Текст книги "Aurora James"

Автор книги: Jessica Ingro

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

Marx led me into the scene of a raging party—a large two-story modern house, its floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing the crush of people inside.

After dinner at the most exclusive five-star restaurant in town, where the conversation had been easygoing and comfortable, he’d asked me if I wanted to go to a get-together with some people he knew. I was understandably nervous about meeting friends of his. It was only our first date and I was relatively anxious about how we would broach the answer to how we met, a question they were sure to ask. After a bit of cajoling on his part, though, I’d finally agreed.

So here I was, following him into a packed entryway, wishing he had wanted to go somewhere quiet instead, where we could have been alone.

He was lucky he looked so damn sexy in his black pants and dark green dress shirt opened at the throat, considering he’d failed to mention it was going to be so packed.

He was also lucky I was wearing Candy’s new red satin dress that hugged my curves perfectly. I was a firm believer in the “if you look good then you’ll feel good” philosophy. Experiencing both right then, being in such a big crowd didn’t faze me as much as it normally would have.

We made our way through the people crowded in the entryway and into the open space living room, dining room and kitchen area. I noted in surprise that the whole place was decorated warmly yet manly—at least from what I could see of the large corduroy furniture, dark wood accents, and cream-colored walls, it was. It seemed a complete opposite from the modern façade of the building.

“This is your friend’s house?” I asked Marx as he led me by the hand towards the kitchen where there was a makeshift bar set up on the island.

He glanced at me over his shoulder with a strange expression on his face that I couldn’t read, but he nodded. I didn’t have a chance to question the disquieting look when a tall, reed-thin man with thinning hair stepped in front of Marx, halting our progression.

“Marx, good to see you,” the man boomed over the music playing not too loudly in the background.

“Harrison.” Marx shook the man’s hand, and then in an extremely possessive move, he pulled me into his side with an arm around my waist. “This is Aurora. Aurora, this is Bob Harrison.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” I said and held my hand out to him. Rather than shake it, he brought it to his extremely chapped lips and pressed a wet kiss to my knuckles. Generally, this behavior wouldn’t bother me. With Harrison, it felt wrong.

“She’s a delectable one.” Harrison addressed Marx as if I weren’t in the room even though his eyes were on me.

“Yes. She’s something else,” Marx concurred. His eyes narrowed on the man in front of us and his hand tightened on my waist. “If you’ll excuse us.”

Not giving Harrison a chance to respond, Marx pulled me towards the kitchen where only a few people milled about while talking and making themselves drinks.

“Interesting fella,” I mumbled.

“He’s a prick,” Marx added as we entered the room.

It was a kick-ass kitchen—exactly what I would want if it were mine—with white cabinets, glass subway tile backsplash in aqua, dark granite countertops, and gray slate tiles on the floor. My mouth gaped at the view out of the large window over the white farmhouse sink. The sun had set, which meant all I could see was the moon reflecting off the dark water of the lake and stars twinkling above the trees.

It was breathtaking. And I was kicking myself for not taking Xavier up on his offer to live on Lakeshore Drive—the same street as this magnificent house.

“Beautiful,” I breathed in utter fascination.

“I agree.” Marx’s voice was closer than I expected, so I turned my head towards the sound and found him watching me. My stomach dipped with the knowledge that while I meant the lake view, he meant me.

Before I could react, he pulled me into his arms and brought his head down to mine.

“I’ve wanted to do this all night,” he whispered against my mouth, and then his lips brushed mine sweetly, making me want more. Opening my mouth to him in invitation, his tongue slipped inside, quickly taking me up on the offer. I found myself melting into his embrace as our tongues tangled in a sensual promise.

Sooner than I would have liked, he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. His breath was like soft puffs of air against my face. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted before any words formed.

“Are you fucking kidding me,” an ominous voice snarled.

Our heads turned in unison only to be met with a glower from the owner of the aggrieved voice. I swallowed, fear coursing through me, at the castigating expression and lethal energy coming off him in palpable waves. A vein pulsed at his temple, his jaw as hard as the granite on the counters, and his eyes burning with what I imagined was fury. I may have thought I had seen him angry before, but it was nothing compared to how enraged he was right then.

Shit.

“O’Brien.” Marx stood at his full height as he turned to face Xavier, and I insanely thought, What is it with men calling each other by their last names?

With an arm around my waist, Marx pulled me into his body, making it clear that we were together to anyone who might wonder. I wasn’t so sure that was such a smart move given the crackling energy in the air.

