Chapter Twenty-Three

Evie

Evie was afraid to answer that question. Just like she was afraid of what would happen if she did. Because the flirty energy between them had shifted to something intensely powerful and heady. Something that wasn’t going to go away until it was properly extinguished.

Maybe that was the answer to her hormone-driven problem.

Sex.

Mindless, unadulterated, no-emotions-allowed sex. Or as he’d called it: devouring. She’d had sex, made love, and had her fair share of orgasms—sadly all self-given. But she’d never been a freak-in-the-sheets kind of woman. Between being a young mom, living in her childhood bedroom, and the utter lack of privacy, there hadn’t been the opportunity.

But now? Her parents were gone, Camila was at practice, which just left her and her fake boyfriend—who had made her a very real offer. One she couldn’t believe she was considering.

“Just sex?” she asked.

His eyes sparkled with amusement. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

“I like what you called it better,” she said, because it didn’t leave room for feelings or misunderstandings. It was blunt, raw, animalistic in nature.

“Is that a yes?” he asked, his voice as rough as tossed gravel.

“That’s a yes to just this once,” she said.

He cupped her hips and walked her backward until her butt bumped into the table. Taking the glass from her hand and setting it down, he let his gaze rake her body, catching on her breasts, her hips, the hem of her shorts. “Baby, if you come it’s going to be more than once.”

Her legs nearly buckled beneath her and, had she not been wedged between him and the table, she would have toppled over. “That’s a big statement.”

“We already established, I’m a big guy.” He pressed her against him so hard that her good parts were aligned with his good parts, and she felt just how big he was. “With a big problem.”

She slid her hand down his bare chest, loving how the muscles twitched beneath her touch, not stopping until she met the outline of his very large erection. It was heavy and pushed against the front of his shorts. “I can see.”

She cupped him and he let out a groan that betrayed every ounce of pent-up sexual frustration. She cupped him harder and his eyes dazed, then his hand covered hers, stilling it.

“Maybe I overstated my prowess,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s just been a long time and I don’t want to shoot my shot before I even get you out of these shorts, which, by the way, are going to star in my dreams tonight.”

Her heart skittered to a stop. “Wait. You haven’t since, um…” He shook his head. “I mean, I know that we didn’t, but I assumed that you’d…”

“There’s been no one but you,” he said, and it somehow struck a romantic chord within her. It also struck a tripwire in her internal warning center because romance had no business when it came to just sex.

And that’s what this was. Just sex.

“There’s been no one for me for a while,” she admitted. “A long while.”

“Then we’ll take it slow together,” he said and then his mouth gently pressed against hers. It wasn’t quite a kiss so much as a greeting—an achingly gentle greeting that had her toes curling into the floor.

The second meeting of the lips was more of a promise of what was to come—and she had a feeling it was going to be her.

“What if I want to take it fast?” she asked, because slow didn’t work for her. Her heart couldn’t withstand slow.

“If fast is what the lady wants, then fast is what she’ll get.”

Before she could say another word, his mouth came crashing down on hers. One hand gripped her hair while the other journeyed down her body until it found her denim-clad ass.

“Can I take these off?” he breathed into her mouth, his hands already sliding under the hem and massaging the curve of her bare bottom. “I want to see just how perfect you are.”

“I’ve had a baby, Jonah. I’m far from perfect.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” He looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing on the planet. “So, is that a yes?”

Evie swallowed hard and nodded.

“I need to hear you say it.” His lips were on the gentle slope of her neck, his hands gripping and sculpting the sensitive skin where her upper thigh met her backside. “I need to hear you say that you want this as badly as I do.”

“I want this.” And to prove it, she unbuttoned her shorts and with a little shimmy, slid them off her hips, letting them fall to the floor—leaving her in nothing but a thong.

He took in her lace and that million-watt smile paid her a visit. “Blue? For me, sunshine?” When she didn’t answer, he ran the pads of his thumbs down the back of the thin strap of sapphire-blue fabric that went into the valley between her cheeks. “Yeah, they’re for me. Did you think about me when you got dressed?”

The honest truth? Yes. She’d seen him earlier that morning mowing his lawn, his white T-shirt clinging to his chest with the day’s heat, his biceps showing off. She’d carried the image into the shower, while she’d participated in a little self-care, and then again when she’d pulled out the blue lace. Not that she knew he’d come over, but maybe she’d been secretly fantasizing.

“I think about you a lot,” she admitted, surprising them both. “Ever since that summer night.”

“The way I handled everything has been on replay for months. I’ve regretted my decision ever since. Which is why I’m going to make it up to you.”

“You don’t have to make it up to me. Just make me feel good.”

He moved like lightning, his mouth taking hers in a hard, hungry kiss that had her head spinning. He devoured and dined, dipping his tongue into her mouth and sliding it against hers. She sifted her fingers through his hair to hold him to her and that rippling chest of his started to heave.

He nipped her lower lip, hard enough to sting, then pressed wet kisses down her neck, to the hollow of her throat and lower until he was hovering over her breasts. He brushed his lips over her nipple, then pulled her into his mouth through the material and a groan erupted from the back of her throat. He moved to the other side and back again, until her breathing was as erratic as her frustration. She didn’t want to be teased, she wanted to be touched.

Skin to skin. His mouth on her with nothing between them.

She lifted her arms in invitation and he RSVPed to that party at laser speed. Her shirt was up and over her head, and before she knew it he was lifting her onto the table, stepping into the vee of her thighs and parting her legs.

His gaze ran down her, lingering and savoring, not coming back to hers until he’d made a few pitstops along the way.

“Christ, I knew you were beautiful, but you’re even more stunning than I remember.”

