He hooked a finger through the strap of my top and pulled at it.
“I want this off too.”
I obeyed, removing it under his watchful stare until I stood there in front of him in only my bra. I became fully aware of my own embarrassment and although he’d made me feel sexier than I’d ever felt, right then wasn’t one of those times, not with the light from the windows streaming through the study illuminating every part of my body that I didn’t want him to see.
I held my breath as his fingers danced across the skin on my thighs and then crept up and over my stomach and over my restrained breasts until they were touching my collarbone. It sent shivers throughout my body and he kissed my neck, travelling downwards until his teeth met my strap. He moved it out of the way while reaching around to unhook the back.
It was a simple move, something that I’d seen in a film once or twice and most probably never thought it would do anything for me, but the sheer animal like nature of the move made me moan, and suddenly I wanted him more than anything. I momentarily forgot about his staff on the other side of the door looking for him, and I forgot that we were about to enter into a business marriage, because all I could think about was how much my body craved for every inch of him.
I reached down and undid the button on his pants desperately, unable to think straight, but he took my hands away and pinned them back against the wall, staring at me for a moment before pressing his lips against mine. It was a very different kiss than the one he’d given me a number of nights ago. This one was fueled by lust and desire instead of special moments, and it stirred the wildness in me.
I arched against him as his lips left mine and he kissed down my body, taking a nipple into his waiting mouth, using his tongue to drive me crazy and bring me closer to the edge.
My legs felt weak and gave way slightly, but it was enough for him to notice and guide me to the couch.
“Lay down,” he instructed, and I did as I was told, watching as his eyes looked over every part of me, lingering on my breasts.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice deep and thick with lust. “Don’t ever think otherwise.”
He parted my legs with his hand, his fingers finding my heat instantly, and I moaned against his touch as he explored the deepest parts of me.
I bucked my hips against his fingers as he bent his head lower and sucked my clit into his mouth causing me to cry out with pleasure.
I reached out to either side of me to grab hold of something—anything—but the tight leather material gave nothing away.
He paused to look up at me, our eyes meeting for the briefest moment before I closed mine again, throwing my head back as the combination of his fingers inside me and his mouth brought me dangerously close to orgasm, but the sound of someone knocking at the door made me partly sit up, panicking.
“Hello? Mr. Davenport?”
He took his mouth away from my wetness, but still used his fingers keeping to his rhythm.
“I’ll be out shortly.”
I felt the tension building up within me ready to explode, and I whimpered slightly, unable to hold back much longer.
He used his other hand to press a finger to my lips.
“Don’t make a sound,” he whispered, and the vocal restriction turned me on even more.
He worked faster, his fingers sliding in and out, exploring me, and soon I wasn’t thinking about whoever was standing on the other side of the door because as soon as his lips touched my clit again I came, and I reached down to hold onto him tangling my fingers into his hair while wave after wave of pleasure washed all over me.
He kept his mouth on me, sending aftershocks and shivers through my body until my sensitive body couldn’t take anymore and he sat up.
I lay there shaking and panting as he straightened his shirt and redid the buttons on his trousers that I’d undone earlier.
I watched him smooth his hair back and turn to me, his handsome face flushed slightly. I wanted to return the favor and give him a little something back for making me feel like the woman that I should, but I could tell by the way that he’d fixed himself that our little session was over.
“Get dressed,” he said, picking my clothes up from the floor and laying them beside me on the couch. “My mother will be here for dinner in two hours.”
“Two hours?”
I sat up quickly, pulling the clothes over me to hide my body again suddenly self-conscious.
He turned and walked towards the door.
“I assume I’m needed somewhere, so when you’re done in here, one of the maids will show you to your room and you can… sort yourself out.”
He opened the door and left.
I sat there for a moment, unsure how I should feel.
One part of me felt damn good and spent from my orgasm by a man who knew exactly what he was doing and exactly how to make my body give in to him, yet on the other hand I felt slightly used and thrown away. He’d come in, laid me bare and vulnerable to him, did what he wanted, and left me.
I dressed quickly, worried that at any moment someone would come in and see me pulling my panties up, and left the room.
If this was only supposed to be a business deal, a mutually beneficial marriage and relationship, then why did I suddenly feel so abandoned and so hurt?
Jonathan
I paced the corridor outside Kate’s room, waiting for her to emerge and trying to go over all the details in my head to create a nice back-story for us.
When her door opened finally, she came out gingerly, taking my breath away in an instant.
“Wow.”
“Does it look okay?” she asked, turning around.
Okay? She looked beautiful, and I fought the urge to take her back into the room and undress her.
“You look stunning,” I said, resting my hand on the small of her back and guiding her down the hall. She tensed at my touch and it didn’t garner the same reaction as usual.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, pausing to look down at her. She kept her eyes ahead avoiding contact with mine. “Kate?”
I turned her face towards mine.
