Skipped a Beat

by Salsbury, JB

  “Shit, Jade. I’m sorry.”

  “You wanted to know, so there it is.”

  “Why are you homeless?”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because I’m curious about you. Because I want to know every single thing that makes you who you are. Because I really do want to be inside you but it feels wrong without knowing more about you.”

  “It shouldn’t feel wrong. I’m a consenting adult and I consent, like, a lot.”

  I chuckle and set my beer down. “A lot, huh?”

  “More than you know.”

  With a powerful shove of my leg, I push my chair back from the table, slump low, and open my thighs. “How ’bout you show me?”

  Her eyes flicker with excitement, and she stands slowly. I expect her to crawl onto my lap, but instead she heads for the bed. I lick my lips as her ass sways. Crawling on all fours, she looks over her shoulder and aims a wicked grin at me. “Or you could always continue your interrogation, but I can’t guarantee I’ll stay awake.” She yawns, but it’s fake, and it works.

  I launch myself off the chair and prowl to the bed where I grip her ankles and tug them until she drops to her belly. I slide up over her, wedging my dick between her legs.

  She gasps. “I take it you choose option B.”

  I pin her with my hips and slip her hair off her neck. My lips come down on the spot just behind her ear and I take a deep inhale. “Fuck, you smell good.”

  She bucks her hips, and I prop myself up to give her space to flip over. Our legs tangle together as I lower on top, adjusting most of my weight to one side. “Thank you for sharing a part of your life with me. I know that’s not easy for you, but you can trust that whatever you share stays between us.”

  I can tell she’s afraid to believe me. I get the feeling she’s been made promises before that weren’t kept.

  She blinks, and I watch as she closes down a little underneath me. The light in her pale eyes dims as she slams her walls down between us. Dammit!

  I had her.

  For a brief few minutes when she opened up to me and then playfully crawled across the bed, I saw I had her then. I thought by reinforcing how much her vulnerability meant to me, by sharing with her my commitment to keeping her story close, I’d secured her. But just as quickly as her trust appeared, I watch it slip away.

  Even now as her hands sift through my damp hair, her thighs cradling mine and her back arching in eager invitation, she’s closed the deepest parts of her. I want her back.

  I run my lips along her jaw to her mouth where I whisper, “I want you,” against her lips.

  She bites her bottom lip as if to hold back a response.

  I cup her cheek and use my thumb to pop the lip free. “Don’t shut down, Jade. You’re safe with me.”

  Her eyes dart to the side, as if keeping eye contact is too much. Too intimate.

  Cracking her wide open is going to be tougher than I thought.

  I push up onto my forearms and hover over her before dipping down to take her mouth in a blinding kiss. She tastes of strawberries and Jade, and when she tilts her head and nips at my upper lip, I groan into her welcoming mouth. Her nails rake along my scalp, leaving behind a trail of fire that shoots down my spine and lights between my legs. Needing skin on skin, I sit back and she follows me up, chasing my lips, giving me the space to slip her tank top up and over her head.

  Her full breasts, shaped like teardrops with dark pebbled tips, perch high on her heaving chest. My gaze devours every inch of her skin from her toned shoulders to her flat belly. “You’re even more gorgeous than I imagined.”

  I always thought Rachel had a beautiful body. Thin like a bikini model, a tiny ass that fits easily in my hands coupled with big, fake boobs disproportionate to the rest of her body. But her shape never called to me, never awoke my primal male the way Jade’s healthy curves do.

  I slip my hands up her muscled thighs and under her soft cotton shorts. As I thumb the hem of her panties at her hips, growled words rumble up from my throat. “I want these off.”

  “You first,” she says with a dangerous gleam in her eyes as her gaze skates down my abdomen in a long, sultry caress.

  Reluctantly, I pull my hands from her body to shift my pants down around my thighs, only low enough to give her the view she so clearly wants.

  Her gaze simmers on my dick, and she licks her lips.

  “Jade,” I warn.

