“I’m not staying forever and I’ll do my laundry as things get dirty. I don’t want to go overboard—”
“Don’t leave anything you want or need,” he said gruffly. “I want you to bring everything. Clothes, makeup, the whole works. Whatever you need to make my house yours too.”
I turned and stared at him in surprise. It was only going to be six weeks—why was he insisting I bring everything?
“I appreciate you wanting me to feel at home, but it’s really not necessary. I don’t want to clutter up your life any more than I already will be.”
He threw back his head and let out a sexy sounding laugh. “Clutter away. I want you to. If you told me you wanted a moving van here for all your furniture, I’d make it happen. I want you to have your stuff, Angel. If it's meaningful to you, it's important to me.”
I bit my lower lip as I stared at him.
He stared back at me with a grin. After a few seconds, he cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. “Are you packing all your stuff or am I?”
There was no point in arguing. I decided he really wanted me to be comfortable at his house. Shrugging it off, I started packing. Jordan helped move things along when he offered to do my closet so I could do the drawers. It was good to have him otherwise occupied, since it allowed me to shove the contents of my underwear drawer into my luggage without him seeing. I don’t know why the prospect of him seeing all my panties embarrassed me, but it did.
It was sweet how carefully he folded my stuff and the way he asked questions as he packed. I told him to leave all my polo shirts and khaki skirts behind since I wouldn’t need them anymore now that school was over.
Because I’d spend the majority of my time in school uniforms or clothes to paint furniture in, there wasn’t much for me to pack. In the end I had one full suitcase and another that was half clothing, half electronics & photo albums. Jordan seemed genuinely perplexed by my lack of clothing and kept asking if this was it.
“You don’t have anything in the laundry? Maybe some stuff in a hall closet?”
I shook my head. “Nope, this is it.”
“What about makeup and bathroom shit?”
I held up one finger. “Yep. Give me a second,” I instructed as I grabbed the outfit I set aside to change into.
I hurried from the room and walked into the hall I retrieved a rolling black bag from the closet and made my way into the bathroom. Letting out a relieved sigh, I set my clothes on the counter before shimmying out of my damp underwear. I then scrunched them into a ball and tossed them under the sink before pulling on fresh ones and getting dressed. I wasn’t wearing anything special, just a pair of white shorts, a pale yellow tank top and a pair of matching yellow flip flops, but it was comfortable.
After dressing, I pulled my hair out of the ponytail I’d put it up in before school and restyled it into a messy bun. Satisfied with my hair, I turned my attention back to the task at hand. It then took me less than five minutes to pack my toiletries and makeup, mostly because my makeup was already in a case I was able to grab and pop into my cart. Since my mom worked away from home so much of the time, I’d traveled with her extensively. Packing was almost second nature to me because of those experiences.
Once I finished I rolled my case into the hall and deposited it against the wall before continuing back to my room. When I walked in I found Jordan snapping photos of my room on his cell.
“Sorry,” he said over his shoulder. “I couldn’t resist. I want to remember all of this. You’re incredibly talented.”
The pride in his voice touched me.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
After snapping another photo of the curtain treatment he looked over at me.
“Don’t tell me you’re finished getting all your toiletries,” he teased.
I lifted my shoulders. “What can I say? I’m just that good.”
He grinned as he slipped his phone into his back pocket and crossed the room to me. The air seemed to thicken around us as he stepped in close.
“You are,” he murmured as he looked into my eyes. “So good and so damn intriguing. I can’t wait to learn everything about you.”
With that, my new underwear was toast. He was killing me with his sexiness. As I took in the look in his eyes, it hit me head on.
Jordan Sinclair wanted me.
I stared up at him, surprised, aroused, and unsure of what to say.
He stepped in closer, until we were almost touching. Lifting his hand, he traced his thumb over my lips.
“Ah,” he rasped, “you see it now.”
My heartbeat sped up exponentially and I wasn’t sure how to respond.
“I didn’t think you could possibly want me,” I blurted after a few seconds of silence. “I’m no one spec—”
Jordan cut my sentence off by covering my mouth with his hand.
“Don’t you ever speak of yourself that way again, Angel. You’re everything special.”
I gasped when he used his free hand to cup my ass and pull me against him, then full body shivered when his erection pressed against my belly.
When he dropped his hand from my mouth, I leaned in closer.
Every part of me knew he was going to kiss me. I was more than ready for it.
When his mouth covered mine I let out a little sigh and put my hands on his shoulders. He ever so softly rubbed his lips back and forth against mine several times… before he pulled away.
The tension rolled off of him in waves, and it was obvious to me he wanted to go further.
I wanted that, too.
“Why did you stop?” I whimpered.
He groaned as his body thrust against mine, just once.
“Because I want to savor you. I’m not going to rush you into this.”
It was crazy and completely out of character for me, but I couldn’t even conceive of going slower. Wanting to be with Jordan came as naturally as breathing.
“I don’t feel rushed,” I assured him. “I need…”
My voice trailed off because I wasn’t sure how to explain why I felt so desperate for him.