“Did something happen that I’m not aware of? Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“I’m fine. I’m okay.”
I touched my fingers to her temple and lowered my face to hers, backing her against the wall, irritation and sexual tension battling with each other.
“We’re in this together, Kate. If there’s any part of you that doesn’t want to marry me, tell me now. Tell me before we go down there and make asses out of ourselves.”
She looked at me, her large eyes playing to a part of me that no one had ever gone to before, and suddenly I was taken back to the study earlier and the way she had made me feel, laying there vulnerable in front of me. For that moment it hadn’t been about my mother and it hadn’t been about sex, it had been about her. It was about me wanting to please her and make her happy. For that moment I’d forgotten that it was supposed to be an arrangement. I’d been overwhelmed with the feeling of wanting to protect and look after her. It had struck a chord so deep within me, that the only way I could end it was to walk away from the situation. Surely she’d felt the same. Surely she understood the reason why I had to break that connection.
I looked away from her eyes before I lost myself in them completely.
“Answer me, Kate. What do you want? Your silence is already speaking volumes to me right now…”
She sighed.
“I want to marry you, Jonathan. That much hasn’t changed. I just…”
“Lovers tiff?”
We both looked up to see Jessica, my sister, standing watching us, her arms folded and a smirk on her face. When I’d broken the news to both her and my mother, she’d been the extremely skeptical one about the authenticity of our sudden engagement.
“We were just discussing plans,” I said, straightening myself up.
“Right,” Jessica said turning. “I just came to see where
you were before they sent a search party out.”
“We’ll be down, just give us a moment.”
She walked away and I waited for her to disappear down the stairs before turning back to Kate, but the moment was gone and the look in her eyes told me that the conversation was over.
“I’m fine, I promise. I think we should just go downstairs before they send another scout up.”
She squeezed my arm and I smiled, feeling relieved that the wedding was still on, but as I guided her down the rest of the hall, I didn’t know if it was relief that I still had what I wanted or relief that she still wanted me.
Kate
“Hello Mrs. Davenport, I’m Kate. Pleased to meet you.”
She looked at me for a moment before a smile broke out on her lips and she took my outstretched hand and pulled me in for a kiss on her cheek.
“Likewise, but please call me Meredith,” she replied, glancing up at Jonathan. “You didn’t tell me what a jewel she was…”
“He didn’t tell you much at all,” his sister sniped from the other side of the room, causing an awkward silence to descend on the room.
I felt Jonathan stiffen beside me and the intake of breath that told me he was about to say something, but his mother put her hand on his arm.
“Jessica!” she warned before turning to me. “Ignore her, she’s always been protective of her older brother ever since the day he was born. Now why don’t we go and eat this glorious meal the chef has made and get to know each other better?”
I smiled, glad that at least one member of his family wasn’t a bitch, and as we walked away to the dining room I felt his arm run up and down my back. Even though it was all part of the illusion, it sent a delightful shiver down my spine that I tried to ignore.
I didn’t want to allow myself to be drawn in too deep to the man that I knew picked women up and dropped them just as fast. I didn’t want to allow the performance for his family to give me a false sense of hope. We were business associates who just so happened to enjoy having sex with each other, and the more time spent remembering that the less chance I had of getting hurt.
We all sat down at the table together and somehow I ended up seated opposite Jessica, who seemed to have calmed down.
Jonathan put his hand on my leg, oozing an air of calm and ease again as we were served our starters.
“So when did you both meet?” Meredith asked, taking a sip of her champagne. “I’m sure you can understand this is all quite sudden…”
“We…”
“It was…”
We both spoke at the same time and Jonathan squeezed my thigh slightly, signaling to me that he would do the talking.
“We met through work,” he lied. “She started working for me in the business acquisition department a few months back.”
“Funny, Evan hasn’t mentioned anything to me…”
“Evan? Evan Jackson?” I asked, remembering him from the day we signed the contract.
Jonathan turned to me.
“He’s been a friend of mine since we did a management course when he came to New York and we both set up businesses, but I’m in the process of acquiring his right now.”
“Though wouldn’t she know that already by working in that department?” Jessica chimed. “Evan and I have dated on and off for the past several years. He would have told…”
“ENOUGH!” Jonathan shouted, banging his hand down on the table.
We all jumped slightly, and Jessica put her cutlery down slowly.
“I was only…”
“I said enough, Jess. Kate and I are getting married in four months and that’s all you need to know. It doesn’t matter where we met, who else knows or how long we’ve been together, this is what we want.”
“I think she was just looking out for you…” Meredith said quietly. “You know what this world is like these days. Anyway, congratulations to you both. We’re all pleased for you.”
