by Ali Parker
"Is that why Caleb was here? To say thanks?"
"Great minds think alike," I told him, looping my arms around his neck. God, I loved being in his arms. He wasn't the kind of guy who, if you looked at him, screamed comfort or safety.
With his silver jeweled fingers, tattooed skin, penchant for leather pants, and “Go fuck yourself” attitude, it was hard even for me to believe I'd found those things in his arms, but I had.
I'd found that and so much more. At first, it scared me to think of Jared's arms becoming like home to me, but then I'd accepted that I'd fallen for him despite rhyme and reason and braced myself to hit the ground eventually.
I never thought he would catch me, but he was. Every day. In all the little things he did. And now Caleb thought he'd fallen too?
Looking up into his deep brown eyes, golden flecks lit with happiness and … love? It was too much to believe it was true, and yet it sure looked like it might be. My heart was skipping like crazy, fluttering like a butterfly in my chest.
"Well," he said, his lips brushing my forehead. "This great mind wants to take you out to celebrate."
"Like a date?" The words were out before I could stop them.
Jared tensed for a second and then relaxed. "A real date, yes. Just don't go reading too far into it."
Too late. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Lips curling into a smile, he let go of me. "Tomorrow night."
"You got it. Want me to make reservations somewhere?" The only “date” we'd really been on had been that night in New York, and that was supposed to be a group celebration that turned out to resemble a date only because everyone else bailed.
We'd eaten many meals together, but none of them had been termed a real date. Excitement fluttered in my stomach. I couldn't help it. I knew he cared about me, had known it even before Caleb came in here and said what he had.
Jared asking me out for real just cemented my faith that we had something more than he was willing to call it. But that was what I'd signed up for. I didn't need a name for our relationship.
"Don't worry about it," he told me. "I'll take care of the plans. You just be ready at seven."
"Okay," I agreed, trying to keep an obnoxious grin that would've made a teenage girl cringe off my face. "I'll see you then."
13
Jared
The limousine pulled up to the curb outside of Alicia's place. For about the tenth time since the driver picked me up from my house, I wondered if the limo was overkill, but I pushed the thought aside as the car came to a stop.
My palms were clammy. For some reason, nerves were racing up and down my spine. I couldn't remember the last time I felt nervous about meeting up with a girl, but there was no denying I was nervous now. It might even have been the first time I was really nervous about the date since my first date in high school.
Not that I’d had many, or even any, dates since, not real ones anyway. This was a first for me, and as nervous as I was, it felt right. I wanted to do this for Alicia. As soon as I saw the excitement in her eyes when I asked, I knew I'd done the right thing.
So I'd committed to the date thing and went all out. I called for the limo when I stepped foot out of her office, dug out a formal suit jacket from the depths of my closet when I got home, and even instructed the driver to stop on the way to collect a single red rose I’d pre-ordered.
None of it was me, but all of it was for her. I had no intention of changing for a girl, but Alicia deserved this. She deserved all the nice, real date things I was doing and so much more.
Fuck, I would have flown her to Paris to dine under the stars in the city of romance if I thought there was a way of getting her onto the jet. But I knew she wouldn't go for that.
She just wasn't that kind of woman. As over the top as I could be, even I recognized Paris probably would have been too much.
I'd settled for the limo, suit, rose, and dinner at a fancy, local restaurant known for its discretion and swift action against any paparazzi who tried to get in. I wasn't trying to be her knight in shining armor or to win any points for romance, but I was kind of proud of having put together something like this for our first date.
Collecting the red, long-stemmed rose from the leather seat, I opened my door when the driver pulled to a stop and smoothed down my jacket as I approached her door. My hand trembled slightly when I lifted it to ring her bell.
Instantly, I jerked it back to my side.
Get it together, man. What the fuck is wrong with you?
Shaking my head, I raised my hand again and jabbed down on the button. Alicia appeared a minute later, smiling as she pulled open the door.
"Well, look at that. You're right on time. Guess I'm going to tell Gerry you do own a watch," she teased lightly and stepped outside.
My mouth went completely dry as I took her in, my heart thundering as I caught a whiff of her perfume. "Can we make a rule for tonight and not talk about Gerry?"
"Good idea," she agreed easily. Her eyes dropped to the rose hanging by my side. “Is that for me?”
“Yeah.” I handed it to her, feeling like an idiot.
Alicia said nothing of my sudden display of nerves, if she’d even picked up on it, and took my hand, wrapping her warm fingers around mine. “It’s beautiful.”
She accepted the rose with her other hand and held it up to her button nose. “And it smells amazing.”
Rising up on her toes, she brushed a kiss to my cheek. I snapped out of my nervous haze in time to catch her lips with mine for a proper kiss. “So do you. Ready to go?”
She nodded, tightening her grip on my hand. Her palm pressed to mine, and I could have sworn I felt sparks flying up my arm. This was not fucking normal. But dammit, I liked it. Lowering my head, I kissed her again.
"You look gorgeous," I murmured against her lips, tasting whatever berry her gloss was flavored with on mine. I licked my lips, unable to get enough of any taste of her.
"Thanks," she breathed, stepping back as her eyes raked my build from top to bottom. "You don't look so bad yourself."
I'd thrown on the jacket over a pair of fitted, black slacks and a white button-up. I knew I looked good, but Alicia had taken dressing up to the next level.
Once I'd made the reservation, I texted to tell her to wear something nice. She definitely brought her A-game. A stunning, strapless black dress hugged her curves like it'd been sewn onto her, accentuating her plump breasts and narrow waist. In no time at all, I imagined undoing the single zipper holding it in place.
With. My. Teeth.
Reigning in thoughts that would only have me popping a boner even earlier than I had on that first date in high school when the girl leaned in as we left her house to tell me she was going to blow me on the way to the restaurant, I focused on Alicia's hand in mine.
"I'm dying to see where we're going," she told me on the way to the limo, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw the black, sleek car waiting for us. "You booked a limo for a date?"
The fact that she hadn't been expecting me to do it proved exactly why I was right in having done it for her.
Women expecting all the biggest, most expensive toys and gestures from us was a hazard all of Destitute had run into. Not even just from the women we hooked up with. The men, even our old friends from before, were just as bad. People expected us to blow a ton of money on them, regardless of who they were to us and then got disappointed when we didn't.
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 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 hand-blown 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 the main entree.
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.
14
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 wh
atever 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.
