I watched as Jonah went to one lamp and turned it on, then repeated the process on the next.
Across from the bed were two huge windows. In between them was a matching black dresser with a flat screen TV hanging on the wall above it. To the left of the bed was a door that was already open, which I could tell led to a rather large bathroom, complete with an awesome tub that I figured two people could easily fit in. Imagining me and Jonah in the tub had me shivering with excitement to get on with tonight’s activities.
I popped up and went over to the chair where my bag was, shimmying as I did so.
Jonah sat on the edge of the bed and chuckled. “You’re really happy, baby.”
I grinned and spun around. “So happy! You don’t know what this means. He told me what the base salary is and it’s more than all my jobs put together! Do you know what this means? I’ll be able to finish my coursework, find a place of my own, buy some furniture, and live without fear about where my next dollar is going to come from.” I clutched the pretty kimono-style satin robe I pulled from my bag and held it up to my chest. “And I’m going to have medical benefits! I haven’t had any medical coverage since I lived at Kerrighan House and was under the government care plans. This. Is. Huge!”
Jonah patted the bed next to him. “Come here.”
I dropped the kimono on my bag and practically skip-walked to his side. Instead of sitting next to him, I put my hands to his shoulders and sat across his lap, my knees beside each of his hips.
“It seems like since the day you crashed into my life, everything is changing for the better.” I dipped my head and rubbed my nose against his. “Thank you, Jonah.”
He moved his hands from where they’d been curled around the fleshy parts of my hips and slid them up my ribcage and around my back. “This smile on your face right now, it makes all the shit I’ve had to go through worth it. You light up my life, Simone. Make me see things differently. I’m now looking forward to the future.”
I ran my fingers through his hair, and he tilted his head back. “Are you sure you’re okay with me working for your dad and your brother?”
He inhaled so deeply I could feel his chest move with his intake of air where we were pressed together. “Wasn’t it you who told me I couldn’t let my past color my future?”
I grinned. “Not in those words exactly, but yeah. We can’t take any of the past back and do it over again. We just have to move forward and make the best choices we can toward finding our happy.”
“Which also means I can’t convict you for the sins of my ex-wife,” he murmured.
I scratched at the back of his head, allowing my nails to grate across the tension I felt there. “It wasn’t all bad was it? With Helen.”
He closed his eyes and I rested my forehead to his.
“You don’t have to talk about it. Especially since this is supposed to be our night, but honey, you just lost her all over again in a way that’s very permanent. I don’t want you putting on a strong face for me, or not sharing your grief. You had a life before me, and I’m okay with you sharing all of it. I just want to know you’re okay and I’m supporting you the best way I can.”
Jonah smiled softly and opened his eyes. “I’m okay and dealing with a lot of it internally. I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t hurt that she left this world the way she did, but that’s not on me, you, or anyone other than the bastard who took her life.” He tightened his hold on me. “Would it be wrong to ask you to go to the funeral with me?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. She was an important part of your life. And you know, it’s okay to let go of all the nastiness that was between you two in the end and just grieve for the woman you loved and married all those years ago.”
He sighed and I felt his warm breath caress my cheek. “You’re an amazing woman, Simone. I hope you know that.”
I grinned, cupped his cheeks, and tilted his head to look at me. “As long as my man believes it, that’s all that matters,” I said and took his mouth in a slow, deep kiss. Before long he fell back, palmed my ass with both his large hands, and let me take charge.
When I ran my hands down his chest in search of the button on his jeans, he encircled my wrists and sat back up abruptly. “Nope. No going further. We’re having a dinner date here in the room and I am eager to see what you plan on putting under that pretty satin robe you just had in your hands.”
I laughed and bit into my bottom lip. He cupped my cheek. “I’m going to have to start praying again,” he said randomly.
His statement had me frowning. “Uh, okay. Why?”
He grinned. “Because you’re such an anomaly. I’d never met a woman like you. One who seems so perfectly matched with me. Comfortable in her own skin. Takes life as it comes.”
