Embrace: The Secret Billionaire Asher Christmas Duet, Two (The Dark Christmases Book 9)

by Z. L. Arkadie

  Jake and I beamed at each other. I couldn’t help myself as I cradled one side of his face in the palm of my hand. But instead of kissing him, I cleared my throat and dropped my arm to my side.

  “Courtney had assigned seating, and she wanted you all to herself.”

  Jake pointed his head toward the tent. “What’s up with that guy, anyway? I’m starting believe you’re not safe around him.”

  “Don’t worry about Rich. He’s a harmless meathead who doesn’t like to lose.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not faulting the guy for being sour. If I had you and lost you, I’d be angry too.”

  I sniffed, looking down bashfully. When I looked up again, we stared into each other’s eyes for a prolonged period of time. I felt as if my heart would explode. He’d been out of my presence for nearly six hours, and it felt more like six months.

  Suddenly, his lips moved toward mine, and I placed my fingers in front of my mouth.

  “Jake,” I said, warning him.

  “Penina.”

  My eyes fluttered closed to allow that dizzy feeling that occurred whenever he said my name that way to pass. “We can’t,” I said, allowing my eyes to softly open again.

  My mouth was caught open as his finger trailed down my cleavage, sliding over my erect nipple so that his hand could grip my waist and draw me against him. “I’m not your brother.”

  Breathe, Penina. “Then you’ve gotten the results?” I sounded winded.

  “Yes, I have. We’re not related.”

  I gasped. “No?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m positive.”

  Then our lips melted into each other. The delicious taste of his mouth, his strong and eager tongue, were driving me wild with lust. I grabbed Jake—or Asher—by the lapel of his crisp white shirt and jammed my mouth harder against his. The sexy sensation of his tongue hungrily circling mine made my head spin.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he said breathlessly.

  “Dr. Sparrow, Penina?”

  I recognized the voice. We turned to see Deb watching us from a distance. She seemed out of place standing where she was. I guessed she had inched her way over to where we were to identify the impassioned kissers.

  “Deb?” I asked, catching my breath.

  “Good night, Dr. Glasgow,” Jake said, tugging me along.

  I felt as if I needed to explain what she’d seen. However, my feet were determined to keep pace with Jake, and soon I chose to forget all about being in trouble with Deb for the night. I would deal with her in the morning.

  We trotted across the lawn. I felt as if I were running on air. Every now and then, we stopped at a tree and made out profusely. We moved a little farther toward the front of the house, and he pulled the fabric of my dress from over my right breast and sank my nipple and as much of my flesh as he could into the warm, wet concaves of his mouth.

  “Mm.” He grasped my waist and sucked on my tits more fervently. “Do you know how sexy you look in this dress?” he asked.

  He put his mouth back on mine as the warm air of night cooled my wet nipples. Jake bent me backward, kissing me deeply. Finally, almost abruptly, he forced himself to gain control of his lust. I had done the same, only my head felt as if it were floating away from my shoulders as we made it to the front of the house and back to the limo.

  The window’s up, the one separating the front from the back. Positioning himself between my thighs, Jake lowers me. We stare deep into each other’s eyes as my back presses against the spacious, soft leather seat.

  His eyes narrow just a pinch. Our heavy breaths clash.

  “How fucking dare you make me wait to do this?” he says, then his tongue invades my mouth again. I whimper as his full-grown erection digs against my soaked panties.

  He touches me down there, and I stiffen. In and out, he’s finger-fucking me. My senses are on overload. I’m about to blow a gasket.

  “You’re so fucking wet. I want to … fuck!” he shouts, lifting my dress, letting the hem bunch on my sternum.

  He’s fast, snatching my panties off. Possessed by lust, he presses his shoulders under my thighs, lowering his face to my pussy. Then …

  “Ahh!” I cry.

  His tongue stimulates my pleasure spot, instantly sending orgasmic streaks through my mound.

  When he plunges his tongue in and out of my wetness, the erotic sensation makes me shudder.

