Seduce (12 page)

“Not as much as I missed you,” I mumbled, eagerly kissing her again, my hands moving to cradle the back of her head as my mouth worked desperately on hers, tasting her sweet lips. Her hand in mine, I led her inside, shutting the door behind her. It was risky, kissing her in the doorway while the door was wide open. Luke often dropped past unannounced, but today it seemed worth the risk.

“How was work?” I asked her. I tilted her neck and began to kiss, not really interested in her answer and probably way too interested in kissing her. She laughed, her hands making their way underneath my top, slowly lifting it over my head.

“It was fine. My day just got better though,” she said. I don’t even know why she worked. She sure as hell didn’t need the money, because her parents were loaded. And between her working and school, it limited the number of hours we could spend together.

She began kissing my chest, her lips moving past my nipples.  I hoisted her onto the kitchen counter, moving her legs apart so I could stand between them. My hands slid up her creamy thighs as I pulled the skirt from under her ass. She cried out as the ice-cold countertop touched her skin.

“What?” I said softly. I reached behind her back to unclasp her bra.

She laughed and shook her head. “Someone’s keen,” she whispered against my ear, her hands caressing my head as my mouth closed over her nipple and began to suck. She had no idea how keen I was. Horny as hell, and only for her.

 She gasped, her naked back pressing against the cold counter as I edged myself on top of her, the strength of my body holding her down. My cock was rock hard and aching to be inside of her. I unzipped my pants, freeing myself and rolled on a condom, all with one hand. She tucked her knees up against her waist as I pushed myself inside. The sensation of her closing around my girth was almost unbearable, and it took all my willpower not to come then and there. I grunted, my hand reaching out and curving around the back of her neck.

“You feel so good,” I whispered, thrusting myself deeper. Faster. Harder inside of her. Her hand rose up her thigh as she stretched her knee until it was lying straight against her shoulder. I groaned, the action making her grip on my cock too much to handle. Thrusting hard, I came, her body jolting as my load exploded inside of her.

I sighed, kissing her deeply, my mouth searching every part of hers, unable to get enough of her sweet taste. No matter how much I had her, I always wanted more. Nothing about this girl was ordinary, just like none of my feelings felt like they were enough.

I lifted myself off the counter, only now noticing the wide-open drapes on the window that overlooked the neighboring flat complex. Belle followed my gaze and blushed. Chuckling, I walked over to the window and closed the blinds. Belle took my outstretched hand and jumped off the bench, looking flushed. Her cheeks were rosy against the backdrop of her creamy white skin, like she had just completed a workout—and I suppose in a way she had.

“I like coming home to you,” she giggled. I raised an eyebrow as I wrapped my arms around her.

“Home, hey?” I said wryly as she blushed at her word fumble.

“You know what I mean,” she said, pushing me. “I might take a shower.” She turned around, tilting her head, a playful look on her face. “You want to join me?” she asked coyly.

My gaze wandered over her naked, bare silhouette. There was no possible answer here other than yes, and my growing erection agreed.

“Hell yes.”

***

After a dinner of Chinese takeaway, we lay on the couch—her in my arms, her head resting against my chest. We were watching TV and it felt good. I couldn’t even tell you what we were actually watching because all my attention was on her. The way she smiled when she was amused and the way her nose creased when she was paying close attention to something were things that mesmerized me. She would chew on her bottom lip when she was nervous and if she got really anxious she’d hold her breath. All these little things made up the girl I was falling for and the fact that I was falling so fast scared the shit out of me.

My phone rang. I leaned over to the coffee table to see who it was. Crap, it was Luke. I slid out from under her arms, grabbed my phone, and moved to the armchair, my heart pounding. Belle sat up, her eyes intensely on me as I answered.

“Luke, how are you?” I said, trying to hide my nerves.

“I’m good buddy, I felt like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I’ve been buried under at work. Dad’s been on my back about closing some pretty big deals.”

“Yeah, I thought it must be pressure from your old man. It’s not like you to pass up the chance of picking up a chick, for work,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, it’s been crazy. I’ve even had to visit some old ground, if you catch my drift,” I said, forcing a laugh.

Wack!

