by Gina Gordon
It was unnerving trying to place the feelings she stirred inside him. Or maybe it had been too long and he always felt like this when he was with a woman.
“Jack?”
“Shh.” Pressing his finger to her lips, he continued to gaze down at her.
Sterling glanced furtively to the deck and smiled.
She took his finger and bit down on it slightly, while taking his other hand and putting it back on her ass. “Touch me,” she murmured.
A protective rumble sounded in his chest.
He took her invitation and squeezed her ass hard as he slid his other hand over her delicious breasts and down her body. She stepped out, her feet settling shoulder-width apart, giving him the perfect opportunity to slip into her skimpy panties. Two fingers thrust inside her and he rubbed her clit with his thumb.
Her purse dropped to the deck with at thud as it slipped from her hand. “Oh, my,” she whispered, then bit her bottom lip.
He nuzzled her neck and kissed his way up her jawline, peppering her with kisses until he reached her mouth.
Mumbled voices wafted from below as the guests filed off the boat. But he was more interested in her soft moans and whimpers. She tightened around his fingers, letting him know she was close. Her hands squeezed at his shoulders.
“There’s no way you could be boring, Sterling.” He leaned in, his thumb rubbing rapidly against her hard bead, and whispered against her ear, “Boring girls don’t come in public.”
She clamped hard around his fingers and her clit pulsed beneath his thumb. He captured her lips to swallow her moans as she broke apart. As her breathing steadied, he rested his forehead on her shoulder and her hand came up to rub the hair at the nape of his neck.
“Thank you.” Her soft words tickled against his skin.
Jack righted himself and used his finger to tilt her chin up to meet his gaze. “I wouldn’t thank me just yet. I’m nowhere near finished with you.”
He leaned in and pressed a small kiss to her lips, then looked over the edge of the deck. “You have a car downstairs?”
She nodded. “Penn sent a limo for me.”
Perfect. Neil had been his ride.
He grabbed her hand and pulled. Like a rag doll, Sterling followed.
“Jack, wait,” she squeaked. She awkwardly leaned down to snag her massive bag.
He stopped at the top of the stairs and positioned her in front of his body. “You’re going to have to walk in front of me.”
“Why?”
He thrust his pelvis into her back.
She giggled. “Oh.”
…
Jack turned his back to Sterling while he spoke with the driver, blocking her view. But Sterling did see him reach for his wallet and extract a few bills.
A one-night stand. She had just agreed to casual sex. Penn would be so proud.
A flurry of butterflies kicked up a commotion in her stomach. Her sex ached for more of his skilled touch. She’d thrown caution to the wind and let a stranger bring her to orgasm in a public place. Pretty good for her first night of fun. Thank God her stomach cooperated, too.
He turned back to her, his sexy smile unlike any she’d ever seen. No other man made her want to drop her panties with a simple smile. But Jack Vaughn…he made her want to drop her panties, lift up her skirt, and bend over.
“Shall we?” he asked. He opened the limo door and ushered her inside.
“What did you say to the driver?” she asked.
“We’ll be getting a VIP tour of the city.” He closed the door and the inside went dark. Her heart rate skyrocketed when he moved closer and nuzzled her neck. His breath caressed her skin, sending a tingle through her body. “If we’re not too busy doing other things, that is.”
She shivered at his words. A VIP tour of the city while getting it on with the hottest man she’d ever laid eyes on. Sterling, one. Boring old life, zero.
Jack’s hand rubbed back and forth across her breasts, which were straining against her bustier. He obligingly freed one breast, then the other. His strong hand closed over her skin, igniting a fire between her legs. Her nipples puckered under his touch. She wanted to feel his mouth on them…and everywhere.
As if knowing what she was thinking, he dipped down and licked, taking one between his teeth and tugging lightly. He was aggressive. He wasted no time. She wanted only one thing. And he knew just what to do to give it to her.
If any other man had skipped the pleasantries and gotten right down to the action she would have called it off, but with Jack, the faster she got what she wanted, the quicker she could cross casual sex off her list.
Jack knelt on the floor of the limo and rested between her legs. He cupped each breast, alternating between the two, licking and sucking, the metal of his tongue ring smooth against her skin.
She moaned. It was better than she had imagined earlier.
“I love the noises you make,” Jack said. “It lets me know what you like.” He kissed her neck and she moaned again. “You like that.” He lowered and kissed her nipple, laving his tongue around the tip, then sucking it hard into his mouth.
She moaned, louder this time.
“And you like that.” He gripped her legs and tugged, positioning her at the edge of the seat. His breath caressed her core, eliciting an ache between her thighs.
She lifted her pelvis in invitation, wanting desperately for him to put his mouth where she needed it most.
“I think I know what else you’ll like.” He slipped his hand under her skirt and removed her thong, sliding it down her legs. It tangled around her strappy sandals but he, ever so skilled, ripped them away with ease.
