Next Song I Sing (NEXT TIME AROUND)

by McDonald, Donna

  “You’ve dated a non-stop series of women who fit almost everyone’s ideal image of a perfect woman, who at their largest only ever wear a size eight. Jasper, even if I stay on a diet I will never wear less than a size twelve in anything. If I had children, who knows how much bigger I might get than my current size-fourteen body? I am not small, will never be small, and don’t even think I would like being small. I am never, ever going to look like that woman at your door or any clone of her. It’s just not in the genetic cards for me. And I’ve already done the guy who didn’t think that was good enough. I don’t really want to do another one.”

  Jasper started to speak, but Chloe held up a hand.

  “Nope. My turn to talk,” she told him, shutting him down firmly.

  She watched Jasper press his lipstick smeared lips into a firm line, and went dizzy for a moment remembering how he’d gotten it all over him. Chloe took a few more healthy sips, giving herself a little more time to think while her renewed lust dissipated.

  “I’ve endured a lot of teasing from even the good men in my life about my size and weight. And okay, maybe I partially bring it on myself doing the typical comparison thing with other women, like the one who showed up here tonight. Still, I never succumbed to stupid diets or dwelled on my size if I could help it. Instead, I just learned to like myself. The last two serious men in my life screwed with that a bit, and I’m just now starting to get my confidence back. I’m forty and can’t compete with the Leas and Rayonnas of the world. And frankly, I don’t want to.”

  “Of course you can’t compete with them, Chloe,” Jasper told her, seeing the shock on her face. “You can’t compete because you’re in class all by yourself. Some men want the Rayonnas of the world. I didn’t, but I didn’t have the guts to look for what I wanted. I’m surprised my libido didn’t shut down on me in my thirties when I figured this out. For the last two years, I’ve had pathetically bad sex once or twice a month. It was only marginally better than no sex at all. I would like to have been a better man about women, but—I just wasn’t. Until I met you, I didn’t have a reason to go after my fantasy instead of what others thought I should like.”

  “That doesn’t reassure me that you won’t want a size six or eight woman again before we’re done, but it does make me like you for being human. And there is nothing wrong with your libido. I’ve made its acquaintance, and all your equipment still seems to work just fine. I’ve felt more than just your hands hard on me,” Chloe said, surprising a reluctant laugh out of him. “Sorry to be blunt. Champagne talking.”

  “Whether you can believe me or not, you are my ideal woman. Is there anything I can do to make up for Lea showing up tonight to ruin our evening?” Jasper asked.

  Jasper looked away from Chloe when he couldn’t hold her penetrating gaze. There were all kinds of questions in her eyes, but he was out of explanations.

  “No. Lea showed up and there’s nothing you can do to change that,” Chloe said at last, draining her glass and setting it on the side table. “There’s no need really. I thought she seemed like a mostly nice person for someone dumb enough to do what she did for a so-called friend.”

  The sarcasm in her tone had Jasper nodding in agreement.

  Chloe turned her body fully to his then, taking in his lipstick stained face and neck again, as well as his shirt. He’d smoothed his hair some, but it was still ruffled from her hands. The woman at the door had not taken away her desire for Jasper. Whatever was or was not going to happen in the future, she still wanted him enough to take a chance. She decided to take Emma’s advice about living in the moment and stay for dinner at least, but she had never been one to suffer alone.

  “Now you can at least see why a relationship with Sam would have been so much easier for me,” Chloe said wisely, drawing a glare from Jasper that had champagne-induced laughter bubbling up inside her. “Well, it’s a truth and you damn well know it. Sam probably dates who the hell he wants without giving his choice of woman a second thought.”

  “That may be true about Sam’s dating habits, but I don’t intend to let you take up with my best friend under my nose when I want you as much as I do,” Jasper said tightly. “I’m going after what I want this time. Sam can wait for the next woman.”

  “Is that right?” Chloe asked, lifting her chin and smiling at his tone, which had gone all formal and proper again.

  Jasper nodded. “Yes. That’s exactly right.”

