When You Were Mine [Second Chances 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (18 page)

“Well that wasn’t awkward, right?” Cora asked.

Jamie smiled and said, “Course not. You okay?”

“Yep. And I got my restraining order.”

“Good,” he said, feeling a swamping sense of relief as he dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m probably going to work straight through lunch. See you tonight?”

“I’ll stop by when I’m ready to go,” Cora promised. “Have a good day.”

“You too,” he said, as he turned to walk down the hallway.

Jamie managed to work through the majority of remaining smaller jobs that he’d booked by five, so he was able to shift gears and focus specifically on the Shinobi campaign. He was also able to work out a doable time line that wouldn’t kill him.

He had even managed to make some progress on tomorrow’s to-do list by the time Cora showed up. She poked her head into his office and said, “Hey you.”

He glanced up at her and said, “Hey. Good day?”

She nodded, then studied him and asked, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” he said. He rubbed a hand over his eyes and added, “Long day. Let me just save up and we can get out of here. I’m beat.”

“It was a long weekend,” Cora agreed.

A few minutes later they were headed out to his car in silence. He was in a shitty mood. He’d been thinking about the encounter with Bryce outside of her office all morning. All desire to punch the guy in the face aside for what he had done to Cora, there was something about the man that rubbed Jamie the wrong way.

It was jealousy, he realized. Pure and simple. He fucking hated the fact he wasn’t able to protect Cora. Physically, sure. The restraining order thing had really been bothering him. As much as he’d been grateful that Bryce had pushed through the order of protection, Jamie
hated
that he hadn’t been able to give her that peace of mind.

They drove back to her place in complete silence. Cora had all but given up trying to make conversation. He would just apologize, drop her off and go beat the hell out of a speed bag at the gym. Maybe that would help him work this stupid anger out of his system.

When he walked her to her door, he said, “I’m beat. I’m just gonna hit the gym and then head home, okay?”

Cora studied him for a minute and asked, “How about we talk about whatever it is that’s bothering you first.”

Jamie rubbed a hand through his hair and said, “Nothing’s wrong, baby. I’m just tired.”

Cora opened her door and stepped inside. When she turned to face him, disbelief was written all over her face. She said, “Sure thing.”

“Don’t do that,” he said, following her inside.

“Do what?” she asked.

“Get pissed at me for leaving,” he said, feeling bone-tired.

“I’m not mad that you’re going, Jamie. You’re a grown man. Do what you like. I’m annoyed because you’re lying to me. That’s entirely different.”

“Ya know what?” he said, deliberately keeping his voice calm. “I don’t wanna fight. I’m just gonna get going.”

“Do what you’ve gotta do,” Cora snapped back at him.

He watched as she tossed her purse and jacket onto the couch, then walked into the kitchen. He swiped a hand through his hair, more frustrated now than ever. That, he acknowledged, had not gone well.

He moved into the kitchen and watched as she calmly made herself a salad, and then asked, “Are you just not talking to me now, Cora? Is that it?”

“I left the room because you said you wanted to go. I’m hungry and now I’m pissed off. Just go if you’re going to go.”

“Pissed off? What did I do?”

“How you don’t collapse under the weight of the irony is beyond me. Two weeks ago you made me feel like shit because I was scared and didn’t know how to talk to you about it and now here we are. Clearly you’re upset about something or other. Yet you point-blank
lied
to my face about it. If you want space to work through it, then tell me. That’s fine. At least be honest with me about it, though.”

He winced, realizing she was right.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said, trying to explain. “I’m angry and it’s stupid, Cora. Completely fucking irrational.”

“So,” she countered.

“Your ex,” Jamie said, rubbing his eyes and wishing he could be just about anywhere else but here, having this conversation.

“This is about Bryce,” Cora asked, confused.

“Yes. I told you it was irrational. As much as I appreciate him coming through on the restraining order, I fucking hate that he had to do it for you,” Jamie confessed.

“This is about a stupid fucking piece of paper?”

“The fact that I’m even remotely jealous of that prick really bugs me.”

“Jealous?”

“Yeah. Jealous. I don’t like that he did something for you that I couldn’t. I told you it was irrational. I’m angry for no real reason, and I get that. I’m frustrated and there’s this part of me just wants to drag you into the bedroom then fuck you until there’s no way you can forget who you belong to. I know—”

“Wait a minute,” Cora said, holding up a hand to stop him. An eyebrow raised, she asked, “Who I belong to?”

Cora crossed the room and stood so close to him that he had to look down at her. He saw mix of shock, anger, and something else he couldn’t define cross her face. It made him nervous.

“If you’d just let me finish what I was saying, Cora. I know—”

“And just who is it that I belong to?” she asked, cutting him off once again, anger clearly in her voice.

“Don’t push me, Cora,” Jamie warned her, taking a step back. “You know who you belong to.”

She was standing so close to him that she could probably feel his hard-on. Inappropriate as it was, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Equal parts of jealousy and desire raged through him. The fact that she was pressed up against him didn’t help matters either.

She gripped his dress shirt in her fists and all but dared him. “Show me,” she said.

Jamie lost all control of rational thought as he cupped the back of her head and crushed his mouth down on hers. All rough hands, he fumbled with the button on her slacks until it opened then shoved them down along with her panties.

Roughly, he led her over to her kitchen table. He fisted a hand in her hair and pressed her down so she rested on her forearms. Jamie cupped her soaked pussy and said, “This is mine. Say it, baby.”

“It’s yours,” she responded automatically, her voice breathy.

He dipped his fingers between the folds and rubbed his fingers over her clit until she gasped.

“What is?” he asked her.

