Give Us a Chance (21 page)

He moves his leg enough to place his hand on my inner thigh, running it up and down a few times before sliding it under my skirt. When he reaches my panties, he rubs his finger along the strip of fabric between my legs, groaning when he feels how wet it is. Soaked. His mouth returns to mine as his finger slips under the fabric and plunges into me. I break from his kiss and tip my head back, needing to breathe because my heart's beating so fast. When his thumb rubs over the sensitive bundle of nerves, I nearly lose it.

"Jake," I moan. I arch into his hand, begging for more.

He's barely started and I'm already almost there, the tension rising, my muscles clenching. His mouth lowers to my belly ring, gently tugging on it with his teeth, then licking the area around it, his hand moving faster, hitting all the right spots.

"Jake!" I yell, grabbing his hair as I come undone in wave after powerful wave. When I finally come down from it, I feel his lips over mine.

He kisses me, then says, "You never told me to stop."

"There was no way in hell I was going to tell you to stop."

I couldn't. That was incredible. Amazing. Better than anything I've ever felt.

So there's another reason why girls flock to him. He's not just hot. He also knows how to please a woman. He
definitely
knows how to please a woman.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jake

I need a very long, very cold shower after what I just did with Ivy. That was hotter than most sexual encounters I've had. Maybe because we didn't actually have sex. I've heard that the leading-up-to-it part can be more arousing than the sex. I wouldn't know because I always race through that part to get to the sex.

Or maybe it's just Ivy. I get turned on just thinking about her. So to have her here, lying next to me on the couch, in just a tiny skirt and nothing else...it's no wonder I'm hard as a rock.

"You want your shirt?" I go to grab it but she stops me.

"Not yet." She flips on her side, facing me, and undoes my belt.

I take her hands from my belt. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" She kisses me.

"Because it's too tempting to go farther." But that doesn't mean I'll stop kissing her. I rake my fingers through her silky hair and grasp the back of her neck, my other hand grabbing her ass and yanking her against my body. She grinds into me, slowly moving her hips, and all I can think about is how much I want her. How I want rip that skirt off her and put myself inside her.

"Ivy," I whisper over her mouth, as she rubs her hand over my crotch. I try to move her hand but she resists.

"Don't," she says. "I want to."

Shit. I can't say no to that. I quickly undo my belt and my zipper and shove my jeans down, and the moment she touches me, I almost lose it. She knows exactly what I like, how to work me. It doesn't take long before the tension builds, my body tightening.

"Shit," I groan as I release faster and harder than I ever have from a simple hand job. Most girls don't know what the hell they're doing, but Ivy does. I don't even want to think about why.

She lies back on the couch, a satisfied smile on her face.

"You proud of yourself?" My eyes drift over her breasts and down to that hot-as-hell belly ring. I lean down and run my tongue around it, then kiss her flat stomach.

"Hey, not again." She laughs.

"Why not?"

"Because we already did that."

"That was nothing. I was just getting started."

She scoots back against the arm of the couch. "Let's save it for later. I need to recover from what you did earlier."

I smile, happy that she liked it so much. I think I liked it just as much as her. I loved hearing her moan, watching her writhe in pleasure at my touch.

She picks up her bra and shirt and sits up to put them on while I excuse myself to the bathroom to clean up. When I return, I go to the kitchen and grab some glasses. "What can I get you to drink?"

Ivy walks over and meets me by the sink. "I'll just have some water." She takes the glass from me, and when she turns on the water, the sprayer comes loose and shoots water all over both of us.

"Shit!" She laughs as I grab the sprayer and shut off the faucet. "Sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

My shirt is soaked and so is hers.

"You sure about that?" I lean back against the counter, folding my arms over my chest.

"What do you mean?"

"I think you did it on purpose." I smile.

She puts her hands on her hips. "And why would I do that?"

"So you could parade around my apartment topless and make me take my shirt off."

She laughs. "Yeah. That was my master plan." She rolls her eyes. "Do you have a dryer in this place?"

