Jessie Slaymaker's Non-Existent Love Life (The Jessie Slaymaker Series) (19 page)

Somehow Jessie got him naked and they were clumsily groping and kissing each other on the bed. Charlie was in a hurry. Obviously not much of a foreplay fan. At the earliest opportunity he probed his hard cock at her pussy. When he found her opening, he thrust his dick inside her and Jessie held in a cry of discomfort. She wasn’t even remotely wet she realised, feeling disappointed. Charlie didn’t seem to notice as he pounded her, seemingly only aware of his own satisfaction as she looked up at him.

‘I’m going to come,’ he slurred into her neck after not an enormous amount of time.

‘You on the pill?’ he panted at her between thrusts, slowing his pace slightly. Jessie was, but the thought of him releasing in her like this was not appealing.

‘No,’ she lied, hoping it would have the desired effect.

‘Ahhh,’ he groaned as he pulled out of her and fell onto his side heavily. Within a half second he’d rolled onto his back and had started to wank himself off, getting back into his earlier rhythm with a practiced gusto. A half-minute later and he let out a satisfied moan as he came all over his chest and, much to Jessie’s chagrin, on her bedsheets. Great, she thought to herself, more annoyed than satisfied. Now she was going to have to sleep in a bed smelling of Charlie’s love juices. What joy!

Chapter 49

Jessie knew she’d made one of the biggest mistakes of her life the second she opened her eyes and saw Charlie lying asleep next to her.
Why oh why oh why had she done it?
she asked herself as she turned her back to him and clutched the bedclothes tightly to her chest.

To top it all off, she hadn’t even insisted he wear a condom. He could have given her anything. How stupid could she have been? One thing she did know for sure. She sure as hell didn’t want Jack to know she’d done the dirty do with his big brother.

She’d had many a daydream envisaging what it would be like to have Charlie Davenport make love to her. The reality had proved to be somewhat of an anti-climax. Climax—or lack thereof—being the operative word as far as Jessie was concerned. She knew now, when it came to Charlie, the magic was gone. Not that it had been magic. No, Jessie definitely couldn’t call what had gone on between her and Charlie magic. More like a one-sided blind obsession. A schoolgirl crush on her teacher, Jessie reflected, as she listened to his breathing next to her. Jessie clutched the bedclothes even tighter to her as she felt a fresh wave of embarrassment tinged with humiliation wash over her. She cringed thinking back on how she had behaved around Charlie. All lovestruck puppy dog eyes and the scampering after him.

‘Oh my God,’ Jessie groaned out loud as she buried her face into her pillow.

‘Hey, babe,’ came Charlie’s voice in her ear as she felt his arm wrap around her. ‘Got any paracetemol? I’ve got a splitting headache.’

‘I’ll get you some,’ Jessie replied, awkwardly extricating herself from his embrace. She spied her bathrobe screwed up on the floor and quickly stooped to scoop it up, tossed it around her bare body and fled to the comparative safety of the bathroom.

Jessie felt utterly mortified as she stood staring at her sorry face in the bathroom mirror. She hadn’t even really wanted to make love with Charlie the night before. Not that you could call it lovemaking. She’d just sort of got caught up in the moment and, as with most things in her life, she hadn’t been able to a formulate an answer which was a true reflection of what she actually wanted to do. She was furious with herself that she’d just been idle and hadn’t done anything to stop it. It was sickening.
Stop being such a pleaser
, Jessie willed the sad expression in front of her.

All she wanted to do was get rid of the man in her bed and forget that their unimpressive tête-a-tête had ever happened. Hopefully he’d have Sunday brunch plans and Jessie crossed her fingers that he would be as eager to get out of her hair as she was for him to do a David Copperfield on her. A few deep breaths later to psyche herself up, Jessie grabbed the painkillers and headed back to the scene of last night’s crime.

‘Here you go,’ she said, tossing the paracetamol towards him.

‘Thanks,’ he replied, barely noticing her. Charlie was propped up with pillows and was focused on the TV.

‘Make yourself at home,’ Jessie muttered under her breath as she busied herself with collecting various clothing items from the floor.

‘I ordered some room service. I’m absolutely starving,’ he said, still preoccupied with the TV. ‘Should be here in a minute or so.’