“My pussy,” she gasped out as he started rapidly moving his fingers against her swollen flesh. “My pussy is yours, Jamie.”

“I didn’t quite hear you, sweetheart. What was that?”

Her voice raised, she cried out, “It’s yours, Jamie. My pussy is yours.”

Moving his hand, he drove three fingers up inside her and felt her clamp down on them immediately as she came against his hand.

“Baby,” he said, roughly. “I didn’t give you permission to come, yet. That’s my pussy, remember?”

Cora moaned and pressed back against his hand.

Jamie withdrew his fingers, rubbed his fingertips along the smooth skin of her ass, and then asked, “You know what bad girls get, don’t you?”

“Punished,” Cora answered softly.

“That’s right,” he said. A moment later, Jamie leaned down, his mouth against her ear and said, “Stop me if it’s too much, baby. I mean it.”

Her voice was a little breathy when she answered him back, “Okay.”

He started with a few light slaps against her ass cheeks, then rubbed his hand over her slightly pink flesh, briefly dipping his hand back between her thighs.

When she started to rock back against it, he pulled his hand back and gave her a light slap directly on the pussy. Her shocked, broken cry had him hesitating until she said, “Oh god.”

“Did you like that?” he asked, almost conversationally, as he rubbed a hand against her pink ass cheeks.

“Yes,” she moaned. “Please. Again.”

He landed five more slaps to her ass, and the last directly against her pussy again.

This time she said, “Please. I can’t take anymore. I need your cock inside me.”

Immediately, he released her hair, fumbled with his belt, and then opened the fly of his slacks. Lining himself up with her opening, he slowly worked himself into her. She was extremely tight and could feel her clenching around him already.

Jamie gripped her hips and began to fuck her in long, slow strokes. When she began to work back against him, trying to control the pace, he said, “Greedy girl. I can already feel you clenching around me.”

“Harder. Please,” Cora begged. “I need—”

Jamie reached forward, wrapping his hands around her shoulders. Seconds later, he increased both the pressure of speed of her thrusts until the only thing he could hear were her cries and the slapping of skin on skin.

“Fuck,” he groaned, when he felt her clamp down on him. “God damn, baby. You’re so tight.”

He lost count of how many times she came, clutching his dick like a vise. Finally, he had let himself go when she begged him to come inside of her. The combination of her words and the sated exhaustion of her voice had been too much.

He pulled out of her and moved to lean against the wall. He watched as her arms gave out and her sweat-slicked body collapsed against the table. Concerned, he summoned the strength to lift her into his arms.

His own knees were wobbly, so they only made it to the kitchen floor. He cradled her in his lap and pressed soft kisses against her skin, murmuring apologies until her erratic breathing slowed down.

When she eventually picked her head up, a slow smile crossed her face, and the only thing she said was, “Yours.”

Jamie laughed softly and agreed, “Mine.”

She didn’t even bother to pick up her head from where it lay on his chest this time, when she said, “If you want to go to the gym and work off some of that aggression now, I’ll understand.”

“I’m sorry, baby,” he said, feeling like a complete idiot.

He felt her snuggle closer to him and then she sighed. “If you’re upset, talk to me. Even if you think it’s stupid. I don’t like to fight.”

A moment later, she added, “Or we can do that,” as she gestured toward the kitchen table vaguely. “Let’s definitely do that.”

When she giggled against his chest, he smugly said, “When you kind of flopped onto the table at the end, I was a little concerned that I might have permanently broken you, baby.”

“Jesus, Jamie,” Cora said, laughter in her voice. “You act like that’s the first time you’ve made a girl come.”

He let out an incredulous laugh, then proceeded to tickle her ribs until she was squirming against him and crying out, “I take it back. Stop! Stop!”

Jamie relented, stilling his hands.

They were quiet for a few minutes as their breathing evened out, until he finally said, “This tile is really cold on my ass. Can we maybe go jump in the shower?”

* * * *

Later that evening, Jamie lay in Cora’s bed, unable to sleep. Cora had snuggled into his side and dropped off to sleep almost immediately, but his thoughts kept straying back to the conversation he’d had with his mother on Sunday.

When they’d woken up late Sunday morning, Taryn and Evan had already eaten breakfast and were playing with the children in the pool. His mother stood in the kitchen, cup of coffee in hand.

They had talked for a few minutes about Portland and the Shinobi contract he’d booked before she finally got to the point. She’d told him how happy it made her to see them back together. He’d been forced to agree with her. He was unbelievably lucky to have gotten this second chance with Cora.

In typical fashion, his mother had continued on, asking him when they were going to make beautiful grandbabies for her. After almost spitting out his coffee, he had reminded her that he and Cora had only been back together for a few weeks.

She had grinned, waved him off, and claimed to be just teasing him. Jamie couldn’t help himself, though. Every time Cora played with the children, he couldn’t help but imagine her with their own.

It was early. It was way early to be thinking of marriage or children. Nevertheless, he realized that he wanted everything with Cora.

Cora, on the other hand, had hedged about even coming up to his mother’s for the weekend. It was clear that they weren’t on the same page yet. He could only hope that eventually, they would be.

Cora wiped the tears off her face, and waved her hand. She gasped for breath and said, “Stop, stop! You almost made me spit out this very expensive martini.”

Maureen smirked and said, “I can’t stop until you’ve heard everything about the very best second date of all time. After the phone call, I’m a little weirded out but okay. So I get there, and it turns out that the address he’s given me is for this community center. I’m completely confused, but he’s waiting out front.”

“I ask him what we’re doing there, and he starts to tell me how he’s a recovering addict. I’ve gotta tell you, it was a little heavy for the second date, but he’s recovering. That’s something, right?” she asked, looking to the group for confirmation.