Chapter 9

Jonathan

I watched as Claire stepped away from me, as she pulled the band from around her ponytail and tossed her hair back.

Within seconds, the song she’d selected began to play and soft, vibrating bass sounds filled the room.

She slowly lifted my tie over her head and seductively moved her hips. Then she brought the tie in front of her chest, twisting it between her hands, keeping her eyes locked on mine.

She struck the floor with it, biting her lip. “Is it hard for you to let me be in control for a change?” 

“You’re not in control.” I smiled.

She put a hand on her hip and strutted over to me, leaning forward and whispering in my ear. “That question was rhetorical, Jonathan...Do I need to get you a dictionary so you can learn what that word means?”

I reached out to bend her over my lap, but she moved behind me and started massaging my shoulders—blowing kisses against my neck as her hands found their way down to my chest.

Just as I was starting to get used to her soft rhythm, she moved her hands away and sashayed around me, slowly unbuttoning the white dress shirt.

When she reached the last button, she playfully opened the shirt to show off the black ‘fuck-me’ lingerie, then she closed it again. She repeated this at least six times, until she finally slid the shirt off her body and tossed it across the room.

As the song reached the second verse, she dropped down to the floor, and stretched her legs up to the ceiling, spreading them into a wide “V.” Then she brought her legs together again and bent them, bringing them close to her chest before she flipped her whole body over.

Seductively smiling, she sat up on her knees and ran her hands across her breasts—squeezing them and shutting her eyes.

I was trying my hardest not to get up and grab her, desperately trying to keep my hands at my sides as she continued to smirk at me and move across the floor.

“Something wrong, Jonathan?” She stood up and dragged one of the bar’s chairs a few feet across from me. “You’re not usually this quiet...” She sat on the chair with her back facing me and rolled her head around, tossing her hair all over. Then she bent all the way backwards, using her hands to brace the floor, and before I knew it she’d flipped over and was crawling up into my lap.

I caressed her hips with my hands, but she grabbed them and moved them away as she started to grind her hips against me—purposely rolling against my cock.

“I thought about you today at work...” she whispered into my ear.

I was losing it. She was too fucking good at this.

She leaned back and spread her legs wider. “I thought to myself—I wonder how he’ll fuck me after I’m done...Will it be with him on top?” She moaned as she gyrated against me even harder. “Against the wall? In his lap?”

I’m going to fuck you like you’ve never been fucked before...

She brought her lips close to mine like she was going to kiss me, but she quickly moved away and stood up, walking over to the wall.

She pressed her back against it and stretched her arms up high, twisting and turning her hips to the beat, knowing damn well she was getting to me.

I leaned forward and reached out for her, but she kicked my hand away.

“I’m not finished.” She narrowed her eyes at me and turned around, bending over so her ass was in my face.

I can’t take this shit anymore...

I stood up and pulled her against me, but she broke free and pushed me back down into my chair. Before I could tell her that this dance was over and push her up against the bar, she bent down between my legs and unzipped my pants.

The song was repeating itself for the third time, but she didn’t make a move to change it. She simply unzipped my pants and removed them before pulling something out of her bra—a bottle of some type. She poured whatever it was all over my cock and rubbed her hands all over it, making me shut my eyes and groan.

The next thing I felt were her wet lips touching my tip, her soft tongue slowly swirling around. 

“God, Claire...” I ran my fingers through her hair as she took me deeper and deeper into her mouth, as she brought me to the verge of a climax.

Before I could cum, I pulled her up and looked into her eyes, in complete and total fucking awe.

Kissing her lips, I picked her up and carried her to the other side of the room.

I laid her across the bar and spread her legs apart, tearing her lace panties off.

She moaned as I pressed kisses up and down her thighs, as I grabbed her by the ankles and tossed her legs over my shoulders.

Before she could take another breath, I gently sucked her clit into my mouth and ran my tongue along her folds, teasing her with every lick.

“Ahhh...Ahhh...Jonathannn...” She was squirming, trying to sit up, but I pushed her back down. 

