He kissed her pouting lips. She knew
they were pouty because she’d worked on that pose for months before she felt
she had it perfect. She didn’t tell him not to go. She could see by the look on
his face that he didn’t want to.
He brought her in several bags of food
and the small refrigerator and microwave he’d gotten her. Sondra wanted to
throw a fit about it, but was touched that he’d thought of her at the same
time. When he left she sat down and started making a list of the things she was
going to buy when this stupid thing was over and she had money to spend again.
The first thing on the list was something nice for Clint.
~~~
He was nervous. Jesse had never had a
date where he was afraid she wouldn’t show or worse yet, that she’d be
unwilling to be with him. He glanced in the mirror again. He heard his brother
laugh and turned to look at him.
“Sit down, will you? You’re worse than a
woman. You look nice and so will she. Mom told me that she looked lovely and
that you would be surprised.” Daniel leaned back in the chair at the front lobby
of the restaurant.
“I’ll be happy if she shows up in jeans
and a t-shirt.” But he did sit. “Where are the others? I thought I told them to
be here at six.”
“You did, and learn to tell time. It’s
only five forty-five now. Royce hasn’t been on time anywhere since Lee was
born, Curtis never was to begin with, and the only reason I’m here is because
you bullied me into coming with you early.”
That wasn’t the only reason, but he
didn’t tell his brother. He wanted him here to drive him home if Josephine didn’t
come. He was planning to get drunk if she didn’t show and needed him to carry
his sorry ass up the stairs. Jesse looked at the door when it opened and he sighed.
It wasn’t them.
“Why do women take so long to get ready?”
Daniel asked him. “I mean, they do have a bit more to do, fix their hair up,
make-up. I suppose they do have long, incredible legs to shave. I love a
woman’s legs.”
Jesse did too. And he’d yet to see
Josephine’s. He wondered how long they were. He knew they were strong, but he’d
not seen them naked yet. He’d seen her breasts and felt them in this mouth, but…
He had to stop thinking like that. He
needed to woo her, his mother said.
“I want this to work out. I’m not sure
why it’s so important to me that it does, but…” He shrugged. “I need to see
where it goes. Where she lets me take this.”
He had thought about nothing else but
Josephine for four days. Since he’s left his mom’s house and then bought the
building from Jared’s company. And at noon today, he and Alex had closed the
deal on the older building. He leaned back in his seat and looked over at his
brother.
“I want to start buying up some
buildings around the area and fixing them up to reuse. Not like we do now, but
as a rental property, not as Royce does.” Daniel nodded, but didn’t say
anything. “And I want you to help me do it. I know you have your hand in about
everything, so will you help me out to get started?”
“Yes and no. I’ll help you, but I think
if we’re going to be partners, we should be partners in that too.” It took
several seconds for what his brother was agreeing with to register in his mind.
“And I want my name first. Hunter and Hunter sounds good to me.”
Jesse nodded and shook his brother’s
hand. “Yeah, that sounds good to me too. Hunter and Hunter sounds damned good.”
Neither man moved when the door opened
again. The woman standing there took his breath away and when Daniel started to
rise to greet her, Jessed pushed him back down. “Mine,” he told his brother as
he moved toward his date.
“You’re not happy, are you? Your mother
said this dress was made for me. All I could think of is how much of me is
showing. I have a wrap thingy, but it was too hot in the limo and I’m pretty
sure that she did that on pur—”
“Josephine,” he said softly. And when
she closed her mouth he pulled her into his arms. “You look beautiful.”
He’d not meant to kiss her like he did.
He’d meant to only move his mouth over hers and pull back. But the moment he
tasted her all the reasons why he wasn’t going to kiss her like he wanted flew
out the window. The tapping at his shoulder was the only thing that made him
pull back a bit.
“Down, boy,” Royce said to him. “We’re
in public, and that, my friend, will get you arrested. Besides, Mom looks like
she wants to slap you nutty.”
Jesse pulled back, but he didn’t let her
go. He wrapped his arm around her waist and nearly whimpered. Skin, warm and
soft, met him. When he ran his fingers up her back he knew that the entire back
of the dress was open for him. He glanced behind her and moaned. This was going
to be harder than he thought. He looked at his mom, knew that she’d done this
to him, and he was going to make her pay.
As they were shown to the room he’d
reserved he got a look at the dress again. Yep, she was nearly naked. And the
way it lay over her body made him think she was braless as well as pantiless. Christ,
he was going to die. Glancing over at Kylie, he noticed that she was grinning
too.
“You guys did this together, didn’t you?”
he whispered to her without letting go of Josephine.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re
referring to. I only helped pick out her shoes. She had the dress by the time I
got here. And just so you know, everyone is rooting for you.”
Jesse kissed his sister-in-law on the
cheek and waited for everyone to be seated before he nodded to the waitress.
The girl knew her cue and brought in the glasses of champagne and served them.
“Everyone, I’d like you to be the first
to know that I’ve bought a building and have a new partner. Daniel and I have
decided to go into business together.” They all congratulated them both, even
though they knew that he and Daniel had been tossing around the idea for
months. The building was a surprise, however.
“What did you end up buying? Not that
ugly one on Seventh, did you? My God, why that thing hasn’t been torn down by
now is anyone’s guess.” His mom looked at Josephine to explain. “The thing
looks like someone built it upside down. It gets larger and wider as it goes
up. I wonder at times why the thing hasn’t come down on itself from the
weight.”
He took Josephine’s hand and kissed it. “I
bought the one that she’s working in. The building that the Stones built. He
cut me a good deal and I love the landscaping.”
