by A. D. Ryan
Jensen struggled to catch his breath, wiping tears of laughter from the corner of his eye. “It’s a little funny, Madi.” I shoved him lightly before sidling up to him and looking at what he was working on.
“It’s roasted red pepper cream sauce. I’m going to serve it over penne,” he told me before I got the chance to ask. As he spoke, my stomach growled and he laughed. “How was your sleep? You feeling okay?”
“It was good,” I responded before laughing quietly. “When I woke up I almost didn’t recognize where I was. I forgot I’d asked.”
Jensen smiled wide. “I’m glad you did. I quite enjoyed seeing you in my bed.”
“Oh, you guys are sick,” Willow complained, her tone teasing as she leafed through a tabloid magazine she had to have brought with her, because I didn’t subscribe to that trash. “Get a room. And not the viewing gallery this time. I totally saved your asses earlier.”
Rolling my eyes, I picked up the dishtowel and chucked it at her for the second time that day. “Yes, Willow. Thank you. I owe you.”
“Damn right you do. And you know how I’m going to collect?” It took one look at each other to know that I was in for a long afternoon of shopping in the city with her. “Shopping, baby!”
“Aw, shit.” I groaned, pressing my forehead into Jensen’s bicep. “Tell her I have to stay home and relax. That shopping’s not good for me. Please. I need you to be on my side.”
Flipping the burner to low and pouring the dried pasta into the other pot of boiling water, he turned to me. “I wish I could. But, you seem to be feeling great. Plus, Willow is only here for a few days.”
“Why do you hate me?” I asked, poking his arm as I turned to grab my bottle of painkillers.
Jensen smiled. “I don’t hate you, Madison. Far from it, actually.” Yeah, I was no longer upset with him—okay, so I was never really upset with him.
“All right, Willow. Tomorrow you and I will head into town and shop for the afternoon.” Willow clapped with glee, practically vibrating on the island.
“Nope! I’m taking you to Memphis!”
I looked at Jensen, hoping he’d tell her it was too long a drive, but he only winked at me. At least in Savannah shopping was limited. In Memphis, though? Shit, Willow could make me shop for weeks.
“Memphis?” I croaked.
“I already told Willow to make sure she watches you. She assures me she won’t keep you out too late.” They planned this. Motherfu—
“Willow, the pasta’s almost done,” Jensen announced. “Would you mind setting the table? Madison, you should go and have a seat.”
With Willow hard at work, she told me about a few of the new stores in the mall since I’d been there last. I sat in my seat and waited for dinner to reach the table. Okay, so maybe I was a little excited to go into the city with Willow. It had been far too long since we’d had a girl’s day out. Chances were we might even hit up Willow’s spa for a deep tissue massage. That sounded pretty great, as long as they avoided my side.
“How was Ransom today?” I asked as Jensen set dinner in the middle of the table. He sat between Willow and me. Willow started dishing food onto her plate as Jensen and I talked about work.
“He was great. Tom says you’ve really made a lot of progress with him the last few months. It’s noticeable in a stallion his age.” Jensen paused before offering me the chance to dish up next. “He’s a marvelous horse. I’d love to ride him more.”
“Well,” I said, covering my pasta with the delicious-smelling roasted pepper sauce. “Until I’m feeling better, he’s all yours. And I suppose I could even share after that.”
“How very gracious.”
Dinner was—amazing would actually fall short of just how delicious it was. The conversation was good—which was to say no more embarrassing stories of my teenage years were told, and the food was to die for. Jensen’s cooking continued to surprise me.
Willow and Jensen both had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner while I pouted that I wasn’t allowed to have any while on my medication. I wasn’t a heavy drinker, but every once in awhile, a glass of red wine with my dinner was a nice option to have.
“So,” I said, standing up and gathering our three empty plates to clean up after they both made and set up for dinner. “What do you guys want to do now? I’m sure there’s something good on TV. Or we could put a movie in.”
“That sounds like fun!” Willow exclaimed as she and Jensen hopped up and helped clear the table for me as I filled the dishwasher.
