Chapter Thirty-Four

Jonah

Jonah Stark: luckiest SOB to walk the earth. If he was ever going to get another tattoo that’s what it would say. Because never in a million years would he have imagined a reality in which he’d get a second chance with Evie. Not when he’d blown it so epically a few months back.

That day in her kitchen had been the outcome of unexpected, spontaneous combustion. A spur-of-the-moment, drowning-in-sexual-tension decision. But this? This was premeditated foreplay on both accounts.

It took about three seconds, and a swing of those mile-long legs, for it to register that—while Jonah sat on the edge of a patio lounger beneath the sinking sun—Evelyn Granger, queen of public protocol, was straddling him and delivering a wild, open-mouthed, hands-fisted-in-his-hair, real fireworks and fuck-yeah variety of a kiss. It was a kiss to end all kisses, a kiss that left no question of exactly where this night would lead.

And Jonah decided right then, on her back porch, that when it came to this woman, she could lead him wherever the hell she wanted. No questions asked. This wasn’t a gentle courtship. This was like a wildfire, blazing hot and fast with limitless acres to scorch.

Man, he couldn’t think of anything in this moment that could be better than this.

Scratch that, he thought as she locked her legs behind his back, there was one thing. But he was pretty sure by the way her fingers danced down his chest to tangle in the hem of his shirt, yanking him flush with her chest, that this was just the opening ceremony. The big event, the one with the fireworks and fanfare he’d been fantasizing about for months, was on the evening’s itinerary.

“Do you want to take me inside?” she breathed against his mouth.

“I want to take you outside, then inside, then up against the side of every wall in your house.”

Locking her fingers behind his neck, she leaned back. “Why don’t we start in my bedroom behind a locked door and away from prying eyes.”

“That means I have to let go of you.” Which, now that he had his hands on her ass, he didn’t want to do. But he saw her point. “Your parents?”

“Gone. And Camila said she’d be home by curfew, which is ten. Waverly?”

“Ryan is babysitting.”

Evie’s eyes skittered away briefly—shyly. “Do you have condoms?”

He tugged her, so their cores lined up. “Several.”

She let out a breath of laughter. “You seem pretty sure of yourself.”

A younger Jonah would have played it off as confidence, but he was too old for games. And Evie was too special for them.

“The opposite,” he admitted. “I’m afraid the first lap might be a sprint, and I want to make sure you cross that finish line.”

She smiled a real and radiant smile. “How thoughtful of you.”

“I’m a very thoughtful man.”

“I’m learning that about you.” She went to climb off him, but he tightened his hold. A frown creased her forehead. “What?”

“I’ve thought of you every step of the way. Not just tonight. But every night. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Those big brown eyes widened in shock as she sucked in a breath, and he heard a hint of panic when she exhaled.

“You don’t have to say anything back,” he said. “I just believe that for this to work we need to be honest. And that was me being honest.”

“I don’t want to lose sight of what this is,” she said quietly.

He ran a hand up her arm to cup her cheek. “Just because this started as a ruse doesn’t mean that it can’t grow into something more.” He didn’t want to elaborate how much more this was becoming for him. He didn’t want to scare her off, which was why he’d avoided this conversation, but he also didn’t want her to think tonight was just about sex. “I like you, Evie.”

She released a whoosh of air. “I like you, too. But I’m just scared that this will become too much for both of us. Between you looking for a new job and me starting school, we have a lot resting on our ability to focus on what matters. I don’t want to lose sight of that.”

“What if we make each other a promise that this won’t interfere with our goals. And if it does, then we reassess the situation.”

“I like the sound of that,” she said and pressed the gentlest of kisses to his lips, then unwound her legs and stood. She slid her fingers through his, tugged him up, going on her toes to whisper against his lips, “Now, are you going to take me inside? Or is it my turn to take you?”

Without waiting to respond, she took him. In the house, upstairs, down the hallway and, thank God, to her bed, which they both fell onto in a tangle of arms and legs—their mouths never parting. They didn’t even come up for air. Jonah was surprised that neither one of them passed out along the way from hyperventilation.

He never knew that talking it out could be such a turn-on. Hell, after this talk he was going to become a master communicator—maybe even buy a few books on the topic. The kind that you dog-ear and use a highlighter on—because this was, by far, the best conversation he’d ever had. Deep, intense, passionate, a real give-and-take kind of situation.

