Mr. Right (9 page)

“Ethiopian?” she said with a frown.

“Yeah?” He cocked his head and I wanted to laugh. Even I knew by this point that Jess hated Ethiopian food. It was sad that Pierce still didn’t remember, but I think it was part of the reason why I felt it was okay to continue my pursuit of Jess. I wasn’t sure what game he was playing with her, but something was off in this situation. It didn’t seem to me that he was really interested in her. He couldn’t have been that interested if he didn’t even remember that she hated Ethiopian food.

“Nothing.” She sighed and just looked away. “It doesn’t even matter.”

“Okay.” He shrugged. “You wanna come with us too, Evan?”

“I’m not sure that that would be a good idea.” I shook my head. That sounded like torture to me. No, thank you.

“Jess, come with me.” He grabbed her hand and gave me a quick look. “Excuse us, I want her to meet some more of my friends,” he said and I watched as they hurried across to the other side of the room and towards a group of guys and girls who looked slightly familiar. I could see one redhead in particular who was glaring at them both and something about the way Pierce was looking at her made me think that this woman might be another clue in the puzzle that was Jess and Pierce’s relationship. The redhead touched his arm softly and I noticed that she was looking at him coyly and giving Jess small glares, which Jess didn’t seem to recognize. It made me wonder what relationship the redhead and Pierce had had in the past. It was obviously something more than platonic. And if the way Pierce was standing close to both the redhead and Jess was any indication, it seemed to me that Pierce was trying to play some sort of game with both of these women, which made me feel a whole lot differently about how guilty I would feel about pursuing Jess for myself. If he was being shady and didn’t have good intentions towards Jess, this was a very different situation.

I left Alyssa and Braydon and walked over to the side of the room to get a drink and to think. I had some decisions to make about what I was going to do. Tonight was the night for me to make a huge move or just walk away and let everything go. I took a shot of bourbon, and then a second one and looked back over at Jess and Pierce and the way his arm was around her waist possessively. I knew in that instant that I already knew what decision I was going to make. Not that there had really been any other option. Not with the way I was currently feeling. I just had to make it happen.

E
van

I
t was
midnight and I could hear someone walking around the living room. Normally I wouldn’t have paid much attention, but curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to know if it was Jess, and if it was, what she was doing up. I wondered if she was thinking of me and if she was as restless as I was. I couldn’t sleep at all. I was invaded with thoughts of her and the constant flirting we’d done all night. All I could think about was her and if she was as curious about what I was thinking as I was. Did she wonder what would have happened between us if she hadn’t met Pierce first? I knew I certainly thought about it. But I didn’t know if she would have even paid attention to me if she’d met me in a different setting. She likely wouldn’t have even given me the time of day if I’d approached her at the club. Though I’m not sure that would have stopped me. She was someone I’d have taken a chance with if I’d had the opportunity. Though, it would have been a much different situation. The situation we were in now, though not ideal, somehow made it even more exciting. Even though it shouldn’t have. I knew that it was kind of sick, this game I was playing, but I couldn’t stop myself.

I jumped out of my bed and headed towards the kitchen, with the pretense of needing to get a glass of water, which wasn’t exactly a lie, based on all the alcohol I’d consumed at the party. I looked down at my boxers and debated putting on a T-shirt, but decided against it. I walked to the kitchen quickly, my heart racing, wondering who I was going to see. I felt the grin crossing my face as I saw Jess’s figure in the kitchen with her back to me. I walked up behind her softly, wanting to surprise her and see how she was going to react. I stopped behind her and grabbed her around the waist and pushed myself into her. She yelped slightly at my touch.

“Hey, honey,” I said softly and whispered into her ear. This was the moment I’d been waiting for. I hadn’t been able to say much else to her at the party and it had driven me crazy. I’d been hoping all night that I would be able to see her alone and that I’d get to tease her and torment her. I hadn’t been given the opportunity at the party, but I was being given the opportunity now.

“Evan.” She gasped, not moving away from me.

“Yes, Jess,” I said, running my fingers gently across her stomach and feeling myself growing hard against her ass. I pushed myself into her a little firmer so she could see exactly how she was affecting me. I wasn’t going to hold anything back in this moment. She needed to know exactly how I felt. And I needed to know if this was going to be more than a game or not. Had she gotten up to get a glass of water because she wanted this moment to happen, or was this merely a coincidence? Every part of me believed that this was because she wanted to be with me and this was how she was making her move, but I needed to find out if that was true or not.

“What are you doing?” She gasped again, yet she didn’t move.

“Exactly what you want me to do,” I muttered, voice deep with raw, unbridled passion. I just wanted to bend her over and take her, but I knew that would be way too much right now. Though a part of me thought that she would enjoy it.

