by Stacey Lynn
I bounced my knee, tapped my foot, and ticked my fingertip across my front two teeth repeatedly only stopping when I noticed the other passengers shooting me annoyed looks. Normally I wouldn’t care, but I didn’t want Logan getting concerned there was something wrong with me.
I looked down at him and smiled. He was “reading” his first chapter book – which mostly just meant he was looking at the pictures. But he was totally enthralled in whatever Stanley was discovering on his latest adventure. I loved having a child who had a passion for reading from such a young age. I smiled at him again, and grabbed my own Kindle, hoping I could get lost in my own book to settle my nerves.
It didn’t work.
It all flew out the door when I walked into Jack’s kitchen after sending Logan to “our room” as he called it.
Jack was sipping his coffee nonchalantly against the counter in the exact spot where my legs had been spread out for his pleasure just the day before.
He grinned smugly. “Good morning.”
He looked delicious dressed in a black suit, wearing the same purple tie he had the previous Saturday night. I flushed immediately and turned my head away.
Pushing off the kitchen counter, he slowly stalked toward me until he was just inches from my ear. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I felt his breath on my ear.
“This doesn’t count as touching, you know.” He chuckled softly as he watched me visibly shiver beneath him.
I cleared my throat before I threw myself at him and took two steps away, drawing that clear line I so desperately needed and didn’t want. I crossed my arms protectively against my stomach and turned to him with my most professional voice.
“What do you need done today?”
He quirked an eyebrow suggestively but when I rolled my eyes at him, he turned and set his coffee mug in his sink.
When he looked back at me, he was completely professional and friendly. It was the same look I had seen every morning for the last five years. I relaxed, knowing we were getting down to business.
“I’m hosting a business dinner next Friday night. I want it catered, but nothing fancy. I’m bringing on a new attorney in our mergers and acquisitions team and want to impress him. He has a lot of influence in town, but I still want it casual.”
“He sounds important.”
Jack nodded. “He is. He’s young, but he’s good. And his family is heavily political. avH I want that connection.” I tried not to grimace. I knew a young powerful lawyer with a political family. The memory of him made me cringe and I brushed it aside immediately. It was a fleeting thought, and an even worse memory that I didn’t want to relive right now.
I must have made a face because Jack looked at me hesitantly before continuing to rattle off a list of typical things he needed done and bought. I patiently took notes the entire time just as I always did.
Besides the teasing first thing, we acted like we had done every single day. This was a piece of cake. I could do this.
He walked out of the kitchen after telling me to have a good day and he’d be home at six. He gave me a pointed the look, but I said nothing, still determined to be completely professional. Then, he stopped in the doorway and leaned up against it.
“There’s an invite on my desk for the Children’s Hospital Charity ball in a few weeks. Respond plus one.”
He turned and left without another word and I felt the color drain from my cheeks. Plus one, but no mention of me accompanying him. Of course there wouldn’t be, the ball was weeks away. Surely our time would be done by then and he’d have me scheduling a new date with him for it.
I felt stupid immediately and emotionally drained from that realization alone and my day hadn’t even begun. I helped myself to a cup of coffee, black, and took it to Jack’s office and began responding to his personal emails.
I hadn’t been working for longer than ten minutes when my cell phone dinged Jack’s personal tone, alerting me to a text message. I grabbed my phone, reluctantly, but couldn’t stop the grin from appearing on my face. I felt foolish all over again.
J: Would you do the honor of accompanying me to a charity ball? Three weeks from Saturday.
I laughed to myself and then responded.
You’re asking me out on a date via text?
I stared at the phone, and smiled again when he responded almost immediately.
J: I told you I’d fuck up this whole dating thing. Say yes, anyway.
His playful tone – and lack of an apology – made me smile. And the fact that he used the word dating.
Okay. I can go with you.
I held the phone in my hand gently, almost willing it to ding again; wanting to know what he had to say. I was just setting it down on the desk when a new text came in.
J: I’ll pick you up tonight at 6:00. Be Ready. Did you pack a dress like I asked?
Technically, he never asked me. He told me to bring a dress, but I didn’t want to waste time arguing with him over a small technicality. Clearly he liked being a bit bossy, and I was discovering that I didn’t necessarily mind.
Yes. Are you taking me out?
J: I am. And don’t wear underwear. I want you bare for me.
Oh my god.
Oh. My. God.
I stared at the text for who knows how long reading the words repeatedly. And then I read it some more wondering if I mis-read it. Surely another message would come through any minute with a winking face, or something alerting me to the fact that he was just joking.
It never came.
But I was incredibly turned on by the whole idea. My hands were sweating and my heart was racing. He didn’t mean it. Surely he didn’t. My dress was short…it already barely covered my rear end and was by far the most provocative dress I owned.
When I called Macy the night before to ask her what I should wear, she told me to go big or go home so I decided to choose a deep burgundy, fitted, one shoulder-strap dress that brought out my blue eyes and showed off my legs. If I wore this tonight with Jack, with no underwear, it would be practically indecent. But even as I tried to talk myself out of it, I knew I would do it. Something in me wanted to do whatever Jack told me to do.
