Текст книги "Playing for Keeps"
Автор книги: R. L. Mathewson
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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 15 страниц)
Chapter 23
Three o'clock in the morning and Haley was close to crying. She was so unbelievably tired. Her head was pounding and she felt sick to her stomach. She hadn't slept in five days.
Not one single wink.
Sadly it had nothing to do with the cottage. The bed was firm, just the way she liked it, the air conditioner ran perfectly keeping the little cottage at a cool 68 degrees, and the only noise to be heard was the sound of the waves crashing against the beach. She really wished there was something to complain about, because that would mean going to one of the hotels down the road would provide her with the sleep her body desperately needed.
The reason she couldn't sleep was quite simple. The bastard who refused to leave no matter how many times she begged, pleaded or threatened was one hundred percent responsible for this little problem. Being this dependent on another person for sleep was not healthy or normal, but no matter how many times she tried to get that message across to her exhausted body it wouldn't listen.
She tried everything over the past three days. At first she thought relaxation would do the trick, so she'd taken about a dozen hot baths, read a few books, and even tried a relaxing moonlit stroll along the beach. When relaxation didn't work she moved onto vigorous activity. She tried swimming, long vigorous walks, and cleaning the cottage from top to bottom.
Absolutely nothing worked. There was no way she could handle another day without sleep, never mind the four days Jason was determined to keep her for.
She sat up in bed and kicked the sheet away. Damn it. If she was going to be stuck with him, then she might as well get something out of it. She threw open her door and walked down the short hallway.
Jason looked over at her and sighed. She wasn't too surprised to find him awake. It seemed this little addiction went both ways, thankfully, because if she was going to suffer than so was he. Granted his inability to sleep might have more to do with the small wicker chairs he was forced to sit in all night.
"I don't know what you did, but you wrecked sleep for me and since you won't give me back my things I've decided that you will allow me the use of your body for sleep," she clarified, afraid he might get the wrong idea, "until we go home and I can get a prescription for sleeping pills from my doctor."
Jason simply looked at her through red shot eyes. "Okay," she said firmly, nodding to herself. "Move your butt," she said, gesturing for him to head to the bedroom.
"No," he said softly.
She narrowed her eyes on him. "Don't make me hurt you, Jason. I am way too tired for any bullshit tonight, so move your ass."
He stubbornly shook his head. "Not until you promise to spend the last four days with me."
"No."
They broke up and he really needed to accept that, especially since they returned to work in two weeks. She didn't want to have to deal with any of this nonsense at work. He needed to accept this so they could both move on. It was already hard enough being around him and not being able to touch him.
She loved him so much and this was killing her. The best thing he could do for both of them was to let her go now so she would have some time, even a few days, to mourn their relationship. She already knew she'd have to put her house on the market and look for a new job as soon as she got back.
After this she knew she would never manage to be in the same room with him or spot him walking around outside without feeling her heart break. She needed to put as much space between them as she could if she hoped to survive this.
"We have four days left, Haley. If you want to sleep then you'll give me what I want."
"You need sleep just as much as I do," she pointed out.
He nodded his agreement. "I'm willing to go without if that's what it takes."
"We're not getting back together," she said, feeling more exhausted than she had five minutes ago.
"I'm not asking for that, Haley. I'm asking for some real time with you."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Yes," he said, sounding as exhausted as she felt. "I just want time with you."
She considered him for a moment. At this point she was willing to fork over her kidneys if it meant getting some sleep. "Fine," she said slowly. "But just time. No kissing, sex, or touching."
He sighed with obvious relief as he got to his feet. "That's fine," he said, walking past her to the bedroom. She followed him, eager to finally get some sleep.
"Underwear stays on," she announced, as she walked into the room.
Jason yanked his underwear back on, probably too tired to argue, and flopped down on the bed. After a slight hesitation, Haley lay down and curled up against him. In a matter of minutes she felt her body relax and started to drift off.
****************
"Oh my god, no! It's going to bite me!" Haley squealed, jumping back as the small crab moved towards her.
Jason chuckled as he watched his little grasshopper run on her tippy toes, trying to get away from the small crab that really did seem to have it out for her. Every time Haley changed direction so did the crab.
Now, Jason could very easily fix this little problem for his little grasshopper by picking her up, but he was following her rules. He only had four days left to convince her that she couldn't live without him, and if that meant he had to follow her rules to spend time with her than he was damn well going to follow them to a tee. He wasn't about to give her a reason to break their agreement.
