Mustang Sassy (23 page)

As soon as they stepped into the small, confined space of the elevator, Jordan asked, “Sass, where’s your key?”

“Back pocket.” Her eyes were closed as she leaned against him. “Room 617.” When Jordan reached around into her pocket, she strained her ass into his hand, making it difficult to remove the card. “Mmmm. But, you? You’re different, aren’t you, City-boy?”

“Come on, Sass.” Jordan wanted her to stop talking. Right now.

Eventually, she withdrew the card herself. “I’ll ‘come on’ if you do.” Her eyes were glazed and out of focus. Lazily she ran a hand up and under his shirt. “You’re nice, aren’t you, Jordie? That’s the difference.” She shut her eyes. “Oh, and the sex is go-ood.” Grinding her pelvis into his leg, she continued, “You’re the only one who really knows how to scratch my itch.”

Thankfully the elevator reached the sixth floor. Jordan didn’t know how much more he could take. Sass was drunk. That wasn’t a turn on. Sass was grinding herself against him. That was usually a turn-on, but not tonight. But Sass calling him nice? That statement made him as cold as a January morning. What was wrong with her? Apart from the obvious inebriation and her inability to fight gravity, had she forgotten his lies? His deceit? Maybe she was so focused on her dad’s marriage that the other stuff was pushed aside. They’d have to discuss it at a later date, when she was sober.

First, he had to get her to her room, tuck her into bed and make sure she was okay and then run before he did something nasty. But for some reason as they made their way down the hall, Sass started tugging on his hand in an annoyingly playful way, making it difficult to get her to her room. “Sassy…”

She gave up tugging, which made her almost fall on her face, but Jordan caught her in time. Finally, he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way to her room. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into him, whispering, “I love it when you call me Sassy. No one else. Only you.”

Jordan shivered at the sound of her voice in his ear. He nearly dropped her when her tongue replaced her hot breath. Somehow he managed to slip the key card into the slot, and Jordan pushed the door open with his foot, turned on a light, and deposited Sass on the bed. Her eyes were closed and a single wrinkle was etched between her brows. She was so wasted and she seemed so small and helpless on the huge king-size bed. He didn’t want to leave her. Not when she was like this. But staying wasn’t the best option either because he had a feeling Sass would curse him tomorrow if he did.

“Don’t leave.” Her eyes were still closed but her hands reached out for him.

Jordan crawled onto the bed beside her and rubbed the back of his hand gently across her cheek and then down her jaw in an attempt to remove a strand of hair that had gotten stuck to the side of her mouth. She took his finger and drew it between her lips into that sweet, warm mouth of hers. Jordan cringed and withdrew. “Sass…”

“Kiss me.”

“Sass, you’re drunk.”

“Kiss me.”

“I don’t think…”

With a strength that shouldn’t have surprised him, Sass pulled Jordan down beside her and didn’t bother to ask again. Her lips were soft, softer than usual, and her tongue peeked in and out of his mouth, driving him crazy. She drove him crazy. Everything about this little hellion with the impertinent mouth and taut body drove him mad. It certainly didn’t help that, even in her drunken state, she’d somehow managed to undo his fly and had her hand lodged down the front of his jeans, rubbing him hard.

“Sass, no…” Jordan tried to draw her hand free of his jeans but her grip was firm.

She stopped kissing him for a moment to gaze at him blearily. “You’re right. There’s somethin’ I haven’t done for you.” She released him and then scooted down low, her hair tickling the sensitive skin of his exposed abdomen.

“What are you doing?”

She gazed up at him and grinned impishly. Then she licked her lips and moved as if to take him into her mouth. Jordan stopped her by rolling out from beneath her. He sat on the edge of the bed and did up his fly.

“Wha’s wrong?” Sass asked, sounding hurt. “Don’t you want me?”

Oh, God. His heart broke at the uncertainty in her voice. “Sassy, honey, you’re drunk and you need to go to sleep.”

She flopped onto the bed, eyes closed, and sighed, seeming to have forgotten what she was just about to do. Jordan gently stroked her forehead, willing her to pass out.

But, after a few minutes of silence, she spoke, slurring softly, “You know, my mom used to call me Sassy. She was the only one who ever did.”

