Scrambling onto the bed after her, I gripped her waist, flipping her over onto her belly, and pushed her ass in the air. I delved two fingers between her thighs, pressing them into her as she groaned loudly and gripped the blankets. She was wet and ready, and I was so hard it hurt, but I needed to touch her before I could let myself plunge inside of her. I pumped my fingers in and out, my thumb finding her clit as she writhed beneath my touch and bunched the blankets to steady herself. When she came apart on my fingers, her inner muscles clenching around my digits, I finally pulled back and repositioned her so she was level with my erection, and plunged inside of her wet depths.
Liza cried out, bucking her hips back to meet me as I pumped deeper, harder, inside of her. The room was silent save for our panting and I gripped her hips tighter as I slammed into her, over and over again.
“How much do you love me?” I asked her through gritted teeth, trying to hold back until I felt her come again.
“So much.” She moaned the words out but it wasn’t enough. I needed to hear more.
I wound her hair around my hand and pulled her head back to rake my teeth down her neck. “How much do you love me?” I growled the words into her ear.
“Ah!” She cried out as I slammed against her again, harder this time, as I waited for a response. “You’re my everything, Jackson,” she said, her voice surprisingly calm and even despite our activity.
I released her hair and fell over top of her, my front to her back, my hands over the top of hers and our fingers laced together as if we were holding on for dear life. We moved together, her bucking back at me and me thrusting into her until she cried out again, the waves of her orgasm vibrating over my dick as she came. I couldn’t hold back any longer, and I bit gently into her shoulder as I came inside of her, shuddering and growling as I was wrung dry.
We lay there together, with me still inside of her and arms and legs tangled, as we caught our breath. I didn’t want to be away from her, not even for a minute, so instead of disengaging, I turned us together on our sides and spooned her from the back. She pressed back against me and I fluttered soft kisses along her hairline.
“I don’t ever want to move from this position,” she said with a soft laugh.
“Then don’t. Stay here. Forever.”
“Jackson.” She said my name like an admonishment.
“I mean it, Liza. Move in with me. Now. I don’t ever want to be away from you again.”
She turned around to look at me, pulling us apart, and I worried I’d said too much again.
“Are you serious?” Liza searched my eyes for the answer she already knew.
“Yes, Liza. I am.”
She smiled and pressed a kiss to my lips. “When we wake up, you can help me gather my things from my old apartment.”
I gathered her back against my chest and muttered an agreement. This was exactly where she belonged and I couldn’t believe it took me this long to figure it out.
Six months later
“Where should we put it?” I asked, carrying the largest houseplant known to man into the middle of the living room, then dropped it with a thud.
“Not there,” Jackson answered with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Obviously. The damn thing is way too heavy for me to carry to every corner of the room while we decide.”
Jackson glanced around our apartment, as if he were scouting out the best place for the plant to call home. We were redecorating, upon his insistence, and I picked out the plant last week. It was finally delivered this morning.
“This place is really starting to look good. I’m glad you convinced me to update it.” I walked over to meet him where he stood by the windows that overlooked most of Central Park as he did his visual reconnaissance of the apartment.
“I wanted it to feel like both of us, not like a bachelor pad.” He turned to me and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
He was acting strangely this morning, and I was getting anxious because it reminded me of the early days of our relationship.
“You’re right, even though you are still technically a bachelor,” I said, with a slightly nervous laugh.
We hadn’t discussed marriage again since France all those months ago, and I was afraid if I brought it up, he would pull away from me again. I turned around to address the house plant again, looking it over to determine the best spot in the large apartment.
“Not for long,” I heard him say, and I spun on my heel to ask him what the hell he was talking about.
When I turned around, he was on his knee in front of me, holding a Tiffany’s box open with the most beautiful solitaire diamond I had ever seen nestled inside.
“Because you’re going to marry me,” he added, the corners of his mouth twitching up into a smirk.
I threw my head back and laughed. He was so cocky, he didn’t even ask but instead told me, as if it were fact. But this time, I didn’t want to argue. This time, I was ready to let him tell me what to do, just this once.
“You’re right, Jackson. I am.”
I knelt down in front of him and he pulled me in for a passionate kiss before slipping the ring onto my finger. This was exactly where I belonged, exactly what I chose, and I wasn’t sure why I kept running from it. No matter how hard I tried to ignore it, fate had other plans. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Stayed tuned for Book 2 in the One Series
One Song coming Fall 2019
* * *
Turn the page for a sneak peek!
Natalie
“Who’s ready?!” The singer and guitarist on stage yelled at the crowd in the packed arena.
The response was screams and cheering, so loud that it made me feel like my ear drums would rupture at any moment. For the tenth time that night I wondered why I was there before looking at the man who sat to my right. Record executive. That was what my father told me his title was. Ralph Hernandez Jr. Even his name was pretentious. I rolled my eyes as I looked down at my lap so that no one would see me. I wasn’t having a good time and I had only been here for fifteen minutes. My father convinced me to come on this atrocious date and I was already done with it, just as I was with all of his set ups.