“Mmm hmm, butter me up some more, baby. I like it!” I teased. “But you know I’m a sure thing, right? I’m pretty confident that I want to jump your bones more than you want to jump mine.” I ran my thumb across his plump bottom lip.
Jonah laughed out loud and for a very long time after I made my claim. “Not even close, Simone. You forget, it’s been over a year since I’ve been with a woman. I’m certain my desire to fuck your brains out far surpasses anything you’ve cooked up in that wild imagination of yours.” He kissed me hard and fast, tugging on my bottom lip and letting it go with a snap.
I licked the heated flesh and my eyes went half-lidded, lust coiling at the base of my spine and lower. “Care to skip dinner?”
He chuckled, stood up, and let me drag down his muscular form. I whimpered like a wanton hussy but worse, I felt like one. I was one hundred percent ready to throw any plans he had out the window and just mount him right then and there.
“Cool it, baby. I’m going to order room service.”
I sighed and took a deep breath, my arms still looped around his waist. “Okay, one more melt-my-panties kiss and then I’ll go take a shower and leave you to order our food. Deal?”
He grinned, cupped the back of my head, and whispered “Deal,” against my lips. Then he kissed me. It lasted a very long time. So long my panties were damp, my heartbeat was banging against my chest, and I was in a serious Jonah kiss haze, which consisted of my mind being mush, my body on fire with want, and my vision a little blurry.
Jonah chuckled as he walked me over to the bathroom. Then he left me inside as he stepped out, got my entire bag, and brought it to the counter and set it on top.
“You got what you need?” He cupped my cheek and I cupped his hard cock.
“Not even close, but things are looking up.” I ran the palm of my hand over the length hidden behind his jeans. He groaned and thrust his hips against my hand once before backing up.
“Woman, you’d test the patience of a priest. Jesus,” he grumbled. “Take your time. I think I’m going to need a bit of my own in order to be calm enough to sit and eat next to you.” He shook his head and exited with a smile.
I moved to the door and curled my fingers around the jamb. “Sorry, not sorry,” I called out playfully and grinned when I heard him chuckling as he picked up the phone to order our dinner.
When I exited the bathroom a full forty minutes later, I was rocking a black lace teddy and matching thong with my black satin kimono that had a badass colorful dragon design covering the entire back. Brilliant flowers covered the three-quarter sleeves and the waist tied with a huge red sash that double-wrapped around the body and then tied with a bow in back. It was cool and hot as hades. I thought about putting on heels but felt that would be a little too cliché. Instead, I dried my hair and left my face clean and moisturized. I’d shaved every inch of my body and lotioned up to the gills to ensure my skin was soft and smelling fantastic.
Jonah was sitting at a table that had been placed at the opposite end of the room with two chairs on each side. There were a pair of candlesticks on top and two silver domed heat covers over what I assumed was our dinner.
He stood and I was pleased to find he wore a pair o
f loose causal burgundy pajama pants and a white V-neck T-shirt. The shirt clung to the broad expanse of his chest and outlined the rigid abdominal muscles below.
I licked my lips, crossed my ankles, and leaned against the door jamb casually.
His gaze took in my body from top to toe before he grinned. “I see you got the casual dinner dress memo,” he said and then winked.
I chuckled, pushed off the door, and moseyed over to the table. He pulled out my seat and I sat, allowing him to help me get settled.
With a flourish, he removed the food covers. “For your dining pleasure this evening,” he said with a gentlemanly flair. “We have for the lady, filet mignon with a wild mushroom topping in a delicious wine sauce. Potatoes au gratin and seasonal veggies that are to die for, madam.” His lips twitched as he bowed, clicked his bare heels together, and failed in his attempt to hold onto his composure.
Me, however, I was eating it up. I loved this fun and silly side to Jonah. The man was often the most serious person in any room. To know he had this carefree side hiding under all that brawn, responsibility, and stoicism was awesome and definitely welcome.