There was also heat—enough heat to cause a backdraft the second they came in contact with common sense. Because beneath the fire was a whole hell of a lot of emotion. And it wasn’t an unreciprocated kind of thing. Oh no, Evie was eating up the air between them as if she, too, couldn’t stand the distance.

Her pulse pounded beneath his lips as he kissed his way down her neck, to the gentle slope that had her back arching off the bed.

Her favorite spot, he’d come to learn. Well, her second favorite spot. Her first favorite was—he ran his hands down her torso and lower and—jackpot.

“Jonah,” she moaned, and rolled her hips so that they pushed against his hand. Even through the thin cotton of her shorts he could feel how wet she was.

“Lift up, baby,” he said and when she did, her shorts—these flimsy little cotton things with a drawstring and nothing else holding them on—slid down her legs. Just like he knew they would.

Today’s thong wasn’t blue, but a soft pink and was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. He’d bet it would look great between her ass cheeks.

“Roll over, sunshine.”

“Like this?” She turned until she was on her knees and her back was to him. Looking over her shoulder, she gave a little shimmy of the hips. Yeah, it looked magnificent.

“Pink is my new favorite color,” he said.

“You might want to see what’s beneath door number two. It could just become your new favorite.”

His gaze lifted, and his mouth immediately watered. Could he be so lucky? How had he not noticed before? Her shirt was fitted and white and did little to disguise the gentle curve of her glorious breasts. Her bra-less breasts begged to be admired, leaving him with a one-track mind.

Her tits.

The shape, the weight, the way they’d feel as he worshipped them, toyed with them, sucked them into his mouth, nipped at her peaked nipples.

He had several entry options.

Pray for X-ray vision so he could see them right then. Then again, he already had a superpower, and it was his mouth—he didn’t want to be greedy.

Secondly, he could dispose of her shirt as efficiently as possible—one, two, over the head and sailing across the room, leaving her breathtakingly bare. Thirdly, he could slowly lift it, exposing every inch of silky skin between her belly button and collarbone. That option led to two more. Leave it tucked beneath her arms, trapping her with it—like they didn’t have the time to go any further. Or—and he was kind of partial to this one—lifting it over her head and tying it around her hands and securing them to her headboard.

Then again, he could also pour water all over her glorious body and let the thin fabric do what it was created to do.

“You okay?” She chuckled.

“You got any water?”

“The shower.”

He ran a hand down his face. “Too far.”

“I have a glass on the nightstand.” He followed her gaze but shook his head.

“Not enough.”

“You want me to do it?”

“I’m just a little flustered. I need a minute.”

But a minute was too long because she crawled off the bed and stood just out of reach. Gripping the hem of her tank, she started to pull.

Yeah, this was what he wanted, to watch her watching him so she could see just how badly he needed her.

“Slower,” he said and, Lord help him, she actually listened.

She took her time, stopping right beneath the undersides of what he already knew were perfect tens, and lifted a brow. “Ready?”

“Come here.” He cupped the back of her thighs and pulled her toward him, and when she was standing between his legs he pressed kisses up her stomach to right beneath her breasts, then looked up at her. “Now I’m ready.”

With a smile she lifted the shirt the rest of the way and dropped it to the floor, gifting him the view of a lifetime. And yes, camo was his new favorite color. And yes, this was exactly how he wanted to uncover them, with her taking the lead and setting the pace.

“Like that?” she asked.

“Just like that.”

He put his mouth to her, loving how her nipple went hard against the flat of his tongue. He worshipped it before moving to the other, back and forth until her hands were fisted tightly in his hair and she was moaning.

He ran his palms up the curve of her ass, letting the strip of lace slide between his fingers. Then that lace was sliding down her legs, leaving her, head to toe, in his new favorite color.

“Come here.” He tugged her onto his lap and laid back, urging her to scoot up and up until she was practically sitting on his face.

“Jonah, what are you—?” She tried to squirm away, but he held her firm. “Oh, I don’t think—”

His answer was to lick her up the center. And it seemed to be an answer she liked because the moan she let out could have been heard from the other side of the Rockies.

