Chapter Thirty-Eight
Julian
We were civilized as we walked through the lobby. I held her hand and we walked fast, keeping eye contact with the bank of elevators at the end of the lobby. The woman behind the front desk greeted us and I threw her a wave before picking up the pace.
I pressed the call button as Josephine slid her gaze to me and revealed a slow, private smile. I squeezed her hand tighter as the doors to the elevator slid open and we stepped inside.
The moment the doors closed, pushed Jo to the wall. All civility was lost. She bit my lip as I slammed her hands against the wall over her head and she ground her hips against mine. I was tracing the top of her dress with my finger when the elevator dinged and the doors swept open twenty floors below our final destination.
I jumped back, giving us space to breathe as a couple dressed in cowboy boots and rhinestone hats stepped into the elevator.
Jesus Christ.
Jo’s chest was rising and falling as if she’d just finished a marathon. Her cheeks were flushed and she had her hand pressed to her stomach, trying to calm herself down.
The couple didn’t even seem to notice. The woman glanced from her to me and then smiled wide.
“Are you two real New Yorkers?” she asked with wide, curious eyes.
Odd question for a hotel elevator.
Jo smiled and nodded. “Do we look like it or something?”
The woman pulled her purse off her shoulder and dug inside of it. “You’re both just so glamorous. Could we get a picture?”
Jo met my gaze and I arched a brow.
“Just of us two?” she asked the woman.
The woman stopped digging and pulled out a giant camera. She handed it off to her husband—who didn’t seem at all phased by his wife’s request—and stood on the other side of Jo.
“I’ll be in it too,” she replied jovially.
I laughed. Only in New York.
I stepped closer to Jo and she wrapped her hand around my stomach. I could still feel the excitement surrounding her. Her body practically hummed with desire. I had my hand on her hip as the man positioned the viewfinder in front of his eye. Then, as he was about to snap the photo, I slid my hand down over Jo’s ass, dangerously low. She pinched my side to stop me, but it was too late. The man snapped the photo and Josephine practically came apart in my hands.
They thanked us for the photo, stepped off after a few more floors, and then Jo turned her angry gaze on me.
“Really cute, Julian. They totally knew what you were doing.”
I smiled. “No they didn’t. I was watching her husband’s face. He was oblivious, including the fact that they came all the way from Texas to get a picture of a Texan.”
She crossed her arms and leaned back against the elevator wall.
“Besides, it’s payback for the cab ride over here.”
She arched her brow and studied me from across the confined space. There was an unspoken war taking place between us—one that I wasn’t sure I could win. I thought she was about to argue with me when she bent forward and slipped her hands underneath the bottom of her dress. The slit on her left thigh pulled wider and I clenched my fists to keep from slamming the emergency button on the elevator panel. She reached up, took hold of her black thong, and slid it all the way down her legs. I watched the material descend her long legs as a rush of blood swept through me.
She held it out on the tip of her finger and smirked.
“You wanted to feel it so badly while they were taking the photo, so here you go,” she said, tossing it at me.
I caught it in my right hand and smirked.
She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up even higher. I loosened my tie and slid my suit jacket off my shoulders. She watched me start to undress as the elevator pulled to a stop on my floor. The doors slid open and I gestured for Josephine to step out first. She narrowed her eyes, clearly untrusting of my motives.
“I can be a gentlemen sometimes.” I smirked.
She laughed and headed in the direction of my hotel room. I pulled my keycard out of my wallet and stepped up behind her.
“Though I know you prefer when I’m not,” I said as I unlocked the door.
She turned around, gripped the two ends of my tie and pulled me into the suite. The lights were off, the city was our torch as she tugged the tie from my collar and tossed it over onto the couch. My jacket was next and then she stood there, eyeing me up and down with excitement.
She reached behind her to the zipper of her dress and I stepped up and gripped her hand to stop her. I wanted to take it off her. The midnight blue fabric was the last defense between us. Her breasts pressed against me with every inhalation, and she waited there with bated breath for me to release the dress and let it fall to the ground. I wrapped one hand up around her neck, at the base of her skull. I used the leverage to tilt her head back and then I stared straight into her eyes, watching for any last scrap of insecurity.
“Will you be honest about how badly you want me right now or do I need to slide my hand between your legs to get the truth?”
A rose blush bloomed from her chest, up over her cheeks.
She wrapped her left leg around me and the slit in her dress pulled open just like it had in the elevator.
I let my hand run from the inside of her knee, up over the smooth skin of her inner thigh. Her breath picked up as I skimmed higher, up to where her thong should have been. I watched her features as I slipped my finger between her thighs. She was completely lost to the moment. Her eyes rolled closed and she bit down on her bottom lip. I pressed a finger into her, watching her cheeks flush with color, and then I contemplated taking her right there, up against the door of my hotel room.
I slid another finger inside her and moaned at how amazing it felt to finally feel all of her. I could have stayed right there all night, teasing her with my fingers, but I wanted our first time to be different. I wanted her to remember it as the best sex she’d ever had.
I pulled back and unwrapped her leg from around my waist. She opened her eyes and glared at me, surprised by my quick departure.
“Uh, you’ll have to try a little harder than that. I wasn’t even close.”
I laughed and stepped back.
“Take the dress off, Jo.”
She propped her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “I’ve already done everything for you. This is the only thing you have to take off.”
“Your bra?” I asked.
She smirked. “I’m not wearing one.”
I ignored the shot of adrenaline that accompanied that confession.
