by A. D. Ryan
Finally, I made it to the front of the line and ordered myself a beer as well as Madison’s wine before making my way back to the table. On my way, I passed the DJ’s table, and I leaned in to ask for a very specific request. He looked at me strangely for a minute, but nodded once he located the song I wanted him to play. After thanking him, I found my seat and sipped my beer while I watched Madison move on the dance floor.
“Hmmm,” a familiar voice hummed behind me.
I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was; the hairs standing on the back of my neck from her ice-cold energy was more than enough of an indication. “What do you want?” I demanded snidely, refusing to acknowledge her with a glance. Instead, I focused on Madison.
“Ever since last night, I can’t help but wonder what it is you see in her,” Kaylie commented, pulling her chair closer to me until I could see her through my periphery.
“I don’t see how my relationship concerns you,” I snarled, pulling my beer to my lips again and smiling when Madison turned around and saw me. I knew she saw Kaylie the minute her eyes narrowed, but she quickly let the emotion pass.
“Jensen we both know that what you have with her can’t possibly be real.” Kaylie laughed, and I found myself biting my tongue before I said something to her that I knew would cause a scene. “I mean, her accent is charming and all, but … look at her.”
What was it she expected me to see? Because all I saw was my girl having the time of her life … with my family.
I paused for half a second when I realized I’d considered her “my girl.” It was the first time I’d thought of her as mine. What we were doing—or planned to do was just supposed to be casual. When did that change?
“The two of you come from different worlds, Jensen. You have nothing in common. Before your little stint in prison, you’d been places and done things that others could only dream of doing and she’s … Well, she’s so … unrefined.” She pronounced the word as though it left a sour taste on her tongue, and I felt my earlier rage return and boil like lava under my skin.
I tried to keep my wits about me, taking another drink of my beer before setting it down and smirking at her. “Well, Kaylie …” I stood up fluidly and arched an eyebrow at her. “We can’t all be born with sticks up our asses, now can we?”
Satisfied with Kaylie’s jaw dropping to the floor at my retort, I turned and walked away from my past to go find Madison. My present, and hopefully, if my revelation didn’t spook her, my future.
Apparently my timing was impeccable, because as soon as I stepped onto the dance floor, the music changed into the request I made. I smiled wickedly, waiting to see Madison’s reaction to the song. She didn’t disappoint. As soon as she recognized it, she quickly turned to find me standing less than a foot away from her.
She closed the gap between us and smirked. “I don’t suppose this is a coincidence?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at me in question as “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” began. It took me back to the night of our first official date, and I grinned at her.
“Not entirely,” I said to her in response, chuckling as I moved another small step toward her. “Dance with me?”
Madison shook her head sadly and shrugged, taking a step back and eyeing me coyly. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
With rosy cheeks and eyes alight with glee, she just held her finger up toward the roof as the chorus played and giggled. “Because I wanna dance with somebody who loves me,” she said, cockily paraphrasing the song.
In less than a second, I had closed the gap between us, my heart pounding in my chest so frantically I thought I might have to be revived if I didn’t get it under control. Her breath shuddered as I wrapped my arms around her and lowered my face to hers. Not sure what to expect, her eyes drifted from mine to my mouth as her tongue peeked out to moisten her bottom lip.
Brushing the tip of her nose with mine, I moved and placed a feather-light kiss upon her lips before capturing her stunning eyes again. “What if you would be?” I whispered.
She inhaled sharply, her eyes glistening slightly as they darted between mine in disbelief, and she pulled back. “Wha-what?”
“I love you, Madison.”
She didn’t return the sentiment, her wide hazel eyes flitting between mine. I’d spooked her. I considered trying to take it back, but then realized I didn’t want to.
“I know we agreed that this would be casual, and I tried to keep it from happening, but, Madi—”
She didn’t let me finish, pressing her lips to mine firmly. Once my own shock lifted, I moved a hand up to cradle her face, and when my thumb brushed her cheek, I felt a tear. I brushed it away as I pulled my lips from hers, and she moved her face into my hand, placing a kiss on my palm before bringing her eyes back to me. “I love you too, Jensen.”
In a moment that can only be described as the most perfect one I’d ever experienced, our lips collided passionately, and the rest of the world fell away. My arms moved down her body to encircle her waist, and I lifted her until our faces were level.
Madison pulled her face back, panting lightly. “Do you think anyone would notice if we disappeared?”
“I don’t know that I’ll care if they do,” I told her honestly, setting her back on her feet and taking her hand in mine.
We made a quick stop at the table where Madison scooped up her purse, and I snatched her shoes before we rushed out of the room, the anticipation for what would finally happen tonight fuelling us. Out in the hall, guests had gathered, probably in an effort to escape the loud music so they could talk at a comfortable level. Thankfully no one tried to stop us as we continued on our way to the elevator.
Madison’s hand trembled in mine as we waited for the doors to open, but when I looked down at her, I was met with nothing but a wide smile and pink cheeks. A low ding sounded through the hall, and I gave Madison’s hand a light squeeze as the doors opened. It was unfortunate that there were several hotel patrons inside; I was quite looking forward to ravishing Madison—just a little. Instead, I controlled my primal urges and guided her inside the elevator, positioning us back against the wall.
