by Cynthia Dane
“Fuck me,” Jasmine muttered. She couldn’t believe how bad Ethan was either sometimes.
“That could be arranged.” Ethan patted her bare leg loudly, making sure the sound traveled across their mics. “Sounds like my kind of game.”
“Shut up!”
“Your woman’s a bad influence on mine, Mr. Lane.”
“Probably a good idea to keep them as far apart as possible, I agree with you. They’ll only inflate each other’s insubordination until you and I are in San Antonio getting drinks and wondering how we ended up there.”
“San Antonio?” Jasmine was totally lost. “Please.”
They played another round, Jasmine and Ethan getting their asses kicked once more. What else was new? Jasmine may have known they didn’t stand a chance to win against seasoned pros like Vincent and Nala, but she still liked the idea that they could have won, darn it. Ethan and I need to play more often. At some point he has to get decent enough, right? Probably not. Ethan was a master of many things – business, innovation, fucking – but he was never going to be good at video games. It was a miracle Jasmine could even get him to play. I should put my cat on the controller. He’d do a better job. The loaf was currently on the adjacent chair, hanging over the edge with his stomach exposed to the air.
“Unfortunately, I have an early morning tomorrow,” Vincent announced after their last round. “Got things to do before turning in.”
Jasmine swore she heard “Like me!” in the distance.
After the other couple disconnected, Ethan said, “They’re gonna do it.”
“Don’t sound so excited.”
“I’m not. They’re three-thousand miles away. In another time zone.”
“That freaks you out more than the distance, doesn’t it?”
“I’ll never get used to it.”
“Speaking of doing it.” Jasmine tossed her controller and cuddled against Ethan, so casual in his jeans and T-shirt. Ridiculous. “Someone owes me a round after last night.”
Ethan didn’t say anything – he also didn’t stop Jasmine from not so covertly going for his crotch. “I was too excited.”
“Twice?”
“To be fair, that first one was technically inside of you.”
“Don’t get me started. You owe me an orgasm, especially after that performance.”
“I don’t know if you mean the video game or the sex last night.”
“Pick. One.”
“Who was having sex last night?”
They both froze on the couch as Luna wandered in, carrying a binder full of God knew what. She nudged Blackbeard out of the way and took over his chair, the cat jerking awake as if to say “Excuse me?”
Besides, Luna’s face basically said she knew who was having sex last night, and the last thing Jasmine needed was to have that sort of discussion in front of Ethan.
“I’d say use a condom, but Jasmine told me all about your swimmers, Ethan.”
“I’ve got some emails to fire back.” Ethan jumped up, brushing his hand against the top of Jasmine’s head before getting the hell out of there. Jasmine sighed. No way was she getting nookie anytime soon. Probably not until bedtime, if Ethan was still awake.
“He’s in a hurry, isn’t he?”
“Probably doesn’t want to talk about his sperm in front of you, Mom.”
“Why not? It’s a perfectly natural thing. Er, maybe not cutting his vas deferens is natural… but you know what I mean.”
Not really, and Jasmine didn’t want to know. She was used to her mother’s inappropriate antics, but Ethan was not. I’d kill to see the color of his face right now. Instead, Jasmine had to put the games away and explain to her mother why, no, Ethan probably didn’t want to talk about his penis with his mother-in-law. No, she didn’t care how cool Saul would be with it, wherever he was. Oh, he was in the garden doing his nightly naked tai chi? As long as he kept an eye out for poison ivy.
Jasmine was out of the shower and in bed by the time Ethan made his reappearance in their bedroom. “Did I miss any great conversations with your mother?” he asked. When Jasmine shook his head, Ethan hurried into bed, arms wrapping around her. “I’ve got an early morning too, you know. Things I gotta do before bed.”
That got a grin out of his fiancée. “Like me?”
“Like you.”