Between the three of us, it didn’t take long to clean the kitchen so we could make our way to the living room. Before Jensen or I could even reach the couch, Willow swooped in and sat in my spot. Probably to force Jensen and I to sit next to one another—not that I minded in the least, of course.
“Hmm,” Jensen pondered. “Quite meddlesome, isn’t she?”
I laughed, causing Willow to look up at me with a look of curiosity. “That would be an understatement.”
“What?” Willow asked, that same devious sparkle in her eyes while being simultaneously oblivious.
Shaking my head, I moved to the shelf that housed my movie collection. “So, what did you guys want to watch?”
“As long as it’s not Star Trek, I’m easy,” Willow quipped, and I shot Jensen a look over my shoulder as he sat in his usual seat and nodded once. Willow didn’t miss our silent exchange, and she groaned loudly. “Awww, come on!”
Shrugging, I grabbed the disc and popped it in the player before standing up and plopping down next to Jensen with a few inches between us. “Sorry, babe,” I told her. “Two against one.”
“Ugh, you Trekkies.” Willow wiggled in her spot to get comfortable until her legs were twisted to the side and her feet were kicking into my thigh. Oh, she was a subtle creature.
Not really enjoying the feeling of her bony feet in my leg, I moved over until I was pressed against Jensen. Willow smirked in triumph. In an effort to get comfortable, Jensen moved his left arm from between us and draped it behind me on the back of the couch. As the movie played on, his arm relaxed until his long fingers brushed my shoulders, sending a shiver through my body.
“Cold?” he asked upon noticing, shifting as if to get up and retrieve a blanket for me.
I shook my head. “Nope. That just tickled.”
Teasing, Willow gagged loudly. “Ugh. If you two start making out during this movie, I’m going to puke. How is this stuff even sex— Hello! Who is that?” Trust Willow’s attention span to shorten at the sight of the baby blue eyes of Chris Pine.
“That’s Captain Kirk,” I told her. Had she never seen this movie? “Cute, right?”
Jensen looked down at me. “You think so?”
Sensing some kind of weird jealousy over a man I was never going to meet, I decided to play with Jensen a little. I shrugged. “Sure. He’s got nice eyes, nice voice. His body’s pretty decent.”
“You sure you’re talking about this Kurt guy?” Willow teased from beside me.
“Kirk,” I corrected her, being sure to put heavy emphasis on the last “k.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s call him ‘Hotty-McSexy’. Anyway, like I was saying—”
Thankfully, Willow’s iPhone took that moment to blare out “Touch me touch me touch me touch me, I want to get dir-ir-ty” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Laughing, I shook my head. Willow just grinned and hopped up off the couch.
“Hey, babe!” she exclaimed. “I miss you.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, and she eyed Jensen and me nervously before fleeing the room. “Um, nothing. What are you wearing?”
“Oh, I did not need to hear that!” I called out after her, only to have her giggle before her bedroom door closed.
“I’m in serious need of brain bleach,” I whined, pulling my legs up onto the couch in front of me. Relaxed, I let my head fall back onto the couch—onto Jensen’s arm—before turning to look at him. He was still facing me, staring intensely.
&n
bsp; “Hi,” I whispered, trying to control my now-racing heartbeat.
“Hi.” Slowly, he lowered his face to mine and kissed me softly. Our lips moved together gently, and he cradled the side of my face with his right hand, his fingers twisting into my hair to deepen our kiss. I hadn’t meant for our kiss to escalate, but whenever his lips were on mine, it was like my brain was no longer in control of what my body did.
I turned my body to his, quickly straddling his lap as his tongue firmly traced my lower lip. I opened my mouth to release a sigh, and soon our tongues slid languidly against each other. Jensen’s left hand ensnared my right hip, his fingers digging in and sending a delightful surge of excitement straight through me. My hands moved down his body until I found the bottom of his shirt and started to raise it between us.
“Mmm, Madison,” he mumbled against my ravenous lips. “We need to stop.” While I heard his words, his body was telling me an entirely different story.