  She has no idea the affect she has on me. She hasn’t even touched me yet, but her hungry eyes feel like greedy strokes that have me ready to explode.

  “Your turn.” I nod at her shorts.

  She wiggles the fabric down to her knees, and I help to slip them from her feet. Her underwear is pale pink, which looks fucking amazing against her dark skin. Not nearly as amazing as I know she’ll look without them.

  I run my knuckles between her legs and watch her suck in a shaky breath. I know what she feels like here, but I’ve yet to see her. Taste her. I continue to tease her with my fingers over the wet fabric of her panties, changing the angle, the pressure, until her arms shake with the effort it takes to hold herself up and she drops back to the bed.

  I follow her down, sealing my mouth over one nipple. Her back bows off the mattress, her knees falling wide open. My desire to crawl inside her, claim the fuck out of her, and leave her breathless rides me hard, but I refuse to jump too quickly. I want to savor every sigh, find every spot that makes her whimper, and commit them to memory. I will leave not a single inch of her skin untouched.

  Her hands run up and down my arms, over my shoulder, down my back. She hooks one leg around my ass, forcing me closer until my dick punches at the damp fabric between her legs. I chuckle at her eagerness.

  “Please.” She groans, locking her ankle around the back of my thigh.

  “You always get what you want?” I blow gently on her nipple that’s wet from my mouth. “And here I thought I was the spoiled one.” I suck on her tits until she’s restless beneath me and a light sheen of sweat breaks out against her skin. I lick and kiss down her body, settling myself between her legs.

  “I want these off.” She pulls at her panties, but I still her hands and lick up her inner thigh, quieting her.

  “These look so sexy on you. I’m not ready for you to take them off yet.” I push the fabric to the side and get dizzy at the sight before me. “I take that back. What’s underneath is even prettier.”

  Rather than tease her like I had planned, I bury my face between her legs with a feral growl. My name falls from her lips on a breathy sigh. She plants her feet and presses toward me while I spear her with my tongue. Her taste floods my mouth, and I have to close my eyes and visualize the stroke patterns to every song I’ve ever played to keep from blowing all over the hotel sheets. When I finally get my shit under control, I open my eyes and find her propped up looking down at me, her lips parted as she watches me devour her. I push my hand into the back of her underwear, wrenching it aside, popping seams, and grip one round globe of her ass so hard it’s sure to leave a bruise. My mind screams to mark her, to leave something of myself behind so she’ll be reminded of who owned her body last.

  Back off, Ryder!

  Stop being a possessive prick.

  But this is what she does to me. I want all of Jade. I want to wear her sweat and her saliva like a badge. I want to be swallowed by her, coated in her. This is some sick-ass shit, but I am crazed with uncontrollable desires.

  I slip two fingers inside and her muscles tighten around me, pulling me deeper, greedily sucking me in.

  I moan, bite, lick, and suck until her body locks up hard and she cries out my name. My hips thrust forward into the sheets, rocking back and forth enough to get the friction I so desperately need as I kiss between her legs, milking her orgasm.

  When she collapses to the bed, pure male satisfaction rolls through me, puffing my chest and swelling my dick to the point of pain. I stand and admire my handiwork. She’s breathing he
avily, her head tossed to the side, a crown of thick hair splayed on the pillow, her legs limp and open.

  Fucking breathtaking.

  I reach for my duffle and pull out a condom, then slide her panties down her weakened legs. One final shove of my pants and they pool at my feet. I crawl onto the bed next to her, kiss each closed eyelid, the tip of her nose, and finally her lips. “You okay?”

  A slow smile curls her lips, and she blinks up at me. “That was phenomenal.”

  I kiss one dimple, then the other. “It was, and we’re just getting started.”

  She rolls over and forces me to my back, crawling up my body like a sexy snake to straddle my hips. We’re in the same position we were in last night, but without the confines of the bunk, I’m able to see and touch her like I want.

  I rip the condom open with my teeth and hand it to her. She wastes no time slipping it over me, and I make a note to talk to her about birth control and our sexual history because as mind-blowing as sex with Jade is sure to be, I’m going to eventually want her on every inch of my skin.