“What. The. Fuck. Is. She. Doing. Here.” Xavier’s words were clipped, each one angrier than the last. If smoke suddenly began coming out of his ears, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised.

“I invited her,” Marx unwisely answered. I mean, who the hell purposely steps in the line of a fire-breathing dragon?

“She works for me,” Xavier unnecessarily pointed out. “Does this mean you’re paying for her time?”

The crude insinuation was a slap in the face, even if it was true that Marx could and had paid for my time. Even with it being true, that didn’t mean I wanted it announced to the whole room.

“Fuck you,” Marx said in a low, steady voice, skating the edge of losing control. And damn but it was hot as hell to see his confrontational side.

“Aurora is better than that and you damn well know it,” he continued. “She’s here as my date and this unusual display of possessiveness doesn’t suit you, friend.”

Xavier took a step towards Marx, who subsequently pushed me behind him. It was then I noticed at least a dozen sets of eyes on us.

Fantastic.

Chest to chest, the two men stared one another down. Tension crackled in the air and I found myself wishing I could slink away and pretend this had never happened.

“You dare to stand in my kitchen with my girl and call me a friend?” Xavier drawled in a composed tone, giving off a false sense of tranquility.

My heart stopped when he called me his girl, and I had to force myself to breathe through the conflicting emotions those two words caused inside of me.

“She’s not your girl and you’re being ridiculous,” Marx replied.

“Don’t fool yourself. She is very much mine.”

I couldn’t help it. I let out an exasperated noise at that announcement. Anger quickly edged out any feelings of elation that had started brewing in my mind. He really was delusional and apparently determined to piss me the fuck off.

“Why did you bring her here?” Xavier tried again.

“I told you. She’s my date.” Marx shrugged as if it was no big deal and the whole conversation was beneath him.

“And you thought it was a good idea to bring her here? Now who’s ridiculous?” Xavier raised one condescending brow and crossed his arms.

“Obviously it wasn’t.” Marx ran a hand through his hair in agitation, giving Xavier the reaction he had been going for.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to pull with this little show of yours, Marx. Get the fuck out of my house.” Xavier’s lip curled up into a sneer.

“Fine, but this isn’t over. Let’s go.” Marx pulled me forward with a hand on the small of my back before nudging me towards the door.

“She stays.” Xavier gripped my arm, forcing me to stop moving.

“The hell she does,” Marx returned, and the tension that had begun dissipating quickly returned.

Xavier stood in between us and I sensed the situation deteriorating worse than it already had. Knowing I was—insanely—the reason for all this, I knew I needed to do damage control before the male posturing went too far.

“I’ll stay,” I announced, and Marx’s eyes shot to me.

“Like hell you will,” he semi-repeated his earlier thought on the matter.

“It’s okay. I’ll call you tomorrow,” I assured him.

His brows drew together when he frowned. “You came with me. We were on a date, Aurora.”

“I know,” I whispered sadly. I could tell by the look of disbelief on his face and the incredulity in his tone that I was probably burning the tentative bridge I had built with him.

Marx was sexy, intelligent, a good kisser and an excellent listener. In time, I could see myself caring for him, which made this whole situation suck. Bad.

My defection was nothing that he deserved, and deep down I knew when this night was over I was going to end up regretting it, even if he had asked for it by stupidly—in my opinion—bringing me to a party at Xavier’s house.

“Don’t do this,” he warned.

“I’m sorry, but it’s my job. I’ll call you tomorrow,” I told him again, hoping he would let me.

“I’ll give you a fucking job if that’s what you’re worried about,” he cursed.

I stepped around Xavier and vaguely heard him growl. My hand ran down Marx’s cheek and then rested on his jaw. I leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, knowing it was most likely the last time I would get to do so.

Marx closed his eyes when I pulled back. When he opened them again, he ignored me in favor of giving a scathing look to Xavier. Then he walked through the crowd that was gawking at us. When the murmurs of the bystanders died down, I knew he was gone and I felt a small crack form in my heart.

This was so completely unfair. Xavier had no right to dictate who I spent my time with. It was the classic situation of he didn’t want me, yet he didn’t want anyone else to have me either.

Well too bad for him, because I did not think so.

Knowing he still stood behind me, I walked as quickly as I could out of the room. Hell bent on getting the fuck out of there and calling a cab, I yelped when strong fingers closed over my bicep and dragged me down a hall and into a dark room.

