B0161IZ63U (A) (35 page)

Jack watched the top of her head and then stepped away.  The keys in his pocket sang out as he moved.  His eyes leveled hers, and he nodded towards the house.  “Isn’t my brother waiting for you?”

He’d spewed his venom. He’d even managed to hit her in the eye a few times.  Lila knew him well enough to know he needed that.  She genuinely cared about Jack, some part of her always would, so she’d taken each shot he’d fired as best she could.  Now he was releasing her.  Without a word, she pushed off his truck and stepped away, opening the path to the driver’s side door.

She only made it a few steps before turning back to him.  “I really do appreciate you.  For doing what you could to help me with Julie.  For taking down that video.  I know you didn’t have to do that.  You didn’t even have to consider it.”

He smiled that halfhearted smile again, lingering at the door of his truck.  “When have I ever turned down a case?” He refused to accept her words of kindness, meeting her eyes.  “I had a choice, and I made it.  Just like I had a choice when they put your case on my desk back home in Manhattan.   I made that choice too.”

That stole the air from Lila’s lungs, and she hated the way the words blasted her back to that dark time in Manhattan.  That dark time that now felt like ages ago.

“And I lost you forever because of it.”

Lila still struggled with what to say.  “You didn’t lose me.  I’m standing right here in front of you, aren’t I?  I’m right here.”

“Physically.  Sure...”

“We can still be friends, Jack.  I’d like it if we could.”

He laughed, smiling the first genuine smile she’d seen on his face in a long time.

She couldn’t blame him for being amused.  She was living in a fantasyland with that last statement.

He moved to the door of his truck, looking away from her.  Only when he’d disarmed it and pulled it open did he turn and meet her eyes.

“Why?” he asked.  “Why did you let me inside, when you
knew
that you loved him all along?”

“I didn’t plan this, Jack.  It happened.  It just happened.”

“No, Lila.”  His face tightened.  “It didn’t
just happen
.”

She didn’t know what to say.  Nothing was right.  Nothing would wipe away the destroyed look in his eyes.

“It’s only a matter of time, you know.” He climbed into the truck but didn’t turn back to her.  “Only a matter of time before you rip him to shreds, too.”

He slammed the door closed without waiting for a response, started his truck, and tore out of her driveway.

The truck roared away and was gone in a matter of seconds.

19

Exhaling, Lila stepped back in the house.  The exchange with Jack in her driveway had been inevitable. She was thankful to have survived it.  She didn’t feel sick to her stomach the way she thought she would, and even though he’d called her a whore several times, she knew that was Jack at his
tamest. 

As she closed the front door, she was surprised to find Chase leaning forward in one of the chairs at her dining table, facing her.

What she felt the moment she looked at him made her understand that it was all worth it.  It was worth taking every bullet Jack had fired, and every bullet that society inevitably would.  With one hit of those green eyes, the darkness was gone in an instant, and it was all worth it.

What now alarmed her was that, as Chase effortlessly swept all her black clouds away, they seemed to re-manifest, brand new and stronger than ever, right there in his eyes.

He was in a fresh pair of black sweats, skin still glistening with moisture from his shower.  His fresh scent engulfed her the moment she stepped in.  Their eyes met, and he pressed his lips together.  His hands were clasped in front of him, eyes serious as she closed and locked the door behind her.

“Why did you go out there in just a t-shirt?” he demanded.  “You must be freezing.”

Lila breathed deep.  It was now occurring to her that the gods were determined to make this a
let’s relive the past
kind of night.  She’d just gone to battle with Jack, and it had, blessedly, been one of their tamer disagreements.  She’d been a fool to think the buck would stop with him. It never did with the Almeida brothers.

She pushed a hand through her hair, walking into the kitchen. Chase didn’t grab her thigh or slap her ass as she moved past him.  This only solidified that a quarrel was on the horizon. 

This time, she suspected the venom would sting, and she’d need a drink.

“I wasn’t expecting to step outside,” she said, fishing a beer out of the fridge.  “If I had known I’d end up in the driveway, I would have thrown on a cardigan. Or at least some shoes,” she laughed, wiggling her painted toes.

He was still facing the living room from where he sat at the dining room table, which left his entire body turned away from her.  He didn’t make the move to turn towards her, give her access to his chest, his heart.  But he did turn his head, meeting her eyes.

