Jenna's Consent (20 page)

“You taste even sweeter than I remembered.”

“Then taste me again.”

Surely that wasn’t her voice. No way was that her hand
fisting his hair at the back of his head, holding him to her as if he were in
any danger of disappearing beneath her.

He nipped her upper lip, sucking the lower one into his
mouth. He stretched it, and then he licked the pain away.

He tilted her head to the side, angling her mouth so he
could taste her, touch her. His tongue snuck inside as if it were a villain
there to steal her most prized possession.

Her heart.

An image of Nick popped into her head and she shoved Ian
away, scrambling up from where she sat perched on his lap.

Embarrassment flamed up her cheeks as she noticed a wet spot
on his crotch that had to have come from her.

“Get out,” she trembled. She cut him off before he could
speak. “This place. The Library. It’s my safe place. My haven. How dare you
show up here and think you can strip that from me?”

“Listen, Jenna—”

“Get the fuck out!” She clenched her fist around something
and she looked down to find his coil of rope held so tight her knuckles had
turned white.

He moved in close but didn’t touch her.

It took every ounce of strength she had left to stand her
ground.

“This is far from over. I need you.”

It wasn’t a threat, it was a promise and she could see the
glint of it in his eyes before he turned and stalked out.

She stumbled into the bathroom, slamming the door, locking
it behind her.

It took her several times because her fingers wouldn’t
cooperate.

She put her back against the smooth wood, sliding into the
fetal position, making herself as small as possible.

I need you.

How could he say something so devastating and then just walk
away?

Oh yeah.

That’s what he was good at.

Walking away.

She clutched his rope to her chest, dropped her head to her
knees and cried.

Time passed.

How much Jenna didn’t know but her whole body was one big
ache when she finally stood.

Questions ran through her mind, one after another, racing so
fast she couldn’t focus on just one.

Why was he here?

Why did he agree to be her third with Nick after he couldn’t
accept it before?

How long was he going to stay?

Why did he leave her before?

Why did he show up now?

How much trouble was she going to be in when Nick came back
to the club the next day?

Could she handle working with Ian?

Would she be strong enough to leave this time if it came down
to it?

A headache pounded in her temples as she wiped the last of
her tears from her cheeks.

Catching a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror wasn’t
the smartest thing she’d done for herself in a while.

She looked like she had when he’d first left her.

Her hand twitched and she caught sight of his rope still in
her hand.

Opening the door and chucking it into the other room sounded
like a good plan, so she went with it. The door handle bounced off the wall and
she flung his hank of rope as hard as she could. It caught the edge of her
suspension ring in the middle of the room, making it spin.

It reminded her of a disco ball, but without the big collars
or wide pant legs.

She closed her eyes, covering them with her fingertips. It
had to be early still but she decided to call it a night.

Was she running?

Not exactly.

But she wasn’t going to be any good to anyone at The Library
anyway so there wasn’t any point in her staying.

She was going to have to get her head on straight.

Crawling into a tub of Neapolitan ice cream and curling up
to stay a while sounded like a great place to start.

She wetted a washcloth and washed her face, trying to find
some equilibrium so she could at least get to her car…

A groan slipped out and she hung her head.

She had arrived at the club with Cyn because her car was in
the shop to get her tires changed. The guy doing it was a friend and had
promised to take it back to her house, but she had to get a ride home from
someone. Cyn and Haleigh were both busy with their men and Skye was out
somewhere with Jackson…

“I’ll just call a cab,” she mumbled to herself as she
crossed into the other room to grab her stuff.

“I’ll give you a ride if you need to leave.” Ian stood to
his full height from where he’d been leaning against one of the walls.

How in the world had he gotten back inside?

Oh.

Right.

He knew the code.

Super.

She stiffened, knowing full-well he must have heard her
mourning him.

Serves him right, after what he did.

“No thanks. Assho—” A knock on the door cut her off.

She walked past Ian, making a wide circle around him to open
the door, “What?”

“And good evening to you, too, my pissy friend.” Oscar stood
there looking tired and curious about her bad mood.

At least one person in the club hadn’t heard about her
unceremonial removal from the playroom downstairs.

“The twins told me you needed a ride home.” He yawned,
probably trying to shake off his fatigue.

It didn’t work.

“You live on the other end of town and you’ve been working
doubles between Inkfluence and here. Go crash downstairs somewhere and I’ll
find—”

“A way of being grateful for a lift.” Ian finished for her.

