CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Oh my god, this soufflé is amazing. It’s like heaven in my mouth. Heaven, Jimmy, do you hear me?” I licked the last of the chocolate off my spoon then tried to find more. Stupid spoon for being empty. Better double-check just in case.

“I hear you.” His gaze followed my tongue up the length of the spoon and he swallowed hard.

Huh.

The rock star in question sat across the table from me, his own breakfast long since eaten. He’d probably been up at the crack of dawn being all fit and energetic. In the basement gym, since paparazzi were lurking around outside given his mom’s interview hitting the airwaves last night. A couple of security guys were out there, keeping an eye on things. So definitely no jogging for various reasons, but on account of my busted ankle I got to lie in bed anyways.

My own lesser bed sadly.

Once the boot had arrived the night before, he’d kicked me out of his room. Well, he’d helped me hobble into mine. At any rate, the end result was the same, I slept alone.

By the time I texted him to come help me down the stairs, he’d already showered and dressed in jeans and a plain black T-shirt. And now I tasted the abundant leftovers from his grand dinner party the night before. Screw cereal for breakfast, dessert was definitely the go-to. We’d be dining on leftovers for days, homemade pasta with wild mushrooms and pancetta, some exotic fish dish, and the best damn chocolate soufflé with berry coulis I’d tasted in my entire life.

Best. Breakfast. Ever.

“I want to have this soufflé’s babies.”

“Great,” he said, watching me devour the innocent dessert with much zeal. The look on his face concerned me in so much as I couldn’t read it. His eyes were guarded but there was something else there too, something more. An intensity I wasn’t certain I could match at this hour of the morning.

“We need to talk,” he said.

Where there any other words quite so dreaded in all of the human language? I didn’t think I’d done anything, but still …

“About your mom?” I asked hopefully.

“No.” His eyes shuttered. “Nothing to be done about that. She’s played her card and I just want to forget about her now.”

Which was more than fair. “All right. What then?”

“You made up your mind whether you’re going out with Dean again or not?”

This wasn’t so bad. I tapped the silver spoon against my lips, giving it some thought. Our first date had gone so well but then I had run out on him last night. Then there was the one that I forgot because I was out getting ice cream with Jimmy. Odds were, he had no interest in seeing me again.

“I think not,” I said. “He’s a great guy, but … maybe under different circumstances, you know? In another life.”

“Whatever. We need to talk about point five on your list. Point four isn’t working out, so let’s give up on you dating.”

“Hmm.” I set the spoon down in my disappointingly still empty dish. “There wasn’t a point five on my list. There were only four, date other people, focus on your flaws, don’t be pathetic, and get a life, etcetera.”

“Yeah, I made up number five. That list you found was complete and utter bullshit.”

“I’m beginning to come to the same conclusion.”

There was something different about him. A strange sort of tension running through him. He sat forward, elbows on the table, foot tapping out a beat beneath. I could hear it, the constant noise matching the overeager rhythm of my heart. Let’s pretend the sugar rush from the soufflé stirred me up as opposed to the company I was keeping.

“So?” I prodded. “Are you going to tell me what this mysterious point five is?”

“We fuck.”

Everything stopped.

Jimmy stared back at me, totally calm.

This couldn’t be happening.

No. This wasn’t right.

“Get out of here!” I laughed, sitting back in my chair. “God, you nearly had me there for a minute.”

“I’m serious.”

“Sure you are.” I rolled my eyes, shook my head, still laughing.

“Thank about it. All dating did was depress the hell out of both of us. And if I’m being entirely honest, I’m feeling a little sexually frustrated too these days. Not to give you TMI Lena, but I haven’t jerked off this much since … ever.”

I laughed.

And I laughed some more.

And then I stopped laughing because Jimmy’s expression hadn’t changed. Not one iota. He just sat there, sizing me up with his cool blue eyes, his mouth a straight, seemingly sincere, line.

“This is a joke,” I croaked on account of my throat closing.

