Release (Iris Series)

by Lynn, Rebecca

  He took that palm and cupped her face.

  “They feel wonderful on my skin…” She cleared her throat and looked down.

  He tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. “You know, Ry, you have to be a sensual person to be a painter...to be able to feel passion when you create something. And you’re so damn responsive when I touch you...it’s like an aphrodisiac to me. But when you talk about it, it makes you blush.”

  He chuckled and kissed her softly, then whispered, “It’s so fucking adorable, it makes me want to talk dirty to you all day. Watch the blood rush to your face. Because then I know that you’re really feeling something…” He leaned down to her ear. “Sex should touch all of the senses, don’t you think?”

  He was saying exactly what she had been thinking the night before. The rate of her breathing began to pick up, and her nipples were tightening. She had absolutely no control over her body when it came to this man.

  She leaned into him.

  “You like it when I tell you in detail all of the things I want to do you, don’t you?” he whispered, still kissing her face.

  She averted her eyes, and nodded.

  “Tell me. I want to hear you say it.”

  She looked at him and rolled her eyes. “Yes. Okay? I love it when you talk dirty to me. Now would you stop?” she said, slapping at his arm. “God, given your love of words, and all the yapping that you do, maybe you should’ve been the English teacher,” she chuckled.

  “Maybe,” he smiled, kissing her mouth, biting at her lower lip.

  “You like to bite a lot, too,” she murmured.

  His eyes took on a glint that she was becoming familiar with.

  “Like I said, I like using all of the senses. I want to consume you,” he said, taking another nip at her lips. “So I can fully taste you. And I like the way you taste.” His hands were running up and down her spine, ending at her ass.

  He pulled her to him, and kissed her aggressively, using his whole mouth. His tongue, his teeth, his lips. He had one hand on her ass and the other in her hair, holding her head to receive his kisses.

  “How sore are you?” he murmured in between kisses.

  She moaned. “What are you doing to me, Jeremy?” she whispered.

  “Making you addicted. Remember?” He began kissing her neck, while the hand on her ass moved up to cup her breast.

  “I need to go to work,” she moaned hesitantly. “And you need to go to Boston.”

  “We have plenty of time.” He looked at his watch. “It’s only 6:30,” he said with a sexy smile.

  She tried to shake the arousal that was engulfing her. If she gave in to this guy every time he wanted it, she would never have any control in this…whatever this thing was. The problem was, she wanted it just as much as he did, and she was struggling with showing too much of her desire to him. She was afraid that by showing him how much she wanted him, she would be showing him her vulnerability as well. She was going to have to reflect on this while he was gone.

  She took a deep breath, disentangled herself from him, and ran her hand shakily through her ponytail making sure everything was still in place.

  “Take me on a tour of the rest of the house.” She reached down and took his hand to begin walking out of the shop.

  He stopped her and brought her back into his arms for one more kiss. It was hard, quick, and aggressive. When he released her lips, he still held her tightly to him and said, “I’m letting you say no for now, Ryann. But I know you want me, and you know I want you. One of these days you’re going to stop letting that brain of yours work overtime, and just let yourself feel. Be warned, I’m not always going to let you say no.”

  He punctuated that last statement with another kiss, then pulled her out of the shop. She had a feeling she didn’t have long to figure herself out.

  …..

  They spent the next 20 minutes or so walking through the rest of the brownstone, and it was just as gorgeous as the first floor and the bedroom. Old warm charm meets modern conveniences, with eclectic artwork, and a soothing color palette. He had great taste.

  At a little after seven, Jeremy grabbed her bag, put on some black loafers and walked her out to the waiting car at the curb.

  Manny greeted them, then got behind the wheel to drive them the 10 minutes or so to the Institute.

  The privacy screen was up, so Jeremy took full advantage and sat close to her on the bench seat, holding her hand to kiss and play with her fingers. “I’ll be thinking of you this week,” he said in between kisses.

  She swallowed and smiled shyly. “I have a feeling you’ll probably enter into my thoughts as well.”