‘Cool,’ Jessie heard herself reply automatically. How long had she’d been in the bathroom for? Far from looking to make a great escape, Charlie seemed pretty content to take his sweet-ass time and have a relaxing morning. In her room. Right on cue, there was a knock at the door.

‘Can you get that?’ Charlie said, flicking his eyes to her for the first time since she’d emerged from the bathroom. Still holding Charlie’s clothes, Jessie stomped to the door to get the damn room service for his lordship of her bedchamber.

Chapter 50

‘Morning,’ Jessie said before she’d even opened the door properly. As she raised her eyes, expecting to see the room service delivery guy, her heart stopped and she dropped Charlie’s clothes instantly. One of his shoes landed plumb on her bare toes and she flopped unglamorously against the doorjamb as she clutched her foot and tried not to hop about like a crazy person.

Standing there, with the sexiest five o’clock shadow she’d ever seen, was Jack. Jack Davenport was there outside her hotel room. Whilst his big brother was
inside
her hotel room. This couldn’t be happening, Jessie inwardly cursed.

‘Hi,’ Jessie squeaked in surprise, once the pain in her foot had subsided.

‘Are you okay?’ Jack asked, smiling at her clumsy display. Jessie managed a nod and returned the smile as she looked more closely at him. He looked gorgeous. Perhaps a little red around the eyes, but he was still absolutely bloody gorgeous. The kind of gorgeous that makes things tingle in certain parts of one’s anatomy.

‘You sounded so down on the phone. I knew you were trying to put a brave face on things, so I thought I’d surprise you and play tour guide for a few days. I hope you don’t mind,’ he said, suddenly noticing the clothes Jessie had dropped when she’d opened the door.

‘Or perhaps you don’t need my company after all,’ Jack continued as he clocked the man’s shoes, trousers and shirt, which couldn’t possibly have belonged to Jessie.

‘I’m sorry…’ Jessie began.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Jack interrupted her, looking visibly crestfallen and taking a step away from her. ‘You weren’t to know I have a habit of undertaking these grand gestures of flying halfway around the world. I should have told you I was coming. I mean, its not like we’re together or anything.’

Jessie was clueless as to what to do next. Here was the man she just wanted to wrap herself around, but she couldn’t. She just felt so guilty. She could just send Jack away and he would be none the wiser as to who was in her room. But a part of her wanted to tell him. She wanted to be honest with him.

‘But you don’t understand…’ Jessie began again, grabbing onto Jack’s wrist in case he tried to run away.

‘Is that the room service or not?’ Charlie’s all-too-familiar voice called out. Jack froze, his expression changing instantly from one of disappointment to one of shock.

Jessie felt her head drop and she closed her eyes. Maybe if she kept them closed for long enough, then when she opened them again, Charlie would be gone and Jack would be in her bed instead. Only hopefully with clean sheets. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, Jessie finally found the courage to open her eyes. First one and then the other. It was bad. Jack was staring at her like he hated her even more than she hated herself at that moment, and she really hated herself a lot that morning.

‘Charlie,’ Jack stated rather than asked. Jessie just nodded, then stood feebly by as he removed her hand from his wrist like she was contaminated, and pushed past her into the room. Oh God, Jessie thought to herself, he wants to see the evidence with his own eyes. She contemplated going downstairs to the hotel restaurant for breakfast and leaving the two Davenport boys to slug out who had the biggest ego by themselves. However as Jessie looked down at herself, bathrobed and barefoot, she realised she couldn’t face the questioning looks and glances that she was bound to attract. Plus, there was the added issue of the room key or lack thereof about her person.

Jessie kicked Charlie’s clothes to one side and returned to the bedroom, where she hovered in the background, not entirely sure if her presence was required.

‘Well, well, well. Hello, Jack. Fancy seeing you here,’ Charlie smirked smugly as he rested his arms nonchalantly behind his head, against the wall, letting the bedcover slip lower down his defined and extremely naked torso. Jessie saw Jack’s jaw tighten and his nostrils flare as he took in the sight of Charlie’s clear antagonism.

‘Stop it, Charlie,’ Jessie said sternly as she walked farther into the room. ‘We all know you’re naked under there, so you don’t have to prove it. Listen, Jack, it’s not what it looks like,’ she added more softly, turning to face him.

‘Oh right, so you haven’t been shagging Charlie then?’ Jack replied sarcastically, showing her a face like thunder.