He straightened and lifted her legs. “I love these shoes.” He kissed her ankle, up her calf to her knee, then switched legs and did the same. He sat on his heels and peppered kisses along the inside of her thigh. She shook, her legs quivering in his hands.
She let her head fall away, giving in to his attention, letting go of everything, all worries, all expectations. She expected to be scared, but instead, a sense of calm washed over her, reassuring her that she was in the right place, with the right person, at the right time.
Her blissful sensation was abruptly interrupted when for the second time, her phone rang.
“Let it ring,” Sterling panted. She wasn’t stopping now.
“I want to see all of you.” He ignored the phone and wasted no time bringing his request to fruition.
After slipping his fingers inside the waist of her skirt, he let it glide down her body.
His tongue snaked out and licked up her folds. She jerked. His licks became harder and more frequent as he tongued her. God, she was melting. His fingers massaged the skin of her mound, exposing her clit. He turned his head at a right angle, licking from side to side, the metal ball on his tongue adding an extra layer of pleasure.
She cried out, completely giving herself over to sensation. His lips inched up, kissing her stomach and the underside of her breasts. She lifted her head and stared right into his heated gaze.
The intensity staring back rocked her. Not just her body, but her mind, and her heart, which she’d had no intention of involving tonight. With a simple look he had managed to get her to open up, let go, and push through every barrier she’d ever erected to protect herself. But she didn’t need protection with Jack Vaughn. They wanted the same thing.
His eyes dipped down to her breasts and he grunted, the rumble like an electric shock to her system. “Definitely not boring.”
She followed his gaze and gasped at the sight of her hands. They gripped her breasts tightly. Her nipples were taut between her fingers. She never dared touch herself in front of a lover. There was no doubt that being with Jack brought out her daring side.
She shivered when he moved her hand from her breast and placed it at her core. He curled her fingers over her clit, showing her the movement he wanted her to follow. Her heart raced and her breath left her body in heavier pants. Touching her breasts was one
thing, touching between her legs was reserved for when she was alone. But Jack’s gentle direction was all the courage she needed, and when she took over, the pleasure was unlike any she had ever experienced.
If someone had told her that morning when she awoke that she’d be involved with a Madewood, she would have laughed. And being kinky? Sterling Andrews didn’t do kinky. But the sight of Jack watching as she coaxed an orgasm from her body was sexy and thrilling, and pushed her hunger for him to an epic level.
When he finally joined in, thrusting two fingers into her channel, she could barely hold it together. Her insides clamped down on his fingers and her legs shut tight around his hand, trying to heighten the sensation.
“Jack!” She cried out and slumped back against the seat, her legs still gripping him tightly.
He spread her legs open, his thumb grazing against the flesh of her thigh. “We have all night, baby,” he murmured seductively.
He lifted off his heels and with his free hand grabbed the back of her neck, his fingers curling in her hair. “There’s plenty of time for me to give you pleasure. But first, take it for yourself. Fall over that edge. Let me watch you. Let me hear you scream.” And with that, he took her mouth in an explosive kiss.
Unable to breathe, unable to stand the tension, she shattered into a million pieces. Arching into her release, she embraced the waves of her orgasm.
He continued to kiss her as she came down from a state of ecstasy. When she finally focused, she kissed him back. Gripping his hair between her fingers and tugging him to her body, she focused on the sounds he made with his mouth.
“I need to be inside you.” He could do whatever he wanted, because this time she wanted more. She wanted it all and everything he had to offer because boring, vanilla Sterling was out for the night.
The words she wanted to say so desperately were on the tip of her tongue. Fuck me. But she couldn’t get them out.
He gripped her hair at the nape and tugged her head back, exposing her neck, gliding his tongue along her skin.
An overwhelming urge to push him back and straddle the sexy man who held her bubbled under her skin. This man made her feel things she thought were a myth. Maybe you just never found the right man. The right man should make you feel all these things.
Just as she reached for his body, the ring, ring, ring of her phone interrupted them. Again.
“Son of a gun,” Sterling whined. It was late. It could be an emergency. “I have to get this.”
Jack let out a heavy breath and his head fell forward. She crawled to the other end of the limo to grab her phone. Surprised at her comfort level, her naked body revealed, as if a stranger in her own skin. A more outgoing stranger.
She had expected to see Penn’s name displayed across the screen, but when she glanced at the brightly lit area, a strange number stared back at her. She sighed and hit the talk button.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Andrews. We’re calling about some suspicious activity on your credit card. Do you have a few moments?”
That light feeling that fluttered in her stomach turned to lead. This call could only mean one thing. The moment she had been dreading for the last five years.
She looked over her shoulder at Jack, who still had that come-hither look on his face. How the hell was she going to tell him that their night had just been trumped by a credit card?
Chapter Four
Sterling stormed inside the small Tudor-style home without knocking. She didn’t have to—her name was on the mortgage. “Mom? Dad?” she called from the front hallway.
They had just interrupted her life—again. And at the worst possible time. She had been mortified at having to rush off. Jack seemed understanding, but she had remained tight-lipped and didn’t go into details about the situation.