That's why an hour ago when he woke up to find Haley curled up in his arms, he quickly jumped out of bed and the hell away from her. She looked a little confused and hurt, and he almost ignored her rules and took her into his arms, but he forced himself to keep his head in the game. He said good morning and left her to take a shower, and not joining her had almost killed him, and made them lunch.
After lunch it had taken a little prompting and about a dozen reminders that she promised to spend the last four days with him. With a resigned sigh she followed him to the beach. For the first time since he wrecked her flowers a heavy awkward silence rose between them.
He bit back another apology, remembering what his father said, and walked next to her, trying to figure out what the hell he should say to her. Unfortunately Haley seemed to be just as uncomfortable as he was. He knew she was on the verge of suggesting that they go home again, when thankfully they'd found the little crab hell bent on attacking her.
Now they both laughed, watching the little crab's antics, the awkward silence forgotten.
"Jason!" Haley shrieked as the crab made a grab for her toes.
Sighing, Jason bent over and plucked the small crab up. He raised it so he could look at its tiny little buggy eyes. "It's kind of cute."
Haley squished up her face adorably. "If you say so."
He noticed that she didn't make any move to take a closer look. In fact, it looked as if she was trying to discretely step away. Jason bit back a smile as he held it out to her. She squealed, jumping back and almost fell on her ass in the ocean.
"Get it away from me!"
"Aw, come on, Haley. He just wants a little kiss," Jason said, shoving the crab towards her once again. "Just a little kiss."
Haley giggled even as she ducked out of the way.
"Come on, he likes you!" Jason said, chuckling as he chased after her.
"Go away!" Haley said, laughing so hard that she stumbled several times, but somehow managed to take off when the crab came within her personal space.
"I swear to god, I'm going to kick your ass for this!"
*************
Haley dropped her book as she latched onto Jason's arm and tried to drag him away.
"That's false advertisement!" Jason said, heading back for the door that they'd been unceremoniously kicked out of ten minutes ago. "The sign says, 'All you can eat.'"
Thankfully the last several months in Jason's company had pretty much cured her problem of embarrassing easily, otherwise she'd probably be turning bright red right now and wishing for a hole in the ground to open up and swallow her whole as people stopped to gawk at them.
"They were closing," she pointed out softly.
"That's no excuse," he said, glaring at the wait staff that watched them nervously from behind the curtains.
"I think they ran out of food," Haley said, doing her best not to laugh when he pouted.
"Bastards," Jason muttered.
"Come on, I'll let you treat me to a late movie," she said, tugging on his arm. He reluctantly let her lead him away, only throwing the occasional look of longing towards the restaurant. Haley did her best not to roll her eyes. The man was way too obsessed with food. As they stepped into the long line outside the movie theatre a thought occurred to her.
"You never brought me to a buffet restaurant at home," she pointed out. Now that she thought about it she was really surprised that he hadn't. It seemed like the perfect type of restaurant for Jason, heck, for Jason and his father. They both adored food, which is probably why his parents stopped with just one child. Just the thought of a bunch of little Jason's running around eating their parents out of house and home was frightening.
Jason mumbled something.
"What?" she asked, tearing her eyes away from the list of movies playing.
"I said, I've been banned," he grumbled unhappily. "It's all political," he sniffed.
"Uh huh.......and your father?" she asked, already having a sneaking suspicion of what his answer was going to be.
"He's been banned since 1995," Jason said with a shrug.
"I see," she said, her lips twitching.
"In two years the band in Las Vegas will be lifted. We're planning a big trip," he said, looking at her hopefully.
Haley opened her mouth to remind him that they weren't going to be doing anything together in two years when she realized what he said.
"You've been banned from Las Vegas?"
"Not from Las Vegas, just from all the buffets," Jason said with a shrug as if it was no big deal.
"All the buffets?" she asked, unable to hide her shock. There had to be hundreds of buffets in Las Vegas.
"I guess they had a meeting or something. As I said before, it's all political," Jason said, gesturing for her to move up in line.
She was too stunned to say anything for a few minutes. She knew they loved food, but wow......
"What movie do you want to see?" Jason asked, pulling her from her frightening thoughts.
Haley quickly scanned the list, about to tell Jason to go ahead and pick when she spotted a movie she'd been waiting to see for a while. How about "To hell and back?" she suggested.
Jason frowned. "The one with Edward and Dana Pierce?"
She nodded.