She was beneath him without another word being spoken. Ethan was on the path to devouring her, his mouth covering every inch of her skin as his hands grabbed her body and his hips thrust against hers. Jasmine gave herself over so quickly that the world ceased to exist. All she wanted, all she cared about was Ethan making love to her. Hard, fast, slow, gentle… well, she would like hard and fast when they got down to it, but she would take anything… especially after feeling how hard he already was for her when her hand made its way to his jeans. Jeans!
“You’re so rugged in denim, Mr. Cole,” Jasmine purred, unzipping his pants and grabbing the man within. “I wanna see you in more.”
“That could be arranged in the future. Maybe I’ll start going home at three as well. Just to put on some jeans and turn you on. Shit.” Even he was surprised at how ready he was to take on her pussy. “Get me out of these things. I have to fuck you. Now.”
Jasmine loved a good quickie before bed, and Ethan was good at those – always had been. She never knew when it was coming, but one night he would go straight to sleep, and the next he would flip her over, give her the best fuck of her life for the next five minutes, and then finally relax before drifting off to sleep with Jasmine in his arms.
This was a bit more intense than that. For one, Ethan was flirtier as opposed to being a man on a sexual mission. He took a little time – but not too much – to make sure Jasmine was ready for him before ripping off the last of his clothes and going for it, his cock finding easy access to his fiancée’s willing body.
Amazing how easily they fell into a gratifying rhythm. It’s amazing because I can’t believe I got this ready this quickly. Jasmine’s legs were opened wide, poking out from beneath the covers, toes curling in the cool air as Ethan slammed his hips between them. It was rough. It was quick. It was the best damn thing in the world as Jasmine’s body got more and more into it. Ethan may have been quick to get inside her, but he was taking his time in there. Good. Jasmine was owed that orgasm, after all. Even better if they could come together.
“You feel so good,” he said, biting her ear in between words. His hand strangled her shoulder as her legs remained up and opened. “It’s fucking criminal how easily I come to you and come in you.”
“Go ahead and do it.” Jasmine had enough sanity to urge him on. “Make me come too.”
He kissed her, lips mauling hers, making love to hers, and damn well treating her to some powerful passion blossoming like buds between them.
“Fuck me, damnit!”
Just when he increased his intensity, their bedroom door swung open and admitted the last person in the universe either of them wanted to see.
“You know, I was thinking,” Luna began, suddenly at their bedside. “Wouldn’t it be nice if some of the girls back at the farm sent a unity quilt for the wedding? I can’t believe I only thought of it now…”
What?
What?
Ethan was so far off Jasmine, his naked body rolling in the covers as he nearly fell off the huge bed. Jasmine, so beyond mortified that she was pretty sure this was worse than the time…
No, this was definitely worse. This was the worst… this was every daughter’s fucking nightmare! Literally!
“Mom…” Jasmine, legs still wide open and expectant beneath the covers, slowly drew the comforter up to cover her breasts popping out of her shirt. “What… what are you doing?”
“Oh! I’m sorry for interrupting!” Really? She only now noticed what they had been doing? “That was rude of me, wasn’t it? Never mind. About the unity quilt…”
What was she going on about? What was happening? Why was Jasmine’s mother stand
ing beside her bed, aware that she had walked in on them having sex and not… reacting? Was she as shocked? Or was she so far detached from reality by now that she didn’t care?
That couldn’t be right. Not even Luna would be totally okay walking in on her daughter being defiled by some guy…
Ethan, meanwhile, was so aghast that he was trapped between running for the bathroom and staying right there in hell. He would have run, but his nudity prevented that.
“Mom!”
Luna stopped blathering about quilts and candles. “Yes? Oh, you want me to leave.”
“Yeah!”
“All right, all right. No need to be so upset. I’m not mad, dear.”
“Maybe I am!”
“There’s no need for that either. I won’t tell your father.”
“Tell me what?”
Why? Why was Saul wandering in after his wife, dressed in nothing but boxers and eating an ice cream sandwich? Those things could not have been organic.
