Tempting Eden (26 page)

“You two, carry on,” she said with a knowing grin before closing the door with a click.

Eden rested her forehead against mine. “So, I guess you got my email?”

“Yes.”

A sob hitched in her throat. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too.”

I wiped her tears away with my thumbs.

She took in a shuddering breath. “Do you think we could start again?”

The tears still bloomed in her eyes, though I could have sworn she’d never looked more beautiful. If starting over meant more time with her, even if it only amounted to a few moments before things went all to hell again, I was more than happy to oblige. I’d start over as many times as necessary to make her mine.

“Hi. I’m Jack England, ex-killer, ex-con, and deeply in love with Eden Rochester.”

“Hi, Jack. I’m Eden Rochester, ex-broker, ex-opportunist, and deeply in love with Jack England.”

I kissed her again, soft and long, before pulling away and capturing her gaze.

“I think that’s as good a start as any.”      

EPILOGUE

J
ACK

Six months later

“Where’s the contract for the Lackland property?” Eden stormed into our small office and tossed her bag on our sofa. “Their realtor called me and claimed he sent it, but I sure haven’t seen it.”

“It’s been on your desk for two days.” I spun around in my chair and watched her grab the papers. The late afternoon sun hit her from the back, making her hair glow fiery red. Beautiful.

“It has not.” She wrinkled her nose. “I would have seen it.”

I laughed. “You’ve been burning at both ends with the Lacklands, the new Mobile high rise, and closing on the Atlanta properties. You overlooked it.”

For the past six months, we’d been working nonstop getting our realty company off the ground. Climbing the real estate ladder was a full time job, but we were rising at a rapid pace. An unused bedroom on the third floor of the Rochester home served as our makeshift office. But our business had been growing so much that we signed a lease on an office space downtown and were on the brink of moving, hiring more staff, and taking on bigger projects. Eden did the selling; I did the logistics. A team, one built on trust and something deeper.

After scrutinizing the contract for a moment, she nodded. “Fine, maybe I overlooked it.” She sighed and shrugged off her suit jacket, giving me a nice view of her curves.

“Come here.” I crooked my finger at her.

Her lips twitched, a smile beginning to form. “I should finish up the—”

“Come. Here.” I stared at her, enjoying the surprise in her raised eyebrows and the tension my command put in the air.

She dropped the contract and stepped around her desk. “Bossy.”

“This is just the start.” When she got close enough, I pulled her into my lap. “I missed you today.” I gripped her waist and hugged her tight against me.

She sighed and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I missed you too.”

When I pressed my lips to hers, my heart kicked up a notch. It always did. Eden was like a shot of cocaine, quick and certain. She darted her tongue into my mouth, and I answered with a deeper kiss. Running my fingers through her soft hair, I clenched my fist and pulled her head back. She moaned and rubbed her ass against my hard shaft. She pressed a hand to my chest, right over my heart. Maybe she wanted to make sure her property was still off the market. It was; my heart belonged to her and always would.

“I need you.” She nipped at my ear.

Her words went straight to my cock. I needed her too. “Take your panties off.”

She stood and hiked her dark skirt up. Sliding her hands down her hips, she stripped her panties away, then put her knee up to straddle me.

“Wait.” I ran my hand up her thigh. “Show me.”

“You’re so filthy.” She grinned down at me.

“You love it.”

“I do.” She sighed and gripped the hem of her dark skirt. She slowly inched it up her thighs.

I reached around and smacked her ass. “Don’t be a tease.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Me? Never.”

“Show me your pussy.” I licked my lips. “I know it’s already wet for me.”

“I don’t know.” She looked away. “Probably dry as the Sahara.”

“Let’s find out. Pull up your skirt. All the way.”

She slid the fabric up her thighs until I saw her pink folds, glistening with her arousal.

I eased my hand between her thighs and ran my fingertip around her clit. “Sahara, huh?”

She shrugged. When I pressed a finger inside her, she let her head loll back. I stroked her then withdrew my finger and rubbed her clit until she was moving her hips to my rhythm.

“Unbutton my pants. I want you on my cock.” I gripped her waist and pulled her to me until she straddled me.

She unfastened my belt and pants. When her small hand gripped me, I groaned and yanked her top and bra down, revealing her left breast. I sucked her nipple into my mouth as she stroked me and ran her thumb over my wet tip. I licked and sucked her tight bud. My cock grew even harder, ready to claim what was mine.

She brought her hand to her mouth and licked my pre-come from her thumb.
Jesus.
I pulled her closer. She rose as I positioned my cock for her. When she sat down on me, I bit her shoulder. Taking all of me, she lifted and then sank down again. Her tight pussy squeezed me in a delicious vise as she began to ride me, my old office chair squeaking under our weight.

She placed her hands on my cheeks and kissed me, our bodies melded into one. I worshipped her tongue with mine until we shared the same breath, the same soul. Gripping her ass, I pressed her onto me, forcing her to grind her clit against me as she worked my shaft. The squeaking grew louder, and I kissed down to her bare breast, taking her in my mouth again.

I thrust up, embedding myself deeper inside her. My balls pulled up tight to me, every sensation of pleasure rocketing around my body and ending in my cock. She moaned and dug her nails into my shoulders. I pulled down the other side of her top and sucked her nipple while squeezing her breast. Her movements grew wilder.

“Together.” I gritted out. “Come with me.” I slapped her ass.