  Yep—she definitely liked all the oozing arrogance pushing out every tight word, Chloe thought, sick woman that she was.

  “Fine. If Sam is out of the question, I guess I’ll stay with you then. So what’s for dinner?” Chloe asked, setting free the smile she’d been holding back.

  She thoroughly enjoyed watching a mixture of relief and hope chase across Jasper’s expression.

  Jasper studied Chloe’s smile. It took him several moments to collect himself enough to answer.

  “Well, we’re having more champagne,” he told her firmly, breaking the silence at last. “Two more bottles, I think. I promise to stop filling your glass when I’ve talked you out of your clothes.”

  “Anything other than champagne on the menu?” Chloe asked on a laugh, scooting over to be within reach of him.

  “Dry chicken unless we want to re-order,” Jasper said, derision about the ruined dinner in his tone. “So much for planning the perfect evening.”

  “Dry chicken and more champagne are fine. I only care about dessert tonight anyway,” she said, leaning into him for a kiss.

  “Thank God,” Jasper said, teasing her lips with his, trembling at the knowledge he was going to get a chance to be with her after all. “I ordered chocolate mousse with raspberries. I’m sure it’s survived the delay.”

  “Sounds delicious, and I’m starving. Kiss me, Jasper,” Chloe demanded. “Quick before another skinny, nearly naked blonde shows up at the door and I change my mind.”

  Jasper laughed and pulled her into his lap, surprising her with his action. “I lift weights with Max and I’m a lot stronger than I look. Maybe I’ll feed you dessert first if you kiss me right.”

  “Jasper,” Chloe said, feeling him kissing his way across her shoulder and up her neck. “I need to eat. The champagne is making me dizzy.”

  “It’s not the champagne,” Jasper said roughly, running his hand inside the slit of her dress and stroking her naked thigh. He moved his hand up smoothly and ran into nothing but Chloe. He swore against her throat as his fingers toyed with what he found there. “I can’t believe you sent me to answer the damn door knowing full well you were naked under your dress.”

  Chloe’s face filled with embarrassed color as he stroked her curls with a knuckled fist. “Well, I was coming to seduce you, Jasper. I didn’t think I would need underwear. But there’s a pair in my purse just in case—right next to the condoms. I’m not on birth control.”

  “I will gladly wear them for you, Chloe. The condoms, I mean, not your underwear,” Jasper whispered, removing his hand from under her dress and bringing it up to her breast instead as she laughed at his joke. “Are you wearing a bra?”

  She kissed his forehead, his eyes, his jaw line, and the corner of his mouth before answering. “Sorry to disappoint, but no. Not this time. There’s one built into the dress. I decided being naked under my clothes might show you how enthusiastic I was about being with you. I didn’t expect to be bested by a woman in a transparent gown.”

  “No woman could match you on any day,” Jasper whispered huskily, hugging her to him.

  Jasper kissed the cleavage above the opening of the dress and inhaled the scent at Chloe’s throat, making her sigh. His erection grew torturously hard beneath her restless hips. He started rocking and groaning against her seeking relief.

  “I will not destroy your dress. I will not destroy your dress. Oh God, no matter how much I want to rip it off your naked body, I will not destroy your dress,” Jasper said, shocked at the amount of sincerity in every syllable he uttered.<
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  Chloe laughed then, laughed and wiggled on his lap, even when Jasper fought and held her tightly. “Let me up, Jasper.”

  “I don’t want to let you go,” he said, not caring how petulant he sounded.

  Wrestling free of his grip, Chloe stood and straightened her dress back down over her hips so she wouldn’t tear it.

  “Thank you for being convincing. Now stand up and unzip me. I’m tired of waiting,” she informed him.

  Jasper laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Let me show you my bedroom so we don’t end up on the carpet here. I think you’ll like it. It has a new bed, new mattress, and a man with a new attitude about sex ready to crawl under the covers with you.”

  Chloe trailed after him, purse and condoms in hand. His bed was just as enormous as she’d imagined. “All new for us? That was very thoughtful of you.”