"No. I go to the laundromat. The machines downstairs never work, and when they do work, they're always full."

"You got a t-shirt I could wear?"

"You sure you need one? It's hot in here. You might want to go with the topless option."

She smiles. "T-shirt please."

"Follow me." I take her down to my bedroom and over to the closet. "There's some in here and some in the dresser. Take your pick."

She picks out a light blue one that I've had for a while. The cotton is worn and really soft, which is why I still have it.

"Can you turn around while I change?" she asks.

"Why?" I unbutton her shirt, kissing her as I do. "I already saw you topless."

"We shouldn't do this in here," she says looking back at the bed.

"You're probably right." I lead her into the hall and continue undressing her.

She laughs. "This isn't much better. We're right next to the bedroom." She pushes me away. "Just let me do it. You work on your own shirt."

I smile at her as I unbutton it. "You could've just asked me to take it off instead of soaking me with water."

"It was an accident," she insists. "I swear."

"Uh-huh." I give her a smug grin as I take off my shirt because her eyes are now glued to my chest. I love it when she looks at me like that. With lust, desire. When other girls look at me that way, it does nothing to me. But when Ivy does, it arouses me, makes me want to please her, and put that blissful smile on her face that appeared after what I did to her on the couch.

As I go back in my bedroom, she says, "Are you putting on another shirt?"

"Yeah," I call back. "Why?"

"No reason."

"Did you not want me to?" I come back out to the hall and see her wearing my t-shirt. It's huge on her but I like seeing her in it.

She eyes my chest. "I just...well, you were saying it was so hot in here so I thought maybe you wouldn't want one."

I chuckle. "Then I'll leave it off."

"Can I hang these somewhere to dry?" She holds up her clothes. Not just her shirt and bra but also her skirt. So all she's wearing is my t-shirt and her panties. Shit. I try not to think about that.

"Let me grab some hangers." I go in the bedroom and get the hangers, then I show her to the bathroom. "You can hang them on the shower rod." I return to my bedroom and change my jeans because they, too, got sprayed with water.

We meet up in the kitchen and I say, "Let's try this again. What would you like to drink? And if you say water, I'm getting it this time."

She kiddingly punches my arm. "It was an accident. What else you got besides water?"

I open the fridge and she grabs a can of pop and hands it to me. "Just to be safe, you better open it."

I crack it open and hand it back to her. "Want anything to eat?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure how long I'm staying."

"At least until your clothes are dry. That could be a while." I open the cabinet and grab a bag of chips. "This good?" I ask, holding them up.

"I'm not really hungry."

"Then I'll eat them. I'm always hungry. Let's see what's on TV."

We go back to the couch and I turn on the TV and start flipping through channels. "See anything you want to watch?"

"Fast and the Furious. You just passed it."

I flip back to it. "You like Fast and the Furious?"

"Cool cars and hot guys. What's not to like?"

She's sitting at the end of the couch, her legs tucked under her, wearing only my t-shirt, looking both sexy and cute.

"Get over here," I say. "You're too far away."

"I was giving you space."

"I don't want space. I want you over here." I point to my chest. "Since you banned me from wearing a shirt, I need you to keep me warm."

She laughs. "I didn't ban you from wearing a shirt."

"Still need you over here." I pat the spot next to me.

She moves over and I grab her around the waist and pull her into my side. "That's better."

We settle in and watch the movie, Ivy tucked under my arm, which is draped over her, our hands threaded together.

I haven't hung out like this with a girl since high school, in the brief period of time when I was actually attempting to get to know girls instead of just sleeping with them. And I haven't watched a movie with a girl in years. I didn't have time to. Before dating Ivy, my evenings were spent catching up on work, or out at a club searching for my next hookup. And when I was with a girl, she rarely spent the night, and we definitely didn't sit on the couch watching TV.

I open my bag of chips and toss some in my mouth, keeping my arm around Ivy.
 

"Can I have some?"

"I thought you didn't want any."

