The Rules Regarding Gray (8 page)

“Well, fuck both of you. You’re going to have to live with a Cab and a Pinot.”

Dinner was great, the conversation was even better. They laughed and joked around, and she listened intently as they rehashed their youth for her. Ian was clearly a latchkey kid with little supervision, and that didn’t surprise her in the least. Jas was the outsider who most kids were more fearful of than genuinely interested in knowing, and even though that came with a number of amusing stories related to school pranks and fights, it was still sad to hear in a way. But she soaked it up.

“You remember that day your dad showed up at school and pulled you out in the middle of football practice?” Ian glanced at Jas, but Jas remained silent, nodding subtly. “He rolls up in this old fucking Ford Mustang. It was rough, but it was so fucking cool.” Ian chuckled. “He was a big man, your dad. Comes strolling up with that cool-cat swagger of his, and you just took off with him.”

Jasper’s eyes met hers, but he looked away quickly. She wasn’t sure what to make of his disposition at the moment.

“We took bets whether we’d ever see you again.” Ian was silent then.

She looked between them, feeling more tension than anything else. Jasper was staring at the table, but it wasn’t irritation. He just seemed to be somewhere else.

“Well, clearly he came back,” she tried for no other reason than to cut through the thick air that hung around them.

Ian glanced at her. “Yeah, he did. A week later, black eye, scuffs all over his face and limping. He looked cool as hell actually.”

Her eyes snapped to Jas as he looked up to her. His brow flinched, and all she could seem to manage was to stare wide-eyed back at him.

“We didn’t get along so well that week,” he commented with little inflection.

Ian chimed in quickly though. “You were a big kid. I bet you left him looking just as bad.” In Ian’s own way, he was trying to support his friend.

Jasper shook his head subtly. “No.” He said nothing else, and he stared at the table for a moment before blowing out a deep breath of air. When he looked back up to Ian, he smirked. “Way to suck the life out of the party, Ian.” He clapped his hand on Ian’s shoulder, smiling and laughing, and then his focus shifted to Gray, and he studied her for a moment as she took a drink of wine.

“How about you, Gray?” Jasper lifted his own glass to his lips.

She shrugged. “I danced. Not much more to say.” She knew she sounded lame.

“There’s always more to say,” he responded.

“No, in her case there really isn’t,” Ian tossed out. “If you can believe it, I’m only the second man she’s ever slept with. Still can’t believe she let me stick my cock up her ass,” he commented as an aside.

Jasper’s eyes remained on her, but she glanced down at the table, feeling the hot tendrils of embarrassment coursing through her.

“To take a note from Gray’s book, I’m sure she would have told me that herself if she’d wanted me to know.” Jasper’s voice was warm, and when she glanced up, he was looking directly at her rather than Ian. “That doesn’t mean I don’t think there’s more to say. So spill it, Gray.” He demanded with a gentle smile.

She sighed. “Okay. I came from a great family with loving parents who supported me perfectly. I started dance when I was young, and … I was good at it.” She thought about what she wanted to say then. “It was all I did. I knew early on I wanted to make a career of it, and you don’t do that without giving yourself over to it completely. It was my life. I didn’t go out, have fun, do all those normal kid things. I was in a studio practicing.” She shrugged. Yeah, it was more than lame.

“Nothing wrong with being disciplined,” Jas offered.

“No…” She thought about that for a moment. “But I missed out on life. While other people were out having adventures—”

“And fucking,” Ian threw out.

She rolled her eyes. “I was keeping a strict rehearsal schedule.” Her lips pursed, and her brow flinched as she stared at the table.

Jasper’s warm voice pulled her back to him. “You’re young. You have plenty of time for adventures.”

She glanced at him. “Do I?”

Ian was looking between the two of them but not interrupting.

“I don’t know,” she mused. “Even at my age I feel like I’ve lost part of my life to my career. It’s funny how life feels like it slips away from you without you even knowing it sometimes.” She watched Jasper’s eyes as she spoke.

