Sweet Obsession: Windy City Kink, Book 1 (18 page)

He greeted her with open arms, a big smile and then a hug. “You look amazing, Sasha,” he said, pulling back to smile down at her. “How are you?”

“I’m good! What are you doing here?”

“I was in town on business this week. My folks are here, they had an extra ticket so they invited me along.”

“How’s New York?”

“Fantastic. I love it.” He paused. “I’d love it even more if you were there.”

She made a face and shook her head, then became aware of Jack standing next to her glowering. “Oh I’m sorry,” she said. “Let me introduce you. Jack Grenville, this is Jeff Stein. Jeff’s the controller at Stein Hardware. And Jack is the co-owner and CEO of Anzen Security. He recently moved his company here to Chicago. Probably around the time you were moving to New York.”

Jeff shook hands with Jack. “I’ve heard of your company,” he said. “Isn’t there an article about you in this month’s
TechBiz
Magazine?”

“Yeah, there is.” Jack gave Jeff a tight smile.

Jeff turned his attention back to Sasha, smiling warmly. “We should get together while I’m in town. I’m here for the rest of the weekend.”

“Oh.” Sasha cast a quick look at Jack. “That would be so nice, but I’m going to be pretty busy all weekend here at the show. Did you see my little booth?”

“No, I didn’t. Come on, show me. How’s business?” He took her arm and reluctantly she let him draw her away from Jack and down the aisle.

“Business is good.” She turned to see if Jack was following them. He was, his mouth a straight line, his eyes narrowed. “My booth is this way.”

While Jeff admired her portfolio pictures, Jack stood there sipping his drink and scowling.

“I’m so proud of you, Sasha.” Jeff set down the photographs and moved closer to her. He lowered his voice to say, “I miss you a lot.”

“Um…” This was just a wee bit awkward. She glanced at Jack again, watching his eyebrows come together above his nose. Then he stepped forward and edged his big body between her and Jeff.

“She’s with me,” he said pointedly, sliding his arm around her waist.

She swallowed. “Jack…” If he meant she was with him that night, at that moment, then yes, it was true. But if he was trying to imply that they were a couple, that was clearly untrue and even though she wasn’t interested in Jeff, it annoyed her that he would do that. She forced a smile and said to Jeff, “I’m designing a rooftop patio for Jack.”

Jeff looked between them, eyebrows arched. “Oh really.” He nodded. “So he’s one of your clients.”

“Yes.”

“No,” Jack growled. “I said she’s with me. We’re on a date. So back the fuck off.”

Chapter Thirteen

“Jack!” Sasha’s eyes flew wide. “For heaven’s sake…”

“Hey,” Jeff said, his smile disappearing. He held up two hands. “Backing off.” He met Sasha’s eyes. “You have my cell number. Call if you have time to get together, even if it’s just a few minutes for a drink or something. Nice to see you again.”

He walked away and Sasha rounded on Jack. “What the hell was that?” she demanded, keeping her voice low, although the hall buzzed with conversation and music.

“
Who
the hell was that?” he countered, crowding even closer to her. “Old boyfriend?”

“Well, yes, actually.”

“Apparently he’s still interested.”

Instinct urged her to take a step back from Jack, but she forced herself to hold her ground, lifting her chin and glaring at him. “So what if he is? You had no right to tell him to back off!”

“Oh hell yeah I do. I said, you’re with me.”

Pressure mounted inside her along with an urge to give a little scream. “Just because we’re here together doesn’t mean I can’t talk to other men!”

“Not ones who look at you like that.”

“Oh. My. God.” She gritted her teeth briefly. “What is with you?”

He practically flung his empty glass onto the tray of a passing waitress, and reached for her hips. He pulled her up against his body and stared into her eyes. “You’re…fuck, Sasha. You’re mine.”

Her mouth fell open even though his words sent a thrill straight to her girl parts. Good God. “I am
so
not yours! What are you talking about?”

“We’re here together. You invited me. This isn’t ‘business’. And that guy wanted to jump your pretty bones. He pissed me off.”