“No. No joke. I say we try fucking to get it out of our system.”

“No joke?” But it had to be. Christ, I couldn’t breathe. Air, I needed air immediately.

Jimmy pushed back his chair, the legs shrieking across the marble. He walked around the table and pulled me up, his hands beneath my arms. “Breathe, Lena. You’re turning blue.”

At his command my lungs kicked into high gear, filling with oxygen. Doing what they ought to. A strong hand rubbed up and down my spine, encouraging. He pushed my chair aside, the solid bulk of him standing directly behind me, warming me.

“You all right?” he asked, leaning over my shoulder.

I nodded.

He didn’t move away. The hand rubbing my back didn’t stop. Man, that felt nice.

“You, ah … you kind of surprised me,” I said.

“Hmm.”

“You’re really … you want to …” I couldn’t say it. The words tangled, making it impossible to get them out.

“Why not? I see it as a win-win situation. I get to release some of my frustration and you get to release any lingering feelings messing with your head. We fuck, we see we don’t have chemistry, we move on. Or even better, everything falls apart like it normally does and you’re happy just going back to being friends. What do you say?”

To have, or not to have, sex with Jimmy. A bit of a no brainer. “Sure, why not?”

He straightened, removing himself from view. His presence though could never be doubted. The man was magnetic, his heat and hard flesh pulling me in. The way he opened himself to me and told me his secrets, the way he gave me his trust, it all drew me closer. The temptation to lean back against him was almost overwhelming. Carefully, he undid my ponytail, spilling my dark hair across my shoulders.

He twirled a strand around his finger, rubbing his thumb back and forth across it. “Like your hair.”

“Thank you.”

Slowly, he unwound my hair from his finger. His hand slid to the base of my spine and then went lower, over my ass, down to the edge of my red jersey dress. Never had one limb’s journey been so important. Goose flesh covered my back and it wasn’t from any chill.

“And I like you in red,” he said, brushing his lips against the tip of my ear.

“Do you?” I was just happy I wasn’t in sweats. The too-sexy-for-words medical boot, bright blue with white straps across the front, was bad enough.

“Oh, yeah.” His fingers skated right up the back of my bare leg, making me shiver. “Very much.”

Jimmy Ferris did not mess around.

“You want to do it r-right now?” I stuttered.

“Might as well.” His other hand slid around my front, stroking beneath the bulge of my breasts. He pressed his hard body against the length of me, grinding his erection against my ass cheek, making me ache. “Not inconveniencing you, am I, Lena?”

I sucked in a breath, my mind racing. “No. Not like I had anything else planned.”

“Good.” A finger traced the elastic of my panties around the top of my leg, sliding beneath to trace over my hipbone. It felt so fine my stomach pretty much turned itself inside out in elation.

To have him this close, the heat of him at my back, and the soap and subtle aftershave scenting the air, was bliss. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined this, the chance to really be with him. My skin felt hot, feverish. And my heart had started beating somewhere between my legs. God, I needed him touching me there.

“Probably safer on your back,” he said.

His words drifted right over me, meaningless noise. Right up until he reached around me and pushed aside the bowl and spoon. He turned me, picked me up, and placed me on top of the table.

“Lie back,” he said. The look in his eyes, the tension, it was hunger for me. Amazing. Tightly leashed but there just the same. I’d never seen such a beautiful sight in all my life.

“Lie back, Lena.” His hand on my shoulder guided me down until I was flat against the hard wood.

“We’re really doing this?” All I could hear was my heavy breathing. So incredibly loud. It wouldn’t have surprised me if the neighbors complained about the noise levels. “Jimmy?”

In lieu of a response, he slid his hands beneath my skirt and began divesting me of my sensible comfortable black cotton panties. Worn because the possibility of getting laid by my boss on the kitchen table hadn’t really crossed my mind. Yet there they went, flying over his shoulder.

“I guess we are,” I said.

