Gearhead

by Evelyn Glass

  He grabbed a handful of my hair and tugged, pulling my head back and groaning into my neck. I felt him against my thigh, and a warm need grew in my lower abdomen. As he tugged on my hair, I arched my back, pressing myself against him. My brain screamed at me to stop, reminding me of everything he’d done, but my priorities no longer aligned with sense and reason. I needed a release.

  “What do you want, Marin?” he asked again, speaking the words into my skin.

  I ignored him, and pulled his face to mine, our tongues swirling together.

  He pulled back and looked at me. “What do you want?”

  Why was he doing this? I drew my eyebrows together, confused.

  Jasper grabbed my chin and ran his thumb across my lower lip, pulling on it. “Tell me,” he said, his voice hoarse with desire.

  “You,” I mumbled, my lips refusing to move around the word.

  “Say it again.” He reached around to unclasp my bra. He slid the straps off one arm at a time, his fingertips brushing across my skin, leaving trails of fire and ice.

  “You,” I whispered a little louder this time, the need inside of me forming a pit in my stomach.

  He pushed on my shoulders until I was laying back on the island, open and exposed to him. My legs opened further, and he placed a warm hang on each of my thighs, sliding upwards until his fingers grazed across the material of my panties.

  “One more time,” he said, leaning forward to kiss the insides of my legs.

  “I want you,” I said, my voice thick and begging.

  He grabbed my hips and slid me roughly to the edge of the countertop. Within seconds, his hands were under the waistband of my panties. I heard the delicate fabric rip. I sat up a bit to better see, but he pushed me back down, his hand pressing into my chest as he unzipped his suit pants and pulled down his boxers.

  Suddenly, he was rubbing himself against my opening. I arched my back and moved to wrap my legs around him, but once again he pressed me down.

  “Wait,” he commanded.

  I didn’t understand. Was I just supposed to lie there?

  Without warning, he thrust himself fully inside of me, and I screamed. Pain and pleasure mixing into one blinding sensation.

  “That’s what you want,” he said, pulling out and thrusting in again.

  I writhed on the counter, but Jasper grabbed my hips and pulled me into him, deepening the thrust. I screamed again, my back arching against the violation.

  “Scream for me, baby,” he said, pounding into me as I laid helpless and spread on the island.

  I bit back another scream, not because Jasper told me to, but because he’d suddenly added a finger to the mix. He circled my center, pushing me closer and closer to the edge. He timed his thrusts with his finger, and my thighs began to tremble. I felt a wave rising up inside of me, threatening to crash at any moment.

  But then, he stopped.

  I sat up, eyebrows knitted together, my entire body coiled so tightly I thought I’d snap at any moment. Jasper was standing back and looking at me, an animalistic hunger darkening his eyes.

  “Wha—”

  “Get on the floor,” he said. The words were soft, but his demeanor felt like a threat.

  There was an ache inside of me where he’d been only moments before, and I wanted it back. At that moment, I would have done anything for the release. So, I obeyed. I slid off the counter, my sweaty skin squeaking across the granite. I stood in front of him completely naked.

  Maintaining eye contact, Jasper pushed his pants and boxers to the floor. For a minute, we stood there like two nervous teenagers, anxiously taking in the sight of the other person’s body. Then, Jasper became commanding again.

  “On your knees.”

  I hesitated. Jasper closed the gap between us in one step and cupped me with his hand. His thumb rubbed at my most sensitive spot until I thought I could collapse. As he massaged me, he pressed his lips to my ear.

  “On your knees,” he whispered.

  This time, I listened.

  I dropped down onto the tile floor, and Jasper grabbed the hair at the back of my neck and directed me towards him. There was no misunderstanding his intentions. I opened my mouth and accepted him into me. I drug my lips down his length, swirling my tongue around his tip, and then dove back down.

  Suddenly, I felt in control. My hands were wrapped around his muscular legs for stability, and I felt him shaking. When I chanced a look up at his face, his eyes were closed, head tipped back. He looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen him.

  I worked his length several times and then added a hand at the base. As soon as I did, Jasper groaned and grabbed the back of my head, holding me onto him as he made shallow thrusts into my mouth. Even though I was the one pleasuring him, I felt myself growing wetter and wetter by the second. I had never wanted anyone more desperately in my life.

  Luckily, Jasper had the same idea.

  He slid out of me, and before I could even react, he had flipped me over onto my hands and knees. I looked over my shoulder at him, and Jasper met my eyes. He bit his pouty lower lip, and I almost came right there. His vulnerability was obvious. He wanted this as badly as I did.

  “I want you,” I said, speaking the words slowly and freely.

  A minuscule smile played at the corner of his mouth, and then he inserted two of his fingers into me. I lost all of my composure. I slammed my hands down on the tile and arched my back. He pulsed in and out of me several times, and well before I was ready, inserted a third finger.

  “How about now?” he asked, slapping my ass.