“What are you talking about?” she said and I could feel her body trembling against me. I moved my fingers farther up her stomach and paused them right underneath her breasts.

“What do you think, sexy?” I groaned against her. “I want to fuck you.”

“Evan.” She sounded shocked and it was at that point that she pushed away from me and stepped to the side.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She gasped, her eyes flashing at me furiously.

“I already told you,” I said with a grin, licking my lips. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Of course I have a problem with that. How dare you talk to me like that?”

“Talk to you like what?” I pretended to look confused, but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as I looked at her hard nipples protruding from her nightgown.

“You’re a pig.” She shook her head and made to move past me.

“Where are you going?” I asked, feeling disappointed that she was going to leave the kitchen.

“I’m going back to bed.” She shook her head at me, uncertainty in her voice. “Pierce will be wondering where I am.”

“He’s fast asleep.” I tried not to sound aggravated. I didn’t want to hear about Pierce right now. I didn’t want to feel guilty and I didn’t want her to be thinking of him either. The one good thing was that I was pretty confident that they hadn’t had sex because he’d been ready to pass out before the party had even ended. Not that that should have been a good thing for me. I was going to hell and I knew it. I figured I might as well enjoy the ride there.

“What do you want from me, Evan?” She bit down on her lower lip and I wanted to lean over and kiss her.

“You know what I want.”

“No, I don’t”

“Yes, you do.” I stared at her and stopped smiling. “You know what I want because you want it too.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She made a face at me.

“Yes, you do, and you know how I know?”

“How?” She rolled her eyes but I could see her starting to look nervously at me as she fidgeted.

“I know because you’re still here with me,” I said matter-of-factly. “If you had absolutely no interest, you would have fled from the kitchen as soon as I entered and put my arms around your waist.”

“Evan, I don’t know what you want me to say.” She looked at my chest for a few seconds and I winked at her when she looked back up into my eyes.

“Just say you’re as intrigued by me as I am by you.” I moved closer to her and stopped right before I was touching her again.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking.” She made a face.

“You know what I’m thinking. You know what I want.”

“But I’m dating your friend.” She almost moaned, turning me on even more. I wondered how loudly she would scream when I slammed into her.

“My friend?” I repeated after her and almost laughed at her words. So her hesitancy wasn’t because she knew the truth. Interesting. I knew now was not the time to tell her everything she didn’t know.

“I think you’re not such a good friend to Pierce for coming on to me so much.” She pushed her hands against my chest as if she wanted to push me away, but there was no force to her movement. I almost laughed, but this was too serious of a moment. I wanted to know what was going through her head. I wanted to know exactly what she was thinking and what her hesitancies were. Did she crave me as much as I was craving her?

“I guess I’m not.” I took a step closer to her and this time our bodies were brushing against each other. “I think we both know that already.” I grabbed her hands and pulled them to the side, entwining them with mine.

“So why are you still here?” she said, her eyes widening as I pushed my face closer to hers.

“Because we both know what we want,” I said, my lips pressing down on hers softly. Her lips trembled beneath mine, but she kissed me back, even though it was a little hesitantly. I deepened the kiss and pulled her into me, hard. Her arms crept around my neck and she started playing with my hair. I took that as an invitation to deepen the kiss further and pushed my tongue into her mouth and immediately started sucking on her tongue. She tasted sweet and faintly of vodka. Her body was warm against mine and her breasts felt soft against the hardness of my chest. Her fingers ran across my head and scratched against my shorn head and I reached down and grabbed her ass, squeezed and then pushed her in even farther towards me, so she could see exactly what she was doing to me.

She gasped loudly as I gyrated my hardness against her.

“Wrap your legs around my waist,” I urged her, wanting to feel her closer to me, wanting to be inside of her as intimately as possible.

“No.” She shook her head, though she didn’t pull away from me.

“I need to be inside of you, Jess.”

“Evan…” she mumbled against my lips. Her fingers were now on my back, running up and down, driving me crazy.

“Jess, please.”

“We can’t do this, Evan.”

“You know you want me. You don’t want Pierce. Let’s be real.”

“Evan, this isn’t right.” She groaned as my right hand crept up to her breast and squeezed, my fingertips running across her nipple, pinching gently and then a little rougher. I enjoyed the way she moaned and reacted to my touch. Her body arched towards me as her breast pushed into my hand, wanting to be caressed further.

“If it isn’t right, why does it feel so good?” I mumbled as I kissed her neck and collarbone. She moaned in pleasure, and a part of me wanted to reach down to see if she was wet, but I didn’t want to scare her and move too fast. Though it took everything in me not to reach down and touch her, rub her, enter her with my fingers.