“I didn’t know that.” Jordan used his thumb to gently rub away the wrinkle between her brows.

“She left us, you know. My mom. Before she died. Buck doesn’t think I remember. But I do. It was my birthday and she left. I watched her pack her bags.”

Jordan’s chest tightened as he listened. He had a feeling that she was sharing something with him right now that she’d never shared with anyone else. “Shh, Sass,” Jordan said. “Go to sleep.”

“I don’t blame her.” Her eyes stayed closed as her lips twisted to one side. “I’m difficult.” She made a noise that sounded like half laugh, half sob. “I make everyone leave…eventually.”

Jordan cringed. What the hell was he doing? He gazed down at her, hating himself for what he’d done to her. Hating that she still didn’t know the truth. All he wanted to do was take away her pain, make things right. Hold her close and never let her go.

But for now, all he could manage was a chaste kiss on the forehead. “Good night, Sass.”

She opened her eyes. “Except you,” she murmured, her lips barely moving. “You’re the only one who’s ever stayed. I like that.”

Her eyes were so unfocused, Jordan didn’t think she really saw him and within seconds her lids succumbed to the weight of drunken exhaustion. He turned off the light and settled in beside her, holding her hand and rubbing her knuckles, thinking about the things she’d told him, planning out what he’d say to her in the morning.

“Jordan?” The word sounded more like a sigh than his name.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Chapter Eighteen

Sass woke up and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her eyes were welded shut, her teeth felt sore and loose, like they might just crumble out of her mouth, and there was a band of evil gnomes doing major road construction on the highway between her ears. She cringed and tried to will herself back to sleep. Just a few more hours and the gnomes’ heavy hammering might be done.

But sleep eluded her. Visions of Buck and Mary-Lynn flitted through her brain. Lying on deck chairs in sunny Florida, drinking stupid fruity drinks. Mary-Lynn laughing at something Buck said and laying her hand on his arm the way Sass had already witnessed too many times. Then there was the shop. For some reason, Sass had an image in her mind of standing outside in the parking lot of the shop, watching an enormous bulldozer demolish it. Hogan’s. The family business. The place she’d grown up. The place she considered home. The only place she’d ever felt she belonged.

It was too much. Fumbling for a light switch, Sass instead found a large glass of water and a bottle of Tylenol waiting for her on the bedside table. Who’d left that? Maybe she’d had the presence of mind to set it out for herself last night. But then she heard the shower.

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no!

What had she done? Invited some guy back to her room?

She lifted the sheets to inspect herself, terrified of what she might find. But, she still wore all her clothes. Even her shirt and jeans. Okay, so the guy either had sex with her and then put her clothes back on, or he didn’t have sex with her. But then, why stay?

Despite her throbbing head, Sass scrambled to her feet and searched the room for a weapon. Her heart thudded against her chest as she picked something up off the table and held it out in front of her. She stood with her feet shoulder width apart, in combat stance, as the door to the bathroom swung open.

“Morning, Sass.”

“Jordan?”

Jordan stood in the doorway in his jeans and that was it. Sass had a hard time tearing her eyes away from the way his muscles moved across the expanse of chest as he towel-dried his hair. What the hell was Jordan doing here? Showering, half-naked? Looking hot and available and comfortable and like he belonged.

“What’s with the bottle opener?” Jordan asked, his head cocked to the side. “Is that a ‘hair of the dog’ thing?”

“No. I—”

“You weren’t planning on attacking me with that thing, were you?”

Sass glanced at the improbable weapon in her hands and then set it down on the counter. “No. I—”

Jordan approached her with an amused, smug, sexy look in his eyes. He came close to her, smelling all clean and fresh and yummy and he leaned down and whispered, “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what happened last night.”

“Well…” Sass tried to back away but there was nowhere to go. Jordan seemed to surround her on all sides. Jordan’s body. His big, half-nude body still glistening with droplets of moisture. Her mouth began to water. Damn! What happened? What had she said? What had she done? Why was Jordan here? “Things might be a little sketchy.”

The sound of Jordan’s chuckle was so low and he stood so close that she could feel the rumble from his chest, and Sass’s knees weakened. There was definitely something wrong with her. It was partly the hangover, but something else, too. His hands were on her shoulders and his lips were close to her ear, too close, when he whispered, “Go have a shower and we’ll talk about it when you come out.”