  “I want you,” I said, speaking through my gritted teeth.

  He grabbed my hair and tugged, forcing me to arch my back, his other hand never once slowing down. “And now?”

  I was breathing so hard I could barely speak, my chest heaving. “I. Want. You.”

  Too fast to believe, Jasper removed his fingers and dipped himself into me. He felt even bigger than he had the first time, stretching me to my absolute limit. His hands grabbed at the soft of my hips and drilled into me relentlessly. I came fast and hard.

  My body clenched around him, eliciting a husky moan. I nearly collapsed, my body shaking so much I couldn’t hold my own weight, but Jasper wrapped an arm around my waist and held me up. Warmth moved down my body in waves, pleasure exploding from every cell in my body. My toes curled and my back arched, and I heard myself moaning, but I couldn’t stop.

  Jasper never once slowed, thrusting into me as fast as he could, our bodies slapping together. Finally, when I was certain my limbs would break apart from the pounding, Jasper clenched up and pulled out of me. He released onto my bare back in powerful streams, warmth dripping down my ribs and onto the floor. He grunted as he finished and then dropped down onto the floor next to me, his tattooed chest heaving. Even sweaty and exhausted, he still looked like a Greek god.

  Chapter Nine

  Jasper

  Once again, I found myself unable to sleep. Marin was only a few walls away from me, and all I wanted to do was go to her. I rolled over and kicked the covers off of me. She was supposed to be out of my system. Sleeping with her was supposed to put an end to whatever kind of infatuation I had with her.

  She was a cover for me, a way to improve my image. I’d been with women more experienced than Marin. More beautiful. Yet, somehow, Marin was the woman on my mind. The woman I wanted on my arm.

  The woman I wanted in my bed.

  I pushed the thoughts away, but I couldn’t stop seeing her on her knees in front of me, taking me in her mouth. I could practically feel her warmth wrapping around me. I was hard again, but I resisted the urge to seek another release. Perhaps, contrary to what I’d first thought, Marin was like a drug. It would be better to quit her cold turkey. Even the thought of that made me weak with desire.

  I wanted her.

  Somehow, I drifted off to sleep, waking only when sunlight drenched my room and burned my eyelids. For a few seconds, I wondered how I’d spend my da
y, whether I had Hellions business to attend to. Then, I remembered Marin. She was in my house. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up to a woman in my house. They typically left right after sex, usually at my urging. With Marin, though, I’d offered her some of my workout clothes to sleep in. I’d taken her to a guest room.

  What was happening to me?

  I stayed in bed longer than usual, nervous to encounter her. Did I make her breakfast? I tried to envision myself cooking Marin eggs in my kitchen, but the image didn’t stick. I was not that guy. When I finally peeled myself from between the covers and padded down the hallway in nothing more than a pair of gray flannel sweats, I noticed the guest room door was open.

  I didn’t hear any movement behind the door, so I peeked inside. The bed was made, looking as though it hadn’t even been slept in, her dress was folded on the dresser, and a piece of paper fluttered on the untouched pillow.

  Sorry, I got a ride home. I’ll be fine. I have pepper spray in my purse. – Marin

  If she thought pepper spray would be enough to keep Angel away from her, she was sadly mistaken. Angel wouldn’t try anything, so she was probably safe at her apartment. The Jackals were a joke, way outnumbered by the Hellions. He wouldn’t risk a war. The only reason I’d brought Marin back last night was to sleep with her. Seeing Angel at the gala had simply been an easy excuse.

  Still, just to be sure, I pulled out my phone and texted her. I’d stolen her number from the employee records.

  J: Did you make it through the night?

  M: Who is this?

  J: Jasper

  M: I’m fine

  Seeing her name pop up on my screen brought a mixture of relief and annoyance. I hated the minutes I’d spent staring at my phone, waiting for her reply. I hated that I wanted her to keep talking to me.

  M: Did you see the Chronicle?

  I hated how quickly I’d unlocked my phone to read her text. I opened my door, grateful I had yet to cancel my physical subscription to the local paper and noticed an article on the front page about the business owner’s Gala. Such a large gathering of some of the city’s most influential people always warranted a write-up in the next day’s paper, but I’d never even been mentioned.

  I skimmed the first few paragraphs and flipped back to page A7. A collage of photos from the night was smattered across the page, and in the center was a shot of me and Marin on the dance floor. My hand sat dangerously low on her back, and she was smiling, though not directly at me, I noticed.

  To anyone unfamiliar with our situation, we probably looked like an ordinary happy couple. The caption beneath read: “Jasper Black, owner of Jasper’s Grill restaurant chain, is pictured with Marin Wagner. Wagner works as a waitress at a Jasper’s Grill, and last year played a critical role in saving the local chapter of ‘Big Sibs’, a mentorship program.”

  J: I thought you just volunteered at Big Sibs.

  M: I guess you don’t know me very well.

