Fun With Rick and Jade (22 page)

There was a rap on his front door. Taking a deep breath, he opened it. “Hi, Candy.” He leaned in and gave her a quick hug. “Come on in.”

“Take this kid.” She held Coral out like a sack of flour. “She weighs a ton.”

“I told you to call me and I’d come down and get her.” Accepting the baby, Rick sniffed her. “I think some of that weight is her diaper. When did you change her last?”

She waved her hand and dropped the diaper bag at her feet just inside the front door. “Jade changed her before she left for her job interview.”

He rolled his eyes and wanted to beg her not to reproduce. “What kind of job interview?”

“Hostess at a new, fancy-schmancy Chinese restaurant.” She checked her lipstick in the mirror by the door. “She was born to look down her nose at people without reservations and deny them a table, unless they’re rich or famous, of course.”

“Of course. Goes without saying.” Rick turned his attention to Coral, since he’d grown bored with the world according to Candy. He nuzzled the baby and kissed her forehead. “She’s grown so much in a couple weeks.”

“Tell me about it.” She air-kissed Rick and Coral. “I’ve got to go. Emergency nail appointments don’t come cheap, so I’d better not be late.”

“We should keep this between you and me.” Rick walked her to the door. “I doubt Jade would approve of me babysitting.” But he’d been missing the kid and had jumped at the chance to see her. No hesitation or fear of repercussions whatsoever.

Candy zipped her lips. “Ta.” She waved.

“’Bye.” He closed the door behind her. Poking Coral playfully in the belly, he said, “Let’s get you changed, fed, and then playtime.”

The baby fell asleep in his arms as he fed her a bottle. He held her for a while, watching her eyelids flutter and her lips suck on an imaginary bottle. She smelled better after her diaper change, like powder. He decided she’d be more comfortable on his bed. One-handed, he spread her baby blanket on top of his comforter in the center of the mattress. He laid her down gently, placing pillows around her like a fluffy baby prison.

Leaning against the doorframe, he crossed his arms over his chest and watched her sleep. It was unfair of her to sleep when he wanted to spend time with her. A knock sounded at the front door. He glanced at his watch. Candy had been gone no more than thirty minutes. With drive time, Rick guessed a nail emergency took forty minutes to an hour at the very least.

He opened the door to find Jade. She wore one of those high-collared, body-hugging Chinese dresses that made his mind go blank. Her hands were braced against the frame around the door.

“Before you go off on me,” he said, “it was Candy’s fault.” He didn’t mind throwing her under the bus. Coral was better off under his care, no doubt about it.

Pushing away from the door, she said, “Where is she?” She reminded him very much of the first time he’d met her, as if she didn’t have time to be bothered with the likes of him.

“Getting her nails done.”

Jade closed her eyes and shook her head. He became hypnotized by the sway of her silky black hair.

“Not Candy.” Jade shoved through his front door, past him. “I heard all about her
nail
emergency.” She made air quotes around the word nail and he snickered. “Some people should not have children,” she muttered.

Rick closed the door behind her. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

She stopped, pivoted, and glared at him.

“I mean Candy, of course.”

“Where is she, Rick?”

She had him intimidated there for a minute, but she was on his turf. He’d bent her over his kitchen table and fucked her. She was in his cave now. “Where do you think she is? I didn’t sell her on the black market.”

Jade strode down the hall to the bedroom on her stilts. Rick trailed along behind her, enjoying the sway of her ass in the skintight dress. She leaned into the doorframe, much the same way he had earlier, complete with folding her arms over her chest. Rick wondered how her chest was. She sighed.

“See? She’s fine. You want a soda or a water or something?”

Defeated, she said, “Sure.”

Rick sauntered back to the kitchen with her following. He was having a hard time pretending he hadn’t fucked her here on the table. By all accounts, she had forgotten. He opened the refrigerator and passed her a bottle of water. Nothing fancy, just the store brand.

“I can get you a glass and some ice,” he offered.

“No thanks.”

“I didn’t think so,” he mumbled.
I couldn’t get that lucky
. “I could treat you to that movie I promised you.”

“No. If she’s not up soon, I’ll wake her,” she said. “But she’ll be so cranky.”