“Yeah.” He nodded focusing on her intently.

The waiter suddenly appeared in the doorway with their check in his hand. Ian took it, and as the waiter left, the room was silent. No one said a word, and her brain swam with a sea of possibilities that were so much bigger than her small little boring world. It was a heady feeling, and she took a deep breath, soaking in the intoxication of it. And then she said it. It wasn’t her desire, nor her intention when she walked in, but… She said it.

“I’ve changed my mind.”

Chapter Seven

Jasper stared at Gray, stunned into silence. His cock was throbbing, his skin was flushing, and breathing had become a nonessential afterthought.

“Well, that settles that,” quipped Ian from beside him.

But Gray’s face remained impassive—much as it had been when she made the comment.

“No, it doesn’t,” Jasper cut in quickly. He turned his focus to Ian. “I need to speak with Gray alone for a moment.” He stared at Ian, refusing to look away.

Ian held the check up. “Why don’t I take care of this, and I’ll meet you both in the parking lot. Perhaps a nightcap at my place.”

Jasper didn’t respond to him, and he waited for Ian to leave before he bothered trying to speak again. But the moment the door closed and he was alone with Gray, he opened his mouth. “Why are you doing this?”

She watched him for a moment, and she swallowed harshly over a lump in her throat. “I guess… I want to do something I’m not supposed to do. I want to want something I’m not supposed to want. I want to make the mistake I’m not supposed to make.” She took a deep breath again.

He nodded but said nothing.

“Are you agreeing?” she asked quietly.

“Yes.” His voice was no louder than hers.

“Why?”

Every muscle in his body tightened into hardened strands of tension. “Because I want to fuck the hell out of the mistake until I can get her out of my system.”

* * * *

Jasper had picked up Ian before dinner, but Ian drove Gray to his home in her car while Jas followed in his own car. It was agonizing. He wasn’t supposed to want her this much. He was supposed to want to play with her and nothing else, but every time he looked at her all he could think about was the word
more
. More. He needed more of her.

He knew even as he drove behind her car toward Ian’s house that what he was going to do to her wasn’t going to satisfy him. It wasn’t going to be enough. He wasn’t sure there was such a thing as
enough
with her. But he was going to do everything in his power to hit that limit. Because falling short of that limit meant he was going to continue to crave her. And he needed this desire to end.

Ian uncorked another bottle of wine the moment they stepped inside his house, and as Jas followed Gray to the living room, he watched her move. Her fingers trembled slightly as she took the glass from Ian, and Ian leaned down, kissing her on the forehead as he mindlessly held the other glass he was holding out for Jas to take.

Jas sat across from them, and he waited for her to look at him. She seemed to be avoiding it, but when she finally managed, she didn’t look away—he didn’t either.

“How about a game plan,” Ian commented as he sank to the couch beside Gray with his own glass of wine.

“That’s new.” Jasper finally looked away from her to Ian.

“Well … she is my girlfriend, after all—not some casual fuck as you said.”

Gray’s eyes snapped to Jasper’s for a moment.

Ian looked between them, and then he chuckled. “So, here it is. You’re going to fuck her ass, and I’ll take care of the rest of her.” His eyebrows shot up playfully.

Jas didn’t bother looking at Gray, because he didn’t want to see exactly what reaction that might have elicited. “She’s a bit small, don’t you think, for both of us at the same time? It might be a bit much for her? At least for her first time.”

Ian tilted his head back and forth as he contemplated. “Considering she’s fairly new to anal sex, you’re probably right. So, fine. Once I’m done with her, I’ll come in her mouth while you’re cock is in her ass. Happy?” He stared at Jasper for a moment. “I’m sure taking your dick up her ass will be challenging enough for the novice.”

Jas inhaled deeply, but then he chuckled as he stroked his chin. He’d been freaking the hell out since dinner, but now that he was sitting across from her, and he was close to getting what he needed, the cock side of his brain was taking over, making it far easier to ignore his own nerves—hers too for that matter.

