Chapter 33

She dropped limply into her chair, when she heard the store front door shut she lowered her forehead to her desk again and screamed into the sleeve of her shirt. Her body was still vibrating both from the high of his touch and the crashing low of his leaving.

“Tessa you stupid fucking idiot!” She threw herself back into her chair and slapped her hands over her face. Digging her fingertips into her eyes she chastised herself. “Jon Bon Jovi asks you to go to Nashville and you fucking go to Nashville!”

Frustrated tears clogged her eyes for a minute before she sucked it in and stood up. She blew out a shaky breath, flicked on her music and switched the speakers from in her office to the store and cranked it. She had a mix of songs on her Ipod and chose the playlist she used to work out, hoping it would do the job.

She locked the front door and surveyed her store. This was the reason she had to be level headed. This was the goal she’d been working toward for the last twelve years. She swiped the tear that had managed to creep down her cheek. She needed work. That was all there was to it.

Three hours later she found herself in the middle of the stacks re-alphabetizing the cookbooks. She was so wired she couldn’t even stand herself. Her body still hummed from his touch and every single time she shut her eyes all she could see was him.

The acoustic version of Something to Believe In blared out of her speakers and she collapsed into the carpeting and pushed the stack of neatly arranged books over in disgust. Sitting back against the bookcase she closed her eyes and let the music drown the frustration and ease the tense coils in her belly. She’d made the correct decision to stay home, but if she didn’t get her act together she’d be an absolute mess by morning.

Two days ago he hadn’t even been in her life. Well, she rectified, his music had always been in her life, but not the man. And the man was so much more than she could have imagined. With two days of knowledge she knew it was ridiculous to get this worked up about a man, hell she hadn’t even seen him in a bad mood yet.

It still didn’t stop the yearning.

As insane as it was, she just couldn’t get him out of her head. Normally as level-headed as you could get, she was acting like a moony eyed twelve year old over a boy. She was a strong, independent woman with a business for God’s sake. She had responsibilities and the Christmas season was in full swing. She should be home getting her rest and she was here alphabetizing the cooking section that would be destroyed by mid-day tomorrow.

“What the hell are you doing, Tessa?” she said aloud. She righted the stack of books and quickly shuffled them into order and shelved them. She turned her watch so she could see the face and sighed. It was one in the morning and she had to be back here to open up again at nine. She’d barely gotten three hours of sleep the entire night before.

And thinking of that brought a flood of memories that she forced herself to shut off. She stood on slightly shaky legs and wound her way around the store for one last check of things and headed into her office. Grabbing her jacket and purse, she shut down her computer and hit the lights. Just as she closed her door, the store phone trilled.

“It’s got to be a wrong number,” she muttered. She reached for the phone and with a growl said, “Hello.”

“Tessa?”

Her purse slid to the floor as did her coat. “Jon?”

“I just got into my hotel and took a chance that you’d be at the store still.”

“What? Can you read my mind now?”

He stretched out on the very comfortable, very large, very empty bed and propped his arm under his head and closed his eyes. “Would I be happy with your thoughts?” He could picture that wide mouth and the wry smile she’d have on her face.

“Probably not,” she said on a sigh.

“I tried your cell first, but there was no answer. Something told me you’d still be there.”

“Because I’m a maniac and should be put in the loony bin?” she said with a laugh.

“Because you’re like me and work is the only thing getting you through the night. I wish I was there.”

Tessa found herself in her chair again. “Oh you suck,” she said with a groan.

“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “that’s one of the first things I’d be doing, actually.”

Her breath burned in her chest. “Oh no, we are not doing this. I’m on three hours of sleep and I’ve been crawling around in dusty books for half the night to forget about you. You are not going to make me insane again.”

“I’m not?” Jon smiled. “Are you still wearing that turtleneck?”

Tessa’s hand slid over the neckline of the grey sweater she still wore. “No,” she said stubbornly.

“Oh I bet you are. Even with that high neck I could still get my lips in there to taste you. And even after working all day you’d still taste amazing. Just the slightest hint of salt, just behind your ear where you tuck your hair back and it would make me thirsty.”

“Oh God,” she whispered.

“You make me very thirsty, Tessa.”

His voice was like velvet coated sex. It was a low rumble, just barely above a whisper with a hint of Jersey to make her sweat.

“I fell asleep on the plane and had a dream about you.”

“Yeah?” she asked almost warily.

“Oh yeah. You were in my bed, with the fireplace roaring and the sheets stripped away so I could see all of you.”