  He leaned forward and grabbed her legs to put them on his lap, similar to what he had done the night before. But instead of rubbing her feet, he allowed his hand to reach under the hem of her long skirt and run up her leg. He pushed her back down along the seat, and then leaned over her to hover over her lips.

  “Jeremy, what -?”

  “Let’s make sure that’s the case.” And just as he said those words, his hand found what it was looking for, rubbing over her naked thigh and ass cheek, then moving forward to stroke the back of his hand over her waxed skin covered by the small front panel of her thong. She jolted, and her breath hitched.

  He looked at her, while his hand continued stroking her. He looked at her lips, then her eyes. “We only have about eight minutes or so, Ryann. You’re going to need to be quiet...you can’t make a sound…you don’t want Manny to hear. But you’re going to come for me, I promise you that.”

  His hand slipped under her panties, and found her very wet and very ready for his warm and calloused fingers.

  He let out a breath and said, “So wet for me…so smooth…I love that you drip for me,” he said, all while looking at her face. She was beet red, she was sure, and then two of his fingers found her opening and slid in, and she was lost. She let out a strangled moan, and closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing.

  “Shh, baby. Not a sound.” He wasn’t helping the matter and he knew it. His thumb slowly circled her clit, while he finger fucked her. He inhaled at her neck. “You smell so good.” He nipped at her there, and continued his sweet torture.

  She was trying to stay quiet, but it wasn’t easy. She gasped at one point when he rubbed slow circles over her G-spot with his two fingers. “God, you’re soaked for me,” he said again. “We only have a couple of minutes left, Ryann. Are you going to come for me?” he whispered. “Look at me, baby.”

  She did, and she was so close. His words were pushing her closer. It was becoming difficult to stay quiet, so he rested his lips on hers, and whispered, “Shh. No making any noise, baby.”

  He increased the pressure of his thumb, and the pumping of his fingers. She was biting her lower lip, but she was making soft sounds in the back of her throat, as the orgasm raced toward her.

  “Come now, Ryann. I want to see you fly apart. Look at me.”

  She did, and let out a soft gasp as the orgasm ripped through her, and her walls clenched around his fingers. She kept coming and coming, being hit by a multitude of ripples.

  He ate at her mouth, swallowing her soft sounds, murmuring, “Oh, yeah, baby…so beautiful. God, I want you so badly right now. I don’t know how I’m going to make it to Saturday.”

  She finally came down from her high, and felt a gorgeous glow about her, like she was sparkling, light shooting out of her. She tried to gain her breath, to begin the slow descent out of the sexual stupor he always seemed to get her into, mentally preparing herself to get out of the car soon.

  In the next minute, the car pulled up outside the Institute, and Jeremy was still looking at her as if he was going to swallow her whole. His eyes were heavy lidded, and the corner of his mouth ticked up slightly. He removed his hand from underneath her skirt, and immediately put his fingers in his mouth to suck the proof of her orgasm from his fingers. He licked his lips. “Will I enter your thoughts now?” he whispered.

&n
bsp; The man was evil. Potently dangerous. She was still coming down from the mind blowing orgasm he just gave her, and now she had to walk into the lobby as if nothing had happened. She knew she was blushing furiously, and her ponytail was probably a disheveled mess.

  She swallowed, and sighed, trying to get her thoughts together. “You’re lucky we’re here, Jeremy. If I had more time, you’d be in trouble,” she muttered.

  He raised an eyebrow. “I’m looking forward to you exacting your revenge this weekend.” He helped pull her up, and smiled, kissing her cheek. “Have a great week. I’ll text you later.”

  She cleared her throat, still trying to mentally shake off the last six minutes in the car so she could focus. “Ok,” she squeaked out.

  He chuckled. “Saturday and Sunday you’re mine. Don’t forget.” He kissed her hard, then opened the door and stepped out, only to turn back and help her out as well. He didn’t kiss her on the curb, but he did give her an intense look, and ran his hand down her back as he walked her to the stairs, and Manny brought over her overnight bag.