Lila recognized what she saw there immediately.  “Can we please not do this?” she begged.  “We were having such a nice night.”

Chase’s eyes bore into hers.  “I want you to be my date to the wedding.”

Lila exhaled, dropping her beer onto the counter next to her.  “You know I can’t do that.  The wedding is in two weeks.”

He looked away from her, once more.  “Yes, and in two weeks, your class will be over.  In two weeks, I’ll no longer be your student.  In two weeks, you won’t have an excuse.  So in two weeks, I’d like my
girlfriend
to be on my arm at my brother’s wedding.”  His eyes met hers.  “Why is that a problem?”

“Chase.  We agreed that we were going to keep this quiet until you graduated. Or, at the very least, until my promotion is decided.”

He pulled his hands apart, still leaning forward on his knees.  “I can’t wait that long.”

“So I’ll just throw my entire future away, because you can’t wait?” She tried to speak gently.  “I’ll let my lights go out, my stomach go empty, and my mortgage go into default, because you can’t wait?”

“Lila. I’m going to take care of you.”

She straightened.  She knew the inheritance money his late parents had left him was enough to pay for her house a hundred times over, with millions left to spare.  Money had never been an object for Chase. Lila often found herself forgetting that. Financially, the man before her was comfortably planted in the top 1% of the country, and would remain there for the rest of his life.

“I don’t want your money,” she said.

“It’ll be your money too.  Eventually.”

Lila breathed deep, unable to wrestle with the meaning behind his words.

“Besides.”  He pressed on.  “It’s not even against school policy for a lecturer to date a student at Harvard.  I checked.”

She already knew that, and had been holding out hope he never would.  “Nothing but black ink printed on a page.  A bunch of bullshit words that mean nothing in the long run.  It might not be against school policy, but
please believe
it will be a factor in whether or not I’m promoted.”

“There are plenty of professors at Harvard dating students.”

“Key word, professors.  Most of whom are probably tenured.  They could shoot up the damn school tomorrow, and they would still have a job waiting for them come Monday morning.”

“Lila, I changed my mind.”  He clapped his hands back together.  “I don’t want to wait anymore.  I don’t want to hide, or be hidden.”

“What changed so quickly?”

“Seeing you arguing with him on your front lawn, wearing nothing but a t-shirt, that’s what changed.  Seeing him touching you like you’re still his, that’s what changed.”

“Jack and I have always disagreed, you know that.”

“You shouldn’t care
enough to be disagreeing with him, Lila.  He shouldn’t have the power to upset you anymore.  The only person who should have the power to do that to you is me.”

“He hasn’t upset me, at all.  I’m not upset.”

He hissed.

“But, I have to say, you’re doing a stand up job getting me there right now.”

His eyes softened, and then he jammed them closed.

Seeing his inner battle, she crossed the kitchen and caressed his cheek, a soft smile playing at her lips.

Chase swept her hand away, taking in the surprised look on her face. 

He suddenly stood and took the bottom of the t-shirt she had on, bunching it up around her waist with one hand while ripping her panties down with the other. 

He pushed her into the kitchen with his chest, holding her as she stumbled before taking her shoulders, turning her, and bending her over on the counter.

Her soft panting rang in his ears as he released himself from his pants, moving her ankles apart with his feet, spreading her legs wider.

“Chase?” Lila gasped when he entered her from behind, without a word, hard and fast, and began a slow, deliberate pound.  Panties still hanging around her ankle, a whimper escaped her lips before she could stop it, unable to help the immediate waves of pleasure that gripped her whenever he was inside her.  She looked over her shoulder and met his eyes.  There was something flashing in them that had her entrapped, stunned.  She reached up behind her and cradled the back of his neck, accepting every pound he delivered.

He laid his chest on her back, enveloping her, gasping against her lips as he slammed his hips into hers.  “Can he make you scream like I can, baby?”

Lila’s hands turned to claws, digging into his skin and the countertop, dragging her nails down the soft hairs at the back of his neck, barely able to speak as he hit the spot he now knew so well.  She lifted one leg off the floor, leaving her panties on the tile as she set her thigh on top of the counter, opening herself.  She bent over as he stroked a rapid fire to her pussy, and he bent with her.

