What He Bargains (What He Wants, Book Nineteen) (67 page)

Even though it was a little scary, she found that she loved it. She loved that she was finally tasting him, sucking him.

“Keep fingering your pussy,” he told her, his voice tight with excitement.

One of his hands clutched the back of the couch while the other was holding onto an armrest above her head, as she’d slid further down to make room. Meanwhile, Raven’s free hand pressed against Jake’s rock hard stomach, trying to control his thrusts the best she could.

His body was like a coiled spring, all power and muscle and energy building to a crescendo.

She continued fingering herself, and each time her finger buried itself into her wet slit, she felt herself nearing a powerful orgasm. But Jake had told her not to come, and she was doing her best not to, even though this was as exciting as any sexual encounter yet.

“Fuck,” Jake groaned as he slid his shaft even deeper into her mouth. “Take me all the way in,” he hissed.

And so saying, he slid himself all the way, as far as he could go, and Raven swore she could feel the head of him tickling the back of her throat.

When he withdrew, she took a deep, gasping breath.

“Now I’m going to fuck that tight little pussy of yours,” he said, moving away just far enough so that he could reach down and grab her hips. Spinning her so that her butt was hanging off the couch, he pressed her legs upwards and entered her pussy with one quick thrust.

Raven cried out in pleasure and surprise.

Jake began pumping his hips, fucking her hard, his shaft sliding in and out as the energy continued to culminate in her center.

His hands were pressing into her thighs, forcing them back as he drilled into her wet hole.

“Jake,” she cried.

And then they were both climaxing at once.

“Oh my God,” she said, and she meant it. “Oh my God.” She’d never felt anything remotely like this energy that was burning up her entire body, making her muscles stiffen and contort and her eyes roll back.

She nearly lost consciousness.

Maybe she did.

I’m out of my head.

I’m out of my mind.

But when she came back to planet Earth again, the pleasure was just as great, and it rolled through her in waves of ecstasy, as Jake collapsed down onto her, spending himself inside her, thrusting again and again, and then his lips were on her breasts and then her mouth.

They were inhaling one another, kissing, laughing, their hands groping one another’s sweaty bodies, enjoying the feel of each other, the taste.

They fell off the couch and rolled onto the floor, laughing.

“Holy shit,” Jake said, as he rolled into his back, still laughing.

“Oh God,” she said again, completely spent, her breath coming in gasps, her heart racing but slowly beginning to come down as she caught her breath once more. “I feel like I just sprinted a mile.”

Jake shook his head. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“Whatever it was, I want more of that. It felt amazing.”

“You’re amazing,” Jake said, moving himself closer to her again, kissing her earlobe. “What a woman.”

“Are you sure you aren’t mad at me?”

He laughed. “You think I’m mad at you? Were you not there for what we just did?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I feel guilty about putting your music online, Jake.”

“Forget it. Seriously.”

But she couldn’t. Her phone was on the floor nearby and Raven’s hand reached out and took her cell.

“I should at least pull the video down, like you said, even if other people are going to post it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jake told her. “In a day or two, nobody will even care. Believe me, it’s not as important to everyone else as it is to you and me.”

Raven opened up the webpage that had the YouTube video on it, and she was shocked at what she was seeing. Her eyes got wider and wider, and her mouth dropped open.

“What is it?” Jake asked. “Hey—what’s wrong?”

“It’s…it’s not possible…”

“What’s not possible? Raven, give me that.” He grabbed the phone out of her hands and stared at it. His expression went from annoyed to puzzled to shocked in a matter of seconds.

She knew what he was seeing, which was exactly what she’d already seen. In the short amount of time since she’d posted the video, it already had nearly a hundred thousand views.

A hundred thousand views meant it had gone viral.

But what had shocked her even more had been the likes. The people who’d watched the video had overwhelmingly liked it. There were already more than five thousand likes and only a handful of dislikes.

Jake was scanning the comments. “Wow,” he said. His shook his head. “Just…wow.”