He pulled a chair over and sat, hot eyes on me the entire time. A muscle jumped in his jaw repeatedly. Thank god I wasn’t the only one wound up about this.

I went up on one elbow, nerves buzzing in my head. “What are you doing now?”

“What people do at tables.” Strong hands held my legs apart. “Eating.”

My stomach dipped. “Oh, god.”

His head disappeared beneath my skirt.

Jimmy Ferris seriously did not mess around.

Warm breath hit my most secret female flesh. Okay, enough fancy talk, it was my vagina. Then he dragged his tongue up the length of my lips, sending lightning streaking straight up my spine. “Holy fuck.”

Beneath my dress, he hummed. The sweetest sound in all of creation.

I wriggled, trying to get closer. “Jimmy.”

His mouth attached to first one lip and then the other, sucking hard. Blood rushed through my veins at the speed of light, all of it heading straight to my pussy. It’d been so long since I’d had this, and never with someone so blatantly into the act. His mouth covered me, hot and hungry. Fingers sunk into my thighs and his tongue lapped at my labia, making me moan. I don’t know when my back hit the table once more. Early on would be my guess. Same went for when my eyelids slid closed on the cold white ceiling, high above my head. What Jimmy was doing took my full, undivided attention, every wet sound and fierce sensation driving me wild. My hips jerked, head turning this way and that. It was too much and not enough. I never wanted it to end.

The knowledge that this was him pressed all of my buttons, bringing my love and longing roaring to the surface. So much emotion, I felt ready to combust. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him all, to offer him anything. How incredibly foolish would that be? I bit down hard, the metallic taste of blood in my mouth.

He ate me like a man deprived, starved.

He ate me like I was his favorite meal.

Vaguely related, apparently singers had excellent tongue control and strength. Bless them for that, many, many times over. In fact, the man excelled at oral beyond my wildest dreams. He worked his mouth between the lips of my sex, tongue diving deep, tasting me. Then he’d trail the tip up to my clit and tease me until I cried out. It was sublime. The muscles in my thighs drew tight. He gave me long, strong licks from just above my ass to my clit followed by sweet suckling kisses. My head spun, my senses reeling from overload. My sex had never been so spoiled.

And so it was that then, with all my elegant flailing, the chunky ass medical boot smacked him in the side of his head and we cried out together. In pain.

“Shit.” He extricated himself from beneath my clothing, rubbing at his skull. “You okay?”

“Yes. You just have a really hard head.”

He shook said head.

“Please don’t stop.” Pain didn’t matter, only coming did. “Please?”

“Just a minute.” Carefully, he draped my wounded leg over his shoulder. “There we go. You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said, panting.

“You sure?”

“Jimmy!”

The smirking bastard. “Okay, Lena. Don’t get all over excited. Now, where was I?”

“You want me to hit you in the head again with the boot?” Desperation tightened my voice, murderous thoughts running through my brain. I was a sweaty horny mess and he needed to start taking me and my orgasm seriously. Now. “Do you? Really, Jimmy, is that what you’re telling me?”

He chuckled.

And then he pushed up my skirt and got back to it, lucky for him. His ever-so-talented lips worked me up and up, to heights unheard of before. Up where the air was thin and the stars within reach. This was more than just great head. I felt so high, the rush of hot sweet emotions filling me had to be touching him too. The power of how he stirred me, driving me out of my mind was so intense.

He couldn’t not feel it.

The tip of his tongue traced over my opening, making my muscles clench. So damn empty. Every inch of me drew tight, my legs shaking. My ass rubbed against the smooth surface of the table. He’d made me so impossibly wet, my pussy swollen and aching. I needed to come more than I needed to keep breathing. When his swift, clever tongue focused in on my clit, it was almost all over. A long, hard suck of it finished me off, tipping me straight over the edge. The freefall was magnificent. The world blurred to white and blood roared in my ears. It was basically an out of body experience. My mouth opened on a silent scream. Such pleasure, such joy.

