Chapter 168

Tessa felt the rough line of his jaw, the quick rasp of his tongue at her ear. The way he tugged at it, scraping his teeth down the lobe then started in on her neck. God, he always knew just where to touch her. She lifted her fingers into his hair. The soft curls at the nape of his neck tangled around her as she dragged his mouth to hers.

The kiss was soft. Nothing hurried, the brush of lips and the whisper of tongues just enjoying without the rush of heat. He finally pulled back, and she held his taste. “Road trip over?”

“We’re here.”

She opened her eyes. She didn’t remember falling asleep. She frowned at the narrow street, the aging buildings and the…cobblestone? “Where are we?”

He shut off the car. “You’ll see.”

She opened her own door before he could come around. Large posters lined the windows along the street. She looked up. The cream colored building they were parked outside of was tall, yet narrow. Well, compared to the rest of the buildings it was actually twice the size of most of them. She looked down the street. “We’re in the city, right?”

He rounded the car. “Yup. SoHo, to be exact.”

She whipped her eyes up to his. “The New York City house you bought?” Her eyes zeroed in on the words on the window—The Museum Building. The smile was quick as she crashed into him, hugging his middle. “You’re showing me your city house?”

“Our city house.”

She headed for the door, her feet cementing to the battered sidewalk. “I’m sorry, what?”

He herded her inside, smiling at the security guard that had to be on the wrong side of sixty. Flashing a set of keys and an ID card, he scooted her inside the elevator.

“Why the hurry?”

He pushed a key into a slot and the button for the fourth floor. “Caught a paparazzi guy down near Ken’s shop.”

“Ken’s shop?” Tessa looked up at him. “Ken…” when he nodded she leaned against the padded walls. “I didn’t know Kenneth Cole had a shop here.”

“Oh yeah, he’s had his SoHo headquarters for awhile. He works out of there most of the time actually. His showroom and store is in Manhattan, but he likes it over here. It’s quieter.”

Her head was spinning. She’d been out of Jon’s celebrity life for so long, it was hard to put her head back into that mindset again. The doors opened and a wide space came into view. The windows were slightly tinted for privacy, but let in tons of light. Bags of plaster, cement blocks, and buckets littered the floor. Against the wall, a shiny wood floor plank peeked from its plastic casing. Beams lay naked, awaiting sheetrock and industrial sized fans churned quietly from the steel rafters.

It was luxury even in its bones.

Jon clasped her hand and dragged her to the back of the…well, she supposed it was an apartment, even though it was nearly double the size of her own floor plan and that was a house.

“When we were first together I mentioned this place.”

She turned back to him, his bronze hair falling into his eyes, the sun backlighting him until she couldn’t really read his face. He stepped forward, his hands jammed into his jeans pockets. He looked hesitant—something she rarely associated with him. “I remember.”

“I’m signing the papers this week.”

“Oh, I thought the deal was done.”

He shook his head, coming in closer to her. “Bids, paperwork, red-tape…you name it, this place has had it.”

“I missed a bit of fun while I was gone, huh?”

“Mmm-hm.” Taking her hand, he drew her up mahogany open slatted stairs. It had a loft feel with a narrow opening that delineated the downstairs from the up. The industrial skeleton was slowly taking shape with warmer touches of wood and buckets of earthy paint to soften the sterile look. But it was the view that clawed at her, sucking her breath and her nerves out the ungodly huge windows.

The city seemed so close and so far away at the same time. He pulled her deeper into the room. The industrial feel echoed again in the towering copper fireplace tinted in blue plastic to protect it from the workmen. More steel girders crisscrossed along the ceiling warming into wood slats that mimicked the stairs.

He walked along like it was nothing, like the vast space wasn’t impressive and over the top in ways she couldn’t even fathom. She tried to catch her breath, giving up when the panoramic view of the whole of New York City yawned before her. “My God,” she whispered and tripped after him.

At the back of the apartment, he opened a door to one of the only semi-finished rooms in the entire place. Grey-blue walls painted in some sort of suede texture seemed to bounce the blue tone of the city around the room. A king sized bed took up barely a quarter of the wall with its cream sheets and pinstriped piping that matched the walls. The floor was a warm cork that pulled an orange tone out to pop against the blues.

Complimentary colors, she thought distantly. The loveliness and the open floor plan was as impressive as the cityscape backdrop. The smoky grey of the buildings in the distance was breathtaking. He came up behind her, looping his arms around her waist. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s gorgeous.”

“Gorgeous enough to think about living here part time?”

She turned in his arms. “Living in it, like you and me, living in it?”

He tangled his fingers in the back of her hair, his eyes earnest as he took a deep breath. “I know it’s sudden and it might not work, but I want you to think about it. It’s completely up to you. I was originally going to buy one of the smaller apartments in here, but then I saw this. I saw this and thought of you. Of starting over,” he pressed his forehead to hers, “together.”