I struggled through the rest of the emails, blushing to myself, and glancing periodically for that ‘just joking’ text that never came. I spent the rest of the day distracted and turned on at the mere thought of what he had planned for our first date.
After lunch, Logan and I left the condo to make a run to the dry cleaners using the Audi A4 Jack provided for my professional errands. We stopped at the liquor store, an organic market where I bought all of his locally-grown organic fruits, vegetables, and meat; and then I drove back to Lincoln Park to drop Logan off for his sleepover.
“Be good!” I yelled after him when he ran off with his friend, Connor, as soon as the door opened. I sniffed at the thought that he didn’t give me a good-bye hug or anything. Surely at not even five he wasn’t too old for that now, was he?
After talking with his friend’s mom, Peyton, and confirming that I would pick him up in the morning at ten, I made the drive back to the penthouse. My heart fluttered the entire time. I hadn’t heard anything from Jack since that last text and the anticipation of not being one hundred percent certain if he was joking or not still had me squirming in my seat.
SEVEN
I made it back to work at five o’clock; thankful the Friday drive into the city was slower than normal. I had just enough time to shower in the bath off my servant’s room and get ready.
I showered, curled my hair into loose waves so it fell halfway down my back, and applied my make-up, using enough eye shadow to create a romantic, smoky eye, but wasn’t overpowering. I was just finishing applying a pale pink lip-gloss across my lips when I heard the front door open.
I quickly strapped on my gold high-heeled sandals, smoothed out my dress and turned back and forth in front of the mirror. The burgundy dress and eye shadow highlighted my bright blue eyes and the deep c
olor accentuated my tanned skin. With a quick flip of my hair, I grabbed my clutch bag and was ready.
At least physically, I was ready, and in more ways than one.
With every step, my thighs rubbed together, giving me a reminder that I had followed Jack’s directions. I felt smutty, but sexy. It was a heady combination and by the time I reached Jack in the living room my cheeks did not need that last flick of blush I applied earlier.
He smiled at me in what I could only describe as predatorily. His slow perusal of my body and my skin-tight dress only served to make my cheeks even more heated. By the time he turned his eyes back to mine, I was certain my cheeks matched my dress.
“You look ravishing,” he said with a thick, aroused voice.
I quirked an eyebrow. “Is that a promise?”
He narrowed his eyes at me for just a minute, before reaching out his hand that had been behind his back. In it, he held one single calla lily. I took it and breathed in its delicate scent.
“Thank you.”
He grinned that lopsided smile and clasped his hands together. “Someone reminded me today how much I suck at dating. I thought this would smooth things over.”
“It does,” I replied and took another quick breath from the flower. Really, I was just trying to calm my overactive heart. He looked even more breathtakingly handsome tonight with a slight scruff across his cheeks and chin. I didn’t even want to know how it was possible for his hair and suit to look sexier at six o’clock at night than it did at eight this morning. It wasn’t fair to those of us who fell apart by lunchtime.
Jack followed me into the kitchen while I searched for a vase thin enough to hold the flower. He filled it with water for me, and I set it out on the kitchen counter.
“Are you going to tell me where you’re taking me?” I asked as he guided me out to the door of the penthouse to the elevator.
“No.”
One hand stayed on the small of my back the entire time. The heat from his hand touching me there only reminded me of what I was missing beneath the dress. His hand moved lower on my back, just about to where my panty line would normally be. I moaned softly without realizing it. The slight tightening of his fingers against my back told me he heard it.
The door opened almost immediately. He pressed the button for the elevator and before the doors closed, pushed me up against the far wall. The gold colored handrail dug slightly into my back and my eyes widened in surprise.
He leaned in and kissed me roughly, and quickly, pulling back before I had a chance to catch my breath. His lips were by my ear.
“Did you do what I said?”
His rough voice rendered me speechless. I nodded.
Slowly, one of his soft hands moved up my thigh. I tightened my muscles on instinct and his hand stopped moving. He massaged my thigh gently until my legs relaxed.
“Good girl,” he whispered into my ear. My entire body almost exploded.
His hand continued journeying further up my leg, under my dress and along my already soaking wet center. I was too hot to be ashamed. This was torment and if it were any indication how our night was going to go, I would be a puddle of goo before we got around to the dinner part.
He moaned against my ear when his finger slowly, teasingly so, swiped along my burning center. I ground into his finger instinctually, wanting to feel him in me. I could hear my heart beating in my ears I wanted him so badly. How did he do this? I mewled when he denied me what I wanted, and instead, withdrew his hand completely, and inserted his now wet finger into his mouth.
With hooded eyes, he groaned and sucked my cream off his finger, only inches from my mouth.
I licked my lips and he smiled.
He leaned back towards my ear. “You taste so fucking good.” And then, held his finger out towards my mouth, like an offering. Slowly, I flicked out my tongue, just barely touching the tip of his finger, but enough that I could taste myself on him.