Dinner was a blur after that. He knew
that his family wanted to ask, but they didn’t. He didn’t know himself why he
couldn’t seem to stop touching the woman next to him. And every time she leaned
forward or turned her back to him to speak to someone, he had to run his
fingers down her spine. By the time he was paying the check Jesse wasn’t sure
he had enough blood in his body to walk to his car, much less try and let her
go at the end of the evening. And where to let her go was another question.
When they were in the limo together and
moving down the street, he moved across from her in the seats. He wanted her,
but wasn’t sure she felt the same. He touched her knees and nearly groaned when
she trembled beneath his touch.
“I don’t want this evening to end. But I
made myself a promise that I’d take this slow with you.” He saw her nipples
harden under the silky material. “Tell me where you live and I’ll take you
there now. If you want. Otherwise…”
“Otherwise what?” She opened her legs
and the dress fell between them. “Otherwise what?” she asked again.
“I want you. I want you so desperately
that I could pull you onto my lap right now and take you.” He moved his hands
up her thighs and closed her legs. “But I don’t want you in this car. I don’t
want to hurry through making love to you because someone might hear us. Come
home with me. Tonight. Come home with me and let me show you a passion like
you’ve never known.”
She didn’t answer him and he didn’t rush
her. He wanted her to think this through. Because as far as he was concerned,
if she entered his bedroom tonight, she was going to continue to do so until they
both decided it was over. This wasn’t just a one night stand for him, and he
didn’t want it to be for her either.
“Do you know what I am? Who I am?” She
shook her head when he started to answer. “I don’t mean Josephine Foster. I
mean what my past has been, what I am now?”
“You mean that you don’t have as much
money as me? Or is it that you don’t have an address right now?” She nodded and
he slid to the edge of the seat. “I do. But what would you say if I told you I
didn’t care?”
She slid her fingers down his cheek and
smiled sadly. “I know who you are too, Jesse. I know your plans too. Your
mother and Kasey told me. What we have tonight, and for as long as you want it,
will be enough for me. I want you to know that up front.”
He didn’t know what to make of her
statement, and decided that he didn’t care so long as she was willing to give
it a try. And she was wrong if she thought she knew him. He wasn’t even sure he
knew himself anymore. Pulling her to him, he kissed her. He showed her in his
kiss that he wanted her, needed her, and her response was more than he could
have hoped for. When the limo came to a stop he knew that for as long as he
lived, this moment in time would be forever etched in his mind. The first time
he brought a woman he really liked to his house.
Chapter 13
He led her into the house and they went
to the living room. After he showed her around the room they walked toward what
he said was the kitchen. She didn’t have a clue what he’d shown her in the
other room, but this one she would remember forever. This was the kitchen
people dreamed of.
“I don’t cook here much, but when I do,
I have fun.” She wandered around the room touching things as he spoke to her
from near the doorway. “I had this room done to my specs, but didn’t so much in
the rest of the house. I love to cook. Do you?”
“Yes,” she told him as she opened the
huge double-wide refrigerator. “I don’t get to very much and my grandmother
hated to cook. I would fix these nice meals only to have her turn her nose up
at them.”
“I have a housekeeper, but she doesn’t
cook for me. Once in a while she’ll use some of the leftovers from something I
made to take to her house, but nothing for me. If I want a meal, I want to cook
it.” He moved around the large bar and toward the opposite end where she was. “I
have a stocked pantry too and freezer too. If you want to have fun in here with
me, I’d like that.”
She wasn’t sure if he meant cooking or
something else and stopped moving away from him to turn back to where he was. Neither
of them moved and she found she had to hold onto the counter top while he
unbuttoned his coat and tossed it on the chair at the little table.
“Are you hungry?” she asked him. He
nodded as he took off his tie. “Are you going to fix something to eat?”
“Yes. But I’m pretty sure what I want
isn’t going to be finished for a while. At least not until morning.” He
unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt as she watched. “Come here,
Josephine.”
She wanted to run and leap at him, but
didn’t want to let go of the counter. She was a puddle just waiting for a place
to melt. He crooked his finger at her and she moved toward him slowly.
“I’m not sure what you want from me.” She
knew that it was sex, but beyond that she wasn’t sure. “I don’t know a lot
about fancy sex like you might like. In fact, I don’t know much about it at
all. I’ve only had sex twice and both times it was sort of a failure.”
“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘fancy,’
but if you mean making love then I have to disagree with you on the failure
part. I very much enjoyed what you did to me.” She felt her face heat up. “In
fact, I’d very much like to return the favor to you. Right now.”
She stopped moving, her feet seemingly
frozen in place. She’d never had a man do what he was suggesting. The only time
before Jesse that she’d had a cock in her mouth, the guy had come so fast she
didn’t realize he’d come until he pulled away and started getting dressed.
Jessed moved behind her and wrapped his
arm around her waist. His hot breath on her shoulder made her tilt her neck for
him, and she groaned when he brought her to his body.
“You fit me. I love the way your body
lines up with mine. When I enter you, I’ll be able to suckle at your nipples
while I move in and out of you.” He kissed her neck again and spread his hands
at her ribs. “But as lovely as this dress in on you, I want to see you without
it. Tell me, Josephine, what do you have on under this? All night I’ve been
trying to decide if you were naked or not.”
His hands slid to her back and then
under the material that covered her breasts. She hoped that he didn’t expect
her to answer him because she was pretty sure she wouldn’t make any sense right
now. His hands moved to her belly under the material and when he opened his
hands over her belly she felt her breath catch. Who would have known her belly
was so sensitive?
When he moved them up her ribs, kissing
her neck as he went, she moaned when he cupped her breasts from beneath. His
own moan vibrated against her throat as he brushed his thumbs over her nipples.
When he moved her forward, toward the table, she let him. Her body was on fire
for him and at this point knew that anything he did to her, she was going to
come.