by Amy Lamont
For the first time since I walked through the apartment door, I looked closely at my friend. And I saw what I missed at first—she was glowing.
“So I take it things are going well between you and Nate?”
She nodded, looking almost shy. “There was a photo online of him having dinner with some gorgeous woman while he was away the last time. I couldn’t stand it. I almost told him I didn’t want to see him anymore.”
My heart twisted. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around for you to talk to more. I should have known all this was going on.”
She gave my arm a gentle smack. “You were super busy. Plus, you did give me the best advice. You told me to talk to him about where we stood with each other. Turned out the dinner was strictly business, and all along Nate thought we were exclusive. He said he hadn’t had the desire to look at another woman, let alone do anything else, since the night we met.”
I smiled at the dreamy expression on her face, her eyes bright and happy. I gave her a quick hug. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Me, too. He still has to travel a lot, but it’s much easier to deal with now that I know he’s committed to me.”
“Why don’t you travel with him sometimes?” Katelyn asked.
Emma grimaced. “He suggested that, too. I told him I’d think about it.”
“What’s to think about?” I demanded. “You can write from anywhere so it’s not like going with him would interfere with your work.”
She pressed her lips together and then looked nervously around at the three of us. “I guess I’m afraid it’ll be too much of a good thing. Like if we’re together that often, he’ll get his fill of me and end things.”
I flopped back onto the couch. “You’re an idiot.”
Jade nodded. “Afraid I have to agree with Paige on this one.”
I looked over at Katelyn. Her teeth worried at her bottom lip, and I grinned. That was her tell. She agreed with Jade and I, but didn’t want to say it for fear of hurting Emma’s feelings.
“What? Can you blame me? The man is gorgeous and brilliant and has supermodels throwing themselves at him on a regular basis. Maybe he’s so into me because I’m different than his usual dates. But if we spend a lot of time together, he might see how…ordinary, I am.”
I wrapped my arms around her. “You, my friend, are anything but ordinary. From the sounds of it, Nate agrees with me. Taking my advice worked for you once before. Why don’t you give it one more shot? The next time Nate suggests you travel with him, go!”
She squeezed me back. She looked nervous, but she nodded. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll take your advice, if you take mine. Go talk to Jared.”
Shit. I should have seen that one coming. Emma looks all sweet and innocent, but she’s got a backbone and she can sweet-and-innocent pretty much anyone into doing her bidding. Including me.
I took a deep breath. I wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, and I’d be a fool not to fight like crazy for the one good thing I had going on in my life. “Deal.”
I leaned forward and snatched the last slice of pizza from the box. I folded it in half and sank my teeth into it. A little cold, but still delicious.
“Ahem.”
I turned my head to look at Jade.
“I think Emma meant now.”
I rolled my eyes and finished my bite of pizza. “I’m not going to back out of it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Fine. Then let’s get you cleaned up.” Jade gestured to the pizza sauce staining my shirt and then the rest of me. “If you’re going to do it, there’s no time like the present.”
“Umm, except Jared and the guys were moving up the coast to Seattle today. I don’t have the hotel information. Not to mention I’m in no shape to get back on another plane today.”
“You could call him,” Katelyn added helpfully.
I thought about it for a second. “No, I think I want to do this in person. He’s back on Saturday sometime. I’ll go over to his place on Sunday. Hopefully his doorman will let me up.”
Shit. One more thing to worry about.
“I might be able to help you with that,” Emma said.
Chapter Eleven
Jared’s doorman greeted me with a smile as he opened the door for me early on Sunday morning. “He hasn’t come down yet, Miss Jordan.”
“Thank you.”
I waved to the concierge behind the desk in the entryway. He waved me over and handed me a keycard with a conspiring smile and gestured to the elevator.
I grinned as I stepped inside and punched the button for Jared’s floor. I didn’t know if Jared had given orders not to let me up, but Emma had obviously not left things to chance. Normally, the concierge would stop me and call up to Jared to announce me before allowing me up. But Emma had called Nate, who apparently had a little side hobby. Namely buying up Manhattan real estate.
He didn’t own the building where Jared was staying, but he did have a relationship with the management company. He’d made a few phone calls and vouched for me, asking the staff’s help for a surprise I had for Jared. Of course, they’d all jumped at the chance to have billionaire, media mogul Nate Wilder in their debt.
The grin dropped from my face when the elevator doors opened on Jared’s floor. I struggled to pull breath into my lungs as my stomach threatened to eject its contents.
Holy crap. I wasn’t this nervous for my medical school interviews.
I squared my shoulders and stepped off the elevator. I could not back down now. The nerves just meant Jared was worth fighting for.
I let myself into his austere apartment. I think I had actually missed it. There weren’t any stamps of personality anywhere, and it didn’t scream home. But it was the place I’d spent some of the best times of my life.
“Paige, what the fuck?”
I jumped, my hand flying to my chest. Turning, I found Jared standing in the doorway leading to his bedroom.