“What in the world is going on in…”
“Our daughter and her fiancé seem to be nudists as well.”
“Oh my God,” Jasmine muttered, her horror manifesting in a sickly face. “Please don’t do this.”
“Were they…”
“Yes, Saul, our daughter has sex. Get over it.”
Saul’s frosty eyes went straight for Ethan, who had managed to hold it together until now. “Are you telling me…”
“Would you two please leave?” Jasmine was losing her dignity as the seconds went by. There were some things parents did not need to see. Particularly her father, who was looking more and more liable to throttle Ethan even though he damn well knew they slept together.
Luna put her hand on her husband’s naked chest and acted as if this were the biggest non-issue on God’s good green Earth. “I’m sorry we interrupted you, honey. I’d be irritated too.”
“Oh my God! Stop making it worse!”
But it could only get worse. It would always get worse. Because in Jasmine’s rising fury, she lost her grip on the covers and watched gravity pull them down toward the floor. Not all the way, of course, but enough to give her parents a grand view of what she was marrying.
To his credit, Ethan did not jump out the window. This was a man who had stood in front of angry investors more times than he could count. So what if he was naked in front of his in-laws… still erect after all of that…
“Wow,” Luna said, her eyes conspicuously locked on poor Ethan’s friend. There wasn’t enough time for him to cover back up. “Good job, Jasmine.”
If Ethan had ever wondered what kind of house she was raised in, she quickly found out. “Yeah, Mom, and if you don’t mind, I would like to keep it to myself.” She held up her hand. “Don’t start, Dad. I lost my virginity in school. I’ve been boning my fiancé since our first date.”
Red as fire, Saul hurried from the room faster than Ethan had earlier.
“Well, I support a healthy sex life for my daughter,” Luna said. “While not necessary to every relationship, a healthy sex life is…”
“GET OUT, MOM.”
Jasmine remained staring straight ahead as Luna scuttled from the room, tittering in mischief and probably planning to tell all her friends back on the farm what kind of dick her daughter was getting. “Rich and hung, girls! Praise be!”
“Who didn’t fucking lock the door when he came in, Ethan?”
“Can you please not? I’m busy dying over here.” Ethan looked down. “Officially dead. I think your father’s kill-gaze has prevented me from having another erection for at least a year.”
“Oh, fuck no, you don’t get away with not getting me off tonight.”
“Even after that?”
Jasmine grabbed him, pulling him down on top of her and already forgetting her meddling parents. “Get. In. My. Pussy.”
A man had never looked so conflicted in his life.
Chapter 4
“What do you mean you’re in San Diego?” Jasmine asked, phone shaking in her hand. “What the hell is in San Diego?”
“Quite the night life, actually.” Nadia sounded hungover enough to be legally dead. Even so, she managed to answer her phone when Jasmine buzzed her for the third time that day. They had a date with Jenny Granger to go over the logistics of the bridal party, but someone was a no-show, leaving Juan and Selena to have a knock-out battle with Jenny, whose patience was wearing so thin that she was “this” close to banning Jasmine and Ethan’s wedding from memory. “Sorry I missed your thing. I didn’t know I was coming to San Diego until yesterday.”
“How the hell does that work?”
“You’re minding your own business one minute, and then the next you’re joining the mile-high club over Nebraska. Or maybe it was Colorado. I have no idea.”
“What!”
“You’re marrying a billionaire, you know how it works.”
“What billionaire are you marrying?”
“Nobody! I’m not marrying anyone!”
“Oh, but you’re jet-setting across the country to party near Tijuana and get your pussy fingered over Omaha. Got it.”
“You’re turning into Bridezilla over there.”
“Excuse me, but you’re coming out of left field here and I’m not sure what’s going on.”
“Me neither!”
“Who the fuck are you with?”
“If I told you, I would have to kill you. For my own honor.”
“You are not there with Eva Warren.”
“Bye!”
