by Noelle Adams
“Now,” he drawled, sliding one hand between her thighs and exploring until he found her hot, wet arousal, “I think it’s time to make your scream.”
“Not going to happen.” She wasn’t sure how convincing her words were, since she was already writhing with pleasure as he sank a finger inside her.
She lifted her bottom slightly to give him better access, and he kept caressing her with one hand and using his other to pump inside her.
“I’m going to make you come like this,” Jake said hoarsely. “You won’t be able to stop yourself from screaming.”
“Mm hmm,” was all the response she could manage. She could feel an orgasm developing as he added a second finger to the first as he stroked into her. He’d found her g-spot and started pushing against it.
She clutched at the bedding and shamelessly tried to ride his fingers with her hips, her body once more nearly out of her control.
With his free hand, he held her hips to stop her eager motion. “No, baby. Let me. Otherwise, you’ll try to take credit for it when I make you scream.”
She choked on both pleasure and amusement at his slightly wry voice, but she responded to the command. She held herself still as he fucked her with his hand, channeling her desperate urgency into her grip on the bedding and gasping sounds that got louder and louder.
She knew she was supposed to keep herself quiet, but that was increasingly impossible. Soon she was almost sobbing with pleasure as he worked her up toward orgasm.
She knew he was smiling and watching her hotly as she finally lost control. And she might have screamed—just a little—as the climax sliced through her.
He was chuckling again as he pulled out his fingers from her tight channel and rolled her over onto her back.
“Don’t say it,” she told him, feeling too good to complain very strenuously about his smugness.
He pulled her into his arms and murmured, just before he kissed her, “I love that you’re loud.”
She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around him tightly and feeling so much affection, it was as overwhelming as her arousal had been. She couldn’t believe she was with Jake like this—warm and intimate and passionate. She’d daydreamed about it so many times, but this was so much better than any of her dreams.
He was aroused again. She could feel his erection hard against her hip. So, when they broke the kiss, she started to work on his shirt, unbuttoning it and then trying to drag it off his shoulders.
He helped enough that they soon had gotten rid of the dress shirt and his t-shirt, and she could finally caress his bare chest. She loved the hair on his chest as she ran her palms over it. It felt real. Masculine. Like Jake.
They were still near the bottom of the bed, and her legs kept falling off, so she tried to scoot herself higher on the bed as Jake worked on getting rid of his trousers.
“Ow,” she gasped, when she bumped her head on her suitcase. She’d forgotten she’d laid it on her bed earlier when she’d started to unpack.
He paused and glanced over to make sure she was all right. “Be careful.”
“It’s too late to tell me to be careful now. I’ve already bumped my head.”
His lips twitched slightly. “Well, be careful not to do it again.”
She frowned. “If you were a gentleman, you’d move it so it’s not in the way.”
With a soft laugh, he reached over her body and pushed at the suitcase. It moved a few inches.
“Nice job.”
Now, he was frowning. “Hold on. I’ll get it.” He pushed at it some more, hampered because he lying beside her and reaching over her body.
It moved another inch or two.
“Just push it off,” she told him.
He gave it one more push, and it slowly teetered on the edge for a few moments before it finally slid to the ground, almost in slow motion.
She giggled helplessly. “Very sexy. Almost as good as the dramatic sweeping the desk clear that you see in movies.”
He groaned and pulled her against him. “Let’s pretend that didn’t happen. I’m usually more impressive than that.”
“I think you’re very impressive.” She was looking him in the eye, still smiling, telling him the naked truth. “I always have.”
He groaned again, differently this time, and claimed her mouth in another hungry kiss.
They kissed for a long time, rolling around some until they were in a better position on the bed, and he was lying on top of her. Soon, they were rocking into each other with the rhythm of lovemaking.
“Oh, baby,” he murmured, finally breaking the kiss and pressing more little kisses over her cheeks and jaw, “You drive me wild.”
She loved the sound his voice. Fond. Intimate. Hoarse with passion. She was turned on again, pulsing with need as she rubbed herself against every part of his body she could touch.
She was shaking with it as he rolled on another condom and parted her thighs to make room for him. As soon as he slid himself home, she was fluttering all around him, moaning in helpless pleasure.
“Oh, fuck,” he gasped, holding himself very still. “Oh, fuck, you feel so good. Wrap your legs around me again.”
She barely had the coordination to comply, but she managed to get her legs hooked in the way he wanted. It was perfect—she could feel him so deeply, so intensely. She gasped and arched up, pleasure rippling through her that she couldn’t possibly control. Her hips were moving of their own accord.
“That’s right, baby,” he rasped, starting to thrust with the fast, hard rhythm she needed to feel. “Let yourself go. Don’t hold anything back.”
She couldn’t have held back, even if she’d wanted to. She was already making those same eager sounds and rocking her body to meet his primitive motion.