I shook my head, refusing to relent my attack on his mouth. I ran my fingers over his muscular chest beneath the shirt I was trying to push up. His grip on my waist tightened, and he shifted his hips up, grinding against me, which caused me to moan shamelessly. He was right; we should stop before we went too far. I still wasn’t a hundred percent.
So good …
Jensen groaned into my mouth, his fingers tightening in my hair, sending tingles shooting down my neck and spine. “I know, but we have to stop.”
“Can’t,” I murmured. “Don’t want …”
With the sexiest growl I had ever heard, Jensen twisted us until he had me pinned to the couch below him, his lips working even more fervently against my own as his left hand snaked up my shirt and gripped my breast over my thin bra. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” he said before trailing his lips over my jaw, gently nipping along the way.
“I think I have a pretty good idea,” I said breathlessly, his lips kissing a trail along the column of my throat.
He pushed his hips forward, and pleasure prickled through me, quickly followed by pain that spider webbed out from my broken ribs. I grunted, but I tried to pass it off as a moan so Jensen wouldn’t stop. As much as it hurt, I wanted him so badly.
But he knew. He always knew.
Jensen’s body tensed as he raised his lips from mine. “We have to stop. We can’t … not yet. You need to get better. We need time … take things slow.”
I knew he was right. Somewhere deep down inside—past the throbbing between my thighs and the pain that was starting to wane—I knew he was right. But my brain was no longer thinking like that. It was in complete cahoots with my body. “Fuck slow,” I told him, thrusting my hips up into his.
Jensen leaned down until his lips ghosted mine and his eyes held me captive. “I intend to. But not today. Not like this,” he whispered before brushing the tip of his nose over mine and sitting us both up.
My heart stuttered—did hearts do that? Who knew. All I did know was that hearing his words caused my entire body to react in that good-yet-I-wanna-be-so-very-bad kind of way. “I’m sorry,” I told him, fixing my hair.
“No need to be. I’m just as much to blame.” Jensen fixed his shirt to cover the lower part of his abdomen that was still showing. “It’s just, every time I’m around you—”
I quickly snapped my hand up to cover his mouth with the tips of my fingers. “While I understand you’re trying to be sweet and noble while maintaining your virtue, I need you to stop talking before I force myself on you.”
Jensen smiled beneath my fingertips before kissing them and pulling my hand from his mouth. “It amuses me that you think this has anything to do with my virtue.”
“Well, it can’t possibly be mine. In case you’ve forgotten, I was the one who jumped you a few minutes ago,” I reminded him, only to have his eyes flash with the same excitement they held when we were mid-bump ’n’ grind.
“And I could have stopped you.”
I pretended to ponder this before narrowing my eyes jokingly. “Excellent point, you cad.”
“Watch it, Landry. You’re not too old for a good spanking.” He was trying to gain the upperhand, and I wasn’t going to allow for it. Not anymore.
I bit my lip and leaned forward until my mouth traced his ear lobe. “You promise?”
Jensen laughed, albeit a little nervously. “You’re right. Your virtue is a lost cause. Best do everything I can to protect myself from your corruption.” Jensen turned to kiss me quickly, knowing that the last time his lips lingered on mine things had gotten out of hand. “Now, we’ve missed almost half of this movie already, what do you say we try and enjoy the rest of it?”
For the remainder of the movie, Jensen teased me about my self-admitted crush on Kirk. It would have annoyed me more if his arms weren’t wrapped around me securely as I leaned against him, listening to the steady thump-thump of his heartbeat. The feeling of his fingers as they traced delicate lines up and down my arms or combed through my hair was delightful, and by the end of the movie, I found myself yawning.
Willow had just appeared as the movie credits started rolling, complaining that she had missed the whole thing. “You guys could have paused it,” she stated with her hands placed squarely on her hips.
“Willow, you were gone for over an hour. What would we have done while we waited?”
When she smirked, I wanted to go back in time and not ask that question. “Same thing I was doing, but maybe in person?”