“Come. Sit.” Rick didn’t wait for an answer. He headed for the living room with a can of soda, figuring she’d have no choice but to follow. “Tell me about your interview. How’d it go?” He plopped down on the couch, hating that he couldn’t support her in the manner to which she was accustomed. If he could, perhaps things would have turned out differently.
How desperate am I that I’d settle for a one-sided relationship dependent on money?

Jade lowered herself gracefully to the far end of the sofa. “Not bad. It’s not easy to explain ten years of unemployment. I told them I’m getting out of a bad marriage and need to support my baby.”

Sure, blame me. Whatever works
. She was clearly trying to bait him into a battle or fuel her own anger toward him, for some reason. Maybe he hadn’t fought hard enough for her. There was a fine line between persistence and being slapped with a restraining order. She’d said she wasn’t interested because he was somewhat of a loser, and he couldn’t argue with facts. Why bother?

“And no one has recognized you from the McShane scandal?” he asked.

“Between my mug shot from eight years ago and the airbrushed glamour shot from the escort website, no.” She took a long drink from her bottle of water. “Not yet, anyhow. We all look alike, don’t you know? You suffer any fallout?” Her tone, sprinkled with regret or guilt, suggested she cared.

Aside from losing my investor, wife, and baby? No
. “Nope. Not really. Same ol’ same ol’ with me.”

“Well, you look good, Rick.” She faked a smile that stopped before reaching her eyes. “Happy.”

She seemed to be staring past him out the window to his neighbor’s roof, so he wasn’t sure how she could comment on his looks or potential happiness.

“I’m neither good nor happy, Jade, if you want the truth.”

Her lip quivered. She tried to cover the trembling with her fingertips. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t cry. It’s not your fault.” He held his hand out to her. “Come here. You need a hug.”

She eyed him warily.

“Just a hug,” he assured her.

She slid the length of the couch and curled up in his embrace. Rick kissed the top of her head. He couldn’t be mad at her. She didn’t love him the way he loved her, but he could still try to be in her life, in Coral’s life, by being a friend.

She laid her palm flat on his chest and looked up at him with haunted eyes. He dipped closer and kissed her temple. His next kiss landed on her cheek, without protest. Feeling brave, he landed his mouth lightly on her lips. Her hand left his chest. He expected her to slap him, but she touched his cheek, deepening the kiss. She snaked her hand behind his neck, holding on to him for dear life. Rick lost himself in her arms and lips, forgetting about the past. Not worrying about the future.

Jade kicked off her pumps and adjusted herself, draping her torso across his lap. She looped her arms, one over his shoulder, the other along his back, pulling him closer. “Kiss me again.”

“Sure.” His mouth sampled her lips in quick, teasing snippets and deliberate, sensually epic kisses he felt blazing the length of his spine in a slow burn.

Rick swept her hair aside and leisurely eased her zipper down. His fingers fanned out along her bare skin, the skin he’d never thought he’d see or touch again.

Jade had missed Rick’s touch and his lips, more so than the alcohol she’d given up while pregnant and nursing. He’d spoiled her with his tenderness. But she could also appreciate his powerful side. The side that had stupidly punched out Ewan and defended her to Dave Honeycutt, to Rick’s own detriment. The way he’d dominated her in his kitchen made her belly flutter even now.

He skimmed her dress off her shoulder, placing a kiss where fabric once was.

“I think Candy set us up,” she whispered.

“I will thank her later.” He nipped and pecked along her jaw and down her neck to her clavicle. He tugged playfully at her earlobe with his teeth. “I should get a condom.”

No! Stop this right now before it goes too far
. She nodded, pushing up to sitting. “Check on Coral.”

He nodded. “Goes without saying.”

Of course it does
. He was so in tune with her wants, wishes, and desires, as well as Coral’s needs. Jade watched him hurry down the hall, a man on a mission.

He wandered back shortly, holding up the condom. “She’s sleeping like a baby.”

Jade stood. Her dress fell to the floor. Rick pulled his T-shirt off, tossing it on a nearby chair. She laid her hands flat on his solid chest. He pulled her against him and claimed her lips again.

“Oh, baby,” he growled into her mouth. “I have missed you.”