  “Being with you is very important to me,” Jasper said, reaching behind her and unzipping a long zipper that he had lean around her to finish. “I might actually get to have sex and enjoy it on this bed. It seemed like a moment to be celebrated.”

  “Oh, I can pretty much guarantee your enjoyment. My ex didn’t leave me because he was unsatisfied in bed. He left me because I wasn’t good enough outside of it,” Chloe said sagely, shrugging the dress off her shoulders until it fell to the top of her breasts. “You want to chew this off me or are we able to let it fall to the floor.”

  “I can be a gentleman for the right reasons,” Jasper told her, not denying how much he would enjoy removing her clothes with his teeth as he did other wicked things to her.

  But to prove his words were true, Jasper flattened his palms on her shoulders and slid them slowly down until the dress fell to her waist and his hands covered her breasts. When she closed her eyes and leaned into him, Jasper brought his hands under her breasts to cup and hold them as his thumbs abraded the peaks.

  “There has never been a woman more beautiful than you are to me right now,” Jasper said, his voice hoarse with need. “I’m going to tell you that so often that one day you’re going to have to believe me when I say it. You’re my centerfold and my every fantasy come to life.”

  “No more compliments,” Chloe said, dizzy with arousal. “Let the dress fall. Take me to bed. I want to be with you. I don’t care about anything else at the moment.”

  He let go of her to remove his shirt. Thankfully he’d been smart enough to wear slip on shoes. His pants easily dropped to join the rest of the heap on the floor at his feet.

  Dressed only in his boxers, he reached out and tugged the dress free of Chloe’s hips until it also fell into the floor as a puddle around her tall heels. He had to take a few deep breaths to keep from jumping her. Instead, Jasper stepped free of his pants to step into the heat of Chloe, pulling her into his arms until she was all he felt over every inch of his body.

  “Chloe—I am so glad you stayed,” he said, unable to get out much more than her name as he dragged her down to the bed with him, reaching to her feet and slipping off her shoes for her as she climbed into it with him.

  When her knees hit the mattress, Chloe crawled up and grabbed a pillow before rolling to her back. Two seconds later Jasper was lying beside her. He kissed her mouth endlessly and Chloe felt herself slipping under, deciding ultimately to just let Jasper take her where he wanted to go this first time.

  Jasper’s mouth found Chloe’s breast at last, his tongue sweeping the side of it, before his lips closed around the aroused peak begging for the attention he was desperate to give. He practically fell on top of Chloe when he moved his attention to the other side of her body.

  After sating the most immediate need, Jasper moved up her body kissing a trail, his hips meeting hers as her thighs parted to let him get closer. When Chloe wrapped her legs around him, sanity and years of practiced lovemaking slipped away, leaving only a raging need to bury himself inside her.

  Jasper groped the bed to find her purse and handed it to her with unsteady hands.

  “Condom now,” he demanded. “Hurry. I’m hanging on to my noble intentions by a thread.”

  Panicked by the urgency in his voice, Chloe opened the purse and pulled everything out, throwing it from her in her haste to find the condoms. When she finally found one, she reached down between them and felt his erection through the boxers he still wore.

  “I hope this fits. It was the only size the hotel store carried,” she whispered fiercely, ripping a packet open and shoving his clothes down to find him and sheath him.

  Her body throbbed in relief when the condom rolled completely on.

  “Lose the boxers,” she ordered fiercely, shoving them below his hips and using a foot to sweep them off him even as he was sliding inside her.

  “Jasper—oh. You feel so good.” The heat of him warmed her.

  For the rest of her life, Chloe knew she would always remember the feel of Jasper moving into her the first time, the way he kept endlessly kissing her everywhere his mouth could reach as he sank further and further inside. It was the most thorough masculine invasion she had ever known.

  Once inside Chloe, Jasper found he couldn’t remain still, so he thrust in and out with long, slow strokes. Long, relieving, claiming strokes, he acknowledged, while his blood pounded with need. Some part of him registered that he was moving them both with his efforts. Or maybe her body fitted so tightly around his was moving in sync. It was hard to be sure what was working, hard to know anything other than the gloriousness that was being with Chloe.

