Going the Distance (21 page)

“Even when they are?” She gathered up her few belongings and added them to her backpack, then double-checked the room before following Jarek into the hall and down the stairs to the lobby to check out.

The streets were slightly less busy thanks to the rain, but it was still a challenge to find an available cab. Finally Olivia suggested they walk and look for a spot to eat breakfast along the way. They found a restaurant whose English signboard boasted the city’s best steamed buns and went inside to order from the picture menu.

“What floor is the room on?” Olivia asked some time later. They had each eaten a bun filled with a mysterious red-brown paste that wasn’t half bad, and had one left to share. Jarek pulled it apart with chopsticks, making a mess of everything, and she laughed as he gestured between two equally unappealing halves.

“Take your pick.”

“Hmm. Choices.” She selected one mangled piece and he took the other.

“Eight,” he said.

“What?”

“Eighth floor,” he clarified. “That’s where the room is.”

“And the elevators are working?”

“Yeah. I checked. Bathroom’s nice, shower’s enormous.”

Her brows pulled together. “What’s with your obsession with the shower?”

Jarek’s expression turned pensive as he looked at her over the rim of his teacup. After a moment he answered. “Do you remember karaoke night?”

“Yes.” There had only been one, and she hadn’t been that drunk in a long time.

“How much?”

“Um…” Olivia winced, guilty. “Maybe half?”

“Do you remember me singing?”

She snorted. “Absolutely not.”

“No? ‘Unchained Melody’ doesn’t ring a bell?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I know the song. I don’t recall you singing it.”

“Well, I did.”

“I don’t believe you. Why would you do that?”

“Because you promised me something.”

Her heart kicked up a notch. Something hazy was floating in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t pull it into focus. “I did?”

“Yeah.” His face was so serious, so sharp and handsome. She didn’t doubt she’d have promised him something to get him to soften up, just for a night.

“What did I promise you?”

He glanced around to make sure no one was listening, then lowered his voice. “Anything.”

“What? Anything?”

“Yes. You promised you’d do anything I wanted.” He lifted a brow meaningfully.

“That doesn’t sound like me.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t sound like you to get back to my place and pass out in a drunken heap, but you did that, too.”

Erm. She couldn’t argue with him there. She also couldn’t deny the tiny thrill of arousal and excitement that pulsed through her at the tone of his voice and the intensity of his gaze. “Jog my memory,” she said. Maybe a bit breathlessly. The remaining piece of steamed bun sat forgotten on her plate.

“You asked me to sing, I said hell no, you said you’d do anything, and I sang.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at his simplicity. “I meant, sing a few lines. See if I remember.”

Now he laughed. “Forget it. You haven’t paid up for the first time. Yet.”

Olivia bit her lip. She was pretty sure she’d do whatever her wanted. He took her out of her comfort zone sometimes, but she always liked it in the end. And while she was turned on—and getting even more turned on the longer the conversation lasted—she was nervous, too. “And this has something to do with the shower?”

His cheeks pinkened slightly. “Yeah.” His voice was hoarse. “You don’t remember getting back to my place?”

“Not really. Just waking up.”

“Well, you needed a shower, desperately, and could barely stand up, so I…helped you.”

“Uh-huh.” She was growing a bit leery.

“Relax. I didn’t take advantage of you, even though I wanted to. Watching you in the shower, buck naked, water and bubbles everywhere, I’d have hooked you up to a homemade IV if I thought it’d sober you up enough to where I wouldn’t feel guilty for fucking you.”

She couldn’t breathe. She could barely swallow the now-lukewarm tea. “You want to watch me take a shower?”

“For starters. What do you say?”

It was nine thirty in the morning and she was seriously aroused. Before coming to China she’d been sick of the stares. Since coming to China she’d gotten used to them and learned to tune them out. But now she wanted this. She wanted to feel his eyes on her and know that he wanted her so badly he was willing to wait for it. Willing to walk through the rain to find a place that had the shower that would fit his fantasies. It was oddly specific and she didn’t know all the details, but she was ready to find out.

She stood. “Let’s go.”