“I see that.” She extricated herself from his grasp and put some distance between them. “Get over yourself, Jack. Just because I invited you to the party doesn’t mean you own me. What are you thinking?”

He stared at her, his chest lifting and falling rapidly, his jaw tense. A heavy moment passed. Then he rubbed his face. “I’m sorry, Sasha.”

She clasped her fingers together, her own breathing uneven. “Okay. Good. But…” Confusion at his behavior swirled inside her. “But you can’t act like that. You’re…freaking me out.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again. He looked away then back at her. “Looks like the party’s winding down. Can we go now?”

She gave her head a little shake and checked the time. “Yes. It’s supposed to end at nine-thirty, and it’s nearly that. And I have to be back here at ten tomorrow morning.”

“I told Chris to pick us up at nine. He’s probably there now waiting.”

They collected her coat and walked toward the road, the evening wind even chillier now. “Are you warm enough?” he asked her.

“I’m okay.” But she shivered and hunched her shoulders, her hands buried in her pockets.

He handed her into the back seat of the town car when they arrived where it sat waiting, then slid in beside her. He looked at her, holding her gaze while he told Chris to take them to his place.

“Hold on,” she said, striving to keep her voice steady. “You didn’t even ask me if I want to go to your place.”

“I thought we could talk there,” he said quietly. “Do you want me to take you home?”

She let out her breath. “You’re kind of…arrogant.”

He smiled. “I’ve been told that before. I’m working on it. Nothing will happen that you don’t want. If you want to go home after we have a drink, just say so and I’ll take you home.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

Jack gave Chris a nod and settled into the seat beside her. “That was a fun evening,” he said. “I hope the rest of the show goes well for you.” He set a hand on her bare knee and warmth radiated into her skin. “You’re freezing.” He slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. “You’re shivering, Sasha. Jesus.”

“I’m fine.” Her trembling wasn’t just from the cold, but also from nerves.

He sighed. “I’m sorry I got…jealous.”

Jealous. He’d been jealous. Warmth spread through her. But… “You have no right to be jealous.”

His thumb moved on her leg, a slow, mesmerizing caress. “I don’t think jealousy has anything to do with rights. I mean, it’s not rational. Yeah, I probably don’t have a right to feel jealous…but I did.” He looked away from her and then back. “Remember, I told you I’ve had a thing for blondes ever since high school.”

She gave a small nod.

“It’s the truth, Sasha.” He kept his voice low, his hand warm on her leg. “Ever since that night…” He didn’t need to elaborate. They both knew exactly what night he was talking about. “I always felt as though things weren’t over between us. Your parents were pissed. I…” He paused and a flash of pain in his eyes made her heart bump in her chest. “I understand why.” He met her eyes and held her gaze, steady and unblinking. “I never forgot you.”

She met his gaze, then hers skittered away, then returned. Her lips parted, then closed. “I’m not sure if I believe you,” she said. “I’ve read stuff about you…on the Internet…about all your girlfriends.”

“You have, huh?” He shrugged and shifted closer still on the leather seat, close enough to feel the warmth of his body, close enough to smell his unique scent, warm male skin and spicy aftershave. “Sure, I’ve dated a lot. And as I got more and more successful, people liked to talk about me. Eligible bachelor. That’s what they called me. Whatever.”

Her mouth pursed.

“It didn’t mean anything,” he said quietly. “And like I said, none of them were you.”

“I’m nobody,” she said, looking down at her hands clasped around her purse on her lap. “And I was just a kid when you knew me.”

“We both were,” he agreed. “I told myself that over and over again. I told myself it was crazy to keep thinking about you.” He bent his head. “And you’re not nobody. You’re you.” He leaned in to feather a kiss over one corner of her mouth. “You’re special.”

He’d never forgotten her.

Did she believe him? He’d admitted he’d followed her that night. But instead of scaring her, it made her feel…oh God, she didn’t even know how she felt. Was she crazy to believe him? That his motivations were pure? That he’d never forgotten her, that he’d always intended to see her again, that there was still something between them? It made something unfurl inside her, something warm and flattered and faintly hopeful. He was irresistible. Compelling. Magnetic.