She slid away from him and looked out the window. The view was so amazing, so full of promise and ideas. The terrace outside was perfect for parties and for family cook outs. The area lent itself to art and to history. SoHo was as much an artist’s colony as it was a trendy place for the rich and famous.

The restlessness she’d been feeling seemed to calm inside her. Could she start over here? Could she rebuild her dream yet again?

“I know you have your business, and I’d never take you away from that. But we could live here at least part time. The commute’s not that bad. We can stay at your house—“

“I want to sell my house.”

He went silent, she turned around and smiled at his shocked face. “After all that’s happened between us, I haven’t felt like I fit anywhere.” She walked back to him, laying her palm on his chest. “I know I belong with you, but if you notice, I don’t even drag you to my house anymore. The store doesn’t quite feel like me anymore.”

“You just have to get back into the swing of things, that’s all. You dreamt of that store for years, Tessa.”

“And the dream came true. It’s even a success.” She hooked her hands around the back of his neck. She loved that he got her. That he understood that she just couldn’t be the follow along wife or girlfriend...or whatever happened between them. “You know what it feels like to want something new and challenging.”

He nodded down at her, his hands locked at her hips. “I do, but I also would never ask you to leave what you love. Chapters is as much a part of you as Nic is.”

She rose on her toes and kissed him lightly. “Let me talk to Nic. Let me do a little thinking.” She curled her fingers into his hair, grasping the crown of his head to pull him down to her mouth. Here in this very masculine and feminine room, in the moment where he’d laid himself bare and given her everything she could ever want, without knowing he was always what she needed. Here in this moment, she couldn’t have loved him more.

The rumble of his moan in her mouth drove her fingers deeper into his hair, she dug her fingers into his scalp just as he loved. Kneading his shoulders she hung on, reaching up on her toes she pressed herself into him. “I love this place, this space,” she drew out the kiss, tasting hope and the lingering edges of Jon at his most generous. “I love you.”

He gripped her closer as the kiss spun out and the heat flared between them. The flat of his hand rose up to the open back of her tanktop. She’d left her shirt in the car in her excitement. Fingers grasped at the thick, rapidly growing hair that hung down past her shoulders now. He tugged it, exposing her. She laughed as he scraped his teeth down her neck.

“Loving you is always a surprise,” he mumbled against her collar bone. “I figured I’d have to convince you for weeks.”

She met his eyes. “Can’t you feel the vibes in here? The excitement in the fact that it’s never been anyone else’s? That this will be one hundred percent ours, from start to finish?”

“Ours,” he echoed and lifted her up until her legs wrapped around his hips. Instead of swinging her around to the bed, he leaned against the wide pane of glass. In her head, she knew the windows were protected, but right then she felt nothing but exposed to the whole of the world.

She tugged t his t-shirt, desperate to feel his skin. She needed to feel his warmth, even as the sun shot through the room. She needed to make love to him in the sunlight—in the center of their future.

He rolled the tight shirt up, hissing as the tank only boasted a small shelf instead of a bra. Instead of tugging it off her, he slowly dragged the rim of elastic along her nipple. She scissored her legs until she was up just that much higher so he could taste her. Her chin and neck were buried in the stretchy cotton when his hand flattened on the window. The muscles in his arm flexed and bulged to hold her steady. His gaze stayed on hers, she slid down a little and the elastic snapped in the center of her nipple, zinging through her like electricity.

His eyes blazed, caught in the quick flare of pleasure and pain that must have shown on her face. His other hand gripped her waist, lifting her higher. Fingertips bumped along her ribs as he ran his tongue along the generous underside of her breast. Her nipple was so hard it felt like it was something separate from herself, throbbing like the center of her. Breathing on the tight tip, he tasted everywhere but that little pink bit of flesh.

“Fuck,” she panted. Her head fell back on the window with a thunk. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from him when he nuzzled her gently, watching her as his teeth scraped and sucked at the heaviest part of her breast, but oh no, not the nipple. Not where she wanted him most. Fucking tease.

“Help me,” he said with a voice like gravel. She wiggled, groaned, hissed until she could get the damn thing over her head. Her fingers grasped above her for purchase—anything to steady herself, but found nothing but smooth glass.

He’d struggled out of his own shirt, it was tangled on the floor with her smaller white one. Gilded in the waning evening sun, he took his time to taste every inch of her shoulder and neck. She clasped him tighter, flexing until her body urged her to touch more, rub against everything. But Jon had other plans.

He held her still, the hand beside her head was now above, clasping her hands together, trapping her against the window—completely at his mercy. Her breath backed up in her lungs as the crisp hair of his chest rubbed along her impossibly sensitive nipples. Still he hadn’t tasted her there, but the endless friction between them, neck to hip, roared in her head.