  Every second thrust Jasper heard her call out another “Oh”. When she hit her climax, Chloe emitted a steady tone that filled the room with the sound of her pleasure. It drove Jasper crazy when it went on and on. He was a man reborn with his success.

  In fact, Jasper wanted it to never end, but he could feel that he wasn’t going to last much longer. He slowed down, studied Chloe’s face, felt the relaxed surrender of her body as her flash point ebbed away. It was the happiest he’d been in bed with a woman since he was in college.

  Chloe’s eyes opened to Jasper smiling down at her. Her gaze was unfocused at first but became steely with determination when she saw he was putting off his own pleasure. There would be none of that, she thought, making Jasper hiss as she ran all ten painted nails she’d had manicured that afternoon down his back.

  “Your turn, Mr. Wade,” she whispered, her determined gaze boring into his.

  Chloe pressed her nails into Jasper’s surging hips, hanging on every time he pushed farther inside her. With every deep stroke after that, she pressed all ten points hard into his backside somewhere until the madness of fighting her grip on him flung him over the edge of sanity.

  Then Chloe raked his back again and made him hiss in reaction, delaying the inevitable. She wanted to laugh at Jasper’s loss of control, and his attempts to thwart her, but was afraid she would offend or make him mad. So instead, she just smiled as Jasper fought himself and her.

  When his own climax hit him at last, Jasper felt utter shock at the ferocity of it. He didn’t just find release, he exploded inside Chloe, calling out her name over and over as she laughed. He felt her lift him and hold him tightly, caressing his body everywhere.

  Even after he was still and all but comatose on top on her, Chloe repeated her downward pressing with her nails and downward pulls of her hips until Jasper felt drained of every ounce of anything, including his desire to move off her.

  When Chloe finally accepted his climax was done, she entwined her arms and legs with Jasper’s until she was cocooning him, until she was doing nothing more than running soothing hands along his back, kneading his relaxed muscles as he melted further into her.

  All Jasper could think was that being with Chloe was how making love was supposed to be. He felt like the luckiest man on earth to have found her.

  Chapter 16

  “Are you okay?” Chloe asked at last when Jasper hadn’t said anything or moved for several minutes. It wasn’t that Jasper was heavy on her body. It was th
at he was so still. She was tempted to ask if she had broken him, but she couldn’t have voiced the question without laughing.

  “How the hell did any man ever give you up?” Jasper asked against her shoulder, only mildly offended by her answering snort of disbelief. “Make me your sex slave. Please. I want that. Really I do. I have a lot of money. I’ll give you all of it.”

  Chloe laughed outright then. She couldn’t help it. The man was fun out of bed, but it was a surprise to find out how much fun Jasper Wade could be in it.

  “Come on, Jasper. All your money? It was good, but not that good. Haven’t you ever had a climax before?”

  “Not that kind,” Jasper said sincerely, raising his head at last to look into Chloe’s beautiful, satisfied face. His mind spun, dizzy with happiness. “I’m light-headed. I’m not even sure I can walk. And your nails—God, lady.”

  He mock shivered on top of her and felt her musical laugh against the front of his body. It was almost enough to harden him again.

  “It was probably the champagne that amped up the experience for you,” Chloe said dryly, caressing his nicely shaped rear again with her nails.

  “No. No, I’ve had champagne before. It was you. What you gave me was the kind of climax that I suspected existed but had eluded me up to a few minutes ago,” Jasper said, rolling them to the side. “Now I don’t want to leave your body. Can I just stay until mother nature kicks me out?”

  Chloe laughed again and nodded, completely undone by his obvious satisfaction with being with her. “Stay as long as you want. You know, I have to admit I never expected you to be so much fun in bed.”

  “Fun? You don’t know how relieved I am that you got to the end before I did the first time. You were very thorough in your participation. I can’t remember the last time a woman wore me out,” Jasper told her, pushing the hair behind her ears.

  “See. Even that comment was charming,” Chloe pronounced, smiling at him. “Still a bit stuffy, and no dirty words, but you’re definitely a lot less proper between the sheets. I think I really like that about you.”