by Tessa Bailey
“Nice galoshes, idiot,” she muttered to herself. “Expecting rain?”
Her worry for Eliza had eclipsed any nervousness about seeing Jonah again, but as the elevator climbed higher, she couldn’t calm her racing pulse. Thoughts of him had plagued her relentlessly since the last time she’d seen him. Hot, naughty, indecent thoughts that made her clothes feel restricting, made the water from her shower feel sensual instead of functional. When he’d called earlier, she almost hadn’t answered. Afraid one word from him would send her running to Serve for more of what he could do. In a way, she’d been right, but she’d never expected the reason for his call.
Caroline started as the elevator door slid open to reveal Jonah. To the right of his apartment door, he leaned against the wall, arms crossed, eyes trained on her. His white shirt had been rolled up to his elbows, a day’s growth of beard on his chin. He was the embodiment of a hungry male. Her thighs felt like they were being squeezed lightly in that ticklish spot just above the knee. And that almost giddily aroused feeling spread up her legs to her tummy, where it whipped into a tight whirlpool of need.
“Hi.”
Jonah didn’t answer, simply opened his apartment door and indicated that she should precede him inside. He stood so close that Caroline was forced to brush against him as she passed, a low rumble from his throat nearly causing her to combust. Holy shit was her most prevalent thought. Her attraction to him before they’d had sex paled in comparison to this overwhelming impulse to wrap her legs around him and ride him for everything she was worth. When she made the mistake of looking him in the eye, Jonah made a hungry noise, raking her from head to toe with a blistering glance.
“Baby.”
Oh, boy.
Focus! You’re here for Eliza.
“Where is she?” Caroline asked briskly, finding the strength to move past him.
“Couch.”
Her brow knit in concern when she saw her friend sprawled out on Jonah’s black suede couch, completely passed out. Beside her on the coffee table, a cup of coffee still steamed. Something in her heart turned over at that gesture, presumably made by Jonah, but she quickly discarded that reaction.
“What was she thinking?” Caroline said, more to herself than anything. “She usually tells me everything.”
“No one tells anyone everything.”
She turned. “That’s pretty cynical.”
“It’s the truth.” He raised an eyebrow. “Did you tell her you came here Tuesday night?”
“Yes, but only in case I was never heard from again.” When something she couldn’t name flashed across his face, Caroline shook her head. “That was a joke.”
Jonah turned and walked to the kitchen. “I don’t think she’ll wake up any time soon. You might as well have a cup of coffee.”
Caroline hesitated to leave her best friend, but a soft snore made the decision for her. Jonah was right. No way could she get a comatose Eliza downstairs and out of the club without drawing a lot of attention. She had a feeling her friend wouldn’t appreciate her snoring form being carried out of Serve and stuffed into a cab. In front of hundreds of onlookers, no less. Even so, time spent with Jonah was a danger to her sanity. She’d made up her mind not to see him again, knowing nothing could be allowed to come of it. Not even more exploration of their physical connection. Tonight, though, with him looking like a sex-mussed playboy, that hard-won resolve would inevitably weaken.
She looked back at Eliza, wondering what the hell was going on with her best friend. Apparently their conversation at the stock exchange engagement hadn’t been enough to cure her curiosity of this place. Get your ass up, Gilmore Girl. Caroline kicked the couch a little, but her friend didn’t so much as flinch.
With a sigh, she followed Jonah into the kitchen. She found him pulling a mug down from the cabinet, looking completely out of place in such a homey setting. He looked more suited to standing in front of a roulette wheel with three women hanging off his arms. Caroline refused to examine why that image made her want to hack firewood with an ax.
“How do you take it?”
She hopped onto a stool situated against the marble island. “Just cream. No sugar.”
“You’re already sweet enough?” She gave him a pointed look, and he smiled tightly. “You didn’t wear a coat. Are you cold?”
Jesus, no. “I’m fine.” Hot, so hot. “I’m just worried about my friend.”