  I hiss when she slowly lowers herself on top of me. Her heat grips tightly, gently refusing to let me in. “Breathe, baby.” I watch, and on her exhale, I flex my hips forward, getting in a fraction of an inch. “Good, that feels so good. Again.” She takes a deep breath and blows out, and I manage to push in a little deeper. She sucks in a quick breath. “I’m sorry. Does it hurt? We don’t have to—”

  “No.” She shakes her head, her body a little too tense. “Please, keep going.”

  “Come here.”

  She shifts her weight, and I welcome her into my arms, her chest on mine, and press my lips to hers. I kiss her soft, slow, tentative and deliberate, teasing and tasting until I feel her body soften above me.

  I flex my hips up, sinking deeper. “Good, there you go, just relax.” I continue to kiss her, and she relaxes more until I mange to sink completely inside her. “You still okay?”

  She nods against my neck and we sit like this, connected, while she becomes accustomed to my size. “I’m good now. You’re just really big.” She lifts her torso from my chest, and as much as I want to watch as she moves above me, I miss the feeling of her breasts pressed to me.

  “Flattery will get you everywhere.” I run my hands up her thighs to her hips, her rib cage, and back down, appreciating her curves and her smooth, flawless skin as she moves above me.

  Her hair falls over her shoulders and grazes her breasts, painting an erotic picture that makes my blood hum beneath my skin. She braces her weight with flat palms on my chest, and her nails bite into me with a delicious sting.

  “Fuck, you’re amazing.” I cup her breasts, squeezing and rolling her nipples between my fingers.

  Her pace quickens.

  Heat coils at the base of my spine. The orgasm born of weeks of fighting and fantasizing threatens to explode.

  “Mouth,” I growl and pinch her nipples with a gentle twist.

  She leans forward and gasps against my tongue and kisses me with the urgency of a woman on the edge.

  Then she ignites.

  She grinds down on me, our mouths fused, and when she bites my lower lip, it’s all the coaxing I need.

  I ab-curl up, take her by the back of her neck, and slam her lips back to mine as I punch my hips forward and explode.

  Stars dance behind my eyes, and my muscles shake as my orgasm kicks over and over and over without end. I rip my mouth away, sucking in air as the height of pleasure stabs through me in throbbing waves. A string of curses fall from my lips, my hips still moving until the clutches of ecstasy release me and I drop to my back. The aftershocks rock through me still as I fight to keep my eyes open and catch my breath.

  What the fuck was that?

  I’m staring at the ceiling when my brain comes back online, and my fingers are dug into her thighs. “Shit.” I release my grip. “Sorry.” Is it possible for men to have multiple orgasms? “That was new.”

  She melts on top of me, keeping our connection as if we were made to fit together like this. I run my hands along her back, from her shoulder blades to the soft round globes of her perfect ass. “For me too.”

  “What was that?” I ask because seriously… what the fuck was that?

  “I think it’s what they call sexual chemistry.”

  Holy shit.

  So does that mean it’ll always be like this with us?

  And if this is how sex will be with a condom, imagine how it would be without.

  A full-body shiver slides down my spine.

  I can never let her go—from my arms, from my bed, from my life.

  She peeks at me from beneath a veil of curls. “Are you getting hard again?”

  I meet her eyes and smile, feeling a little shy. “I can’t help it. You’re naked on top of me, and I’m inside you.”

  “It’s gonna be a long night.”

  I kiss her and we both laugh into the kiss. “Don’t kill me. I have a show in less than twenty-four hours.”

  “That should give us plenty of time.”

  20

  Jade

  “Can I ask you something?” I look away from the floor-to-ceiling views of Elliott Bay in the late morning sun. “I promise my question has nothing to do with why you were asking Prince Harry to share his baked potato while you were asleep.”

  He groans and shakes his head but does it with a grin. “I only talk in my sleep when I’m really tired. So that’s your fault too.”

