Tyed to You

by Jordyn McKenzie

  Harris’ voice cut through her foggy mind. “Jasmine? Jasmine? Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

  She tore her eyes away from Tyson, to look back at Harris. “I’m sorry. I—I’m fine. I saw someone who looked familiar. Please go ahead.”

  Jasmine kept glancing towards the table where Ty was now seated, but he wouldn’t look in her direction. His jaw was clenched and twitching in fury.

  “I see I’ve lost you again,” Harris said, this time looking over his shoulder.

  “I’m so sorry, Harris. This is horribly unprofessional of me. Seeing…who I thought I saw really kind of threw me. Please continue. My attention is all yours.”

  He smiled at her, his eyes smouldering. “Perhaps I could better hold your attention over dinner.”

  She returned his smile, though hers didn’t quite reach her eyes. “That’s very kind of you to offer. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea though, considering I have a bid to submit. I’d hate to sway your favour unfairly from my competitors.”

  He leant forwards and placed his hand atop hers on the table. “As far as I’m concerned, you have no competitors.”

  Unfortunately for you, yours just walked in ten minutes ago, she thought, her heart pained with the memory of Tyson saying those very words to her less than forty-eight hours before. She politely withdrew her hand from under Harris’, choosing her words carefully before speaking. “Harris, I can tell you are an amazing man, but I’d really like to keep things professional between us. I just got out of a relationship and I’m really not ready for anything new yet.”

  His expression was one of disappointment. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m amazed a man would be fool enough to break the heart of such a beautiful woman.”

  She glanced again in Ty’s direction, and saw that he was watching her now. Her voice was soft as she replied, “On the contrary, it was I who was the fool.” Tyson’s eyes burned into hers for a moment before turning his attention to the colleague addressing him.

  She looked at Harris again, who this time had not missed the exchange. “I see. Well, the offer is open. In the meantime, I look forward to receiving your bid.”

  “Thank you very much, Harris. I appreciate the opportunity,” she replied gracefully.

  Their server arrived with their bill and Jasmine quickly grabbed her wallet from her bag to pull out her credit card. She always paid for client lunches, whether the invitation was hers or theirs, but Harris snatched the little folder away before she had the chance to pull her card out.

  “If you’re not going to let me buy you dinner, at least let me get lunch.” He placed his card in the folder and held it up for the server.

  “Thank you,” Jasmine said again.

  They made idle chit-chat until the bill was settled, then walked together out of the bistro doors. Jasmine held out her hand. “Thanks again. I should have that bid ready for you in about three days.”

  “Can I walk you to your car?” Harris asked, and Jasmine shook her head.

  “No thanks, I can manage. I’m just parked kitty-corner, over there,” she explained, gesturing across the street.

  “Okay then. Talk to you soon,” Harris said, and with a wave, he turned to check traffic then crossed the street to his office. Jasmine waited a beat before walking to her car. She could feel the sinking feeling in her chest again. She was glad she’d barely eaten, because the flux of emotions she was experiencing all at once had made her nauseous. She stood just outside her car, forehead resting on her arm on the roof, her eyes closed, waiting for the feeling to pass, but it never would. She knew that now. No matter what she’d just spent the last twenty-four hours trying to convince herself, she now knew it was all bullshit. She loved him. She loved him with every fibre of her soul and it was taking everything she had in her not to run back into that bistro and drop to her knees in front of him begging for his love and forgiveness, holding back only because she didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his new colleagues. She didn’t even have his number, though she supposed she could offer Laurel her mea culpa and beg for it from her.

  Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm and turned her around. The scream in her throat died when she saw a fierce set of green eyes staring her down. “What the fuck?” he asked. “A note, Jasmine? After everything we shared this weekend, I get ditched with a fucking note? Did you get a better offer from Mr Armani or something?”

  “No! God, no! Ty, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking! Everything with us happened so fast and I panicked and…”

  “You fucking ran. After you told me you weren’t gonna do that. I fucking wake up to find you gone with a goddamn note!”