Jonah set down the coffee in front of her on the counter. He was standing way too close for her peace of mind. “Do you know why she came here?”
Caroline thought back to the conversation she’d had with her friend. Now that she thought about it harder, Eliza had definitely been quick to shift the focus from herself, questioning what had gone down between Caroline and Jonah. Not that she would let him know she’d been discussing him. That would be distinctly unwise. “I know she met a man here that first night. She couldn’t have come back here looking for him, right?”
“You want me to look into it?”
He was so close now, the hair at her neck moved with his warm breath. “How can you? I don’t even know his name.”
“There’s always a way, Caroline.” Her eyes closed involuntarily when he stroked his hand down the back of her head. “If there isn’t one, I’ll make one. If I haven’t made it clear enough, I’d do anything you asked of me.”
“Except let me go.”
“Except that.”
His fingers tangled in her hair, and she felt her bones liquefy under his touch, her neck go slack. “Did the article…hurt your chances to see your daughter?”
For just a split second, his hand paused before resuming its movement. “It didn’t stall them any more than they already were. You might have saved me by not mentioning my name.” He paused. “That doesn’t mean I’m any less unhappy with you, Caroline. Neither does my calling you here to retrieve your friend. I’m only doing what I’m compelled to do.”
“I didn’t like writing the feature,” she whispered, feeling a weight fall from her shoulders. He was too close, too overwhelming for her to explore why. “I almost didn’t publish it. It…felt wrong.”
They were breathing into each other’s space, mouths inches apart. Jonah’s hand coasted up her thigh, over the black garter outlined beneath her leggings, to rest just below her panty line. “You say you’re fine. But you’re still wearing my gift, so why don’t you tell me how you’ve really been, baby?”
She swallowed hard, trying to block the multitude of sensations rushing to the apex of her thighs. Move your hand higher. Don’t move your hand higher. His closeness jumbled her thoughts, but one major one stood out. He was still unsatisfied after our last time together. He was hard and aching and he’s here now. Right here. “Like I said. I’ve been fine.”
“That so?” He dropped a hand to the fly of his pants, gripping his erection without a hint of shame. “I haven’t been fine in days. Your punishment has ended up being one for me, as well.”
“What do you want me to do about it?” Caroline returned on a breath before she realized how loaded that question sounded. But besides a small eyebrow raise, Jonah didn’t call her on it.
Instead, his thumb came up to trace her bottom lip, not at all gently. “Caroline Preston.” He made her name sound like a chastisement. “The thought of this outrageously sexy mouth has caused me more than a few restless nights lately.”
Don’t ask. “How so?”
Jonah moved between the V of her thighs. “I don’t think I need to spell it out for you.” He searched her expression, appearing a little surprised by whatever he saw. “But you’d like me to? Very well, sweetheart. I’ve stroked my goddamn cock to the thought of your mouth so many times, I’ve made myself sore.”
Caroline’s chest shuddered, the lips in question parting on a moan. “S-sorry?”
“I don’t accept.” He moved quickly, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth and letting it go with a pop. “You shouldn’t be allowed to walk around w
ith that mouth exposed, talking to everyone from corporate executives to cab drivers. It’s fucking indecent.”
She worked to form a rational thought among the tangle of hot, churning want. “What would you have me do about it? Stay inside all day?”
“I can only tell you what I would do, Caroline.”
His dark retort begged for clarification. “What?”
Jonah dipped his head, wetting her lips with his tongue, before rubbing his own lips over them. “I’d train this mouth. Train it to give me pleasure. Only me.”
Caroline’s thighs shot together in a tight squeeze when chemical heat twirled through her. No stern warnings or resolutions could penetrate the cloud of lust enveloping her. The sexual intensity in his eyes, every word out of his mouth made her want to be reckless. As if that thought had given her permission, Caroline looked up at Jonah through heavy-lidded eyes. “Who said I need any training? Maybe I already know how.”
