Costars (New York City Bad Boy Romance) (74 page)

His
hands move around my body and come to rest on my ass, the strength in his
fingers now dormant, now active as we move together now, one with another.

His
feet are flat against the bed, his knees raised, and I
hook
my own feet beneath his thighs, leaning forward to feel the warmth and firmness
of his body as he penetrates me so fully.

“God
you’re hot,” I tell him in a distant echo from the completely different
existence of twenty minutes or more, and I kiss his chest, the wonderful taste
of his salty sweat bringing new life to my body and I tilt my head downward so
my hair covers my eyes as they well up with pure satisfaction, only the urge to
keep every part of this moment as every part of my world for as long as
possible.

I
kiss his chest again and run my tongue over one of his nipples, eliciting a
quick breath from him as he parts the dark curtains of my hair to find my smile
as I look up at him expectantly.

He
smiles back at me, and I slide my arms up his body and under the pillow
supporting his head, my upper body content to remain pressed against his.

His
hands move up my back with a feather touch, and my skin comes to a new level of
awareness, tiny pinpricks of invisible energy at once consuming and yet exuding
from my body.

With
one hand on my shoulder, pulling me onto him and the other on my lower back,
pulling me into him, our movement both opposite and perfectly aligned and he
drops his knees, my ankles still beneath his thighs, only driving me farther
onto him.

We
kiss, and I cradle the back of his head with my hands now, my body stretched
out and clasped by his.

“I
want to taste you,” I tell him. “Tell me when you’re about to come.”

He
nods and whispers, “It’s not going to be long.”

Like
the right key unlocking me, his words propel me upward again, and I’m breathing
heavily against him, my skin, my breasts, every part of me pulsing against him
with every lungful of air.

I
grind myself onto him greedily, feeling my own rising passion as I can feel the
beating of his heart and the flexing of his muscles as he fills me faster and
faster.

Breathless
now, he mouths the word, “Okay,” and I’m instant to untangle my body from his.

Lifting
my pulsing core from him, I turn my body around to straddle his head as I take
the condom off of his member and seal my lips over him, my hand attending to
what my mouth can’t cover and his warmth explodes into me, his own mouth
sucking my clit between those perfect lips.

I
swallow every drop and continue to suck him as he brings me again to that
delicious fulfillment, stronger than before.

My
mouth leaves him and I swallow again, feeling him everywhere on and inside of
me and within a moment, I am beyond breath, only one question on my mind.

When
the contractions cease, I use the last bit of energy I have left to turn around
and crawl next to him, falling into his arms.

He
turns his head and kisses me.

Still
catching my breath, bathing in the afterglow, I can’t wait any longer.

I
have to know.

“Why
didn’t you tell me?” I ask.

Chapter Fourteen

The Wrong Kind of Breath

Eric

“Tell
you what?” I ask.

“You’re
him,” she says and a new kind of adrenaline courses through me. “You’re the one
that’s been sending me all those messages.”

Fuck.
This isn’t going to be pleasant.

“I
wanted to tell you,” I say. “I just didn’t know how you would react. We’ve only
recently started to get back on good terms, and I wanted you to know that
there’s more to me than disputes over our contract.”

“I
get that,” she breathes, “but you should have told me.”

“I
know,” I answer, looking up at the ceiling and holding her close against me.

“Can
I just ask one question?”

“Anything,”
I tell her.

“What
the hell was that?” she asks.

I
wheeze laughter, still far too exhausted to make much of a sound.

“I
don’t know,” I tell her, “but it was incredible.”

“That,”
she says, “it was.”

And
with that, she pats me on the chest and sits up.

“Where
are you going?” I ask.

“I
need some water,” she answers. “Do you want any?”

“I’ll
come with you,” I tell her and sit up on the other half of the bed.

I
put my pants back on, but don’t bother with anything else.

Jessica
takes a bathrobe out of the closet and wraps herself inside it, pulling the
flaps closed around her amazing naked body. She’s a fucking goddess.

“Are
we okay?” I ask.

“I
don’t know,” she says. “After what just happened, it’s pretty hard to say no to
that question.”

My
knee-jerk thought is to say something about how sex fixes everything, but
luckily I’m nowhere near that drunk and nowhere near that stupid.

We
walk from the bedroom back to the kitchen where Jessica bends down to pick up
her shirt and her bra.

“I
do think we should have the talk,” she says, “but let’s not do it tonight. I
don’t know about you, but I could sleep for days right now.”

“All
right,” I tell her. “We can talk in the morning.”

“That’s
not going to work,” she says. “I’m going to sleep as long as I can, and I’m
pretty sure that’s only going to leave us enough time to get showered and ready
for the day.”

“All
right,” I tell her, “what about lunch?”

“No,
I think it might be a good team-building exercise if we all go out to lunch
together: You, me
and
Cheryl.”

“All
right,” I snicker. “Just let me know when you’re ready to talk and we’ll talk.”

“That’s
what I like to hear,” she says and gives me a peck on the lips before opening
her cupboard and grabbing two glasses.

She
fills one and hands it to me, and I drink it down before hers is filled.

“Someone’s
thirsty,” she says.

“Yeah,”
I answer and take a breath, setting the empty glass in the sink.

“Did
you know this was going to happen tonight?” she asks.

“No,”
I tell her. “I’m glad that it did, though.”

