Chapter Twenty
Anthony
I can’t believe this is happening. But no matter how many times I tell myself to stop, I can’t. I won’t. I need to forget about how much I wish it’s another woman in my arms. With Trinity writhing around in my lap, rubbing herself against the growing bulge just below my belt, it’s as good a way as any.
And less of a hangover than drinking myself to oblivion would be.
“Mmm…baby…”
She sighs as I run my mouth over the skin of her throat. She smells good. Familiar. There’s something to be said for familiarity. She’s just what I need to forget about Jane. The thought of her makes me hold onto Trinity even tighter. The blonde groans and grinds against my dick, running her hands through my hair, pulling my mouth away from her throat so she can thrust her tongue between my lips. It’s nothing new, but my body responds. Hell, maybe my body responds because it’s the same old thing that I’m used to.
It’s not just what she’s doing to me. I know just how to touch her to drive her nuts, the way to run my hands up her thighs and over her ass to get her to moan. I dig my fingers into her soft flesh and groan. She’s so ready for me. There’s no question about that. The back corner of the club is just dark enough for us to get away with what we’re doing without being noticed, but I don’t think I could get away with much more without risking getting thrown out. A shame, because I’d love to just pull aside those panties and slide into her, lose myself and all memories of anything—or anyone—else.
Dammit!
Again, I’m thinking about her. I can’t stop. I have another woman in my lap, a beautiful woman whose hand is sliding between us to massage my dick as our tongues twist together, but I can’t stop thinking about fucking Jane Ward. It’s not her hand or her tongue or her body. It’s not her.
And I feel myself going a little soft.
Shit.
“What’s wrong?” she whispers in my ear before biting on the lobe.
What is wrong? That’s a good question. I wish I could give Trinity some great excuse about this place being too public, but I know she’d see through that shit. In the past, all that would mean was we needed to find somewhere a bit more private. I wouldn’t be losing an erection because of it.
And part of me doesn’t even want to look for a reason, because that could mean having to look a little too closely at some things I don’t want to look at.
Even trying to not think about it, I’m suddenly not as interested in any of this as I was just a few seconds ago. She hasn’t quite figured it all out yet, though. She’s writhing around even harder, stroking me, sighing and moaning, trying to revive my interest. And it’s not working.
If anything, it’s just getting worse.
I pull back with a frustrated sigh. “We have to stop.”
“What?” Her voice is thick and breathy with desire, but all it does is annoy me.
“I said we have to stop.” I push her hand away and then grab her hips, physically moving her off my lap. She lands next to me in the booth, mouth open, eyes wide.
Her lipstick is smudged, and I scrub at my mouth to remove any sign that I’d been kissing her. I hope her perfume didn’t rub off on me. I might be sick if I can’t get away from that smell. It’s not exactly bad, but it’s what she always wears, which means the scent sends me right back to my time with her. And I don’t want to be there.
Even if it would help me to forget Jane.
“I don’t get it. What did I do wrong?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” I straighten my collar and tighten my tie, but I don’t look at her. “It’s just not a good idea.”
Wrong thing to say. Then again, I’m not sure there’d be any good thing to say right now. Her dark eyes flash fire. “Are you kidding me? What the hell is wrong with you?”
I wish I knew. I would tell her if I could and if it would get her to shut up. She’s attracting attention, which means I’m attracting attention. And I don’t want to do that. Not when my father is finally looking at me with something other than disdain.
“This is wrong. That’s all. Why can’t you grow up and let it go?” I snap.
Her face goes a shade of red I’ve never seen a face turn before. Not even Dad’s when he’s really mad at me.
“I’m the one who needs to grow up? You’re the fucking child who doesn’t know what he wants! You think you can flirt with me and do whatever you want to me, then turn around and tell me it’s wrong?”
And all of a sudden, I know how Jane felt. She got into something she didn’t necessarily think through, and freaked out when it went further than she could handle. And I was blaming her all this time. I might not have admitted in my head that I thought she was a tease, but I definitely thought it way down deep. I never figured out that it wasn’t about me or what she did to me. It was about her.
And I need to know what it is, because she means too much to me to just walk away.
And that scares the shit out of me.
“This has nothing to do with you.” I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. “When will you get it through your head that not everything has to do with you? You’re not the center of the damn universe.”
I glance around the room and wish everybody would find something else to pay attention to. Okay, so maybe I’m being too harsh on her, since it’s not her fault that I can’t stop thinking about Jane. And it’s not really Trinity’s fault that she thinks things with us might be getting going again. I made the first move. It was on me.
“Really, Anthony? That’s the fucking best you’ve got?” She throws back another shot. “I seem to remember you thinking my pussy was the center of the universe. You couldn’t get enough of it.”
Shit.
This is not how things were supposed to go down.
I look around to try to figure out how to best diffuse things. Trinity’s waving for another drink, and everyone’s looking at us. I need to nip this in the bud or it’s going to end up going viral and all the good will my dad has toward me will go out the window. And that’s the best-case scenario. The worst case is Chambersmith finding out and me losing the account on top of everything else.
I’m seriously considering picking her up and throwing her over my shoulder when my wing man finally decides to act like a wing man.
“Trinity, come on.” Tyler puts her coat over her shoulders and leads her to the door. Well, drags her is more like it. She practically kicks and screams the entire way, hurling curses at me as she does.
I deserve a few of them. Maybe not all, but a lot.
“Here you go.” A waitress hands me a drink. “You look like you could use it.”
I take it gladly and take a seat, running my hands through my hair to smooth it down. I did the right thing. We’re no good together. Everybody seems to have forgotten the scene we made as soon as it’s over, too, so the night is turning around. The last thing I need is for Dad to decide I can’t be trusted with the Chambersmith account.
How is it possible for a single woman to turn me into somebody I don’t recognize? This isn’t me at all, the guy who cares about feelings and doing the right thing. Not that I ever deliberately did the wrong thing. Well, it’s rarely deliberate. I am human after all. More often, I just never thought about whether what I did was right. Now, I’d give anything to have Jane here so I could apologize for not trying harder to understand why she ran away.
“Anthony!”
My head snaps around in the direction of the door, and I stop just short of rubbing my eyes to make sure I’m not dreaming. There she is, marching over to me. I can’t decide if she’s happy or angry or what, but it doesn’t matter right now. She’s here. It feels like I haven’t seen her in years. My heart does some weird trippy thing.
“Jane?” I barely have time to say her name before she takes me by the lapels of my jacket and pulls me to her for a kiss better than anything Trinity or any other girl has ever given. The best kiss of my life. I slide my arms around her waist to hold her, not to pull her to me, necessarily, just to touch her. It’s enough just to touch her.
Her lips are like silk, and her taste...fuck, how did I forget that taste? All I want is more, but I know this isn’t the time or the place. Especially since the only thing worse than getting caught arguing with Trinity in public is having someone publish that I was making out with two different women within minutes of each other.
When I step back, we’re both out of breath.
“I’m ready now,” she whispers. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“You’re sure?” Every nerve in my body is screaming for me to take her up on it, but I can’t risk her running off again. She’s worth more than a quick fuck. Or even a long leisurely one if it means that’s all I get. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”
She nods, her eyes shining. “Stop overthinking it.”