She turned on him, letting the door go, singeing the air
between them with a glare. “I think I’ll pass.”

“Hey, Bryan,” Oscar called from the doorway as he wedged it
open with his body.

“Hey.” He never took his eyes from her and she knew it even
when she turned her back on him to grab her things. She nonchalantly grabbed
her mask on the way past it and shoved it into her bag, zipping it back up as
if it were a mortuary bag holding a dead body.

“You know Jenna already?” Oscar inquired.

“No.”

“Intimately.”

She ground her teeth at their opposing statements.

“All righty then,” Oscar remarked with a fair bit of
sarcasm. “Now that that’s all cleared up, Jenna you need any help?”

Jenna swung her purse over her shoulder, grabbing her rope
bag. Leaving it there, where
certain people
had access to it left a bit
to be desired.

“Yeah, can you just call me a cab?”

“She doesn’t need it, I’m taking her home.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Sure am. That’s what friends are for. Let’s go.” He
snatched her wrist and she made a fist so he couldn’t lace his fingers with
hers.

“Friends. Really? And I’m not an animal, stop yanking on
me.”

“You’re as stubborn as a mule and digging your heels in like
one. If the shoe fits.”

They left Oscar holding the door ajar with his mouth askew
to match. “No worries, I’ll just lock up here.”

“Thanks, Oscar.”

“Good.”

She tried to turn and smile at Oscar or beg for help or
something but Ian never stopped. “Stop being so pushy.”

“No.”

“You know, your little one-word answers are irritating the
hell out of me.”

“Okay.”

She growled a bit as he towed her toward the elevator and
she clamped her mouth shut, determined not to say a word to him on the way
home.

The trip home passed within the blink of an eye.

Especially since the blink had turned into a tiny bit of a
cat nap.

Exhaustion pulled at her and it pissed her off that she
apparently trusted Ian enough to sleep while he drove.

She didn’t tell him where she lived but when she woke up he
was pulling into her driveway.

Would he just let her get out and go inside?

No.

He parked, shutting off the engine, silently insisting on
walking her up. He handed her purse to her, shouldering her bag as if it
weighed nothing.

His hand guiding her up the walkway shouldn’t have sent
chills up her spine.

To any of her neighbors, it probably looked as if they were
coming home from a date or he was a family member stopping by to spend the
night.

She tugged her keys from her purse and he took them before
they got to her front door.

“I’m fully capable of opening my own door, Ian.”

“Humor me.”

A humorless laugh bubbled out of her. “I think I’ll pass but
thanks for bringing me home.”

He opened the door, holding it wide for her. She turned to
take her bag from him but he walked right in shutting the door behind him.

“You are not staying.”

He set her rope bag down and stared at her but said nothing.

“What does that look mean? You’re not staying,” she
protested again.

“Look.” He ran a hand over his hair. “I’m…trying here.”

Exhaustion plagued her as she felt him staring again.

Emotions bombarded her as he led her to her sofa and sat
beside him.

He was in her house, on her couch and she’d already worn his
rope.

Nerves, excitement, horniness, anger…it all bounced around
inside her, vying for a spot in her brain. She felt hot and needy and her
nipples rasped against the inner lining of her corset every time she took a
breath.

Holding her breath seemed a better idea. It took every ounce
of hard-earned self-control not to moan when she exhaled after breathing in the
intoxicating scent of the man sitting next to her.

Ian leaned back with an arm carelessly thrown behind her,
one ankle crossed at the knee that he held with his opposite hand. He was
mindlessly playing with a lock of her hair.

The goose bumps that rose on her arms were the only sign of
betrayal from her body that she couldn’t fight.

A small shiver worked up and she concentrated on keeping her
breathing regulated even when all she wanted to do was crawl into his lap, take
out the huge erection he didn’t seem worried about at all, and ride him until
she couldn’t think any more about his betrayal.

Mostly she just felt lost.

“Are you cold?” he asked nonchalantly as his warm hand ran
across her shoulder. Of course he had noticed. It was one of the things she’d
missed so much when he left, and the thing she hated the most as she sat so
close to him.

“No,” she bit out. But at least she didn’t sound breathless
and on the verge of the climax she knew was just a few well-positioned strokes
away. “Why are you here?”

“Here as in, in your living room or on the planet? Because
if it’s the latter it’s going to be a long night.”

She wanted to smile, appreciated his attempt at humor to
break the ice, but had no desire to encourage him.