  “Oh, Jake,” I sigh.

  His tongue is an expert, diving in and out of my pussy, around my clit, bringing me close then pulling back by sinking inside me again, then back on the clit, building sensations, making it ready.

  I squeeze my eyes tighter and clench my teeth harder.

  It’s …

  “J …”

  Stronger.

  “Oh G ...”

  I slap my hands against the top and edge of the seat.

  “Ah!” I cry for dear life as the most pleasurable feeling known to woman spreads through my pussy.

  I’m on sensory overload when Jake loosens his belt, unzips, and frees his bountiful cock.

  Through my hooded eyes, I admire how engorged it is. Before I can reach out and feel it, he puts himself between my thighs.

  “Fuck.” He shudders as his cock surges through me.

  He pumps, making me feel so damn good. Then he halts abruptly.

  I stop sucking air and open my eyes. He’s looking at me.

  “What?” I whispered. I was eager for him to get fucking again. I was close to feeling the intravaginal orgasm that I found addictingly pleasurable.

  “I wasn’t in surgery earlier,” he said as if he was straining to talk.

  My eyebrows pulled together. “Okay.”

  “I was in a meeting with my brothers.”

  “Okay.”

  I cracked a smile while rubbing the layer of glistening sweat off his forehead. “It’s just that I’m about to come already …”

  We both were careful not to move so much while we chuckled.

  “Your brothers, huh?” I asked, trying to stave off our need for each other long enough for him to gain control of his desire.

  He closed his eyes, nodding. “Mm-hm.”

  But our lips, having other plans, sensually stroked each other, then our tongues.

  “Damn, you taste so sweet.” He sighed then said, “Hear me out.”

  “I’m listening.” I grunted then bit down on my lower lip as Jake’s cock stroked my pussy indulgently.

  His breaths trembled as they slid out of his nose. “I bought the hospital.” He winced.

  My eyes opened wide. Did I hear him right?

  His shifted me faster. “On Monday, I’ll make the announcement.”

  “What announcement?” I strained to ask.

  “That Christmas Industries owns the hospital, and my real name is Asher Nathaniel Christmas.”

  It wasn’t fair that he wanted to have that conversation while we were doing that. To keep him quiet, I thrust my tongue deep into his mouth and kissed him intensely.

  Even though I had tons of questions to ask him about buying the hospital, I was feeling him again, and he felt so damn good.

  I gasped. He gasped.

  Each thrust stimulated a new orgasm.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  Four.

  “Oh shit!” Jake’s body quaked as he erupted.

  He had flipped me over to lie on top of him as we both cooled down. I kissed him tenderly on the lips then the tip of his nose.

  “Mmm …” he moaned.

  We smiled at each other.

  “Sorry I couldn’t hold on for you, babe. I’ll make it up to you later.”

  I smiled with bliss. “We have all night, don’t we?”

  He trailed a finger across my lower lip. “Yes, we do.”

  There was no time better than the present to address his confessions. “So you met with your brothers today. Yo
u own the hospital, and you’re letting everyone who works there—”

  Suddenly, his cell phone dinged. It was on the floor. Instinctively, we both turned to look and see who it was. A text message was pasted on the screen.

  It’s Julia. Miss me? I miss you, sexy.

  My mouth fell open. Then came the question I never wanted to ask about another woman when a man was still inside me.

  “Who’s Julia?”

  Chapter Eight

  Penina Ross

  We were still in the back of the limousine, being chauffeured through the steamy New Orleans night. I was no longer on top of Jake, straddling his hips while he was inside me. My lust was cooling, but his was not as he continued rubbing my inner thigh. I didn’t mind his hand on me, even though I was slightly pissed that he admitted that the flirty text came from my sister by blood, Julia Valentine.

  “I still don’t understand why you didn’t say something about her being your ex-girlfriend beforehand,” I had said.

  He sighed. “I apologize. I should’ve said something.”