“Don’t speak to me like that unless you plan to follow through. And by follow through, I mean you do not stop until I’ve gotten my fill of your mouth.”
Her ability to lie had evaporated in the heat he projected. His words. Him. Jonah. “I’ve been wanting it for days. You wouldn’t let me.”
His hands turned rough and glorious in her hair. “So much of my pleasure comes from trust, Caroline. Why should I trust you now?”
Pain lanced her, but there were so many different forms of it—lust, need, desperation—it got swallowed up, and all she could think was, Please, please, please. “I’m begging for it. Everywhere I go, all I can think of is what you said. How I left you that day. It hurts. Don’t you understand?”
“Yes, goddammit.”
Caroline went down on her knees. Or Jonah put her there. She had no idea. Not wanting a second to pass wherein she might talk herself out of it, she quickly undid his pants and yanked them down to his ankles. His erection strained toward her, begging for relief only she could give. Keeping their gazes locked, she circled her hand as far as it would go around the wide base, then sucked him hard to the back of her throat.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Jonah chanted above her, his fist coming down hard on the counter with a slam. “I knew all about this mouth the second I saw you. Knew you’d be a dirty girl if I got you kneeling. Suck it hard and prove me right.”
She hummed in her throat, losing herself in the moment. While her hand worked him in a gentle pumping motion, she kept his arousal sucked into her mouth, swirling her tongue around the rigid flesh, loving the way he thickened more with every passing second. When Jonah gathered her hair in his fist and began subtly pumping his hips toward her mouth, she let him dictate the rhythm, knowing how much he craved that control. In that moment, giving him what he wanted was, in turn, giving her pleasure. His groans increased in volume along with the tempo of his hips. The hand in her hair pulled tighter until tears formed in her eyes, but somehow, that loss of his control only turned her on more.
Please him. Please my master. She hated her thoughts and loved them at the same time.
“That’s enough.” Three more restrained pumps of his hips. “I’m going to come, you dirty girl. Take your mouth off me before I fill it up.”
As if she could. Every taste, every movement was driving her wild. She’d caused him discomfort, and only she could take it away. That responsibility went to her head, blocking out everything else. Keeping her lips sliding up and down his swollen length, Caroline reached between his legs and palmed his balls, closing her fist around them and massaging.
“Jesus, harder. Harder.” Caroline did as he asked, squeezing him in her fist, and felt his big body begin to shake with the oncoming climax. “Take it for me, sweetheart. One more good suck, then I’ll let you have it.”
She drew on him hard, pulling him to the back of her throat as he came apart with a shout. At that moment, Caroline swore she could feel his pleasure coursing through her veins. As if his relief were so powerful it encompassed her and pulled her into its depths. She had no idea how long she stayed on her knees, reveling in this newfound power, but suddenly Jonah wrenched her to her feet, where she swayed against him.
His mouth moved, wet and determined, along her neck, down to her breasts. “Baby, I’m going to reward you so well for that. Let’s get these leggings off so I can tongue that pussy. I’m going to keep it up until you cry this time.”
“Yes. Please.” Caroline’s thumbs hooked into the top of her leggings as Jonah continued to suck on the sensitive spot beneath her ear. “Oh God, Jonah, that feels—”
“Um, hello?”
Jonah and Caroline both froze at the sound of Eliza’s voice calling from the living room. Her friend sounded slightly drunk and a whole lot disconcerted. The interruption should have cooled the flames burning her alive, but nothing could. Nothing but relief. Still, it was obvious she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t leave her friend confused out in the living room to selfishly take what Jonah was offering.
“You can’t leave here like this. Look at you. You need me so badly, you’re shaking.”
“I-I…We don’t have a choice.”
“Caroline.” He leaned down and pressed their foreheads together hard. “You’re asking me to let you walk out of here, wet and ready as fuck.”
Feeling as though her world could potentially end without Jonah bringing her to completion, Caroline was jolted into extricating herself. Mentally as well as physically. She thought of how he’d left her shaking in the limousine that day. Drove away from her as she drowned in the knowledge she’d left him in need.