Olivia gasped as her back hit the wall of the elevator with a thud. Jarek swallowed the sound, covering her lips with his, kissing her like he hadn’t in days. The past two nights she’d been so tired she’d done nothing more than say good night and fall asleep, but now she was more than awake. She was wired. She tangled her fingers in his wet hair and pulled him impossibly closer, meeting his tongue with hers and grinning when she wrested a growl from him. It was normally so hard to get a reaction from him that it was especially rewarding when she did.

They were breathing hard as they exited onto the eighth floor, and Jarek fairly dragged her down the hall behind him. He whipped out the key card, pushed her inside, and pinned her against the wall, kissing her again, hard and thorough, the way she liked it. They dropped their packs on the ground and kicked off their shoes, and Olivia cracked open an eye to try to get a look at the room. She didn’t realize Jarek had noticed until he laughed and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Go look around,” he said, smacking her ass. “Make it quick.”

She shot him a guilty smile and hurried into the sprawling space, meticulously clean with white walls and linens, offset only by ebony furniture and a single blooming orchid. She didn’t think she’d ever been in a room as nice as this one; it must have cost a fortune. The hiss of the shower distracted her and she made her way to the open bathroom door to see Jarek stepping back from an enormous shower stall. It was enclosed in glass with a massive showerhead centered on the ceiling, water pouring down like a localized rain storm.

“What do you think?” he asked, not turning around.

She stood behind him and rose onto her tiptoes to press her chin to his shoulder. “It’s beautiful.”

He glanced back. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Take off your clothes.”

A tiny tremor rippled through her as she met his gaze, then dropped back on her heels to unbutton her jeans. The zipper followed and she stepped out of the wet denim, kicking it into the corner. It was silly but she felt underdressed for a room this nice, her plain clothes not fit for the fine finishes.

Jarek turned to watch her, his erection already tenting the front of his pants. His folded arms added to the already stern countenance, and though she felt shy, Olivia stripped out of her T-shirt, bra and panties and let him back her into the door, kissing her mouth as his hands explored her body. The room was warm and filling with steam, but his fingers elicited goose bumps everywhere he touched. She moaned against his lips and he squeezed her ass as he reluctantly released her.

“Get in the shower.” It was a relief to hear the hoarse rasp in his voice; she felt the same way. Strained. Impatient. Achy.

Olivia crossed the room and pulled open the heavy glass door, stepping inside the enclosure and coming to a halt when she couldn’t get the door to close. She turned to see Jarek holding it open, one shoulder propped against the frame. “Just like this,” he said. “Face me and wash your hair.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “This is kinky, Jarek. Clean and dirty at the same time.”

He failed to hide the tick in his jaw that said he was trying not to laugh. “Make lots of bubbles.”

“I thought this fetish was unique to Japanese businessmen.” She picked up the tiny bottle of complimentary shampoo, put too much in her palm, and stepped out of the heavy spray to lather up her long hair. She tipped her head and bit back a startled gasp when she felt Jarek’s hands on her breasts, pinching her nipples lightly, then harder.

“Keep going.” His voice was harsh, and after a second one hand tangled in the tuft of hair at the top of her thighs and tugged.

“Ah ah ah,” she hissed, leaping back out of reach. His hands released her and she ducked under the spray of hot water to rinse her hair, feeling the suds make slippery tracks over her chest and stomach. Jarek made a pained sound, and when she opened her eyes, his shirt was gone and he was kicking off his pants and boxers. He stepped inside and closed the door, then kissed her greedily, water filling their mouths until they broke apart, chests heaving.

“You’re beautiful, Olivia,” he said suddenly, eyes raking over her. She felt the urge to cover herself but fisted her hands at her sides instead. He’d seen it all before, but he’d never studied her so openly, like he was committing her to memory. He picked up the bottle of conditioner, filled his palm, and reached up to adjust the showerhead so the spray was aimed at the far corner. She watched, blood thrumming, as he used his free hand to collect the towel he’d hung over the door and dropped it at his feet. “Your knee okay?” he asked, glancing at her leg. Her knee was fine. It was everything else that was on fire.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Good. Kneel.”