“What are people saying, Jake?”

He rubbed his chin as his eyes continued to scan the page. “Well, this one says, “I’m crying right now. Most beautiful song ever made.” If you can believe that.” Jake laughed, shaking his head. “Let’s see. Another person wrote, “If you’d told me I would become a Jake Novak fan today I’d have said you were either insane or an idiot. But surprisingly, even though I came here thinking I’d hate his new song and shit all over it, I really enjoyed this piece. It’s different than anything he’s ever done. Unless this is some sort of hoax, Jake Novak has just become truly awesome.””

Raven was smiling from ear to ear as Jake continued to read comments.

And then there was a buzzing from nearby as Jake’s phone started to ring. “Here,” Jake said, tossing her cell phone back to her. “I should probably take that.”

He went and dug his phone out of his shorts and answered it. “Yeah,” he said into the phone, standing there naked, the sunlight capturing every beautiful curve, every muscle, every vein in his forearm. Raven thought she’d never seen him so handsome as he was right then, like an angel made real.

Jake laughed into the phone and then he listened for a long time to the person on the other end. Finally, he said, “Wow, I’m completely blown away to hear you say that...” he paused, listening. “Well thanks for letting me know. I’ll call you in the next day or two, okay? Tell everyone I said hi. Talk soon. Love you.” He hung up, staring at his phone, bemused, maybe even a little nostalgic.

“Who was that?” Raven asked him.

“That was my Dad,” Jake said. “He never in my whole career ever said a word about my music. I mean, he would congratulate me on stuff and say he was proud, but he never actually said he liked anything I did.”

“What did he say just now?”

“He said that a friend of his told him to check it out and emailed him a link, so Dad went online and had a listen.” Jake swallowed and his eyes moistened. “He told me that my new song was something he never could have expected or imagined. He told me it was better than Paul McCartney’s Yesterday, which is my Dad’s all-time favorite song.”

“Oh, Jake. That’s so amazing, and so sweet of him to tell you that.”

Jake cleared his throat. His eyes met hers. “That’s because of you, too. I don’t care what else happens, Raven. For my Dad to call me and tell me that…it means more to me than a five-star review in Rolling Stone or hitting The Billboard Top Ten or whatever else people get excited about.”

“You deserve it,” she told him. “The song is that good. I knew people would agree with me when they saw you playing it.”

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Jake said. “But I think it’s a hit.”

Raven smiled. “I think you’re right.”

O
ver the remainder
of the evening, the song’s popularity continued to increase. Raven had never seen anything like it, and from Jake’s reaction, neither had he.

By the time they went to sleep that night, the video had received over a million views and 25,000 likes, with only a few hundred dislikes. The comments were overwhelmingly positive too.

But there was much more happening then just views and comments on the one video she’d posted. There had also been other videos posted, some from the bloggers and various insiders she’d emailed earlier.

Those videos all had thousands and thousands of views as well.

There were already blog posts, tweets, and short articles, the vast majority of them positive and glowing, discussing how this new song had gone viral and noting the overwhelmingly positive reaction it was garnering from people around the globe.

Too Far From Home was a phenomenon that seemed to transcend Jake’s celebrity entirely. People that didn’t even like Jake, loved his new song.

There were already dozens of video reactions and Vines posted of people crying while listening to Jake’s song in the background.

All night long, Jake’s cell phone buzzed with texts and calls from various friends and associates telling him how happy they were and also moved by what he’d done.

Eventually, Jake turned his cell phone off and put it in a drawer. “I don’t want to deal with this right now,” he said, as they got ready for bed.

“But this is wonderful,” Raven told him. “Don’t you want to take it all in?”

“Someone smart once said that if you believe the critics when they tell you you’re great, you’ll believe them again when they inevitably decide you suck.”

Raven thought about it, nodding. “I guess that’s true.”

Maybe I still need to learn that lesson. My whole life, I’ve been listening to critics, listening to the people who judged my life. And for what? In the end, the only opinion that matters is my opinion, and only I know whether I’m happy or not.