I groaned, and had it not been for one of his hands holding my hip, I may have collapsed. He gently pressed his finger further in my mouth and I closed my lips around it, sucking it all the way in.
I would take whatever he would offer me, without shame, because somehow, he knew exactly how to turn me on and turn me into a quivering mess of need. I needed him. The thought was so powerful I almost gasped. But his finger tasted so good; the masculine taste of his salty skin, mixed with me that I couldn’t stop myself. I licked and sucked his finger until I looked down and saw his erection pressed against the zipper of his dress pants.
I smiled. I had turned him on just as quickly as he did me, and I loved that feeling. Slowly I moved my hand down the front of his dress shirt, jerking him closer to me when my hand fisted around his belt buckle. It was just a quick jerk and I winked at him as my hand traveled further down and began massaging his erection through his pants. He placed both of his hands on the wall next to me, and thrust his hips into my stomach. The move practically pinned me against the back of the wall as the entire length of Jack’s body pressed up against me.
I felt everything. And all I could think of was how I wanted his hands back on me. Anywhere. Doing anything he could to relieve the fire he so quickly started in me. How in the hell was I going to survive dinner?
“I can’t wait to be inside you later. I want to watch you writhe in pleasure beneath me until you’re so thoroughly fucked you can’t walk tomorrow. I have big plans for you tonight Emma.”
I closed my eyes and swallowed, imagining what those plans were. I was just about to ask him, but the elevator doors chimed and then opened. He pushed off the wall, grabbed my hand and smiled down at me as if we had just been discussing the weather.
I walked out following him wondering what in the hell had just happened. I glanced back at the elevator doors as we walked away only to hear Jack softly laughing.
Ten minutes later, we exited his Mercedes. He handed the keys to the valet and ushered me into Russalo. A hotel and restaurant that he owned.
“You’re taking me to the hotel you own?” I hoped my voice didn’t sound as breathlessly hopeful as it did to me. A ten minute car ride, with his hand high on my thigh, did absolutely nothing to extinguish the fire he lit for me back in his elevator. I was two thigh swipes away from exploding while I walked. I should have been embarrassed that he brought me to his hotel. But I wasn’t. I wanted to grab him and rush him into the nearest available room.
“I’m taking you to the restaurant on top of the building. It’s the best.”
I frowned, disappointed. Next to me, he chuckled softly, clearly enjoying how worked up I was.
Every one greeted him as we walked into the building. The valet, the front desk concierge, the bellhop in the elevator. I bit back the urge to ask him if he came here often, but then all sense of humor left me as soon as we reached the elevator bank. I swallowed roughly and looked at Jack while we waited.
He didn’t look at me. Instead, he stayed facing forward with one hand on my lower back and the other hand in his pocket. His posture was perfectly straight, and every feature on his face perfectly defined; straight nose, high cheekbones, square chin. He was mesmerizing, and he gave no hint of what was to come as soon as we stepped on the elevator. All I could think about was the taste he gave me earlier.
I snorted at the thought, since literally; I had had a taste….of me. And god help me, but I wanted more of him.
The elevator doors opened and I looked at Jack before stepping on reluctantly. I wanted some indication of what he had planned for me now. Was he going to throw me up against the back of the elevator? Was he going to tease me again and turn me on further? Was it possible for me to be turned on more than I was right then?
I wanted to ask him all of these questions as we stood close together without saying a word. His face was void of any friendly expression whatsoever and it was only then that I realized that the only words he spoke to me since leaving the elevator at his building was when I asked about the restaurant. Other than t
hat, he hadn’t said a word.
And then I realized, he planned this. I knew Jack enough to know that he planned and orchestrated every single minute of his day. At first I thought I had done something to upset him, but as I remembered what he said about me making him lose control, I knew this was his way of regaining it. He planned to have me bare and vulnerable for him, to make me uncomfortable for the sake of being completely aroused for him, and wanting him as soon as he gave the word.
His planned totally worked. I bit the inside of my cheek as I fought the urge to smile once I realized what he was planning. If this was his plan, I could totally play along. Perhaps I should have been angry that he’d use me like this, but I wasn’t.
I trusted him. Completely.
If silence was what he needed to regain control, then I could play along.
I silenced my gasp as we entered Russalo’s. The entire restaurant was a circular shape, and the walls were all windows. It gave us a complete panoramic view of the city of Chicago. Breathtaking didn’t even begin to describe the gorgeous view. With the sun beginning to lower over the city, the entire sky was beginning to turn shades of purple and pink and orange, fanning out as far as the eye could see.
I wanted to grab his arm and proclaim my thanks for bringing me to such an amazing place. I wanted to kiss him and gush over the gorgeousness of what I saw. Instead, I bit my cheek again and remained silent; a small smile on my lips the only indication that I was impressed at all.
We didn’t speak a single word to each other during our entire meal. The waiter came and he ordered a bottle of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. When the waiter returned to take our order, Jack arched an eyebrow at me as if allowing me the opportunity to order. I simply shook my head and nodded once towards him, silently giving him permission to order for me. And the entire time, over our two hour, seven course meal our table was completely silent.