"Fine," he said with an exaggerated eye roll, earning a smile from her. "A chick flick it is." He bought their tickets and headed for the concession stand. "I just need something to eat before I pass out."
He reached out to take her hand, only to drop his hand away. His smile became polite as he gestured for her to go ahead of him. Haley forced a smile as she stepped in line ahead of him, reminding herself that this was exactly what she wanted. She wanted to go back to being friends, even if it was only for a little while, so Jason readily accepting that was a good thing, she told herself.
After they bought their snacks, well Jason's snacks since she was still full, they found two seats in the middle towards the front. Thankfully the previews were already playing so Haley took the opportunity to get her head on straight. She really had to stop herself from wanting Jason to touch her, hold her, and kiss her.
They broke up. Jason obviously accepted it and so should she. It was for the best no matter how much it made her want to cry.
Chapter 24
"You didn't have to buy dinner. I could have cooked," Haley pointed out as they followed a waitress to the back booth in the fifties style dinner.
"You're not lifting a finger while you're on vacation," Jason pointed out, again. It was just another thing they were going to have to discuss, but later. Right now he was too busy showing Haley how much he cared about her. Over the last two days he was pretty sure Haley had started to forgive him.
By now she probably realized they shouldn't be apart. Now all he had to do was work on not screwing up again, not that he really thought he would. He'd been acting like the perfect friend over the past couple of days. At night he allowed her to decide the sleeping position and in the morning he bolted from the bed and took a very cold shower or went for a swim in the ocean. Then he spent the rest of the day finding fun things to do and keeping his hands to himself.
It was more difficult than he'd ever imagined, but somehow he managed to treat Haley as a good friend. There was no doubt in his mind that she was ready to go back to the way things used to be. Thank fucking god, because he didn't think he could last another day with this friendship bullshit.
She was his little grasshopper, plain and simple. Not being able to touch her and hold her was just wrong.
"Can I get you a drink to start off?" the waitress asked, throwing him an appreciative look.
"We'll take two Cokes, please," he said, directing his attention to the menu in front of him. He wasn't about to do anything to encourage the woman. Right now he needed to be able to focus all his energy on his little grasshopper and not some waitress in a tight pink shirt two sizes too small that hoped to warm his bed tonight.
"I'll go get those right now," she said in a seductive voice. Jason snuck a look at Haley, wondering if the waitress' obvious interest bothered her. If it did, it didn't show. Apparently once again Haley was too oblivious to care, which was probably for the best because he couldn't stand jealous women.
"I need to use the bathroom. Could you order for me if she comes back before I do?"
"Sure," Haley said, not bothering to look up from her menu. "What do you want."
"Two cheeseburger dinners," he said, not bothering to tell her how he wanted them or to ask for two extra sides. She knew what he liked.
Five minutes later he was walking out of the bathroom just as their waitress finished writing down their order. The waitress looked up from her writing pad and smiled at him. She said something else to Haley before walking over to him, smiling coyly the entire time.
"Your friend," she said, gesturing behind him to Haley who was watching them with bored interest, "said you might like the band playing over at TJ's. It's a Nickleback cover band. She said you could pick me up in two hours after I get off work, but if you give me fifteen minutes I could probably get the night off."
"Wait? What?" Jason asked, confused as hell. "She told you I was interested?"
"Mmmhmm," the waitress said, unconcerned that he was clearly pissed.
"Excuse me," he said tightly, stepping around her.
"I'll go ask about getting off early," the waitress announced, sounding giddy.
"Don't bother," Jason threw over his shoulder.
He walked over to Haley, placed his hands on the table, and leaned over until he was practically nose to nose with her.
"Tell me you didn't just try to set me up on a date with the waitress," he bit out, trying to stop himself from wringing her little neck.
"I didn't set you up per se, but I did tell her you might like the band and that you were single," she simply said, pushing her glasses up her nose.
"I'm single?" he repeated, his voice sounded hollow.
"Yes," Haley said, shifting her glance to the left and away from him.
He slowly pulled away from her and stood up. Swallowing hard, he asked, "Is that what you really want?"
"Yes," she said without the slightest hesitation, making everything suddenly crystal clear.
He pulled out two twenties and tossed them on the table. "Come on," he said, heading for the door.
"Where are we going?" Haley asked when she caught up to him.
"Home."
***************
"Jason? Jason, talk to me. You're really scaring me."