“What about your shoes?” I asked. They were laced up like gladiator sandals and looked like they’d take an hour just to untie.
“I assumed you’d ask me to leave them on or something.”
I smiled, but didn’t confirm her suspicions. “I have a feeling this will be a little rough and I don’t exactly want scars on my back from those heels.”
Her smirk widened. “Oh, you’re going to be rough?”
I shook my head at her incessant questioning. “Jo, lay down on the bed.”
She looked back at the king-size hotel bed, perfectly coifed by the afternoon maid.
“But my dress is still on.”
I dragged my hand through my hair and kicked off my shoes. “Then take it off.”
“Bossy, boss man.”
I stepped forward and reached behind her for the zipper on her dress.
“They sewed me into it,” she said, lifting up on her tip toes to kiss the edge of my jaw. “You’ll have to—”
Her words were drowned out by the sound of fabric ripping.
“Julian!”
“I’ll pay to get it fixed,” I assured her before she could throw a hissy fit.
Her green eyes locked on mine with a flare of attitude and then she reached for the collar of my shirt. She clenched her fists and pulled as hard as she could. The first button on my shirt flew across the room, but none of the others even budged.
“That was far less dramatic than I thought it would be,” she laughed.
Her dress slipped down as she laughed, exposing a few more inches of supple skin. I gripped the dress at her hips and pulled the material down even more, all the while thanking the bra gods for their absence.
She worked on the buttons of my shirt while I ran my hands over her chest, down her flat stomach. My eyes raked over her skin, following the trail of my hands. I hardly noticed when she slid my shirt over my shoulders, but as soon as it was gone, I pushed her back toward the edge of the bed and climbed up on top of her.
Her hair fanned out around her head. Her lips parted and her chest rose and fell in quick successions. The longer I looked, the longer I cupped her curves, the rosier her skin became beneath my touch. I smoothed my hand down the curve of her hip, down between her legs. She arched her back and dug her nails into the backs of my arms.
“Julian,” she moaned.
I nudged her legs apart with my knee and watched her green eyes squeeze shut.
“Are you nervous?” I asked, curious about her reaction.
She scrunched the bed sheets in her hand, opened her eyes, and stared up at the ceiling.
“A little bit. It’s just been a while and the last time I did this, it was dark and I was a little drunk and he definitely didn’t touch me the way you’re touching me.”
I smiled and scanned down her body, watching my finger slip higher up her inner thigh.
“Like this?” I asked.
She squirmed beneath my touch and kept a tight hold on the sheets. “I’m about to spontaneously combust if you don’t…”
I smirked. “Do what?”
She pushed up onto her elbows and her gaze flitted back and forth between my eyes.
“Julian Lefray, please put me out of my misery. Do you realize how long I’ve waited for this?”
I laughed and pressed my hand to the center of her chest, pushing her onto her back.
“I’ve waited just as long, Jo, but you have to relax. You have the most beautiful body I’ve ever seen. Just let me touch you.”
She groaned and let her body fall back onto the bed. I gripped her hips and pushed her up higher on the bed. Her head hit the pillows and she watched me with a curious stare.
I scooted down and skimmed my hand down across her chest and stomach until I could grip her thighs and spread her legs even wider.
“Oh, Jesus,” she whispered, throwing her arm over her eyes.
“Jo, relax,” I whispered, pressing one hand to her stomach to hold her on the bed and using the other to keep her legs open. If I was about to put my mouth between her legs, I didn’t want her to buck up and break my nose.
“Okay. Okay,” she said, taking a calming breath. “I’m relaxed, I promise.”
Liar. Her body was still humming with nervous energy, but I loved the way she felt. She was so easy to touch, so full of beautiful curves that I’d been fantasizing about for the last few months. I was mesmerized by every part of her. The soft skin over her hip bones, the dip of her belly button, the arch of her back as I dragged my hand up her thigh and then pressed a finger inside of her.
Her lips parted and I gave her a second to still, then I followed the path of my finger with my mouth.
There was no point in waiting for her to remain still. Jo laughed and talked the whole way through the night. Every time I pushed her a little further, she’d slink back and make a joke, trying to lighten the moment.
She watched me with curious eyes as I slipped off my pants and boxer briefs. It was the first time she’d stayed silent the entire night. I crawled back on top of her and kissed up her chest, over the swell of her breasts, and up the side of her neck.
“I’m not nervous anymore,” she whispered as she wound her fingers through my hair. “I want this so badly.”
I leaned back to catch her eyes and we stared at each other in silence. If I stopped then, Monday morning wouldn’t be any less awkward. We’d already gone so far. I’d already seen every inch of her skin and I’d already heard a symphony of moans from her supple lips. No amount of time could erase those memories. I knew that, but as I slipped inside of her and she shook beneath me, I realized there was so much left hanging between us. She was completely open to me. For once, there were no pretenses or expectations. She wasn’t pushing me away and I wasn’t pretending that she was just a friend. No more playful, witty flirtation. Just lust, distilled.
Josephine
He took his time with me, winding his fingers through mine and pushing them out to the sides. He ground his hips against mine, watching and studying my reactions so he could discover what really drove me mad. I must have been so easy to read, because he could do no wrong. When he skimmed the tops of my breasts, I squeezed his hands tighter. When he caught my earlobe between his teeth, I moaned softly against his cheek. When I came apart beneath him, my whole body shook. My eyes squeezed shut and my nails dug into his skin so hard I was sure I’d draw blood.
In that moment…
I knew I was his.