I rubbed the side of my head where Belle’s shoe had hit me and turned to face her glare. Shrugging, I made a face. What did she want me to say?

“You must be hating that man. Jack Falcon sleeping with the same woman more than once? Say it’s not true!” he joked. I flinched. If only he knew. “Anyway, I have a reason for calling,” he continued. “I was hoping you’re free for dinner this Friday? Sal and I just want to chat to you about the whole godparent thing if that’s okay?”

“Uh, sure. Friday is fine,” I agreed. Hopefully they had come to their senses and wanted to retract the request.

“Good, that’s—hey, what’s that? Someone there with you?” Luke asked, confused.

Fuck. Belle’s phone. I turned to glare at her. She was frantically searching through her bag for her phone, her face panicked. I pointed to the bedroom, and getting the hint, she sprinted in there with her bag.

“Oh, Carly’s phone,” I fibbed, her name the first to enter my head.

“Ah, I see. So when you say you’re covering old ground…” his voice trailed off into laughter.

“You got it. Friday is fine, I’ll see you then,” I said, eager to end the conversation as quickly as possible. I hung up the phone just as Belle exited the bedroom, her face pale.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“That was Sally asking me to dinner Friday night,” she replied, her eyes wide.

I nodded, determined not to make this a big deal. We could handle this. All we had to do was be in the same room for a few hours without being all over each other…God this was going to suck.

“It’s okay. We will be fine. We just need to be careful.” I motioned for her to come over and join me. She sat on my lap, laughing as I curled my arms around her. “Do you trust me?” I murmured, tickling her sides as she squirmed in my arms.

“I trust you!” she gasped, tears in her eyes. She leaned down, her mouth connecting with mine in a long, slow kiss.

***

 “You’re quiet today,” Carly commented, placing a coffee on my desk. I looked up at her and nodded. The truth was I felt awkward around Carly now I was with Belle. Though we hadn’t spoken about being exclusive, our relationship was moving at such a pace that it was at the stage where even looking at another woman made me feel guilty. In the past, perving on women had almost been like a second job to me.

“Yeah, just flat out with this deal,” I explained. It wasn’t a complete lie. Carly smiled, leaning down so her elbows rested on the edge of my desk. I averted my eyes away from her cleavage, which was hard considering her breasts were almost in my face.

“Maybe you need some help relaxing?” Carly suggested. She stood up, her fingers flicking open her shirt.

“Carly,” I began, not sure how to phase what I needed to say without offending her.

“Come on, Jack, let me relax you,” she whined, squeezing herself in between my legs.

“Carly! Fuck, just stop it, will you?” I snapped. She gaped at me in shock. I sighed. Way to go, Jack. She pushed past me and ran out of the office. “Fuck!” I yelled. The last thing I needed right now was more issues with my staff. I didn’t have the time to train someone new, let alone deal with a possible harassment charge. I needed to straighten this out, but I had no idea how to do that.

Sighing, I realized what I had to do. I pressed the intercom button and asked Carly to come in. There was no other way around this other than to tell the truth and hope that she could keep it to herself. She walked in and sat down, avoiding eye contact with me the whole time.

“Look, it’s not you, okay? The truth is I’m kind of seeing someone. No one knows about it, and I’d like to keep it that way.” I spoke gently and apologetically.

Carly looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You’ve met someone? You, as in Jack Falcon? As in the guy who sleeps with a new chick every night? Are you serious?” she asked, incredulous.

“Yes I’m serious. Would I make that shit up?” I asked, annoyed.

“I don’t know, Jack, you do a lot of things to get yourself out of an awkward situation. And I’m pretty sure what happened a few minutes ago was awkward. At least it was for me.” Carly shrugged.

I sighed. “Shit, Carly, I’m telling the truth here. I know, I know: Jack Falcon has a girlfriend—call the press, announce it to the world. Whatever. I’m telling you the truth.”

“Why? I mean why are you telling me this?” she said, confused. At least she seemed to believe it now.

“Because believe it or not, I actually like having you around. I want you to keep working here, but this,” I motioned between her and me, “it needs to stop.”

“Okay,” Carly agreed. I looked at her, my eyes narrowed. That seemed too easy. There had to be a catch.

“Okay? Just like that, it’s fine?” I said suspiciously.