She tried to kiss anything she could, over the edge with the way he consumed her. Here, in this place where they were on even ground, where the only memories they would have were together.

“I want you to scream my name in this big, empty apartment,” he said against her nipple, flicking over it once.

Everything inside of her clenched tight and shuddered when he blew across her nipple. He lowered her until she was tight to the bulge trying to break through his jeans. He crushed her into the glass, his thighs holding her immobile as he rolled his hips once, taking advantage of her mouth dropping open, to fill her there. The kiss was wild and stormy as the color of the walls.

She scraped her teeth over his bottom lip, nipping when he just laughed at her. “Scream,” he said and finally sucked her nipple into his mouth hard.

“Jesus,” she muttered and freed one hand to grip his shoulders. He was silk covered steel where his muscles shifted under her fingers. His mouth moved from one nipple to the other, tonguing, circling the tip, then covering her. His lips and mouth, branded her, the ever rolling hips drove her straight into the mouth of madness.

There was too much between them. She wanted skin and Jon. Not even air at this point. She needed him deep inside her, part of her in this ginormous place that would be theirs.

She was going to throw her cargo shorts across the room as soon as possible. She was also going to throw him down on that big bed at the nearest possible moment and hope to God the steel slats could withstand the screams.

His teeth and lips made their way up, dug into the flesh where shoulder and neck met, kissing and nuzzling just the way that would make her nuts. He knew her body, loved to manipulate her until retribution faded into the ripping orgasms only he could give her. When his thumb slid into the leg of her shorts and teased the line of her panties she let out an involuntary yelp.

“Dammit,” she said gasped, holding on. She felt like she was free-floating, only her knees gripping his hips kept her upright. He opened her wide, his free hand bracketed her thigh sliding his thumb under the elastic.

His mouth rose to her ear, his voice low and barely above a whisper. “You’re so wet for me. Do you realize how crazy that makes me?”

He bit down on her ear, his chin nuzzling her neck just before he dipped inside of her. His name came out on a harsh plea. She wasn’t above begging, too bad she couldn’t form words right now. With a thumb tucked up inside her, he went to work on the opposite side of her throat. She tried to free her other hand, needing to feel all of him. Finally he let her go and she curled her fingers into his hair, dragging his mouth to hers. He hovered over her, tilting her for better access.

“I want to hear you scream my name,” he reminded her.

Teeth clicked with the panting screams that threatened to rip out of her throat. She slammed her hand against his shoulder. “Evil man.”

He nipped her collar bone and slid his two middle fingers inside of her, circling her clit with his thumb.

The position was awkward, but she screamed his name as the orgasm tore through her. She bowed up, riding the storm, cursing her clothes and his as she went alone. Slumping down against him, he gathered her close, swinging around for the bed.

The sateen duvet flowed over her skin like water. The bed was wide and perfect, thick and indulgent, drawing her down until there was nothing but Jon. He shifted to give her space, but she clasped her legs around his hips. “No, stay,” she whispered. “I love the weight of you.”

He braced his arm over her head, lacing their fingers once more. He looked down at her—the touch of his lips was sweet, nearly hesitant. She tried to study him through the veil of her lashes, but found only midnight blue eyes full of intensity.

Her fingers gripped the warm muscles of his skin, molding her way down to the indent at his hips, the flare of his ass, and finally bypassing the heavy leather of his belt. She tried to free her other hand, itching to get rid of his buckle, but he held tight, drawing it further up on the bed. She sucked in a gasp as he slid up and down over her, his chest hair setting her own chest and belly on fire.

Fingernails twisted into his beltloops until he growled and undid his belt. The sharp snap of denim against leather had her eyes flashing open. His hips had her pressed into the sumptuous bed, but the rest of him was golden perfection. The sun blended with the bronze and silver hair of his chest as it arrowed down where the hair was rougher and silkier at the same time.

Needing to see him, all of him…done with the power play, she rolled him, fingers flipping so she was the dominant. His belt thunked to the floor, her fingers grasped the soft denim fly and she cupped him until he groaned for her.

“Your turn,” she said a millimeter from his mouth. Reaching inside, the slow ticking of each tooth echoed in the massive room until she drew him out. Her fingers circled the base of him, pumping slowly until his breath came out half hiss, half groan. “Now,” she grinned, nipping his scruffy chin, “you’re at my mercy.”

“Right,” he groaned, “mercy.” He arched into her hand. “Tighter.”

She grasped him tighter until she could feel the pulse of him in her hands. She sipped from his neck, scraping her teeth over the rasping hairs covering his Adam’s apple. Then to his shoulder and the streak of freckles that dotted his steer tattoo. Following the faint line of his scar there, she veered to the right, finding his nipple in the whorls of hair that covered his chest. Punctuating each lick with a pump of her fist, she finally moved lower, cupping him where he was most sensitive.