She’d never been in a long-term relationship and she’d never really been in love—well, since Jack—but she’d had sexual relationships and she liked sex, even though she often felt a vague sense of dissatisfaction. After Kevin’s little talk last night, she’d done a lot of thinking about why that was.

His hand slid higher up her thigh, beneath her coat and dress, as he’d done on the way there, but this time he didn’t stop at her knee.

“That lace dress makes it look like you’re bare under there,” he murmured in her ear.

“Maybe I am.”

She felt his body tense, his fingers pressing into the softness of her thigh then relaxing. “Let’s see.” He slipped his fingers even higher beneath her skirt. When they brushed over the ribbon of her thong panties on her hipbone, he
tsked
. “Sasha. You lied.”

“I didn’t lie.” Her voice came out breathy. “I said maybe.”

He huffed out a little laugh, fingers playing with her panties, finding the triangle that covered her curls there. Her pussy squeezed. Then he withdrew his hand from beneath her skirt and slipped it into the opening of her coat, finding the sensitive skin of her chest in the V opening of the dress. “Maybe up here,” he whispered, and he pushed his fingertips inside the bodice of her dress. Her breasts swelled at his touch, nipples tingling almost painfully. “Oh yeah.” He found her nipple, captured it between two fingers and gave a gentle pinch that made her twitch. “No bra.”

She bit her lip and cast an anxious glance to the front of the vehicle where Chris sat. Jack nuzzled her ear, her hair, and said, “It’s okay.”

Her entire body pulsed with need at his erotic touches, sitting there in the dark car as they sped along Lakeshore Drive. Jack kissed her cheek, her jaw, the corner of her mouth, while his fingers played with her breast, heat arrowing down from her nipple to between her legs where she ached. Her breathing grew choppy and heat filled the car.

“I think I’m warming up,” she panted long moments later. She felt his smile against her throat and then he tugged her coat open a little farther and swept his tongue down between her breasts in a long, lush lick. Turning his face, he sucked gently on the inner curve of one breast, then the other, his hand now outside the dress cupping one breast and squeezing gently.

She rubbed her thighs together, her hips wanting to lift off the leather seat, and swallowed the noises that climbed up her throat, acutely aware of the other man in the car. He had to know what was going on.

The car slowed and turned a corner, and another, and then pulled up in front of Jack’s North State Street building. Jack leisurely pulled the lapels of her coat together over her chest and gave her one last soft kiss on her mouth as Chris jumped out of the car and opened the door, standing tactfully back.

“Thanks, Chris,” Jack said, climbing out first and then extending a hand for Sasha. A discreet exchange of hands occurred as he apparently tipped the driver, and then with his hand at the small of her back, he led her into the building.

In the elevator, clutching her small purse in both hands, she looked at him. When their eyes met, more heat exploded and they moved together. Her eyes drifted closed before they were even touching, before his arms wrapped around her and pressed her along the length of his body. Still holding her purse in one hand, she draped her arms over his shoulders and sank into his embrace, his mouth seeking hers in a hard, hot kiss.

She rubbed herself against his erection, so evident through the fine wool of his dress pants, and he groaned. “Careful, baby.”

He’d gotten her so wound up in the car, all breathless and edgy and excited, nearly desperate. The doors opened behind her and he turned her, and with his hands on her shoulders he nudged her out of the elevator. In his foyer, she tried to turn back into his arms, but with a soft laugh he stopped her and pushed her through the long narrow room, then down the hall and into his bedroom.

Small pot lights in the ceiling flared on as they moved, activated by their motion, but the bedroom remained dim, the dark wood venetian blinds closed over the window. He directed her over beside the bed, then with her back still to him, he reached around her and untied her belt. His fingers worked the buttons of her coat then drew it back over her shoulders. He tossed it onto a nearby chair then slid his arms around her again, one hand pressing low on her stomach, the other just below her breasts. She drew in a long shuddery breath, absorbing the heat of his body against her back, pressing her butt into his groin. He sucked in air and rubbed his face against her hair.