Lightning Strikes (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy #3) (20 page)

She pushed her red hair behind her ear and squealed, hopping up and down on her toes; her sparkly gold minidress hiking dangerously high on her milky thighs as she did.

“Oh my god, Sarah, it
is
!  It’s him!”

Jack frowned when the girl reached out and clutched his arms.  Two more young girls appeared next to her out of nowhere, a blonde and a brunette, looking at him with equally wide and amazed eyes.

When all three girls squealed in delight, Jack tightened his hand around Nina’s and turned to her. She shrugged with an expression just as confused as his own.  When he looked back to the young girls, a cell phone screen awaited him, and he moaned at the sight of his face on what looked to be a gossip website.

“You’re the runaway groom!”  the redhead cried, shaking the phone.

“For God’s sake, he’s even more handsome in person,” the blonde said.  “How is that possible?”

“Are you
real?”
the brunette slurred. Clearly a few stiff drinks ahead of her friends, she reached out and caressed Jack’s arm.

His gaze fell to her fingers as she stroked him and then jumped between all three girls as they began talking a mile a minute.

“You’ve gone viral!”

“You’re all over the news!”

“Everybody wants to know about the Runaway Groom!”

“What’s your name, Runaway Groom?”

“How old are you, Runaway Groom?”

“What happened to your eye, Runaway Groom?”

“Jack,” he said.  “Please.  It’s
Jack
.”

“You
have
to have a drink with us!”

“That’s really not necessary.”

“We have a table!”

“And a bottle!”

Jack turned to Nina, annoyed to find that she had a hand clapped tight over her mouth in an attempt to hide her amusement.  He looked back to the girls.  “We were just on our way out—” He couldn’t even finish before three hands locked tight around his arm.

“One drink!” the redhead begged.

“Pleeease?”

“We have to have a drink with the Runaway Groom.”

“Jack,” he begged.

All three girls clapped their hands together, pleading.  Every bottom lip poked out, looking up at him with eyes so big and full of wonder it confirmed they were all barely legal.  Squeezing Nina’s hand, Jack turned and met her eyes.  The moment he did, he knew he couldn’t wait to have her.

Not another minute.

Jack turned back to the girls to decline their offer.

Their attention, however, had moved to Nina.

“Are you guys together?” the redhead asked Nina.  “Is this a steamy, torrid love affair that finally came to a head, right before he was meant to say ‘I do?’ ”

“Are you his mistress?”

“It’s just like Scandal!” the blonde beamed.

“She even looks like Olivia Pope!”

“Oh my god, she totally does!”

The squealing commenced.

“I’m not his mistress,” Nina said, stepping in front of Jack and raising her voice so they could hear her over the music.  “I had nothing to do with him running out on his wedding.  Hell, I didn’t even know there
was
a wedding until I saw it on the news a few days after I met him.  We’re just trying to get home to New York.  That’s all.”

When she saw the bored gleam painted across all their faces, she almost wanted to go ahead and play along with the slutty mistress narrative they’d concocted for her, just to make them happy.

The moment Nina confirmed she was not Jack’s mistress, the brunette shot him a come-hither grin, massaging his arm in slow strokes.

Nina turned to Jack, watched him bob and weave to dodge the wandering hands of the brunette, before looking back to the other girls with a laugh.

“I wanted you to be his
Olivia Pope.” 
The redhead reached out and played Nina’s curls between her fingers.  “How could you friend-zone a guy that hot?”

The blonde’s eyes went big.  “We saw the way he was looking at you on the dance floor—”

“He was under a total spell—”

“Like he wanted to swallow you
whole
.”

Nina chuckled, looking back to Jack.  He was bending his spine to avoid the feather soft kisses the brunette was placing along the edge of his jaw, never moving his horrified eyes from Nina.  He raised his eyebrows and gave an indiscernible nod toward the exit doors.

Just as Nina was fixing to say goodbye to the girls, one of them clapped her hands around her arm, so tightly she nearly cut off circulation.

“Amy!” the redhead cried, meeting eyes with the blonde.  “They should come with
us
.  There’s room for two on the bus since Becky and Kale couldn’t make it.”

Amy’s eyes widened.  “Sarah,” she deadpanned.  “That’s genius!”

Nina looked back and forth between them, both fearful and curious.  “What’s genius?”

“You say you need to get to New York, right?” Amy asked.  “We’re with a tour group driving cross country, and there are a couple that dropped out last minute, so there’re two open seats.  We’re scheduled to be back in New York by the end of the week!”