“What do you want from me, Jack?” she laughed. “You’ve got a girlfriend, which means you don’t need me for any of that, at least not for now,” she added, her eyebrow raised. I scowled at her, not liking her assumption that I’d end up cheating on Belle. “That’s fine. So long as I keep getting my bonuses and I’m allowed to make my snide remarks, then okay. I’ll keep this to myself.”

“Fair enough,” I agreed. “Thanks, Carly,” I said, feeling better about the whole situation. She nodded and left.

I leaned back in my chair and thought about everything. It felt surreal calling Belle my girlfriend but that’s what she was, wasn’t it? And that’s what I wanted, right?

I couldn’t deny to myself that I had some pretty strong feelings for Belle, but something stopped me from telling her exactly how deep those feelings actually ran. I don’t know what it was—maybe I was afraid of getting hurt, which sounded ridiculous because and I’m the king of hurting people. We didn’t speak about the future often, but the suggestion was there. A little comment here and a reference there were enough to make me freeze up.

I thought about the future often, but putting those thoughts into words was hard. Part of the problem was she was so good and so perfect. She had all these great things ahead of her. I didn’t want to drag her down. I didn’t want her regretting being with me, and I couldn’t imagine her
not
waking up one day and wondering where the hell her life went.

***

Thursday night I had the night to myself. Belle’s parents were getting suspicious about how much time she was spending away from home. I could understand that, considering when she wasn’t at work or school she was at my house. She had actually started to make up shifts at work to buy us time together—which was risky, but it wasn’t like her parents were likely to frequent Levine’s. I laughed, the image of Mr. and Mrs. Gale sitting in a booth at the restaurant floating through my mind, the image stranger than me having a girlfriend.

I hadn’t spoken to Alex for a couple of weeks, not since things with Belle had been getting heavy. I dialed his number, keen to talk out my relationship with Belle with someone I could trust, someone who I knew wouldn’t judge me. I guess having a psychologist as a brother had had its perks.

“Hey, Jack! How are you going?” Alex said, pleased to hear from me. He was always happy to hear from me, the complete opposite of my father.

“Yeah okay, same old. You? How’s work?” I asked, walking into the bedroom to lie down.

“Yeah, work’s great. I might be up for promotion, which is good. It means more money and less hours,” he said, sounding excited.

“That’s awesome,” I said, not quite understanding how you go about getting a promotion when you’re a psychologist in an upscale rehab clinic.

“So what’s up?” Alex asked. “What’s bothering you?”

“What you mean?” I asked, playing dumb. My plan had been to make small talk for a few minutes before launching in to my issues.

Alex chuckled. “Jack, I’m your brother. I know when something’s on your mind.”

“Okay, you’re right. There is something bothering me,” I said, giving in.

“What is it? Have you run out of girls asleep with in London?” he joked.

“Nice one,” I said sourly. “Just the opposite, actually. I’ve met someone.”

“Really?” Alex said. “So who is she?”

“That’s where it gets complicated.” I sighed. “Alex, things are really messed up and I don’t know what to do.”

“Okay, you’re scaring me now. You sound really worried. What’s going on? It’s not a dude, is it? You know I’ll still love you, gay or straight, but I can’t imagine you taking the cock up the ass.”

I laughed at my brother’s crassness. “No, it’s not a dude, it’s worse.” I paused for a moment, gathering my thoughts. “Okay. I met this chick. She’s like no other girl I’ve ever met. She’s someone I actually like spending time with. Someone I look forward to seeing again. When I’m not with her, she’s all I think about. She’s doing my head in.”

“Okay, I’m failing to see the problem,” Alex said, amused. “It sounds like love to me.”

“Shut up, I’m getting to that,” I grumbled. “There are two major things against me being with this girl. Firstly, she is eighteen, but she was seventeen we…started.”

“Jack, what the fuck? Is that even legal?” Alex asked, shocked.

“Yes, Alex,” I sighed. “Don’t worry, I checked. I can go as low as sixteen if I want.” I tried to joke. “Anyway, it gets worse. You remember Luke? This girl is his wife’s younger sister.”

“Man, why would you go there?” Alex groaned. “Do you do this on purpose or what?”