Exactly as he’d expected she would.
“Yeah?” She looked him in the eye, praying and dreading at the same time that this would be the nail in their coffin. “How does it feel?”
His expression hardened, but he didn’t respond. The act of moving away from him was physically painful, and Jonah didn’t make it any easier by refusing to budge from where he’d pinned her against the counter. Swallowing heavily, she dragged their bodies together as she slid from beneath him.
“Eliza,” she called, straightening her clothes. Not wanting Jonah to be seen with his pants down and needing to get away as quickly as possible, she went into the living room to find her friend.
“Caroline?” Eliza looked around at the apartment. “What’s going on?”
“I could ask you the same question,” she hedged. “Let’s talk about it in the cab. You’re staying with me tonight.”
As she led Eliza from the apartment, her body still quaking with unquenched heat, Caroline could feel Jonah’s intense gaze on her back.
Chapter Thirteen
Three days. He hadn’t seen her in three goddamn days.
Jonah tossed his hat on the bar, dragged impatient fingers through his hair, and signaled the bartender. Finding himself in need of escaping Serve and its rowdy Saturday night crowd, he’d spent the last half hour walking uptown twenty blocks without any real idea of where he wanted to end up. Even now, he wanted to get up and keep walking, but he didn’t have the luxury of time. They would need him back at the club soon.
First, however, he wanted a drink. Or ten.
Jonah observed his surroundings as he pulled out his wallet. He’d walked into a popular upscale steakhouse he frequented on the rare occasion he managed to escape from the club. With a bar tucked in the back, out of view of the street, it suited his mood. He wanted to be isolated, even more than usual. Most people came to the steakhouse for dinner, so the polished bar sat mostly empty, except for two businessmen in suits discussing fantasy football.
Caroline. Everywhere he looked, even inside his own club, there were reminders of her. He’d ordered the bartenders to stop garnishing the drinks with lollipops, unable to provide a coherent explanation. His private elevator suddenly felt huge. This afternoon, he’d observed a spanking being delivered on the first floor and had immediately wondered if Caroline would disapprove…or if it would turn her on. These were useless thoughts considering
how she’d walked out on him again, but nothing stemmed them.
And if his obsession with a woman who’d written him off wasn’t bad enough, he’d received more news about his petition for visitation this afternoon, courtesy of his lawyer. His request to meet with Renee to discuss terms had once again been rejected. When Winston had hesitantly suggested withholding financial support to see if Renee would relent, Jonah had immediately said no. He had no court order dictating that he was required to give Renee money, but the idea that Gabby might suffer from his actions made him feel sick.
Jesus, he hadn’t felt this out of control in a long time. He was a man who got what he wanted. Not because the things he wanted miraculously fell into his lap. Oh no. He worked his ass off for what he had. He might have procured Serve with winnings from a poker game, but that had only been the beginning of his battle to make it a premier New York City destination. He’d practically renovated it with his bare hands, turning it from an abandoned tenement building into a place he was proud of. He’d spent months being turned down by investors until he’d found one willing to take a shot on a nobody from nowhere.
He hadn’t been that nobody in so long, he’d forgotten what it felt like. When nothing you did or said made an ounce of difference. Not with Gabby’s mother. Certainly not with Caroline. The feeling sat like a lead weight in his stomach, making him edgy, turning his usual craving for control into an entirely different animal.
Jonah picked up the glass of whiskey and took a healthy pull, his eyes rising of their own accord to the restaurant’s second level, which overlooked the bar.
It took him a minute to believe what his eyes were seeing.
Caroline, sitting at a table with a man in his mid-thirties, her face lit by soft candlelight. For the first time since he’d met her, she wore no glasses. Her arms were bare, except for the gorgeous wealth of hair falling down around her, caressing her skin like a lover. The black cocktail dress she wore came to mid-thigh, drying his mouth, the feel of those very legs squeezing tight around his head still a powerful memory.