“We’re in the kitchen.” Her mother’s voice carried from the back of the house.
Sterling kicked off her shoes and padded through the hallway, past the family room on her right and the pine staircase that led to the second floor on her left.
When she entered, her mother scrambled to clean up a mess of papers on the kitchen table. “Sterling, honey, we didn’t expect you tonight.” Her mother spit out her words in flustered huffs of breath.
Her father sat at the head of the table playing solitaire; his hair was cut close to his scalp, predominantly dark but graying at the sides. He hadn’t even acknowledged her arrival.
“I was just in the area. The girls out?” she asked, directing the question to her mother. Her younger twin sisters, Surrey and Sidney—named after the last two cities they’d lived in—had been a surprise as well. In their junior year of high school, they were part of the reason she felt obligated to support her family. She wouldn’t wish her childhood on anyone, and if she had the means to provide her sisters with a stable and supportive environment, she’d do it.
“Of course,” her father said. “They party too much. Just like you did.”
She shook her head. She had never partied a day in her life. How soon he forgot that her late nights were spent working at movie theaters and fast-food restaurants. She wanted to believe that inside, under his prickly demeanor, he was a loving man. But she knew better.
John and Leslie Andrews were high school sweethearts. Hippies who never grew out of the lifestyle. During her childhood they had moved Sterling from province to province. She’d never had the chance to make lasting friendships, never went to a school dance, never even kissed a boy until she had moved out on her own.
It’d been a long time since she’d felt anything but obligation toward her parents. Call it the residual effects of being related to addicts. They were constantly trying to worm their way around the truth, spinning it to their advantage. Over the years, she’d learned to deal with their games. She didn’t want to stay here any longer than she had to, but first she needed the truth. And since they weren’t going to offer it up willingly…
“Did you use my credit card?” she blurted.
They both sat silent. One not looking at the other.
“Mom?”
Her mother looked up, sadness in her eyes. “I’m sorry Sterling. We…the girls needed a few things and I just couldn’t say no to them.”
Sterling took a deep breath. It was for the girls. She sighed in relief. “So you haven’t started again? You’re not gambling?”
“Of course not, dear.” Her mother reassured with a smile on her face. “We just didn’t want to bother you. We’ll pay you back.”
She knew she’d never see the money again, but even the most organized people made mistakes. Sterling didn’t, but some people did.
“I’m sorry.” Her mother did look sorry. Her father, on the other hand, still played his game.
With that weight off her shoulders, Sterling glanced to the mess of papers on the other end of the table. Loose paper—an organizer’s bread and butter. “Let me help you with that, Mom.” She reached for a few pieces of paper to organize. “Remind me next time to bring you some file folders so you can—”
“No!” her mother screeched. “Just leave that.”
She retracted her hands, jolted by her mother’s high-pitched tone, but she already had a few of the papers in her grasp. She recognized the green logo and the red stamp that glared at her from across the page. Red stamps only meant one thing. And since her parents’ financial status was really her own, she needed to read that page.
It was even worse than she had feared. The letter was a demand for payment. Payments for the mortgage Sterling co-signed because their credit sucked. The real reason why she held back on living her own life.
She had thought her parents were well along in their recovery. She’d made sure that they attended the local rehab meetings she’d found for them. Although maybe they weren’t as effective as the website claimed. Now it seemed the shoe she had been waiting to drop finally came crashing to the ground. She had come here for a credit card charge and instead saw her financial future plummet.
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br /> A heavy feeling grabbed at her insides as déjà vu sank in, a feeling she had thought she’d banished for good.
She stiffly turned and stalked over to the sink. Opening the bottom cupboard, she pulled out the garbage can. She reached inside and moved around the contents. Sure enough, at the bottom of the bag was all the evidence she needed.
Lotto tickets.
There must have been twenty, maybe even thirty. Her heart sank. Disappointment overwhelmed her. She moved across the kitchen to the junk drawer. Sure enough, hidden in the back was a stack of scratch tickets wrapped in an elastic band—all of them brand-new.
She slammed the drawer shut and threw the stack on the kitchen table. “I thought you had this under control?” Tears welled in her eyes. Her throat clenched.
“I…” Her mother danced from side to side, transferring her weight from one foot to the other. She stared at her father, a desperate plea settling in the depths of her eyes.
He placed the deck of cards on the table and finally acknowledged her presence by looking her directly in the eye. His look gave nothing away, his eyes locking her in a stare that was so practiced and stoic that she never knew the truth.
“You’re gambling again.” A tear escaped and ran down her face. She couldn’t stop it. This scenario was all too familiar. All too disgusting. “How long has this been going on?”
She looked at her mother, then her father. But neither of them looked at her. Instead they looked at each other as if silently corroborating their stories.
She whipped the non-winning tickets in the garbage. Weren’t they supposed to be the adults? Weren’t they the ones who were supposed to be bailing her out of her financial mistakes? “Answer me.”
Her mother jumped at the shrill sound of her voice. She didn’t even recognize it herself.