“Why thank you, kind sir. This looks magnificent.” I used a knock off bad interpretation of someone who was rich, prim, and proper while lifting my empty wine glass. “If you’d be so kind as to fill my glass.”
“Absolutely, madam, it would be my pleasure.” Jonah grinned and filled up my glass and then his own before taking his seat. His tone changed the second he picked up his fork. “Damn, this looks good. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I caught a whiff.”
I lifted my wine. “Let’s toast.”
He lifted his. “What should we toast to?”
“Finding the bad guy and living our best lives.” I grinned wide.
“Now that I can drink to.” He tapped my glass with his and we both drank.
For a few minutes we both got down to eating quietly. I was as ravenous as he was. “Okay, so since this is technically only date number two, the first being Navy Pier, I suggest we quiz one another in order to fast track the getting to know you part.” Mostly because we were absolutely going to have sex tonight. There was no way I was letting this man leave without an orgasm or two.
Jonah burst out laughing and sat back against the chair. “I’m game. What do you want to know?” he prodded.
I chewed on a bite of perfectly cooked beef and tilted my head. “Tell me something you don’t like about yourself,” I asked and scooped up a flat cheesy potato before plopping it in my mouth.
“Going straight for the kill, eh?” The side of his mouth lifted in a small smirk.
I shrugged. “I mean, you can tell me your favorite book, song, and movie but that doesn’t really tell me much. Finding out something you don’t like about yourself, that says a lot about what you find important or not.”
He held up his fork and sucked in his bottom lip as though he were thinking about how to answer my question. I mostly just stared at the way his scruffy jaw moved as he chewed. The man was damn sexy, and I couldn’t wait to finish dinner and take things to the next step. If that made me promiscuous to some, I didn’t care. I’d been on fire for the man since the second I hugged him in the hospital after he’d saved my life. Besides, I’d never been one to care what others thought about me. Life was too short, and I was committed to truly living it to the fullest.
“Hmm, I guess I’d have to say my serious demeanor.”
I frowned. “Why do you think that’s a flaw?”
“Not a flaw exactly, more like it can put people off. I don’t mean to be standoffish or seem stiff and rude, but I know I come off that way a lot of the time.”
“Fair enough. People are always thinking I’m too carefree and wild, which often happens to be the same thing they say they love about me. You can’t really win.” I shrugged.
He shook his head. “No, you can’t.”
“My theory is you just have to accept what you can’t change, or don’t want to change about yourself, and surround yourselves with people who care about you for what and who you are.”
“Good advice. Okay, my turn. What is something you absolutely love about yourself?” He used my same line of questioning but went for the positive route.
I sucked back some more delicious wine. “I mean, besides the taking things in stride, I’d have to say I genuinely like all people.”
“How so?”
“Well, I dig that you’re serious, possessive, a little alpha because your heart is in the right place. Kinda like Sonia. You too have a lot in common actually.” I laughed.
“Awesome, I have a lot in common with your sister. That bodes well for my manhood,” he moaned.
I exploded in laugher as he made a sour face.
“No, you misunderstood me. What I mean is, I’m the type of chick who just appreciates people for who they are. I’m sure it has a lot to do with growing up in a home with eight other women, but I like the differences in people. If we were all the same, life would be extremely boring. I don’t like to be bored. Always gotta keep moving, find something to do, see, experience.”
“I hope together we can have a few of our own special experiences.” His voice dipped low and had a sultry growl that made my blood heat with anticipation.
I grinned. “Oh, you have no choice, mister. When you’re not on a case or out of town, you better believe we will be enjoying ourselves.” I tapped my plate with the tines of my fork. “I mean, I’m not a maniac. I can settle down and just chill and relax with my hot FBI guy, but I’m looking forward to sharing new experiences with you.”
He reached across and took my hand. “Me too, Simone.”
“Okay, now tell me something no one knows about you.” I bit down on my bottom lip and waggled my brows.