She sucked and cupped, moving lower with each twist of her hand. Following each ridge of muscle, the flare of his hip bone against the tanned skin and the indent that arrowed to the coarse gathering of hair and scent, she gloried in each harsh groan. She tugged down the faded jeans, flicking her tongue under the sensitive tip of his cock.

His hips rose, his eyes dark as the night creeping in on them as he watched her. The power of it, of him, of them and this moment coalesced into a moment she’d always remember. As she opened and took him inside her mouth, drew in his heat and sucked until his fingers twisted into the sheets. She looked up at him, her hair trailed over his hips, the fire of the last fingers of sun on her back as he bumped the soft tissues at the back of her throat.

Relaxing, she took him deeper and his chin tipped back in ecstasy. Holding herself up with a hand to each side of him she rode his pleasure, letting it hum through her and build. Every muscle in his body tensed.

He tugged at her, his fingers almost bruising. “No, first time here. Inside, not—“ his voice was stilted, but she understood.

She twisted out of her shorts, freed him from the remainder of his own clothes until there was nothing but sateen and skin. Crawling up, she smiled down at him with his veins bulging both under the achingly hard length of him and at his neck. Lowering herself slowly, sweat pooled between them—her softness to his hard, silk to rough hewn man.

She took him all.

Loved all of him.

He sat up, his mouth at her neck, her chin, anything to get closer and when he lifted they were connected completely. She clasped him knee to hip, feeling every beat of their racing hearts to the elemental joining. Surprise chased pleasure when the punch of release blindsided her. No warning, just as Jon had come into her life, she accepted it and the blinding pleasure that they created together.

* * *

Her next moment of awareness was of a star filled sky. No, she thought as she propped herself up on her elbow, a city light filled sky. The view from their bed was as perfect as a brochure for the city. Buildings spiraled toward the sky, a grey mist bled in from the water and twined around the crowded life that was New York City. All of it in her backyard.

His fingers twisted in her hair, tugging her back to him. Their legs tangled, under the sheets this time. She met his mouth, the kiss soft and welcoming. Absent was the overwhelming roar of lust, in its place was a calmness she’d been searching for her entire life.

How she’d found it with a man that didn’t know the meaning of calm and relaxing, she’d never know. Content, she curled into him, her gaze back out the window. “I didn’t know there could be anything so beautiful.”

His fingers threaded through her hair, rubbing into her scalp at the base of her skull. “I came here to look around. I’d been feeling itchy for a long time. New Jersey is my heart, but it doesn’t make me burn like it used to. I wanted somewhere else to find that spark again. Too bad, I didn’t realize it was in New Jersey all along.”

She pressed a kiss to his chest. “Sweet talker.”

“Not normally,” he confessed.

“I know it.” She shifted until she could see his features in the silvery light that bounced off metal and wood. Solar lights stood sentinel along the flower boxes and benches outside their window. “Probably one of the things I love most about you.”

His lips quirked, a flash of his teeth made her smile back down at him. “You are going to be a mystery ‘til the day I die, I swear.”

She kissed his smile, nipping at the curl in his lip. “A woman lives to be a mystery to her man.”

He nipped her back, his teeth scraping down her lower lip. “Mission accomplished.”

“How about one more surprise?”

“No coronaries for this old man, please.”

She tugged a few hairs on his chest, laughing at his quick shout. “I want to start something new. I want to see if Nic wants to buy Chapters.”

He grabbed her hand, kissed her palm then her wrist. “I’d never ask you to do that.”

“I know. Another reason why I love you.” She snuggled into him, her cheek pressed to the warmth and fur of his chest. “I don’t know what I want yet, so you’ll have a basketcase on your hands, but I think there’s a kindred spirit between us, Jon. I need new projects as much as you do, it seems.”

“Whatever you want, you can have.”

She propped herself above him. “I don’t want you to buy it for me. I’ll do it alone or with backers that I find, but it will be mine.”

“Relax and retract the claws there kitty.” He kissed her neck, toppling her down on him. “That’s one of the things I love most about you. You don’t need me for anything—”

“I do!” She climbed on top of him, straddling his thighs.

He sat up, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, hauling her in tight. “Geeze, let me finish.” He kissed her temple, the crest of her cheek and finally her lips. “You just need me, not my money.”

“Oh.” She hugged him tight. “Such a smart guy.”

“I went chasing after your ass, you bet I am.”

She sighed. “Never going to let me live that down, huh?”

“Nope.”

She gasped as he slid inside of her again. He twisted underneath her and the position left her panting. “You are an evil man.”

“Yep.” And he rolled her under him.