I kissed her swollen wet lips like I was kissing her mouth—pushing my tongue further and further, rolling it around relentlessly. Each time she screamed, I caressed her clit with softer kisses, never moving my mouth away from her.

Her hips started to shake and she started breathing heavily, saying my name as she got closer and closer to her orgasm.

I felt her legs trembling—quivering, and I knew she was seconds away from coming so I lifted my head up and stepped back.

Smiling, I joined her on top of the bar’s counter and snapped her bra off.

She sat up and looked at me in confusion. “Why...Why did you...Why did you stop?” She panted.

I blinked and spun her around, positioning her on all fours. I skimmed my hands against her sides and pulled her hair back. Then I pounded into her with no mercy, listening to the cries of pleasure that were coming from her mouth.

“Fuckkkkk....Jonathannnn...” 

“You are so fucking sexy, Claire...” I kissed the back of her shoulder and I tugged on her hair even harder. “And mine...”

I moved my hands to her breasts and squeezed them, harshly twisting her nipples as I pounded into her again and again.

She screamed louder and started to slump forward—nearly collapsing, so I drew back and flipped her over.

I slid into her again and gazed into her eyes. “I love you...” I felt her tightening around me as she reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“Say it back.” I slowly thrust in and out of her, watching as she started to lose control. “Say it back, Claire.”

“I...I love...I love you too...” She cried out and held onto me as we came at the same time.

Her chest was heaving fast and she was breathing heavily.

I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers, muffling most of her murmurs. I kissed every inch of her face and placed a long, warm kiss against her neck.

When her breathing finally slowed down, I slid out of her and pulled her into my lap.

“Are you okay?” I brushed her damp hair away from her forehead.

She nodded.

“You should’ve told me you were taking classes. I wouldn’t have been upset about you coming home late because of that.”

“I...I wanted to surprise you...Did you like it?”

“I loved it...” I kissed her lips again and positioned her in my lap. “And I’m going to love fucking you in every position you mentioned for the rest of the night.”

**

I woke up alone and rolled over in bed, reaching for Claire, but she’d disappeared. Just as I was about to get up and look for her, she walked into the room holding a breakfast tray.

“Are you ever going to tell me how breakfast is always magically fixed and waiting for us every morning?” She set the tray on the nightstand.

“No.”

“You have a contract with a caterer don’t you?” She picked up a piece of toast. “That’s why you never cook breakfast—only lunch and dinner...”

“Was that supposed to be a question?”

“Do you plan on answering it?”

I pulled her back into the bed and kissed her lips. “I’ll tell you one day.”

She tried to get up, but I pinned her down and kissed my way to her neck.

“Wait...We need to talk...” she murmured.

“About what?” I continued kissing her.

“I’m getting my tubes untied next week. I want to try and have another baby—your baby.”

“Excuse me?” I sat up and narrowed my eyes at her. “What did you just say?”

She burst into laughter. “I wanted to make sure you were paying attention. It was a joke.”

“Please don’t tell another one.”

She propped her head on a pillow. “I don’t want to have sex again until after we’re married. I was thinking about it the other day and...”

My mind hadn’t processed anything beyond that first sentence.

I saw her lips moving, caught a few more of her words—“intimate” “special” “genuine”—but that first sentence had blown my mind.

“What do you think?” was the next thing I heard her say.

“What do I think about what?”

“About being abstinent until we get married.”

“It’s not happening.”

“Why not?”

“Because it doesn’t make any damn sense. Because I didn’t ask you to be my wife so I could not fuck you. It’s. Not. Happening.”

She sighed. “I want our first time as a married couple to be special...”

“It will be special.” I ran my hand across her thigh. “Very special.”

“I want it to be like our first time...”

“I fucked you in a kitchen our first time. What are you saying, Claire?”

“You know exactly what I’m saying.” She sat up and kissed me. Then she spoke very slowly. “I don’t want to have sex again until we’re actually married. I think it’ll be good for us—it’ll test our commitment to one another.”

I was silent. Shocked.

After the amazing night we’d had, I couldn’t believe she was saying these words to me, that she was even asking me to do something like this.

I shook my head. “I can’t...”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

“Both.”