“Good
answer,” she says. “On that note, I’m going to bed. There’s a blanket on the
back of the couch.”

“I
can’t just sleep with you?” I ask.

“I’m
not used to having someone else in the bed with me,” she says. “With the early
morning, I really need my sleep if I’m going to be a receptive vessel for all
of your hidden knowledge tomorrow.”

“Fair
enough,” I tell her, though I am disappointed.

The
feeling of her in my arms was one of the most amazing sensations of my life.

She
makes her way back down the hall toward her bedroom and I decide to refill my
glass before settling in on the couch.

After
making a quick stop at the restroom, I go back to the living room and prepare
my makeshift bed for the night.

I’m
asleep before my head hits the couch cushion.

*
                   
*
                   
*

The
next thing I know, I can’t breathe and I jerk my head back against an unseen
force pinching my nose shut.

“Morning,
sunshine,” Jessica says. “I’m sorry about the rude awakening, but it’s about
the quickest way to get someone from dreamland to full awareness and we’re
already running late.”

“What
time is it?” I ask.

“It’s
almost seven-thirty,” she answers. “I told Cheryl we’d meet her at the store by
eight. Now up and at ‘
em
.”

Okay,
I like this woman, but we’re going to have to have a talk about acceptable and
unacceptable ways to wake each other up in the morning.

I
sit up and stretch as Jessica makes her way toward the bathroom.

“If
you want to shower,” she calls, “you’re probably going to want to make it
quick. I used up most of the hot water.”

She’d
mentioned that it’s been a while since she’s been in a relationship, but I had
no idea…

I
quickly make my way into the bathroom and turn on the water. Putting my hand
under the spray, I adjust the cold water all the way down until only the hot
water faucet is on and there’s precious little warmth left in it.

My
shower is quick to the point of almost being superhuman, but before my feet are
back on the bathroom floor, Jessica is already hurrying me up again.

“Come
on,” she says, “I don’t want to set a bad example for my new manager.”

I
wonder if now would be a good time to ask her whether I’m getting paid for my
consultation, not to mention the less than hospitable conditions under which
I’m already working.

I
dry myself quickly, mostly just to get the blood running back to my
extremities, and I find my clothes neatly folded on the bathroom counter.

Dressed
now, I come out of the bathroom and find Jessica standing by the door.

“Would
you mind driving?” she asks.

“Not
a problem,” I tell her and she tosses me her keys.

At
some point, I’m going to have to get back to Alec’s and pick up my truck, but
that can wait.

I
drive, although you wouldn’t know it by all the input I’m receiving on the way.
While I do manage to get us from her place to the store with five minutes to
spare, Jessica still insists on speed walking from the parking lot to the front
of the store.

Cheryl’s
walking up just as we are and Jessica increases her speed even further to meet
her.

“Good
morning,” Jessica says. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought a friend to kind
of help us both out today.”

“I
don’t mind at all,” Cheryl answers, looking at me in a way that’s sure to make
this entire experience unbelievably awkward.

“It’s
nice to see you again,” I tell her and reach out to shake her hand.

She
looks down at the gesture and turns back to Jessica.

“So,”
Cheryl says, “you wanted me to remind you to get me a key. Did you remember?”

“Got
one right here,” Jessica says and searches through her purse for a protracted
amount of time. Finally finding the key, she hands it over to her employee and
asks, “Why don’t you open up the store? Once we’re in, I’ll show you how to
disarm the alarm.”

“Great,”
Cheryl says and we’re off and running.

Once
we’re inside and the alarm is safely in the
off setting
,
Jessica turns to me, saying, “Where should we start?”

“Well,”
I tell her, “I think it’s a good idea to first outline your new manager’s new
role and then, if there are any questions, we can address those.”

Jessica
nods and starts telling Cheryl what’s to be expected of her and it’s
alternately too much and not enough. It’ll take a little bit of work to get it
tweaked just right, but none of what Jessica talks about is too far in either
direction.

Cheryl
asks some questions, and when Jessica doesn’t have the answers herself, I help
in whatever way I can to get them both on the same page.

The
process is a little awkward, but I can appreciate that Jessica’s new to this
and Cheryl seems to be willing to listen and learn.

It
takes a few hours to go over everything on Jessica’s agenda. Once that’s over,
she turns to me and asks if I have any further suggestions.

“It
might not be a bad idea to do some roleplaying,” I tell her. “Before I took
over the company, I used to work in retail, and acting out some likely
scenarios was a really great help when I became a manager.”

“Great,”
Jessica says, clapping her hands together, and I want to tell her to relax a
bit, but I’m not going to do that in front of her employee.

“Where
do we start?” Cheryl asks.

I
suggest a scenario where Jessica is the cashier and I’m a customer with a
dispute.

We
do a quick run where Cheryl tries to solve the situation without any guidance
and then, after giving her some direction on how she might more effectively
resolve the situation, we run through it again.

Cheryl
picks everything up remarkably fast, and I’m feeling rather proud about
suggesting such an adept woman for the promotion.

Jessica
decides that we need another run-through, though, and this time, she takes on
the role of the customer.

“Yeah,”
Jessica says, miming a pair of shoes, “I got these back home and one of the
straps split when I was pulling it out of the box. I need a refund.”

“All
right, I’ll be happy to help you with that,” I answer.