“That’s really not necessary,” Nina said.  “We actually had a pretty big win at the blackjack tables earlier today. So we’ll probably catch a flight instead.”

“Haven’t you heard?  ATC is on strike,” Amy said.

“They’re saying it could go on for
weeks,”
Sarah added.  “At least with us, you guys would be moving in the right direction.  The seats are non-refundable, Becky and Kale would feel so much better knowing they weren’t a total waste.”

Nina thought on it and glanced at Jack again.  He was still screaming ‘no’ with his gaze, and she nearly burst into laughter.

“You ladies are so incredibly sweet,” Nina said.  “And we really appreciate the offer, but we really couldn’t impose.”

“The bus leaves at 3 pm tomorrow,” Amy said as if she hadn’t heard a single word.

“You’re very sweet.”  Nina looked at Jack, and he nodded toward the door again, nearly toppling over in his attempt to escape the persistent brunette, whose name Nina still hadn’t learned.

In a well-timed fake-out, Jack sidestepped the brunette and offered Nina his outstretched hand.  She took it, letting him tug her in.

Their chests smashed together, and she looked up, meeting his hooded eyes.

“They’re with a tour group driving cross country,” Nina said.  “Offered us a ride.”

“I would kill myself before we even made it to the central time zone,” Jack said.

“I’ll take that as a no then,” she laughed.  “And I’m glad we agree.”

“We have money now.  Let’s just rent our own car, and make our own trip.”  He took a deep breath.  “Our own memories.”

“Four days ago, you didn’t even want me in the airplane seat next to you; now you want to make memories with me?”

His eyes fell to her lips.  “I already have,” he said.  “And I want more.”

“More memories?”

“More you.”

“How much more?”

His hand snaked around her waist, and he pulled her in close, letting her feel his hardness.  “Upstairs,” he said.

A pair of hot pink nails appeared, sliding up Jack’s chest from behind.

Nina threw her head back, bursting into laughter.  This brunette was persistent.

Jack’s declawed the hot pink nails from his chest, meeting eyes with the redhead and blonde.  “Sorry, ladies.  We appreciate the offer, but we’re going to have to call it a night.”

He met Nina’s eyes, licked his lips and took her hand, dragging her out of the booming nightclub.

Minutes after saying goodbye to their new barely legal friends, Jack and Nina stumbled into the penthouse, laughing and tripping over each other’s feet, and slamming into walls.

“You’re an overnight celebrity,” Nina beamed.  “You’ve already got legions of fans who’ve fallen in love with one viral photo of you.  You’re famous, Jack!”

Jack frowned, looking pained as he kicked the door closed, arm locked around her waist.  “If I ever find out who took that photo of me, I’m personally suing them for every dime they’re worth.”

Bobbing from one foot to the other, Nina stopped in the middle of the room, pulling his cell phone from her pocket and unlocking it with shaking fingers.  A moment later, she laughed out loud and turned the screen toward him.

He groaned at the sight of the photo.  It had made it all the way to TMZ.

“Ridiculous,” he whispered.

Nina turned the screen back toward her with a laugh.  She took in the picture for a while, shaking her head.

“You really are just a breathtaking man.”  She showed him the picture, again, as if he hadn’t seen it the first time.  “It’s really amazing.”

He held her eyes.  “Take off your clothes.”

Nina dropped her phone-clad hand to her side, photo forgotten. For a moment, she was silent.  Then, the phone slipped from her fingers, clanking on the marble floor.  She trapped her bottom lip under smiling teeth, bringing her fingers to the button of her pants.

“Slowly,” Jack whispered, taking a deep breath when she heeded his request, popping the button of her leather pants open with languid, patient fingers, giving just a hint of the blue panties that had driven him into another world on the marina days earlier.  It occurred to him right then, as the sight of those panties sent blood surging to his dick, that she’d had him then.  Standing on the marina in her bra and panties, giving him that come-hither smile, she’d had him even then.

“I don’t usually get this drunk, this easily.” Nina eased her zipper down, her smile broadening as she watched Jack follow her fingers with his eyes.  “I think those sorority sisters may have slipped something into our drinks.  Thank god I was there, or the brunette might’ve taken full advantage of you.”  She tucked her fingers into the waistband of her pants and went to pull them down.

“Slow…” Jack’s eyes grew more hooded.  He took in the flash of blue peeking through the V of her zipper before raising his eyes to hers.  He licked his lips.

She licked hers too, bending over slowly, taking the pants down her brown thighs, inch by inch.  “I hope you’re not waiting for a striptease,” she whispered, stepping out of the pants one torrid foot at a time.  “Because I don’t know how to be sexy.”