“Let’s start with here in Arcadia and we’ll go from there.”

He thought for a second, continuing to play with her hair.
“Let’s call it unfinished business for now.”

“Unfinished— Is that what you call it?”

“Yes. And what about you? Why Arcadia?”

“The Library.” She didn’t even have to think of her answer.
“Chris and Jared were looking for someone with my skill set and they made me an
offer I couldn’t refuse. I had nothing to stay in Chicago for.” She’d stayed
for a couple years, not so secretly waiting for Ian to come back and find her.
But when she’d come home from Japan, she’d known it was time to move on.

The timing on the offer from the Kennedys couldn’t have come
at a better time.

“Running from something, were you?”

He asked the question and she raised an eyebrow at him.
“You’re joking right? You really want to go there with me?”

“Sure do.” Talk about the proverbial gloves coming off.

“You fucking disappeared on me. Not just, ‘hey I’m running
out for a burger’, but left, moved and never called me again.”

He shrugged as if it wasn’t the most traumatic thing that
had ever happened to her. “The timing wasn’t right. And I had some family stuff
come up.”

“What? For you to pick up the damn phone and tell me it was
over? A call that could have lasted no more than a few minutes would have saved
me from…” She trailed off not really wanting to go there.

“From what?”

“You want me to bare my feelings, yet somehow or another you
think you’re too good to do the same? Fuck you.”

She felt as much as saw Ian’s heavy boot hit the floor a
moment before he stood. His fingers dragging across her upper back as he
unfolded himself from beside her.

“Okay out with it, Jenna,” he demanded as he paced away and
then strode back to loom over her.

Uncertainty moved inside her. She wasn’t certain if she
really wanted him to bear anything. She didn’t know if she was strong enough to
hear it.

Damn, he shouldn’t have looked that good standing in front
of her with his hands hanging loose at his sides. The erection meant for her
strained the well-worn jeans that were cupping him like the lover she used to
be.

Looking up into his slightly annoyed eyes, her temper
finally snapped. “What do you expect me to say? That I missed you? That I still
want you? That I still lo—” She slammed her teeth together and ground her
molars, trapping the words that were about to expose everything that she didn’t
want to say. “I will not sit here with you towering over me, baring my
feelings
,
just so you can remind me of all the reasons it won’t work between us. Fuck
that.”

She stood, put her hands on his chest and pushed him hard to
get him out of her way.

“You have said fuck tonight more times in a two-hour span
than all the other times combined.” It came out more of a question and Jenna
sneered up at his befuddled face.

She shrugged, unwilling to apologize to him for it. “Yup,
I’m all grown up now. I can use words like fuck and pussy and asshat in
everyday speech. Now if you’ll excuse me. I have things to do so… It’s been
fun.” If she considered having her heart ripped from her body while she was
awake fun, then that would have been a riot.

She moved toward the door, determined to kick him out so she
could make out with the ice cream in her freezer.

She didn’t hear him move because of all of the blood rushing
in my ears. And before she could do more than squeak in protest, she was back
on her couch again with her legs spread wide to accommodate Ian’s heaving body
that was now kneeling in front of her. It should have looked submissive, just
as it should have back in the prep room at The Library but that wasn’t possible
with him.

Jenna looked into his eyes that had gone dark with hunger as
he spoke.

“You think knowing I’m hurting you is fun? You think sitting
next to you like I’m unaffected by your presence is a good time?” He growled
and ran his palms up the tops of her thighs, pushing her white skirt up and out
of his way. “Kink is a part of me. A big part. I can’t change who I am.”

“I’ve never asked you to change. Not ever.”

“But I wanted to be good enough.”

“Good enough for what?”

“You.” His fingers dug between her ass and the back of the
couch, tugging her forward, putting her white panties on display for him.

Her heart flipped over in her chest. “You’re already good
enough for me.” She swallowed nervously. “I mean you were. You were.”

“You’re definitely all grown up.” He ran his thumbs along
her slit, staring as he rubbed her and then up to her face. “You act so
unaffected but your panties are all wet, Jenna.”

“Just because you make my pussy wet doesn’t mean I like you
or that I’m going to let you into my panties.”

It sounded good, as if it were a well-reasoned argument she
could take to court. The fact that she added it on a sigh didn’t really help
her case any.

“Put your hands behind your back.”

She rubbed her fingers together, wanting what she knew he
could give her. But she had to be able to keep her heart separate from her
body.