Redemption (Iris Series) (33 page)

“Yeah?  How wet?”

She leaned up on her toes and whispered against his mouth, “Very.”

“Don’t tease me.”

She chuckled.  “Come on, big boy.  Finish the tour.”  She turned him around then hopped on his back for a piggyback ride through the apartment.

He laughed while carrying her, passing a small dining nook and the living room, until they entered the hallway. 

“You know one of my fantasies is for you to cook me a meal at that stove.  Naked.  With just an apron on.”

She laughed and kissed his ear.  “Hmm.  That sounds kinda kinky.  I’ll make a note of it.”

There was a small three quarter bath in the hall next to a bedroom that held a day bed, but was mainly set up for his office.  He continued to walk her into the master bedroom that had an attached master bathroom. 

His room was masculine in tone and very clean.  The colors were even more soothing than in the rest of the place, with pale slate blue walls and a cream colored comforter and matching pillows on the bed.  He walked her into the bathroom which housed a large shower, a nice sized vanity, and a toilet off to the side.  It was done in grays and whites, and had beige towels hanging on the towel bars.

He finally put her down, turned on the faucets, and stripped off his jeans and boxers.

She raised an eyebrow then while he turned a very appreciative gaze to her, she stripped.  He led her into the shower where they leisurely washed each other, laughing and enjoying each other’s bodies.

“I wanna know how you got into my apartment, champ,” she teased as he ran his soapy hands up her torso and over her breasts.

He looked at her as he let his slippery hands play with her nipples.

“That would’ve been Ryann, via Jeremy.”

“Jeremy?”

“When he dropped off your tabletop yesterday afternoon, he swung up to see me and gave me the key from Ryann.  Along with the pizzas from Janie.”

He finished washing himself and turned off the faucets.

She stood there and blinked.  “You were home yesterday afternoon?” she asked in a deceptively calm voice.  “How early?”

He smirked and grabbed a towel to wipe her down.

“Around three.”

She stopped his movements.  “Are you fucking kidding me?  I could
beat
you right now!  Do you know how much I was dying to see you?”

He wrapped her in the towel and pulled her to him.

“About as much as I was dying to see
you
,” he said looking deep in to her eyes.  He leaned down and captured her mouth with his, sipping and nibbling.  “I wanted it to be a surprise, and I needed supplies, like the candles.  I needed to shower, unpack, straighten up my place, and rest because I knew I’d be keeping us up...” He let his voice drift off, and looked pointedly at her.

She huffed and looked disgruntled.

He laughed and swept her up in his arms, only to toss her lightly on the bed a moment later after walking out of the bathroom. 

“Now if I remember correctly,” he said peeling the towel from her flushed body, “we have some pizza to eat which you’re gonna heat up in that sex oven of mine.  And I could
really
use a cup of coffee.”

“Alright, leave me to it,” she said curtly.  “Pain in the ass,” she grumbled.

She got up to get her clothes, when he playfully pushed her back down on the bed and straddled her holding her arms above her head.

“Did you like my surprise?” he whispered.

She hesitated, then, “Yes,” she pouted. 

“How long are you going to stay mad at me?” he asked, kissing her neck.

“I don’t know yet,” she grumbled again, but this time with humor in her gaze.

He moved his lips to the other side of her neck.  “I couldn’t wait to see your face.  I wanted you to walk into your place and see all of the candles, then see me.  I wanted to surprise you, baby,” he said willing her to understand.  “It took every ounce of willpower for me not to come down to your place and pound on your door when I got home.”

She was still a little disgruntled, but only because she had missed him so badly.  The fact that he was spending that time in the afternoon getting ready for her, made her sigh.

“I love you,” she whispered, still with a little pout.

He smiled.  “I love
you
.”  He raised an eyebrow.  “Am I forgiven?”

“Yes,” she mumbled.  “I need my hands for a sec.”

“Are you gonna hit me?”

“Maybe,” she smirked.

He released her hands and leaned back.  Before he could go too far, she grabbed his face and pulled him down to her, kissing him hard on the lips.

“Mmm. What was that for?”

“That was for my surprise.  I don’t think I thanked you properly,” she said running her lips over his.  “Thank you,” she whispered.

“You are so very welcome.”

She leaned up and kissed him again.

“And what was that one for?”

“For keeping your surprise a secret, because it really was an awesome surprise.  It made me cry.  In a good way.”

“I’m glad,” he murmured against her lips.  “That was the goal.  Not to make you cry.  To have it be awesome.”

She kissed him one last time then pushed him off of her and got up. 

“Alright.  Let’s get movin’ here.  I’m fucking starving, and I could use a cup of coffee too.”

He swatted her ass as she got up.  “I’ll be right there.  I’m just getting dressed.”

“Sorry. I can’t hear you, champ,” she said as she walked out of the room naked while grabbing her clothes.  “My mind is all about the sex oven at the moment.”

Ayanna got to the kitchen and dressed quickly.  Then, running her hand along the sweet stove top, she opened the freezer to take out the pizzas and looked for a cooking tray to put them on.  Once she put them in the oven, she yelled out that she was going to run down to her place and get her camera while the pizzas were heating.  She needed to get some shots for her blog.

A few minutes later, she was back in Jonathan’s kitchen with camera in hand.  She took several pictures while Jon got some plates down and poured coffee then they were ready to eat.  They sat on his bed, dressed now in comfortable
clothes and gorged on Janie’s mini pizzas.  There were several, some traditional in taste, others more exotic in flavor.  But each one was absolutely delicious, and Ayanna definitely planned on calling her to thank her. 