‘Well, yes, but it was only the once… no shagging as in the plural sense,’ Jessie began, fumbling over her words whilst simultaneously trying to find the right ones. ‘But it didn’t mean anything,’ she added feebly in hopeful desperation at the end.

‘Hey, I
am
still here, you know,’ Charlie protested, having not budged from his reclined position on the bed.

‘Oh please. Like it meant anything to you,’ Jessie said cattily, turning her attention onto Charlie. ‘You came round last night simply because Sonia turned you down and you wanted a shoulder to cry on and someone to rub your bruised ego. Muggins here was simply a portal to vent your frustration on and I only did it to be agreeable. You didn’t want me, you’ve barely even noticed me since you met me. Well, I hope you’re satisfied because I’m bloody well not.’ Jessie huffed, folding her arms across her chest whilst giving Charlie the evil eye. As far as she was concerned, this was all Charlie’s fault.

‘Okay, somebody got out of the wrong side of bed this morning,’ Charlie responded, rolling his eyes, clearly not having listened to a single word Jessie had said.

‘Shut up, Charlie. You can leave anytime you want, you know,’ Jessie snapped.

‘But what about my breakfast?’ Charlie began, but was silenced from continuing his whinging by the dual death stare delivered to him by Jack and Jessie.

‘I’m going to take a shower now, and when I come out I expect you to be gone,’ Jessie said firmly, addressing Charlie so he was in no doubt. ‘Jack, you’re welcome to stay, but I’m guessing you probably don’t want to be around me right now. Which is fine, I understand. Just remember, I haven’t done a huge amount wrong here. I’m not the first person to be seduced by her boss,’ Jessie finished, and walked off for her shower before either Jack or Charlie had a chance to interject.

After the shenanigans of the past twenty-four hours, Jessie had realised something. She unequivocally did not want Charlie. He may be good-looking and charming in certain circumstances, but he didn’t seem to really see her for who she really was. He wasn’t the kind of man to fly halfway around the world because he thought she sounded down on the phone. Granted, maybe the whole flying out to Hong Kong to comfort her was a smidge over the top, and Jack probably should have told her, but it was definitely romantic and it spoke volumes about how much he thought about her. Jessie only hoped this latest Charlie debacle hadn’t thrown too big a spanner in the developing Jessie-and-Jack saga. She didn’t think in her heart of hearts that it was the end, but men weren’t always the most predictable of species. Especially when it involved damaged egos and what seemed to be an excessive dose of sibling rivalry.

Chapter 51

After an epic showering session to eradicate Charlie from her skin, Jessie ventured cautiously back into her bedroom. Although not religious one jot, Jessie couldn’t help but offer up a silent prayer to the god of love, begging for Charlie to be gone and for Jack to still be there. She’d deliberately had the water on full blast and had done her best not to listen out for the door closing or any rummaging around her room, or worse still, angry male voices.

Jessie scanned her room quickly to find that it was empty of all men. Not that she was surprised exactly, but she realised how much she had really hoped that a certain tall dark man who was possibly slightly jetlagged would still be there. Jessie forced herself not to dwell and masked her disappointment as best she could. She’d well and truly had enough of being cooped up in her room, so she decided on some sightseeing.

Jessie dressed quickly in the same yellow dress and sandals she’d worn to dinner on her first night. A quick swipe of lip gloss and a few waves of the mascara wand and she was good to go. With her guidebook in hand and oversized sunglasses plonked on her head she hit the streets of Hong Kong, determined to do and see as much as possible in this intriguing city.

First things first, she headed down to the Star Ferry to take the short trip across the harbour to Kowloon. According to her guidebook, taking the little ferry was one of the cheapest and most iconic tourist things to do in the city. Jessie couldn’t have agreed more, and she loved every minute of watching the busy harbour traffic and then looking back at the amazing concrete jungle of skyscrapers behind her. Next, she took a bus to an area called Mong Kok where she wandered around, getting continually lost in the densely packed streets before she found herself in the flower market area. There was something about the sweet smells, bright colours and massive displays which was relaxing despite the gazillion people which were all around her. Jessie walked and walked, taking in all the sights and sounds. She was amazed by what she saw and felt her eyes growing ever wider at each new street or at the strange displays of foodstuffs which seemed to hang from every window.