Worth the Risk: A Contemporary Romance Bundle, page 55
Jack was fast. She heard the foyer door clang open and she leaped the stairs two at a time, sliding on the polished concrete in her stockings. Her purse knocked against her back, but she flung herself through the door at the top of the stairs as she heard his feet pounding behind her.
Laughter made her clumsy, and she dropped her keys. Scrambling to pick them up, she dropped her purse. The contents scattered everywhere, lipsticks and change clattering on the polished wooden floor.
Jack banged open the door to the stairs. Josie looked up, keys in hand, and left her purse to defend itself. She slotted the key into the lock, but Jack was too fast. He caught her around the waist and pulled her away from the door, turning her to face him.
“I still won,” she managed to say through gasps of laughter that became gasps of another sort when he kissed her.
He shoved her up against the wall next to the door, pulling his force so he didn’t hurt her. He ground himself against her as he slid his mouth down her neck to bite and suck at her throat. His hands went to her hips, pulling her against his erection, and he kissed his way down her body. When he got to her waist he lifted up her skirt and went to his knees, burying his face in her heat so fast and without warning that she yelped.
His tongue found her through the sheer mesh of her panties. His hands clasped the bare skin above the top of her gartered stockings. His thumbs made slow, lazy circles on the inside of her thighs as his lips worked her clit.
She parted her legs for him, back arched against the wall and her hands on his head. The dark stubble of his hair rasped on her palms, one more sensation to enhance her pleasure.
Jack pulled the front of her panties down far enough to reach her bare skin. When his tongue returned to her clitoris, she bent her knees to allow him greater access.
He took it, stroking her with smooth, regular licks that had her quivering. He made a quiet, frustrated noise in the back of his throat and tugged her panties, but couldn’t move them beyond the garters. “I hate these things.”
“You…bought them…”
He took one side of the sheer panties in his fists. The purring noise as the fabric tore and the subsequent gust of cool air on her skin made the first orgasmic wave ripple through her. “Hey!”
She wasn’t complaining. He bent back to her heat, sucking and licking her while he slid a finger inside to press on her g-spot. Just before she started to come he withdrew, knowing how much to give her without sending her over. In the next moment he’d returned to her mouth, forcing her lips open with his tongue and devouring her. His hands fumbled with his belt and pants. He lifted her, back against the wall and skirt hiked to her waist, using his hands to hold her and his cock to anchor her in place.
He stopped when he’d entered her, shifting her weight so she could wrap her legs around him. His hands slid to cup her ass as she curled her arms around his neck. He started moving, each subtle in and out thrust making her back slide against the wall.
“Ahhh, yes.” Josie’s cry filled the hallway. “Fuck me, Jack.”
He did, hard enough to rap her head against the wall. He loved to hear her talk that way. He shoved into her harder, grinding against her. He bit her neck and she cried out, aware he’d actually bitten her instead of merely nibbling, but unable, at that moment, to care.
He immediately soothed the wound with kisses and murmured an apology.
“Shhh,” she warned. “Later. Right now, just fuck me harder.”
And he did. One orgasm ripped through her, then another right on the heels of the first. Her vision blurred. Jack thrust into her one last time, his entire body tensing and releasing as he came. He held her for a few moments more, then slipped out of her and put her down.
“Wow.” Josie pulled her skirt down and pushed the hair out of her eyes. “I’m glad we’re the only ones living on this floor.”
He laughed and picked up the remains of her panties, and then gathered the contents of her purse, stuffing them haphazardly into the bag. “Sorry about this.” He touched the bruise on her throat. “And that.”
“Don’t be sorry, baby.” She took the ruined panties and her purse. “You’ll buy me more.”
“You could just not wear any,” was his suggestion, to which Josie rolled her eyes.
“Right.”
Jack used her keys to unlock and open the door to the apartment. “Just saying.”
She swatted his ass as he went through the door. “Not gonna happen.”
“So soon the magic fades.”
She made a rude noise. “Who are you, David Copperfield?”
The blinking red light of the answering machine caught her attention, and she pushed the button. A woman’s voice, low and husky came from the machine’s tiny speaker.
“Hello? This is Ardelle Hewitt calling for Jack. My number is—”
Jack punched the button on the machine, cutting off the message. “I got that one already.”
“Oh?” Josie gave him a puzzled look. “Who was it?”
She had no reason to suspect him of anything but the truth, but when he said, too casually, “A client,” her heart stuttered.
“Okay,” was all she said, though, because confronting him on the obvious lie would mean learning something she was suddenly certain she didn’t want to know. “Um…gonna use the bathroom.”
She locked the door behind her. Jack had little concept of bathroom privacy, and if she didn’t lock, he’d think nothing of waltzing in on her. She didn’t like that when she was using the toilet, and she didn’t like it now. She ran some water in the sink—cold—and splashed her face. Tears clogged her throat, but Josie washed them away before they could fall. She splashed again and again until she was sure she wasn’t going to cry.
Ardelle Hewitt might very well be a client. They sometimes called him at home, though rarely. She could be a client, like he’d said, but Josie knew Jack too well to ignore the lie she’d heard in his voice. Now the question was not only what he’d lied about, but why?