Sass shut herself up in the bathroom and then leaned heavily against the door. Jordan was here. Shit, shit, shit! Worse, Jordan had stayed the night. It couldn’t be good. She was drunk and…what had she said? What had she done? Oh, God! It was too humiliating. She’d just had her very first sleepover and she couldn’t even remember it.

After a long, long shower, a good tooth brushing, and numerous glasses of water, Sass felt insignificantly better. Certainly not ready to face Jordan. But face him she must. With a towel wrapped around her body and one around her hair, Sass emerged from the bathroom with her eyes downcast. She squatted in front of her duffel bag, rooting around in it for something to wear. The TV was on, but Sass could feel Jordan’s eyes on her, boring through her, tugging at the towel that was tucked around her chest, making her already hot skin sizzle.

“Stop that!”

“Stop what?”

“I feel like crap. I’m not going to fuck you this morning.”

Jordan got off the bed and stalked slowly toward her. Sass’s pulse thrummed in her throat. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. She dropped her clothes and instead clasped her towel tight against her as she stood.

When Jordan spoke, his voice was low and quiet. But it didn’t sound comforting, it sounded menacing. “Is that what you think I want from you?”

“I—”

He stepped even closer and clasped her arms so that she had to look at him. “Do you seriously put me in the same category as Carlos and Dex?”

Her mouth fell open. She’d told him about Carlos and Dex? Ah, hell. What else had she said?

“I just want to talk, Sass.” He stopped to let his eyes slide down the length of her, pausing where the towel was slipping between her breasts. He licked his lips and continued, “As tempting as you may be, what I’d really like to do this morning is talk.”

“Talk?”

“Yes. So get some clothes on before I do something nasty.”

Nasty? Oh! Sass just stared after him as a fluttery something or other tickled her down
there
. She really was in no condition for sex but the thought of Jordan doing something
nasty
to her suddenly sounded appealing.

“Get dressed!” Jordan growled and stormed away.

Sass glanced down to see her towel pooled about her feet. Oops! She snatched her clothes and hurried to the bathroom. With shaking hands and a throbbing head, Sass pulled on her underwear and jeans and then slipped a T-shirt over her head. She started combing her hair but then gave up.

She burst out of the bathroom only to find Jordan directly on the other side of the door. He bent down and stole the question from her lips before she had a chance to voice it. His lips were demanding, like he’d been waiting to kiss her for a long, long time—too long. Sass drank from his lips like he was a fountain, dipping her tongue in and out but still unable to quench her thirst. Jordan’s hands were in her hair, on the side of her head, directing her so that he could kiss her harder. He backed her up to the wall and smothered her body with his.

All of Sass’s aches and pains disappeared. They were gone, only to be replaced by a fierce need. It was a physical, all-consuming necessity that he kiss her like he was. That his tongue sweep her mouth and he nip her lips. As if reading her mind, Jordan moved one hand down between them and then up under her shirt to squeeze her breast. Yes! She needed that, too. Oh, and his mouth. His mouth on her nipple, licking it, biting it. Yes. That was a requirement for her too.

There was one more thing she needed—fiercely. She fumbled with his fly and sighed in relief when she released him. Then she slid her own jeans down. Headache be damned. She would not be able to get through the day if she did not have Jordan’s big, hard cock inside of her. It was vital that he take her, up against the wall, right now. Kicking one foot free of her jeans, Sass raised her knee so he could feel just how hot and wet she was for him.

What she did not need was for Jordan to stop and to growl, “Dammit, Sass!” With his hands on either side of her, he pushed away from the wall breathing heavily as she stared at him in horror.

“Don’t you dare not finish what you started here,” she snapped.

He took a deep breath, like he wanted to calm himself down. Then he shut his eyes as if he couldn’t look at her. “I want to talk—first. There are things we need to clear up.” He turned away and Sass heard the sound of his fly zipping.

In frustrated embarrassment, Sass tugged her shirt down and pulled her jeans back on. Then, without moving away from the wall, she crossed her arms over her chest and said, “Okay, talk.”