For the past six hours he'd been deadly quiet. When he said they were going home at the diner she thought he meant back to the cottage. She knew she shouldn't have encouraged that waitress. She didn't want to and had been on the verge of informing the woman that Jason was spoken for when she realized seeing Jason with another woman might help her get over him sooner. She had no idea he'd be this pissed otherwise she wouldn't have said anything, but she needed to get over him before she finally gave into the pain threatening to bring her to her knees.
She loved him so much more than she should have allowed herself to.
Instead of answering her, he threw the driver's side door open and popped the trunk. She quickly climbed out of the car just as the motion sensor lights on her house turned on.
"Please talk to me," she said as she watched him grab the three shopping bags of clothes he'd bought and head towards his front door.
"Jason, don't do this!" she said, unable to stand the idea of ending things like this.
"You want to talk?" he asked, slowly turning around to face her.
"Yes," she said, relieved that he was at least talking.
He threw the bags to the side and walked over to her. "Fine. Let's talk, Haley," he said, getting into her face. "I fucked up, Haley. I shouldn't have let some bitch sell me a line of bullshit and I should have talked to you, but you know what? You screwed up, too."
"You never even bothered to tell me why you didn't want to have sex," when she opened her mouth to argue he spoke over her, "I know I could have asked you a thousand different times, but I was too damn happy to care. I wanted to be with you, no matter what. I loved you, Haley and I thought you loved me. So, when that woman told me that you wouldn't sleep with me because you didn't love me I panicked big time and did something I will probably regret for the rest of my life."
"You regret sleeping with me?" Haley asked, feeling her heart drop.
"Yes, because I obviously hurt you that night and it gave you the excuse you obviously wanted to break things off," he said, stepping away from her as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
"I wasn't looking for an excuse to break things off," she sputtered, taking a step towards him.
"Bullshit!"
"I wasn't!" she yelled right back. "You're the one who thought I was pulling a fast one on you! You're the one who just had to prove-"
"Oh give me a fucking break!" he shouted, causing her to jump back. "I fucked up, Haley. I admit that. Hell, I admitted it right when it happened and I even told you when we started out that I would most likely fuck up." He continued, not giving her a chance to speak, "You were happy that I fucked up. It gave you the little excuse you needed to drop me."
"No, it didn't! You hurt me, Jason! You should have-"
"I should have done a hundred different things, but you know what, Haley? I didn't. I fucked up, yeah, but you're acting like I fucked around on you!"
"Because you're going to!" she shouted back, wiping angrily at the tears that spilled down her cheeks. "We both knew this wasn't going to last, Jason! What you did proved it!"
"Wasn't going to last? I fucking loved you!" he shouted, getting closer. "I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you! But the entire time I was picturing a house, marriage and kids you were just using me!"
"I wasn't using you!" she cried, shoving him back.
"Then what the hell do you call it?" he asked, letting her shove him again. "I was good enough to hang around, date, sleep with, oh wait, no I wasn't, was I? The only thing you thought I was good for was a good time!"
"I can't believe you're complaining!" she said, shoving her hair out of her face. "That's exactly how you treat women! You're just pissed because someone did it to you!"
"I have never led any woman on. They all knew I had nothing to offer them, but you," he shook his head in disgust, "you made me think that you actually cared for me when all you were was a bitch looking for a good time."
She slapped him. Hard.
"You're a fucking snob just like your family," he said coldly.
"I hate you," she bit out, ignoring the stinging pain in her hand. She hadn't used him, she knew that. She'd been the only one of them who went into this relationship with a level head. He might think that he loved her today, but she knew that would change one day and she wasn't going to feel bad because she got out before that day came.
He wiped a small drop of blood off his lip as he watched her. "You came to me for a good time so I'm going to make sure you get just that."
"Wha-"
He cut her off with a firm kiss. She tried to pull back, but he wasn't having that. He cupped the back of her head, holding her to him as he brushed his lips over hers, coercing them to cooperate. When he ran the tip of his tongue between her lips, demanding entrance, she was helpless to refuse.
She moaned when his warm tongue slid into her mouth, gliding over hers, and then tangled together. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer, unable to stand the thought of being apart.
No matter what he thought, she hadn't been using him. She loved him so much and even though she knew she would wind up hurt in the end she hadn't been able to pass up a chance to be with him.
When he picked her up in his arms she didn't fight him. No, she fisted his hair, tilted her head, and deepened the kiss. Several minutes later they were in her living room and he was kicking the front door shut. He placed her on her feet only to grab behind her thighs and lift her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, loving the way he grabbed her ass and ground her against his hard erection.