  “Thanks, Manny,” she smiled shakily.

  “You’re welcome. Have a good day, Ryann,” he smiled back.

  “You, too.” She turned to Jeremy. He continued to look at her, his eyes looking a little preoccupied. “Have a great trip to Boston. Be safe,” she said softly, a little flustered.

  “I will.” It looked like he was about to say something else, but instead, he tapped her chin with his finger, winked, then turned and got back into the car. It didn’t pull away until she turned and walked up the steps.

  Chapter 17

  When she entered the lobby, her first thought was she needed to get to a bathroom. The slick, wet folds of her sex rubbed against each other as she walked, and she was feeling like she needed to clean up.

  Unfortunately, the first person she saw was MG. She sighed as she kept walking, ignoring her. There was no one else there except security near the entrance, and Jennifer was leaning against one of the pillars, looking out the front glass doors. She was sure that Jennifer saw Jeremy drop her off, so she readied herself for the conversation to come.

  She attempted to walk by her without incident, but unfortunately it wasn’t in the cards.

  “He’s an incredible kisser, isn’t he?” she said with a smirk on her face, then sighed. “Yes, indeed. Jeremy and I go way back, and he definitely knows how to use his mouth to please a woman.”

  Knowing that both Jennifer and Jeremy had once kissed was enough to make her want to punch something, but she refused to rise to the bait. She cocked her head and looked at her. “It must make you really sad to know that he’ll never use it on you again.”

  Jennifer’s eyes glared holes through her. “Honey, you don’t even know what you’re getting yourself into. Jeremy is notorious for changing women every few weeks. Once he’s done fucking you, you’ll simply be known as the most recent flavor of the month. He loves women, and will never settle for just one. Especially not one as sweet and pure as you.”

  Her eyes mocked her sympathetically, then she tsked, “Poor thing. Have you already fallen for him?” Pause. “Enjoy him while you have him. I give him another couple of weeks before he tires of you.”

  Ryann was vibrating with anger, and she could feel her face turning red. She took a step forward. “Once again, Jennifer, I’m going to repeat myself, and I’ll try to use small words so I don’t have to keep doing this on a daily basis. My personal life is off limits to you. Period. There is nothing you have to say that interests me. As always, it wasn’t nice talking to you.” She turned and began walking to the elevator.

  “I can’t wait to tell you ‘I told you so,’” she said after her in a sing songy voice.

  Ryann kept walking, and didn’t show a reaction. When she was finally inside the elevator with the door closed, she leaned back onto the wall, and tamped down the anger. The woman was an absolute bitch on wheels. She couldn’t remember ever having met such a hateful person. She threw her shoulders back and blinked back the frustrated tears. There was no way this dysfunctional woman was going to ruin her experience here. She just needed to keep away from her as much as possible.

  The difficult part was not letting Jennifer’s words about Jeremy feed into her insecurities. She was sure there was a small amount of truth in what Jennifer said. That’s what was causing her to second guess. But she knew she couldn’t think about it at the moment. She needed to make it through the day and get her head in the game.

  She’d have plenty of time for the rest of the week to process it.

  …..

  She had gotten a text from Ayanna at lunch asking if she wanted to do Thai takeout for dinner. She texted back yes, and was looking forward to a girl session with her.

  Even though by the end of the day she was exhausted, it had been one of her most fulfilling days. She had spent most of the day with Paul, and getting to know all of her new students. They came from all walks of life, and were all ages. She knew the studio classes where the students were able to tap into their creativity were going to be her favorites. It was wonderful to know that a job existed where she didn’t even feel like she was working. She had loved it.

  She got to her apartment building around 6:30, and bumped into Jonathan as they were both picking up their mail.

  “Howdy, stranger,” he said.

  “Hey you,” she said with a smile. “How are things going?”