Chapter 8
“Holy crow,” said Mim over the phone line. “I know Mrs. Gold can be a little overbearing, but I’ve never known Jack to talk to her like that.”
“Me neither.” Josie typed a few more numbers into her invoice, then scowled and deleted them. She tried again, correcting the mistake. “I don’t think his dad quite knew what to do.”
“Ick.” Mim laughed. “Just a few more months, sweetie, and all of this will be over. At least until you have kids.”
Mim’s laugh made Josie roll her eyes as she struggled with another set of invoices. “Don’t you start, too.”
“Are we still on for this weekend?” Mim’s phone crackled as she hollered something at one of her children. “Sorry. Sammy’s getting into trouble.”
“Yes. I even made an appointment at one of the shops and told the sales associate what I was looking for. She’s going to pull some gowns and set them aside for when we come in.”
“Ooh, fancy schmancy. Can’t wait. My dear husband’s going to have a great time with the kids.” Mim gave an evil laugh. “Or not.”
Josie finished settling the plans with her sister and hung up, then concentrated on the rest of her invoices. The to-do list in her planner said she needed to call the caterer, the florist and the photographer, too. The calls were easier than writing the checks after each one. She winced as she subtracted the amounts from her checkbook. Both sets of parents were helping financially, but the bulk of the money was from her and Jack. Even though they’d determined to keep things simple, it all added up.
Her call to Rabbi Zendel wasn’t so easy. “I just wanted to make sure you got the paperwork about Jack’s adoption and conversion.”
She heard the shuffling of papers. “Yes. My secretary left them for me.”
“Is there anything else we need then?”
The rabbi sighed heavily. “If you plan on having a custom ketubah I’ll need to approve it ahead of time. Otherwise, you can use the one the temple provides.”
“That’ll be fine.” Custom marriage contracts cost hundreds of dollars.
“And you need to let me know if you plan on attending the mikveh before the ceremony.”
Josie knew about the ritual bath Orthodox women visited as part of the family purity laws, but she hadn’t expected to ever go there herself. “I’m not sure—”
“It might be a nice gesture,” said the rabbi peremptorily. “It is a purification ritual. It might be appropriate for you, especially in light of your circumstances.”
“My circumstances?” Josie’s fingers stilled on her keyboard. “What do you mean?”
“Well, that you and Jack are cohabitating without benefit of marriage,” said the rabbi in a voice oozing with disapproval.
So that was the reason he was so cool. Josie sighed. They’d had the same argument with both sets of parents.
“If you think it would be appropriate, I’ll go,” she said to placate him. It seemed a simple enough thing to do, and if it got the rabbi off their backs…
“I’ll have Mrs. Kohn call you. She’s the mikveh attendant.”
He didn’t sound any more enthused, but Josie tried not to notice. “Thank you, Rabbi.”
The mikveh? she thought as she hung up. Visions of long-skirted Orthodox housewives filled her mind. She sighed. Oh, well. It wouldn’t kill her to get purified.
Chapter 9
“If you want to,” was what Jack said skeptically when she told him what she’d agreed to. “Hope you don’t melt.”
She swatted him for that not-so-subtle insinuation she needed purifying. “You could go, too. Lots of men do.”
He rolled his eyes. “Right. And I’ll grow my sideburns and wear a black hat, too.”
“Ooh, sexy.” Josie grinned and wiggled her feet, propped in his lap. “I could get myself a wig.”
He looked at her. “Nah. I like your hair.”
She touched it, tied up into a messy pony tail on top of her head. “I like yours, too.”
He ran a hand over his close-cropped head and made a face. “My mom’s been trying to convince me to let it grow for the wedding.”
Josie slid over onto his lap, her knees pressing into the back of the couch. “Don’t. I like it the way it is.”
“I’m not going to.” He linked his hands around her waist. “What time is Mim coming tomorrow?”
“Early. Around nine.”
“And what time will you be done?”
It wasn’t like him to badger her with questions about her schedule. “Not sure. Why?”
He shrugged, letting his head fall back against the cushions. “No reason.”
“If I don’t find a dress tomorrow,” she said, “I’m going to wear jeans and a T-shirt that says Jack’s Bitch on it in rhinestone letters.”
He cracked up, as she’d hoped he would. “And what would mine say?”
“Josie’s Manservant,” she replied without hesitation.
“In rhinestones?”
“No. Gold sparkly thread.”
He laughed and cupped her ass. “I like it when you call yourself my bitch. That gets me so hot.”
She pretended to be offended, though at this point there was little he could do, say or ask her that would offend her. “We could just get shirts that say master and slave.”
“Yeah, but who gets to where the one that says master?”
“Me.”
He tickled her. “I don’t think so.”
She kissed him. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
“You’ll find a dress,” Jack said. “Your sister will sniff one out.”
Josie laughed. “I’m sure you’re right. Mim is the bargain goddess.”
He looked at her seriously. “Don’t worry so much about it being a bargain, babe. Get something you want.”
That touched her, and she stroked his cheek. “Spending oodles of cash on a dress I’ll wear one time only is not really my thing. I’ll find a dress. Don’t worry. But thanks.”