A moan managed to choke its way out of her closed off windpipe.

“Do you want to hear about what I did to you, Tessa?”

“Yes,” she whispered inaudibly.

He chuckled. “I can’t hear you.”

She cleared her throat. “Yes.”

Jon ran a hand over his naked stomach, felt the soft hair that edged above his belt and scratched absently. He felt itchy and assumed he’d be taking another cold shower by the time the phone conversation was over. What was it about her that made him want to give more? “Those smooth thighs of yours were open just a little and the shadows teased me, just like you do.”

Her nipples tingled as she listened to him. It was like he was telling her a story…certainly not one she’d share with anyone before bed.

“Your skin felt like warm silk everywhere I touched. I trailed my knuckles over that dip in your stomach that makes you shiver a little. Do you remember that?”

Tessa’s fingers splayed over her jittering stomach, the memory of his soft skimming touch had her sucking in a long slow breath.

“And when I went lower you watched me. Do you know how hot that is? That my breath on your pussy made you moan and I could see you get wet for me.”

The slight vulgarity of his choice of words, mixed with his soft whispering voice had her more than wet already.

“Are you wet for me now?”

It was natural for her to say no, to deny the state of her body. She’d never had…well, phone sex for lack of a better word, with a man before. But she couldn’t deny it, he wouldn’t believe her anyway. “Yes,” she said with a low voice that surely couldn’t have been hers.

Jon felt his cock harden at the tone of her voice. He could picture her in her office, the warm wood all around her with the books stacked on every available shelf. Would she be touching herself? “If I were there I’d dip my tongue inside of you, taste you, lap up that sweet juice and make you come for me.”

The near squeak that escaped her left her half mortified and more than half turned on.

“Touch it for me,” he said darkly.

Tessa’s fingers gripped the belt of her skirt. She couldn’t. There was a difference between taking care of yourself and doing it with someone else. “I-“

“I remember how wet you can be, how pretty those pink lips are coated with how much you want me.”

The moan started low in her gut.

“I’m hard for you, Tessa. Just thinking about that sweet taste, how tight your pussy is when I push inside of you has me hard as steel. I want you to touch and tell me how hot you are.”

Jon unsnapped his own jeans, the pressure building until he had to unzip his jeans or bust the seam.

Before she could think about it, she unbuckled her skirt and the cool air hit her stomach and lower where her tights cupped her sex. She slid her hand into her tights and into the scrap of panties she wore underneath. “It’s hot and I’m so wet.”

Jon groaned. “How wet, Tessa?”

“I’m drenched.”

“Can you feel that hard little knot inside of you? If I was there, I’d roll my tongue around your clit and up until I heard that sound. You know that sound? I will when I hear it.”

Tessa drew her middle finger around her clit and back over the tangle of muscles deep inside of her.

“Again, Tessa, slowly until you can’t stand it.”

The gasp of pleasure left her mindless.

“If I was there I’d flick my tongue over it again and again until, yeah…until I heard that.” The sounds of her own pleasure boosted his own until he had to take his cock in his hand.

Tessa felt the orgasm break and her own heartbeat roar in her head. She gripped the phone, lowering it against her chest as she worked herself through the orgasm until all that was left of her was gasping breaths and the crash of her heartbeat.

Jon heard her come, then the shuffle of clothing as she lost grip of the phone, then the rhythmic thunder of her heart in the phone. He could picture her soft lips open and that flick of tongue along her lower lip as she threw her head back.

Tessa had the phone back to her ear, and with a sense of wonder and excitement she heard the low echo of his own pleasure on the other end. She’d almost felt embarrassed by her easy orgasm until she knew that bringing herself to pleasure had in turn given him his own. “Jon,” she whispered into the phone.

The sound of her voice and the low tones of her not so even breathing broke the little bit of restraint he had and he felt his own release. The flood of warmth over his fingers uncorked the tension, but he wished it was her mouth around him, instead of his own hand.

He reached over to grab a few tissues from the nightstand and cleaned himself up, a little surprised that his breathing wasn’t quite even.

“Tessa?”

“Yes?”

“That was amazing.”

She swallowed with difficulty. She’d never shared herself like that with anyone. “How many days do you have to be out there?” she said with a laugh.

“I’ll be home as fast as humanly possible.”

“Why don’t you do me a favor?”

He shifted on the bed, his semi-hard cock laying against his stomach just waiting for her. Knowing he would be sleeping alone left an ache low in his gut. “Anything.”

“Try for super-human. The next time I have an orgasm I want you to be here.”