  Jasmine looked down, biting her lip in an effort to stifle the sob threatening to burst from her.

  “So who is he?”

  “Who’s who?” she asked confusedly.

  “Mr Armani. Is he more your pace? Old enough for you?”

  “That’s Harris, and no. He’s just my client.”

  “Come on…” he said, rolling his eyes. “That douche was not looking at you like he was just a client.”

  “Well, okay, maybe he had a little more than that in mind, and maybe I would’ve thought the same, if…”

  “If?”

  “If you hadn’t walked in and made me realise what a total fool I was to walk away from you.”

  “Run away,” he corrected.

  “Huh?”

  “You ran. You didn’t walk, you got the fuck out of Dodge and you trampled on my heart on your way out.”

  She nodded and cast her eyes to the ground again. His finger slid under her chin and tipped her head up. She looked at him questioningly.

  “So you realised you were a fool, and then what happened?”

  “I was standing here holding myself back from running in there, dropping to my knees and begging for forgiveness. But I didn’t think that would look good for you in front of your co-workers, being your first day and all. So I was resolving to call Laurel and face her wrath to get your phone number.”

  Ty chuckled. “Yeah, Laurel was pretty pissed, especially when you didn’t answer or return her calls. And thanks for not making a scene in there. As it is, I’ll have some explaining to do when I go back to the office. All I said to them was ‘fuck this. I’ll meet you guys back at the office,’ threw a ten on the table and walked out to find you.”

  “Oh no,” Jasmine said, wide-eyed. “I hope it doesn’t cause problems for you.”

  “Nah, one of those guys is a frat brother of mine. All I have to do is tell him who I was chasing and he’ll totally understand.” Ty grinned down at her.

  “Jesus, Tyson.” Jasmine blushed, rolling her eyes at him.

  “Will you believe me now? I’m not exaggerating about my love for you, and the fact you’ve been my dream girl for years?”

  “Only if you believe that I truly am sorry for running off on you, again, and that I’m in love with you too.”

  Jasmine barely had time to blink before Ty’s mouth was on hers, pressing her almost indecently against her car. All thoughts of propriety flew from her mind as she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, her aching split lip be damned. At the sound of a car horn honking right by them, they pulled apart, startled.

  A young man Jasmine recognised to be one of Tyler’s colleagues was grinning at them through his rolled-down window. “Nicely done, man! But you still have to come back to work, lover boy.”

  Ty grinned back at him. “Yeah, thanks, Brett. I’ll be there in ten, okay?”

  Brett winked at Jasmine then drove off. Tyson blinked. “Shit. They were my ride. My office is just a few minutes from here, do you mind?”

  Jasmine laughed. “Not at all. It’ll give you some time for that to settle down.” She pointed down to his crotch where his trousers were slightly tenting.

  “Oh! Ah…” he began and shrugged with a self-deprecating grin. “It’s what you do to me, woman, what can I say?”

  Jasmine
drove him to his office. He leaned over and kissed her before opening the car door. “I want to see you tonight. Are you free after work?”

  “Most definitely,” she replied. She pulled one of her business cards from the holder she had attached to her sun visor and wrote her home address on the back. “I should be home by six. I’ll cook dinner.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  * * * *

  Jasmine was home by four. The rest of her afternoon had cleared up early and she was unable to sit idly and wait at her office for another hour. She sped home and changed into a casual sleeveless pink jersey dress, then prepped some chicken breasts in a marinade, thinking that they could barbecue. Thanks to her morose excursion to the store the previous evening, she already had a bottle of chardonnay chilled in the fridge. She turned on some music and tidied up her home, until finally at six-fifteen her doorbell rang.

  When she opened the door, there stood on her doorstep sheer perfection in well-fitting jeans and an untucked button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up a few turns. He flashed a dimple as he smiled at her, taking in her outfit just as appreciatively. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” she breathed, then composed herself enough to step aside and invite him in.

