by Cassie Cross
“What day?”
“You in a relationship. Even though it’s been fun being your wingman, I have to admit that it’s good to see that you’re admitting you might be wrong about your rule.”
“I’m not admitting anything.”
With a smile, Chase shakes his head, and brings his bottle up to his lips. “Elise finally get through to you?”
Jason isn’t really sure how to talk about this. He’s not big on expressing his feelings, and he definitely doesn’t want word circulating that he’s seeing someone. He trusts Chase, it’s just that this is all so new, and he didn’t make Kaia any promises about what would come next. It could be over by this time next week for all he knows.
And it would be safer if it’s a secret. But the more he denies it, the deeper Chase will try to dig.
“I met someone,” he says carefully. “But it’s new, and none of your goddamn business. So keep it to yourself.” He tries not to grin as he says the words, but Chase understands.
“Really? Wow.”
“What?”
“Does she know about everything?”
“Chase,” he warns. His friend is almost as bad as Elise.
“You’re going to have to tell her, you know that, right? If she hasn’t asked already because of the-”
“I’ll tell her when I’m ready to tell her. If she’s still around by that point.”
His oldest friend looks him in the eye, and Jason knows he’s not going to like what comes next.
“It doesn’t make you damaged goods, you know. Not everyone is Skylar, man. Not every woman is going to disappear when they find out.”
Jason isn’t so sure that he’s right, and he’s not willing to risk it yet. “I said it’s none of your business. When I’m ready to tell her, I’ll tell her.”
“Hey,” Chase says, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “Your secret’s safe with me. But I’m happy for you, man.” Chase reaches over and claps Jason on the back. “I’m gonna have to find another partner in crime, though.”
“Somehow I think you’ll live.”
“I might,” Chase says with a laugh. “Have fun tonight.”
Jason grins. “I plan on it.”
* * * * *
“Wow,” Kaia says, looking up at the ceiling in his loft. “This place is…wow.” She walks over to the windows, and takes a look at the view. The light from the skyscrapers around them are bright around her silhouette.
Jason was nervous about bringing her up here. He’s never had a woman in his apartment before. Since he’s so accustomed to one-night stands, he usually goes to the woman’s place, or makes use of the room the Drake has on hold for him.
His home was his sanctuary.
And now Kaia is standing right in the middle of it.
It feels comfortable in a way that he never thought possible, and is a little weirded out by, considering they’ve only just met.
Jason is holding a glass of wine for each of them, the stems anchored between his fingers. But as Kaia stands there and watches the city below them, he stands there and watches her.
She’s in a figure-hugging black dress, her hair tumbling over her shoulders, looking just as breathtakingly gorgeous as he remembered. He wants her so much, wants to taste her skin under his tongue, to feel the wet warmth of her as he sheathes himself inside of her body.
He surprises himself by wanting to sit down and actually talk to her, too.
Jason walks up behind her, then leans forward and presses a soft kiss against her shoulder. She hums, and he can feel her shiver.
“Is red okay?” he asks as he hands her a glass.
“It’s perfect.” She turns and gives him a soft smile before she takes a sip, then lets out a soft hum after she swallows. “Thank you.”
“You look beautiful.”
God help him; she blushes as she gives him a soft smile.
“Thank you.”
He leans in and gives her a kiss because he can’t help himself, his free hand sliding up into her soft hair. Their tongues tangle, and he has to reel himself in before he gets lost in her.
When he pulls away, he rests his forehead against Kaia’s as he catches his breath.
“Wow,” Kaia breathes.
“You seem to be saying that a lot tonight.”
She leans back, her eyebrows furrowed. “When did I say it before?”
“Shortly after you walked in,” Jason replies with a grin.
“Oh, yeah. Well, this place is wow. It’s not at all what I expected.”
Jason takes her hand and leads her over to sit beside him on the couch. “What were you expecting?”
“Armored guards or something?” she says, laughing a little with embarrassment. “I mean, I don’t know how rich you are, but you own a building in Manhattan, and obviously have money, and I thought…oh God, I’m going to shut up.”
Jason finds himself charmed by her candor. “Please, keep talking.”
She really is blushing now, and Jason thinks it’s lovely.
“I don’t want you to kick me out.”
He reaches up, and cups her cheek. “I would never. You’re actually the first woman I’ve had up here.”
Kaia blanches. “Ever?”
“Yes.”
“No way.”
Jason takes a sip of his wine, then sets it on the table next to him. “I told you I wouldn’t lie to you, Kaia.”
“Wow,” she says again.
“So get back to what you were saying before. What were you expecting when you walked in here?”
“Honestly?” she asks, like she’s giving him one last chance to change his mind.
He nods. “Honestly.”
“I was expecting Fort Knox-level security. Like retinal scans and guards, and lots and lots of gold.”
Jason lets out a surprised laugh. “The best security is the kind you never see.” And it’s true; this is probably the safest place she’ll ever be, and that’s the reason why he asked her here this evening instead of inviting her out to dinner.
“And all the gold?” she teases.
“Never really cared for it.”