“Nine, please?” I requested since there were several people blocking the buttons.
It didn’t escape my notice, or surprise me when a few of the men’s eyes followed her. In an act that proved to be a touch possessive, I released her hand and wrapped my arm around her waist, securely tucking her into my side. Thankfully she didn’t seem to mind as she returned the gesture in kind and wrapped her arm around me. Sharp, pleasurable jolts of energy shot through me as she started moving her hand down my back before slipping it up under my suit jacket. Her fingers trailed along the waist of my pants before trailing lazily up my spine, and soon my hand was mirroring hers, occasionally tickling the bare skin above her dress before tracing the zipper down over her ass.
The doors opened on the sixth floor, and a few people stepped off. From beside me, Madison groaned, her hand fisting the back of my shirt in what I suspected was frustration. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Three more floors,” I whispered softly, and ran my hand over her back lightly in hopes of calming her.
There were no other stops between six and nine, so when the doors opened on our floor, I ushered her through, keeping my hand on the curve between her lower back and ass. With her shoes clutched in one hand, I kept my other on her as we rushed through the hall to our room. When our door came into view, Madison opened the clasp on her small purse and pulled out the key to unlock the door. Together, we rushed into the room, the passion now blanketing us entirely as I tossed her shoes to the floor and forced the door closed faster than it would have closed on its own.
Chapter 9. Worth the Wait
The sound of the door closing and the privacy lock sliding into place made my body vibrate with anticipation. A fresh surge of adrenaline was pumping through my veins, mixing with the three glasses of wine I’d had with dinner; I couldn’t stop replaying the scene downstairs over
and over in my mind. It was … perfect.
He told me he loved me, and I never even saw it coming. I thought he was only in this for the casual sex we still hadn’t had. I couldn’t pinpoint when exactly he flipped, but I was so glad he did.
Jensen turned toward me, and the look in his eyes was intense … wild … ravenous. I shivered, my mind simply buzzing with the possibilities of what was to come. Without turning from him, I dropped my purse to the table behind me, and within seconds, our bodies collided, our mouths uniting with fervor as Jensen’s strong hands grasped desperately at my back.
Moaning, my lips parted slightly, and I twisted my fingers into Jensen’s hair. His arms tightened around me, hands flattening and moving up until his fingers curled into the bare flesh above my dress. When his short nails bit into my skin, I whimpered—loudly—and started shifting my body in an effort to feel him … all of him.
“Oh God, Madi,” he murmured against my still moving lips, walking forward until he had me sandwiched between his hard body and the wall. “Fuck. I want you so badly.”
I groaned softly in response to his words of desire as they pulsed through my body, settling between my legs. I couldn’t wait to finally make love to him, but first …
My hands moved down his body slowly, stopping once I reached the waist of his pants and moving along until I reached his hips. From there, I slid my hands down and into his pockets before finding what I was looking for and removing it.
Jensen pulled his face back from mine and looked down as I held my hands between us. “What the hell are you doing?”
Taking several labored breaths, I pressed a few buttons on the touch screen of his phone and shut it off before tossing it on the table with my purse. “Eliminating any and all distractions,” I told him breathlessly.
He hummed appreciatively. “That’s my girl.”
My knees trembled; it was probably a good thing he still had me pressed between his body and the wall. “I am, you know,” I whispered. “Yours.”
The elation in his eyes was contagious, and his smile was wider than I’d ever seen it. I tilted my face up to kiss him at the same moment he whispered, “I love you so much.”
Our lips pressed together, this time moving slowly—passionately—as his hands ensnared my hips and pulled them toward him. Feeling how I affected him only excited me more, and my body shook with anticipation.
At a painfully slow pace, his hands moved up my body until his fingers tickled the bare skin of my back. Instead of gripping me tightly, though, I felt cool air waft over newly exposed areas of flesh as he slowly lowered the zipper of my dress.
His hands stopped moving once they hit the swell of my ass, and I started to grumble against his mouth in protest. Well, that was until his hands made their way around to the front of my body, travelling north until he palmed my breasts over the slackened fabric of my neckline.
“Yes!” I gasped, throwing my head back against the wall with a light thud.
Jensen’s lips journeyed down my jaw, stopping once he found my throat where he began kissing and nipping playfully at the sensitive skin. My body was on fire as his fingers pressed deliciously into the bare skin of my cleavage. The sounds that escaped Jensen could only be described as animalistic as he curled his fingers, the tips disappearing beneath the satiny fabric and brushing my hardening nipples.
My entire body tingled as Jensen moved his hands back to my waist, pulling me away from the wall. Our lips reconnected as we walked, and I brought my hands between us, hastily tugging on Jensen’s tie before tossing it to the floor as we made our way toward the king-sized bed. The backs of my fingers grazed his chest as I quickly worked on unbuttoning his shirt and he groaned into my mouth as I released the final one from its eyelet. My hands made two—or five—passes over the planes of his muscular chest before they found his belt. In a flash, I had released the buckle and had his pants open. His skin shuddered as my knuckles tickled his lower abdomen, and my breathy giggle against his lips was met with a light chuckle and headshake from him.
