Chapter 96

Jon settled himself in one of the small, French settees that littered the dressing area. He kept a bland expression to his face as Maryanne brought over espresso and biscotti. Ever the hostess, she turned on her charm where and when it suited her.

“Is she alright in there?”

Jon only let an eyebrow rise in answer. He watched as her eyes drifted to the door, then back to him. “How’ve you been Maryanne?”

She smiled pleasantly, her dark eyes shrewd and just the slightest bit calculating. “How long have you two been an item? I haven’t even heard a murmur that you were dating.”

“A few weeks.”

A slow smile spread across her perfect face. “C’mon Jon, you have to have more details than that.”

“She’s coming with me to the New Year’s party at Elton’s.”

She crossed one, long elegant arm over the other, accentuating her perfectly cupped breasts as she cocked a hip. A few months ago the quiet grace would have left him itchy to muss her up. It had been one of those little things Maryanne did to distract him and make him crazy, but now it just left him indifferent.

The door opened and his breath caught again. She stood in the doorway with her copper hair mussed and her hands behind her neck. She peered through her hair and blew a lock out of her eyes. “Can I get some help here?”

Jon didn’t react in time, too focused on the form hugging column of dusky grey that turned her skin to porcelain blush. Maryanne rushed over and zipped and snapped her, running her hands down the dress, shifting it so it settled perfectly at her hips.

Tessa looked small and fragile next to the statuesque Maryanne and when her arms rested at her sides, he had eyes for no one but her. “You blow me away,” he said softly.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and grinned. “And you liked the black.”

“I stand corrected.”

Maryanne stepped away from Tessa and the glimmer of challenge slowly slid away into a natural smile. She walked back toward Jon and picked up the discarded plate and cup. “You’re a lucky man,” she murmured and walked to the front of the store.

Tessa lifted a hand to his chest as he slid his hands over the beading and sparkles of the dove grey that should’ve made her look washed out. “What was that all about?”

He nuzzled her cheek. “Nothing at all. He licked the scented spot behind her ear and let the silk of her hair brush along his cheek. “I’ve had enough shopping.”

Her hand slid up to his shoulder and into his hair. “Oh man, you just said the magic words.”

“I thought the magic words were, ‘Come for me.’”

Turning things around on him as she always did, she sifted her hands through his hair. “Ahh, but they’re only magic when you’re sliding that thick,” her voice lowered, “Hot cock into me ever so slowly.”

He groaned as the beading dug into his fingertips. She lifted herself on tip-toe. “Don’t hurt the dress darlin’, I’m still not sure which one I’m going to wear.”

His lips hovered over her mouth, enjoying the almost there meeting of lips. He could feel her warmth, taste her breath and knew that if he tilted his mouth just a little bit he could have her. Here in the middle of the room, he could devour her and it would be okay. He didn’t have to hide it anymore. “Any one of them will make me hard all night.”

The tip of her tongue flicked along his bottom lip before she pulled back. “Guess I’ll just pick the one I like best then.”

He grinned, “Need some help getting out of the dress?”

She grabbed him by the shirtfront and dragged him back into the dressing room.

~

Later that night Jon pressed a kiss to Tessa’s shoulder. The same skin that had driven him wild under fluorescent lights was devastating in the muted tones of fire light. She was tucked into his bed, her naked back smooth and inviting.

And even though he’d just loved her a few minutes ago, his body couldn’t seem to catch up with the release. It wanted more. He wanted more. She was quickly becoming his drug of choice even beyond a glass of wine. He trailed his fingertips down her cap of hair to her neck, to the ever distracting line of her back. She moaned into the pillow that she’d stuffed under herself when he’d finally let her come.

He slowly drew the sheet down into the dip of her spine just as it curved out and rounded to her ass. Replacing his fingertips with lips, he followed the bronze sheen her pale skin had become with the flicker of fire. He flicked out the tip of his tongue as he found the soft crease at the top of her thigh.

“Jon,” she whispered as his tongue slid down to her center, teasing her until he felt the shiver and tasted the tremor of her over sensitized flesh. He rolled her, following around her thigh to the top and down to the sweet juice that he could always draw from her.

And just like that first night together, he tasted her with only the fire as their witness. She was just as sweet as that first night. He looked up and his cock went granite hard again as her back arched over the bunched pillow, the tips of her nipples hard and glinting in the flickering light.

He pressed himself down into the bed, to push back the need to drive into her again. The need to take her without the gentleness she deserved. Her fingers twisted into his hair as he pushed her higher, letting his tongue be the aggressor even if it was his cock that longed to be there, between her thighs hot and hard.

Her grip increased as she pulled him up. “Fuck me, Jon.”

His eyes met hers, afraid to think that she might be feeling half the aggression he was. It scared him sometimes. The way he needed her, the way his brain shut off and let his darker instincts take over.

Her fingers lowered and her grip was anything but gentle as she snapped on one of the condoms that littered the bedside table. Her kiss was open mouthed and losing control as she locked her thighs around his waist. “I want you,” she breathed raggedly.

He gripped the sheets with a growl, afraid to touch her as the madness grew to a flashpoint.

“Take me.” Her breath teased his lips and all he could feel was her heat from hip to shoulders. His spine tingled as he angled back and thrust deep. “Harder,” she whispered brokenly.

Her name was a dark surrender as he took everything. Teeth, lips, fingers and firelight were his arsenal and she took every hit. She bled with him as the night filled with their panting moans and sweat slickened flesh.

And when it was over and both of them lay ravaged across the bed he finally calmed. He rested his cheek against the hollow of her belly and her fingers smoothed into his hair and they slept deeply and dreamlessly lost in the tangle of each other.