He was bracing himself above her, but she could still feel his heat, his weight, his intensity vibrating in the air between them. His hot eyes never looked away from her face. “Give me all of it, baby. I want everything from you.”
He was taking her almost roughly now, but she wanted it, needed it. Tried to take him as hard as he was taking her. She was too loud for a hotel, but she wasn’t embarrassed. She was barely conscious of it—knowing only that this was what she needed. Needed at her deepest core.
Jake. All he way. Just like this.
She was crying out when their frantic motion finally drove her to the peak. Then he was letting go too, his sound of release just as uninhibited as hers.
The pleasure rippled through her body—through his—for a long time after the first wave. They’d collapsed together, moaning and clinging to each other in the aftermath.
Finally, she heard him groan as he pulled his weight off her.
She didn’t want to let him go, and she kept clinging to him until she realized what she was doing.
“Let me just get the condom,” he said, heaving himself out of bed and limping to the bathroom.
He was completely naked, completely gorgeous. And, with a pang, she realized his knee had to still be hurting him.
She managed to find the energy to reach down to the floor and grab his t-shirt to pull on so she wasn’t completely naked.
She hadn’t pulled herself together by the time he returned, so she was in no state to find something reasonable to say or do—not after what had just happened between them.
“I don’t think I can move,” she mumbled, when he reached out for her.
“Me either.” There was a smile in his voice as he adjusted her body against his. “So let’s not.”
“Sounds good to me.”
He did manage to reached for the covers and pull them up over them.
Anne nestled against him, feeling safe and warm and fully satisfied.
She wondered if he could possibly feel the same way.
But she was too exhausted to reason it out, so instead she just fell asleep.
Five
Anne wouldn’t have expected to sleep deeply after something happening as monumental as havi
ng sex with Jake. She wouldn’t have expected to be able to sleep at all.
She did, though. She slept straight through until she was vaguely aware of Jake moving beside her. She was feeling cozy and clingy, so she tightened the arm that was draped over his stomach, afraid he was trying to get up.
He wasn’t, though. He must have just been readjusting because his arm tightened around her too.
“What time is it?” she mumbled, unable to even open her eyes and make sure it was still dark.
“Too early to get up.” She felt him stroking her hair and back. “Go back to sleep.”
“M’kay.” She pressed a little kiss on his chest, since she wasn’t awake enough to guard her actions.
She soon fell back to sleep completely, and she didn’t wake up until she rolled over and reached out for Jake instinctively but found herself alone in the bed.
It startled her so much that she was jarred awake. She sat up in bed, vaguely surprised that she was still wearing his white t-shirt.
It was morning. Light was coming through the windows, and the clock said it was just after six o’clock.
They had a meeting with Stew at eight. She could hardly believe this morning she would have to go back to being Jake’s assistant.
And where the hell had he gone?
The bathroom door was opened, so he was clearly not in there. She glanced down and saw his clothes were no longer littering the floor.
He must have gone back to his room.
She sighed, telling herself to be reasonable.
What did she expect, anyway? It wasn’t like one night was going to change everything she knew was true about the world.
Jake wasn’t in love with her. They weren’t going to miraculously become a couple, just because they’d shared one night.
People had sex all the time, when it meant absolutely nothing.
But she felt glum, heavy, like she might cry as she thought about how he’d acted last night—as if he’d wanted her for real, maybe not even just her body.
He’d left her this morning, though, without a word.
In an hour, she’d be dressed for work, and she’d head downstairs to have some breakfast and get ready for the meeting.
He’d be her boss again.
That was all he’d ever be to her.
It hurt so much she shook with it, but she pulled herself together quickly. She wasn’t a child. She could do this. She could be an adult and a professional.
She could be his assistant for two more weeks, even if he never mentioned what happened between them again.
She got up, stumbling slightly since she was still sore between her legs. It made her feel even worse, since it reminded her of how hard he’d taken her last night.
She was heading for the bathroom when she saw he’d left his leather portfolio that held the yellow pad he always took notes on.
She sighed, flipping it open to look at the notes scrawled in his handwriting.
She was surprised to see her resignation letter tucked under the flap. And even more surprised when she read the notes he’d scrawled on the first page of the pad.
It was a job description. Some sort of marketing position.
She knew immediately what it was.
It was a job for her.
When she’d already told him very clearly there was no job she would take from him.
When both of them knew, if she was working for him, there was no way in the world they could be together.
It was inevitable, though. If she’d let herself think about it, even last night, she would have known it was coming.
Jake might have given himself one night to let go, but work would always be the most important thing to him. It was the only thing he was willing to invest in.
He wanted her for work more than he did for herself.
Her eyes blurred over as she stared down at his messy handwriting, trying to tell herself it didn’t change anything.
Things were exactly the way they’d been just a minute ago, when she’d resolved to do her job and not take one night so seriously.
But it was serious to her. Jake was serious to her.