  Once the door had closed behind him, she suddenly felt shy. This wasn’t the same as being at the lake house. Now that he was in here in her home, just the two of them, it suddenly felt real.

  As though he sensed her nerves, he reached for her hand and pulled her towards him. “Get over here,” he murmured. He slid his hand around her back, pressed her body tightly to his and lowered his lips to hers, kissing her tenderly.

  As the kiss intensified, she began steering him towards her couch, the notion occurring to her that dinner was likely going to be late. He sat when the backs of his legs hit the couch and she clambered onto him, straddling him. “This is rude of me, I should show you around my house.” She panted against his mouth when they paused for air.

  “Your furniture is lovely,” he replied, trailing his lips down her neck. “The couch is quite comfortable.”

  “The bathroom is down the hall,” she rasped, indicating her head to the left. “The bedroom is at the end.”

  “Perhaps we could tour that room next?” he said, tracing his tongue along the edge of the bodice of her sundress.

  “I think I could arrange that.” Ty’s tongue dipped into her cleavage as she spoke, and she rolled her hips against him.

  He grabbed her ass, pressing her heat against his firm bulge, making her aware just how much he wanted her. “You don’t have dinner cooking yet, do you?”

  “No.” She was certain that her panties were drenched.

  “Good.” Holding onto her, he stood and she tightened her legs around his waist as he carried her down the hall, their mouths once again connected in a fierce battle. He broke away only to ask, “Bedroom’s at the end?”

  She nodded.

  He placed her on the bed, kicked off his shoes, and crawled up on the bed, stretching his body over hers. “Don’t ever leave me again.” His words were a rough whisper, as he stared down at her. “See this through.”

  “I will,” she promised. She raised her head from the pillow to kiss him, using her hand to pull his head down to her, kissing him fiercely. He groaned and pressed his body against hers, his hardness rubbing against her where she wanted him most, but the kiss was brief as he wrenched away from her lips.

  “I need you. Right now.” He rose up onto his knees and gathered her dress into his hands as she sat up to allow him to pull it over her head more easily. He tossed the dress aside and reached behind her, grasping her bra strap in his fingers, and, with an effortless twist of his fingers, unhooked it. The bra was tossed aside to land near her dress and the rest of their clothes quickly added to the pile. Jasmine lay back against the pillows and Ty pushed her knees apart with his hands. He stared at for a moment, causing her pussy to flood with even more moisture in her anticipation of his entry. What she needed now was for him to be inside her. Taking his length in hand, Tyson rubbed the head around in her juices, stroking the tip against her sensitive clit a few times.

  “Oh God, please, Ty,” Jasmine mewed, her hips lifting to him anxiously.

  Ty lowered his body over hers once again, engaging her in a kiss that was less tender and romantic, but more of that of a man who was claiming his woman once and for all. And with that kiss, he thrust into her, seating himself all the way within her before drawing back out and thrusting back into her again.

  “Tell me you’re mine, Jasmine.”

  “I’m yours, Tyson,” she breathed.

  “Louder.” He thrust again, harder.

  “I’m yours!”

  His rhythm increased, rolling against her to create the perfect amount of friction on her clit with each thrust. He leant down and pulled her earlobe between his teeth, nibbling it before whispering in her ear. “Tell me you love me.”

  “I love you, Ty,” she moaned, opening even wider for him.

  His mouth crashed onto hers as their movements increased in their passion and intensity. She felt the coiling in her belly and knew she was coming soon, and coming hard. Her nails dug into his skin as she arched her back, pulling her mouth away from his to cry out. “Oh fuck, Ty! God!”

  He gripped her headboard for leverage and rammed into her. “Oh God, Jasmine, yes, that’s it, baby girl,” he groaned.