I snuck a glance to my left and rolled my eyes again. Ralph Hernandez Jr. was wearing orange lensed aviators inside of the sky box where we sat in the dark arena. He looked like a fool. I felt like a fool because I was with him. How had I fallen so far in society that I was forced to be on a date with a man who wore orange lensed aviators in the dark with a blazer that had actual sequins on it?
Nausea pooled in my belly at the memory of being photographed with him as we walked into the stadium. I had wanted to dart from his side but he pulled me against him, like we were a couple and I couldn’t very well push him away in front of paparazzi.
The music began from stage, guitar and drums drowning out the mouth breathing next to me. Ralph Hernandez Jr. was all around obnoxious and I figured I would wait another ten minutes before excusing myself for the restroom and never come back. He would tell everyone I was a frigid bitch but I didn’t care. I couldn’t spend another moment in this box next to him as he kept trying to put a sweaty hand on my leg.
The only saving grace was that the band was great. After only five minutes I was entranced with the lead singer and guitarist; his voice floating over me, around me, and inside of me, filling me with an emotion I couldn’t pinpoint. It felt like he was singing directly to me and I couldn’t look away. I was so lost in the song I didn’t realized my ten minute window had expired. It helped that the singer was easy on the eyes, much more so than my actual date. I stood with regret, because I did actually want to see the concert, and excused myself.
“Do you need some company?” Ralph Hernandez Jr. asked me suggestively.
I balked, taking a step back from him. “No, I’m fine.”
The disgust I felt must have been evident on my face because he sneered at me.
“Well, don’t bother coming back then.�
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I snorted. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said as I grabbed my clutch and headed towards the door.
The walkway of the sky boxes was deserted and I strolled slowly towards the stairs as I pulled my phone from my clutch. I was going to need a ride home and I shot a quick text to my driver and hoped my father wouldn’t hear about me ditching on my date early.
Seconds later, my phone rang as I made my way down the steps into the area they call the ‘nosebleed’ section.
I frowned at the screen before answering. “Hey, Dad.”
“Natty, why are you leaving early? Wasn’t the concert any good?”
My dad asked the questions like I was a three year old who didn’t want to eat her dinner.
“The concert is amazing. Mr. Hernandez Jr. is not.” I sighed as I said the words and waited for the sounds of disappointment I would hear in his voice at his response.
“Natty,” he said my name like a reprimand, “you didn’t even give it a chance.”
“I gave it more than enough of a chance. I can’t do this, Dad.”
I had to get out of this place before I suffocated on my own failure right in the middle of Madison Square Garden.
“Fine. If you’re going to act like a brat after I set up the whole thing for you. I’ll send the car. He’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Half an hour?” My heart started pounding at his words. “No, no, I can’t wait that long.”
I looked around frantically for an escape. I did sound like a brat but the first set was going to be over soon and people would be streaming out of their seats for restroom and refreshment breaks and I didn’t want to be spotted here looking like a deer in headlights.
“You’ll just have to wait, Natalie.” That was his final word and I had to accept it.
Sighing again heavily, I headed towards the next set of stairs to look for a place to hide on the ground floor as I waited for the car to pick me up. My eyes flicked to my watch again; a platinum and diamond Movado that my father gave me for my last birthday. Barely a minute had passed and I knew staring at my watch wasn’t going to make the car arrive any sooner. Moving swiftly, I made my way to the ground floor, my heeled boots clicking on the concrete floors as I walked around the empty halls. Bass and cheering filtered out of the entrances to the main stadium and my heart thrummed with the need to leave here.
I sauntered to the main doors of the building and peaked out to the street to see if I saw my father’s car at the curb. The only thing I saw was evening traffic flowing by as people made their way to wherever in the city they needed to get to that night.
Releasing a breath, I stomped away from the doors like a petulant child. I hated not being in control of my own situations. It made me feel frantic. I felt a panic attack begin to build in my chest as I made my way to the closest restroom to take a minute to breathe and regroup. Making my way to the largest stall, I locked the door and stood with my hands over my face while I directed my breathing to calm.
The panic attacks were getting worse even though I had been working with a shrink for the last five years. She assured me that I would be able to overcome them if I stayed on my meds and continued therapy but I didn’t know if she was right. The anxiety I experienced on a daily basis was magnified by my life in the public eye and every year as I became more public, especially to promote the business, the anxiety increased.
Taking a final deep breath, I pushed the stall door open, washed my hands and exited the bathroom. I froze; people were everywhere. The opening band must have finished their set early. Balling my hands into fists at my side, my clutch shoved under my armpit, I kept my head down and hoped I’d blend in with the crowd as I made my way towards the doors again.
I hated crowds in addition to having social anxiety and generalized anxiety and I could feel the panic begin to grip my chest again as I made my way towards the bank of door. I pushed through them, into the stifling July night, the humidity just as oppressive outside as the crowd was inside. But despite the soupy air, I gulped, filling my lungs with it, and moved away from the building like it was a predator stalking me.