She released one hand from his hair to reach between them and yank his tee shirt up. Jason turned in the hall, leaning her against the wall as he reached back and yanked his shirt off, only breaking the kiss to pull the shirt off. He kept her pressed against the wall as he worked her shirt off.
He raised her above him so he could lick his way down to her breasts. She hugged his head against her chest as he traced the cups with his tongue and moaned when he suckled her hard nipple through the thin lace.
"Mmmm," she moaned softly as he suckled and kneaded her breasts. Her hips gently rolled against his stomach, searching for relief. She arched her back when she felt his hands leave her breasts and move to her back. In seconds he had her bra undone and his tongue running over her breasts, flicking her hard nipples.
Haley licked her lips as she worked her bra off the rest of the way. She wrapped her arms back around his head, holding him against her as she leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
Jason groaned as he wrapped his arms around her, keeping her breasts where he wanted them and pulled her away from the wall and walked down the pitch black hallway to the bedroom. Somehow he managed to walk them into the bedroom without stumbling.
He laid her on the bed. Bending over her, he ran his wet hot tongue from one hard nipple to the other as he undid her shorts. He slid his hand beneath the waist of her shorts and under her panties. He cupped her in his hand, making her squirm against him.
With one last flick of his tongue against her nipple he sat up and helped her out of her shorts and panties, while Haley toed off her canvas sneakers. She opened her arms to him, expecting him to come back for a kiss. In the dim moonlight she saw him shake his head.
"Roll over onto your stomach," he said, already helping her turn over. "On your hands and knees," Jason said softly.
"That's it," he crooned when she did what he asked.
Haley gasped, gripping the comforter tightly in her hands when she felt Jason press a wet kiss to one cheek and then the other. Without a word she spread her legs more and arched her back. He continued to press kisses against her back and bottom as he slid one finger inside of her.
Haley moaned, licking her lips. The few times they'd fooled around in this position had been so good. He always took her hard with his fingers or mouth like this, making her scream. Once he ran his cock between her lips. When she realized he was pleasuring himself against her she'd come harder than she could ever remember.
Just the thought of him teasing her folds with his cock had her riding his finger.
"You like that?" Jason asked, adding another finger.
"Yes," she moaned as she pulled forward until only the tip of one finger remained in her, then slowly slid back, loving the way he filled her. She loved the way he felt, the way he touched her, the way he made her so crazy with need that she could only think about having him, she just loved him.
Over the past week she'd been stupid and so damn scared that Jason would hurt her one day that she almost made the dumbest mistake of her life. She wasn't letting him go. They belonged together. On some level she'd always known that, but she'd been so damn scared that she hadn't seen it.
For the first time she allowed herself to imagine the future she always thought was out of their reach. She imagined falling asleep in Jason's arm every night for the rest of their lives, imagined little boys smiling when she made cookies and little girls wrapping Jason around their little fingers, and she knew she would never be happy without him.
"Then you're going to love this," he murmured softly.
She licked her lips in anticipation when she heard the sound of his zipper being pulled down. A second later she felt his jean clad thighs press up against the back of her legs and his warm stomach press down against her back.
He licked a line up her neck to her ear, taking her earlobe into his mouth and gently suckling it as the tip of his erection pressed against her core.
"You remember the day we were in your flower garden?" he whispered in her ear.
"Yes," she managed to say.
"You have no idea how badly I wanted to take you that day, just like this," he said, sliding slowly inside her.
"Oh god!" Haley cried out at the sensation of being filled. Thankfully it didn't hurt like last time. It felt so good being filled by him like this, so right.
"I've imagined fucking you like this at least a dozen times a day since, my little grasshopper. I think it's only fitting that we end this the way we started it, don't you?"
"Jason, what are you-"
He cut her words off with one long, deep thrust. It was followed by another, and then another. His hands covered hers, fingers entwining as he took her slowly. His low groans in her ear and the way he rubbed against her clit every time he slid back in her had her screaming her release. Jason groaned in her ear minutes later as she felt his hot release inside of her. It felt so good that it set off another orgasm. Jason gently thrust in her until her arms gave out and she collapsed on the bed, gasping for breath.
Somehow she managed to rollover to make room for Jason, but he wasn't there. She looked up to find him pulling his zipper back up.
"Jason?" She slowly sat up. The hurt expression on his face twisted her stomach. She reached out to take his hand, only to find him stepping back.
"Goodbye, Haley," he said softly.
"Jason? Jason!" she cried as her bedroom door shut with an ominous click behind him.