“You are
very
sexy.”  His gaze stayed on her toes, then rose up, inch by inch.  “You have no idea the things I’ve done to you in my mind.”  His breathing grew labored as their eyes met.  “Over and over…”

Her smiling eyes glimmered as she took the edge of her top, peeling it up—slowly until she got it around her pert breasts.  Even as she pulled it over her head and ears, she could hear his breathing pick up.  She dropped the shirt to the floor, and turned, never breaking their gaze, before she leaned over and reached for the lamp switch.

“Leave it on,” he said, stopping her.  “I want to see you.”

She stood tall once more, reaching back and taking the clasp of her bra in trembling fingers.  She popped it open and saw when his heaving chest came to a grinding halt.  He was holding his breath.

“You first,” she whispered, holding her bra to her chest while nodding to him.

Jack stepped forward on shaking legs, moving close.  He caught a curl between his fingers on one hand; eyes stuck on hers and brushed the underside of her chin with the other.  Smiling, he pulled the curl between his fingers, shaking his head in amazement when it stretched to her bare belly button.

“You’re gorgeous.”  Her own chest began to heave, and he tucked his finger into the valley between her breasts, catching the bra.  He pulled it away.

She gasped as her breasts spilled out, feeling exposed, even though he’d yet to take his eyes off hers.  Their gazes held on, growing heated and hooded, and when Jack finally looked down and took her in, he couldn’t let another second pass before he dropped the bra to the floor and took both her breasts in his hands.  He leaned down, expelling a sharp gasp before he sucked her nipple into his mouth.

Nina breathed in; the pleasure instantaneous and nearly debilitating.  His warm tongue circled her nipple with the same slow patience he’d had her undress.  He savored the dark brown bud, tapping it gently on his teeth before loving it with soft sweeps of his tongue, only leaving it when it was glistening with his attentions, traveling to the other and giving it the same treatment.

Nina’s fingers disappeared into the soft hairs at the back of his neck, and she clawed her nails into it when the sensation became almost too much to bear.  She didn’t know when her feet left the ground, but in what seemed like an instant, her legs were around his waist.

He carried her across the room blindly, pushing her back against the floor to ceiling windows where the stars were shining in.

If slow and sensual had been his goal at the start, it no longer was.  Every moment that passed with his lips still sealed around her hardened nipple sent them both deeper into blind urgency.

Four long days of pretending the debilitating animal between them wasn’t there had left them nothing short of ravenous, and before either of them knew it, they were naked from head to toe, their lips never leaving one another for more than a second, and only long enough to remove another piece of clothing.  Anything that was keeping them from coming skin to skin was ripped away and discarded.

Nina caught his hot kiss the moment Jack stepped out of his pants, and let him snatch her back up into his arms.  Reveling in his strength, she encircled him; legs around his waist and arms around his neck, just as he shoved open the door that led to the balcony.

They moaned into a kiss as he carried her to the railing. The warm LA air claimed them, sending sweat droplets spreading across their glistening skin.  Nina moaned into his mouth and the soft sweep of his tongue as he deepened the kiss, feeling the tip of his hardness testing her slick opening as he pushed her up against the rails and gave her all of his weight.

Their lips parted with a soft smack, and when she pulled back and met his eyes, almost black with his desire, she couldn’t help leaning in and stealing one more kiss, tasting the salty sweat that was dotting his upper lip.  She removed her arms from around his neck, not for a second fearful he would drop her.  His solid abs grazed her stomach, and his pecs brushed her nipples, so softly it was nearly torturous as she reached between her legs and claimed his shaft.  She guided the head to her slick entry, watching his face tighten, his lips fall wide open, and a sound—oh that sound, so ripe with surrender she could hardly believe it was coming from him.  She tightened her fingers around him, matching his gasp in pure awe.

“I don’t want this to end,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers just as the head of his dick slipped inside her warm walls.  “I don’t ever want this to end.”

Nina tried to respond, but as her body spread for him, feeling like it was nearly being ripped apart, she couldn’t.  Just when she was sure he’d gone as deep as he could go, he went deeper, grew wider, until their pelvises sealed together, her clit tingling under the soft brush of his pubic hair.

She dug her fingers into his back while shaking her head with a frown.  “You feel so good, Jack.”  She caught his heated kiss and the moan that came with it, matching it with her own when he started a slow pound.  Her bare ass slapped against the glass walls of the balcony, picking up with volume and speed as his thrusts grew more insistent.