“Now the rules.” Ian added.

“Jesus. Are we playing gin rummy or fucking?” He glanced to Gray just to see her lips pull up slightly even as her focus shifted to her lap.

“Like I said, she’s my girlfriend. That must mean something.” Ian stared at him for a moment. “You don’t touch her. Not her tits, not her face, certainly not her pussy. You keep your mouth off her and your fingers out of her. And she will not be sucking your cock either. I’m reserving every part of her for myself except one very small, tight hole.”

“I’ve never known you to be a jealous man, Ian.” But even as he made the comment, it wasn’t lost on him that perhaps he was the jealous one.

Ian laughed. “I’m not—not at all. But … maybe I’m growing up a little. Only seems right under the circumstances. Take it or leave it. Trust me. It’ll be worth your while.”

“I’m sure it will.” The nerves were definitely gone, and as he glanced to her, her slightly parted lips and the intrigued expression said she was about as far beyond her nerves as he was his.

“Stand up,” Ian murmured against her ear as he leaned over to her.

She did, and as Ian stood behind her, he took the glass from her hand, leaning over and setting it on the end table. She was wearing a sleeveless cotton black and white stripe maxi dress, and as Ian started inching the top down, she looked away, refusing to look at him.

“Look at me, Gray,” Jasper demanded gently. “I’m going to see every inch of your body, so there’s no sense being shy with me.”

“But she’s so cute when she’s shy,” Ian commented as he nuzzled just under her ear. He was right about that.

She finally met his eyes, and she panted as she held her focus on him as Ian lowered the top of her dress. He could see her chest rising and falling quickly as his eyes followed her top down, and when her small round breasts were exposed, Jasper leaned forward, planting his elbows on his knees as his fingers mindlessly ran over his chin. Fucking hell. Her nipples were hard peaks against her pale skin. She was so much smaller than any woman he’d ever been with, but he suddenly couldn’t remember why he would want anything other than this. He must have … but why?

Ian smirked at him over her shoulder, and then he left her dress in place, the top bunched at her waist, and he pulled her away toward his bedroom as Jasper followed. She glanced back at him as Ian led them down the hallway, and he winked at her as she sucked in a quick breath.

Jasper stripped his shirt off as they entered the bedroom, tossing it to the floor as he moved, and then he sat on the side of the bed, waiting. Ian once again stood behind her, and as he started inching the dress down her hips, Jas watched. Her eyes were wide as they traveled down his torso, following the line of the large phoenix tattoo he had on his left side. It consumed his shoulder, his left pec, and his left abdomen before wrapping around to his lower back, and he could nearly follow the trail her eyes ran over his body as they studied every inch of his ink.

But, however intently her eyes were watching his body, the rest of her was far less controlled. She couldn’t seem to figure out what to do with her arms or her hands, and as she held them awkwardly out, he smiled reassuringly at her.

“Relax,” he said.

Her eyes shifted up slowly from his abdomen where she was focusing on the long colorful plume of the bird, and she nodded, dropping her hands to her sides.

He wasn’t at all relaxed when Ian finally inched the dress down past her hips, pulling her underwear down as he went. Her hip bones were subtly jutting points, and he wanted to lick them so bad he started licking his own lips in desperate need. Her pussy was lightly haired and trimmed neatly. He could see the small lips, and his fingers clenched tight as his body reacted.

She was left naked standing in front of him as Ian moved to his nightstand. Jas studied her eyes, and she forced herself to look back at him—her trembling lips made it clear it was a struggle. When Ian returned, he held a fairly slim metal anal plug in his hand along with a small bottle of clear liquid and a couple of condoms—one of which he tossed to Jas. She glanced to his hand and then bit her lip.

Ian walked her up to stand a foot or so in front of Jasper. “Lean over. Put your hands on his thighs. Keep those eyes on his. We’re going to torture him a little bit now.”