Jake was watching her now, a tiny grin playing on his lips. “What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she sighed. “Just that I wish I’d taken that advice over the years. It would’ve saved me a lot off grief.”

Jake climbed onto the bed and grabbed her hands, pulling her towards him. Raven squealed, falling on the mattress as Jake took her by the waist and scooped her into his arms. “You let me handle the haters and the critics, okay? You don’t need to worry about everyone else.”

“Sounds good,” she admitted, smiling at him. “I’ll just worry about you.”

“Now you’re getting it.”

Raven ran her hands up and down his chest, shivering. “Promise me that we’re not going to let this change us.”

“Let what change us?” Jake asked her.

“Now that your new song is such a huge success, things are going to happen. People are going to want your time, they’re going to make demands and you might start to get pulled away from me.” Just admitting that this fear existed felt scary to her, but also embarrassing as well.

Jake caressed her cheek softly. “Hey,” he said. “Look at me, Raven.”

She looked up at him. “Yes?”

“I’m not going to let anyone or anything pull us apart. You’re going to be with me. I need you by my side always.”

“But—“

“No. There are no buts. No exceptions. You will always come first for me, ahead of my career, my music, the fans, the movies, the money. That’s how much you mean to me.”

Raven sighed. “I love you, and I’m sorry if I’m acting crazy.”

“You’re not acting crazy.” He kissed her lips softly. “You’re perfect.”

That night, she fell asleep in his arms again and didn’t wake up again until early the next morning.

When she did wake up, Jake was sitting on the edge of the bed, talking on his phone in a low voice. “I’m open to it for sure,” Jake said, clearly in mid conversation. “But you understand I have some legal issues to sort out with my old label. It could take awhile.”

There was a long pause as Jake listened to whoever was on the other end. He listened for a long, long time, so whomever he was chatting with must have had a lot to say.

Finally, Jake straightened. “Okay, well we’d be happy to come to Miami and stop by. I’ll bring the demo tracks with me.” Another lengthy pause. “Sure, I can be there in a few hours. See you then.” Jake hung up the cell and sat there for a long moment, not knowing that Raven was watching him.

She was trying to decide if he was apprehensive or just thoughtful. The truth was, she couldn’t tell, but something in her was anxious now. Things were changing, just as she’d feared they might.

Perhaps
, Raven thought,
I’m going to regret posting his song on YouTube. Maybe the success of it will be our undoing.

But then she reminded herself not to think that way.

Trust what you have. Trust Jake. Everything’s going to work out.

As she was lying there, watching Jake and thinking about her conflicted feelings, he turned his head and saw her watching him. “Hey,” he said. “How long you been up for?”

“Not that long,” she said.

He turned his body towards her. “You have a weird look on your face.”

“I do?” she said, acting as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Yeah, you do. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Maybe I’m just tired.”

Jake got up and stretched his arms over his head, the muscles flexing, reminding her of just how incredible his body was. Reminding her of what he’d done to her the previous day on the couch.

God, she wanted him so badly all of the time. He wouldn’t be able to stand her much longer.

“Well, I’m going downstairs to make some pancakes on the griddle,” he said. “You like pancakes?”

“Who doesn’t like pancakes?” she said, running a hand through her tangled hair.

Jake grinned. “And I put chocolate chips in the batter, it’s fucking incredible.”

“That sounds delightful.” She forced a smile to her face.

Jake was about to leave the room, as he pulled a t-shirt on over his head.

“Jake,” she called out.

“Yeah?”

“Who was that on the phone? You’re taking a meeting today?”

He nodded. “
We’re
taking a meeting today.”

“Oh. With who?”

“Come downstairs when you’re ready. We’ll eat chocolate chip pancakes and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” He laughed maniacally and jogged out of the room, his laughter trailing and echoing as he went down the stairs to the first floor.

Raven got up, listening as she heard Jake in the kitchen, banging around, apparently because making pancakes included making a loud racket.