Don't Lie to Me (14 page)

“You’re doing it again.”

I slowly turned my eyes from the game I wasn’t paying attention to, to the face of a man clearly annoyed.

I shrugged. Maybe I was, a little bit.

Jack placed his hand on my knee, and for the first time his touch didn’t feel sexy – just comforting. I looked down at it, and then nodded to the bar in our suite where we could talk quietly and Logan couldn’t hear. Although he was busy scribbling all over his program drawing the players he saw on the field so I doubt he’d hear us anyway. The kid could get lost in drawing for hours.

“You don’t date and you’ve already said you’re going to fuck this up,” I said once we reached the bar and continued before Jack could defend himself. “And I don’t trust easily…not since Logan’s dad took off.” I scrunched my nose up at the honesty and the reminder.

Jack looked at me for a while, just looked. A blank look on his face and then he cocked his head to the left and right, cracking it.

“So, you have issues.”

I nodded, and flashed him a quick grin. “Probably not as many as you, though.”

I relished the boyish grin on Jack’s face, so different from the blank stare he had just given me, and much easier to deal with than the intensity his eyes usually held. I sighed deeply, feeling like I just exhaled the weight of the world from my shoulders. I had to be honest with him.

“You scare the hell out of me, Jack. I keep waiting for your three date rule to kick in and for you to send me packing when you move on to someone else…”

“That’s not going to happen.” Fire flashed in his eyes. I leveled my own serious gaze at him so he would stop talking.

“….and I have Logan to think about. He already looks up to you so much, and the only thing I can think of is what’s going to happen to him when this doesn’t work out.”

“When?” He bit it out like a curse word. I almost wanted to take it back, but I couldn’t. It was my biggest fear. “You sound so certain this will end already and we’ve barely just begun.”

His eyes no longer held anger. Instead he looked disappointed with me. I turned from him and watched Logan, happily coloring on the baseball program. He was probably drawing the entire team, each uniform numbered and each player in their exact position as he saw them on the field. He was completely oblivious to the tension on the other side of the room and so innocently trusted me to take care of him and provide for him. Being with Jack involved so many risks – for my heart, my financial security, and for Logan. I could handle me. I hated not knowing how resilient he would be if Jack decided to end us.

When Jack spoke again, he was more relaxed, pleading with me to believe him. I wanted to. Desperately.

“I’ve wanted you for so long, Emma that the thought of you already assuming this won’t work out kills me.” He didn’t take his eyes off me, but he roughly rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead, physically trying to smooth out the tension. “If you’re unsure of me, of this….whatever is going on between us, I get it. But you need to walk away now, and I’ll understand. And nothing will change when you come back to work on Monday. But if there’s any chance you want this as much as I do, give me a chance to show you – and Logan – how much I want this.”

I watched him giving me my out. I could walk away right now and go back to work, my heart intact and Logan completely safe. Except I gave Jack a piece of my heart years ago and I would never get it back. Not now. Not after all we’d shared in the last week and with his honesty laid out before me so blatantly.

I wanted him. I wanted to trust him.

So help me god, I stood there and realized I needed him. He stood in front of me, watching me, waiting for my decision and I saw him grow more tense and concerned with every second it took me to think about it.

I nodded. I was all in. No more doubts. I would trust him completely. All the tension in his features and shoulders relaxed infinitesimally before my eyes. He stepped towards me softly, not saying a word, but yet, speaking so much in his silence. He needed me to trust him. I sighed as his hand gently reached out and cupped my jaw and my cheek. He leaned in, never once breaking eye contact with me, and gently placed his lips over mine; barely touching me as he brushed them ever so softly.

“Thank you.”

I melted into a puddle of lust and girly-ness and satisfaction just hearing those two words because I knew he meant so much more than he could say.

I returned his kiss just as softly, allowing him to deepen it – just barely – as his lips pressed more firmly into mine. My entire body flushed with pleasure at the simplest touch he gave me.

He stopped there, looked back at Logan and then back to me. I thought he was going to lean in for another soft kiss, but at the last second, he leaned in close to my ear and whispered huskily. “We’re having a sleepover tonight, and you’re not going to argue with me this time. I want you in my bed and Logan close by.”

Yes, please. Amazing how I could go from wanting to protect Logan and filled with such doubt and one simple touch and look from Jack could erase it in a split second. I wondered briefly if our relationship would always be this mercurial and then stopped myself. Of course it would be, but I had a feeling the rewards would be better than the risks and I wanted to stop doubting and finally go after what I wanted.

Logan and I spent the rest of the weekend at Jack’s penthouse. As soon as Logan went to bed Saturday night, Jack took me to his room and tenderly loved me until I was crying out his name in passion while he joined me shortly after. He held me all night long, my rule of him not touching me around Logan soon forgotten. I went home on Sunday night, only to grab a couple of overnight bags for Logan and me before we spent another night at Jack’s house. Maybe I shouldn’t have suddenly moved so fast, but I couldn’t stop myself.