Jack buried his face into her shoulder; encircling her in a grip so tight it took her breath away.  His moans came hard and fast, warming her shoulder when the sounds he made grew pained as if working out whatever had been growing between them was too much for him to bear.  Still, he fucked her passionately, and relentlessly.

Nina rocked with him, moving her hips in time with his until their bodies were grinding as one, their sighs of pleasure ebbing and flowing until they were damn near the same sound.

His loss of power became apparent in hoarse pants and the sudden swirl of his hips as he tried to touch every inch of her with his hardness, the slick sound of their arousal clapping in the quiet night air.

He pulled back and shook his head the moment his serious eyes met hers.

She smiled at him, running her fingers down his face, his tightened brows, his lips—parted in ecstasy, warming the beds of her fingers under his hot gasps, that tight jawline, growing red as he thrust, closer and closer to his peak, and those eyes… those brown eyes that had gone dark in a way she’d never seen them, in a way she knew she would never get enough of.

She reached back and took the balcony rail in both hands, lifting her legs as high as they would go.

His moans ebbed into cries, and he used his big arms to lock her knees on either side of his chest, slamming his dick so furiously he nearly sent them hurtling over the edge.

Nina jammed her eyes shut as flames seemed to blaze up inside her pussy, spreading out to her swollen lips and all the way through her body, making her dark brown skin glow with red.  “Jack, yes, I’m gonna…”

She didn’t even have to finish before he stopped thrusting and reached down, pushing the bed of his thumb into her slippery clit.

She threw her head back with a scream, shocked at the orgasm that hit her with a speed and ferocity she hadn’t been prepared for.  His thumb rocked along with every jolt, every tremor, every roll of her spine as she rode the wave he’d built for her, and only when she lowered her eyes and met his, her body still working out the tremors, did he resume thrusting.

“You want more?” His voice broke as he worked toward his own peak, still circling her clit, but with less intensity than he had before.

She could only shake her head, covering his wrist until he left the swollen, extra-sensitive nub.  Her eyes searched his.  She could feel her pussy, still contracting, slick with her orgasm and gripping his dick for dear life.

The strength of her peak was apparent in his eyes, and he clutched her waist when the power of her contractions seemed to become too much.  If her pussy was hurting him, and it appeared it was, it wasn’t enough for him to pull out.  It wasn’t enough for him to stop.  So he frowned through it, digging his nails into the heated skin of her waist as he watched her in amazement.

“You’re so beautiful, Nina,” he gasped, his frown deepening.

She cupped his cheeks with a smile.  “Am I hurting you?”  she asked, her smile widening when her pussy tightened again.  “I can’t stop it.  I can’t help it.”

He shook his head.  “I’ve never felt anything like it.”

“You’ve never had a woman cum on your dick?  I find that hard to believe.”

He’d slowed his thrusts as if he wanted to savor the experience.  “Never like this,” he said, licking his lips.  “Never tight like this.”

He held himself deep inside her until her body was completely done, and their lips met in a hard, hungry kiss, their tongues meeting in an instant in their desperation to get deeper, knowing there was no way.  They were already as deep as they could get, in every possible way.

Still, Jack wasn’t done trying.

He took her around the waist with one arm, his bicep flexing against the small of her back as he carried her back inside on one arm.

***

Jack wasn’t ready.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been on autopilot like this, wanting to savor the moment and make it last as long as possible.  It had been nearly an hour, their bodies and the sheets below them soaked with sweat, but he still wasn’t ready.

Less than ten minutes after he’d thrown her down on the bed and entered her from behind, Nina had come a second time, and he’d gritted his teeth through another one.  The way her pussy clenched around him, even when she was coming down from her high, was an incredible sensation.  One he’d never experienced before.  Even if it was so tight it bordered on painful; it was a good pain.  It was good for him; because he knew he was making her feel good.

He kissed her shoulder; his body sealed to hers from behind.  Fingers entwined, they cradled themselves on all fours, pressing their weight into the mattress.  He tightened his hold on her fingers and leaned over to kiss her cheek before he re-assumed his thrusts.  He couldn’t help but smile at the expression on her face, near torture as if she couldn’t believe he was going in for her third nut, even though he’d yet to achieve his first.

He
was
going in for the third.  And he would go for the fourth, fifth and sixth if she had it to give.  He wanted her to know that he could.  He wanted her to know that he would.

She turned and met his eyes, looking on the verge of passing out.  They laughed softly, and he wrapped their clasped hands around her body, laying her on her stomach as he took his time fucking her, feeling every inch of her walls slipping and sliding against him.