Sweet Obsession: Windy City Kink, Book 1 (15 page)

He frowned. “Jesus.”

“Relax. She’s fine. And I told her not to interrupt their work since you’re such an impatient control freak.”

He blinked and then a slow smile spread across his face. “I’m glad you realize that.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “There are a few things I need to talk to you about. They ran into a little problem with the plumbing. There are a couple of solutions, but one is going to cost way more.” She outlined the issue and solutions.

“You know the cost doesn’t matter,” he said, and she nodded. “But actually I like your idea of moving the fountain to the other side.”

“I think it’ll look great,” she agreed. “Okay we’ll do that. And then, we won’t have the structural issue to work around for the electricians either. Now, there’s another problem with the marble tiles I’d planned to use on the floor.”

While they were talking, Emma reappeared. “I have to go,” she told Jack. “Nice to meet you, Sasha. I mean, meet you again.”

“I thought you were staying for dinner,” Jack protested as Emma donned her jacket.

“Sorry, can’t.” She moved toward Jack, slung an arm around his neck and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek. Then she waved and disappeared down the hall toward the elevator.

Jack turned to Sasha with a grimace. “Great. I ordered sushi to be delivered in, like, half an hour.” His eyes fastened on her. “Hey, stay and eat with me.”

Her first instinct was to refuse. “I can’t.”

“Oh. Dinner plans?”

“Well, um. Not really.”

“Then you’re staying. I ordered a ton of food—help me out here. You do like sushi, right?” he asked, pausing.

“I love it.”

“Okay, good. Now where were we? You were talking about lights.”

And so she found herself still there when the food arrived, and then she and Jack were moving around his kitchen, laying out the selections, finding plates and napkins and chopsticks. In the meantime, the contractors had finished up for the day and departed, and the condo fell pleasantly quiet.

“I like how you keep an eye on those guys,” he said. “Not that I don’t trust them. I just appreciate that you’re making sure this gets done as quickly as possible.”

She picked up a dynamite roll and transferred it to her plate. “Thanks.”

Jack offered her a glass of wine and they sat at the dining table, the lights of the buildings glowing and glittering outside as the sky darkened. It felt so elegant and cosmopolitan, the big city setting spread out in a panorama beyond the windows, and yet there in Jack’s condo with lamps lighting the room from the inside, it felt warm and intimate too.

Too intimate, maybe. But that could be because of how he looked at her with his usual hot gaze and the way he smiled, so warm and personal, the way he occasionally touched her hand, her arm, just brushes, but still…it all made her tingle with awareness.

Even as they continued to talk while they carried dishes into the kitchen and tidied up together, she vibrated with tension, achy and needy. As they moved in the kitchen, their bodies bumped, and at one point Jack smilingly set his hands on her hips to move her out of his way.

She walked over to one of the big windows and stood there gazing out, taking in the amazing view, car lights on the streets below crawling along like tiny sparkly worry beads on a string. When she turned, Jack was right there behind her and she started.

“Oh! Sorry…”

He rested his hands on her shoulders. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Y-yes. It is.”

His thumbs moved on her collarbones and he transferred his attention to her. He smiled and she gazed back at him, held captive by his compelling eyes.

“Come sit on the couch. We can admire the view from there.”

She hesitated, remembering the last time she’d sat on his couch and how things had exploded between them. Somehow she knew that was going to happen again. It was like something inevitable, and if she didn’t get the hell out of there now, there was going to be no way to avoid it.

Did she want to avoid it?

God, she’d been thinking of him and dreaming of him, and now he was right there, touching her, smelling so good, his body radiating warmth and energy, and she could read in his eyes that he wanted her too.

With a soft sigh, she let him lead her to the couch, and pull her down to sit beside him. He continued to hold her hand as they looked out the window. “It’ll be so nice to do this outside,” Jack murmured, stroking his thumb over the base of hers in a mesmerizing rhythm that made her insides quiver. “To sit and admire the view. I love how it’s so different between night and day.”

“It really is.”

“The night view is very sexy.”

She gave him a startled look at his word choice. But he was right. It was totally, insanely sexy.

Their eyes met again and this time he let his eyelids drift closed and leaned in closer and her lips parted in anticipation of his kiss. Her blood rushed through her veins, her pulse racing wildly.

She already knew how dangerous his kisses were, how seductive and irresistible, and yet she felt like she was in the middle of one of her fevered sex dreams, longing for more, aching for more. Only this was real, he was there…and she could
have
more.

Their lips met and clung, softly, sweetly. She heard his sharp intake of breath, and his hand cupped her face tenderly as he tilted his head and kissed her again, deeper. Heat rolled low down inside her in a slow, powerful wave of lust that made her entire body tremble.

“Jack,” she whispered. She felt obliged to protest, like the virginal teenager she’d once been. Even though she really didn’t want to stop. “We shouldn’t.”

“There’s no reason not to, Sasha,” he whispered in her ear, then used the tip of his tongue to trace the curve of it. “We’re both adults now. And amazingly, there’s still something between us. Let’s see what happens. It’s just a kiss.”

“Just a kiss!” she said with a choked little laugh. “Like Hiroshima was just a little pop. And I know what will happen. You have this way of seducing me…making me do things…things I don’t want to do.”

He went very still and pulled back from her. “I never made you do things you didn’t want to do,” he said slowly. “How can you say that?”

She blinked at him, tugging her sweater down, hands fidgety. “Y-yes, you did.”

“Hell no, I did not!”

Chapter Eleven

Jack jumped to his feet, hands curled into fists. “You wanted everything we did together as much as I did.” Bewildered, he battled for control. “Sasha.” He lowered his voice. “Didn’t you?”

“What we did was…wrong.”

“Wrong?”

She sank her top teeth into her plush bottom lip. “Yes.”