  “Yes, you should’ve.”

  “I know but—” He massaged his temples with his thumbs.

  “Do you still love her?” I had asked, frowning. I sensed his inner turmoil had something to do with the way he felt about her.

  He shook his head adamantly. “No way.”

  “Then why is she getting to you this way?”

  He had told me their relationship was toxic. They would hurt each other for sport. He didn’t love her. He couldn’t love her. They were together just to make each other miserable.

  We stared into each other’s eyes, letting his confession sink in. Jake refused to reply to Julia’s first and very long text message. In an act of absolute transparency, he read it aloud. Julia mentioned how much she missed him and hoped he missed her too. I closed my eyes and let my negative reactions flow out of my body.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Barely, but I nodded anyway.

  He rubbed my thigh and squeezed it before reading on. She said his brothers had not treated her kindly in his absence, but she had forgiven them. She also said they needed to have a conversation as soon as possible. They had very important matters to discuss and pleasure to catch up on.

  I couldn’t stop shaking my head. How dare she be so bold with my lover? Had she believed he would sit around and wait for her forever?

  Jake deleted the message, set his phone facedown on a console next to a bucket of chilled bottles of water, then wrapped his large hand around my wrist and tugged me to him.

  I chose not to resist when our mouths melted. His tongue seized mine, and he lowered me down onto the long seat. I tried to focus on how delicious he tasted and his strong hands groping my breast, exposing my nipple, and then his hot mouth sucking it against his tongue. As my pussy sizzled with erotic sensations, I tried not to focus on his cell phone beeping and vibrating. But then it rang.

  All of a sudden, Jake’s stimulation abandoned my body. “Fuck!” he roared as he collapsed back against the seat, rubbing his palms over his face.

  The volume of his voice made me jump. “Jake,” I groused.

  “Sorry, babe,” he muttered and then snatched his phone out of the cargo holder.

  I watched in awe as he did what hospital surgeons rarely did and silenced all calls. But it had to be done. The woman had been relentless in her efforts.

  My intense frown was giving me a headache. “Well, what do you think she wants?”

  “Don’t know. Don’t care,” he said as he took hold of me and guided me over to sit on his lap.

  He went back to work, chomping on the tit closest to his mouth. It felt good, but I couldn’t focus on the way his tongue circled my nipple before he sucked my perky breast into his mouth. Then he bit the tip.

  “Ouch!” I yelped, recoiling.

  “Fuck!” he shouted, scrubbing his face again.

  Jake looked paler and wearier than usual. It bothered me that one woman could so intensely disturb his peace of mind. He could be obsessive about his object of desire. I knew that for certain because he was that way with me. Regardless of how much it seemed he wanted to keep fucking, I couldn’t help but wonder if the reappearance of Julia was making him lose interest in me.

  “I just don’t get it,” I said, pulling my dress back over my breasts.

  “You don’t get what?”

  “It seems as though she means a lot to you.”

  He blew another hard sigh as he scratched his eyebrow. “She doesn’t, Penina.”

  “I don’t believe you.” I tried to slide off his lap, but he maintained a vise grip on my hips.

  “Babe, come on. Don’t let Julia ruin our night.”

  “She’s not ruining our night. You are.” My voice echoed through the back of the limo.

  We stared at each other for several moments.

  “I want to know why she still gets to you this way, that’s all.” I set my jaw, refusing to budge until he answered honestly.

  “It’s not just Julia. It’s every fucking thing that happened today. Julia’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

  My eyebrows pulled into an intense frown. “What do you mean?”

  “Everything. My brothers, being Asher Christmas again.” He scoffed. “I didn’t think I’d ever encounter Julia again, yet here the fuck she is, making herself front and center. That’s what bothers me, Penina. That’s all.”

  I waited for him to look at me. When he did, I nodded softly, letting him know I understood.

  “Then you plan to come clean about your identity?” I asked.

  His gaze ventured down to my cleavage and back to my face. “This is not supposed to be happening right now.”