I looked around again for the car but it wasn’t there. The urge to sit on the sidewalk and pull my knees to my chest to disappear struck me but I walked around the side of the building to find a dark corner where no one would see me as I disintegrated. The shadows enveloped me as I slinked around the side of Madison Square Garden back by the service doors which were deserted and inviting in their darkness and loneliness.
I wondered every day why I decided to take over as head of my father’s public relations firm after grad school. This was what I studied for years for and what he groomed me for but being in the spotlight, being in charge of big name accounts and promoting not only our company but theirs in front of the camera was not something I wanted. It was slowly beating me down into a pile of anxiety and depression but I couldn’t tell my father I didn’t want to do it anymore.
So I took out my inner turmoil out on everyone else. I was bitchy to the dates my dad set me up with, I was short and demanding with my staff and I was rude and condescending to my friends and acquaintances. Mean was my coping mechanism and no matter how much shame I felt for it I couldn’t stop.
“Excuse me, is everything alright?”
A voice interrupted my reverie and I pushed off of the wall I was leaning against with my eyes closed and spun around. I was met by an incredibly beautiful pair of blue eyes, so blue they gave a clear, summer sky a run for its money. The eyes were attached to an equally beautiful man and I wondered where I had seen him before recently. His sandy blond hair was tousled and a short beard of the same shade covered the lower half his face.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize anyone else was here,” I said as I worried my clutch between my fingers.
“It’s okay. I just came out for some air before the next set.”
He smiled at me and my stomach flip flopped. It dawned on me where I saw him before. He was the gorgeous singer and guitarist from the opening band. My heart raced as I looked around for a way to get out without explaining my presence because being near him was scrambling my brain.
“I needed some air as well,” I said taking a subtle step back towards the street.
I felt unnerved as he stared at me with those mesmerizingly blue eyes, my stomach clenching in ways I hadn’t ever experienced before. The only good thing about the encounter was that it knocked the panic attack completely out of me.
“You don’t have to go so soon,” he said moving towards me.
My stomach somersaulted as he stopped directly in front of me, so close we were almost touching. His scent of sweaty male and leather wound around me as we stared at each other for a minute, both of us unable to move. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone, because nothing made sense as I stared into his eyes but everything made perfect sense for those few moments.
“I, uh, I have to go.” I finally managed to croak the words out after minutes of being speechless.
“Why?”
The word hung between us, waiting for an answer as we stood there and stared at each other. I didn’t know his name or anything about him but I didn’t want to go and I could tell that he didn’t want me to. His words on stage, beautiful and sorrowful, had captivated me inside of the stadium and outside in the dark of this alley his eyes captivated me in the same way. I was lost in them, lost in him, for what seemed like hours, unable to find a reason why I shouldn’t be here with him.
“I don’t know,” I responded, my voice low and husky with lust that snuck up on me as quickly as my panic attack had earlier.
“Since you don’t know, maybe you should come with me back inside.” He held out his hand to me.
I shook my head abruptly, without a thought, because I couldn’t go back inside the arena. That much was clear.
“No. Here. Right here.” I wanted him. I wanted him now and I didn’t care how out of character it was or what my father would say.
; I needed a salve for me mental wounds, something to make me forget everything that I had been feeling moments earlier. All of my failings and hurt and anxiety that threatened to take over whenever I was alone.
“Really?” He asked me the question with an eyebrow rose as if he didn’t expect it.
“Yes,” I answered and I leaned into him, our bodies touching for the first time.
Everything moved quickly after that as fireworks exploded with the contact. His arms were around my waist, my hands were in his hair, and my back was pressed against the brick wall. His mouth found mine and he devoured me, we devoured each other. I felt like I needed this connection to breathe and I pushed all thoughts of shame or regret from my mind as he hiked up my already short skirt around my waist. My skin was alight with sensation as he ran his hands up my thighs and cupped my ass. My back chafed against the brick wall but I didn’t feel it. The only thing I felt was him as he kissed down my neck, pulling the strap of my flimsy top down my shoulder until my breast was exposed to the stifling summer air. He captured my pert nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking, sending a zing of electricity straight to my clit. I moaned aloud, not worried about discovery as he covered my mouth his. His fingers moved deftly, pulling my panties aside and finding my center with them. I moaned again, against his mouth as he pushed two fingers inside of me, over and over again until I was on the brink of combustion.
When he disengaged from me, I groaned with despair at the loss of his touch, but the loss of contact wasn’t for long. He fumbled with his belt and pants, before pulling his erection out and plunging it inside of me. I cried out this time, loudly and without care, digging my nails into his shoulders through his t-shirt and hiking my leg up over his hip. He took me fast and hard, my back bruising against the rough wall as he pounded into me. My climax built, layer by layer, thrust by thrust, until I was on the precipice. The city outside of the alley fell away as my body convulsed around him and I fell apart in his arms. It didn’t take long for him to find his release once I had come, pushing into me harder as he growled against my hair.
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