“I just want you to have everything you want,” he said, and his sentiment made her throat close with emotion.
“I do.” Josie kissed him again.
This time, his lips parted to accept her tongue. His hands moved restlessly along her back, then reached up to tug the band out of her hair and send it tumbling around her shoulders.
He fingered a long auburn strand, then rubbed it across his face. “Your hair always smells so good.”
She smiled. “Yours, too.”
He tickled her again. “Be quiet, slave.”
“Make me.”
He grabbed her wrists and pinned them together in one large hand, then kissed her again as he pushed her hands down between them, against his crotch. “See what you do to me?”
She let her lips slide across his cheek to his ear. “It’s all your fault I’m no longer pure.”
He lifted his hips upward. “Might as well make your trip to the mikveh worth it, huh?”
His mouth went to her throat and into the vee of her T-shirt. He continued to hold her wrists between them, pulling her forward with his other hand and rocking her crotch against his knuckles. Her clit swelled at the pressure of her denim jeans rubbing her there, and soon her breath had grown faster.
His next kiss landed on the mound of her breast, above the lace edge of her push-up bra. He nuzzled her shirt out of the way to find her flesh, kissing and caressing while she arched her back to push her breasts closer to his mouth.
The hand against her back moved lower to slide along her ass as he rocked her steadily against her pinned hands. Then he let go of her wrists, pulling her hands up to put them around his neck as he moved her directly on top of the erection straining his loose pajama bottoms. Then he put both hands on her ass and continued kissing her breasts, dipping down to find her nipples through her clothes and tease them with his lips.
“This was my first wet dream,” he mumbled against her skin.
She’d let her head loll back as he worked, but that made her sit up straight. “What?”
His low, deep chuckle went right to her clit, which pulsed. Hot liquid slicked her. “Seventh grade. We had Earth Science together.”
She gave a breathy cry as he ground her down on him. “Yeah, I remember.”
“In my first wet dream, we were in the lab, getting ready to weigh some rocks, or something, and I was sitting on those low black stools. You came over and straddled me, like you’re doing now. And I did this.”
He tugged her shirt upward, then off over her head. His mouth went to her exposed breasts, wetting the sheer fabric of her bra. Her nipples were tight, hard peaks that ached under his talented tongue. He pinched one between his lips, and she jerked with pleasure.
“And what did I do?” she managed to say.
“Pretty much what you’re doing now. You moaned and said my name.”
“Jack,” she obliged as he unclasped her bra and took her nipples directly between his lips.
“And when you did, it was like someone had shoved a cattle prod down my pants. I’d never felt anything like that. I woke up with my dick busting a hole in my pjs and stuff shooting out of it.”
The thought of it made her smile. “That’s a pretty sophisticated dream for a seventh grader.”
He pulled away from her breasts to smile up at her. “I guess I was mature for my age.”
“I guess so.” She thought. “My first sex dream was about Johnny Depp.”
He rolled his eyes. “That scrawny little punk?”
“It was the scissor-hands.” Josie laughed. “I dreamed he cut all my clothes off and then went down on me.”
“What?” Jack seemed genuinely shocked. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. That was the first time I ever had an orgasm in a dream.”
“In a dream,” he repeated. “You’d had one before that? How old were you?”
“Oh, sixteen, probably. And yes, of course.” She rocked a bit on his lap, pressing her center against him. “It was much easier fending off boys’ advances when I knew I could satisfy myself faster and better and more safely on my own.”
“And what about now?”
“Now,” she said, nipping his lower lip between hers, “I have you.”
He tugged the drawstring of her flannel sleep pants, then slipped his fingers inside. “Yes, you do.”
He rubbed her, holding her with one hand while the other performed magic. Her head fell back and she gripped his shoulders, moving her hips in time to his movements. In seconds she was on the edge.
Jack stopped long enough to push his pants down to his shins, then helped her with hers before settling her back on his lap. The back of the couch was soft on her knees. His cock filled her, her clit pressed against him, and his hands lifted her ass so he could thrust in and out of her.
He had her shuddering in under a minute, and when he nudged his thumb between them to caress her clit more firmly as she moved on his erection, Josie cried out. She gripped his shoulders and came, then came again a moment later. Two small orgasms that nevertheless left her breathless and gasping.
Jack finished a moment later, burying himself inside her heat. “I love you, Josie.”
“I love you, Jack.”
She smiled and cuddled against him for a moment. “I’m going to take a bath and go to sleep early. What about you?”
He rubbed her back with his strong fingers. “I’m going to stay up for awhile. Maybe watch a movie.”
“’Kay.” She kissed him again, then slid off. “Good night.”
Later, in the bath, she thought she heard him talking on the phone, but by the time she came out, she heard only the sound of some shoot-em-up Friday night feature. She fell asleep before he came to bed, and her dreams were restless and filled with images of scissors.
Chapter 10
Josie had found the perfect dress. She couldn’t believe her luck, because the gown not only fit her without need for alterations, but it had been discounted to a price that made Mim shriek so loudly everyone in the store turned to look at her.