Kaia nods with a smile as she brings her glass up to her lips again.
“So, tell me about yourself,” Jason says.
Kaia raises her brow. “Really? We’re doing this?”
“Getting to know each other? I thought that was what you wanted?”
“It is,” she says quickly. “I just…I didn’t think that was what we were going to do here.”
“You thought I just wanted to to fuck you.”
Her cheeks heat at the words he chooses, but her eyes remain steadily on his. “Yes.”
“I told you that I wouldn’t promise anything, but that I’d like to try.”
“I know, it’s just…a little surreal to be sitting here with you actually doing this.”
Jason can’t help but smile. He knows what she’s feeling.
“Tell me about yourself, Kaia.” Jason isn’t going to let her avoid this.
“Didn’t you run a background check on me before you invited me over?”
Jason lets out an incredulous laugh. “No, I didn’t.”
“Really?”
“Really. Did you run a background check on me?”
Kaia presses her lips together guiltily.
“You did?”
“If you consider looking you up on the internet a background check. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t a criminal.”
“What did you find?” he asks, curious.
“That you’re twenty seven, you own a Fortune 500 investment firm. You graduated from Stanford with honors, and that you came in second place at some pro-am golf thing upstate.”
Jason chuckles. “That’s quite the list.”
“It is. Sadly there isn’t much about you in your younger years. I was looking for an embarrassing pic or two, but nothing. You must’ve been quite unremarkable.”
He freezes on instinct, and hopes like
hell that he covers it before Kaia notices. There is a reason why she can’t find anything on him when he was younger; he’s done his very best to erase the younger version of him from existence.
“Very unremarkable,” he says, trying to sound light, but probably failing spectacularly.
She seems amused by him, and he gets the sense that she didn’t notice him tense earlier.
“Still don’t want to admit to looking me up?”
Jason shakes his head. “Nope. I only want to know what you want to tell me.”
From the small smile on her face, Jason knows that was the correct answer. It also helps that it’s the truth.
“Okay.”
“So,” he says, trying again. “Tell me.”
“I grew up in Des Moines; my older sister still lives there with my parents. I’m twenty two, and I graduated from Syracuse this past spring.” She pauses at the end, her gaze moving up to the ceiling, like she’s trying to figure out what else to say. “I’m not very good at talking about myself.”
Jason finds that endearing, because the women he usually spends time with (regardless of how limited it is) have no trouble talking about themselves at all. In fact, they have trouble stopping.
These are things he could find out about her on the internet if he felt compelled to look. He wants more.
“Tell me something else,” Jason says, moving closer to her, so their knees are touching.
“Like what?” She looks up at him, her eyelashes fanning across her lids. The wine is giving her cheeks color, and he wants to kiss her and never stop.
“Not sure; what do you want me to know?”
She smiles, then thinks on it. “Like facts?”
Jason smiles back at her. “Yes, all the facts.”
“I hate peanut butter, but I love peanut butter cookies.”
Jason laughs. This is exactly what he’s looking for. Things that make Kaia Kaia. “Okay.”
“I have this sweater that I love, and it’s so comfortable that sometimes I wear it for three days straight.” She looks at him out of the corner of her eye, like she’s expecting him to be revolted.
“I’d like to see this sweater.”
“When I was a kid, my dad convinced me that the closer you lived to the beach, the more likely it was that fish would come out of your faucet.”
Jason actually cracks up at that, and he can’t wait anymore. He leans in and kisses her.
CHAPTER THREE
Kaia is lying naked on Jason’s incredibly huge, incredibly comfortable bed, propped up on her elbows.
City lights stream into the windows, casting shadows on all the places it can’t touch. Jason is standing before her, knees touching the edge of the bed, his glorious body on full display.
“Spread your legs for me.”
His voice is low, and rough, and it sent a thrill shooting through Kaia’s body.
“Do it,” he says firmly. “Now. Don’t make me wait.”
She does as he asks immediately, watches the desire flood his eyes as he looks at her, wet and ready for him.
“You’re beautiful,” he says, with such conviction that she believes him. “I’ve been thinking about you ever since that night. The way you tasted, how your skin felt beneath my hands.”
He slides his palms up the insides of Kaia’s thighs, making goosebumps break out all over her skin. The pad of his thumb brushes across her clit, and she sucks in a big breath of air between her teeth.
Jason drops to his knees before her, then wraps his arms around her hips and pulls her down, so her ass is nearly hanging off the edge of the bed.
Kaia reaches forward and rakes her nails across Jason’s scalp, and he hums as he presses short, hot kisses across her bikini line.
“I’ve been thinking about you, too,” she says, running her fingers through his hair since he seems to like that so much.
“Yeah?”
“Oh yeah. You were…” She’s about to tell him that he’s the best sex she’s ever had, but she doesn’t want to inflate his ego.
“I was what?” he asks. His thumb brushes against her clit again, and Kaia rocks her hips forward. “Tell me, or I’ll stop.”
Oh, he’s mean. There’s a daring glint in his eyes that lets her know that he’s totally serious, too.