The door slammed and the hand released me. I spun around and pushed on the chest of the figure that stood in front of me. The moonlight shining through the floor to ceiling windows that continued in that room as well, highlighted Xavier’s face, leaving half of it in shadows and giving him a sinister look.

“How could you?” I yelled as loud as I could in his face.

“Because.”

“What are you? Two? That isn’t an answer.” I pushed him again, this time with my hands balled into fists, only growing more frustrated when my attempts to hurt him were unsuccessful.

“Stop.” He pinned my arms to my side with his hands and pressed his body against mine.

“Why should I?” I continued to shout.

“Because I said so.”

“Oh, that’s so much better than your last answer,” I grumbled. “I won’t let you ruin my life.”

He let out a humorless laugh. “It’s only fair considering you’re ruining mine.”

I let out an inelegant sound that sounded like pffft. “How exactly am I doing that?”

“By breathing.”

“You’re impossible.” I struggled against his hold only to have him tighten his grasp on my arms.

“You’re right. Impossibly attracted to you.”

“You’re so full of shit,” I shouted again, choosing not to read too much into his admission.

“Don’t you get it? I don’t want to feel this way. I didn’t ask for the irrational urge to kill any man who so much as looks at you. I don’t want to feel the need to break the fingers of every single client who dares to touch you. And I don’t want to have this compulsion to fuck you until you feel me inside you the next day. Or to hear you say my name while I’m buried deep inside you. But here we are.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I finally managed to say after the weight on my chest from his words started to ease.

“I wish I were,” he said sardonically.

“You had your chance and you screwed it up. Royally,” I reminded him in an effort to remind myself.

“So you say,” he spoke absently as he watched his hands move up my arms and around my back, pulling me against his hard body.

“What are you doing?” I asked as his head began descending.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he replied evenly as if his kissing me was the most natural thing in the world.

“No. You’re only doing this because of Marx.” I jerked my head back to put some much-needed distance between us. The way he was staring at my mouth made it difficult to remember why that space was so crucial.

“No. I’m doing this because I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit back and watch someone else take what’s mine.”

“Jealousy isn’t a reason for you to kiss me,” I snapped at him.

“I plan on doing a lot more than kissing you.” His voice dipped, subsequently making my belly dip with it.

“You are certifiably crazy. We can’t,” I cried hysterically and tried to pull away from him. I hated the way he was making me feel. I was both confused from his about face and nervous as all hell what this might mean. For me. For him. For everything.

What was he playing at?

“You’re just jealous,” I said again when his mouth was mere inches from mine.

“I’m not doing this for Marx,” he clipped out tersely, his hold on my upper body tightening almost painfully. “I’m doing this for you.”

“You are crazy,” I breathed, unbelievably turned on by his minty breath against my cheek and his hard body pressed against my soft one. This was a losing battle. Question was, how far did I want to take it before I finally surrendered?

“Probably,” he muttered right before his mouth slammed down on mine. The kiss started out hard. I tried fighting his pull, but it was futile. My body responded almost immediately to him. He knew the exact moment he had me—when my body relaxed into him, my tongue seeking his in desperation, my hands pulling his shirt from his pants so they could run up his warm, hard back.

He growled in his throat at the feel of skin on skin. The sound reverberated in my mouth and through the rest of my body. My scalp tingled and I felt my body growing wet.

His fingers pulled down the zipper of my dress, his hands spreading the fabric and running enticingly over my bare skin. I had the hysterical thought that Candy was right—this dress was designed to drive a man crazy. She just had the wrong man in mind.

Within seconds, my dress was in a puddle on the floor. Xavier pulled back from my mouth, his eyes hungrily taking in the sight of my mostly nude body. My nipples hardened under his gaze and I felt my breath catch when his fingers gripped my thong, tearing it clean off my body in one fell swoop. It was no less hot than the first time he did it.

“Wow,” I whispered in amazement.

Xavier gave me a scorching look right before he dipped his head and took my nipple into his mouth, sucking with ferocity. I cried out, my hands flying up to grip his head.

His mouth moved to my other breast. His thumb and forefinger coming up to roll the first one, while his teeth scraped and nipped at my flesh.

“I need to see you,” I murmured, lost in the exquisite sensations of his hair brushing against my breast and his tongue flicking the hardened bud.

He pulled back, yanking on his shirt and sending buttons flying across the room. His belt was next, sailing into the darkness and landing with a thud several feet away. When his pants dropped to the floor and I saw in the moonlight that he was going commando, my desire went through the roof.