Their conversation quickly picked up speed and intensity. He used his tongue, teeth, and his mouth to work her, until he felt her knees buckling and he was pretty sure she was going to suffocate him. But what a way to go.

“Jonah, I’m going to collapse if you keep that up,” she whispered on a ragged breath.

He laced her fingers through his, then brought them to rest on the mattress above his head so that she was bent at the waist and in a position he’d love to further explore. It took her a minute to acclimate, but that didn’t stop her from bucking against his tongue, pressing down on his mouth, riding his face until she was crying out.

He felt the tremors shake her body, rode out her orgasm with her until she was spent and collapsed on her side. He came up on his elbow and looked down at her sex-dazed expression.

Slowly her eyes opened. “I guess you took me first.”

“I am a ladies-first kind of guy.”

“How about a mutually-beneficial kind of guy?”

“I am, if nothing, an equal-opportunity lover.”

“Good.” She yanked his shirt off. “Because I want to get to some of the mutual beneficiation parts. And that starts with you naked and beneath me.”

He didn’t need any more encouragement. He was taking his shorts off and she was doing her best to help—which was more stroking and groping than anything—and then they were both naked and twisted up like a pretzel on the bed, arms and legs interwoven, their mouths fused together, their hands everywhere all at once.

She kissed her way across his jawline and nibbled on his earlobe, running her tongue around the shell of his ear, before whispering, “Let me touch you, Jonah.”

Mind. Blown. He went ballistic, trying to reconcile all the emotions and pent-up tension from the past week that had twisted into a really fucking complicated hot ball that settled right in his groin. Especially when her hands smoothed down his chest, teased across his stomach, and—bingo—it was go time.

Two strokes had his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Her hands were something of a legend, a fact that was confirmed as she moved from base to tip, tightening a little more every time the motion was repeated, driving him closer to the edge with each pass.

“Evie,” he said, taking her hands and locking them above her head, because even though a part of him cried at the thought of her stopping, another part of him knew that he was one good jerk from done.

“Sunshine,” she whispered, her mouth wet and her hair a beautiful mess. “I like it when you call me sunshine.”

Yeah. He liked it when he called her that, too.

“Sunshine,” he said, “I need to be inside you when I come.”

She nodded and he reached for his shorts, grabbing the condoms out of the back pocket. Without any further fanfare he was wrapped and inside, sinking as deep as he could. The pressure nearly had him exploding then and there.

He’d found the Holy Grail.

Giving himself a moment to gain control, he slowly started to move and, damn, it was spectacular. She was spectacular. Giving what he needed and taking what she wanted. And she took him on the ride of a lifetime. Swirling her hips in this rhythm that was beyond erotic. It was like that sexy sway she had the other night in the bar—confident and hypnotic.

Seductive.

The pace accelerated rapidly—all gas and no brakes—like there was no slowing down. It was almost too much and not enough at the same time.

“Jonah,” she moaned.

“I know, baby,” he said and reached between them to press on her pleasure button.

“I’m almost there.”

Embarrassingly, he was too. All it would take was a little more friction, a little more speed and he’d—

He never got to finish the thought because he felt her coil and then burst seconds before he let himself dive headfirst over that edge, tumbling at a rate that ensured he was going to crash land—or stroke out, whichever got him first.

He pumped his way through the orgasm, back arched, head back, loving the way she felt around him. Or maybe it was loving the way he felt around her. Either way he knew he was in trouble because he never wanted this conversation to end.

…

More than an hour later they both lay in her bed breathing heavy and holding tightly to each other as if they didn’t want the night to end. Jonah was bursting at the seams to tell her the good news but he was in such a languid state he didn’t want to ruin the moment.

As if reading his mind, she asked, “How did the interview go?”

“We can talk about it later. Right now I want to enjoy this.”

She rolled over and put her hands beneath her cheek. “There is no way I can wait until tomorrow to find out what happened.”

His smile nearly broke his jaw. “I was just offered a partnership in a boutique brokerage firm in Boulder. Well, offered the chance to earn a partnership.”

Her face lit with genuine excitement. “Oh my God, Jonah! That’s amazing.”

He ran a hand down his face in disbelief. “It’s terrifying. I have two weeks to get my shit together or it goes to someone else.”

“You can do this. Look how far you’ve come. And when you need help, know that I’m here.”

And Jonah’s heart rolled over.