She squealed and froze, then her pussy pressed tighter around me. She moaned my name low and long and dug her nails into my upper arms. I thrust up hard, pushing myself as far as I could go. The tension crested. I came with a harsh grunt and buried my face between her breasts. My cock kicked inside her, coating her pussy with my release until I was spent.

She leaned forward and rested her head on my shoulder. I stroked her back as her panting subsided.

“That was some excellent stress relief,” she mumbled against my neck.

“I do what I can to help out around here.”

She snorted. “Nothing would get done around here without you.”

“I’m aware.” I kissed her ear. “You’re doing a great job.”

“Thanks.”

“We’ll be on top in no time.” I ran my hand through her hair.

“I’m already on top.” She rocked her hips.

I smiled. “I enjoyed your leadership, Ms. Rochester.”

She giggled and backed off my lap. “I’ll go get cleaned up.”

“If you must.” I straightened my pants.

She smoothed her skirt down and bent to kiss me.

The door opened. “Ugh, kissing
again
?” Adele wrinkled her nose in an exact replica of how her mother did it.

“Nosy.” Eden quickly swiped her panties off the floor.

Adele didn’t seem to notice. Thank goodness she hadn’t walked in a few minutes prior.

Eden leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the cheek, then whispered in my ear, “Holy shit. We need to lock the door next time.”

I laughed as she stood and headed to the en suite bathroom.

“Ms. Temple sent me to get you for supper.” Adele leaned against the doorframe.

“I didn’t know she was coming tonight.”

Adele cocked her head to the side. “Yeah, Gramma and her have been having a lot more sleepovers lately.” She shrugged.

Do not laugh. Do not laugh.
I decided a subject change was in order. “How was school today?”

Her eyes brightened. “Good. Great, actually.”

“What made it so great?” I stood and switched off my desk lamp.

“There’s a new kid at school.” She smiled, her braces on full display. “A boy.”

“Is he cute?”

“Yeah.” Her cheeks grew into a bright shade of pink as she dropped her gaze.

The toilet in the en suite flushed and Eden hurried out. “A boy? No boys. Boys are bad.”

“Hey now.” I glowered at her.

“All except Jack.” Eden took my hand and kissed the back of it. “He’s okay, I guess.”

I laughed. “Okay, you
guess
?”

“Oh, Mom.” Adele rolled her eyes. “We all you know you love him.”

“Is that right?” Eden turned to me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

I pressed my forehead to hers. “Yes.”

“Eww, not again.” Adele stomped down the hall.

Eden smiled and brushed her lips against mine. “What about you?”

“What about me?” I smiled and eyed her mouth.

“Are you in love with anyone?”

“There’s one girl. She’s kind of, I don’t know, moody. Beautiful, stubborn, strong, and easily the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

She smiled, her green eyes sparkling. “She sounds like a keeper.”

I pulled her left hand from my shoulder and kissed her palm, then turned it over and ran my thumb across the diamond I’d given her. “She is. I love her more than anything in this world.”

“Don’t ever stop.” Her voice caught in her throat.

I kissed her with all the tenderness I had. “Not a chance.”

Acknowledgements

This book is particularly close to my heart for two reasons: (1) a dead chick and (2) a hot guy. First, the dead chick. A big thanks to Charlotte Brontë for giving me the idea for Tempting Eden. Charlotte’s unconventional romance, Jane Eyre, has inspired readers to see love in unexpected places. That’s what it did for me when I first read it years ago. Suddenly, my imagination insisted everyone had a shadowy back story and a secret wife in the attic. More than that, she made it okay for the heroine and the hero to be something other than a stereotype of perfection. Jane was, no shit, a plain Jane. Mr. Rochester was a gruff, angular sort of guy—a grump, really. But the two of these characters together? Magic, the fairy tale, love that lasted a lifetime. Charlotte wrote real, visceral, true characters and gave them a difficult story with a hard-won happy ending. So, to Charlotte, thanks for bucking society and making my story possible.

Second, the hot guy. “Reader, I married him.” Mr. Aaron is half black, half Korean, all sexy. He helped me make sure that Jack’s voice came through clear and steady. My life with Mr. Aaron has made me privy to a whole other world, one where the color of your skin is the litmus test for whether you’re smart, hard-working, trustworthy, or dangerous. Together, we’ve seen ugliness, we’ve seen hate, we’ve seen ignorance. But, more than anything else, we’ve seen love. The love we have for each other has inspired two gorgeous children with dark hair and eyes and their mommy’s sassy mouth. The love others have shown us has given me hope that our girls will grow up in a world where they will be judged for their kindness and intellect instead of their color.

Third, my beta boos. Viv and Rachel—y’all are the best. Thanks for helping me tweak until I got the story where it needed to be. Neda, thanks for all that promo magic you do; I wouldn’t look half as cool if I didn’t have you doing my PR. Acquisitions (my FB reader group), y’all are fab. Thanks for supporting me, chilling with me every day, and showing me pictures of your pussies (cats, you perv; we share cat pics).

So, what’s next? I’m working on some exciting new projects, including a smoking story in a Hot for Teacher anthology that’s out in October, a sexy billionaire ménage in a Filthy and Rich anthology that’s out in December with St. Martin’s, some fun holiday stories, and two new series in 2017. Make sure you’ve signed up for my newsletter at aaronerotica.com to get giveaways, book news, and no spam.

Finally, thanks for reading. I couldn’t do it without you.

Xx,

Celia