She raised her glass and we all toasted and then continued to eat in silence, and I wished that I knew Jonathan enough to decipher what he was thinking. Whatever reason he had for wanting to marry me must have been important if he felt the need to fight so passionately for it especially by going to great lengths to lie to his family. I couldn’t help but think that there were more layers to him than I had first thought. Men like him, handsome, charming, and confident, had always given me the impression that they were two dimensional, breezing through life trying to sleep with as many women as they could before they collapsed dead. On first impressions, Jonathan had fitted exactly into that box, but sitting beside him, witnessing his small outburst, I saw he had depth, and I saw how much marrying me actually meant to him.
It was way more than finding someone to have unlimited sex with or proving to the world that he was finally settling down after an entire life of bedding different women. It was much, much deeper, and there was a large part of me that ached to find out. I wanted to know why me? Why had he pursued me of all people? I had trust issues, baggage, and a fear of actually loving someone. Why would he think that I was the best fit to face the world as his fiancé… as his wife?
Jonathan
“So Kate, tell us about your family.”
The four of us had moved from the dining room to the sitting room with our cups of cappuccino, and even though there had been a slight air of tension during dinner it had evaporated now, and to my surprise Jess had put the skepticism behind her.
My mother put her cup down and leaned eagerly towards Kate, who looked across at me slightly uncomfortable, and I realized that I, myself, didn’t know anything about her family. They could have been serial killers, abusers, or dead for all I knew.
“I’d love to meet them before the wedding,” my mother continued, and Kate shifted in her seat.
“Um, yes. Of course.”
“Are they here in New York too, or would they have to fly in? I’m sure Jonathan could get Helen to book a couple of flights for them.”
“Yes, they’re here… I mean, they’d have to fly in,” she turned to me with an unreadable expression. “Would anyone like anything from the kitchen? I’m just going to… please excuse me.”
She put her cup down and stood up, leaving the room quickly. We all watched her, confused.
“What was that all about?” Jess asked, turning to me. “Sore subject?”
I didn’t want to say yes, because admitting that I didn’t know her family ailments proved that I didn’t know her enough to marry her. I was going to walk down the aisle with a woman who had some deeper issues than I had previously thought. I knew she was complicated, she’d told me many times, but just how complicated?
“Go after her,” my mother said firmly. “I think she needs you.”
I got up, leaving the room and walked through the house until I found her outside sitting on the front steps.
“Kate?”
She sighed but didn’t turn around.
“I’m sorry, Jonathan. I just… it was just…”
I sat down and put my arm around her back. Comforting someone had never been something I was particularly good at, and I’d always managed in some way or another to coast through life without having the need to do it, but I couldn’t stand the sight of Kate hurting and the sudden new desire to protect her made me feel uneasy.
“You don’t need to ever apologize to me,” I whispered, kissing her shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it? Talk about what’s getting you?”
She shook her head, looking out at the scenery around us, and suddenly she reminded me of a lost little girl in a big city with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. I pulled her close to me in an embrace and kissed the top of her head, and to my surprise the sudden act of the comforting I’d given her gave me the overwhelming feeling of wanting to take away every last bit of pain and sorrow that she felt in her life. The only person I’d ever wanted and felt that for was my mother.
She turned to me, her eyes large and bright, and the urge to pull and kiss her
was so unbearable that I reached forwards, my hands sliding around the back of her neck, and I pulled her lips against mine.
Her lips were warm and inviting, and after a moment of hesitation she parted them and let me in.
I felt the electric connection between us and I shifted on the step to move my body closer to hers, my fingers caressing the soft skin beneath her ears. I felt her melt into me, giving up a part of herself that had been off limits for longer than she probably remembered and then as soon as she did, abruptly she pulled away, staring into my eyes for a moment, shallow breaths causing her chest to rise and fall quickly.
“Kate?”
She pulled herself up quickly and I followed, holding onto her arm as she tried to turn and go back inside.
“I think we should get back to our guests,” she said, the fragility of her character only moments before now gone.
“Wait, what just happened here? Stop Kate. Speak to me.”
“I think only you can answer that question, Jonathan,” she said, her voice now hard, and even though her eyebrows were furrowed slightly she still looked as beautiful as the day I’d first met her at the hotel bar.
“You mean the kiss?” I asked, trying to think over what I’d done wrong. “I’m sorry, I just…”
“You can’t mess with my head like that,” she said, and her words cut through me like a knife. “This is real for me, it’s not a game, okay? I’m not one of those girls you absorb into your life and play with. This is serious. You can’t just reel me in and throw me out when you’re done! You can’t kiss me like that, Jonathan. You can’t make me feel like I mean something to you one minute and then push me away the next. No love and no feelings remember? So when you kiss me like that, you and I both know there’s more to it. You kissed me like I actually mattered, like you cared My life depends on this working Jonathan, if this fails, I don’t have another option.”
“I’m sorry about your job,” I whispered firmly. “Believe me when I say this, you won’t need to work again unless you want to. I’ve corrected that wrong. You’ll have everything Kate. How do you know what my kiss meant? How do you know I don’t care?”
Keeper (A Billionaire Romance) Page 7