Without warning, Jensen gathered me in his arms and rushed us to the bed where he sat on the edge as I stood before him. His hands were still firmly planted on my hips, his fingers digging in and pulling me toward him as our kiss became frantic—needy.
Completely lost in a frenzy of lust, my hands moved up Jensen’s bare chest and over his shoulders beneath his shirt. I pushed the fabric down over his arms until it wouldn’t go any farther. Groaning, almost reluctantly, he released his hold on me, and I all but tore the clothes from his arms. Now free of the confines of his shirt, his hands found me again, and I sighed as his fingers searched for the zipper so he could finish what he started only minutes ago.
With my fingers back in Jensen’s soft and unruly hair, the zipper traveled over the curve of my ass. I shuddered when Jensen finally reached the end of the line, and the entire dress loosened around my body. Placing one last, lingering kiss on his lips, I dropped my hands from Jensen’s hair to allow my dress to fall to the ground at my feet.
Silence shrouded us as he gazed upon my near-naked form. Slowly, he placed his hands on my thighs, resting them directly below the curve of my backside, and his fingers started curling and clawing into the muscular flesh there.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he told me, moving forward to pepper my naked upper body with dozens of feather-light kisses. His voice was so low and gravelly I almost didn’t recognize it.
A sharp gasp escaped me when his fingers started moving inward where he proceeded to gently stroke and tease me over the lacy blue fabric of my panties. The pressure he used switched between tender and firm as he ran them back and forth between my legs before finally slipping beneath the lace. We moaned collectively when he came into contact with my bare flesh, and he continued to stroke and tease me. I could feel my pleasure building rapidly, and I struggled with the urge to jump him. As much as I wanted to finally have sex with him, I also wanted to savor every second. Every touch, every sound … I wanted to remember it all, and it seemed evident from the way Jensen’s eyes moved over my body that he wanted the same thing.
And then I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed him. Now.
With his legs still hanging over the edge of the bed, I slowly inched forward, forcing Jensen to remove his hand from between my thighs as I lifted one leg at a time to straddle him. My fingers moved lightly along his shoulders until they wound themselves back into his hair, while his lips travelled across my warm skin, stopping when he reached my right breast. Bringing his left hand around, he firmly gripped the soft flesh and drew my nipple into his mouth. That same, shameless porn-star moan bubbled to the surface when he swirled his tongue around it. His lips twisted up into a cocky smirk against my chest before he kissed, licked, and nipped a quick trail over to the other side.
Needing more than just his mouth on me, I drove my hips forward desperately while tugging on his hair to force his face back to mine. Even though I expected it to be, this kiss wasn’t as frantic as before; his lips were tender against mine, parting slightly when my tongue lightly traced his lower lip.
With a quiet groan, he deepened our kiss until our tongues slid languidly against each other. I continued to move my hips back and forth above him, and he moaned with what I hoped to God was pleasure—I was assured seconds later when he met my movements with an upward thrust of his own.
His strong hands moved down my back, gripped my ass and pulled my hips against him again. “Oh, God!” I gasped into his mouth, pulling his hair and unabashedly grinding myself down onto his lap again. “I want you so much. Make love to me.”
Jensen nodded slowly, holding me firmly before standing up with my legs still around his hips. I was confused at first until he turned and set me back on the bed. He stood before me for maybe half a millisecond before I was swiftly pushing his pants and boxer briefs to the floor. My heart started pounding with excitement when he kicked off his shoes, stepped out of his pants, and removed his socks.
After his last article of clothing had been tossed aside, I inched my way back toward the headboard so he could join me on the bed. My back pressed against the cool pillows as Jensen climbed up onto the bed, easing himself between my legs. His gaze was intense as he hooked his thumbs into the sides of my panties and tugged them down my thighs. Our eyes remained locked, and I lifted my hips to aid him. The fabric slid smoothly down my thighs, his fingers ghosting over my skin with them. My breath shuddered when I watched him drop the scrap of blue lace to the floor.
With our bodies bare, Jensen lowered his weight on me, and all I could hear was the sound of my own heart pounding wildly in my ears as he began to move above me. His motions were slow—controlled—as we maintained eye contact, and moaned every time the tip of his erection grazed my sensitive flesh. Wrapping my legs around his waist a little tighter, I watched him clench his eyes shut—almost as though he were fighting with himself. In hopes of bringing him back to me, I placed my hands on the sides of his face and pulled his lips back to mine.
Our kiss was slow, but deep, and I met every one of his gentle thrusts with one of my own; and still, I needed more. I pushed my hips up a little more eagerly, and …
“Fuck,” Jensen gasped, breaking our kiss and ceasing all movement above me as he entered me slightly.
Even though I was on the pill, I knew there were still repercussions of what we were doing—unprotected. But I didn’t want to stop; he felt so fucking good. There was conflict in his eyes as he remained motionless, and while I knew I should be the strong one, I couldn’t stop myself from tightening my legs around him in an effort to bring him closer; it was like my brain had checked out completely.
“Oh, God,” I moaned.
“Shit, Madison …” His eyebrows pulled together and his head shook.