“Jonathan...”

I pulled her into my arms, close enough that we were lip to lip and our eyes were perfectly aligned. “I’m addicted to you, Claire,” I whispered against her mouth. “Fucking addicted. Not one second goes by that you’re not on my mind. Not. One. Second. When deals are coming across my desk, I’m wondering how your day is going at your shop, wondering if you’ll laugh or smile at the note I sent with your flowers. You have no idea how hard it is for me to stay in my office when you text me about going on your lunch break, no idea how much I have to restrain myself when you’re not home by six and hosting another late night meeting.”

She sucked in a breath and I ran my fingers through her hair, whispering again. “I go through withdrawal every time we go our separate ways because being without you for one second is damn near unbearable. So, if I’m being completely fucking honest about what you’re asking me to do—I can’t.”

There was a thick silence hanging in the air between us, and before she opened her mouth to break it, I knew exactly what she was going to say.

“It would make me happy if you would do this for me—if you would at least try... I’ve been thinking about it for a while and it’s something I really want us to do...”

“Claire...” I shook my head and sighed, wishing I could find the asshole who’d filled her head with this nonsense. “If I agree to this, if I fully commit to this absolutely ridiculous idea, I want you to know that I won’t give in until after we’re married.”

“Well, seeing as though—”

“No matter how much you beg—and you will beg because I know you better than you know yourself, I will not have sex with you until after we’ve said I do.”

“Thank you very much.” She smiled and kissed me, and I had to prevent myself from pulling her into my lap.

“Since we’re going to have a pretty boring afternoon...” I picked a silver box up from the nightstand and handed it to her. “You didn’t get a chance to open your anniversary present yesterday.”

“You didn’t get the rest of yours either.” She pointed to a strange white patch on her left foot. “Peel this off.”

I raised my eyebrow and slowly peeled back two layers of gauze and tape. There was nothing underneath it, nothing but—I stopped.

“I had my freedom date tattoo removed. I’ve been getting pieces of it etched away for months...” she whispered. “I don’t want any part of my past in our future...”

I looked at her bare foot, running my fingers against where her divorce date used to be. Then I looked into her eyes, not saying anything—hoping she could simply see how much that meant to me.

I pulled her closer. “Open the box.”

She smiled and gently pulled at the silver ribbon, purposely taking her time. Then she popped the top off and read the small handwritten note aloud: “I loved you the first time I saw you, I loved you the first time I met you, and I’ll love you for the rest of my life—Jonathan...”

She ran her finger against those words a few more times, and gasped as she pulled the sparkling silver necklace out of the box.

I’d thought long and hard about what to get her for our first anniversary since we’d come so far from where we used to be: She no longer questioned our age difference or had any hesitation about other people knowing she was mine. In fact, she was the happiest I’d ever seen her and she talked about our “forever” more than I did.

“How much did you pay for this?” she whispered.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re more than worth it.” I took the necklace from her hands—a glittering diamond strand with an infiniti charm and the word “love” etched within its loops. “I’m adding the same charm to your other necklace next week. I want to add a new one to it every year.”

She smiled, and then she shook her head. “I never said it back that day, Jonathan...Why is this our anniversary when I never said it back?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The first day you told me that you loved me last year—when we were in the Jacuzzi together, I never said ‘I love you’ back...I didn’t tell you until months later at that conference...”

I sighed and pulled her close. “You said it in your sleep that night. More than once...You say it in your sleep now...”

She blushed.

“Where are your friends taking you for your bachelorette party? Is there a reason I didn’t get an invite?”

“Because you’re not invited.” She laughed. “They haven’t told me where, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to Vegas. Helen keeps talking about getting lucky. Where’s yours?”

“Vegas.”

“That doesn’t mean you’ll be seeing me while you’re there.”

“I’m pretty sure it does.” I smiled. “How long will you be gone?”

“A week. I have to meet them at the airport tonight.”

“You’re flying on a commercial plane? With other passengers that you don’t know?”

She nodded.

“Interesting.” I pushed her down onto the bed. “Well, since we can’t have sex anymore, there’s one thing I need to do to you before you leave...”