  I knew what he meant.

  “But it is happening.”

  He sighed. “I know. And yes, I am coming clean to all hospital personnel.”

  Finally, he didn’t try to stop me when I scooted off his lap. I was disappointed by that. The distance between us felt like an impending threat.

  Once he was free of me, he massaged his temples. Jake rarely slept, and it showed, but I’d never seen him look so ghoulish.

  “And Julia Valentine doesn’t inspire warm memories, you know,” he added.

  I nodded understandingly, trying very hard to put myself in his shoes. I had been just as angry when Rich trapped me in Dr. Best’s office and tried to bang me, which was an activity he wasn’t that great at, especially compared to Jake. I had felt violated and insulted because I had gotten over him, and he had the nerve to treat me as if I hadn’t.

  But I had to say something to convince Jake that I wasn’t jealous or afraid of losing him, even though I was. “Well, then maybe you should answer her call and find out what she wants.” I could hardly believe that was what I’d come up with, and I immediately wanted to take it back while at the same time allowing my words to stand.

  I could see the wheels turning in Jake’s mind as he watched me with narrowed eyes. My chest was tight and my body completely still. Jake had been something very good that happened in my life, which was something that hadn’t occurred in a long time.

  I had sort of sworn off men after Rich. My ex-boyfriend had certainly left me bitter about finding true love, Prince Charming, and shit like that. Maybe Jake’s brothers and his ex-girlfriend, who I couldn’t forget was my long-lost sister, had busted our bubble at the right time. After all, our relationship was entering a new phase. To me, he had always been Jake Sparrow, but I had to be honest with myself. The sky-blue eyes I was looking into, the ones that had always been so intense and careful, belonged to a man named Asher Christmas.

  “I need to get some work done tonight,” he said in a low voice. “How about I take a rain check?”

  My mouth fell open. We had chosen that night to make up for being so afraid we would never be able to make love again. He was supposed to make me climax so many times that by the morning, I would feel as loose as a rag doll. Between sessions of us fu
cking each other’s brains out, I would catnap while he squeezed my tits until he turned me over so he could put them in his mouth while groping my ass and rubbing my clit. Jake loved rousing me, making it hard for me to ignore his handiwork.

  So I allowed Julia Valentine that victory and quickly replaced my astonishment with a gracious smile. “Okay,” I said, overly chipper.

  Jake nodded as he stared into my eyes. “Thanks, Penina. And um, it’s time to refer to me as Asher.” He sighed. “Asher Christmas.”

  I closed my eyes as Asher and I kissed. Heartbroken, I had already turned away from him when he said, “See you in the morning.”

  The car waited in front of the steps until I was securely inside the building. It felt as if I were moving in an alternate universe where I no longer had a love interest because my evil stepsister had stolen him away from me.

  A lonely feeling plagued me when I entered my apartment. Suddenly, I remembered how little I had eaten at Court’s party. It would’ve been wise of her to cross whoever catered dinner off her contacts list. The food was horrible at best. Still starving, I rushed to the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator. I needed to eat, and it had to be something that could ease my despair, if only for a little while. I had all the fixings for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but as I stood in the chilly space between the door and the racks, I remembered the chocolate blast ice cream with large chunks of dark chocolate and Oreo cookies in the freezer. That would do.

  I slammed the refrigerator door, opened the freezer, and found the full carton behind all the scallops, shrimp, and crab legs I wanted to cook but never had time for.

  I tugged open the drawer where I kept my silverware and found a big spoon. It was as if my taste buds were in desperate need to have the flavors on my tongue. Plus, it was the fastest way to expunge Jake’s delicious taste from my mouth. The ice cream was hard, but I managed to scoop out a hearty spoonful anyway and plop it into my mouth.

  “Oh …” I said, warming the cold ice cream sitting on my tongue.

  One spoonful after the next, and with each swallow, I thought less and less about Jake, or Asher, or whatever the hell he was calling himself at the moment.