  After exhausting ourselves physically some time after round three, we fell asleep and didn’t move until Ryder’s phone started buzzing at nine o’clock this morning. Ryder barked at whoever was calling, then collapsed on top of me and made love to me so sweetly it made my eyes burn. I told myself what we were doing had nothing to do with love, that we were two living organisms meeting each other’s needs who just so happened to rock each other’s worlds. Soft and slow or rough and hard, it was only sex, and that’s all it would ever be.

  He ordered room service, blaming me for his ravenous hunger, and we set up a picnic on the floor by the window, me in a plush hotel robe and him in his pajama pants while we feast on pancakes, bacon, muffins, fruit, French crepes and omelets.

  He reaches and swipes at the corner of my mouth with his thumb. “Syrup.” He winks, sucks the sticky sweet from his finger, and gives me his full attention. “And yes, you can ask me anything.”

  “You didn’t break up with your girlfriend just for me, right?” The thought had crossed my mind a couple times. When this ride is over and we go our separate ways, I couldn’t live with myself knowing I was responsible for breaking up an otherwise-happy relationship. God knows I’d done that one time too many already.

  His light brows drop over thoughtful eyes as he chews a piece of pineapple. Is it weird to find even his chewing sexy? “Not at all. Breaking up with Rachel has been on my mind for a while now. I just didn’t have the incentive to do it until you.”

  I pick at the cinnamon crumble on an apple muffin. “Did you love her?”

  He scrunches his face adorably. “What a weird thing to talk about with the woman I just had four orgasms with,” he says almost to himself.

  I throw a grape at him and laugh. “I’m serious. I want to know.”

  He pops the grape in his mouth, chews, and shrugs. “I think at the beginning when it seemed like we were both in it for the long haul, yeah, I loved her.”

  Hearing that stings a little, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Ryder strikes me as the type who wouldn’t waste his time with something he didn’t fully believe in. “What happened?”

  “You really want to talk about this?” When I nod, he exhales a breath and casts his gaze thoughtfully to the view before answering. “I got the opportunity to make all my dreams come true with Jesse. She had dreams of her own, and life took us in separate directions. The distance put stress on our relationship, and eventually I saw parts of her personality I’d never noticed before. I didn’t like what I s
aw. That’s basically it.” He explains it all very matter-of-factly, not a hint of pain or regret. “How about you?” He leans back, his impressive naked torso propped up and bathed in sunlight. “What happened with your last relationship?”

  I lick my lips as nerves dry my mouth. “Same as you, I guess.” I stir my quickly cooling coffee, avoiding his eyes. “He wasn’t who I thought he was, and when I discovered who he really was, I didn’t like what I saw.” Borrowing his words makes my confession easier, and when I blink at Ryder, he nods as if he gets me.

  “I know one thing.” His gaze slides down my throat to my chest where the robe has fallen open to reveal a healthy view of my cleavage. “When I look at you, I like everything I see.”

  I allow my gaze to roam his body unabashed and then snag and settle on his only tattoo. “There’s still so much we don’t know about each other.” My eyes meet his at the clearing of his throat, and I see the remnants of guilt melt from his expression. “The more you learn about me, I may reveal something you don’t like.”

  He smiles and looks down almost shyly, which is a new look on him but equally attractive. “Do you remember the show in Vegas?” He shakes his head, his cheeks flashing the most attractive shade of pink. “This is going to sound stupid, and you probably don’t remember, but we were playing ‘Smoke and Mirrors,’ and the drum solo in that song is sick. Anyway.” He takes a deep breath, a break from his rambling. “There was this moment where we locked eyes during the song.”

  “Yes, I remember because we sort of got tangled, right? It was hard to look away.”

  “Yeah. I…” He runs a hand through his hair, messed up from my hands being in it all night. “Ugh, this is so embarrassing.”

  “Um… more embarrassing than having your male friends masturbate to the sound of my orgasm?”

  “Honestly?” He squints one eye. “Yeah.”

  I curl up closer, grinning at him. “Oh, this is gonna be good.”