“That night,” she begins, still seeking out some friction. “No one’s ever made me…” Kaia doesn’t know why she’s feeling so shy right now. She’s in the most vulnerable position she can possibly be in, with Jason’s head between her thighs.
“No one ever made you come before I did?” He seems taken aback, almost offended on her behalf.
“No,” Kaia says, smiling. “I’ve had orgasms before, just not like the ones I had that night. You…you were the best. So far.”
A dark look of desire slides across Jason’s face as he slides two fingertips along Kaia’s wet slit, then pushes them inside.
She lets out a long, soft sigh as he lowers his mouth to her, sucking and licking on her clit in perfect timing with his fingers. The stubble above Jason’s upper lip is providing the best friction, and Kaia has to basically stop herself from grinding against his face. Her hips stutter as she fights off her instinct to seek more pleasure from this man.
And then, it stops. Kaia actually whimpers at the loss of his mouth.
“Kaia,” he says, as he reaches up and cups her breast, tweaking her nipple between his fingers. “Why are you holding back?”
“I’m not,” she lies.
Jason narrows his eyes at her. “Don’t be shy with me. I can’t make you feel as good as I want to if you’re stopping yourself from letting it happen.”
“Your stubble feels good,” Kaia admits.
Jason slowly kneads her breast. “Yeah?”
Kaia nods.
“Why is that a problem?”
“I don’t want to grind on your face.”
Jason lets out a husky laugh, and the warm breath fanning against the inside of her thigh makes Kaia shiver.
“If grinding on my face is going to make you come, then grind on my face.”
“I...”
Jason stands, and leans over Kaia, pressing his hands on the mattress beside her shoulders for leverage.
He kisses her, long and slow and deep. She gets lost in it, can taste herself on his tongue. Jason presses his chest against hers, and the sparse hair on his chest stimulates her nipples, making her writhe beneath him.
“Let go,” he whispers against her lips. “Let me make you feel good.”
His hips rock against hers, his hard cock heavy and warm on her thigh. He kisses his way down her chest, licking her nipple, swirling his tongue around her belly button.
By the time Jason is settled back between her thighs, she’s lighter than air, her brain is completely shut off, and she’s only focusing on the sensations of what he’s doing to her body.
Kaia crushes a handful of sheets between her fingers as Jason works her clit, and she rocks her hips with abandon, climbing higher and higher and higher.
She comes with a shout, her back arching up off of the bed, and Jason twines his fingers through hers as she comes down to give her something to hold onto.
* * * * *
“I grew up in California,” Jason says, breaking the silence between them.
Kaia is spooned against his body, their legs tangled together, Jason’s arms wrapped around her in a safe cocoon. She slides her hands up and down his forearm, where it’s slung across her chest.
She’s not sure what to say to that revelation. She wants to know more, but doesn’t want to pry. He’s made it quite clear that this is all new to him, and the very last thing Kaia wants to do is push him too far.
“That sounds lovely,” she replies. Seems benign enough.
Jason lets out a low, rumbly laugh. Kaia can feel the vibration of it against her back.
“Why are you laughing?” She teasingly swats at his arm.
“All I mentioned was the state. How do you
know I didn’t grow up in a real slum?”
“You didn’t grow up in a slum,” Kaia replies confidently. “And if you’d spent most of your life in a landlocked state, California would sound great to you, too.”
“Fair enough,” Jason replies, nuzzling his nose into her hair.
“What made you leave?”
Jason stills, and it takes Kaia a split second to realize that she might have asked the wrong question.
“You don’t have to answer that, I-”
“It’s fine,” he replies quietly. “Don’t tiptoe around me. You can ask me anything you like, but I might not always answer.”
Kaia nods. “Okay.”
“I left because I wanted to start a new life, to get away from the weight of expectations. Some good, some bad. The city always felt like home to me.”
She wants to ask him if his family is still there. She wonders if that’s who he went to visit when he went to San Francisco the other day. These, however, are questions that aren’t any of her business yet, and regardless, she’s certain that they fall under the category of those he won’t answer.
She doesn’t file them away for good, she just files them away for another day.
“The city always felt like home to me, too,” Kaia replies, trying to steer the conversation to a more comfortable place for Jason. “That’s why I moved here with my roommate Janine after college. My parents did not approve.”
“What did they want you to do?” he asks, his lips skimming across Kaia’s shoulder.
“They wanted me to come back to Iowa. They were upset that I left in the first place, but Syracuse gave me a full ride. I knew that if I didn’t get out then, I never would.”
“I know what that feels like,” Jason replies.
At least Jason would’ve had the means to get out of whatever situation he found himself stuck in, but Kaia doesn’t voice the thought.
“I wanted to see the world, and figured that the city was the best starting point.”
Kaia feels Jason’s smile against her skin. “It is. I can attest to that.”
“I bet you’ve seen a lot of it.”
“I have.” Jason adjusts his hold on her, so that his rough palm is sliding across her breasts. Kaia arches back into him, can feel his erection against her ass. He presses short, soft kisses across her shoulder. “I can show you places you’ve never even dreamed of, Kaia.”