  “Good... I have several consulting jobs set up this summer, so I’m trying to enjoy the days off while I have ’em.” Pause. “I just realized we haven’t talked about what you’re doing ‘til September. You working on your thesis and stuff?”

  She sighed. She might as well tell him. After her awesome day at the Institute, she knew for sure she would be handing in her resignation at the Academy.

  “Well,” she hesitated. “Funny you should ask.” She spent the next couple of minutes filling him in, and at the end of her speech, he had a bittersweet look on his face.

  “That sounds totally up your alley. I guess I should be happy I found you this apartment, then, otherwise we’d never see each other,” he teased.

  “I know. Now that I live here, you’re stuck with me,” she said with a smile. She heard her text go off. “Excuse me for a sec.” It was Ayanna.

  AS: Where the hell are u? Ur doorman said u were here, but we’ve been trying u on the intercom and ur not answering.

  She looked up at Jonathan with an idea forming in her head. “Hey, will you do me a favor? Can you just run to the entrance for me? I ordered some Thai takeout and it’s here, but I just want to get my mail real quick. I put it on my card, so you don’t have to pay anything…it’ll be under my name.”

  “Sure, I’ll be right back.”

  Ryann smiled as she saw him turn the corner toward the front entrance. She took her time getting her mail wondering how the situation was going to play out. Ayanna certainly acted the matchmaker to her. She figured what was good for the goose was good for the gander, and all that.

  She could hear them before they approached the mail area. When they came around the corner, Jonathan gave Ryann a knowing look, and Ayanna had an overly bright smile on her face.

  “Hey, girlfriend,” she said. “Ready to eat?”

  She looked between the two of them trying to decipher the body language. “Yup.” She turned toward Jonathan. “Thanks for helping out with that,” she smiled.

  “No problem,” he said dryly. “I’ll ride up with you guys.” He walked to the elevator and held back the doors for them.

  Ayanna turned to him and said, “We have plenty of food. Would you and your girlfriend like to join us?”

  She asked it with such a sincere tone, that Ryann could tell Jonathan wasn’t sure how to take it. Now it was Ryann’s turn to give him a look. This one said Time to come clean.

  “Actually, Emily isn’t my girlfriend. She’s my cousin.”

  “Oh,” Ayanna said, not letting on that she knew this b
it of info already. “You didn’t mention that the other night when we bumped into you.”

  “It must’ve just slipped my mind,” he said looking back at her intensely.

  “Hmm. I guess so. Well, regardless, if she’s here, you two are more than welcome to join us if you’d like to.” Again, she was so sweet and sincere. Not a note of the typical Ayanna sarcasm. Jonathan looked at her skeptically, a hint of a smile touching his lips.

  “Thanks for the invite, but Emily’s working late tonight. She just started with Mitchell, Horton and Rose and is waiting for her apartment to be ready, so she’s staying with me for a bit,” he added. “She’s meeting with her realtor later.”

  “Great. Well, the offer stands if you change your mind and wanna come down for some food. I can promise you that the food from this place is fabulous.”

  “Ayanna has her culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, so since she’s the ‘foodie’, she always picks the restaurants.”

  Jonathan looked up, surprised and obviously impressed. “Really? Wow. When were you in Paris?”

  The elevator dinged indicating they had reached Ryann’s floor.

  “Oops, here we are. We’ll have to finish up this conversation another time. But it was good to see you again. Say hi to Emily for us.” She smiled and got off the elevator.

  Ryann followed and looked back at Jonathan, who looked a little thrown. It was kind of funny, but she didn’t dare laugh. “See ya later, buddy.”

  He came out of his stupor and waved, “Yup. Have fun, you two.”

  Ryann met Ayanna at her door, and giggled. “I have never seen you that sweet in my life.”

  Ayanna smiled and winked at her. “I’ve been thinking about our discussion the other night, and I’m trying not to be so… forward, for lack of a better term. Maybe I’ll catch a nice guy like Johnny Be Good if I’m not so slutty.”

  Ryann opened the door and groaned. “You’re not slutty, Yan.”