It took me quite some time to come back down. When I did, Jimmy was standing, busy tearing open a condom wrapper with his teeth. He’d come prepared.

“We good?” he asked.

My breath … I’d lost it somewhere. No matter. I’d just lie there and glow, my pussy still pulsing with aftershocks. Perfect.

“Lena?” His hint of a smile was so cocky. There was a flash of dimple and everything. But honestly, he’d done such a superlative job on me. It was thoroughly well deserved.

I nodded, giving him proof of life. My mind was still drifting down from the heavens. God. Sex had never quite that celestial before. All he’d done was put his mouth on me, I might not survive more.

Though I’d definitely die happy.

He stared down at me, hands busy rolling the condom over his cock. Before I could rise up on an elbow to get a look, he was positioning himself at my entrance. The slight pressure from the blunt head of his penis made sparkling little shocks break out anew. Baby fireworks. Shivers raced across my skin. He stroked over my tummy, setting his palm against the damp skin, up over the curves of my dimpled thighs, so white and big. All of my insecurities came running on home, despite the lust in his eyes. He was so big and beautiful standing over me.

“You’re gorgeous,” he whispered, voice ragged.

I couldn’t talk, my throat dry as stone. So I just nodded. Surely he had all the permission he needed. I lay there decimated by him, wet and willing.

“It’s been a while.” A bead of perspiration ran down the side of his face. His shoulders rose and fell furiously, the struggle for control obvious in every part of him. “Want it to be good for you.”

I swear my heart up and died at the doubt in his voice. Sometimes, we were more alike than I gave us credit for.

“Jimmy. I need you in me.”

Something eased in his eyes and he nodded. “Yeah. You do.”

I laughed in surprise.

Then I shut right the hell up. Capable hands held my legs apart and he started pushing in. And in. My pussy lips stretched around him to accommodate his size. Slowly but surely, the long hard length of him filled places I didn’t even know existed. Honestly, it wasn’t all that comfortable. It’d been a few months since last time, but this was ridiculous.

I wiggled and wrapped my good leg around him, trying to get into a better position. Really, I should have been wet enough after the phenomenal orgasm. “How big are you?”

“You can take me.” His tongue ran over his lush bottom lip and his gaze stayed on where we were joined.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

He gave me a quick look. “Not like I measure myself.”

“That’s still not an answer.”

“Fuck’s sake. Can we not argue when we’re having sex? Please?”

“Fine.” I stopped watching him over my still heaving breasts and stared at the ceiling. Despite his excessive skills with oral sex, it seemed we didn’t match up down below. How sad. At least years from now, when I looked back on this, I’d know we’d tried.

His thumb toyed either side of my still super sensitive clit, making my back bow.

“Careful,” I breathed.

He nodded, but didn’t look up at me. Apparently our combined groins were just too fascinating. He drew back, before easing into me once more. Then again he slid out, withdrawing further this time, before sinking back in. Each time he did it, it felt better, and he did it over and over again, taking consummate care. The man moved like he was machine, no emotion, face set and eyes focused. Only his hands betrayed him, rubbing up and down my thighs, gripping tight and releasing had enough to leave marks. They could not seem to stay still, too busy exploring my skin. He pressed my knees in hard against him, keeping us as close as could be. Sure enough, eventually tingles started in all of my favorite places, tension building low in my belly. I rarely if ever came twice in the same night. It just didn’t happen. But having him inside of me was now a pleasure, not a pain.

“Jimmy,” I gasped when he hit something particularly wonderful.

He didn’t look up. “Yeah?”

“Do that again.” My breasts felt heavy, hard nipples cruelly contained. Bad underwear. I needed to burn my bras.

“What … this?” His amazing dick did as told, striking me in exactly the right place, lighting me up like I was electric.

“God.” My eyes rolled back into my head. “Yes, yes, yes.”

“I think you like my cock.” He laughed evilly, picking up pace, zeroing in on my happy spot, driving me out of my mind.

