Alice took the stairs and walked to the main entrance without looking back. It wasn’t on purpose, she was just too occupied with wondering if trying to be friends with Tristan really was such a good idea. Arriving at the entry, Alice turned around and waved at Tristan, not being able to see if he was waving back, but she saw him driving off.
When she entered the building, she somehow felt as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders, almost like it couldn’t follow her inside. Alice greeted the two security men as she passed by their desk and headed for the elevators.
That was when she remembered what Jason had told her about the private elevators, and she couldn’t help but see it for herself. So, she walked to the end of the elevator area and indeed found two smaller metal doors, opposed to each other. Using her thumb, she pressed the button to call the private elevator and watched how her finger was scanned. Shortly after the light showing that the elevator was moving downstairs, came to life.
Alice looked around to see if anyone was watching her, but no one was there, apart from the cameras monitoring the area. With a low ping the doors in front of her opened to a small cabin, which was big enough for maybe four people.
Thank god, she wasn’t claustrophobic.
Instinctively she pressed the button for the 21st floor, but her exes instantly moved to the highest level of the building. It said 26th floor.
Didn’t Jimmy say there were 25?
Or maybe that floor didn’t have a button on the public elevators, which would be quite smart.
Alice couldn’t help but stare at the button, agonizing over whether she should press the button to Jason’s penthouse or not.
Tom had told her that Jason probably would be staying at his downtown apartment for this weekend, should the meeting tomorrow take longer than anticipated, which probably meant that it would take longer. But that didn’t mean that he was at the penthouse tonight. He would be there tomorrow.
And then there was the possibility that he hadn’t given her access to his apartment just yet, because she hadn’t told him ‘yes.
Alice’s heart was beating on her tongue and her hands where flexing and stretching nervously.
Just when she concluded that she should tell him first before just walking in on him, the ping sounded in the cabin and the door opened to her floor.
Thirty-Two
Alice’s hand had moved before she consciously think about pressing the button for the penthouse. If her heart had already beaten quickly, it now started to race.
What the hell was she thinking?
What if he wasn’t there? Then she would simply go home and go to bed.
What if the elevator wouldn’t move? As an answer to that the doors closed and she could feel the lift progressing upwards.
What if it wouldn’t open? That was unlikely, since the elevator moved.
So, what when he wasn’t alone? That would be his problem, wouldn’t it?
Alice took deep and even breaths to calm herself down. If Jason wouldn’t be there but the elevator doors opened, she would at least have an undisturbed stroll through the penthouse. When her view was stunning, his view had to be breathtaking.
The ping tore her from her attempts of distraction, and her breath got stuck in her throat, while she could hear her heartbeat in her ears.
The elevator doors opened and she stepped out of the cell, looking around. She was standing in the middle of the penthouse which had close to no walls. It was set up like her own apartment, but it reminded her of the Dark Alley, with the only difference that the colors were reversed. Everything that was black at Jason’s loft at the club, was in a silverish-looking grey, and all that had been steel was built from greyish wood and the curtains weren’t dark red, but in a blue, that reminded of a stormy ocean. It was almost teal colored.
Whoever had designed the interior of this place was an absolute genius, because the penthouse looked more like a beach house than actually an apartment on the top level of a skyscraper.
The sound of the elevator doors closing behind her made her flinch and with that broke her free from her trancelike awe of this place. Alice didn’t know what she had expected, but she surely hadn’t expected this.
“Alice?” She could hear Jason rather wondering out aloud than actually calling out for her, and that was when she realized that there was a sort of wall to her left in form of a long, rectangle planter with marram grass.
Alice fidgeted with her hands, but couldn’t help but smile as Jason appeared at the end of said organic wall. He was holding a glass of red wine in his hand and looked at her as if he was seeing an epiphany.
“Hi,” was all that Alice could muster and felt her face flush in embarrassment.
Jason simply put his glass on the container next to him and started walking towards her, determinedly.
Alice had no idea what to do, so she stayed right there where she was, but her heart started to panic more and more the closer he got. It seemed to take an eternity, but he reached her with the blink of an eye, framed her face with both his hands and pulled her mouth onto his, and made her heart miss a beat.
Jason tasted of a heavy read wine and all that was him, he smelled of his aftershave, shampoo, and something that he had apparently just prepared in his kitchen. As soon as Alice noticed these details they were disappearing, giving way to his lips on hers, simply kissing her, and yet claiming her. His tongue wasn’t invading her mouth, he was barely moving, and yet Alice’s knees were giving in below her.
She had no idea for how long he kissed her like that. Kissing her for the sake of simply tasting her lips, with no intention of seducing her, but telling her that he just knew that she had come to stay.
Eventually, Jason reluctantly plucked his lips from her, but continued to hold her face in his hands, slowly brushing his thumbs across her skin, sending a wave of goosebumps across her body.
“I didn’t expect you so soon,” he spoke lowly, his voice drunken with content.
“Tom told you that you would probably stay here for the last-minute meeting tomorrow,” Alice answered, the same thickness clinging to her voice.