“Oooh,” I groaned, pushing myself to my feet. “No, I did not need to hear that. No one did.”
Jensen chuckled, obviously enjoying our playful teasing of each other, and stood up. “All right, ladies. I’m headed to bed. Early day and all. You two better get some sleep; you’ve got a big day of shopping ahead of you.”
“You bet! Come on, Madi. Sleepover,” Willow announced before turning and walking toward my room.
After turning off the TV and all the lights, I walked with Jensen until we stood outside his room. “So, will there be pillow fights?”
“Contrary to what is shown in movies about sorority house slumber parties, we will not be in skimpy lingerie, nor will there be a downpour of feathers from the sky.” I paused, taking in his disheartened look before offering him a sly smile. “In fact, I plan to wear my new shirt … and possibly nothing else. So, think about that as you try to fall asleep.”
“As much as I’d like to see that,” he said. “I’d like to assure you that I already think about that quite often. And as for what the other should be thinking about before falling asleep completely frustrated …” He leaned in until his lips brushed my ear and his breath tickled my neck. “Know that I will be sleeping without a stitch of clothing on. By the way,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “I’ve been meaning to tell you all day that I really like those jeans on you.”
I laughed. “Willow thought you might.”
“Hmmm. Well, she was right,” he said before walking backward into his room, his eyes moving up and down my body. The smile on his face was quite devilish as he raised his shirt over his head, giving me a brief glimpse of his naked torso before closing his door.
The man did not play fair.
But I liked it.
Chapter 15. Girl’s Day Out
“Wake up! I’m going to go hop in the shower before breakfast.” My eyes opened slowly when I felt the bed shift beneath the slight frame of my best friend. Then she was gone, her bare feet shuffling quickly across the floor toward the bathroom.
Willow wound up passing out in my bed (as I knew she would) around one a.m. We had stayed up a little later than intended when she started asking all sorts of questions about what happened between Jensen and me that afternoon. That, of course, led to me telling her about us making out like a couple of horn-dogs on the living room couch.
I pulled myself out of bed and stretched. My side still hurt, but seemed to be getting better with each day that passed. When I heard the shower start, I stood from the bed and w
as just about to head out into the hall before I had a simply devilish idea. I removed the shorts I had worn to bed, leaving me in just Jensen’s shirt and my panties.
He was gonna flip.
Across the hall, I could see that Jensen’s bed was already made, and I was pretty sure I could hear him in the kitchen. I let myself into the bathroom—or, more accurately, I opened the door slightly and poked my head in before calling out for the person I thought was inside. Just to be safe.
“Willow?”
“Yup!”
“I’m just going to brush my teeth, okay?” I inquired, hoping I wasn’t being too intrusive.
After giving me the go-ahead, I stepped in and did my morning routine. Before leaving, I made sure my hair wasn’t too messy, but still looked like sex hair. You know, to give Jensen a taste of his own medicine.
I locked the bathroom door for Willow and made my way to the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, I pressed forward and found Jensen at the stove, flipping pancakes on the griddle. “Good morning,” I chirped as I moved behind him and headed for the fridge.
He didn’t turn around at first, keeping his eyes on breakfast. “Hey, how’d you sl”—I had just opened the fridge and leaned forward to look for something—I don’t know what, really. I just wanted my ass to show from the bottom of the shirt. I could tell by the way his pitch raised that he had looked—“eep?”
I stood up, grabbing the orange juice from the top shelf before turning to face him. “Mmmm,” I hummed seductively. “Sooo good.” The way his eyes devoured my bare legs thrilled me, and I smiled. “See something you like, Davis?”
“You could say that,” he managed to choke out, his voice raspy. I decided he needed to see a little more, so I moved toward the cupboard to grab a glass and reached up for one, the shirt riding up and showing a tiny peek of the side of my panties.
“Hey!” he exclaimed, moving to my side in an instant. When I felt his hand on the hem of my shirt, I moved back and slapped his hand playfully.
“Excuse you!” I cried, backing up until I hit the island.