And there was absolutely no way she could face him this morning—or any other morning—as nothing more than his assistant.
She wasn’t that mature. She wasn’t that reasonable.
She was heartbroken—and even more so because she’d done it to herself.
Her mind wasn’t working at all, so she had only instinct to act on. And the only instinct she had at the moment was to flee. So she followed it. Without hesitation, she pulled on some clothes and stuffed her belongings back into her bag.
She was ready to go in less than ten minutes. She couldn’t find her key card so she just grabbed her purse and left the room.
Jake would have to do without an assistant for his meeting this morning. He would get by. He would have to.
And she would learn to get by too.
***
A few hours later, she’d made it to the apartment she shared with Meg and Raney. She’d taken a cab to get a rental car, and then she’d driven the rental back to Malibu.
She’d cried most of the way back, but she didn’t regret leaving.
It would have been impossible for her to act like nothing had changed, when everything had changed.
Jake had learned to compartmentalize his life to deal with the blow of losing his surfing career. But she didn’t know how to compartmentalize. Her feelings for Jake affected everything.
She wanted to be honest with Jake as much as she could, and that meant not pretending that everything was the same after last night. But she also didn’t want to strip her heart entirely bare when he hadn’t offered her his heart too.
Raney was at work, but Meg worked in retail and her shift didn’t start until the afternoon, so she was coming back from a run as Anne wheeled her case up to their door.
“What are you doing here?” Meg asked, wiping sweat from her face. “Are you okay?”
Anne opened her mouth to say she was fine but couldn’t get the words out. She just shook her head instead.
“What happened?” Meg asked, unlocking the door since Anne hadn’t yet managed. “Did something happen with Jake?”
Anne stepped inside, left her case next to the door, and collapsed onto the couch. Meg went to grab a bottle of water and sat beside her.
“Tell me,” Meg insisted, when Anne tried to compose herself enough to talk.
“I slept with him.”
Meg gasped, almost choking on a sip of water. “You’re kidding. How did that happen?”
“I don’t know. It just did. I don’t know what we were thinking.”
“Well, you were thinking you were in love with him. But what was he thinking?”
“He was thinking…it was just a one-time thing.”
“How do you know?”
“He left me.”
“What do you mean, he left you?”
“He left in the morning. Without saying a word.”
Meg’s mouth fell open. “So he wouldn’t even talk to you?”
“He didn’t. He just left.”
“I mean, you tried to talk to him, right?”
Anne swallowed. “No. He was gone.”
“Wait a minute. I don’t understand. You didn’t even try to talk to him afterwards.”
“There wasn’t any point. He always thinks about work first. He’s trying to keep me as an employee.”
“So he had sex with you as a way to—”
“No. No. Not like that. The sex was separate. It was just a thing. But he only wants me as an employee. Not as a…as a…”
Meg was obviously thinking hard, a frown breaking her pretty, freckled face. “Did you leave him a note or something, to explain why you left?”
“No.” Anne released a long sigh and rubbed her face. “I guess I should have. I’m technically still working for him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not about work. It’s about
you running out a guy you had sex with without explanation. That’s kind of cold.”
“It’s not like I snuck out while he was asleep.” Anne was starting to feel a little defensive. “He snuck out on me. He didn’t want to talk to me. He feels awkward and doesn’t want to hurt my feelings. I know him, remember? I’ve worked for him for seven years. I know exactly what he’s thinking. He doesn’t give himself over to things he wants very much. He wanted to have a good time last night, so he let down enough to have it. But he’s not about to let it reprioritize his life. It’s always work for him. That’s always going to be first.”
“Damn it, Anne. You didn’t even give him the chance!”
“If he wanted a chance, he would have said something. And he wouldn’t have left me alone this morning. He doesn’t want a chance. I know him, Meg. I know him.” She was almost crying again, so she took a minute to stop herself.
Meg looked like she was going to argue some more, but she must have stopped herself. Her mouth closed, and she was silent for a minute. Then she said in a different tone, “So what are you going to do?”
“Nothing. He can sue me if he wants, for not giving him two weeks’ notice. I just can’t work for him anymore.”
“Oh, Anne. I’m sorry it’s all a mess. But take today. Maybe you’ll feel a little better tomorrow, and then you can go talk to him.”
“What would I even say? You don’t expect me to humiliate myself by pouring out my heart when he doesn’t return my feelings, do you? Because I’m never going to do that.”
“Maybe there’s something in between spilling your guts and not saying anything at all.”
Anne thought about the mild words and realized her friend was right. She groaned and leaned her head back against the couch. “Maybe tomorrow.”
“Maybe tomorrow.” Meg smiled at her and stood up. “Do you want something to eat or drink?”
“Just coffee. Thanks.”
“What are you wearing, anyway?” Meg peered at her. “Is that his t-shirt?”
Anne looked down at herself. It was Jake’s t-shirt. She couldn’t believe she still had it on.