“Evan, we shouldn’t.” She sighed as her fingers dug into my back. “What if Pierce wakes up?”

“He won’t,” I said, all reason and rational thought gone from my mind.

“This just doesn’t seem safe,” she said with a sigh, and I looked up at her face.

“Do you want me to stop?” I asked her, pulling her in closer.

“Yes. No.” She moaned. “I don’t even know.”

“You don’t know?” I stepped back from her, disappointed. I wanted her to come to me in certainty, even if she was worried about Pierce. We could worry about Pierce later. Right now, I needed to know she wanted me. And if she wanted me, she had to be one hundred percent confident in that fact. I was all about games and teasing, but if we were going to be intimate, it was going to mean something really special. Or at least, if it didn’t mean something really special, it was going to be something that we both did with no regrets.

“I don’t know,” she said softly, biting down on her lower lip nervously.

“Liar,” I said with a mutter. I needed her to admit she wanted this—me—as badly as I wanted her. I needed her to admit it. I wasn’t sure why it mattered so much to me. I wasn’t sure what I was doing. All I knew was I really wanted her. All I knew was that this moment mattered. This was the make and break moment for me. For us. Hell be damned. I wanted Jess. And I needed to know that she wanted me as well. I needed to know this was for real. I needed to know we had some sort of connection here. I wasn’t sure why it was so important to me. It just was.

“What do you want from me, Evan?” She groaned and looked into my eyes, hers looking confused and full of lust. “I don’t even understand what is going on here.”

“Does there have to be anything going on here?” I asked her with a frown. “What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know what I want you to say. I just don’t think this is a good idea.”

“When is anything a good idea?” I looked at her, trying to figure out exactly what it was she wanted me to say. What did she expect from me?

“I just think if we do this, we’ll be complicit in something really shady.” She bit her lower lip again and I leaned over and sucked on it.

“At least we will have been complicit in something really good,” I said as I kissed her deeply and pulled her into me.

“Evan…” She groaned, kissing me back hard, her fingernails digging into my back.

“Jess,” I muttered as my tongue entered her mouth and she sucked on it eagerly, pushing her breasts into my chest, no longer holding back. “Oh, Jess,” I said as she wantonly ran her hands down my back and to my ass and squeezed. “You do want me, don’t you?”

“Stop talking.” She moaned and I took that as my opening to continue and accelerate the pace between us. I lifted her up and placed her on the countertop, spreading her legs and leaning in and then pulling her forward so her legs were wrapped around my waist. I kissed her nose and then her forehead before heading back down to her lips and kissing them gently. Now that I knew she definitely wanted me, I wanted to go slowly, I wanted to concentrate on her pleasure, make sure this was a moment she never forgot. I wanted to make sure she knew this moment was special and not sordid. I had to make it a perfect moment because I knew the aftermath was going to be crazy. Absolutely crazy.

“Let me take you to my room.” I groaned as I felt myself about to lose control. If I wasn’t careful, I’d be taking her here in the kitchen and I certainly didn’t want to do that. Not that I wouldn’t love to take her right here and now. It did seem like an appropriate place, seeing as the first time I’d seen her was in this very room. I’d love to strip her naked and take her right now, but I couldn’t risk it. Not here and now.

“Should we be doing this?” She moaned as I picked her up and carried her in my arms, walking as quickly as I could before she could change her mind.

“Tell me now, would you rather this be me or Pierce?” I asked her huskily, already knowing in my heart what she was going to say.

“You know the answer to that,” she said as she held on to me.

“Tell me,” I said as I carried her into the bedroom. “Tell me that you want me.”

“I want you. I want you more than you know.” She groaned as I dropped her onto the bed and then shut the door before returning to her.

“Good,” I grunted. “Now, I can teach you all the things you’ve wanted to learn but never were able to.”

“Excuse me?” She blinked up at me, her body shaking as she writhed around on the bed.

“You’re excused.” I grinned as I pulled off my boxer shorts and stood there naked in front of her. I watched as she looked down at my hardness and gasped, her eyes widening as she took in the size of my member. I hid a smile, knowing she was impressed by it. She was going to be even more impressed when I entered her. I couldn’t wait to hear her screams and gasps as she orgasmed, but she was going to have to be quiet as we couldn’t afford to wake up Pierce or Linda.

“You’re a bad boy, Evan.”

“I’m bad to the bone.” I growled as I got down on the bed next to her and started kissing her neck. “I’m so bad that I’m going to devour you right now,” I said, my hands grabbing her nightie and pulling it up to rip it off her body. I stared down at her nakedness and felt myself growing harder as I glanced at her body trembling beneath my touch.

“Evan, I don’t know if we should...” Her voice trailed off and she gasped as I bent down and kissed along her thighs.