating releases. He brought both arms around her, drawing her against his chest in a tender gesture. His kiss gentled, his tongue no longer forcing a presence in her mouth, but now thanking her for the visit.
She panted against him, her heart thudding loudly against his.
"Did I scare you?" For the first time, Adam looked her in the eye. His kind blue gaze filled with emotion.
Jade nodded, a shy smile creeping across her lips. "But in a good way. You make a good Dom."
He grinned, the old Adam was back. "I make a good Sub too. We'll have to try that some other time." In between kisses, he used his handkerchief to dispose of the condom and wipe her secretions from her thighs, then he hiked his slacks back up over his hips.
They waited for Dean in the spot where they stood before he left, as if nothing happened. They managed to get in a few drawn-out kisses before the rumble of the Camaro's motor broke them apart.
"She drives like a dream," Dean announced through the window. "I don't know how you can own such a car and not drive over the speed limit."
Jade laughed, and pulled open the car door. "Get out of that thing before you make more of a fool out of yourself."
Dean raised his eyebrow, and looked her up and down, but he did step out of the car. "You're one to talk, with your well-kissed lips. Did you even break for air while I was gone?"
Jade slugged him, but didn't deny anything. How could she? Dean knew her way too well. She knew the scent of sex probably still wafted around her and Adam.
"Come on, Elaine made peach pie for dessert." Adam took them back into the house, but not down the hallway where she had just been ravaged.
Adam held Jade's hand and took them through his seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom home. He claimed to not spend much time here, but one could tell it was the home of a bachelor, and it was especially obvious in the game room. "What can I make you two to drink?"
Dean asked for a whiskey and water, and Jade a glass of merlot.
"Oh, now this is nice." Dean sat on the sofa facing the huge wide-screen plasma television that was mounted into the wall. "What kind of sound system do you have in this thing?"
While Adam and Dean discussed amplifiers and receivers, Jade walked through the room. To the right, a marble fireplace, and to the left a curving bar, where Adam mixed their drinks. Behind him, the rest of the game room, featuring a pool table, dart board and a raised seating area.
Three walls were painted burgundy, and the vaulted ceiling housed dark stained wood beams. She sat beside Dean on the couch.
"Your house is beautiful, Adam."
"Thanks." He opened a can of cola, took a long drink, then sat next to her and whispered, "You haven't seen my shower."
No, but she saw his bedroom and its a king-sized four-poster bed. She snuggled closer, and placed one hand on his thigh and squeezed.
"So do you record here in L.A., or in Nashville?" Dean stirred his cocktail in the thick tumbler.
"I recorded my first two albums in Nashville, it's where my record label wanted me to go, but my producer has a studio in his basement now. We start on Firestorm in a few weeks."
Adam told them about the recording process, even how he had chosen twelve songs for the CD, but the producer cut two of them, and told him to come up with three others.
"The business part of the whole thing sucks. I thought those two songs he rejected meshed with the others well, but he has some formula he follows, so I'll save those for another album." Adam took a long drink. "Sometimes I miss just playing in honky-tonks in Small-Town America."
Jade hugged him tighter, and even Dean didn't have a response.
"Hey, Elaine should be on her way up with dessert, let's see if we can rattle the windows." Adam picked up a remote control the size of a magazine, with more buttons on it than the space shuttle, and he turned on a hip-hop CD, and found a good dance song.
The windows didn't rattle with the bass, but Jade's chest did. In a demonstration of the system's quality, the sound wasn't even distorted. Jade covered her ears and laughed.
Dean, couldn't control himself when a good dance song came on, stood and let loose with a string of dance moves that never failed to impress Jade.
"Jesus, where'd he learn that?" Adam shouted.
"His sisters raised him on Michael Jackson videos."
When Dean heard that, he showed off a perfect moonwalk. Jade clapped and cheered.
Elaine came into the room and dropped the tray with three slices of pie and a silver coffee carafe onto the low table in front of the sofa.
"You're like a spoiled little kid," she all but yelled at Adam, whose devilish grin only proved her point. She left the room shaking her head.
Around midnight, Dean dragged Jade from the house, and even waited in the car while she and Adam kissed goodbye.
"Thank you for tonight." She held him close, rubbing her cheek against his soft silk shirt. "I think Dean had almost as much fun as I did."
"I'm glad." He sucked on her earlobe. "I'm going to miss you wrapped around me tonight."
Jade drank in his scent, hoping to get enough to make it through the night without him. How could she be so addicted to him in such a short time? She really didn't want to get in Dean's car, and it was even harder to close the door.
She stared at Adam through the window until the gate closed behind them, and the car accelerated.
"You two are pretty damn disgusting." Dean turned on the radio. "Didn't you get it all out of your system over the weekend?"
"No, I think this weekend was where he just crawled under my skin." Maybe that was why her skin felt itchy and strange when he wasn't with her. Jade sighed.
"Be careful, Jade."
She studied Dean, who switched lanes and sped through a yellow light. He wasn't teasing her now, she recognized the serious tone and the way the little muscle at the corner of his mouth ticked. "I don't want you to get hurt. While you were on that boat I researched him. He's been known to tie one on, and he's been through a shitload of women."
"I can imagine." Leggy blondes.
"He'll spend time on the road," Dean continued. "It would take a lot of trust to make a relationship work with a guy like that. Especially if he gets drunk all the time and does stupid shit. And then there's the publicity."
Jade hooked her left arm through Dean's right, and laid her cheek on his shoulder. "I know. I have a lot to think about."
At that moment, one of Adam's songs came on the radio. Jade wasn't sure if it was a good sign or a bad one, but she held on to Dean just a little bit tighter, and closed her eyes. Adam's songs now meant more to her, she r
ealized. Now that she could picture him bare-chested and bare-footed singing on the deck of his boat with only her as the audience, even his voice sounded better than before. More personal.
Dean pulled into the driveway. "Just let me have another chance to drive that car before you dump him."
That night, Jade lay restlessly in bed, unable to sleep. Her pillow wasn't as firm as Adam's chest. Her bed didn't sway with the ocean's movement, and her sheets didn't smell like Adam.
What was she going to do? If this wasn't going to work, she needed to end it now. Before she fell for the guy. A twisting pain in her gut told her it might be too late to avoid a broken heart.
She threw herself onto her stomach, and curled the pillow over her head. She could easily be another notch on his bedpost. Another conquest for the tabloids to blow out of proportion. She was a novelty—a woman who wasn't in "The Business". Now that his little secret was out, the newness would wear off, and he'd grow bored and restless.
Jade's heart argued with the memory of the past weekend, but her logical brain was adamant. Don't get too close to this man, you're asking for pain.
But, couldn't she enjoy it while it lasted? For God's sake, the sex was amazing. Would it hurt to work like hell to get tired of him before he found a new plaything?
Her laugh sounded loud in her dark bedroom. If it didn't work, at least she'd have a good time!
Around three in the morning, Jade pulled out her MP3 player, and with her Adam Nash collection on shuffle, finally fell asleep.
That next day, Adam brought her lunch. They ate fast food burgers and fries in the back room, among empty helium tanks, cases of balloons and floral trimmings.