  Jasmine’s walls flexed and spasmed around him before Ty pumped a few more times kissed her sweat-dampened forehead, and rested nearly his full weight on her, which felt wonderful to her. He kissed her lips briefly, then rested his forehead against hers. “I love you,” he whispered. “So, so fucking much. I need you to be mine, Jasmine. I can’t let you go, not now.”

  Jasmine’s voice caught as her eyes filled with tears. “I love you too, Ty. I’m so sorry for hurting you.”

  He shushed her, planting kisses on her face and lips. “Tell you what—I’ll let you make it up to me by having sex with me again after dinner.”

  She laughed, her vision a bit blurry with unshed tears. “It’s a deal.”

  “Oh and there’s one more thing,” he continued, a mischievous grin on his face.

  Jasmine was immediately on-guard. “What?”

  “You should cook naked.”

  “Tyson, that is dangerous and unsanitary.”

  He sighed. “Fine, you can wear an apron.”

  “Dinner is grilled chicken, sweetheart, which means going out on my back deck to use the grill. My yard may be fenced, but it doesn’t mean my neighbours can’t see over it.”

  “Hmm, I see your point. Fine, clothes back on for cooking dinner, then once we’re done with that, it’s naked time.”

  When they dressed and went out to grill the chicken, Jasmine giggled at his delight over her hot tub located off the deck in the backyard, complete with a privacy wall. And after a bottle of chardonnay shared over dinner, that was precisely where ‘naked time’ commenced.

  Chapter Ten

  Two Years Later

  “Where the actual fuck is that waiter, I’m starving!” Laurel groused. “How long does it take to deep-fry some calamari?”

  “Of course you are, Laurel. After all, it’s only been an hour since your last meal.” Jasmine laughed, taking a sip of her daiquiri. “And he only took our order”—she checked her watch—“seven minutes ago.”

  “You know what? Fuck you. Just you wait ’til my brother knocks you up, and you’ll see how miserable it is to feel the need to eat constantly. As if I don’t look enough like a narwhal already.”

  “Darling, you look nothing like a narwhal. You don’t have a horn,” Hank deadpanned, wincing when Laurel kicked him underneath the table.

  “Eat shit, darling,” she suggested in a loving tone of voice.

  Jasmine laughed, reaching over to squeeze her hand. “Oh, stop, you look beautiful.”

  Laurel glowered at her. “I partially hold you responsible for this too, you know.�
� She gestured at her swollen abdomen.

  Jasmine held her hands up in defence. “Hey, I had positively nothing to do with…that. I only helped with the proposal and my penance for such was more than paid during your Bridezilla phase.”

  “Damn well you should’ve! The ink had barely been dry on our home purchase paperwork, and you and Hank began plotting against me. Putting my face on a kiss-cam during that basketball game, to be broadcast all over television no less!”

  “You’d been in blissful cohabitation for three months, and Hank knew I had the proper connections to propose to you in a manner you couldn’t refuse, right Hank?”

  Hank picked up his beer and tipped it Jasmine’s way with a wink before turning his attention to Laurel. “Your lovely, extremely photogenic face was priceless when you realised what was going on. That’s the only reason why they re-aired it on the five o’clock and ten o’clock news casts. And Jasmine, that was a nice touch with the cheerleaders and confetti. I don’t know if I ever thanked you for that.”

  Jasmine shrugged. “I saved the management of that arena a lot of money. They decided to extend me and my friends a little extra courtesy. And really, it helped them too by pumping up the crowd. Cheerleaders in the stands, confetti exploding when she said yes—thank God you said yes, Laurel—the atmosphere that night was amazing!”

  “I was so gobsmacked over it all, I’m amazed my brain even functioned to form a coherent answer!”

  Hank leaned over to kiss Laurel. “You came up with the appropriate response and that’s all that matters.”

  “Beginning eight of the longest months of my life,” murmured Jasmine, sipping her daiquiri.

  “What was that, Jassy?” Laurel asked suspiciously.