“Jared, you scared me.”
He strode into the living room. “I scared you? I wasn’t exactly expecting company.”
His wardrobe proved his words to be true. He wore a pair of black sweatpants that hung low on his waist. His chest and feet were bare, and his hair stood up in wild spikes, as if he’d just rolled out of bed.
At the thought of Jared in bed, something suddenly occurred to me and my heart leapt into my throat. I twisted my hands together.
“You’re, um, are you…? I mean, are you alone?” I stammered.
Jared’s eyes widened. “Jesus, Paige, of course I am. What do you think, the second you got on the plane the other day, I replaced you?” His lips twisted into a sardonic smile. “Of course, you did. You know how I like to party like a rock star every chance I get. I must have a new woman every other day, right?”
I blinked at his harsh tone. I don’t think I’d ever heard Jared speak to anyone like that. His coldness made me shudder.
“I didn’t think that,” I said, quietly. “I wanted to come see you. I just didn’t think…”
I sank my teeth into my bottom lip, halting my words mid-sentence. I was terrified of saying something else that would make this situation even worse.
After a few long moments of silence, Jared raised an eyebrow. “Not that this visit hasn’t been…edifying…Paige, but is there a purpose for it? Did you forget something here?”
I stared at him as seconds ticked by. Then I jumped on his words. “Yes, I did leave something here.”
Up until now his face had been fairly expressionless, not letting me see anything he might be feeling. But at my words, something flickered in his eyes. Hurt? Anger?
I didn’t give him a chance to express it. I made a run for him, closing the distance between us and flinging my arms around his neck.
His arms went reflexively around my waist and he took a step back to keep us from toppling over. I didn’t give him a chance to gain his footing and push me away. I kisse
d him for all I was worth.
He stood stiff beneath me as I slanted my lips over his. I traced my tongue along the seam of his lips. He didn’t give me an inch. But I couldn’t help but notice that he also didn’t thrust me away.
I pulled my lips from his and placed a line of kisses up to his ear, nipping his earlobe.
I heard his breath rush out and it was all I could do to keep from grinning at my small triumph.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered in his ear.
A tremor ran through him, and again I fought the urge to do a happy dance. He wasn’t immune to me. He hadn’t shut me out and built a wall up the second he put me on that plane on Thursday.
His hands slid up to my shoulders and he put some space between us. But he didn’t let me go.
“Paige…”
“No, please, let me say what I came here to say and then I promise to listen.”
He nodded.
I rested my hands, palms flat, against his chest and my gaze followed.
Damn. This man had some fine pectoral muscles. I slid my hands down until they hit his abs. Those were nothing to sneeze at either.
“Paige.” This time a note of amusement tinged his voice.
I shook my head and raised my eyes to meet his. “Sorry, sorry. I got distracted for a second.”
He rolled his eyes and something inside me eased a bit. I felt like I could breathe for the first time since he sent me off on Thursday.
“I owe you an apology. I’m so sorry for the asinine things I said to you the other day. One of the things I loved most about spending time with you last week was watching you work. I saw how hard you work, and how much your songs mean to your fans. I think what you do is extremely important. And I’m in awe of how passionate you are about your music.”
His arms tightened a little around my waist, his hands clasping together at the small of my back. “I love it.”
“I know you do. I think that’s why I was such a bitch the other day. I think seeing you and the guys at work, seeing how happy it made you…” I shook my head. “It sort of held up a mirror for me to see everything wrong with my own life.”
An adorable furrow appeared between his eyebrows. “What’s wrong with your life?”
“Aside from the time I spend with you and my friends, pretty much everything.”
He loosened his hold and grabbed one of my hands. Before I knew it, he’d tugged me over to the couch and had me sitting in his lap.
Something lovely and languorous and liquid traveled through me. “You don’t hate me?”
He chuckled a little. “No, baby, I don’t hate you.”
I melted against him, tucking my face into his neck. “I missed you calling me baby.”
His arms squeezed me against him, leaving not an inch of space between us. He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Tell me what’s wrong with your life.”
I smiled against his neck, reveling in his scent and the warmth of his skin. “I don’t want to be a doctor.”
The words came easily this time. I’d said them a bunch more times since I had the revelation on Thursday night, and each time it got a little easier and something inside me felt a little lighter and looser.
When he didn’t say anything, I pulled back to look up at him. He blinked back at me.
“You don’t want to be a doctor?”
“Nope.”
He shook his head. “When did you decide that? Why did you decide that?”
“Thursday night.”
He stiffened. “Because of something I said?”
“No, not even a little bit. But spending time with you this week, seeing how passionate you are about your career…I think I was jealous. It made me really take a look at what was missing for me.”
“What’s missing?”
“Happiness, fulfillment, passion. I realized I kept you to myself because I needed the fantasy of our time together. The last few months, having time with you in our own private little bubble was the only thing that made the rest of my days bearable.”
My words acted like a spark on dry grass. He slid a hand to the back of my head and guided me up as he bent down. Our lips met and that was all she wrote.
