Chapter 5
Twenty minutes later, the limo Jacob sent for me is pulling up in front of an upscale building right in the heart of Manhattan. I look around in confusion. Jacob hadn’t mentioned where we going, but I guess I’d expected it would be a restaurant or something. This looks distinctly like a residential building.
When the driver swings around and opens the back door for me, I slip out of the car. I follow him wordlessly as he enters the building with me and leads me past a bank of elevators to a single elevator tucked around the corner. He swipes a card to summon the elevator, and soon it’s pinging open in front of us.
I wait for him to go inside but instead he just takes a step back and nods at me. I swallow and step forward into the gleaming mirrored elevator, while the driver uses his card again to close the doors behind me.
Just as the doors start to sweep closed, I realize I have no idea what floor I’m supposed to be going to.
“Wait,” I start to call out, but the doors are already sliding silently closed. “Shit.”
I stare at the gold panel, trying to think, but then blink in surprise. There’s a discreet emergency call button, but nothing else. I turn, looking around me and trying to figure out what the heck I’m supposed to do, when suddenly the elevator starts moving on its own.
I swallow, hard, as the sudden shift in gravity makes my stomach flip. I try to judge how high the elevator is going, but the ride is so smooth that I can’t detect anything as it passes other floors. Finally, after what seems like an incredibly long time, it slows and then stops. The doors slide open, just as smoothly and silently as they had closed.
I step out of the elevator, expecting to be in a hallway, but instead I find myself in a grand foyer.
I stand there for a moment, trying to get my bearings. There’s a huge circular table with some sort of modern angular sculpture on it. Above that hangs an enormous chandelier, glittering with probably hundreds of tiny bulbs. It’s hard to believe anyone lives here — it looks like something out of a dream.
I take a few deep breaths. Because this isn’t a dream — it’s real. And I have about thirty seconds to change my mind, turn around and get back in the elevator.
Except…
I don’t want to.
My heart flutters a little as the realization sinks in.
I want this. God help me, but I do.
“Lily.”
His deep voice comes from somewhere to my left, startling me out of my thoughts.
I turn to face the direction of his voice, but there are still lights flashing in my eyes, the result of staring too hard at the chandelier. All I can see is a dark silhouette, but I know instantly that it’s Jacob.
I blink a few times to try to clear my vision, and slowly he comes into focus. His blue eyes glint as he smiles at me.
“Hi,” I say. My voice sounds foreign in my ears. I try to swallow as Jacob’s eyes roam my body. I realize how ridiculous I probably look — a cocktail dress, with jeans pulled on underneath, and a white cardigan on top. I must look like I got dressed at a thrift store.
For a minute, we do nothing but stare at each other. I can’t seem to look away from his blue eyes. They’re the color of the Caribbean Sea, or a turquoise gemstone. His lashes are criminally long, and they make his eyes look even more piercing.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Jacob says. “For you.”
I swallow hard. My heart races in my chest, thudding out a frantic desperate rhythm. He crosses the room before I can blink, until his body is just inches from mine. He grazes the back of his fingers along my jawline. My skin flames, and my knees start to wobble. How can I feel like jelly already, when he’s barely even touched me?
“For me,” I say. The words sound stupid as soon as they’re out of my mouth, but I feel so out of my element here.
Jacob’s mouth just twitches up, though.
“Yes,” he says smoothly.
“Right.” I swallow. This is all happening so fast. I have to slow it down. “Could I get a Coke or something?”
The corners of his mouth quirk up as he pulls back. “A Coke? I have a bottle of Bordeaux I could open.”
I shake my head. The last thing I need is to get fuzzy-headed right now.
“A Coke will be fine.”
“Of course. Come with me.”
Jacob starts back down the hallway he’d emerged from. His stride is longer than mine, and I have to scurry to keep up with him. He leads me into a living room area, that’s even bigger and more dramatic than the foyer. There are floor to ceiling windows, showing off an astonishing view of the Manhattan skyline.
It’s such a dramatic contrast to the small little bungalow Dad and I live in now. Back before Mom got sick, we had a nice house out in Westchester, but her cancer treatments had eaten up all of our savings, and Dad had to remortgage the house. After she died, we had downsized. No need for such a big house, Dad had said, if it was just the two of us. Sometimes I missed our swimming pool and our gourmet kitchen and our theater room, but our new place was cozy. And Dad was right — we didn’t need all that space.
But neither our current house nor our old house compared to the glamor and extravagance of Jacob’s place. It feels like a palace in the sky.
The penthouse is open concept, so I watch as he makes his way over to the huge kitchen. He pulls open the door the massive, nearly-industrial sized fridge, and pulls out two cans of Coke.
He comes back over and hands me my can, and we both crack open our drinks at the same time. I take a long swallow, enjoying the burn in the back of my throat. Jacob takes a drink from his own can and I watch as his Adam’s apple bobs up and down. I feel my pussy clench at the sight of it, and I take another sip of Coke to try to cool myself down.
As if he can read my body somehow, Jacob takes a couple of steps towards me, closing the distance between us. He sets his can down on the marble and iron coffee table and then he plucks mine out of my hands as well and puts it down next to his.
I’m about to say something but then his hands are threading through my hair, tilting my head back.
I take a breath that’s almost a gasp and then his lips are on mine.
His mouth is hot, commanding, and I feel myself opening to him almost immediately. This is all happening so fast. Part of me feels like I should slow it down.
But the other part of me burns for him.
His tongue pushes roughly past my lips, leaving me no choice but to yield to him.
I’ve kissed other guys before, but it’s never felt like this. They were tentative kisses, slobbery kisses, more like boys. Jacob kisses me like a man — hungry, hard, unrelenting.
I melt against him. I don’t want to, but it’s like my body responds completely on its own. Jacob keeps one big hand threaded through my hair, but, as if he knows how his kiss is affecting me, he puts his other arm around my waist, keeping me supported against him. I stand on my tiptoes, letting my breasts rub against his hard chest. I can feel my nipples pebbling under my dress and I let out a soft whimper.
Jacob tightens his grip in my hair, and the pressure against my scalp makes me swoon even harder against him. Before I know it, he’s starting to walk me backwards. My legs move automatically, but the nerves are back.
This is happening. It’s really happening. After a lifetime of virgin-hood, Jacob is about to make me a woman. He’s pushing me harder now, and even though I don’t know the layout of his apartment, I somehow just know that he’s taking me to the bedroom. That this is it.
This is it.