The Avoidance of Love (The Daniels' Sisters Book 2) (8 page)

Jace began moving in a rhythm that was absolute torture for me. I wanted it hard, and I wanted it fast, but no matter how I hard I tried to buck my hips to spur him on, he would not oblige. His weight shifted again, and he pressed me harder against the door behind me before his hand came down in between us to stroke my clit. His ministrations were unrelenting and produced an inexorable heat everywhere he touched me. I felt as though I was burning from the inside out.

“God, Jace, please stop teasing me.”

He chuckled into my neck. “I’m not teasing you, baby. You’re so tight; I think you might snap my cock in half. I wanna make sure we both enjoy this, so I’m not gonna rush. Just keep still, or you’re gonna break me.”

All I heard was a challenge being issued. I wanted to break him. I wanted him to give me everything he had. I used my hands to bring his face crashing into mine, took control of his mouth, and showed him with my tongue and lips, everything I wanted. At the same time, I clenched my walls with all the strength that I had. It worked.

“Shit, Mara. You can have it.”

He reared back so far that I thought he was going to slip out and then slammed back inside me with a force that I thought might break
me.
Every inch of him was driving into me and there was nothing I could do but take it. Accept it and revel in it.

“I wanted to show you that I’m more than this, Mara. I wanted to be more for you.” His breathing was heavy and heady.

“Jace, make me come. Please.” Was that even my voice? Was I really begging him to make me come?

“Anything you want.”

I thought that he’d been going at full force before, but I had been mistaken. His hand moved away from my clit and back to gripping my cheeks, each thrust delivered with a precision that could only come with practice. A thought I immediately pushed away.

His speed increased and I could feel my climax within my grasp. It was coming at a speed that I couldn’t fathom.

“Come for me. Now, Mara.”

And I did. It was so powerful, my whole body shook, and I was thankful he was bearing my weight. Just as my first orgasm subsided, another followed, just as powerful as the first.

Jace grunted and his movements slowed. I could feel his cock pulsing inside of me, and a little piece of me regretted the thin piece of latex that separated us.

After a few moments, Jace pulled out and let my legs ease down, although he didn’t let go until he was sure I could stand by myself.

Even as he was removing the condom and tying it, he was staring at me with an intensity that was making me squirm on the spot. I would normally never do anything like this. It wasn’t me. Definitely not with men like Jace. I needed distance between us, and I needed it fast.

“You’re amazing you know that?” He tossed the condom into the wastebasket.

The compliment made me feel uncomfortable, and I didn’t know how to respond. Any bravado I had had earlier had long disappeared.

He grasped my chin and forced me to look at him. “Are you shy?”

“Of course not!”

“Are you embarrassed?”

“No.”

He smirked. “You’re cute; you know that?” He kissed me on the nose like a petulant child. “I’ll give you a couple minutes and meet you outside in the restaurant.” With that, he turned and left without another word.

Once the door had shut, I let out the breath I had been holding and quickly pulled my skirt back up. At the sink, I splashed water on my face and took a good look at myself in the mirror. I looked like I’d just had bathroom sex. My hair was messy and my face was flushed. What the hell was I playing at? I could feel panic rising. I needed to escape. I eyed the bathroom window and one thought crossed my mind.

Once I was in my car and had taken off down the road, I pulled over to send Jace a text that I’d had to leave immediately and I would catch up with him later to discuss the project.

I ignored my phone when he called me right back. No part of me wanted to explain I’d climbed out the bathroom window to avoid seeing him. Even I would have to admit under oath that it was the behavior of a crazy woman!

I GOT INTO work early the next morning. I’d love to say it was because I wanted to get a jump-start on my work, but it would be a lie; I couldn’t sleep and I had nothing better to do than go to work. I’d been tapping my stupid pencil on my desk for the last two hours, replaying what happened with Jace and the images of us joined, and wondering what I was going to do about it. For all the work I was actually doing, I might as well have stayed at home.

By 9:00 a.m., I hadn’t moved from my seat, I hadn’t done any work, and I hadn’t even had my regular morning coffee. I slammed my pencil down on my desk in frustration. There was no way I could go to Italy with Jace. If he kept flirting with me, kissing me, and fucking me in restaurant bathrooms then everything was going to go to hell. I clearly have no resistance where this man is concerned. I let out a defeated sigh. My attraction to the man was undeniable and if I let myself fall into his trap, there would be no one to save me when it all came falling down around me.

I knew I had no decent excuse not to go; he was right, it would help me better understand his vision for the racetrack and the overall project. He knew he had me by the short and curlies. I began to bang my head against my desk. This was not going to go well for me.

“Hmmm, head banging at 9:00 a.m. I take it last night with Jace went wonderfully.”

“Fuck off, Coops.”

“Oh, even better than wonderful.” I felt him move farther into the room and take the seat opposite my desk. “Here’s your morning coffee, which you look like you need. Now details.”

After I had sucked down the entire contents of my coffee cup, I told Coops everything that had happened with Jace, leaving out the part about how much I had wanted him.

“Wow.” He leaned back his chair. “He does have some moves, doesn’t he?” I glared at him to let him know he was not helping me with this dilemma. “Oh, glare and growl all you want, as if I pay any attention to that whatsoever. Personally, I don’t see what the problem is. He likes you, you like him. You can get your womanly parts well and truly serviced while working. It’s not like you haven’t done random research trips out of the country before. Remember when we had that couple, the Jamieson’s, who were obsessed with Art Deco so you visited loads of cinemas over in the States to check out design ideas as well as order their furniture pieces.”