He shook his head and chuckled. “Ah, let me see. Something no one knows about me. Do you mean something that happened in the past that I’m embarrassed of, or something weird about me that I keep hidden like my sixth toe?”
“No fuckin’ way! Let me see your feet,” I blurted, shoved the white tablecloth back, and ducked my head under the table in order to stare at his perfect, five-toes-a-piece feet.
I maneuvered back up and glared at his smug face as he sat back and laughed so hard, he ended up clutching at his stomach. “Baby, you are too easy to tease. Man, I haven’t laughed this much in ages.”
I pursed my lips and picked up my wine. “Well, at least there’s that. I’m a pretty good sport when things are funny, and I’ll admit. You had me…for a second. Now spill it! Tell me something—anything—that someone doesn’t know about you.”
He leaned an elbow to the table and rested his chin on it. “Hmm, I’m thinking. Okay I’ve got it, but you cannot, under any circumstances, tell Ryan, my brother Luca, or my father. Got it?”
I rubbed my hands together as if he were going to lay something super juicy on me. “No telling your bestie, your bro, or your dad. Got it.” I used a finger to make a cross shape over my heart. That did not mean I couldn’t share with my sisters but all women did that. Men had to expect their women talked about them with their girlfriends.
He licked his lips and for a moment I got distracted and my heart started pumping thinking about what other things he could lick with that tongue.
“My favorite artist, singer, whatever you want to call it…”
I grinned. “Yeah?”
“Is Taylor Swift,” he blurted out.
My mouth dropped open and I blinked slowly. Manly man, hot FBI guy, filled with muscles, carried a badge, a gun, and chased seriously bad dudes for a living loved Tay-Tay Swift. So much so he claimed she was his favorite artist and singer.
My silence must have freaked him out because suddenly he clipped, “Shit, I shouldn’t have told you.”
I shook my head and lifted my hands. “No, no. I’m glad you did. I just needed a minute to take that in. Not only is it endearing…” I pressed my lips flat together because I could barely hold back t
he laughter. “It’s also hilarious!” I cracked up and he groaned.
“I’m going to regret this one day. I just know it.” He sighed and rubbed at his temples with a thumb and a forefinger.
I waved my hand and breathed through the laughter that continued to bubble up and come out in loud bursts. “No, no. I’m just surprised. A big, badass, FBI guy like you loves him some T-Swift. I’m a fan too. Swear!” I clamped down on my laughter and breathed through my nose in order to keep my mouth shut. “Have you purchased the new album everyone’s talking about?”
“Downloaded it, yeah. It’s actually pretty brilliant.”
I chuckled but kept it under control. “After that, you can ask me anything you want, and I promise to bare all.” I gushed, wanting him to feel better about sharing such a funny secret.
His lips twitched. “You done eating?”
I nodded, picked up my glass, and held it out toward him. He refilled both of ours, adding the last splash to my glass.
For a full minute he stared at me, a dark eyebrow cocked up on one side of his forehead. I loved when a man could do that. There was something insanely sexy about it.
“What is your absolute favorite part about your body?” His question came out in a lower timber, one that spoke to the seductress all women had hidden inside themselves.
“My tits.” I answered honestly and instantly. I knew most women would say their eyes, or their smile, maybe even their hair. Those were all good features, but I had stellar boobs and was rather proud of what I’d been gifted in that arena.
He smirked and his eyes heated. “Show me,” he taunted, as though I wouldn’t.
Boy, was Jonah in for a surprise. I was not the type of woman who would back down from a dare. Especially one I wanted to do.
I took my glass, lifted it to my lips, and swallowed a healthy amount, then stood up and set it on the table. Jonah turned his chair and pushed the table to the side and out of the way. He crossed his arms over his broad chest, pushed his legs out in front of him, and eased back as though he were preparing to watch a show.
Wild Child (A Soul Sister Novel Book 1) Page 18