Jade unfastened his fly, pushing his jeans and boxer shorts down. He kicked them off and sat down. She stood before him in nothing but her panties and bra. Clutching her hips, Rick worked his lips against her panties, nipping at her pussy through the fabric. She dragged her fingernails through his hair, tracing lazy loop-de-loops on his scalp.

Working as a team, he peeled the lingerie off as she stepped out of the panties and he tossed them away. With his knees he nudged her legs apart. Spreading her folds apart with his thumbs, he made love to her clit with his mouth, licking and sucking at the heart of her desire. She braced her hands on his shoulders, nearly swooning from the liquid heat swirling in her belly. She’d missed him, too, but wouldn’t dare admit it.

Easing her legs apart, he pushed two fingers into her cunt as his tongue licked tight little circles around her bud.

“Oh.” She heard her heartbeat pounding in her ears, felt it thrumming through her body. “Yes.” She swiveled her hips, trying to slide against his digits and press her pussy into his mouth. She needed control, but he controlled her with his hand and tongue. “Rick.”

Jade’s thighs quivered uncontrollably. Her only stability seemed to be Rick wedging his knees against her inner thighs and her firm grip on his shoulders. His fingers curled up and stroked her passage, coaxing her orgasm to come out of hiding.

Unintelligible noises spilled from her lips, the sounds a cross between moans, groans, and whimpering pleas. She’d always managed to maintain some degree of control in the past, but not with Rick. His power over her terrified Jade. Pressure built in her belly. A flood of warmth coated her insides as splinters of pleasure exploded like fireworks in her pussy.

Rick pulled her onto his lap before the fireworks ended. He pushed his cock into her opening and groaned. Closing his eyes and resting his head against the sofa, he didn’t move inside her; her muscles contracted and released around his length. “Yes,” he muttered. “I’m home.”

Jade laced her fingers together at the back of his neck and slid against him, wantonly riding the last of her orgasm. She stopped, panicked for a split second until she noticed the open and empty condom packet. She didn’t know when or how he’d managed the condom. She’d been too rapt to be aware of anything but her own pleasure. A dangerous prospect.

“Don’t worry.” He stroked her thighs and waist to soothe her. “I’ll always protect you. Don’t give it a second thought.”

She wondered if his words went further than the condom. She’d noted the pillows he’d placed around Coral and the way he’d reach for her in the face of any danger, like in the car the day after the wedding when he’d suddenly slammed on the brakes. He’d walk on the outside near the street, always mindful of potential danger. Hell, he even said “bless you” when she’d sneeze.

He slowly rolled his hips back and forth, inching his way into her body. “I won’t last long,” he warned her.

Jade wanted to believe that meant he hadn’t been with anyone else. They connected through a kiss.

“Would it help if I bit you or slapped you?” she inquired teasingly, desperate to replace the emotions welling up in her with carnal passion.

Rick pushed into her and moaned. “I’m afraid it would, but let’s save that for a last resort.”

“I could claw you.” She lightly dragged her red nails diagonally across his chest.

Shaking his head, he pulled her close and buried his lips in the cleavage spilling from her bra. His tongue dipped into the valley between her breasts. She threw her head back, his lips stirring her insides into a whirlpool of warm desire.

Jade tapped her clit against his body with each glorious thrust. The action thickened and heated the whirling and swirling in her abdomen. The tapping of her clit turned to dragging her aching nub against his lower torso. As if they shared one mind, Rick grasped her hips to plunge his cock one last time into her pussy, grinding her clit against him.

“Uhm,” she hummed like a mantra. “Mmm, yes, baby.”

Rick stole a kiss, breathing in her gasps. Their combined moans tumbled together in each other’s mouths. Flashes of light sparked behind her closed eyelids, matching the sparks of pleasure igniting in her pussy. He quietly groaned his climax, no doubt mindful of the baby sleeping down the hall.

He plopped back against the sofa, spent. “Damn.”

Jade leaned in, clasping her palms on either side of his neck, and kissed him. Kissed him good-bye. Nothing had changed. Yes, she’d missed him. Loving him wasn’t in question. He’d resent her some day for dragging him down and crushing his dreams. Her past would tear them apart in the future.

“I should go.” She punctuated her words with a peck to his lips.

“No,” he said. “Stay until Coral wakes.”