Jason’s face was only a few inches away. It was so tempting to just lean in and kiss him again, but she couldn’t help and marvel at his eyes that looked so different up close, like two dark oceans.
“The meeting, yes,” Jason commented as if he had completely forgotten about something so important to his company.
Was this what she did to him?
Alice had never thought about what effect she might have on Jason, when all he did was amaze her.
Yet, her words seemed to have pulled him back to reality and he dropped his hands, leaving her freezing. She suppressed a sigh.
“I was just finishing dinner,” Jason explained. “Have you eaten dinner yet?”
His question struck deeper than Alice would have imagined.
“Yes,” she answered, briefly deliberating if she should tell him about her meeting. “I had dinner with Tristan at the brewery on the beach. I wanted to end things on a friendly basis. I wouldn’t want him to have hard feelings towards me.”
Jason nodded and took her right hand, starting to walk her around the organic wall towards the bar in his kitchen, where his half-eaten salad and steak was waiting for him. Alice hadn’t even noticed that he had grabbed his glass of red wine on the way; she was too focused on trying to read into his non-existing reaction.
“Why?”
Again, he took her off guard.
“Why what?” Alice asked before thinking about his question.
“Why is it important to you that the guy has no hard feelings towards you?” Jason elaborated.
Alice took a moment before she answered.
“Two reasons,” she responded – untypically for her, but somehow, she knew that this was the kind of response he expected. “I don’t like people not liking me, and,” she paused, realizing that Jason wasn’t at all surprised about reason number one, “he is an investigative repor
ter. I don’t want him to start investigating me.”
“Hm,” was Jason’s response and he nodded as he was sitting down on the stool.
“I’m working on the first part,” Alice couldn’t stop herself from defending herself, even though Jason hadn’t given her any reason to do so. “I’m not responsible for how other people feel. I get that.” Jason cocked one brow in appreciating surprise. “But I’ve already experienced up-close how crazy people can become.”
“You’re not alone with that,” Jason responded and smiled at her, rendering Alice speechless. “Do you mind if I finish? I hadn’t had lunch today.”
“Of course!” Alice slapped her hand onto her mouth.
“Sit down and don’t be embarrassed,” Jason ordered gently and she obeyed.
“So, just salad and steak?” Alice asked skeptically.
“And a glass of wine,” he grinned at her. “That’s more than enough. I can’t eat as recklessly as I used to when I was younger.”
“That sounds like you’re seventy,” Alice teased and he laughed, picking up where he left off with his meal.
“Almost,” he responded after enjoying a piece of meat. “I’m born in the seventies.”
Alice chuckled.
“You’re right,” she said. “You are old.”
“If that means you’re becoming my personal nurse, I’m all in,” Jason gave back and grinned at her, wiggling his eyebrows.
This was so absolutely boyish of him that Alice had to burst into laughter. In any other situation or mood of hers, this would have been an awkward comment, but not with him, and not right now. He seemed to instinctively know how she was feeling, or he was simply the reason for her to feel relaxed and at ease. Although he was making her nervous, because she yearned for his approval and wanted to make him feel just as comfortable as he did her, Alice wasn’t worried. And that was the big difference to any other man in her life. She simply knew that if she did or said something he disapproved of, he would tell her.
Other women, or even men, might think this trait of his as harsh or as lacking empathy, but she appreciated it. Even more, she found it insanely attractive.
“Whatever you are thinking of right now,” Jason told her, after consuming a bite of salad. “Please continue.”
Alice felt herself blushing and yet she couldn’t help but grin: “Why?”
“Because you look just like when I hit the right spot,” Jason answered, unfiltered, and her cheeks started burning.
“I thought about how attractive is it of you to be so straightforward and nonchalant.”
“Like I said…” He smirked.
Alice could just sit there and watch him for the rest of the evening. It was not until now that she noticed Jason wasn’t wearing a suit, but a t-shirt and jersey track pants. Both blue colored that just emphasized the color of his eyes and his hair. His hair was tousled and slightly wet, as if he had stepped out of the shower before making himself dinner.
“Do we have a gym at the building?” Alice asked in surprise and Jason blinked before looking at her.
“Yes, we do, did nobody tell you?” He responded and she shook her head answering him and disbelieving about at what length this company went to make their employees feel important. It just made her fall in love with him more.
Alice swallowed down the lump that suddenly appeared in her throat. It was true. She barely knew the man but she was in love with him. Every detail she learned about him just made her fall for him even more.
“I really don’t get what you see in me,” she stated, her voice being hoarse with emotion.
“You appreciate me behaving like a bull in a china shop,” Jason but down his cutlery, answering instantly. “You basically ask for it and are amazed by it. You walk into the hottest club in the city on sneakers and get away with it, and when I think I’m pushing the limits with you, you just keep asking for more with that seductive mouth of yours and those alluring eyes, which turn my brains to mush and reduce me to my primal instincts.”
And as if he wanted to emphasize his words, he grabbed the stool she had sat down on and pulled her towards him. His eyes were jumping between her lips and her eyes, screaming at her that all he could think of was kissing her.