Olivia took a deep breath and knelt on the thick white towel, her face level with his throbbing erection. They’d done this lots of times, but never quite this way. Not with him giving orders. Never while he wrung out her hair in one hand and massaged in conditioner with the other.

“Suck,” he whispered, nudging her lips with his cock, breaking her out of her trance. She wrapped one hand around the base and her lips around the head, doing all the things she knew he liked. She combed her nails over his ass, feeling him tense and hearing his sharp intake of breath. She could feel the tension in his thighs, the control he employed to resist thrusting forward too fast, even though he’d been teaching her to take him deeper than she ever would have guessed she could. Chris had never really pushed her; he liked sex, but he’d been happy with the way things were. So had she. Until Jarek.

She swallowed when he bumped the back of her throat, humming a little at the pleasure of him massaging her scalp with his big, rough hands. She sucked and jerked him harder as she felt him getting ready to come, and didn’t panic when he held her head in place and began to pump his hips, fucking her mouth. He came with a long, painful growl, one hand braced on the shower wall, the other caught in her slippery hair as his thrusts slowed and he pulled away.

Olivia whimpered as the ache between her thighs intensified, a clenching urge she had never known to be quite this…desperate. Jarek readjusted the water so she could rinse her hair, helping her to her feet and steadying her when her knees threatened to give way. He picked up the wet towel and leaned against the wall, eyes scouring every inch of her body before lingering between her thighs. Olivia spread her legs a little bit, inviting him to do something about the need throbbing there, but instead he lowered a hand and found his cock, stroking it gently, rousing himself again.

Eventually he shut off the water and toweled her down before leading her out to the bed and lying her across the pristine white covers. The king size bed was firm, the linens soft, and every inch of her skin was on fire. “Jarek, please,” she mumbled, watching him crawl over her closed legs, his fingertips tracing her shoulders, her arms, her wrists.

“Shh.” He lowered himself, pressing them together from head to toe, and kissed her again, holding her hands over her head, controlling everything. She swore he’d never kissed her this much before, and it was driving her fucking crazy.

She twisted her face away. “Do something.”

He chuckled into her neck, biting a little too hard. “I am.”

“
Jarek
.”

“Uh-huh?” He trailed his tongue over her collarbone and fastened his lips around her straining nipple.

She squeezed her eyes shut tight. “You’re killing me.”

If he cared, it didn’t show. He continued his painfully slow assault until his tongue had touched her everywhere but where she wanted it most. She’d tried opening her legs several times, but when he let her it was to lick a path up the inside of one thigh and back down the other, never touching the throbbing bundle of nerves at the top of her sex.

She squirmed and complained and he ignored her, pressing into the soles of her feet with his mean, awful fingers, dragging them up her calves, finding muscles she didn’t know she had. “Please,” she gasped when she was about to combust. “Stop. But don’t stop. Please.”

Her eyes flew open when he sat beside her, back resting against the padded headboard. He dragged her onto his lap so she straddled his muscled thighs, and she waited, quaking, as he rolled on a condom. She suspected he was suffering as much as she was, but it wasn’t confirmed until he held her hips and guided his cock inside her that he cursed furiously and pressed his head back as though in agony.

Olivia wiggled her hips and felt the deliciously slippery stretch as she accepted him, loving the sensation of fullness, of being so close to someone that she could feel his heart beating. She wanted to prolong the moment of closeness but couldn’t possibly do so without expiring from unfulfilled arousal, so she ground herself against him and cried out at the unbearable spasms that shook her.

“Fuck me, Olivia.” His fingers dug painfully into her sides but she didn’t care, rising onto her knees and sinking back down, again and again, thighs burning. She lost her rhythm and stopped moving altogether when he pushed two fingers between her ass cheeks and into her tight opening.

“Jarek,” she gasped, avoiding his piercing stare.

He used his other hand to turn her head back, making her look at him as he moved his fingers, slippery with the juices he had gathered from farther below, in deeper. He’d been doing this more and more often, progressing from one finger to two, stretching her until she didn’t think she could take anymore. Apart from one failed attempt with Chris, she had never thought about doing this with anyone, but now…maybe. In the distant future. With someone she trusted as much as she trusted him. Someone that wasn’t Jarek, because he wouldn’t be there.