He devoured me. His mouth slanted over mine and his tongue demanded entrance. I opened to him, and he delved inside, tasting and teasing.
He shifted me so I straddled him, and I took full advantage of the new position, pressing myself against him and wrapping my arms around his neck.
His hands found the hem of my shirt. As soon as his fingers hit my bare skin, I lost control. I ripped my mouth from his and pushed him away. I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it behind me.
He moved his hands to my black lacy bra and in seconds it joined my shirt on the floor.
I yanked his hands up to cup my breast. “Oh, God, Jared. More.”
“I missed you, baby.” He captured my mouth again as his thumbs slid over my nipples. They hardened into tight peaks, and I moaned into his mouth.
I stroked his shoulders, his chest, his hard abdominal muscles. I couldn’t get enough of him. When I reached the waistband of his sweats, I didn’t pause. I slid back on his lap and dipped my fingers inside, quickly grasping his long, hard length.
He groaned and slid his hands down to work at the snap of my jeans. “I need to get these off of you, baby. I need you.”
I didn’t need to be asked twice. I let him go and scooted off his lap, and with no grace or thought about seduction, I stripped my boots, socks, jeans and black panties off. I leaned forward and grasped the waist of his pants and yanked.
Jared obliged by lifting up enough for me to slide them down. I dropped to my knees to pull them from his feet, and found him jutting up proudly.
“I love when you go commando.” I grinned up at him.
“Less talk.” He wiggled a finger at me. “Up here.”
But the sight in front of me was way too much to resist. I licked my lips and then closed my mouth over the tip of his dick.
“Jesus, Paige.”
His hands tangled in my hair as I slid my mouth down the long shaft, loving the taste and texture of him against my tongue.
“Mmm.” I couldn’t get enough of him, and quickly bobbed my head in his lap, sucking and licking him for all I was worth.
His hands slid under my arms and in the space of a second, he’d hauled my mouth from him and brought me back up to straddle him again. He moved his hands to my thighs to adjust me over him, and without any preamble he pulled me down onto him, impaling me with one swift thrust.
“Jared.” His name was torn from me as my head fell back. I’d never felt so full and every nerve ending along the walls of my core quivered around him.
“You’re so wet, baby.” He cupped my hips and forced me up along his shaft and back down again. “Is that all for me?”
I braced my hands on his shoulders and used them and my knees on either side of him to assist him in working my body on his. I lifted up and sat back down. “Always. It’s always for you. Only you.”
I leaned forward and his mouth moved to my breast. He caught my nipple between his teeth and then sucked it into his warm, wet mouth.
“So good, Jared. That feels so good.”
As I moved up and down over him, picking up speed and shifting my hips so he hit me exactly where I most wanted him, he moved to my other breast. His teeth brought me to the line between pleasure and pain, and he thrust up into me, going even deeper.
“I’m going to come,” I cried out.
“Come for me, baby. I want to feel you.” He thrust up harder and faster, and drove me right to the edge.
“Jared.” His name was ripped from my throat on one long moan as I exploded around him, my muscles convulsing as pleasure poured through me and white lights danced behind my eyes.
Jared’s hands tightened on my hips as he moved me over him, his pace quickening. At the last moment, he pulled out of me. His coc
k thrust between our bodies and spurt after spurt of semen hit my belly and breasts, until with one last shudder, he sank back against the couch cushions.
I collapsed against him, our damp bodies sticking together. I laid my head on his shoulder and nipped the spot where his neck and throat met. He jumped as if startled and I grinned. He let go of my hips and wrapped his arms around me, cocooning me in until I felt safe and sated, content in our private little bubble.
Jared moved his head until his lips were at my ear. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
I laughed. “I think I can forgive you. I don’t have enough energy left to get mad.”
He kissed my temple and left his lips resting there while we sat, getting our breath back and enjoying the intimacy of the moment.
After what could have been minutes or hours, he stirred beneath me. He rubbed his hands up and down my bare back. “So what happens now?”
I shrugged. “With me or with us?”
“I know what happens now with us. I meant with work and school for you.”
Sitting up, I groaned at the stickiness of my skin.
“Hang on.” He shifted quickly, standing and taking me with him.
I wrapped my legs around his waist as he walked to his bedroom and straight through to the bathroom. He deposited me on the vanity.
A whimper escaped me when he brushed against my center and I dropped my head to his shoulder as nerve endings reawakened and little aftershocks trembled through me.
He kissed me, fast and hard and then grabbed a washcloth. He ran it under warm water and proceeded to clean me first, the warm cloth delicious against my over-sensitized folds, and then himself.
He threw the cloth in the sink and picked me up once again. This time our destination was his bed.
I snuggled against him under his midnight colored comforter. “I didn’t think I’d get the chance to get back here again.”
“I didn’t think you’d want to be back.”
I cuddled closer into his chest. “The best moments of the last months were the times I spent right here with you, under this comforter in your ugly apartment.”