  It was becoming abundantly clear I didn’t know Marin well at all, and suddenly I wanted to remedy that. It was research. If she were supposed to be my girlfriend, I’d need to know more about her. We had to sell the lie.

  Chapter Ten

  Marin

  I couldn’t get comfortable in Jasper’s guest room. After we slept together, he deposited me in the guest room with some of his old clothes to use as pajamas and padded down the hallway to his own room. I used the shower – partly because I felt dirty and partly because it had three different shower heads and I couldn’t not try it out – and slipped into his comically large clothes.

  I even crawled between the extravagant cotton sheets and closed my eyes. But sleep wouldn’t come. How could I have slept with him? Even thinking about the encounter made my cheeks flush. Certainly, it was Jasper’s plan all along. The only reason he brought me home or took me to the gala at all.

  He’d sent me a tight, low-cut dress, and I’d put it on and played along with his game. I’d let him dress me like a doll and do with me what he pleased. Lying in his bed felt like lying to myself, an attempt to convince myself that what had happened was okay. And it wasn’t. It couldn’t be okay. Sleeping with a man like Jasper and enjoying it could never be okay.

  I jumped up, grabbed my purse, and tip-toed down the hallway. I walked a few blocks away before calling Kayla to come pick me up.

  “You know what time it is, right?” she asked, her voice thick with sleep.

  When she picked me up, her hair was pulled back tightly in two braids, and she had her pink flannel pajama set on. Miraculously, she didn’t ask me why I was wearing an oversized shirt and long, athletic shorts and standing on the corner of a neighborhood I would never be able to live in. At least, not right then.

  As we drove to work the next day, each of us scheduled for the lunch shift, the questions were endless.

  “Why did you leave his house in the middle of the night?”

  “Where did your clothes go?”

  “Are you finally going to tell me how big he is?”

  “Wait, did he hurt you?”

  I sighed, unable to handle or deflect anymore of Kayla’s questions. “No, he didn’t hurt me,” I said, though the ache between my legs said otherwise. Jasper was rather large, and he hadn’t been exactly gentle.

  “You’re being weird,” Kayla said. “Two days ago, you didn’t care about Jasper Black at all, and now you’re sleeping with him at work and going to galas with him? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  I wanted to tell Kayla the truth, but I knew Jasper wouldn’t want me to. Plus, I had no way of knowing whether she’d be in any kind of danger. Jasper hadn’t seemed concerned by the appearance of Angel at the gala, but the man had left me with an unsettled feeling. He felt dangerous, and I couldn’t take any risks.

  “He’s nice,” I said, realizing how ridiculous the words sounded coming out of my mouth. Even if you’d only seen Jasper in passing, you’d know he wasn’t nice. Some people, beautiful ones, in particular, don’t need to be nice to be well liked or respected. That was Jasper. Strong and serious, a dash of mysterious. Not nice.

  Kayla raised an eyebrow but didn’t turn towards me. Instead, she kept her eyes on the road. “Just be careful.”

  “Be careful? Why?” I asked, surprised by her somber tone. I could always count on Kayla to make a joke out of anything, but now her mouth pulled down in a frown.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling about all of this.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said, though inside, I felt anything but.

  ***

  Word of Jasper’s and my relationship spread through the restaurant more quickly than I could have guessed, especially considering I’d only told Kayla. When the third person came up to ask me to confirm my status as Jasper’s girlfriend, I shot Kayla a deadly glare.

  “Yes, we’re dating,” I said, returning to wiping down glasses at the bar.

  Before they could say anything else, the door to Jasper’s office opened, and he stepped into the restaurant, quieting all conversation. I hadn’t even realized he’d come into today, meaning he must have made use of the side door. Everyone greeted him warmly, but I could feel all of their gazes fall on me, waiting to see how I’d react.

  Rather than give them any kind of pleasure, I returned to wiping down glasses and stacking them on the solid wood shelf that hung above the liquor bottles.

  “Can I talk to you in my office?” He’d whispered the words as if everyone in the entire room hadn’t stopped talking to overhear our conversation.

  “I’m busy,” I said, working hard to ignore the flutter in my stomach.

  He leaned in closer. “And I’m your boss.”

  I sighed. That was going to be annoying. Clearly, there was something forbidding this in the employee handbook. Though, Jasper had probably written the employee handbook. Also, he owned the company. Also, the last thing Jasper cared about was rules.

  He turned and headed back towards his office, no
t seeming to notice the amount of attention he drew wherever he went. I sat the glass I’d been holding on the shelf and followed after him, cheeks burning.

  When I made it to his office, I closed the door behind me, glad to be away from prying ears and eyes. Though, perhaps I should have left the door open. Would everyone assume we were having sex in here now that the door was closed? I tried to convince myself it didn’t matter what everyone else thought, but it clearly did.

  “As you already saw,” he said, lowering into his office chair and gesturing to the open newspaper spread on his desk. “Our plan is off to a really great start.”