I shuddered at the memory. That couple were weird beyond belief. I couldn’t wait to finish that project. “So there’s no difference here. I’m sure his motives are less than honorable,” he leaned in to whisper, “you lucky thing. However, I do think he has a point. You’re struggling to complete an integrated design, so the trip might really help. Whether you drop your panties for Jace is really up to you. Are you telling me that the great bitch, Mara Daniels, is unable to resist the charms of Jace Bryce? If something does happen, it will be because you want it to, and you know my feelings on the subject.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Well, just in case you’ve forgotten, I’m going to remind you.” He took a deep breath. “I think you work too hard and you’re on the verge of becoming an extremely sad cow with no life outside of her work. You need to fix that before it’s too late.”

“Are you done?”

“I think I made my point.”

Just as he sat back in the chair to drink his own coffee, a smug smirk on his face, my phone rang. I put it on speakerphone to answer while I drank my coffee.

“Daniels Architecture. Mara speaking.”

“Mara, I’m bored. And you know I must be super bored if I’m calling you.” She always opened with an insult. Coops was laughing. He loved Lana. He found her the most entertaining thing ever.

“Lana, don’t you have a job? Shouldn’t you have work to do?”

“I had a client booked for an all-day shopping spree and she cancelled at the last minute. I still get paid, but now I have a whole day to myself. Dana is at work. Tara is at work. So I’m calling you and pleading with your good nature, you know that little voice in the back of your head that you try to suffocate, to entertain me for the day. Come shopping with me. My treat.”

“We’ll both come. Lana. Meet you on Oxford Street in an hour.”

“Yay, Coops is coming! This is going to be epic!”

Lana hung up without saying bye. That was nothing unusual.

“We’ve got work to do, you know.”

“No, we don’t. We’ve pretty much cleared everything to make way for Jace Bryce’s project, and I am bored as fuck with nothing much to do. We’ll take our cell phones and find you a nice wardrobe for Italy.”

I didn’t bother to argue with him. There was the possibility that after bailing on Jace last night, he might have changed his mind and not want me to go with him to Italy any longer. I didn’t really think I would be that lucky. I shut down my computer and grabbed my bag then waited for him to do the same.

We took my car and met Lana at a coffee shop before we began our shopping quest. Something told me that between Lana and Coops, I was going to need an extra caffeine fix. Lana shopped for a living and her purchases were always precise and efficient. She never dawdled in shop, which was a blessing.

The few times I had been shopping with Coops, I had prayed for a swift death. He was worse than any woman I knew. He loved bargain shopping, expensive shopping, just-because shopping. There was no possible way we would be leaving Oxford Street before the shops were closed.

By the time Coops had caught Lana up on all that had happened between Jace and I, no matter how many times I told him to shut up, I was past ready to switch from caffeine to alcohol. Lana couldn’t stop gloating and it was beginning to get on my nerves.

“Can we just get going and get this day over and done with.”

“So when are you off to Italy?”

“This weekend.”

“Wow, he doesn’t waste any time does he? We can get you a couple of cute dresses to take the edge off the way you usually dress. From what I’ve heard, those boys party hard after the race, so you need something to wear in the evening. I think I have the perfect outfit in mind. This is going to be so much fun. Let’s move out.”

Although, I’m pretty sure there were times when I bordered on hatred for my sister, there were moments like these where I was thankful for her. I hadn’t really given any thought as to what I would wear for the weekend and now she’d do all the work. All I had to do was sit back and panic about what was going to happen over the three-days I was with Jace.

Shopping didn’t take anywhere near as long as I thought it would. Coops seemed more focused on making sure I had what I needed so he didn’t really shop for himself. Lana seemed to have mentally determined my entire wardrobe within seconds of finding out where I was going and what I would be doing. I had to admit that I liked the choices she made.

The dresses she picked out for the day were not what I would have chosen, but they were perfect for what I would be doing and where I would be going. They were both tailored which appeased the part of me that wanted to wear a suit but they were light, short and very feminine. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, but I wanted to dress in a way that reminded Jace I was only there in a work capacity.

Lana insisted that I have a dress to wear for after the race. No matter how many times I assured her that I would not need it since I wasn’t going to be partying, she ignored me. She picked a black knot front cami dress and red barely-there stilettos to go with it. It was a cute combination, but not something I would ever normally wear and did not intend to put on. It was too revealing for my tastes.

We finished our shopping in Agent Provocateur, the one shopping addiction Lana had transferred to all of her sisters. While I perused the more practical and understated sets, Lana and Coops picked through the rails of racy sets that they thought went with each of my other purchases. Once again, my choices were overruled; they got their way, and I was going to ignore the fact that they both knew my bra and panty size without me telling them.

Once we were completely done, we found a little Italian restaurant and had an early dinner. Lana was bouncing from the buzz of the day and Coops was encouraging her. They both said they were trying to live vicariously through me since their love lives were currently non-existent. All that did was make me more nervous and therefore sick to my stomach. I must have been playing with my napkin for too long because Coops noticed my silence.

“Mara, what’s wrong? You’re not still trying to work out how to get out of going are you?”

“No. Nothing. I’ve accepted my fate on this one. Like you said, it’s just another job. It’s not like I haven’t done this for a client before.”

They both started sniggering at my choice of words, but I didn’t rise to the bait.

“Good. I know we keep making fun, but you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“I’m not.” Then I thought of a little way to get my own back on Lana. “Lana, you do know it’s Grandma’s birthday next weekend.”

“Of course.”

“Well, since I’ll be away this weekend, I won’t be able to organize it as I usually do, so you’ll have to take over.” I knew she would hate this since I always cook for Grandmas birthdays since she generally doesn’t like us to take her out. She hates the thought of us spending our money on her and much prefers it when we all come over for dinner and cake. “You’ll need to cook the food and take it over, make sure there’s enough to drink, and have her favorite birthday cake. You usually decorate the house for her so make sure you don’t forget your usual duties.”