“No,” she gasped her answer.

“Does his dick feel this good?” He covered her lips with his violently before pulling away, just far enough to see her eyes roll back as he swirled his hips.

“No.”  Her lips parted further. 

“Whose is it?” Their skin slapped audibly as he increased his pace, their juices only aiding the sound.

“Yours, baby.”

He picked up his pace, driven by her pleas.  Her screams. “Whose is it?”

“Yours, Chase. Oh god, yours.”  She screamed as her orgasm hit, curling her spine.  Her hands flew to the countertop and scraped at the granite.

“Mmm.” He bit his lip at the sight of her cumming.  He stood tall and took her arched waist in his big hands, pulling her back into him, filling her forcefully in time with each scream, until every last tremor was expelled from her body. Only then did he allow himself to let go, propelling into her, desperate for his own release. His face quickly contorted into something naked with need.  Blind, white-hot ecstasy.   “He can’t have you.”

Lila watched him over her shoulder, still coming down from her shockwaves.  “He doesn’t.”

“He can’t fucking have you.”

“Never,” she whispered, shaking her head. She ran her hands along the granite as he bent down and sealed their bodies together again, sucking her bottom lip between his.

The familiar sounds he made when he was close, the kind that seemed to come from the most secret part of him, seared the hot air between their lips. When his moans escalated to strangled cries, she licked his parted lips.

Chase screamed his release into her open mouth, his tongue tipping out subconsciously to meet hers, crying out desperately as he spilled inside her, his eyes jamming shut as he went as deep as he could go. He flinched inside her hot channel, strangled moans coming in time with each ardent thrust.

Lila accepted him as he collapsed on her back, pressing her firmly into the countertop.

They embraced until their heartbeats slowed, and their breathing evened.  Chase was the first to pull back, need still flourishing in his eyes and tightening his brows as he watched her bring her leg down from the counter, coming to her shaky feet as she turned to face him. 

He tucked himself back in his sweats, and she straightened the t-shirt around her thighs with that hooded look in her eyes.  That carnal look that he loved more than himself. 

He came up to her, chest to chest, holding her eyes as he reached behind her, ripping a paper towel from the roll at the end of the counter. Licking his lips, he put it between her legs and wiped her clean.

Her lips parted as he swept the towel along her tender walls, gasping whenever he hit an especially sensitive spot. He didn’t pull it away until it was soaked in their love.  Balling it up, he tossed it at the trashcan in the corner.  It swooshed inside the rim without him even looking.

Turning his back to her, he moved to the sink on the opposite end of the kitchen.  He clutched it for a moment and then turned on the faucet, getting to work cleaning the dishes they’d been ignoring since they’d had dinner earlier in the night.

Lila watched from behind as he cleaned, and then skated up next to him, leaning on the sink and shuffling her feet. 

He took his time finishing up the last of the dishes, folding the towel and draping it across the faucet before he finally turned his head, catching her eyes.

A sly smile broke his lips.

Lila couldn’t help but smile back, reaching out to tuck a finger into the waistband of his sweats. “Can we talk about what just happened?”

“What?  Do you mean me, making you nut, in less than a minute?”

“No.” She blushed.  “Though that was wonderful.  It’s not what I’m referring to.”

His jaw flexed.

She watched the tightness move down to his throat, across his chest, and over each arm, finally stopping at his hands as they tightened around the edge of the sink. 

“Chase, you’re constantly saying what we have is more than sex, and I agree with that.  But, at the same time, it seems like that’s always the first tool in your arsenal when you’re trying to make a point.”

“Did I not make my point?”

“Yes, your point was made, and very clearly.”

“I know it was.  I also know you, and I knew it was the only real way to get through to you.”  He finally turned to face her completely, gritting his teeth for control when she slid her hands over his body, trickling her fingers along his hard stomach.  “You know, Lila, most people, when they’re desperate to cum… they’ll lie.  They’ll say pretty much
anything,
as long as they know it’s what their partner wants to hear.  But you? You do the opposite.  When you’re desperate to cum, you tell the truth. You say things that you would never dream of saying when you’re lucid.  Can you blame me for trying to solve most of our problems when I’m inside you?  That’s the only way I can be sure I’m getting honesty from you, and not just the bullshit on the surface.”