How could she think that? Was that what the problem was here? “Why would you say that?”

She shook her head.

He moved closer. “Seriously, Sasha.” He brushed her hair off her shoulder. She still looked like she wanted to flee, but she didn’t move. “Why?” He clasped her hips, gently, his big hands spanning them. “Okay, let’s deal with this.”

“With what?”

He barreled ahead. “Do you blame me for what happened that night?”

“Oh.” She swallowed. “Yes. No. I don’t know. I’m confused. You confuse me. You get me all…”

“Aroused.”

She groaned and closed her eyes again, her cheeks washing even redder. Gorgeous.

“It’s okay, Sasha.” He pulled her against him and slid a hand up her back, then rubbed up and down in a gentle, hopefully soothing motion. “It’s okay. I’m aroused too. You turn me on. All I have to do is fucking look at you, and I’m hard.” He pushed his hips into her to show her, and she moaned again. “I’ve wanted you again from the minute you walked in here that day. We’re all grown up now. We can do whatever we want. It’s not like back in high school. Right?”

She said nothing, her pretty lips pressed together, her eyes still closed. Christ, she was acting more virginal now than she had when she was sixteen. Weird. But fuck it, he was still hot for her and clearly she was just as turned on. She was resisting for some unfuckinggodknown reason.

“You’re my client,” she whispered. “This isn’t professional.”

He laughed. “Yeah, whatever.”

Her eyes slowly opened. “You confuse me,” she repeated. “You do all these nice things for me, you touch me like that…I don’t know why you’re hiring me and paying me all that money—”

“Wait just a minute.” He cut her off, his voice hard. “Those are two separate things, honey. Hiring you and paying you all that money is because you’re the best at what you do and you’re entitled to be fairly compensated for that. That has nothing to do with…this.”

“Really?”

“I told you that before. Cross my fucking heart, babe.” He paused. That had sounded flippant. He held her gaze steadily. “I swear on my parents’ graves, Sasha. Two. Separate. Things.”

Her eyes widened and her face softened. Yeah. She was probably the only person in the world who knew what it meant for him to say that.

She touched his face with her fingertips, and he closed his eyes at the gentle contact. Her thumb brushed over his bottom lip and heat once more rushed to his groin.

“Are you afraid of me?” he murmured against her fingertip.

“Yes. For lots of reasons.”

After a short pause, he said, “I’m glad you are.”

She stared back at him. “What?”

“I’m glad you’re afraid of me. If you weren’t a little afraid, you wouldn’t be so turned on.”

“Jack.” She closed her eyes. “We can’t do this.”

He smiled. “Even so, you’re not running.”

“No.” She exhaled. “I’m not.”

He wanted to shout with joy and relief, and he wrapped his arms around her. Her soft breasts cushioned against his chest, her hips pressed against his and her hands slid over his neck and shoulders.

He bent his head and her mouth opened to his again. She melted against him, winding her arms around his neck, and he wrapped her up in his and crushed her to him. They kissed over and over, soft, lush kisses, tongues rubbing. Her hands slid into his hair and played there, teasing him, sending tingles cascading from his scalp all down his spine.

It was driving him fucking nuts, Sasha in and out of his home all the time, looking so freaking hot and sweet and sexy and focused on business. Watching her talking to the construction guys and directing them made him horny as hell. The fact that she was obviously so knowledgeable and talented in what she was doing made him hot for her.

He wanted the damn rooftop garden done. And yet, he didn’t want it done, because then Sasha wouldn’t be there.

All those times she came to ask him questions about little things…sometimes he wondered if she really needed to ask him. She could’ve made those decisions. He was easy. But she sought him out and consulted with him and discussed options, and he loved talking to her and sharing ideas with her and watching her.

He’d been patient. He really had. And he thought she was relaxing a little around him, since they’d been friendly and getting to know each other again. In a non-sexual, non-threatening way.

Well. It wasn’t completely non-sexual. You’d have to be blind and stupid not to notice the electricity that arced between them whenever they were together. Adam had noticed it. Emma had noticed it. Sasha might be pretending it wasn’t there, but she’d definitely noticed it.

He’d kept his hands off her, difficult as that had been. Until now.

His cock was rigid and engorged now, throbbing with the need to be inside her, to come inside her, and he groaned against her lips. “Okay, I lied,” he muttered. “I want more than just a kiss.”

Sasha burned, inside and outside. Jack’s hands on her body, his mouth on hers, his tongue licking inside her mouth, set her on fire. Holy jalapeño, she was hot for him. She didn’t ever remember feeling like this before. Except oh yeah, with Jack.

She sighed against his lips once more, thought fragments spinning through her brain, telling her to stop, that this man was dangerous and wrong for her and nothing but trouble. But her body was ignoring those exhortations, her nipples hard and tingling, her breasts aching, her pussy warm and wet. God!

She filtered her fingers through his silky short hair, scraping her nails over his scalp, loving the way he hissed when she did that. He was hard against her, his chest the perfect place to press her aching breasts, his skin scorching hot too. And his crotch…oh dear sweet baby Jesus, he was big and hard and hot there too, making her pussy squeeze hard, empty and needy.

This was what had been missing. This ravenous, shivering need, this all-consuming desire.

“Never,” she moaned against his mouth. “Never, ever, with anybody else…” And then she lost herself in his kisses again for long, drugging moments.

“Never what, baby?” he murmured, kissing the corner of her mouth, her cheek, her ear.

“Never this…”

Her head fell back allowing him access to her throat, a tender vulnerable place, and when his teeth closed lightly on her skin, her entire body twitched hard against him. She ground against him, seeking pressure where she needed it, reveling in the sensation of the thick column of flesh behind his fly and how rubbing herself there made him tremble and groan too.