He was sheer, raw masculine beauty from head to toe.

Kicking the rest of his clothes out of the way, he lunged at me. His mouth crashed down on mine at the same time we toppled onto his rather soft bed. From that point, we were all hands and mouths and tongues, exploring each other as quickly as we could. I wasn’t sure what was driving him besides lust, but I can tell you the driving force behind my race to get him inside me was the very real possibility that he might pull away from me again.

There was no way in hell I was ending the night without knowing what he felt like inside me.

“Hey!” I cried when I suddenly found myself not between his legs but rather flying through the air just as my mouth was about to close around the head of his cock.

“Next time,” he whispered against my mouth, and my heart soared knowing there would be a next time.

Xavier positioned himself between my legs and then I felt him at my entrance. My eyes closed and I bit my lip in anticipation. I knew from my exploration moments before that he was hung. The reminder had a fresh surge of wetness gathering between my legs.

“Look at me,” he demanded, and I opened my eyes to look into his. That was when he slid inside me, slowly, each inch a delicious burn as I stretched to accommodate him.

His hips retreated and then pushed forward again, allowing him to sink even further inside.

I spread my legs wider, tilting my hips until he slid all the way in to the root.

“Holy shit,” I breathed, wrapping one leg around his back and the other around the back of his thigh.

Xavier O’Brien sank into Aurora’s tight, wet heat and felt his soul sigh as her lips parted in surprise and her eyes widened in wonder.

It was more than he ever could have imagined.

More… everything.

It was exactly what he presumed heaven would feel like.

At the very second he bottomed out inside her, he knew he was fucked.

And against his better judgment, he didn’t give a fuck about anything but the feel of her wrapped tightly around him and the sexy little noises that filtered in his ears.

“Yes!” I screamed as he roughly thrust inside me.

“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath and then continued his assault on my pussy.

Xavier was the equivalent of an untamed animal between the sheets. His teeth sunk into the sensitive skin between my neck and shoulder. His mouth sucked on my breasts, leaving marks behind. His hips pinioned so fast I could hardly catch my breath. Each thrust was so hard, my body jolted and my breasts bounced with the force of it.

“Honey,” I whispered, so close to the edge.

“Eyes,” he said through clenched teeth. So lost in the sheer and utter beauty of connecting so intimately with him, I hadn’t even realized my eyes had closed.

When they opened, his usually indifferent eyes were glittering with some unnamed emotion.

His hand went between us, his thumb pressing and circling my clit. Within seconds, the tension in my body snapped. My whole body stiffened as every single nerve ending sang with the pleasure radiating from my core. I cried out as I tightened around him, holding on as he continued to move inside me, not as roughly as before, but just as deliciously.

Then it was my turn to watch as he came. With his fists in the bed on either side of my head supporting his upper body weight, his eyes went from our connection to my face. That was when he buried himself to the hilt and roared his climax. His hips pressed into mine and his cock twitched inside me as he bathed my walls with his seed.

A residual shiver from my orgasm shook my body right before he bent his arms and allowed himself to collapse down on top of me. His body a pleasant weight on mine.

The fingers of one hand ran through his hair while the other idly caressed the skin on his back.

“That was incredible,” I whispered in his ear, my voice husky from both my climax and the emotion being with him caused inside me. Never had I felt more complete and more alive with a man than I did with him. It was nothing short of amazing. And I wanted to experience it again, and again, and again.

Xavier reached out, stretching his arm out towards something on the side of the bed while still keeping our intimate connection. Seconds later, a light came on, bathing the room in a soft glow and making me squint.

He came back over me, his fingers running along my temple, pushing my hair away from my face. When his eyes met mine, I sucked in a breath. It was then I realized what the strange look on his face meant. It meant his guards were down. In that moment, Xavier O’Brien was vulnerable. For me.

“You’re beautiful,” he said absentmindedly, almost as if he was talking to himself rather than to me. His eyes now watched the movement of his fingers. “Never thought I’d ever have that kind of beauty in my bed.”

There are moments in every girl’s life that she knows she’ll never forget. This was one of them. For as long as I lived, no matter what life had in store for me, I would always remember those softly spoken words.

“Honey,” I whispered as tears hit the backs of my eyes.

“This time I want to see the look on your face when you come,” he said through a panty-melting smile.

With a smile of my own, I tilted my hips up in invitation. One he was ready and willing to accept.

Later on when I came, Xavier watched. Minutes later, he returned the favor.

And it must be said that it was even better with the lights on.