"I changed my mind."

"Are you one of those people who wants to eat whatever someone else is eating?"

"Not usually, but you're making those chips sound really good."

I hand her the bag, and as she grabs it, it slips from her hand, landing on my lap and spilling potato chips all over me.

Her hand goes to her mouth. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" She's laughing. "I'll clean it up." She tries to get up but I hold her down.

"Seriously?" I point to my jeans. "The shirt wasn't enough for you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You purposely did that so I'd have to take my jeans off. Just admit it. You want me naked."

She laughs. "I did not do that on purpose. I promise you. Besides, I'm sure you have another pair of jeans to put on."

"I don't know. I'm running out. This is the second pair you've ruined."

"I didn't ruin them." She starts picking chips off my lap. "Here, I'm cleaning them up."

"Go right ahead." I lean back, crossing my arms behind my head, a big grin on my face as she repeatedly touches my crotch. "Take your time."

She smiles and rolls her eyes. "Nice try. I'm cleaning them up. That's it." She points to my growing erection. "So tell that thing to calm down."

I laugh. "I can't control him. You woke him up. It's your fault."

She's about to say something but then my phone rings. "Go ahead and get it," she says.

Normally, I'd just let it ring but I answer because it's Nash. I always answer when family calls because I'm always worried that something bad happened. When my mom died, I was out with some friends after school and didn't answer my phone and Nash had to come find me. So now, I always answer when someone in my family calls.

"Hey, Nash, what's going on?" I stand up, letting the broken chips fall on the floor. Ivy gives me a what-the-hell look so I turn away from the phone and say, "Don't worry about it. I'll vacuum it up later."

"Is someone over there?" Nash asks.

"Ivy." I smile at her. "She just spilled potato chips all over me after spraying me with water."

"Jake!" she whispers, throwing her hands up. "Don't tell him that!"

Nash laughs. "I probably don't want to know."

"So why are you calling? It's Saturday night. You should be out with Callie."

"We are. We're at a bar in Evanston, listening to Austin's band."

I don't hear music in the background. Nash must be talking outside.

"Austin's playing tonight? He didn't tell me."

My youngest brother, Austin, is a guitarist in a band. He works construction during the day, then plays gigs at night for extra money, but also because he loves it. He's been playing guitar since he was a kid. He's really good, but I have no idea where he got his talent. Nobody else in our family has any kind of musical talent.

"The bar had a cancellation," Nash says, "so they booked Austin's band at the last minute. I called to see if you guys want to meet us here."

Normally I would, but tonight I'd rather stay at home with Ivy. That's so unlike me. I usually want to be out in the action, at a club, a bar, a concert. I only stay home if I have to because of work. Otherwise, I go out. But I'm starting to think the reason for that is less because I want to be out and more because being here by myself all the time gets lonely.

"I don't think we can make it," I say. "But next time he's playing, we'll plan on going with you guys. Is Bryce there?"

"No. He had a date. They went to a movie."

"A
date
? With who?"

"I don't know. Some girl he met earlier today."

"He was with Jen today."

"Yeah, and he found out she has a date with her boyfriend tonight."

I shake my head as I walk to the kitchen. "So he's going out with someone else, hoping it'll get his mind off it. He's such a dumbass."

"We can't change him. He has to figure this out himself. Eventually he'll come around."

"Yeah, and when he does, Jen will have moved on for good." I find a kitchen towel and wet it, then wipe the grease off my jeans.
 

"Then it's his loss. Hey, are you bringing Ivy tomorrow? Callie wants to know."

"I haven't asked her yet."

"When you do, text me and let me know. Callie wants to make sure she bought enough food."

"It's one extra person. I'm sure there's plenty of food. She always buys too much."

"Still. Just text me and let me know. I gotta get back inside. I don't want some asshole hitting on my girl."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

He hangs up and I turn back to see Ivy behind me. "Was that Nash?"

"Yeah, he invited us to meet him and Callie at a bar up in Evanston. Austin's playing there tonight."