“Beautiful isn’t the right word to describe you, Alice,” Jason said and took her breath away with saying her name. “You are mesmerizing.”
These words and his tone, which was heavy with need and honesty, touched her in ways that made her feel like she was melting into liquid gold. She couldn’t believe that he was talking about her.
“Don’t look at me as if I’m a reincarnated god,” Jason chuckled.
“That pretty much is the perfect description,” Alice gave back, a little surprised about her wittiness.
For a few heartbeats, they just continued to stare at each other, until Alice moved first, got off her chair, and caught his face with her hands and kissed him, desperately. His hands slid around her waist and up her back to press her body against his.
Before she knew what was happening, he had lifted her onto the countertop, giving him the perfect position to snake his hands below her blouse, which stole a grunt of frustration from his throat.
Quickly, he pulled on her chemise and let out a sigh as his slightly coarse fingers touched her soft skin. She held her breath, closing her eyes as the sensation of his touch overwhelmed her.
Alice was only witness to her body acting on Jason’s demands as he pushed his hands upwards, and with them her blouse and chemise. Before she knew it, she was sitting on his counter, wearing nothing but her bra and her suit pants and pumps, while he was kissing down his personal trail from her chin to her collar bone right down between her breasts, which he undid with one liquid movement.
Alice’s nipples were already hard before he descended on them, suckling on her left, sending pleasuring jolts all through her body, before he repeated the same treatment of her right bud. If he continued like that and started biting on them, Alice knew she would come from nothing more than that. And as if Jason was reading her thoughts, he did just that, gently biting the tender skin of her breasts and eventually her nipples, while his hands were massaging her breasts.
And then, taking her off guard, Jason brought one arm around her pulling her closer to him while he nibbled on her right nipple, while squeezing the left with her fingers. Her skin felt like a life wire getting overloaded with an undeniable force of nature. The more pain he induced to her sensitive buds the more sensational her body felt, until she toppled over and frolicked in a release that didn’t need her lower body at all.
Alice gasped for air while her breasts were in a place between agony and pleasure, having no idea how her body would react if Jason chose to touch her nipples again.
“God, I want to fuck you right now,” Jason whispered right into her left ear, and he continued when Alice was about to answer. “But I don’t have any condoms here.”
For a moment, she was close to tell him to screw it and just take her right there, pull her from the countertop, force her around, yank down her pants and just fuck her, no matter the consequences. But that wasn’t him, and she knew it. It wasn’t her either. None of them would risk for her to get pregnant when they were just starting to get to know each other and their tastes.
“Okay,” was what Alice settled for and slid down the counter after he had offered her a hand.
She couldn’t wait for them to get to his bedroom and would have settled for the living room, too, but Jason was navigating them with such a determination that she didn’t dare to make a suggestion.
After entering his bedroom, he turned around towards her and, with one swift movement, got rid of his t-shirt. Alice could just gawk at his upper body. It wasn’t all muscles, but it definitely was well trained. It stunned her every time he revealed it to her. But Alice understood his queue and started to undress, while she watched him doing the same. Since he was wearing too little in comparison to her, Alice got the luxury of seeing h
im naked and watch him walk to his nightstand and pull out a condom.
Jason was hard, standing up straight in anticipation of meeting her soft folds. The thought alone was enough to make her insanely wet, but seeing his member right in front of her was something else entirely. Alice yearned to feel him force his way inside of her. And even though she knew that her body would make it easy for him, it was the thought alone that drove her mad with impatience.
Watching him putting on the condom had never been more erotic to Alice than in that very moment. She felt no shame looking at Jason’s bare and athletic body, or his erect member, which was in this state because of her. Only because of her. He hadn’t touched him, said anything, or even looked at him. All it had taken was him tasting her skin. She remembered what he had told her just moments before.
Alice was turning his brains into mush, reducing him to his primal instincts, and his eyes were true to his words when he looked at her after preparing himself.
“Come here,” he ordered her, and she obeyed him shuddering with anticipation, stepping towards him, bare of any clothing.
She hadn’t even stopped when he brought up his hand to her neck and pulled her towards him, kissing her with a need that ignited her body. Alice opened her mouth and invited him in before he even demanded it. His other hand grabbed her hip and pulled her towards him pressing his hard member against her belly.
Alice was unaware of what he was planning, although she already followed his lead, when Jason was moving backwards to his bed, gently taking her with him. When he was sitting down onto his bed, he pulled her down and made her spread her legs to saddle his lap. Using both of his hands capturing her hips, he yanked her down onto his cock, grunting quietly while she was whining in pain and pleasure as he speared her with his cock.
“Fuck!” Alice exclaimed, as she finally felt him inside her, spreading her, merging with her, giving her this oh-so-delicious sensation of being filled in the perfect way.
Alice still kissed him, sucking on his lips when he now grabbed her hips with both of his hands, guiding her movements. She was riding him, while Jason stayed seated, raking his fingers up and down her body, cupping her breasts and massaging them, squeezing them, pinching her nipples, and overloading her mind with the sensation that was him.
Dark Alley: The Complete First Season (Dark Alley Seasons Book 1) Page 38