She decided that Day 41 truly was the best day of her life, and told Jonathan that with her mouth full of crispy crust and chewy cheese.

“Yeah, I might agree with you on that,” he said, his eyes taking on a lusty pointed look.

She could feel herself heating under his watchful gaze.

He smirked, knowing what he was doing to her.  The jerk.  But what a gorgeous, hunky, wonderful jerk he was, she thought. 

“Tell me about your mom,” she finally said after swallowing the bite of pizza in her mouth.

He reached forward and took her hand.

“She’s doing much better and is on the mend.  She’s at home with a day nurse for a couple more weeks.”  He got quiet for a moment then said, “It was definitely hardest on my dad.  It was so weird watching him out of control.  He’s the strongest person I know.  He’s kind of had to be given his profession, so seeing him lose it was disconcerting to say the least.”

“I’m so sorry, babe.  It’s done now, though.  And I’m sure this incident probably made you all a little stronger, brought you a little closer, right?” she asked, squeezing his hand.

He nodded then looked at her wistfully.  Tenderly.

“I told her about you,” he murmured.

She blinked, and her heart skipped a beat.  That bit of news made her want to do cartwheels.  And at the same time scared her shitless.

“Your mom?”

He nodded again.  “When she was still unconscious, I first told her about you.  It made me feel closer to you, and made me feel like Mom had to make it through because she had to meet you.”  He chuckled.  “Trust me, there would be no greater incentive for my mom to stick around than to meet the woman her oldest son went and fell in love with.  I knew she would want to wake up so she could check you out.”

“What did you tell her?” she asked, a little nervous.

He lifted her hand to his lips and nibbled on her fingers, then moved her palm to his cheek holding it there.

“That you’re fearless.”

She started to blush at that.  “No, I’m not.”

“Yeah, you
are
.  You tackle things head on.  You keep on going even when things are tough.  You’re the type of person who takes 40 days to look at the hardest parts of yourself so you can reevaluate and become a better person.  Fearless.”

She blinked back an unexpected rush of tears as a feeling of pleasure and warmth coursed through her at his words.

“Come here.”  He pulled her hand forward so she could crawl onto his lap while he leaned against the headboard.  Then he enfolded her in his arms, nuzzling at her neck.

“I told her that I’d known you for a couple of months and that you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.  Then I told her we fought every time we were together, until I realized I was an ass and apologized.  I knew that would make her happy and earn me some points,” he smiled.

Ayanna chuckled.

He kissed her neck and she angled her head so he could have better access.  Then he moved back to anchor his hand in her hair so she would look at him.

“Then I told her I was in love with you,” he said, running his thumb over her bottom lip.

She swallowed down the emotion rising in her throat.

“When she woke up and was finally settled, she told me she heard most of what I’d said to her in the hospital.  She wants to meet you.  Very badly.”

Ayanna stroked his cheek and kissed him softly.  She wanted to meet her badly too.  But she was terrified.

“I would love to meet her,” she said against his lips.

“Good, because I told her as soon as your schedule allows it, I was gonna bring you up to Boston.  And my dad?  He wants to see this woman who his son keeps talking about - and when he meets you, he’ll completely understand why I can’t shut up about you.”

She gave him a teary smile.  “I love you, JBG,” she whispered.  “I don’t know what I did to deserve you—”

“You didn’t have to
do
anything.  You deserve everything good there is, baby.  And I’m so thankful that it was me you chose.”

“I don’t know if choice had anything to do with it,” she chuckled.

“Probably not.”  He paused with a smile.  “I love
you
, sex goddess.”

Then he swooped in and claimed her mouth in a slow sensual kiss, firmly holding her head with his hand buried in her hair and leisurely consuming her mouth.

“Mm,” he said in between nibbles, “you taste so good, Yan.”  He continued to lick, suck, nibble and bite, until she was a sex drugged fool gripping his head and was a puddle in his lap.

When he released her, he asked, “What do you want to do today?” his voice hinting at the pleasures of the flesh.

She chuckled.  “Oh, we’ll definitely be doing some more of that, champ.  Don’t you worry your,” she reached down and pressed her hand over his hardened cock through his jeans, “pretty little
head
about that,” she finished in a sultry whisper.

He pressed up into her hand.  “I love fucking you.  I just want to say that for the record,” he breathed.

“That’s good.  Because I’ll expect you to be fucking me on a regular basis,” she said, nipping at his lip.

“I can be quite demanding,” he said, taking her lower lip between his teeth and sucking it into his mouth.  “Do you think you can handle it?  I might be at you several times a day.  You
seem to bring out the animal in me.  You’re like a fuckin’ aphrodisiac,” he murmured, still pulling at her lips.

She could feel the throbbing between her legs, the sluggish flow of blood in her veins creating a heartbeat there.

His hands added to the build up inside her as he rubbed her back, then put his hands in her hair and skated them down to her hips.  She let her fingers enjoy the landscape of his body.

“I think I might be able to handle it, JBG,” she panted in between kisses.

He finally pulled back, nuzzling her lips, then her neck.

“What else do you wanna do today?  Do you have any work you need to do?”

They sat there, enjoying simply touching each other.

“I have to post a couple of things with the blog - Oh man, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you!”

“What?”

“I spoke with Catherine
, you know, the chef from the Bistro?”

“Yeah.  What’s going on with all of that?  Any developments?”

“She bought Robert out.”  She paused, letting that information sink in.

“Wow.  Well, I guess we’re not too surprised.”