“I think I love your cock,” I gasped, my butt grinding into the table.

“Damn, you feel good.”

He hammered into me in a way that was pure art. Our bodies understood each other perfectly. The fit and feel of him marking me inside, making me whole. Each and every muscle in me drew taut until I was one mindless strung-out mess. Jimmy thrust into me hard and fast while I moaned and groaned in appreciation.

Fuck, he could fuck.

I’d never known anyone like him. No way could I keep my eyes closed, I needed to watch. Skin slick with sweat and eyes squeezed tight, he pounded into me with absolute precision. He was so god-like and glorious it was scary. This had to be a dream. When he opened his eyes, dark of his pupil seemed to have swallowed the pale blue whole. He looked down on me, his heart and mind exposed.

He felt it. I know he did. It was so big, so all consuming, how could he not?

This time when I came, the whole world blacked out. My entire body released in some orgy of mindless ecstasy. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. My blood boiled and my brain blanked, every bit of me trembling. He’d turned me into some sex creature, wired just for him. And the payoff was sublime.

I heard a shout, then a warm weight settled on top of me.

We were both panting. The noise echoing, filling the room along with the frantic beat of my heart.

Slowly, I opened my eyes again. The world was still there, despite all internal bodily evidence to the contrary. Endorphins made merry with my whole being. How floaty and totally remarkable having sex with Jimmy was. Give me five minutes and I’d definitely go back for another round. Right now though, he’d earned a break.

“Hey.” I stroked his beautiful black hair.

Immediately, he started righting himself. He lifted himself off of me, began dealing with the condom. He tied it off at the end and then tucked his cock back into his jeans, doing up the zip and buttons. I missed the warmth of him instantly.

“Jimmy?”

He didn’t look at me.

Between my legs was a wonderful wet mess. The delicious musky scent of sex lay thick in the air. Any money there was a loved-up dumb-ass smile on my face. I couldn’t bring myself to care, let alone be embarrassed. He’d made me feel far too good.

“Jimmy?”

“Yeah?” He dumped the used condom and braced his hands beside the sink, staring out the kitchen window.

“Are you okay?”

“Sure. Yeah, no problem.”

“Good.”

He looked back over his shoulder at me, brows a worried line. “How are you?”

“Fine. Thank you.” Man, this was all so very polite. Next we might have toast and tea, and talk about the weather.

Shoulders thick and strained, he said nothing for the longest time. I’d been locked out again. The walls were up. He studied me in silence and I could feel the distance seeping back in between us. First inches, then feet, until entire oceans separated where we were.

I couldn’t stand it anymore, the silence was killing me. “What’s wrong?”

“You shouldn’t look at me like that.”

Right. There you go.

My body cooled in an instant, all of the lax and lovely evaporating into thin air. I lay on the table, badly in need of another shower with my hair one giant tangle. The sex creature was gone, dismissed. I smoothed my dress back down over my ravished private parts before rising up. This most definitely wasn’t the sort of conversation I wanted to have lying flat on my back with it all on display. Pride mattered.

“I want to fuck you every way I know how,” he said. “But you can’t look at me like that.”

“I see.”

“I, ah … I need some air.” He strode to the kitchen door, no hesitation, he didn’t look back. But instead he stepped straight out into the cold windy Portland morning without a jacket. He was going to freeze his ass off. And actually, I was okay with that just then.

# # #

My eyes itched though I wouldn’t be crying. Stunned seemed the top response. I just … I couldn’t believe he’d walked straight out on me after such magnificent sex. I hadn’t clung to him, demanding a ring. There’d been no discussion of babies. All casual sex etiquette had been adhered to.

Like I could help how I looked at him.

I kicked my feet, the clunky med boot swinging back and forth below. There was no sign of him on the back patio. Fuck knew where he’d gone.

“You could have at least helped me get down, you asshole,” I yelled, despite him being well out of hearing. “Mal was right, you do no aftercare.”

Worst post-coital ever.