He sighed and feathered a series of soft kisses along my forehead.
“I need it too, Angel. So fucking much, you have no idea. But you deserve a hell of a lot more than me laying you down on that bed and fucking you until neither of us can move.”
My breaths started coming faster as I imagined what it would be like. I hungered for him in ways I’d never known were possible.
“What if I want that?” I asked breathlessly.
He actually growled as he gripped my ass harder.
“There is nothing I won’t do to be worthy of you. Taking you like a mad man within ninety minutes of meeting you is in no way what you deserve, and I’ll never treat you like anything less than what you are. You’re my treasure, Natalie.”
I knew I was blushing furiously as I blinked up at him. I’d never felt as valuable to someone as I did in that moment.
“Jordan,” I whimpered as I sagged against his chest. “You make me feel so…”
“I know,” he murmured. “Put your hand over my heart and feel how fast it’s racing.”
I let out a happy sigh when I set my hand against his heart and confirmed he was serious.
“A million miles an hour since the second I saw you in aisle six,” he said.
“Mine too,” I admitted.
“This is the beginning of us,” he said, “and the next step is for me to get you home. You ready?”
I smiled as I looked up at him. “I’m ready.”
Jordan
The tension in my shoulders dissolved as I pulled out of Natalie’s driveway with her safely in the passenger seat. She hadn’t changed her mind, and no one had stopped me. I was one step closer to making her mine, permanently. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to make her mine when she said she was ready, but I was so locked onto doing the right thing by her I’d refused to be swayed. Besides, I knew soon we’d be as connected
as two people could be.
And once we started, I knew we were never stopping.
“Tell me about your mom,” I instructed as I guided the car toward the freeway. “What does she do that she’s gone for such an extended period?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her smile as she turned in her seat to look at me. Having her close made me feel settled in a way I never had before. I loved it.
“Mom’s a sound tech,” she began. “She works on different movies and television shows, and she’s often on location. Right now she’s doing an action movie that’s filming in China.”
“And you live alone while she’s gone?” I asked stiffly.
I understood that Robert and Eric were downstairs, but fuck. It was California, not small town Utah or some other safe as fuck place.
“It’s not as if she left me alone when I was twelve,” she replied. “I went to online school until this year. I forced the issue of going to school for my senior year, and she caved in because Robert and Eric live in the unit downstairs, and they’re always around. She isn’t a bad mother or anything.”
“Are you close?”
She nodded as she turned her head and looked out the windshield.
“We’re very close, but she was hurt that I wanted to stay home for school this last year. I stuck to my guns no matter how hard she tried to change my mind. Too bad high school wasn’t what I thought it would be.”
“Why?” I asked as I glanced over at her before putting my attention back on the freeway.
“Because of the life I’ve lived, I’m not a typical teenager,” she answered quietly. “I get along better with adults, and I always have. I don’t care about drinking; I don’t gossip, and I avoid drama. The girls thought I was boring and the boys… let’s just say I was written off as being an uptight prude. High school turned out to be exactly as lame as my mom warned me it would be.”
It bothered me to know she hadn’t been accepted.
“I’m sorry. That had to have sucked.”
She shrugged. “Not really. It was a good learning experience, and if I hadn’t done it, I would always have wondered.”
I liked that in addition to being sweet and smart, Natalie was pragmatic and thoughtful.
“You haven’t mentioned your father. Can I assume he’s not in the picture?”
She shook her head. “I have no father,” she answered. “My mom went the artificial insemination route to have me.”
I was glad to know there wasn’t some deadbeat fuck I needed to take care of. My own father was an asshole of the first order who had bounced when I was fourteen. That was the year my Mom found out in a Dear John letter hanging on the fridge after Dad had packed his shit and moved out on his lunch break.
He’d moved in with another family across town. To add insult to injury his mistress was my Mom’s co-worker, a woman with two kids. I got dropped right along with my Mother, nothing more than an inconvenience. The asshole didn’t even send me birthday cards. He was too busy playing father of the year for his new family.
My Mom was devastated and turned to booze. She choked on her own vomit two years after I graduated college. By then I’d had a shitload of money, but it hadn’t changed a thing for her, in spite of how hard I tried.
I never spoke to my father, not that he hadn’t tried to “repair” our relationship once he realized how rich I was. I’d been loyal to my mother even in death, so I never let him in.
I was happy for Natalie that she had one parent who loved her and was there for her, even if it wasn’t in a way I totally understood.
“So she wanted to be a mom,” I commented.
“Very much so,” she agreed. “She’s so sad that I don’t want to work in the business. She’s been trying to gear me toward that direction for years, hoping I’d pursue set design or something. That’s not at all what I want to do with my life, though.”
If she’d chosen to stay with her mother and had decided to work in the business, we’d never have met. The idea was abhorrent to me. She turned and looked out the windshield as I processed all she’d told me. Going back over what I’d seen at her house, I grinned. I was pretty sure I could guess why being on film sets wasn’t the life Natalie wanted.