She felt herself actually blush, like she was eighteen again and discovering that her crush was crushing back.

“You’ve gotten even better,” she said, dancing her fingers down his pecs to his abs, playing with the line of hair that disappeared beneath his shorts. She popped the button and toyed with the zipper. “It must be all that yard work,” she teased.

“Or maybe I had someone I wanted to impress.”

Her heart fluttered to a stop. Had she heard him correctly? Was she part of the reason behind his transformation? And if so, what did that mean for their arrangement?

“Stop overthinking it,” he said. “You’re an impressive woman, so I wanted to impress you.”

Not wanting to read too much into that, she ran her fingers over his bulge and felt it swell beneath her hand. “Color me impressed.”

“Sunshine, the impressing has just begun.”

Evie groaned as he impressed his way down her neck to her shoulder. Using his teeth, he tugged her bra strap down her arm, then kissed his way across to the other side and with a gentle tug her bra fell low enough that her nipples were freed. Beneath his warm breath, they tightened into buds.

He took his time worshipping them and, leaving her bra in disarray, he kissed his way down her stomach, swirling his tongue around her belly button. His hands did some worshipping, too, making it clear he was an ass man. Gripping two handfuls, he straightened up and lifted her, right on to the edge of the table.

Without missing a beat, he wrapped a foot around the leg of the chair and drew it to him and then took a seat, his mouth unceasing. He ran his hands up her thighs, yanking them farther apart so that she was on full display. With any other man she’d be self-conscious, but with Jonah she felt beautiful. Desired.

Perfect.

It had been a long time since she felt perfect at anything. But in this moment, in the here and now, she gave in to the perfection. Reveled in it.

She spread her legs as wide as they’d go. “Go on. Impress me.”

“You’d better hold on to something.”

No teasing, no games. Jonah ran his tongue right up the center of her lace thong and Evie’s head fell back on a moan. He licked again, then yanked the lace to the side, exposing her.

“Hold this, baby,” he said, taking one of her hands and placing it on lace so that she could pull it to the side. “Just like that.”

He settled in, like he was there for the long haul, then began to feast, baring his tongue against her most sensitive part. He set a pace that had her back arching and her core tightening. The perfect combination of flicks, licks, and scrapes that drove her crazy.

There was that word again.

She squeezed her thighs against his head to increase the friction and had to brace herself with her hands as she rode his mouth. But it still wasn’t enough.

“Faster,” she said.

Not only did he go faster, he added a finger to the mix. Then another. She felt the heat rising in her core, through her chest, and out to her fingertips. Her breath came in short bursts, her hips bucking, and she felt the steam rise higher and higher like a pressure cooker until she exploded. Hard and fast, her orgasm tore through her, her core coiling and spasming to the point of pain, until that pain turned into pleasure.

He rode it out with her until the very last tremor. And when her eyes began to refocus, he winked—and started rebuttoning his shorts.

“I thought we were—”

“I don’t have a condom,” he said, his jaw tight with sexual frustration. “I didn’t come over here thinking that—”

“I don’t have any, either,” she admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t help you with this.” She cupped him with her hand and squeezed.

“You don’t have to.”

She stood and shoved him back in the chair. “I want to. I want to make you feel as good as you made me feel.”

He hesitated, his body wound so tight she knew that one touch and he’d crack. So she ran her fingers up over the ridge and traced back down the length. “Let me make you feel good, Jonah.”

She tugged at his shorts and with a rough chuckle, he lifted up enough that she slid them down his legs, along with his boxer-briefs. She was more than impressed—she was gobsmacked. He was massive.

He wrapped his fist around his girth, as if trying to ease the pressure, then gave a smooth pump. Her mouth watered.

“Let me,” she said, replacing his hand with hers, then dropped to her knees. And just like he did, there was no teasing and no games—she took him in her mouth, swallowing him whole in one motion.

“Jesus Christ.” He groaned roughly and that was all the encouragement she needed.

Evie gripped the base harder and moved her hand up along the shaft as her mouth descended. Impossibly, he grew even larger.

Using the flat of her tongue she skimmed the head and then traced the vein before taking him again. His fingers fisted in her hair and gently tightened as he pumped into her mouth. He wasn’t aggressive, being careful to let her set the pace, even though she could tell he wanted to push all the way in. So she stretched her mouth as wide as it would go and took as much of him as she could.

She felt powerful, alive, like all her cylinders were firing at once.

His hands cupped her jaw and he began to pull out. “I’m about to come very quickly if you keep that up.”

“I know,” was all she said, then looking up at him through her lashes, took him again.

As if realizing what was about to happen, he said, “Christ, sunshine,” and she felt him tighten inside her mouth.

She squeezed her lips as firmly as she could around him and rode out the pumps he was thrusting her way.

She found a rhythm that was somewhere between sex-crazed and sex-kitten—a rhythm that seemed to be his undoing. Because the next time she flattened her tongue and drew him in, his hands fisted at his sides as if he were too amped to touch her.

“Evelyn.” Her name tore from his throat and his head fell back as he tightened and then exploded in her mouth. She took everything he had to give until his orgasm ended and his body was limp.

She released him and looked up to find him looking back with an expression on his face that made her belly flip. An expression that she didn’t want to read into.

“Evelyn,” he said again, this time a gentle whisper as he cupped her face and brought her to her feet, placing the tenderest of kisses on her lips. Then he pulled her onto his lap so that she was straddling him.

“Perfect,” he said against her lips and kissed her again. She wasn’t certain how long they sat there like that, her on his lap, his hands gently stroking down her spine, kissing like they were teenagers. But she was certain that it was as close to perfect as it could be.

And that could not be allowed to continue.