The line went dead. Jasmine would have blamed a dropped call since she was traveling in the back of the Town Car and anything was liable to happen even on her platinum data plan, but Nadia was too shady.
Everyone’s out somewhere this weekend. Monica and Henry were in Paris for the first anniversary of when they first met – well, a bit early, since Monica would soon be forbidden from flying until she gave birth in July. Kathryn was supposed to touch base with Jasmine over a prospective land donator for the charity, but she was apparently in Vegas for other business. Nala canceled a game night because her boyfriend was taking her on a business trip to Seoul. Then there was the huge conference for something or other in New York that had half the millionaire sphere rushing to their planes and long-distance cars to bicker about prices and who was a “fucking bitch” over brunch cocktails. I have no idea what that’s all about. Jasmine probably never would.
I wanna go somewhere. Ethan was busy that weekend, however. It wasn’t a surprise how busy he would be. Clients and investors from Japan had flown in for business and only had that weekend to talk. Ethan had cleared it with Jasmine two weeks ago. “I won’t be seeing much of you this weekend. If you want, we can stay in the penthouse and I’ll take you out when I can. Otherwise, it’s me and a bottle of sa-ke.”
Speaking of that devil in an Armani suit, his name was popping up on Jasmine’s phone.
“Hello, gorgeous,” he greeted. “Got any big plans this weekend?”
Jasmine sighed. “Is that code for I need to go to a business dinner with you?”
“Not at all. I was being serious. Before I confirm something, I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be taken away from any plans you had.”
“Oh…” The Town Car made a hard left in a roundabout, the centripetal force squishing Jasmine against the window. “No. I don’t have any firm plans. Boring stuff and maybe hanging out with my parents.” Cringe. Ever since Mommy and Daddy Dearest walked in on some young stud schtooping their daughter, relations had been a bit fried in the manor. No matter how hard Luna tried to say everything was hunky-dory. Ahem.
“Good. I have a surprise for you. You’re being driven to the airport as we speak.”
“What? I was going home…”
“Not anymore. There’s a plane waiting for you at the airport. I packed a bag for your weekend trip.”
“Really? Where are we going?”
“You’ll see. I love you.” He hung up.
Jas
mine stared at her phone and then launched herself toward the front seat. “We’re going to the airport?”
The driver smiled at her in the rearview mirror. “Unless you threaten to kill me. Mr. Cole’s orders.”
“But… where am I going? Do you know?”
“Miss, you know as well as I do that I don’t ever get told anything.”
“True.” Jasmine sat back, snatching her purse and making sure she had her passport. She never took her big wallet without it tucked somewhere. Being with Ethan for so long had told her that an international trip could happen anytime. Like now.
Did this mean that his plans had been canceled. Or… were they going to Japan, to meet the associates there instead? Jasmine had never been there before. She rarely had the chance to go to Asia. Most of Ethan’s business dealings were in Europe or near the Middle East. Sometimes Australia. One time they went to South Africa for three days of summer in the middle of winter back home. The only times they had gone to Asia included a week in Beijing, another in Taiwan, and then a quick stop in Thailand for a weekend getaway.
Or maybe the meetings had been completely canceled and they were going somewhere to get away from the parents. Ethan had been the unhappiest camper since that fateful night. He had flat out told Jasmine that he had never felt so emasculated in front of someone Luna’s age. Which was hilarious, because Luna couldn’t stop making big dick jokes around her daughter with that knowing wink and nudge. Time to throw up.
Jasmine was dropped off at the airport with nothing but her purse and the coat on top of her plain day clothes. Nevertheless, she waltzed up to the private counter that Ethan always went to when they traveled, hoping that this was where she could get more information.
“Ah, Miss Bliss, so good to see you again!” Jasmine never remembered the name of this receptionist, but she always remembered her. It’s her job to remember me. Who knows. Maybe she actually likes me too. That would be something else. “Can I help you? Last minute travel plans, or would you like to make advanced arrangements?”