As soon as I gave Jack my promise to remove any doubt, and just let what was going to happen, happen; everything changed and I couldn’t get enough of him. Based on how he continually had a hand on some part of my body – whether sexually or not – I figured he felt the same way.

We spent the rest of the week the same way. Jack kept his word and didn’t touch me while I was working. That didn’t stop him from sending suggestive text messages that left me wanting him – craving him. Once he came home those nights, we practiced christening every inch of his condo before I left to go home to Logan and I didn’t mind in the least. The only thing I minded was being away from him at night. My body got so used to Jack in such a short time that I lusted after him, fantasized of his hands on me, touching me, bringing me to ecstasy every night I spent away from him. I had never been as satisfied sexually and knowing that Jack wasn’t getting tired of me, gave me growing confidence that he really meant what he said. He wanted me and would do whatever it took to keep me.

Jack came back from work early on Friday to prepare for the dinner he was hosting with the new lawyer. I left the caterers in the kitchen to finish setting up dinner and decorating his formal dining room where they would eat, and met him at the door. Hungry for him.

He smiled at me with a predatorily grin as soon as he entered his home and I knew he wanted me, too. He stalked toward me and grabbed my hand, pulling me up the stairs without a single word. I was getting used to his control issues, and his need for quiet. It didn’t bother me in the least that he said nothing. He just needed me.

“Shut the door,” he said, seriously, as soon as I entered his room. His eyes glared at me as if he was angry and I watched him shove his hands in the front pockets of his dress pants, several feet away from me. Too far away from me.

I moved to take a step forward but stopped when he shook his head ‘no.’ This would be quiet, rough sex. My thighs clenched together automatically trying to stave off the feeling of lust bubbling inside me. Hell, it wasn’t bubbling, it was growing closer to combusting every single second he stared at me.

I licked my lips instinctively, wanting this. When had I become such a sex fiend? I had him only twenty-four hours ago and yet my body acted like I had spent years on a deserted island, dying for physical attention. That was how Jack made me feel; completely starved and deserted when he wasn’t around.

Was that even healthy? I had no idea, but as I watched him raise one eyebrow in warning to me, I didn’t even care anymore.

I relaxed my thighs, embarrassed he had noticed through my short black skirt. I received a small smile in approval. It quickly changed back to a lustful grin as we stood there, just watching each other. My nipples hardened under his watch, just waiting for him to tell me what to do next. I knew this look. He wanted complete control from me and knowing that he needed that from me, left me fighting the urge to clench my thighs together again.

“Strip.” He spoke as nonchalantly as he did when he told me earlier in the morning to have a good day. His eyes were anything but nonchalant while I slowly kicked my sandals off, and pushed my skirt down. I paused for a minute and let my eyes drag down his entire body. A seductive grin fell across my lips once I kicked my skirt away from him. I stood there, several feet away from what I wanted so badly clad in just a pink silk top and nothing beneath.

A low growl escaped Jack’s throat when he saw me bare beneath the skirt. I loved knowing I challenged his self-control. I gave up feeling wanton, and embraced the control I had over him, too. I smirked at the thought and brought my eyes back to his. Then, I slowly, teasingly so, undid the top button.

“Hurry up before I rip your shirt off you,” he commanded, a small grin on his lips.

I didn’t listen. I took my time knowing that any second he was either going to throw me up against a wall and take me hard, or punish me for teasing him.

Either option sounded good to me.

I slowly separated one more button, thankful for my generous breasts that showed my cleavage now.

That one small glimpse of my skin was just enough for his control to break. Without any warning, Jack’s arm was around my waist. He moved as quickly as a panther because in one blink of an eye he was too far away and then in another, I was up against his bedroom door. The cold wood pressed against the length of my body. Jack’s entire body pressed up against mine and my already hardened nipples became unbearably uncomfortable.

“Jack….” I moaned. I meant it to be a warning not to actually rip my shirt off. There would be men downstairs when I left and I didn’t want to be embarrassed. Instead it came out all breathy and husky and needy. I stopped caring about the shirt when he ground his erection into me.

Jack’s mouth met mine forcefully. He swirled his tongue, not even waiting for me to allow him entrance. His hand moved from behind my back and grabbed one of my hands, holding it above my head. I arched into him and rubbed my bare crotch against his pants. I wanted him. Now.

My free hand reached out to his pants and I began fumbling with his zipper and belt. He moaned as I rubbed against his crotch and finally got the belt loose. With one hand, I unbuttoned his pants and slid the zipper down. I smiled into his mouth when I realized he was just as bare beneath his pants as I had been.

Hot damn, I thought as I released his gorgeous cock and fondled it in my hands. It pulsed in my hands and I instantly wondered what it would be like to taste him. What he tasted like. I never enjoyed doing that sort of thing to a man before, but who the hell was I kidding – I had never been with a man before Jack – just boys. And suddenly, I wanted to please him just as much as he always took the time to please me.