“Because of the travel, right? You're a nester.”
She brought her attention wholly back to me.
“Exactly,” she laughed. “I don’t mind travel if it’s for a vacation or a short work trip, but being away from home for more than a few weeks at a time is just… not for me.”
God, she was fucking perfect. It was like my girl had been made just for me. She wanted a family and she loved being at home.
“You’re a homebody,” I teased.
“Guilty,” she giggled.
“Me too,” I confessed. “I love my house. When I walk through the door, I’m always calmer. It’s a good feeling.”
“I can only imagine,” she laughed. “I’m sure your house is five thousand percent nicer than what I’m used to.”
My brow furrowed as I looked over at her. “Bigger, yes. Better decorated? No.”
She didn’t know it yet, but she had her work cut out for her to make it a home. My house was a showpiece, aesthetically pleasing but bland.
Her snort of disbelief made me grin.
“You’re sweet to pretend,” she teased.
“Who’s pretending? I love my house, but even I know it needs stuff. I live alone and until now, I haven’t given a damn about making it feel a certain way. The vibe of my house is all about luxury. Looking at your room clarified something for me. I want this to be a home that's inviting and warm. I’m sure you’ll have a ton of ideas.”
“We’ll see,” she murmured.
I smirked as I accelerated and changed lanes. She didn’t realize yet what was happening between us and what it meant long term, but she would soon.
Turning the car onto my street, I hit the button to open the gate. The long driveway ended in a central courtyard area where my house sat dead center. To the left, there was a six-car garage, to the right a pathway to an outdoor basketball court. On the other side of the court was a three-bedroom guesthouse.
Natalie’s eyes went wide as she took it all in. Hopping out of the car, I hurried around to her side and opened the door. She kept looking around as she unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to get out of the car.
“This place is huge,” she murmured. “I’m talking massive, like behemoth size. Who else lives here with you?”
Taking her hand, I started walking her toward the front door.
“Until now, until you,” I said huskily, “absolutely no one.”
She gasped as she turned my way. “Are you for real right now?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. Why?”
“It’s so big I assumed you must have a live-in maid or a butler,” she admitted.
I choked out a laugh. “No butler, but I have Faye. She comes three days a week to do the laundry, keep the kitchen clean, do the food shopping and cook dinner. Then I have a cleaning crew come every Friday to clean the whole house deep. On Mondays, the gardeners and grounds crew come and on Tuesdays and Thursdays the pool people come and do their thing. There’s really no need to have any one live in.”
“Don’t you ever get lonely when it’s just you in there all alone?”
If someone had asked me the very same question four hours before, I’d have said no, and it would’ve been the truth.
Only when she arrived did I understand I had been lonely— for her. I just hadn’t realized.
“Not until today,” I admitted.
At the front door, I typed in the code and flung it open. Natalie moved to step forward and walk in, but I stopped her. Without explanation, I hoisted her up into my arms. She let out a little shriek of laughter, and I grinned like a fucking idiot as I carried her over the threshold.
“Jordan!”
“Natalie,” I answered with a smirk.
“Why are you carrying me?”
&n
bsp; “Because I need you close,” I replied.
The happy sounding sigh she let out as she set her head on my shoulder made my heart feel full, and everything was right in the world. I carried her past the foyer and through the living room, setting her down in front of the wall of glass that looked out to the yard and the sea.
“Welcome home, Angel.”
She gasped as she looked out at the view. “It's incredible!”
I grinned as I walked over to the coffee table and lifted up the iPad that all of the house things were programmed in. With the touch of a button, the windows began to slide open. Natalie squeaked excitedly as I set the control down and grabbed her hand before pulling her outside.
We stepped out to the covered outdoor patio, a large space that had a big sitting area on one side and a huge table with seating for twelve on the other. The ceiling fans whirring above us moved the air around, so the area was always cool. We didn’t stop and relax on the patio. Instead, we continued forward, out across the grass and past the pool and spa to the end of the lawn. The house was at the top of a bluff overlooking the ocean, and the view was astounding. Natalie lit up as she stared out at the sea.
“This is incredible,” she raved. “I could stay right in this spot all day long.”
I gestured to another small seating area with a few recliners and a four-person table to our right. “You can. I spend as much of my time out here as possible. I do a lot of work right at this table,” I explained.
“I’m so in,” she said with a big smile. “This is heaven on earth.”
I made a sound of agreement, but I wasn’t talking about the yard or the view of the ocean. I was talking about Natalie. She was my heaven. Her enjoyment of our surroundings settled me because it was another sign that she would settle in well to what I now considered our home. Linking our hands together, I guided her toward a large round lounger so we could sit down. She sat first, and when I followed, I pulled her right into my arms. We stayed like that for a few minutes—her snuggled up to me watching the view, and me watching her.
“When did you move here?” she asked.
“I bought the land five years ago, and it took three years to build the house. I’ve been here a little bit less than two years.”
Amber's Allure: An Erotic Intentions Book Page 14